{"id":1521984,"date":"2026-07-08T05:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1521984"},"modified":"2026-07-08T05:15:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:15:43","slug":"danish-pm-says-her-country-is-ready-to-defend-greenland-as-trumps-demands-upend-nato-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1521984","title":{"rendered":"Danish PM says her country is ‘ready to defend’ Greenland as Trump’s demands upend NATO summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Two men walk past the NATO logo during the NATO Defense Industry Forum at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)<\/figcaption><\/figure>ANKARA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Denmark on Wednesday vowed to defend its territory after President Donald Trump insisted again that the United States should control Greenland, upending a NATO summit in Turkey meant to be a show of strength and unity.<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country is \u201cready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory\u201d in the event of an attack, and would rely on NATO allies to honor their commitment to defend each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people\u2019s right for self-determination,\u201d Frederiksen said ahead of the meeting of NATO leaders. \u201cGreenland is of course not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump had reopened old wounds on the eve of the meeting by insisting that the United States should control Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the summit on Wednesday, Trump said he was \u201cnot happy with NATO\u201d for its member nations\u2019 pushback against his earlier efforts to take over Greenland, adding that the territory \u201cis very important for the United States, but it\u2019s not important for Denmark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland could put at risk the entire future of NATO, which was founded in 1949 to counter the threat to European security posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

The organization is normally focused on outside threats such as that posed by Russia. It is not designed to deal with threats from within.<\/p>\n

Iceland\u2019s Prime Minister Kristr\u00fan Frostad\u00f3ttir said Greenland \u201cbelongs to the people of Greenland,\u201d and called for unity in the face of Russia, which she called \u201cthe biggest threat.\u201d
\nNATO chief backs latest US strikes on Iran<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said from Ankara on Wednesday that he believes the United States is fully committed to the alliance. He praised Trump for the series of U.S. strikes on Iran overnight, after Tehran struck three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what you did last night was absolutely necessary,\u201d Rutte said to Trump. \u201cIt was a very strong response, and I\u2019m with you on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. strikes, as well as the revoking of a license allowing Iran to sell its oil on global markets, underscored the fragility of an interim deal to end months of fighting.<\/p>\n

Trump said Wednesday the interim agreement with Iran is \u201cover\u201d after the strikes, but that he will allow talks to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I think it\u2019s over,\u201d Trump responded when asked about the status of the ceasefire. \u201cIt\u2019s just a waste of time dealing with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO leaders sought to show Trump they were boosting defense<\/strong><\/p>\n

The meeting in Ankara was meant to focus on progress made toward meeting the alliance\u2019s spending targets \u2014 something Rutte highlighted by noting numerous countries that are already investing more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commitment is there, no doubt,\u201d Rutte said before chairing the summit, but noted the Trump administration expects \u201cthe Europeans and Canadian will equalize their spending with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an attempt last month to mollify the U.S. leader, Rutte went to Washington to hail the \u201cTrump Trillion\u201d \u2014 the $1.2 trillion that European allies and Canada have added to defense spending since Trump came to power in 2017.<\/p>\n

Yet Trump has demanded \u201cloyalty\u201d and branded NATO a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d after some allies refused to grant open access to their bases for U.S. forces to attack Iran.<\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday blasted NATO member Spain for its refusals to allow U.S. forces to use its bases to attack Iran, saying it was a \u201cterrible partner in NATO\u201d and renewing his threats to cut off trade with Spain.<\/p>\n

As leaders converged on Ankara, Rutte hosted a \u201cbig reveal\u201d event to showcase the many deals planned for the increased spending \u2014 much of it to be spent on U.S. companies, creating thousands of jobs for Americans.<\/p>\n

NATO diplomats and officials had hoped that Trump would take the win, but judging by some of his remarks since arriving in Turkey, they are in for yet another dressing down.
\nNATO braces for Trump\u2019s grievances<\/p>\n

Trump has long argued that the U.S. carries more than its fair share of the defense burden for NATO. At last year’s summit, the allies agreed to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense \u2014 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on infrastructure so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict.<\/p>\n

Yet new figures released by NATO on Tuesday showed that Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic could be in hot water with the Trump administration as they struggle to meet the alliance\u2019s old spending target of 2% of GDP.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration wants to see a more lean and lethal \u201cNATO 3.0,\u201d with Europe taking responsibility for its own security, including Ukraine, with conventional weapons while America would continue to provide its nuclear umbrella.<\/p>\n

However, the Pentagon has launched a six-month review of U.S. military presence in Europe, leaving allies to seek clarity on just how deeply Trump intends to cut U.S. force numbers.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Zelenskyy pushes for NATO entry<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal Tuesday for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance, saying Ukrainian armed forces are highly experienced and would only boost NATO\u2019s defense capabilities.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy, who is expected to meet with Trump in Ankara on Wednesday, highlighted Ukraine\u2019s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia, hit Moscow\u2019s oil refineries and other energy targets. He said Ukraine\u2019s armed forces are \u201celiminating\u201d on average 30,000 Russian troops every month.<\/p>\n

Concern has been mounting among some northern, central and eastern European countries that Russia might be preparing a hybrid attack \u2014 a combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks \u2014 on the continent as President Vladimir Putin struggles to secure victory in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), one member of a congressional delegation attending the NATO summit, said at a news conference Wednesday that she hoped there would be a \u201crecommitment\u201d to Ukraine, and that the momentum on the battlefield favored Kyiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do everything possible to ramp up pressure on Russia to come to the table,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Trump will also meet with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former insurgent who led the offensive that unseated autocrat Bashar Assad in December 2024. Despite having once been an al-Qaida fighter, al-Sharaa has won Trump\u2019s backing as he seeks to rebuild Syria and restore its long-shattered ties with the West.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly suggested that al-Sharaa would do a better job of rooting out Hezbollah in Lebanon than the Israeli army, raising alarms in Lebanon and Israel alike. The Syrian leader has said he has no interest in doing so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denmark on Wednesday vowed to defend its territory after President Donald Trump insisted again that the United States should control Greenland, upending a NATO summit in Turkey meant to be a show of strength and unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1521986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1449,1504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1521984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-political-news","category-abc-world-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-10 05:14:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1521984"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1521987,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521984\/revisions\/1521987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1521986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1521984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1521984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1521984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}