Peter Mandelson Accuses European Leaders Of 'Histrionic' Response To Trump's Greenland Threats
Peter Mandelson has accused European governments of a “histrionic” response to Donald Trump’sGreenland threats in a scathing article.
In his first public intervention since being sacked over his links to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the former US ambassador praised the American president for his aggressive military interventions.
Writing in The Spectator, Mandelson said Trump had achieved more “in a day” with his strikes on Venezuela last Saturday – and the subsequent capture of president Nicolas Maduro – than “orthodox diplomacy was able to achieve in the past decade”.
Since his successful takeover of the South American nation, Trump’s wishes to seize the Danish territory of Greenland have been taken much more seriously – even though it would be a breach of Nato.
He also told The Atlantic at the weekend: “We do need Greenland, absolutely.”
European leaders, including Mandelson’s former boss Keir Starmer, signed a joint statement on Tuesday reiterating that Greenland’s future could only be decided by Greenland and Denmark.
But Trump snubbed his allies by renewing his plans to take over the Arctic island.
And, according to Mandelson, the US president’s moves showed a “growing geopolitical impotence” in Europe.
The peer claimed that Starmer and his counterparts needed to use “hard power and hard cash” to boost their relevance.
He also claimed Trump will not even invade Greenland because he does not need to.
Mandelson said: “What will happen is that the threats to arctic security posed by China and Russia will crytstallise in European minds, performative statements about ‘sovereignty’ and Nato’s future will fade, and serious discussion will take over.
“The bigger issues is how both sides of the western coin – America and Europe – are going to establish a modus vivendi in this age of Trump.”
Starmer has not actually accused Trump of violating international law with his moves against Venezuela, but has insisted that the UK respects the “rule-based system” and suggested the US will justify the legality of its actions in due course.
However, the former ambassador claimed the “rule-based system” which is meant to govern the world via international law has not existed for some time.
He said: “President Trump is not some populist disruptor bent on destroying it; it ceased to have meaning before he was elected.
“He has not single-handedly broken up the postwar ‘global order’: if that ever fully existed, it started to evaporate two decades ago when China emerged as a great power contesting the US-led unipolar world.”
The former New Labour spin doctor and ex-MP said European leaders have not “adjusted to the revolution under way” right now.
He also claimed governments on the continent should accept this “decisive approach” from Trump is better than the “hand-wringing and analysis paralysis” which characterised many previous US administrations.