The Duran Podcast - European troops to Greenland... Trump unfazed and unimpressed

Episode Date: January 18, 2026

European troops to Greenland... Trump unfazed and unimpressed

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the situation in and around Greenland. Europe is moving military forces into Greenland, about 20, I think. Like, yeah, something of 20, 25, I don't know. But they're sending a message to Trump. Macron is sending a very strong message to Trump. Don't you dare, don't you dare do anything with Greenland. And Trump is telling NATO, Trump is telling NATO to, to, to deal with Denmark. That was his message on truth social pretty much. A, NATO,

sit down with Denmark and then just tell them this is how it's going to be. And that was his message. So, so what are you, what are you thinking about with? Yeah. You see the extraordinary, fascinating thing about these European troop deploy, see Greenland, all 25 of them, is that I'm not sure who exactly this message is supposed to be directed to or what the message even is. Is this being done to support Denmark against the United States? Is it, in other words, an act of defiance against Trump? Or is it an act of appreismant of Trump by telling people, you know, the Russians or whoever it is, who is supposed to be threatening Greenland, that we are going to defend Greenland?

Whatever it is, whatever the message is, the scale of these true deployments, I mean, completely undermines and undercuts the message. It tells everybody, anybody, that when it comes to Greenland, the rest of Europe basically doesn't care. The Danes care, because obviously they see it as part of their country. but Germany, France, Britain, ultimately, they don't really care. They're not going to really go out of their way to defend Denmark and Greenland. I think people in Denmark Friedrichson need to understand this. And they also need to understand something else, which is that Donald Trump is absolutely determined to get Greenland. There's even suggestions that he wants to see Greenland.

part of the United States by the 4th of July of this year. So I don't think Trump is interested in some kind of compromise where Greenland remains under Danish sovereignty, but the United States has troops or whatever it is there. That they can arrange anyway. I do think Trump is interested in that. There's lots of stories about Denmark selling Greenland to the United States. States, well, the Danes haven't yet agreed to do that. The figures that I've seen floating around of

$700 billion, I think Trump is remotely interested in spending that kind of money for Greenland. What he wants is a straight transfer of Greenland from Denmark to the United States. He's made it absolutely clear that if the United States doesn't get Denmark's agreement, he's going to take action, even military action, to achieve it. And I think that the other Western governments, the European governments, knowing this perfectly well, are going to move heaven and earth over the next few weeks and months to try to get Friedrichson and the Danes to change their mind and to give Trump what he wants, to give him Greenland. Because from their point of view, preserving the security system, the existing security system in Europe, which is falling apart,

NATO is far more important than Greenland, which they don't care about. If these troop deployments were a message to anybody, they were a message to the other European states to the Danes. We are not there with you on this. Yeah, and I think the people of Greenland, which no one talks about, I think the people of Greenland understand that Europe, the EU is not going to be able to help them. I was listening to an interview with the foreign minister of Greenland. I mean, she just broke down.

She broke down crying, right? I mean, it's as you said, that NATO, the preservation of NATO and preserving the illusion of this transatlantic partnership, because that's how they view it. They don't view themselves as vassals. They view themselves, the globalist elite of Europe, they view themselves as partners with the United States. And under Biden, they thought they actually had that. They did it, but Biden played along with it, the Biden administration.

Trump doesn't play along with it. He doesn't. He makes it clear. You're the vassals. Trump is very clear about that, and they can't stand that. And so they want to preserve NATO because without the United States, there is no NATO. And I don't think the United States wants to get rid of NATO. I don't think the U.S. deep state, the systems, the architecture of the United States,

wants to get rid of NATO either. But they want to make sure that NATO remains intact, and I think they want to make sure that their ideology, the illusion of this unity and this partnership remains intact as well. So the most likely outcome is some sort of a sale of Greenland to the United States. Maybe Trump, maybe he can be convinced to create some sort of an arrangement with Greenland. But, you know, I think a lot of what's driving Trump, Trump the man, is that he wants to expand to the United States. He wants another state. I know that there's all kinds of other interests.

Absolutely. I understand the Arctic. I understand the minerals. I understand the AI. I understand all of that stuff. But I think for Trump, what motivates him is to be able to say, my legacy, my legacy is president. I grew the United States in territory. Yes. I think you're absolutely right.

I think everything else that we're hearing is a rationalization to explain, a rationalization for what Trump viscerally wants to do. He wants to, he wants the United States at the end of his time as president to be bigger than it was when he became president. That's what he basically wants. and that is what is driving him. And I'm going to say this, if the Europeans do want to sell Greenland to Trump, they want to do that deal, they need to do that very fast.

Because the longer this takes, the less Trump, I suspect, is going to be prepared to negotiate the kind of terms that, you know, the face-saving terms that the Europeans might want. So $700 billion, there's no chance, I think, that Trump would be prepared. to put up that kind of money. $10.50 billion, maybe. But $700 billion, forget it. And if you don't agree this quickly,

then in a few months' time, he'll just step in and he'll take it. And you know something if he does do that? He knows the people in Washington know that the Europeans will accept it to. There'll be some complaints, there'll be a lot of grumbull. They'll be hand-rigging, there'll be agonized articles appearing in some of the European media.

But the Europeans want to keep NATO going. The deep state in Washington absolutely wants to keep NATO going. They will understand that this is a major blow for Denmark, but Denmark ultimately is a small country. They were not going to sacrifice. what they see as their key interests because the Danes want to hold on to Greenland. So it would be the humiliation of a small country in Europe. It will be a very, very shabby deal

in which the Europeans basically collude in the taking of a large part of its territory by the United States in this case. something which as I pointed out is not that different from what happened in 1938 and the appeasement of that time which many people have talked about people always bring up

those events and make all sorts of comparisons with events that are taking place today this is closer to that situation than anyone that I've seen it's not identical because the government in the United States is completely different. But anyway, they will, they will give Trump what he wants because Denmark, ultimately, its concerns are not that important, but preserving the United States alliance, the NATO system.

Absolutely, absolutely is. Too much, too many jobs in Brussels depend on it. Too much money revolves around it. And of course, not so much the security interests, but the status of the European states, their ability to go around the world to present themselves as important players by saying that, you know, we are allies of the great superpower, the United States. All of that is too important to them in the end. Yeah, this is a globalist thing. Absolutely, yeah. It doesn't have to do with the people. It has to do with the globalists. Absolutely.

Or even the threat from Russia, which I don't think deep down anybody really believes. But you know the interesting part about Trump's post on True Social, where he mentions NATO for NATO to talk to Denmark and to get Denmark to give up Greenland. The interesting part about that post is that he linked an article from just the news. and it was an article which referenced a 2005 Denmark Intel security paper. And in that paper, in all their Russophobia, in that paper, they identified Russia and China as a threat to Europe, to Denmark, and of course, to Greenland, right, to Denmark, to the Arctic. And so they come up with this paper, say six months ago, a year ago, whatever, three months ago, they come up with this paper, they think that the whole NATO alliance, including the United States, the whole structure and architecture is going to look at this paper and say, yeah, Russia, enemy number one, China, enemy number two, okay, Denmark, we'll beef up your security, we'll give you more money, we've got your back. That's what they're thinking, and it's all that Russophobia that they put into the paper.

what does Trump do? He throws that in the face of Denmark. And he says, well, you know, you're, you told me, you told us in your paper that you're afraid of Russia. And so I'm telling you, we're the only country that can protect Greenland from Russia. So give us Greenland. I mean, he threw it right in their faces. So I mean, I guess my point is that is that they did it to themselves. Absolutely. They maneuvered themselves in this position going all the way. back to Maidan and to Biden and to everything. They maneuvered themselves in this position. Europe as a whole. They gave up their sovereignty a long time ago. And there has been no more outspoken supporter of this anti-Russian policy than Denmark and its current Prime Minister, Prime Minister Friedrichson. I mean, they have created the rhetorical, you know, the rhetorical basis, which makes this act by the United States plausible. I mean, if they'd worked to maintain stability in Europe,

to maintain good relations or peaceful relations with the Russians, if they'd resisted the temptation of getting involved in Ukrainian affairs, if they'd not listened to Biden. And by the way, Obama as well, Obama played an even more clever Raoul in winning the Europeans over. He was even more skilled at getting the Europeans to think that he was on their side. Well, he never really was, by the way. Anyway, if they'd been much more focused on preserving their own interests,

as European leaders once upon a time knew how to be, then they wouldn't be in this position. And the people who are going to pay the price are the Danes, and the Danes brought it to a great extent on themselves. because they were enthusiastic supporters of this whole policy. Yeah. You know, we can't forget Ursula's meeting with Trump in Scotland. There was no pushback with the trade agreements or whatever they came up with.

She didn't argue one point. She agreed to everything that Trump demanded. Now, whether they've given the money to the U.S. and tariffs, okay, that's a whole different issue. But as far as what they agreed on, she didn't defend Europe. She didn't say, no, I can't do this or I can't do that. She didn't negotiate at all. And my hunch is that this is exactly how the whole Denmark thing is, the agreement thing is going to go. It's just incumbent on Trump as to what he's willing to give to Europe or to Denmark in order for them to save some face.

I think that's what it all comes down to. That is all that there is. And I don't think he's prepared to give them very much. because he's, I think, smelled their weakness, and he's going to take advantage of it. And as I said, if the Europeans do try and push back, if they come along to Washington and ask for $700 billion, he's going to tell them, go away.

I'm not giving you giving that kind of money. I want Greenland. I want it now. Give it to me. And they will. He knows that in that situation, they will. So it's never a good idea, as a British politician once said, to walk empty into a into a negotiation, to go into the negotiating room with no cards to play.

The Europeans here have no cards to play. Yeah. All right. We will end the video there. The durand. Dot loggos.com. We are on X and we are on Rumble. and Telegram. We are also on Substack. So check us out on Substack. The link is down below in the

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