Ewa Stenberg

Säkerhetspolitisk reporter på Dagens Nyheter. E-post: [email protected] Bluesky: @ewastenberg.bsky.social

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Mysterious American Offered Taxi Driver $200,000 to sign petition supporting Greenland Joining the US

An elderly man offered a Nuuk taxi driver a large sum of money to sign what appeared to be a petition aimed at making Greenland part of the United States.

“Would you like 200,000 dollars?” the man asked taxi driver Danny Brandt.

Taxi driver Danny Brandt thought he had picked up an ordinary customer on Wednesday afternoon outside the taxi line at Hotel Hans Egede.

The elderly man, with short white hair and dressed casually, got into the cab, introduced himself as “Cliff,” and began speaking English with what Danny Brandt describes as a “heavy American accent.”

Brandt asked where he was from.

“Las Vegas,” the passenger replied immediately.

The two then chatted about gambling and blackjack, Danny Brandt told KNR.

But when the short ride ended outside the man’s destination, Hotel Søma, and the passenger was about to get out, the conversation took a dramatic turn.

“Would you like 200,000 dollars?” Danny Brandt recalls the man saying.

“For what?” Brandt replied.

“That’s the spirit,” “Cliff” responded, according to Brandt.

The man explained that Danny Brandt could receive 200,000 dollars by signing something.

“Signing what?” Brandt asked again.

Mysterious Offer to Taxi Driver

The man then showed him a stack of papers resting on his lap. On the top page, written in large bold letters, was something about a petition to make Greenland part of the United States.

Danny Brandt recalls that the document mentioned collecting signatures from “85 percent.”

He assumes this referred to signatures from 85 percent of the voting population.

Annoyed but professionally polite, Danny Brandt declined the offer, handed the papers back to the man, and said:

“I will never become part of the United States, neither under Donald Trump nor any other American president.”

“Okay, I respect that,” the man replied respectfully, according to Brandt, before stepping out of the taxi, looking at him, and saying:

“Just wait and see. You’re going to remember my name, Cliff. In January, your wife, your children, your parents — all of you Greenlanders — will each receive 200,000 dollars.”

Danny Brandt later described the incident in a Facebook post that quickly circulated among Greenlandic users on social media Wednesday afternoon.

Another person commented on the post saying they had received the same offer from the man outside Katuaq while walking toward Hotel Hans Egede.

Danny Brandt later reported the incident to the police and met with officers while cleaning his taxi.

“The police seemed very serious about it. They wanted to know every detail,” he said.

—KNR (Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation)

[Robert Dalsjö @MansRAD]

https://t.co/3RsS25pu3M

[Mikael Holmström @MikaelHolmstr]

Märkligheter när nya spionmyndigheten ska ersätta militära Must: får använda hemliga agenter köpa vapen, krigsmateriel och narkotika - ska lyda under UD men utan någon tillsyn enligt säkerhetskyddslagen. Vad kan gå fel?
https://t.co/MYdp8l25uw

[Ewa Stenberg @aewastenberg]

Natos avskräckning och trovärdigheten i artikel fem urholkas allt mer av dess starkaste medlem.

[Department of State @StateDept]

PRESIDENT TRUMP: NATO wasn’t there for us. We send billions of dollars to them every year to protect them. We would have always been there for them. But based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?

Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us?

[Niklas Orrenius @niklasorrenius]

Nu ligger frontreportaget av @sanna_bjorling och @karinapiliuhina även ute på nätet! https://t.co/4jQnugXfzi

[Henry Bolton OBE 🇬🇧 @_HenryBolton]

I’m deeply uncomfortable with this.

War is noisy, chaotic, messy, bloody, smelly and terrifying - after the event for me, rather than at the time.

When you’ve had someone’s head splashed over you, smelled the stench of someone’s flesh burning, seen corpses ripped apart and scattered across the ground, a dead persons guts spilled across the road and covered with dirt and flies…then you may realise that it’s not like a computer game, Hollywood film, or about cheering on a football team.

War is on another level. At the effects end it is serious beyond the comprehension of those who’ve not experienced it intimately.

It scars you.

When it comes to it, someone has to stand between those who would do harm and those to whom they would do it. But things that glorify war or portray it as a sport or game, as this video does, concern me.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Elements of the Chasseurs Alpins, an elite mountain infantry unit of the French Army, arrived yesterday at Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, in order to coordinate the arrival of additional air, ground, and naval forces in the coming days from Denmark, France, and several other allied nations in Europe.

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Following a meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Danish Parliament, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen says that he also has important meetings scheduled in the period ahead.

He has requested a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the meeting is set to take place on Monday in Brussels together with Greenland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt.

—DR

[Oscar Jonsson @OAJonsson]

Lite skrämmande tyvärr, men det är med viss igenkänning man kan läsa denna artikel.

"Det folk sa till mig när vi började med detta var: 'Ger du dig in i det där ska du veta att din karriär är över'"

[Ewa Stenberg @aewastenberg]

Natosamarbetet skakar i grunden. Men det politiska ledarskapet här i Sverige och i flera andra europeiska Natoländer väljer att inte diskutera det offentligt, i hopp om att hålla kvar det amerikanska stödet till Ukraina och Nato så länge det går.

[Ewa Stenberg @aewastenberg]

Den svenska Natostyrkan åker snart till Lettland på uppdrag. Tanken var att de skulle sköta kommunikationen med kartor, kompasser och en 14 kilo tung radio.
Då utbröt en kulturrevolution.
Läs mitt och Anders Hanssons reportage idag: https://t.co/P0UDBSQWqJ

[Pål Jonson @PlJonson]

Inspirerande att läsa om Brigaden P 7 med överste Annelie Olausson och stf brigadchef Andreas Ziegenfeldt i spetsen som på ett imponerade sätt snabbt implementerat ett fungerade ledningssystem med befintlig teknik.

https://t.co/yZlxEA1QYi

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Trump under pressure in New York Times interview: It could become a question of NATO or Greenland

In a wide-ranging interview, the New York Times asked the U.S. president what he considers the higher priority: preserving NATO or acquiring Greenland.

Donald Trump declined to give a direct answer, but acknowledged that “it could become a question.”

At the same time, according to the newspaper, he made it clear that the transatlantic alliance would be useless without the United States.

During the interview, Trump also said that ownership of Greenland was very important and justified the statement as follows:

“Because it’s what I feel is psychologically necessary for success. I think ownership gives you something that you don’t—you talked about a lease or a treaty—ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get just by signing a document.”

In the same interview, Trump also said that he “doesn’t need international law—I’m not out to hurt anyone.”

Source: DR

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Statement by the Premier of Greenland, Jens Frederik Nielsen:

January 4, 2026

“🇬🇱 Let me state this calmly and clearly from the outset: there is neither reason for panic nor for concern.

The image shared by Katie Miller, depicting Greenland wrapped in an American flag, changes nothing whatsoever. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts.

That said, the image is disrespectful.
Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights.

We are a democratic society with self-government, free elections, and strong institutions. Our position is firmly grounded in international law and in internationally recognized agreements. This is not in question.

Naalakkersuisut (Government of Greenland) continues its work calmly and responsibly. We engage in dialogue, safeguard our interests, and uphold the international rules that also bind our partners.

There is no reason for panic.
But there is every reason to speak out against a lack of respect. 🇬🇱”

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

The language in the 🇺🇸 National Security Strategy about priority for the Western hemisphere and a new version of the Monroe doctrine was obviously serious. Now Trump says that 🇺🇸 will run 🇻🇪 and have 🇺🇸 oil industry take over, threatens 🇲🇽 and brings 🇨🇺 in new focus. Is 🇬🇱 part of the same picture?

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

This is horrible.

[Natasha Bertrand @NatashaBertrand]

Trump says the US is going to be taking “a tremendous amount of wealth” out of the ground in Venezuela in the form of oil

[Robert Dalsjö @MansRAD]

"Det är ett nytt sätt att tänka. Om vi går ut och gör som vi har gjort traditionellt med våra pansarförband på ett fält i Skåne eller i Skövde kommer vi att bli ihjälslagna. Så enkelt är det." https://t.co/CsfSfDkAP6

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

The Tragic Success of Global Putinism

How the West underestimated an ideology’s animating force

The ideological overlap between MAGA and Putinism is striking

https://t.co/7STjd6nhFz

[DagensNyheterNyheter @DagensNyheter2]

USA:s nya säkerhetsstrategi har sänt chockvågor genom Europa. Sveriges tidigare statsminister Carl Bildt är inte övertygad om att USA verkligen kommer att ställa upp om Natos territorium skulle kränkas.
– Det skulle jag inte vara alldeles säker på, fak… https://t.co/2pQbegmb7v