Greenland crisis US threats

Gahr Støre on Trump's letter: "Have explained several times"

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has "several times clearly explained what is well known", namely that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the independent Nobel Committee and not by the Norwegian government. He says this to VG in connection with the letter Trump sent to Gahr Støre, in which he writes that the fact that "Norway has not given him the Nobel Prize" means that he no longer feels obligated to think only about peace.

The Norwegian Prime Minister also says that Trump's threat of tariffs does not affect the Norwegian view of the Greenland issue.

- Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on that issue, he says.

Several experts that VG has spoken to agree with Trump's reasoning.

– The stupidity is so great that you don't know where to start, says Eirik Løkke at the liberal think tank Civita.

Denmark sends more soldiers to Greenland

Denmark is sending more soldiers to Greenland, reports Danish TV2. It concerns a "larger number" of soldiers who are expected to arrive in Greenland Monday evening.

Denmark has previously sent 100 soldiers to Nuuk. This time too, a similar number will be sent but to Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland, writes TV2.

"Arctic Endurance" will begin there, a NATO exercise that began earlier in January after Trump's threat against Greenland, and which has intensified recently.

Experts See Trump's Letter as "Monumental Stupidity"

Several Norwegian US experts are reacting strongly to Donald Trump's letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, in which he seems to justify his actions on the Greenland issue by saying that he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The president also writes that Denmark does not have ownership rights to Greenland "just because you got there by boat a few hundred years ago".

Eirik Løkke at the Civita think tank calls Trump's reasoning "monumental stupidity".

- It will not be easy for Gahr Støre to answer, he says.

Political scientist Janne Matlary at the university agrees.

- It is childish behavior. But that does not prevent it from happening again and that he behaves the same way towards other allies, she tells VG.

Gunnhild Hoogensen Gjørv, a professor of security studies at the Arctic University of Norway, says the letter is outright blackmail and that Trump does not hesitate to tell untruths to get his way.

“It’s hard to see how far he can go, but he’s busy trying not to lose face,” she says.