
Denmark's King Frederik X arrives in Greenland, as Trump eyes strategic Arctic island
King Frederik X of Denmark arrived in Greenland on Tuesday, kicking off a visit to the semi-autonomous territory that US President Donald Trump wants to annex because of its strategic Arctic location.
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Frederik's trip to the island's capital city of Nuuk follows the new Greenlandic prime minister's visit to Copenhagen earlier this week. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen accompanied the monarch to Nuuk.
The king wore a jacket with emblems of the Danish and Greenlandic flags as he disembarked from the plane to applause.
Danish broadcaster TV2 asked Frederik about his mission during his trip. He said he was not on a mission, and he was happy to be there.
Nielsen also told reporters that the Danish royal house's love for Greenland cannot be questioned. He added that the monarch is well-liked on the island.
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The flight was originally scheduled for Monday, but was delayed because of poor weather.

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RTHK
6 days ago
- RTHK
New prisoner swap on cards after Ukraine-Russia talks
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Asia Times
21-05-2025
- Asia Times
US spy scandals show Western allies not as allied as portrayed
Denmark's Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen sounded surprised and emotional as he addressed a press conference on May 7. He announced he would call in the acting head of the US embassy in Copenhagen, Jennifer Hall Godfrey, over highly charged allegations that Washington has instructed its intelligence agencies to step up espionage on Greenland and Copenhagen. According to the Wall Street Journal, US intelligence operatives have been asked to collect information on Greenland's politicians, independence activists and mining interests that could be leveraged in a potential purchase or coerced transfer of Greenland to the US. Greenland is a semi-autonomous Danish territory that Donald Trump has stated he would like to become part of the US. The US State Department has refused to comment on the allegations and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said she was opening an investigation into leaks of classified information. 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Orban has even repeatedly attempted to block EU aid to Ukraine. The alleged discovery of a Hungarian spy network may ramp up the creeping distrust of Hungary by other EU members and the sense of it becoming even more closely aligned with Russia. There has even been a recently reported example of spying going on among countries that are loosely considered allies. North Korean spies were recently caught spying on China, for example. The Greenland and Hungary episodes, particularly, shed light on how the world order is being remade. We are in the middle of this shift, with technology-enabled intelligence playing a significant part. These episodes demonstrate that governments that thought they were allies are quickly discovering they could be adversaries. The US's reported efforts at spying on Greenland and Denmark are a window into the intelligence business. Intelligence efforts against allies are generally only curtailed when they become subject to a public scandal. Intelligence historian Richard Aldrich described this as 'regulation by revelation'. The inquiries into these operations normally result in a light censure from politicians or judges, pledges not to repeat the offences and subsequent changes to processes. Denmark claims the US has been spying on Greenland. What will happen in the Greenland case is as yet unclear, particularly when the Trump administration has shown itself to be particularly immune from public, media and political challenge. The most effective challenge to hostile activity against Greenland could be any ramifications for international stock market sentiment, but even that is not guaranteed. The reliance of the US Constitution and international law on participants behaving appropriately now looks strained under the Trump administration. The lack of restraint on US power may cause nations to rely more heavily on their own intelligence capabilities. 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Understanding where conflicts might erupt, why and with what force and consequence is essential to any nation's defence posture. Nations only know what equipment to buy, what resources to stockpile and how many people to employ in their militaries with this insight. Intelligence is as much about avoiding surprise as it is creating the circumstances to surprise others. In this sense, intelligence is just another tool of statecraft. Most nations have spied on their allies for as long as they have been able. During the Cold War, the US purchased the Swiss encrypted communications company Crypto AG and sold hundreds of secure communications devices with weakened security, which allowed it to listen in on the countries that were using it and gain intelligence This type of operation was the forerunner of the widespread intelligence practices of the US National Security Agency, which is in charge of collecting information for counterintelligence purposes, in recent years. For Denmark, the challenges of working with its allies through Nato, while defending Greenland, are increasingly complex. Meanwhile, the EU will also be concerned about what Hungary is sharing with its other 'friends.' International allies and alliances are increasingly untrustworthy as part of 2025 tectonic shifts in global geopolitics. The recent revelations are just part of that moving picture. Robert Dover is professor of intelligence and national security & dean of faculty, University of Hull This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
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