WASHIGNTON
\nUS officials have discussed sending lump sum payments to Greenlanders as part of a bid to convince them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the United States, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
\nWhile the exact dollar figure and logistics of any payment are unclear, US officials, including White House aides, have discussed figures ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per person, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
\nThe idea of directly paying residents of Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark, offers one explanation of how the US might attempt to \u201cbuy\u201d the island of 57,000 people, despite authorities\u2019 insistence in Copenhagen and Nuuk that Greenland is not for sale. The tactic is among various plans being discussed by the White House for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US military.
\nBut it risks coming off as overly transactional and even degrading to a population that has long debated its own independence and its economic dependence on Denmark.
\n\u201cEnough is enough … No more fantasies about annexation,\u201d Greenland\u2019s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday after US President Donald Trump again told reporters the US needed to acquire the island.
\nLeaders in Copenhagen and throughout Europe have reacted to comments by Trump and other White House officials asserting their right to Greenland in recent days with disdain, particularly given that the US and Denmark are Nato allies bound by a mutual defence agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHIGNTON US officials have discussed sending lump sum payments to Greenlanders as part of a bid to convince them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the United States, according to four sources familiar with the matter. While the exact dollar figure and logistics of any payment are unclear, US officials, including White House aides, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n