Norwegian leader says he received Trump message that reportedly ties Greenland to Nobel Peace Prize
Oslo (AP): Norway's prime minister said Monday that he received a message from US President Donald Trump about rising tensions over Greenland in which the American leader reportedly said he no longer felt obligated to think purely of peace since he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Store, first reported by PBS, appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark.
To force European countries that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland toward talks, Trump on Saturday announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations, including Norway.
Those countries issued a forceful rebuke. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. While the White House has not ruled taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force, Starmer said he did not believe military action would occur.
"I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion,” he said.
Still, the American leader's message to Store could further fracture a US-European relationship already strained by differences over how to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, previous rounds of tariffs, military spending and migration policy.
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change the their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote. “We stand firm on dialogue, on respect, and on international law.”
In a post on social media, PBS reported that Trump said in a message to Store: “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
It concluded: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
PBS said the message had been forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in Washington.
Store confirmed Monday that he had received a text message from Trump but did not release its contents. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
He said Trump's message was a reply to an earlier missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement, pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation among the three leaders.
“Norway's position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” Store said.
“As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who said he planned to keep it though the committee said the prize can't be revoked, transferred or shared with others.
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated they would be retaliation for last week's deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
European governments said that the troops travelled to the island for Arctic security training in response to Trump's own concerns about interference from Russia and China.
Starmer on Monday called Trump's threat of tariffs “completely wrong” and said that a trade war is in no one's interest.
He added that “being pragmatic does not mean being passive and partnership does not mean abandoning principles.”
Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President Antonio Costa said Sunday that the bloc's leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.”
He is expected to convene a summit later this week.
Starmer indicated that Britain, which is not part of the EU, is not planning to consider retaliatory tariffs.
“My focus is on making sure we don't get to that stage,” he said.
Denmark's defence minister and Greenland's foreign minister are expected to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels on Monday, a meeting that was planned before the latest escalation.
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Cong will raise repealing of MGNREGA during upcoming parliament session: Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that the Congress, which has launched a nationwide fight against the central government for repealing the UPA-era rural employment law MGNREGA and replacing it with a new one, will also raise the issue during the upcoming parliament session.
He, however, did not wish to comment on the leadership tussle between CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar over the Chief Minister post in Karnataka, and the Congress high command's intervention in this regard.
"During the upcoming parliament session too, we will raise the issue. The fight against this (repealing of MGNREGA) is underway everywhere in every district. In Karnataka, protests are also planned. The fight on this issue is a continuous programme," Kharge told reporters here.
Stating that a programme has been organised against the repeal of MGNREGA at Nehru auditorium in Delhi on January 22 at 10 am, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said he along with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be launching it, and several NGOs are participating in it.
The Modi government, by striking at the root of the MGNREGA programme, has caused a shock to the poor, he further said, adding that "MGNREGA ensured right to work, which the central government has today snatched away."
The Budget session of Parliament will be held from January 28 to April 2.
The Congress party, which is fighting against the central government for repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), is demanding for its restoration by scrapping the new Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act.
Alleging that the central government has also caused loss of thousands of crores to the state governments by increasing the state's share under the new act to 40 per cent from the ten per cent that was there earlier under the MGNREGA, Kharge said, "By removing MGNREGA they want the poor to become bonded labourers. They want them to live like slaves."
