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Trump, NATO, Greenland
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.
The BBC reports that Denmark's prime minister said that if the US were ever to take Greenland by force it would spell the end for the alliance, while Trump acknowledged that his earlier thoughts on this subject had upset his relations with Nato.
The BBC also quotes Trump criticizing Sir Keir Starmer, saying: "We didn't need any help at all. We didn't need any help at all."
Analisi Difesa frames the same Greenland episode as Trump first unleashing "almost a war" by claiming the right to occupy Greenland with peaceful means or with force, and then waiting only a few hours to again target European "allies" after a Davos speech.
In the same BBC account, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged partners to give attention to air defence work "And this cannot wait until 2030 or beyond, Europe needs affordable mass-produced anti-ballistic systems as soon as possible."
Rearming Europe, Afghan claims
The BBC describes Nato delegates getting down to serious business of rearming Europe, including large contracts for a new fleet of transport aircraft to be built by Airbus and plans to replace Nato's ageing AWACS with Sweden's GlobeEye planes.
The BBC also reports that Trump singled out the UK for criticism despite Sir Keir Starmer allowing him to launch airstrikes on Iranian missile sites from British airbases, and it places Zelensky’s remarks alongside Russia’s ballistic missiles smashing into residential buildings in Kyiv.
Analisi Difesa says that on returning from Davos to Washington, "Bulldozer Trump" gave an interview to Fox News recalling the war in Afghanistan and claiming that European "allies" say they sent troops to Afghanistan but "they fell behind a bit, somewhat distant from the front lines."
The Analisi Difesa piece adds that Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on TV that "I consider President Trump's statements offensive and frankly shocking," and it says Starmer added he would have certainly apologized in the American president’s shoes.
It also recounts that the BBC’s Nato setting is paired with a fear that once the war in Ukraine stops, Russia will embark on a rapid rearmament programme and be in a position to threaten Nato territory within four years.
Ukraine aid, PURL leverage
Slate.fr says the Pentagon is considering redirecting part of the weapons initially destined for Ukraine to the Middle East to support the United States' war effort, and it ties the move to rapid consumption of critical munitions in "less than four weeks of fighting" when U.S. Central Command would have struck more than 9,000 targets.
Slate.fr further says the Pentagon could activate a lever by diverting weapons funded through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), and it states that Patriot and THAAD systems have already been redeployed from Europe and East Asia to the Middle East to protect American forces.
Startmag says that at the NATO summit opening on Tuesday in Ankara, the American push for PURL would become evident, and it states that the mechanism enables Washington to sell equipment and ammunition for 4 billion dollars, financed by European contributions.
Startmag quotes U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announcing that weapons sold through PURL would be billed at prices above market, and it adds that no European ally protested.
Touteleurope.eu frames the Greenland dispute as a repeated threat and notes that U.S. President Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One: "We need Greenland. It’s a matter of national security," while it also explains that NATO Article 5 requires an "armed attack" and a request or acceptance of collective action by Denmark.
