US President Donald Trump has ordered senior special forces commanders to begin drawing up “contingency plans for a possible invasion of Greenland,” the Daily Mail reported on Sunday. However, the move reportedly faced opposition from senior military officials who questioned both its legality and political feasibility.According to the report, Trump has asked the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to develop an invasion plan. However, the proposal is reportedly facing resistance from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who argue that such an operation would be unlawful and lack congressional support.“The generals think Trump’s Greenland plan is crazy and illegal. So they are trying to distract him with other major military operations. They say it’s like dealing with a five-year-old,” a diplomat told the Mail.“They have tried to distract Trump by talking about less controversial measures, such as intercepting Russian ‘ghost ships’ – a secret network of hundreds of ships operated by Moscow to evade Western sanctions – or launching an attack on Iran,” a source told the Mail.Sources familiar with the matter told the Mail that hardliners in Trump’s inner circle, particularly political “hawks” led by adviser Stephen Miller, have become increasingly confident after what they said was a successful operation to capture Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro. Emboldened by this result, they are now pushing for quick action to take control of Greenland before Russia or China can expand their influence in the Arctic.Trump’s interest in Greenland could also be driven by domestic political considerations. With midterm elections coming later this year, there are fears the president could make a dramatic foreign policy move to divert attention from the US economy amid fears Republicans could lose control of Congress to Democrats,” the Mail reported, citing British diplomatic sources.Such an approach would put Trump on a direct collision course with European leaders and could trigger a deep crisis within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), potentially pushing the alliance to the breaking point.ALSO READ | ‘If we don’t…’: Donald Trump threatens to take Greenland the ‘hard way’ – why he said the US needs itDiplomatic officials have also reportedly conducted internal warfare exercises, exploring an “escalation scenario” in which Trump could use military force or sustained political pressure to weaken Greenland’s ties with Denmark.A secret diplomatic cable reportedly lays out a “worst-case” outcome that would lead to the “destruction of NATO from within.”“Some European officials suspect that this is the real goal of Trump’s hardline MAGA faction. Since Congress would not allow Trump to withdraw from NATO, the occupation of Greenland could force the Europeans to abandon NATO. “If Trump wants to end NATO, this could be the most convenient way,” it continues. We want to be GreenlandersMeanwhile, political parties in Greenland issued a joint statement on Saturday condemning US President Donald Trump’s push to seize the autonomous Danish territory.“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” said the leaders of five parties in parliament.“The future of Greenland must be decided by Greenlanders,” they added.This came hours after Trump again spoke of taking action on Greenland, saying the US must do “something” or risk Russia and China intervening. He said Washington does not want Moscow or Beijing as its “neighbors.”“We will do something in Greenland whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland – and we will have neither Russia nor China as neighbors.” “I would like to do a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said.ALSO READ | Russia, minerals or a whim? Why Trump is after Greenland – and what options he has“And by the way, I’m a fan of Denmark too. They were very nice to me. I’m a big fan, but the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land. We had a lot of boats going there too. But we need that because if you look outside Greenland now, it’s Russian destroyers, Chinese destroyers and even worse, there are Russian submarines everywhere.” We will not allow Russia or China to occupy Greenland, and they will if we don’t. “We will do something with Greenland, either the beautiful way or the difficult way,” he added.Denmark has also warned that its troops are under orders to “shoot first and ask questions later” if Greenland is attacked, as concerns grow in Europe that the US is openly discussing possible military action against the Arctic territory.Earlier, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected Trump’s claims that the US “needs” Greenland for security reasons, calling them an “unacceptable pleasure.”
