A NATO patrol in the Arctic could be a way to checkmate Trump on

Nato Patrol Post in Arctic Could Be a Way to Counter Trump on Greenland

A larger Nato presence in and around Greenland is set to be discussed at today's meeting between Troels Lund Poulsen, Vivan Motzfeldt, and Mark Rutte.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and foreign affairs minister in Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, are set to meet with Nato's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, today. (Photo: © Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix) 31 minutes ago

Security in and around the Arctic is the focus when Danish defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, and foreign affairs and research minister in Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, meet with Nato's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, today.

This comes in the wake of American president Donald Trump's constant messages about wanting to own Greenland.

After a meeting in the Foreign Policy Committee last week, Troels Lund Poulsen (V) made it clear that Denmark needs a larger presence in the Arctic from Nato.

How such a presence might look is still unclear, but it can be assumed that it is something that Denmark and Greenland will bring up in connection with today's meeting.

This is Rasmus Brun Pedersen's view, who is a lecturer in international politics at the Institute of Political Science at Aarhus University.

- I think that from the Danish side, it would be quite reasonable to expect some sort of assurance from Nato's secretary-general and a group of countries about launching a genuine Nato mission in the Arctic region, he tells P1 Morgen.

A Nato mission

A statement like this, which orlogskaptajn Johannes Riber from the Center for Arctic Security Studies at the Defense Academy has previously been out to refute in Politiken (https://politiken.dk/internationalt/art10682155/Norsk-og-dansk-forsker-har-et-helt-andet-billede-af-fl%C3%A5deaktiviteterne-ved-Gr%C3%B8nland-end-Trump), as well as Lars Løkke Rasmussen has previously been out to say, that the Americans misunderstand the security situation in Greenland.

Nevertheless, a larger Nato presence could be a response to Trump about addressing his fear of Russian ships, explains Rasmus Brun Pedersen.

- Therefore, it is important in one way or another to show that Nato collectively can lift the deterrence in the Arctic region, he says and elaborates:

- It is important for Denmark to maintain the multilateral course and to commit Nato to security there.

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A Nato Patrol Post

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One of the concrete tools that Nato has previously used to strengthen its presence is to establish a so-called 'sentry' – a patrol post.

This was done in January last year in the Baltic Sea with 'Baltic Sentry'. The goal is to monitor and protect critical undersea infrastructure against sabotage through increased military presence. This was put into action after several episodes of damage to critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

BBC and Politico (https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-and-norway-back-arctic-sentry-nato-mission-including-in-greenland/) have recently described how the British foreign minister has been out and appealing for the establishment of a similar initiative in the Arctic, and that Norway also supports it.

If Ole Ryborg, DR's correspondent for EU and Nato, is to be believed, it is unlikely that Troels Lund Poulsen and Vivian Motzfeldt will get anything concrete out of the meeting with Rutte later today.

For if Nato were to decide to establish a Nato mission like Baltic Sentry, it would require broad agreement among Nato countries, explains he.

Ole Ryborg also notes that a genuine Nato mission in and around Greenland is something that several countries have mentioned as a possibility.

- One could do something similar around the Arctic, a 'Arctic Sentry' as a presence for security, he says.

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The Next Step

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At a press conference in Croatia last week, Nato's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, was asked several times about his views on the situation in Greenland and Trump's threats to take over the land.

- We will follow up on our discussions about the Arctic, and ensure that we as an alliance act together and through our alliance partners to ensure the continued security of the Arctic, which we all agree should be a priority, it sounded among other things from Mark Rutte.

He was also asked about his views on the idea of an 'Arctic Sentry' or a 'Greenland sentry'.

- I expect that in the coming weeks there will be discussions about how we take the next step, Rutte replied last week.

According to Ole Ryborg, one should not read too much into what Rutte says publicly.

- He operates behind the scenes. If he started a verbal confrontation with Trump, his influence, and the possibility of influencing what will happen, would fall dramatically.

- As long as he has not done anything, and he talks with Trump, he has influence. I think one should be very careful in interpreting anything about what he does and does not do based on what he says publicly, says Ole Ryborg.

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