'Crazy' Trump Greenland threat: 'It has come to something when we are relieved that one NATO ally will not invade another' says unionist peer
A senior unionist has declared that it is a “crazy” situation when one NATO country has to declare that it will not invade another.
Former UUP leader Sir Reg Empey was reacting to Donald Trump’s speech at the Davos economic summit this week, where he said he would not take Greenland by force.
Sir Reg said that Mr Trump had a point about NATO members not stumping up enough funding, but that his planned grab of Greenaldn “makes no sense”.
During the wide-ranging speech in Davos, Mr Trump lambasted much of the west for building wind turbines, permitting mass immigration, and off-shoring its heavy industry.
Turning to the issue of his planned takeover of Greenland (which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, and is home to about 57,000 people), Mr Trump had declared that he would not in fact seize control of the territory, as had been widely speculated.
Instead he called for negotiations to acquire it.
Lord Empey told the News Letter: “While it is good news to hear that President Trump promises not to invade Greenland, isn’t it crazy that we have to express relief that one NATO country declared that it won’t invade another!
“Donald Trump has consistently argued that Europe is not spending enough on defence, and I agree with that.
"But to argue that he needs Greenland in order to defend the United States makes no sense, because the US has been consistently reducing its footprint in Greenland down to about 200 people!”
Lord Empey’s party colleague, Steve Aiken, a former submarine commander, had previously said in Stormont this week that the USA used to have 10 bases in Greenland, but had allowed that to drop to just one.
Lord Empey continued: “Under a 1951 treaty, revised in 2004, the US can establish as many bases as it likes, and I strongly support the idea that NATO raises its profile given the changing nature of the threats arising from the opening of waterways as a result of climate change.”
“That is the way to go, not by threatening allies, especially Denmark, who, when the US activated Article 5 of the NATO treaties after 9/11, was among the first to stand by the US and send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, losing more men proportionally than any other NATO country.
“To start an economic war would also be counter-productive – and we must remember what the Russian and the Chinese are thinking as they watch this piece of theatre unfolding!
"It's madness.”
During his speech in Davos, Mr Trump told European leaders that when it comes to World War Two, “we won it big – without us, right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps”.
He went on to add: “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark.
"How stupid were we to do that?
"But we did it, but we gave it back.
"But how ungrateful are they now?”
He said Greenland’s mineral wealth is “not the reason we need it; we need it for strategic national security and international security”.
As to his plans for a takeover, he said: “We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable
" But I won't do that. Okay?
"Now everyone's saying, ‘Oh, good.’ That's probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force.
"But I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force.”