Vance to join his wife in Greenland on Friday

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance said he was heading to Greenland on Friday to join his wife and showed in online videos that global security is under threat.

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“We will check out what’s going on there,” Vance said in a video shared on Tuesday. “Speaking for President Trump, we want to revive the safety of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protect the world as a whole.”

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President Donald Trump’s hinting that the United States should control the mineral-rich territory of U.S. ally Denmark in some form, has angered much of Europe. As a maritime gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic North American regions, Greenland has broader strategic value as both China and Russia seek access to its waterways and nearby natural resources.

The Vice President decided to visit the U.S. military base in Greenland to eliminate the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending delegations to another country without a formal invitation. However, Vance also criticized European allies for relying on U.S. military support to openly confront partners in a way that draws attention to U.S. reliability.

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The dissatisfaction with the Greenland and Denmark governments grew before the vice president announced that he would join his wife, which posted on Facebook on Monday night that “no invitations to visit, neither private nor official”.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Denmark National Radio on Tuesday that it was “unacceptable pressure”.

Second Lady Usha Vance’s office said on Sunday that she will set off for Greenland on Thursday and return to Saturday. Vance and one of her three children had planned to visit the historic site and learn about Greenland culture, but her husband’s involvement repositioned national security.

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The vice president said he didn’t want his wife to have all the fun “only” and said he planned to visit the Space Force outpost on Greenland’s northwest coast. Other countries also threaten Greenland, as well as the United States and Canada, Vance said.

Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz was initially listed as a U.S. official and also as Greenland, but his name was omitted when it was announced that the vice president is now attending.

The White House said Tuesday that if Waltz’s travel plans were changed, he revealed that he mistakenly added a reporter to a secure messaging app about Yemen’s military strike.

Vance said leaders in Denmark and North America have “ignored” Greenland for “too long.”

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Visiting Pituffik Space Base will take place instead of Usha Vance’s previously announced trip to Avannaata Qimussersu dog dogs in Sisimiut.

But Dwayne Ryan Menezes, founder and managing director of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative, said the Trump administration’s “intimidation” against Greenland could backfire.

Menetzs said that if Trump was “smart enough” to understand Greenland’s strategic importance, he should also be “smart enough to know that there is no better way to weaken the U.S. hands and damage its long-term interests than rejecting his allies, which is the main asymmetric advantage he enjoys over his opponents.”

Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Defence Academy, said that while officials in Greenland and Denmark are increasingly speaking out in expressing their dissent, Vance was allowed to visit the space base due to a deal between Denmark and the U.S. defense.

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“The time is controversial here,” he said. “Greenland and Denmark say very clearly that when Greenland had no government, they didn’t want the United States to visit now.”

In his first semester, Trump proposed the idea of ​​buying the world’s largest island, even as NATO ally Denmark insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland also firmly rejected Trump’s plan.

Trump’s desire to return to the White House includes a desire for territorial expansion, and the U.S. president attempts to make Canada the 51st state and restore control of the Panama Canal. He also said that US interests could take over the land in the war-torn Gaza Strip from Israel and turn it into a luxurious outpost.

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