Danish king changes royal coat of arms in apparent rebuke of Trump over Greenland row
(www.independent.co.uk)
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2025 20:00
https://lemmy.world/post/23960795
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2025 20:00
https://lemmy.world/post/23960795
Summary
Danish King Frederik has redesigned the royal coat of arms to prominently feature symbols of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, replacing the historical three crowns, in an apparent rebuke to Donald Trump’s renewed interest in buying Greenland.
The change underscores Denmark’s commitment to maintaining its territorial integrity.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede firmly rejected Trump’s suggestion, declaring, “Greenland is ours.”
This marks the fourth revision of Denmark’s coat of arms since 1819 and highlights Greenland’s century-long political and cultural ties to Denmark despite U.S. military presence on the island.
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Citation needed
EDIT: Apparently people in this thread think I don’t believe Trump said anything. The citation I am looking for here is, that the change to the coat of arms is in any way related. I posted this further down:
C’mon. It’s so apparent.
apnews.com/…/trump-greenland-norway-panama-canal-…
theguardian.com/…/trump-buying-greenland-ownershi…
www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgzl19n9eko
I am not contending that orange man said some stuff, I am contending that the change of my country’s coat of arms is in any way related to that. The royal family has done a huge job of improving relations with Greenland for years, this is a drop in the bucket and has probably been in the works since the king succeeded the Queen last year. Not everything that happens does so because of American politics.
Trump made a Truth Social post saying the US should look into buying Greenland. Like essentially everything Trump says it’s utter bullshit and not something that could actually happen, and certainly not something Trump of all people could make happen. This is just Denmark subtly giving the finger to Trump which means the effort is wasted as anything more subtle than a baseball bat to the face won’t register with Trump.
Honestly, buying Greenland is the most feasible of Trump’s territorial expansion proposals. There aren’t that many Greenlanders. They number 50,000 or so, and they all have Danish and EU citizenship.
The US could cut a check for $10 million USD to every man, woman, and child in Greenland, and the cost would come to about $500 billion. That’s a song for a territory that large and of such long-term significance.
And you wouldn’t be actually taking anyone’s land. Existing land ownership would be respected. All that would change is that Greeland would be part of the US, not Denmark. And if any Greenland citizens don’t want to live in the US, they can retire to Denmark and live well off the $20 million USD a couple of two would get.
The small population of Greenland makes otherwise impractical strategies like this possible. There’s so few Greenlanders that we could just cut them each enormous checks in order to buy them all out.
You can’t make a place part of another nation just by giving its citizens a lot of money. Greenland is still part of Denmark. Denmark would have to agree to it. So no, that’s not feasible.
Obviously you’re meant to read between the lines. You’re reading too literally. And also, you are wrong about this needing Denmark’s blessing.
Greenlandic Independence
Since you want it spelled out, here is the process of what US ‘buying’ Greenland would look like:
Run a campaign announcing that the US wants to buy Greenland, and they’re willing to give each Greenland citizen $10 million in order to do it. Assuming the population could be made agreeable to it, the next steps proceed.
The Greenland parliament announces a referendum declaring full independence from Denmark, a right they already have under existing Danish law and that they can exercise at any time.
The people of Greenland approve the referendum. Greenland gains independence from Denmark.
The new independent nation of Greenland signs a treaty of annexation with the US. One of the terms of that treaty is that every current Greenlandic resident will receive a check for $10 million USD.
If you think “aktually, you can’t buy Greenland!!!” is a valid criticism to this idea, you’re just thinking way too literally. You can, in practice, actually buy Greenland if the people there were willing to go for it. You’re not literally buying Greenland down at the store. You’re making a huge cash payment to each citizen a term in a treaty of annexation.
If the US want to peacefully annex Greenland, they don’t have to convince Denmark of anything. Denmark has already given the citizens of Greenland the full right to choose their own fate. All you need to do is to convince the 50,000 or so Greenlanders that being annexed by the US is a good idea. And their numbers are small enough that, unlike ideas of annexing Canadian territory, it would be practical just to write massive checks to every citizen of Greenland.
“Buying Greenland” sounds like an incredibly ridiculous idea. But in terms of potential territorial expansions that Trump has floated, it’s actually the most practical by far.
Governments exist by the consent of the governed. Give the governed enough money and they’ll consent to anything. So yeah, you can.
Yeah, but if we go that way, they could accept the money, pretend they sold the place, and then just go “sike”. Legal by decree of the Danish crown, suckers.
Sure, if you can convince everyone else to go along with that. And also be prepared to defend yourselves when the new owners show up with their army and say they own it now. Good luck defending that, both in war and in international court.
Who “everyone else”?
All other countries respect Danish sovereignty. The international court does not recognise breakaways by referenda anyway. See Catalonia, Scotland and countless other examples.
If anything, an attempted hostile takeover of Denmark would have us find out whether Swedish coastal subs can replicate their exercise results in actual combat and sink a few US carriers.
Also, the official status quo of the consequences of a broad US invasion of Europe is that the French will glass Washington and most major US cities with their nuclear subs, while international trade will be paralysed and the Chinese will become the sole superpower.
Under Danish law Greenland does have the right to unilaterally declare independence. Seriously doubt that Greenland would bend the knee to the US, though, from political reasons (the Greenland right is to the left of the US Overton window) to, well, as a US state they wouldn’t have the right to declare independence. Joining Canada would be thinkable, the EU pretty much infinitely more likely.
Everyone else being all the other citizens who were given the money. You might take it and say nah, but not everyone else will.
The Danish state will say nah, not the Greenland people.
It’s mostly Dead Cat politics. A distraction, nothing more.
If there’s any real thought behind it, it’s to saturate their opponents with so much bullshit, they’ll thin themselves out to defend from it all, while they push through the few things that are important to them.
Oh fuck, Denmark has a flag. Now Trump has to make a flag or else he can’t claim it. No flag, no country.
Good, Trump can go and fuck himself.
They shouldn’t validate his idiocy by even responding to it.
I don’t know. It is getting more dangerous every day.
He’s not a threat to Denmark or Greenland and responding to it only encourages him.
How do you know that, exactly?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzn48jwz2o
Trump is as dangerous as Hitler, stop deluding yourself.
Jesus Christ, you’re worried about an actual war with Denmark and you think I’m the delusional one?
Trump is stupid and lazy, he’ll forget about Greenland by the end of whatever Fox News segment he’s currently watching.
There’s plenty to be worried about looking at the next four years, but this doesn’t even make the top 500.
Yes, you idiot. And so should everyone.
Frederik: The Kalmar Union is dead, long live Greenland!
Kalaallit Nunaat: Isn’t it a bit late for colonial wars? Can West-Britain and Southern Norway argue this out somewhere else?
US President Elect: What’s final price? Can you do better than that?
Well, Trump doesn’t have money anyway
This is very little about contemporary money.
Ok, so he rejected US interest in Danish territory… while simultaneously asserting Danish interest in part of Germany?
Nobody expected the Fourth Reich to start in Denmark!
He’s not the king of Sweden.
Not exactly; The Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein is a recognized political group within Germany. Their party, the ‘Südschleswigsche Wählerverband (SSW)’ (South Schleswig Voter Federation), is even exempt from the 5% rule.
So I read it more like he recognized these “exiles” as Danish, which they are.
Correct, what is funny is that the danish government is building stupid fences and had way too strict rules about crossing the border when Covid first hit, so they were the ones causing problems to people living in the border area.
As long as the Danish government isn’t playing up again there is no check on the border or anything, so it’s not a big problem if you live across the border from everything else you go to everyday.
And that’s one of my favourite things about the EU/Schengen-Area 🇪🇺
The South Schleswig Danish minority have been mentioned in every new year’s speech I can remember. It’s basically part of acknowledging everyone who feels ties to the kingdom of Denmark. Near the german border there is a danish minority in Germany and a german minority in Denmark. And to my understanding as someone not living near there it is a respected cultural thing on both sides. It is not something about laying claim to it. In this particular speech the very next sentence is about the king and queen feeling just what you quoted during their visit those places that year and how they are looking forward to visiting the Faroese islands. For context the king was crowned in 2024 so this was commentary on the first royal visit of the new reagents.
We stand with our Jutish brothers against the oppressive dictate of Rigsdansk, forcing people to put their articles on the wrong side of their nouns. Sjaellish devils, go back to Skane!
I sure wish I lived in a country that had the balls to tell Trump where to shove it rather than where I currently live, which is bending over backwards to elect a Trump clone who will willingly bend over at the first opportunity.
The worrying part is that no one has any idea what country you’re from
Making that polar bear a little larger sure showed Trump!
It’s for the Greenlanders. Not Trump.
Huh, they removed the three crowns. Kinda an important simbol.
A step away from restoring the Kalmar Union 😢
« In his first speech of 2025, King Frederik said: …We belong together. »
Mariah Carey National Solidarity Movement
It may have more to do with Greenland seeking independence: reuters.com/…/greenlands-leader-steps-up-push-ind…
very thin article, that. there is a danish law since 2009 that states that greenland will be granted independence if they ask for it. the polls suggest that people only want independence if it comes with no lowering of living standards (78% against in that case, from 2016).
so basically if a referendum comes in positive, denmark lets them go. they already transferred much of the local governance to the locals in 2009.
That’s far too subtle to even register on Trump’s feeble brain cell.
Bruh a literal full coat of arms change wouldn’t register to him. He’s dumb as fuck.
I think this is for the Greenlanders. It’s to make them feel acknowledged by the Danish and their monarch as an integral and equal part of their country.
Honestly, I just want to know who fed him this Greenland nonsense in the first place. I don’t think it’s his idea, originally.
Trump thinks a coat of arms is a jacket made of weapons that he can buy
This is not related to anything the US has been doing. It has been underway some time.
My first thought was that it’s very entertaining to see far right people clashing. Denmark is heavily infested with right wing politics as well.
My second thought was that last time the whole world decided to go right wing we got 2 world wars.
Heyyyy then we got mild socialism that kinda worked until a conservative court overturned all of the most effective reforms in favor of business…
This will unite the left and right in Denmark. And Denmark is probably the most left-wing country in the world, if you look at economic policy (maybe Norway beats them).
However, one should not forget that Denmark-Greenland is a real colonial problem, and Greenland deserves independence.
Still, I side with Denmark in this conflict. They should not be bullied into anything by US fascists that for sure will be even worse colonial overlords.
I don’t know that it technically is a colonial problem because the Inuit came to Greenland after the Vikings had already settled it (it was unsettled before the Vikings), but then Denmark came back after the Vikings had abandoned Greenland and re-claimed it.
The Inuit and the Vikings settled different parts of Greenland, but were close enough that they could see each other across the fjords. There isn’t much evidence for direct contact, probably because the devoutly Christian Vikings did not care for the animist Inuit.
All that aside, I do agree that they deserve independence if they want it.
Maybe imperialist is a better word. I’m not sure if the definition of “colonial” require that the subject population was there first.
I would say imperialist works better here. And I would agree with you about colonial as a use-phrase in general, but this is a special case where the Danes were there first and then they left and then came back. So it’s hard to call that colonial in this specific case.
jacobin.com/…/denmark-zero-asylum-immigration-ref…
Denmark is at the forefront of normalizing right wing ideas in general, and racism and Islamophobia in particular.
They are most certainly not the most left-wing country in the world.
When it comes to economic policy, they are.
Might be true if you’re white and not Muslim. It’s not mutually exclusive to be nationalistic and socialist at the same time if you think about it.
Probably true even if you’re a Muslim.
Anyway, the one dimensional political scale is useless (though for western alt-right movements it’s been quite useful). And most socialist movements have been nationalistic and internationalistic. If a country has to provide welfare to all citizens of the world, to be considered left-wing, well do you know of any such example?
The german national socialists, which you might be referring to, were not very left-wing on economic policy. At least not after 1934. Both the national socialists and the danish social democrats advocate some form of corporatism, but the Danish social democratic version is much more social leaning and labor unions are independent and relatively powerful.
Now we can all wait for Musk to say how Denmark needs to be overthrown by fascists
“Danish King.” Yea fuck off, not interested.
I’m a bit disappointed they removed Sweden from their shield. Lack of ambition.