I have written it many times before and I have reached an age where I like to repeat myself.
The attention we get from the Nordic countries, from the EU and from Canada, we must accept and try to translate into concrete goals. The Nordic countries and the EU are good for education, health and innovation, and their attention is followed up with respect. That is why we already have good cooperation with the EU and the Nordic countries.
I have written it many times before and I have reached an age where I like to repeat myself.
The attention we get from the Nordic countries, from the EU and from Canada, we must accept and try to translate into concrete goals. The Nordic countries and the EU are good for education, health and innovation, and their attention is followed up with respect. That is why we already have good cooperation with the EU and the Nordic countries.
The EU has opened an office in Nuuk, and we are now seeing the same from the Nordic countries. They are real tools to be able to enter into the dialogue with e.g. the Greenlandic business community, and it benefits both parties.
What takes up most of the press, however, is the attention Greenland receives from the United States. The USA sends one special type after another to Greenland. A governor from the southern states who knows nothing about Greenland at all and who obviously has no respect for us?! Now they are soon sending up a former TV host, and what is he going to do?!? Before that, they sent the president’s son and his entourage of extremists. Why them? What is it that America does not understand? Do they think we’re falling for the ones they send? Do they think we are impressed by their lack of knowledge about Greenland?
The lack of seriousness from the US, I believe, must have a consequence. We must officially announce that Greenland is putting all projects on hold in which the United States as a nation or American companies are involved. That pause must last as long as American frivolity lasts.
From the official Greenlandic side, it often sounds like we are “open for business”. Yes, thank you, but that message must be clarified further so that even the USA can understand it. Yes, we are “open for business”, but on Greenlandic terms. We are neither impressed by various characters nor by speeches that they want us well. The United States is in search of natural resources and will go to great lengths to get them. When there is talk that there may be If new American bases are to be opened, it is to be able to utilize the resources in the area.
The US directs criticism of our health sector. Again, the criticism is skewed. First, the American health care system is not for all citizens of the United States. The USA has far greater abuse problems than we have in Greenland. Ask yourselves what level of health care our Inuit tribesmen in Alaska have access to compared to the citizens of Greenland. It is probably not a comparison the US wants public focus on.
The United States has opened a consulate in Nuuk. It is okay to the extent that we can maintain diplomatic contact on a daily basis. But if the consulate is going to act as a sender of the same misinformation that their president stands for, then they should like to close and go back home.
I hope that the consulate consists of educated people who understand that, as outsiders, they must show respect for the Greenlandic way of life, to conduct dialogue, and that through this way agreements can be reached to the benefit of all parties.
In 2.5 years, the United States will have a new president. From the Greenlandic side, there is probably nothing so urgent that we cannot wait for the next president and his administration. Until then, let’s put the US on pause.
