It appears, that Copenhagen is just beginning to realize that America is a much bigger threat to Europe than Russia. NATO is the mechanism America has used to control Europe, along with destroying Russia's ability to provide natural gas to Europe. But NATO would require all countries to protect Denmark if America attacked its state in Greenland. So, the thing to watch for is whether Trump dumps NATO and dares Europe (and Canada) to try and stop him. It could provide an excuse for Trump to invade Canada and make it the 51st state as he likes to think.
Ukrainian aid has crippled Denmark’s defense capabilities – Politico
Copenhagen has donated almost all of its armed forces’ heavy land-warfare equipment to Kiev, the media outlet claims
The donation of military aid to Kiev has depleted Denmark’s already limited defense capabilities, Politico reported on Friday.
The news outlet raised the issue in a report outlining a hypothetical scenario involving a military standoff between the Nordic country and the US over Greenland. Donations to Ukraine have made it even more difficult for Copenhagen to defend itself despite exceeding NATO’s 2% spending target, the report said.
US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he would like to acquire the Danish-controlled territory of Greenland, and refused to rule out a military takeover of the island earlier in January. Brussels responded to Trump’s comments by describing a potential US attack on the island as a “highly theoretical issue.” The topic has regularly appeared in the news headlines recently, with Reuters claiming that the incoming US president was “serious” about the acquisition.
Even though donations of heavy military equipment would not be a decisive factor in any potential conflict due to the massive disparity in the two nations’ defense capabilities, they have still crippled the Danish Armed Forces, Politico reported.
“Denmark has … significantly depleted its own arms stocks by giving artillery systems and tanks to Kiev, arguing that, unlike the Ukrainians, the Danes don’t face a direct threat from a hostile imperialist power,” the media outlet said, adding that “most of [the kingdom’s] heavy land-warfare equipment” had gone to the Ukrainian military.
That would still be of little significance in the event of a US attack, Politico maintained, as a nation with a defense budget amounting to $9.9 billion and armed forces totaling 17,000 soldiers would be facing a major power with the world’s biggest defense spending of $948 billion in 2024 and an army of 1.3 million personnel.
“That would be the shortest war in the world, there is no defensive capacity in Greenland,” Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Politico.
“Denmark has been very aware it cannot defend Greenland against anybody on its own,” said Kristian Soby Kristensen, a senior researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Military Studies. The Danish government is taking the issue “very seriously” and has no intention of escalating “a war of words” with the incoming US administration, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said this week.
Relying on NATO or the EU would also be problematic for Copenhagen, according to the report, since Brussels would simply be unable to muster any “genuine military force,” even if the EU Treaty’s mutual-assistance clause were triggered. It is also unclear whether Denmark could invoke Article 5 of the NATO treaty if attacked by another member of the bloc.
“You would essentially have a NATO member annexing the territory of another NATO member. So it would be pretty uncharted territory,” Agathe Demarais, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Politico.
Since February 24, 2022, approximately 40 million border crossings from Ukraine to other countries were recorded as of December 2024. Most of the refugees fled to Poland. More than 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded in Europe as of December 16, 2024.
Poles tired of Ukrainians – defense minister
Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz referred to “young Ukrainian men driving the latest cars or staying in five-star hotels” in the EU country
Poles are “fatigued” of Ukrainian migrants in their country, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has stated. The official partially attributed this sentiment to the sight of young men leading an ostentatious lifestyle in the EU nation instead of defending their homeland.
Nearly a million Ukrainians currently reside in Poland, according to UN estimates. While Poland opened its doors to those fleeing the neighboring country following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, attitudes towards Ukrainians among Poles have somewhat soured since then.
In an interview to the Financial Times published on Sunday, Kosiniak-Kamysz said: “Of course there is fatigue in Polish society, and it is understandable especially when people here see young Ukrainian men driving the latest cars or staying in five-star hotels.”
In October, the official voiced identical criticisms, arguing that young Ukrainian men flaunting their wealth were an affront to Polish taxpayers, who contribute to Warsaw’s military and financial aid to Kiev.
Around the same time, the Center for Public Opinion Research published a poll indicating that some 67% of Polish citizens were in favor of deporting male Ukrainian migrants back home.
Referring to a recent spat over the delivery of the remaining Polish MiG-29 fighter jets, the defense chief on Sunday also suggested that the Ukrainian leadership would do well to “remember that when others were only sending helmets, we sent tanks.”
In November 2024, Kosiniak-Kamysz similarly suggested that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had a “short memory.”
A month prior, Kiev slammed its NATO backers, and Poland in particular, over their failure to provide previously promised Soviet-era warplanes. Warsaw clarified that it needed the remaining MiG-29 fighter jets to ensure its own security before the F-35s that it has ordered arrive.
This is how NATO keeps the War Industry inventories moving. NATO is the War Industry's storefront.
In his interview to the FT, Kosiniak-Kamysz also ruled out deploying Polish peacekeepers to Ukraine once Kiev and Moscow seal a truce, calling for “greater burden sharing and diversification within NATO” instead.
Polish general dismissed after anti-tank mines found near IKEA
Maj. Gen. Artur Kepczynski, who oversaw logistics, reportedly hid their disappearance from his superiors
A Polish general has been dismissed after soldiers lost track of 240 anti-tank mines, which were later found in a train wagon near a warehouse belonging to Swedish furniture retailer IKEA.
The Polish Ministry of Defense announced the dismissal of Major General Artur Kepczynski, head of the Support Inspectorate, on Thursday, via a post on X.
The official statement from the ministry did not elaborate on the reasons for his dismissal, but local media have linked it to last July’s incident, when soldiers failed to unload part of a train carrying over 1,000 tons of explosives.
The oversight led to 240 anti-tank mines being moved around the country before eventually going missing. Major General Kepczynski, responsible for managing the military's logistics support system, reportedly concealed the disappearance of the mines from his superiors.
The mishap reportedly came to light when IKEA warehouse staff contacted the military, inquiring when they would collect their mines.
IKEA Industry Poland CEO Malgorzata Dobies-Turulska confirmed that on last July , PKP Cargo had reported the presence of a military box in one of the train wagons that arrived at IKEA Industry Orla. She said a representative of the freight carrier had opened the wagon, and the box was retrieved by military police the same day.
The mines involved are believed to be MN-123, used by the Polish military. They are designed to be deployed from vehicles to create minefields of varying densities to neutralize enemy vehicles.
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin-Niebuszewo has been conducting an investigation into the matter since August 2024. Charges of improper supervision of military property have been brought against four soldiers. They face up to five years in prison.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has acknowledged that several months passed between the time he learned of the incident and the general’s resignation. In an interview with RMF FM on Friday, he stated that the general had “drawn the consequences he was supposed to draw,” but added, “more could have been done,” explaining the decision.
The Defense Minister noted that military police had acted very quickly. He emphasized that “civilian supervision in this matter played a key role.”
Does that mean that the story would never have seen the light of day without civilian involvement? Do you think that if IKEA people were not involved the General would still have his job?
