EXACTLY one year ago, in January 2025, Danish communist newspaper Arbejderen stated: “Greenland and the Greenlandic people have been brutally thrust onto the big political stage in recent days and weeks.”

And further: “The Greenlanders’ right to determine their own future must be unreservedly supported, and any form of interference, any form of blackmail and bribery to which they are subjected must be condemned. Regardless of whether it comes from the United States or Denmark or elsewhere.”

At first glance, it seems as if history is repeating itself, although this time the Greenland drama has reached a much higher level of tension.

But there is one important difference compared to a year ago: the US’s brutally effective aggression against Venezuela on January 3 and the kidnapping of the country’s head of state and his wife have removed any doubt as to whether the White House administration is capable of putting Trump’s words into action.

It is. And it does.

Venezuela was the first victim of the US’s new security strategy. It became clear that US imperialism will use violence and force — and any other means necessary — to gain control of the western hemisphere. And the message sent by the conquest of Venezuela has been understood throughout the western hemisphere: if you don’t do as we say, we will take the law into our own hands. Regardless of any international norms and rules that may apply.

Right now, it is reported that the Trump administration is putting together what is called a purchase offer, ie a concrete plan to gain total control of Greenland. Of course, the US is after natural resources, but so called national security considerations have been pushed to the forefront.

All conceivable scenarios are in play in relation to such a purchase offer — only the imagination sets the limits: investments in polar tourism in exchange for more bases than the Pituffik Space Base? Or how about large-scale property investments, a settlement plan for American settlers in exchange for setting up long-range missile systems that can reach Russia or even China?

A security policy adviser suggested on DR TV on Wednesday evening that Denmark must now come up with concrete proposals: Can US military action or annexation by force be averted by giving the US more bases in Greenland, setting up surface-to-air missile systems or installing radars along the east coast?

In any scenario, the prospect is the militarisation of Greenland, the Arctic and the Nordic region.

The political crisis is evident among those in power, and it also includes the EU and the Nato alliance, which are left naked, stripped bare and powerless after the US’s show of force in Venezuela. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen looks on with dread in her eyes.

“If the US attacks another Nato country, everything will come to an end,” she acknowledges.

And among Danish politicians and opinion makers, there are deep cracks in the consensus that has dominated completely since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago.

The Conservative Party’s Greenland spokesperson Rasmus Jarlov has stated to the American television station CNN that “the US claims that it is the only one that will protect Greenland, but it is actually the US that threatens Greenland. Neither China nor Russia does. They have no intention of taking Greenland.”

The pro-business media outlet Weekendavisen’s ubiquitous foreign editor Anna Libak, on the other hand, believes that Denmark must guarantee the US that “Russia and China will be kept completely out of Greenland.” Foreign Minister Lokke Rasmussen thinks Trump is probably exaggerating when he sees Chinese and Russian vessels everywhere along the Greenlandic coast.

The moment of truth can come for anyone!

In the midst of it all, the Greenlandic population is completely stuck in a vice, and the country’s politicians must fight hour by hour just to get a seat at the table and be heard. Not only by the US, but also by Denmark.

The last few days have provided an embarrassing demonstration of how, to put it mildly, official Denmark is finding it very difficult to shed its colonialist attitudes and behaviour. A meeting of the foreign policy committee earlier this week, at which a thorough account was given of “the kingdom’s relationship with the United State,” was held without any representation from the Greenlandic government, Naalakkersuisut.

As the chair of Greenland’s foreign and security policy committee, Pipaluk Lynge, declared: “They are holding a meeting about us — a historic meeting about us — without us.

“It is frustrating to sit here in Greenland and have to ask to participate in such an unusual meeting when it concerns us. It is a neo-colonialist way of excluding us.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has graciously agreed to a request from the Danish Foreign Minister for a meeting — and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vibeke Motzfeldt has been just as graciously allowed to attend.

But at any negotiating table that concerns Greenland’s interests, Greenlandic politicians should be sitting at the head of the table.

Looking at the bigger picture, it is worth remembering that in recent years the US has gained access to 47 military bases throughout the Nordic region — including the three that the Danish Parliament did not hesitate to approve in June last year. They pose a huge threat — not protection.

The Danish government repeatedly states that Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and is not for sale. But the reality is that Denmark has been selling off Greenland to the US for decades.

“We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom and the US that gives the US wide access to Greenland,” according to an official statement by the prime minister earlier this week.

But what is needed is the exact opposite of “giving the US broad access.” We must dig in our heels — and do so with style!

Hands off Greenland! Real power to Nuuk to decide its own future! Away with all threats and scare tactics! Greenland needs support to wriggle out of the stranglehold.

Lotte Rortoft-Madsen is chairwoman of the Danish Communist Party.