The Trump administration backs Ukraine security guarantees against Russia and says it hopes to acquire Greenland.

Trump’s threat to annex an autonomous part of Denmark has plunged NATO into an unprecedented situation: An alliance based on collective defense now faces the prospect that one member might attack another.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reinforced Greece’s commitment to European and transatlantic stability during a high-level summit in Paris.

But prospects for progress are uncertain: The Trump administration’s focus is shifting to Venezuela while U.S. suggestions of a Greenland takeover are causing tension with Europe, and Moscow shows no signs of budging from its demands in its nearly 4-year-old invasion.

Greenland's strategic location above the Arctic Circle makes it a focal point in global security and trade debates

In this framing, Trump’s actions are part of the emergence of a multipolar world, in which the great powers are the US, China, India and Russia. In this world, it makes sense for Russia to invade Ukraine to counter the US, for the US to seize assets in Venezuela and Greenland to counter China, and for China to invade Taiwan to counter the US.

Indeed, Europe has already bent the knee to Trump on multiple fronts. Beyond the defense spending, a European “coalition of the willing” has taken on the entirety of backing Ukraine with billions in defense aid and the European Union swallowed a 15 percent U.