Denmark is a tiny country, with a population smaller than many major cities in the world. But with the Øresund strait, we are one of the two strategically most important areas in the world (the other is Turkey with the Bosphorus Strait). Russia cannot reach the Atlantic Ocean year round without sailing through one of the two countries. That is why Denmark is always in danger; in history from England and France, and later Germany, and in the present from Russia.
That is why we meet the world with humility and diplomacy, and offer our assistance whenever an ally needs our presence and expertise. We do what we can to be indispensable, despite our small size.
We are humbly aware of the fact that without military alliances, Denmark would not exist. Nor would Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Andorra, Monaco, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldova, or Albania. But together – and united with England, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Turkey, Germany, and France – we constitute a formidable force. An attack on one of these countries is an attack on all. That is why small countries can exist, and that is why we respect each other’s integrity and independence.
A mindset that Americans obviously can’t grasp.
(An attack on New Hampshire, ignored by the rest of the US, perhaps?)
Another thing Americans have no experience with is invasions and wars on their home turf. No: Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers don’t count, however tragic; I’m talking about foreign soldiers in the streets, looting, raping and massacring civilians.
During World War II we tried to stay neutral, but it wasn’t possible for strategic reasons. Without a military alliance (like NATO) we were faced with the choice of being occupied by Germany or the Soviet Union.
Instead of sending thousands of young people to their deaths on the battlefield, in vain, we surrendered to Germany without a fight, and became one of the most peaceful areas in Europe, in the years 1940-1945.
Less than 2,000 people (Danish resistance movement and German soldiers) died in Denmark as a result of the war, and we managed to buy time (as it was a “peaceful invasion”, labled as “protection”) and get almost all the Jews to safety in unoccupied Sweden before they were sent to concentration camps.
Many Danish soldiers and pilots went to England to fight on the Allied side. A significantly smaller number went to Germany to fight on the Nazi side. These traitors are regarded with greater shame than the government’s decision to surrender to Germany – as this was a pragmatic decision.
The question the government faced was: “is national dignity and pride worth the lives of 20,000 young people, and the subsequent destruction of the country, in a completely pointless fight that we can’t possibly win?”
With passive-aggressive uncooperative stoicism, we won the occupiers’ respect. When Jews were required to wear the Star of David on their clothes, thousands of non-Jewish Danes did the same – including my mother, who were even wearing a kippah in Brittish colours. The Germans didn’t want to create problems and chose to indulge the provocations.
Of course, the Soviet Union came to Denmark first, when the war ended, and as “liberators” it was their prerogative to incorporate Denmark into the Warsaw Pact – and in the long run perhaps even the Soviet Union.
The German commander in Denmark refused to surrender Denmark to the Soviets, and let them bomb the island Bornholm for three days until the Brittish army arrived and he could surrender to them – with serenity.
In 1949 Denmark was one of the 12 founding members of NATO.
For the Baltic countries it was too late, as they had been absorbed by the Soviet Union, but in 1989-91 Denmark played an outsized role in the liberation of the Baltic states, often punching far above its weight as a small nation, to act as the primary Western champion for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, pushing NATO and the EU to take a harder line against Soviet crackdowns and to support Baltic freedom more vocally. Spearheading this, the Danish Foreign Minister at the time, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, became a legendary figure in Baltic history, while approximately two million Baltic people joined hands to form a human chain stretching 675 kilometres across all three countries. It remains one of the most stunning peaceful protests in history.
In 1990, while the Baltics were still officially part of the USSR, Uffe allowed them to open a “shadow embassy” in Copenhagen, allowing Baltic leaders to bypass Moscow and speak directly to the West.
Between 1992 and 2003, Denmark provided billions of kroner in aid, along with “know-how” – sending experts to help build democratic institutions, environmental protection programs, and market economies from scratch.
Today, Denmark remains the primary participant in the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission, regularly sending figtherplanes to guard the airspace of the three nations, continuing the protective role it started in the 1990s.
Denmark has a tiny army, but tries to compensate for the few soldiers with indomitability, superior education and high technical expertise. We also try to compensate by being quickly present when our allies need us – and always on the front line. Everyone in Denmark is somehow related to someone who was killed in Afghanistan, where we had more deaths than any other allied country, relative to the population.
Denmark is not a real arms producer, but most parts of the F-16 aircraft were produced in Ballerup, just north of Copenhagen, and shipped to the United States, for assembling. Advanced technical parts of many other weapons – including the Tomahawk missiles – are also produced in Denmark.
With a population only a quarter of New York’s, we could be completely redundant. But with the Øresund strait in our front yard and Greenland in our Kingdom (commonwealth), we know we have to do more than most other NATO countries. And I think we do.
When we are shamed as bad allies, because we will not ignore the Greenlanders’ wish to remain part of the Danish Kingdom, we get upset. That is why more than 10,000 Danish veterans and relatives demonstrated in front of the American embassy in Copenhagen, on January 31, 2026.
When we are threatened by the USA, we make an app so that we can scan barcodes, and thus avoid buying American goods – in those stores that have not already removed American goods from the shelves. It doesn’t have much significance for the USA, since we only import very few goods from there. $10 a month, perhaps?
But it has symbolic significance, and has received international attention, and numerous American veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq have sent letters to their politicians to express that the baseless insults has to stop now.
Maybe it even had a small impact on the fact that 71% of Americans are now against the USA taking over Greenland.
That should matter, if the USA is still a democracy?
The USA asked for – and was granted – permission to defend* and use Greenland for air bases and surveillance, with the Greenland Defence Agreement**. Since then, all bases except one have been closed, and the number of US soldiers in Greenland is now 150.
Meanwhile Denmark is now further arming the forces in Greenland and the Faroe Islands for DDK 42 billion, while the only actual threat is the USA.
Russia and China is obviously beeing thoroughly monitored, and does not – in fact – constitute an increased threat, neither according to the Danish Navy nor the American forces in Pituffik.
Besides Denmark, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, Iceland and Slovenia are now posting soldiers in Greenland, to further strengthen the defence.
Although the United States has insisted on taking responsibility for Greenland’s defense in 1941, and again in 1951, and since 2025 has claimed that the defense of Greenland is inadequate, the number of American soldiers in Greenland is still 150.
Who is a good ally and who is a bad ally in this context?
(Photo by Niels Blok)
* There has never been a real risk of Greenland being invaded. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both explored the possibility of establishing small ports on the almost unpopulated east coast, but gave up primarily due to geographical conditions. In 1943, the Danish Sirius Sledge Patrol discovered a makeshift German camp at Sabine Island. A series of small-scale firefights occurred – the northernmost land battles of WWII. One patrol member was killed, and several Germans were captured. US Air Force bombed the abandoned area a few days later.
** 1941-1951 The Kauffmann Treaty, from 1951 The Greenland Defence Agreement.
The Kauffmann Treaty was signed by the Danish Ambassador to the United States, Henrik Kauffmann, and U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull on April 9, 1941. Henrik famously refused to take orders from his home government, declaring them to be “under duress.”
Legally, Henrik had been a traitor, and after the war was told that he had been a “bad boy” (with a pat on the shoulder), and was appointed Minister Without Portfolio, and given the task of contributing to the creation of NATO.