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Greenland and NATO shock
At a NATO summit in Ankara, Donald Trump delivered a throwaway line repeating that the US should really take over Greenland, an island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a fellow Nato member.
“00:56 01:10 01:25 05:56 00:45 01:30 00:49 00:59 03:29 01:14 01:46 26:50 01:19 Mickaël Bosredon Published January 28, 2026 at 06:37 The Essentials What is NATO’s future after the Greenland crisis”
The BBC says Denmark’s prime minister has said if the US were ever to take Greenland by force it would spell the end for the alliance, while the same BBC account describes Trump’s disdain for Nato as he arrived because the summit was being hosted by his friend, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In parallel, RFI frames the Greenland episode as a reversal by Trump on Greenland and Europe’s trade relations, and says the debate is shaped by US Treasury bonds as “the financial weapon that worries Donald Trump.”
RFI adds that about 30% of the US debt is held by foreign investors and that “Europe is today the United States’ top international creditor,” linking financial leverage to shifts in market confidence.
RFI also quotes US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging Europe to avoid “an impulse of anger” on the Greenland dossier, as the Greenland dispute feeds into questions about NATO’s future and the US role in European security.
Rearming Europe, air defense
The BBC describes how Nato delegates at the Ankara summit are “rearming Europe” and how large contracts have been announced for a new fleet of transport aircraft to be built by Airbus, while Nato’s ageing fleet of AWACS early warning aircraft are to be replaced by Sweden’s GlobeEye planes.
The BBC also reports that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is here and warns that “Europe needs its own effective anti-ballistic system and missiles,” urging partners to give the work attention and saying it cannot wait until 2030 or beyond.
In the same BBC account, Zelensky’s plea is set against Russia’s ballistic missiles smashing into residential buildings in Kyiv, killing dozens of civilians, with air defence teams complaining of a desperate shortage of interceptors.
Euronews, meanwhile, quotes former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying “Europe should quickly become independent from the American security framework,” and argues Europe should strengthen its defense and build a volunteer coalition to constitute a solid European pillar of defense.
Euronews adds that Rasmussen said the war in Iran has threatened Europe’s ability to rebuild its defenses because American military stockpiles are exhausted, while the Pentagon would also be preparing to divert weapons purchased by European countries for use in Ukraine toward Iran.
Ukraine funding and leverage
As NATO grapples with rearming Europe, Slate.fr frames a US plan to siphon European military aid to Ukraine to fuel its war in Iran, describing it as diverting funds made available by several NATO member countries.
Slate.fr says the Pentagon could activate a lever by redirecting weapons funded through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), and notes that Patriot and THAAD systems have already been redeployed from Europe and East Asia to the Middle East.
The same Slate.fr account says the mechanism under NATO’s aegis allows some European countries to buy American weapons to deliver to Kyiv, while it also describes frictions in Europe as the Trump administration optimizes available means.
In a separate account, Start Magazine via Il Foglio says the agreement discussed at the June Hague summit is not public and that the Wall Street Journal called it a milestone, describing it as the first time Trump has decided to send weapons beyond those decided by the previous Biden administration.
Il Foglio adds that the Financial Times reported a conversation in which Trump asked Zelensky, “Can you strike Moscow? Can you strike St. Petersburg as well?” and that Zelensky answered “Sure. We can, if you provide us with the weapons.”
