"If European countries were to permanently deploy, say, 5,000 soldiers armed with surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles to Greenland, keeping them there with orders to fight invading American soldiers to the last round of ammunition, Trump would not order the paratroops and the Marines to assault that frozen wasteland-too many body bags. If they were willing to put comparable economic sanctions in place-denying American companies access to Europe's economy, still collectively the world's third largest-he would back down from those threats as well."
"The Greenland episode, disgraceful and shameful as it is, should be seen in the context of Trump's other foreign-policy escapades-the capturing of Nicolás Maduro; the bombing of the Iranian nuclear program; the attempt to rebuild and reorient war-shattered Gaza; the on-again, off-again relationships with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky; the tariff bazookas that get downgraded to squirt guns with China. Erratic as the president sounds, the Trumpian worldview is comprehensible and even, in some respects, predictable."
European leaders waver in response to Donald Trump's threats to seize Greenland and to employ tariffs against dissenting countries. Permanently stationing around 5,000 soldiers equipped with surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, with orders to resist any American assault to the last round, would make a U.S. invasion politically and militarily costly. Comparable collective economic sanctions denying American companies access to Europe's market would also deter coercion. Trump's behavior on foreign policy is erratic but partly predictable; he is politically intuitive despite personal ignorance. Greenland has been neglected by Denmark, creating vulnerabilities that invite external pressure.
Read at The Atlantic
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