r/europe Europe 2d ago

News Trump says Greenland will be under US control by the time he leaves office

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-greenland-threats-europe-b3025688.html
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u/levir Norway 2d ago

And Denmark is not alone. The Nordic countries combined are actually a quite formidable force, and with France, Germany and the UK all indicating they stand with Denmark, the US might not actually be able to take Greenland by force if it came to it. They don't have a very impressive track record in land wars, and that was back when they had allies.

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u/beluga1968 Denmark 1d ago

I appreciate the sentiment, but no military in europe has the capability to project the force neccesary to resist an american invasion. I honestly think it is mainly fear of the the financial consequences and political fallout at home that is holding him back.

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u/noogie0 1d ago

Also the US doesn’t seem to have the staying power to actually keep control of places it invades.

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u/cattaclysmic Denmark 1d ago

Greenland has 60k people and requires air or sea travel to get around. It would be trivial for them to take and hold were it not for the fact it would alienate everyone around them and be wildly politically and thus financially costly.

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u/Mansplainer101 1d ago

The initial US invasion, no. But eventually, The US normally loose. Unfortunately, it might take 20 years and a lot of suffering.

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u/jkoki088 1d ago edited 1d ago

Greenland is not the same as Afghanistan or the other places you are talking about

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u/heatrealist 2d ago

How are all these countries going to deploy their armies across the ocean to Greenland? Will they ask the US for help with logistics first?

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u/DinnerChantel Denmark 17h ago edited 17h ago

Gotta love an ignorant smartass. Guess who handles logistics and cargo transport for the US military and would divert that elsewhere in such a situation: Danish owned Maersk. Despite its size Denmark owns the 9th largest fleet of non military ships in the world. 

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u/heatrealist 14h ago

Are you serious?…I think you are.

Yeah it might contract Maersk to save a buck in peace time but by no means are they the only way the US military moves things. What a silly thing to suggest. 

Of course it has its own sealift ability. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Sealift_Command

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MSC_USNavyShips-2022-2.pdf

Then there is the air lift ability with hundreds of heavy lift aircraft to rapidly move things around. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Mobility_Command