Green Earth

Greenland party leaders rejected President Trump’s repeated statements. Call on the United States to take control of the island.saying that the future of Greenland must be decided by its people.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night.

Trump reiterated on Friday that he would like to reach a deal to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous region that is part of Denmark, NATO ally“the easy way.” He said that if the United States doesn’t own it, then Russia or China will take over it, and the United States doesn’t want them as neighbors. NATO allies and Greenland disagree with Trump’s assessment.

“If we don’t do it the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way,” Trump said, without explaining what that entailed. The White House said it is considering a number of options, including the use of military force, to acquire the island. US Senator Rand Paul told News Mornings earlier this week that he “will do everything possible to stop any kind of military takeover of Greenland.”

Greenland party leaders reiterated that “the future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As leaders of the Greenlandic party, we would like to once again emphasize our desire to see an end to the United States’ contempt for our country,” the statement said.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss the new push from the White House for control of the island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of nato.

The party leaders’ statement said that “work on the future of Greenland is carried out in dialogue with the Greenlandic people and is prepared on the basis of international law.”

“No other country can interfere in this,” they said. “We must decide the future of our country ourselves, without pressure to make quick decisions, delays or interference from other countries.”

The statement was signed by Nielsen, Pele Broberg, Múte B. Egede, Aleqa Hammond and Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen.

Potter Pilu Chemnitz told News themezone partner BBC News that Greenlanders “are all very tired of the president of the United States” and “they just want to be left alone.”

Eighty-five percent of Greenlanders say they oppose a US takeover, the BBC reported. Most also say they favor independence from Denmark, although the Nordic country provides subsidies, military support and more for the autonomous territory.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and does not have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose army is dwarfed by that of the United States.

It is unclear how the remaining NATO members would respond if the United States decided to take control of the island by force or if they came to Denmark’s aid. Former Danish ambassador to NATO Michael Zilmer-Johns called Trump’s ambitions “an affront to an ally that has supported the United States in Afghanistan, in Iraq and around the world.”