The Greenland grab: is this how the Western alliance dies?

格陵兰岛争夺战

Insider

2026-01-23

45 分钟
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单集简介 ...

We have changed this week’s Insider schedule in order to take in news from the World Economic Forum in Davos. This show will be available to watch from 2pm London time (9am in New York) on Friday January 23rd. NATO allies have quarrelled before, but never quite like this. Donald Trump’s pursuit of Greenland—and his willingness to use intimidation and economic coercion to get it—could deal a deathblow to the post-war order. How far will the president push? And how should European leaders respond? Join Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Edward Carr, deputy editor, and a panel of our expert journalists as they discuss whether this could be the end of the West as we know it.
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  • Hi everyone and welcome back to The Insider from our studio in London.

  • I'm Edward Carr, the Economist's Deputy Editor, and another rollercoaster week.

  • Donald Trump threw the transatlantic alliance into confusion with his plan to annex Greenland.

  • With me to discuss this in the studio is Adam Roberts, our Foreign Editor.

  • Fresh from Davos, Shashank Joshi, our Defense Editor.

  • And still in the Alps, our Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes.

  • Welcome to all of you.

  • So, Trump arrived in Davos on Wednesday, and the first thing he did was restate his claim to Greenland.

  • But then he surprised everybody, because first of all, he withdrew his threat to impose tariffs.

  • Then he said that he wouldn't take Greenland by force, and then he announced talks.

  • So I want to answer three questions today.

  • The first one is, what was going on?

  • And does this mean that the Greenland spat is now over?

  • The second is, what does this week tell you about Trump's attitude to friendly countries and in particular Europe?

  • And then sort of looking forward, what does this mean for the future of NATO and the transatlantic alliance?

  • And Zanny, I want to start with you because you were there.

  • He'd wound everyone up into this state of anticipation, and then you all kind of muscled your way into the room.

  • What was it like?

  • Well, the room was full of hundreds, I think probably about a thousand people.

  • As you say, huge sense of anxiety because in the past few days,