Trump’s Venezuela takeover fuels fresh angst about a US Greenland grab

COLOGNE, Germany — As European governments grapple to understand the implications of a proclaimed U.S. takeover of Venezuela over the weekend, renewed fears here swirl around President Donald Trump’s threats to make the Danish territory of Greenland part of the United States.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen released a statement on Sunday after The Atlantic published an interview with Trump in which he reiterated the claim that the United States “needs” Greenland for national security.

“I have to say this very directly to the USA,” Frederiksen wrote. “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the USA to take over Greenland. The USA has no right to annex one of the three countries in the Commonwealth.”

U.S. forces already have access to key military installations on Greenland, facilitated by the Danish government, she added.

“I would therefore strongly urge the USA to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb backed up Frederiksen in a post on the social media platform X later on Sunday, sharing her statement with the comment: “No one decides for Greenland and Denmark but Greenland and Denmark themselves.”

The transatlantic dispute has taken on a new flavor after U.S. forces conducted a daring nighttime raid in the capital of Caracas against President Nicolas Maduro early Saturday, capturing the authoritarian ruler and taking him to New York for trial on drug-related charges.

Trump and his ministers have used the episode, in essence, to tell foes and friends alike that American interests justify any action imaginable.

Plans for U.S. officials to “run” Venezuela post-Maduro, as they said, remained opaque on Monday, with Trump seemingly banking on the cooperation second-string leaders left in place there.

The threat of a more intense bombing campaign or a ground invasion would ensure compliance with America’s demands, the thinking in Washington goes.

“There is a high degree of volatility and unpredictability in Trump 2.0,” said Giuseppe Spatafora, a research analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies. “This makes it hard to predict what happens next.”

It’s possible that the Trump administration could expand the campaign against other governments perceived as hostile, such as Cuba, or even Colombia, Spatafora said.

Analyst Nathalie Tocci, the director of the Rome IAI think tank, said that the vague, vacillating responses by many European states to the U.S. operation in Venezuela would encourage President Trump to carry out more, similar operations.

“I think Europeans should be reacting just like the group of Latin American countries are,” she said, noting that Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile had jointly opposed the military operation and any attempts by the U.S. at expropriating Venezuela’s resources.

“Through our ambiguity and silence we’re behaving as colonies, which can only tickle Trump’s imperial ambitions,” she added.

Tom Kington in Rome and Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris contributed to this report.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国科隆——就在欧洲各国政府努力理解美国周末宣布接管委内瑞拉的影响之际，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普威胁要将丹麦领土格陵兰岛并入美国，这再次引发了人们的担忧。

周日，《大西洋月刊》刊登了对特朗普的采访，特朗普在采访中重申了美国“需要”格陵兰岛以保障国家安全的说法。随后，丹麦首相梅特·弗雷德里克森发表了一份声明。

弗雷德里克森写道：“我必须直接对美国说，谈论美国需要占领格陵兰岛完全没有道理。美国无权吞并英联邦三个成员国中的任何一个。”

她补充说，在丹麦政府的协助下，美军已经可以使用格陵兰岛上的关键军事设施。

“因此，我强烈敦促美国停止对历史上关系密切的盟友以及另一个国家和人民的威胁，这两个国家和人民已经非常明确地表示，他们不会被出卖，”弗雷德里克森说。

芬兰总统亚历山大·斯图布周日晚些时候在社交媒体平台 X 上发帖支持弗雷德里克森，转发了她的声明并评论道：“格陵兰和丹麦的命运由格陵兰和丹麦自己决定。”

周六凌晨，美军在首都加拉加斯对总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗发动了一次大胆的夜间突袭，逮捕了这位独裁统治者，并将其押往纽约接受与毒品相关的指控审判。此后，跨大西洋争端呈现出新的面貌。

从本质上讲，特朗普和他的部长们利用这一事件告诉敌人和朋友，美国的利益可以为任何可以想象的行动辩护。

正如他们所说，美国官员将在马杜罗下台后“管理”委内瑞拉，但周一，这些计划仍然不明朗，特朗普似乎指望着委内瑞拉剩余的二线领导人能够配合。

华盛顿方面认为，以更猛烈的轰炸或地面入侵相威胁，就能确保美国的要求得到遵守。

欧盟安全研究所的研究分析师朱塞佩·斯帕塔福拉表示：“特朗普2.0时代存在高度的波动性和不可预测性，这使得预测接下来会发生什么变得困难。”

斯帕塔福拉表示，特朗普政府有可能将打击行动扩大到其他被视为敌对的政府，例如古巴，甚至哥伦比亚。

罗马 IAI 智库主任、分析师娜塔莉·托奇表示，许多欧洲国家对美国在委内瑞拉的军事行动反应含糊不清、摇摆不定，这将鼓励特朗普总统开展更多类似的军事行动。

“我认为欧洲人的反应应该和拉丁美洲国家一样，”她说道，并指出巴西、哥伦比亚、墨西哥、乌拉圭和智利共同反对军事行动以及美国任何企图掠夺委内瑞拉资源的行为。

她补充说：“我们的含糊其辞和沉默，使我们的行为如同殖民地一般，这只会助长特朗普的帝国野心。”

罗马的汤姆·金顿和巴黎的鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格对本报道亦有贡献。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。