It’s a loaded term for sure, reminiscent of 1930s diplomacy that failed to contain Nazi aggression. That it’s resurfaced now in connection with the failure of the European Union — and NATO — to check the imperial ambitions of the US leader speaks to the seriousness of the moment.
Greenland, a sparsely populated but strategically important slab of rock and ice, has become the unlikely hill that European leaders are now realizing they may need to die on. The president’s chatter of wanting to take over the Arctic territory began as a punchline, much like the running gag about Canada becoming the 51st US state.
But with Trump touching down in the Swiss resort of Davos this week, it’s suddenly clear that he’s serious about his designs over the world’s largest island.
For a Europe already committed to helping Ukraine’s defense against Russia, this is existential because seizing the sovereign territory of a NATO ally amounts to the destruction of the post-World War II military alliance that underpins the region’s security.
In the past year, leaders have offered Trump stays at royal palaces, held their tongue when insulted, pulled back from tariff retaliation, agreed to huge defense-spending increases, and traveled as a pack to Washington to reason with him over Vladimir Putin’s true intentions.
None of it worked. In fact, Trump now claims his failure to be awarded the Nobel Prize means he is no longer obligated to peace. Given his motivations, it will take more than a handful of soldiers on a reconnaissance mission to be taken seriously by a leader unafraid to pull any lever of power at his disposal, especially economic coercion.
Is this the moment the old continent fights back? Trump has threatened more tariffs if it doesn’t cede Greenland — an impossible demand to meet.
For its own survival, the EU must now decide how robustly to respond. — Flavia Krause-Jackson