Four Danes here, a defense attaché from the British Embassy in Denmark there. The uniformed soldiers strolled the quiet streets of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on Thursday, January 15, appearing not to trouble anyone. Quite the contrary. Having arrived the previous evening aboard two C-130 Hercules aircraft, the majority of the contingent consisted of Danish soldiers. The mission, dubbed Arctic Endurance, has been reinforced by personnel from several European countries, including five French soldiers.

Hastily decided by the kingdom of Denmark, the joint operation is not linked to the command structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, unusually, has no officially announced start or end date. According to one source, it was launched in response to a “political emergency.” The move was meant above all as a show of unity in the face of United States President Donald Trump’s stated appetite for taking control of Greenland, by force or otherwise. “I don’t think troops in Europe impact the [US] president’s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt immediately responded Thursday afternoon.

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