Anti-US protests have erupted in Nuuk, Greenland, highlighting the profound geopolitical crisis triggered by former President Donald Trump's threats to acquire the vast Arctic territory, potentially by force. The dramatic scenes on 15 March 2025, captured by photographer Christian Klindt Soelbeck for Reuters, underscore a stark new reality: the liberal international order is history, replaced by a post-western era of illiberal disorder.
A World Without a Coherent West
According to leading historian and political writer Timothy Garton Ash, the threat to Greenland—a territory of NATO ally Denmark—parallels Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Even if an invasion never occurs, the mere proposition marks a definitive break. The findings of a major global opinion poll conducted in November 2024 for the European Council on Foreign Relations and the University of Oxford's 'Europe in a Changing World' project reveal the depth of the shift.
The research, the fourth annual survey since Russia's 2022 invasion, shows Trump's return to power has dissolved the coherent geopolitical West. Where once a transatlantic bloc stood united against Putin, now there is a vacuum. Trump's worldview, articulated by aide Stephen Miller, is governed by "strength ... force ... power," aligning closer to Putin than any post-1945 US president.
European publics have grasped this chilling change. On average, less than 20% of continental Europeans and just 25% of Britons now view the US as an ally. In Ukraine, that figure plummets to 18%. The rest of the world sees it too: a majority in China now perceives American and European approaches as distinct, not unified. The West, as a singular entity, is finished.
Europe's Imperative: A New, Harder-Nosed Internationalism
Garton Ash argues that Europe's response must be radical. Mourning the lost "rules-based system" or engaging in sycophantic appeasement of Trump is futile. Instead, liberal democracies must pioneer a new internationalism: faster, more flexible, and harder-edged. This means rejecting the use of force but embracing the pragmatic use of power, forming issue-based coalitions, and prioritising results over bureaucratic process.
This is a particular challenge for the EU, a slow-moving institution emblematic of the 1990s order. Yet, there are signs of change, such as the rapid support for Ukraine combining a "coalition of the willing" with EU mechanisms. Europe must now prepare to sustain Ukraine independently if US support vanishes.
The Greenland Test: Projecting Quiet Strength
The immediate flashpoint, however, is Greenland. Garton Ash insists any action must be guided by the elected governments of Greenland and Denmark, the fundamental difference between liberal democrats and authoritarian imperialists. Following the announcement of more European NATO troops for Greenland, and a high-level US-Denmark-Greenland working group, the disagreement with Trump remains unresolved.
The article proposes concrete steps for Europe and its allies:
- A high-profile visit to Nuuk by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, and Canadian PM Mark Carney to send a televised message of unity.
- Stationing visibly uniformed European and Canadian liaison officers in Greenland.
- The EU rapidly increasing financial support for Greenland, ahead of the 2028 budget, following Greenlandic PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen's statement of choosing Denmark and the EU.
- Initiating strategic talks on a future close relationship between a potentially independent Greenland and the EU.
- Privately reviewing a full range of economic responses, including selling US Treasury bonds, as a contingency against a military takeover, with outlines discreetly conveyed to the Trump White House.
The overarching need is for Europe, Canada, and other democracies to project quiet strength, power, and resolve. This is urgent, as the same poll shows Europeans are the world's leading pessimists, with nearly half doubting the EU can deal equally with the US and China. By practising this new, assertive internationalism, Europe might just start to believe in itself again.
