America, Greenland, and upending the territorial status quo

Outside of the United States and Russia, most governments still uphold the key law about borders, regardless of their domestic political arrangements.

Denmark has accused the United States of running a covert operation in Greenland. The attempt to recruit a few ‘pro-American’ Greenlanders to front the operation suggests President Donald Trump’s regime prefers a non-violent conquest if at all possible, writes Gwynne Dyer.Official White House photograph courtesy of Daniel Torok

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

August 28, 2025

LONDON, U.K.—Last week the Danish foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen to his office to complain that the United States is running a covert operation in Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Danish kingdom.

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