Nordic measuring contest
Greenland, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Israel, Palestine, and Sudan.
The five things you need to know today:
GREENLAND. Competition for a cold place heats up.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Hints of a mid-year deadline for a deal.
GERMANY. A looming choice between the right and the far right.
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. As Gazans return, Netanyahu plans a trip to Washington.
SUDAN. A breakthrough in Khartoum presents an opening for Moscow.
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GREENLAND. Norse saga
Competition for a cold place heats up.
Denmark announced $2 billion in new spending on Greenland's defence Monday, including funds for three new ships. Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski joined a Greenlandic MP in slamming Donald Trump's proposal to buy the island.
INTELLIGENCE. Murkowski, a longstanding GOP moderate, is unlikely to change Trump’s mind, and nor is Denmark. While Trump may claim in future to have negotiated greater defence spending from a NATO ally, he’ll likely keep pushing for Greenland’s annexation, whether to get better trade terms from Denmark (a big pharmaceutical exporter), distract from other controversies, or hedge against Chinese influence should Greenland one day gain independence.
FOR BUSINESS. Trump’s quest to buy Greenland once seemed like a joke. It later seemed a particularly obtuse way to strong-arm Denmark and the EU. That’s likely the case, but increasingly it seems he wants it because he wants it. Rare earths and Arctic real estate, which the US already has in abundance, may rationalise annexation, but like Putin on Ukraine, or Xi on Taiwan, this is ultimately about a septuagenarian leader wanting a legacy of territorial expansion.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Midsummer murmurs
Hints of a mid-year deadline for a deal.
Kyiv denied Monday its intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, had told parliament Ukraine would collapse unless peace talks began by summer. The EU renewed Russian sanctions after Hungary relented. The town of Velyka Novosilka fell.
INTELLIGENCE. Budapest delayed an extension until the last minute, ostensibly to push Kyiv into resuming gas exports. But