The TOI Correspondent from Washington: Red lights are flashing over Greenland and much of Europe after the United States deployed its Indian-American Second Lady Usha Chilukuri Vance for further incursion into the world’s largest island that President Trump wants to take over “one way or the other,” amid protests from Denmark, which called the move “aggressive.”
Usha Vance will go to Greenland with her brother and a United States group to “visit historic sites, learn about Greenlandic history, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race,” according to a White House statement that was innocent enough.
Usha Vance added that the visit had “celebrate the lengthy history of cooperation and mutual admiration between the US and Greenland” and that “our partnership will only grow stronger in the approaching years” in a video she posted about the journey starting on Thursday.
However, there was little doubt that President Trump is moving forward with his plans to acquire the automatic place that is constitutionally a garden of Denmark as a result of developments surrounding the journey, including an progress party of National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright who will be visiting her, along with the geological reaction from Copenhagen.
In a vicious interview with Fox News, Vice-President JD Vance himself accused Denmark of” not doing its job” ( of protecting US strategic interests in the Arctic ) and of not being a” good ally.”
President Trump will act if that means we have to increase our territorial interest in Greenland. Because he doesn’t care what the Europeans yell at us, the vice president of the US pointed out bluntly.
And scream the Europeans did, with Mute Egede, the prime minister of Greenland, adding more than just pity. He asked a local newspaper,” What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland,” and said,” We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician’s wife. The only goal is to demonstrate our strength to others.
He predicted that the pressure will mount after the visit because he is Trump’s close and confidential advisor and that his only presence in Greenland will undoubtedly increase the public’s support for his mission. Copenhagen, according to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, “takes the Vance-Waltz visit very seriously” and that it” cannot be seen in isolation from the public statements that have been made.”
Trump declared to a Joint Session of Congress earlier this month that the United States would “assume control of Greenland one way or the other,” giving an official endorsement of what few people at the time first thought were taken seriously. Even before he was formally elected for a second term, he sent his son Donald Trump Jr on an exploratory trip in early January.
Danes and Greenlanders dismissed the trip as a private visit, but it has since become so ice-cool that Greenland and Iceland are alleged to be apoplectic, accusing other European countries of hiding and only “whispering” their support for the besieged entities.
Even the majority of Americans are horrified. ” Denmark has been a great ally. They have served in the Middle East with us. They’ve made a significant contribution to Ukraine. Greenland is also a partner for us. They are willing to partner more and we have a strong base there. Don Bacon, a Republican congressman who served at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany, said,” Let’s be a better ally and not a bully in our own right.”
Usha Vance will make her second diplomatic appearance since earlier this month when she led the US delegation to Italy for the Special Olympics World Winter Games. She described reading about Greenland and its national dogsled race with her children in a brief 37-second video she posted about the Greenland visit and said she was amazed by the “unbelievably skilled and teamwork that it takes to participate in this race.”
Although it wasn’t clear which of the two, Ewan ( 7 ) or Vivek ( 5 ), would accompany her, the White House said she would be accompanied by her son. Additionally, The Vances have a daughter named Mirabel ( 2 ).
