the Arctic 2026: Greenland Crisis

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Political map of the Arctic & the Far North on 19 Jan 2026 (The Arctic Transformed: Greenland Crisis), showing the following events: Venta Maersk; Greenland Crisis.
Venta Maersk2018

In December 2025 US President Donald Trump triggered a crisis within NATO by threatening to take Greenland by force, prompting a number of European NATO members to start a military exercise on the Arctic island. However, the situation was largely defused when Trump decided to back down in late January.

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Main Events

22 Aug–28 Sep 2018 Venta Maersk ▲

In August 2018 the container vessel Venta Maersk departed the port of Vladivostok, Russia, to navigate the Arctic via the Northern Sea Route in the following month. Although it required some assistance by icebreakers in the East Siberian Sea, Venta Maersk reached Saint Petersburg on the Baltic Sea on 28 September, becoming the first commercial ship to complete the Northern Sea Route. in wikipedia

22 Dec 2025–21 Jan 2026 Greenland Crisis ▲

In December 2025 US President Donald Trump began amplifying his demands that Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory, be annexed to the United States, and refused to rule out the use of economic or military force to do so. In January, in response to the increasing threats, Denmark and eleven other European NATO members initiated Operation Arctic Endurance—a military exercise in Greenland with the stated intent of “countering potential Russian activity”—prompting Trump to threaten tariffs on all the countries involved. Trump then wrote to the Norwegian prime minister, reiterating his demands on Greenland and noting that after being sidelined for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, he no longer felt an “obligation to think purely of Peace”. Despite this, the situation was largely defused a few days later at the 2026 Davos conference in Switzerland, when Trump ruled out the use of military force or tariffs to obtain Greenland. in wikipedia

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