The Greenlandic capital of Nuuk’s mayor Avaaraq Olsen (Image: DAILY RECORD)
The Mayor of Greenland’s capital city has admitted that she is now dreading the day that American warships appear on the horizon. Avaaraq Olsen said it is clear the fear felt among the 20,000-strong community of Nuuk is growing by the day.
The civic leader has issued a personal message to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is seeking to co-ordinate a NATO response to the growing crisis over Greenland by sending troops for a major security force to persuade Donald Trump that his US intervention is not necessary. The mayor said: “Denmark or others make plans and announcements about Greenland – but they talk about us without us. So if Keir Starmer wants to plan anything like that, or even talk about it, he should definitely include the inhabitants of Greenland.”
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General views of Greenlands capital Nuuk (Image: DAILY RECORD)
Speaking in her office in Nuuk’s Civic Hall, Ms Olsen points to the fjord that is visible from the window and says: “Yesterday I needed to take a walk, on the path we have on our coast line.
“There’s always this calming feeling when you listen to the ocean. I was standing myself and it was getting dark, and then a boat came and it was dark and it had no lights on.
“And suddenly I was wondering, will they (the US) come without the light?
“And even though I’ve been the one who’s telling everyone to keep calm I also understand that people are afraid.
“I really understand why people are looking towards the sky and the ocean for what might come.”
Olsen admits that she is normally circumspect in dealing with the media – but she has cast aside her caution due to the severity of the US threat.
She claims that people have become distressed due to the “fake news” spread directly by Donald Trump and his top table team – led by son Donald Jnr, who visited Nuuk last January.
Donald Trump Jnr in Greenland last year (Image: Getty)
She said: “To Donald Trump I would say I don’t want him here. That would just show another way of disrespecting us if he came.”
“I really do think that they have to stop lying about Greenland.. like when he said that they are he said somewhere that we have Russian and Chinese ships surrounding Greenland.
“That kind of state statement is also hurting people in Greenland. Really the lying has to stop.”
Ms Olsen said older people had been traumatised by the fear of hostile ships, as they assumed that when a powerful head of state made a statement it would be true.
When Donald Trump Jnr and top ally Charlie Kirk – who was later murdered in a crime that shook the world – visited Nuuk last January, Ms Olsen claims another round of fake news erupted
She said: “That was a circus – or perhaps a sh**-show. “
She said Trump Jnr’s people rounded up unemployed men who congregated, by habit, close to the city’s mall.
They were all offered a free lunch at a swanky restaurant and then asked to wear MAGA hats – which resulted in photos being distributed to suggest the Tump team, who arrived in Greenland on the “Trump Force 1” jet were given a great welcome by Greenlanders,
Trump Jnr’s visit also brought, Ms Olsen claims, a situation where schoolchildren were handed $100 bills, presumably to win their hearts and minds – which she claims local people were furious at.
She said: “We had these influencers coming, and they handed out $100 bills for children. And they even went to schools, knocked on the door to the classrooms and wanted to interview children and young people, it was so ugly what happened.”
Ms Olsen said the protesting of Greenlanders had led to US Vice President JD Vance abandoning plans to turn up in Nuuk, opting instead to visit the US military base Pituffik – where he could control the messaging.
She said: “For Greenlanders, we are very not so outgoing about our opinions, and it takes a lot for us demonstrate.
The existential threat to Greenland has jolted its people in a similar way to the Coronavirus crisis.
Ms Olsen said: “I remember when Corona first hit, it felt surreal, like we were in a movie. That’s exactly how we feel right now.
“It’s really hard to predict what’s next.
“People have these feelings of fear yet I also see people really just trying to live our daily life.
“When we have the hardest time in Greenland, we laugh. So I think there is a lot of laughing going on, even though it’s scary. “
Ms Olsen said the people of Greenland don’t want to be American or Danish – they want to be free.
She said families are already longing for the day they can get back to normal, with the glare of the world on them.
Hopeful that a summit with Greenlandic, Danish and American political leaders next week will offer an unlikely glimmer of hope.
Ms Olsen said: “Whatever comes of that can give us an idea of how this is going to develop from here, because right now it’s so hard to imagine. Everything changes from day to day.”
It was revealed on Sunday that Keir Starmer was brokering talks with Nato allies about beefing up the west’s military presence in the Arctic, to fend off Donald Trump’s threat to take over Greenland.
Downing Street said the PM took growing Russian aggression in the region “extremely seriously”.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told reporters that the EU was “accelerating our work” in Greenland as part of efforts to boost “Arctic security”.