Advertisement
Image
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
‘A place called Greenland’
Greenland has loomed large this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Long before Trump arrived, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. While waiting in line for the many security checks. In the corridors of the sprawling conference center. At the bar after hours.
In the ladies’ room, I stumbled across a group of French diplomats touching up their makeup while listing ways Europeans could retaliate. A session titled “Can Europe Defend Itself?” was wildly oversubscribed.
When Trump finally took the main stage yesterday, looking out over an auditorium packed with hundreds of elected and business leaders, he knew exactly what everyone was there to he…
Advertisement
Image
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
‘A place called Greenland’
Greenland has loomed large this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Long before Trump arrived, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. While waiting in line for the many security checks. In the corridors of the sprawling conference center. At the bar after hours.
In the ladies’ room, I stumbled across a group of French diplomats touching up their makeup while listing ways Europeans could retaliate. A session titled “Can Europe Defend Itself?” was wildly oversubscribed.
When Trump finally took the main stage yesterday, looking out over an auditorium packed with hundreds of elected and business leaders, he knew exactly what everyone was there to hear.
“Would you like me to say a few words about Greenland?” he asked. There were a few scattered chuckles. But as my colleague Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported, they quickly turned into an anxious silence, punctuated by audible gasps, as Trump lashed out at NATO allies and threatened economic warfare if the United States did not obtain the Arctic territory.
‘We will remember’
Trump said he was seeking “immediate negotiations” to take over Greenland. But despite growing fears of U.S. military action, he ruled out seizing the island by force.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable,” he said. “But I won’t do that. That’s probably the biggest statement, because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
He added: “All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.”
Image
Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.Credit...Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The speech was cautiously welcomed by some European leaders.
“I think we’ve heard a lot worse,” Rasmus Jarlov, the chairman of the defense committee in Denmark’s Parliament, told my colleague Michael Schwirtz. “I’m glad he’s ruling out military force.”
But the speech still came with a strong undercurrent of “or else.”
Europeans “have a choice,” Trump said. “You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no. We will remember.”
A plot twist
Even as Trump seemed to take military action off the table, his threat of economic warfare seemed clear.
Over the weekend, he had announced plans for steep new tariffs on a bloc of European countries to coerce them to the negotiating table to discuss Greenland.
In his speech, he reinforced that message. But several hours later, there was yet another twist.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said that he had met with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, who has a history of flattering the U.S. president. (Last year, Rutte joked that Trump acted as a “daddy” to misbehaving Middle Eastern nations.)
After the “very productive” meeting with Rutte, Trump said, “we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”
“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st,” he added. Further details were not available.
Image
Syrian government forces near the city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, yesterday.Credit...Abdulmonam Eassa/Getty Images
U.S. starts moving ISIS detainees out of Syria
The U.S. announced yesterday that it had moved 150 Islamic State fighters from a detention facility in northeastern Syria to Iraq and that it might eventually move up to 7,000 more.
The transfer followed concerns that thousands of former ISIS fighters and their family members could escape from detention as the Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces vie for control of the area. The 150 fighters were taken to an unspecified “secure location in Iraq,” the U.S. Central Command said.
The Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or S.D.F., agreed on Sunday to hand over control of the prisons to the Syrian government. The transition has been rocky. In recent days, detainees escaped from at least one prison amid skirmishes. Chaos appeared to break out after S.D.F. forces abruptly withdrew from the Al Hol detention camp, which houses tens of thousands of family members of ISIS fighters.
The S.D.F. was the U.S.’s closest ally in Syria for more than a decade. That alliance is now disintegrating as the U.S. throws its weight behind the new Syrian government.
OTHER NEWS
Israeli forces killed at least 11 people in Gaza, including three Palestinian journalists who the Israeli military said were flying a drone.
Japan restarted a reactor at a large nuclear complex, nearly 15 years after the Fukushima meltdown.
Prince Harry became emotional as he testified in London’s High Court about what he called intrusive news coverage.
Taiwan’s $40 billion military spending plan was blocked by opposition legislators.
Our photographer found a **wrecked train undercarriage **that could identify the cause of a train crash in Spain that killed at least 42 people.
The European Parliament voted to delay a major trade deal with four South American countries.
Han Duck-soo, the former prime minister of South Korea, was sentenced to 23 years for collaborating with the imposition of martial law.
SPORTS
Image
Norwegian Olympic champion Marius Lindvik in action last year.Credit...Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
Image
Credit...A.J. Osuna-Mascaró and A.M.I. Auersperg
— When Veronika, a 13-year-old cow in Austria, has an itch, she scratches it by expertly wielding a stick. Researchers say it’s the first scientifically documented case of tool use by cattle.
MORNING READ
Image
Credit...Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times
The Ocean Flower Island real estate project in Hainan Province, China, was supposed to rival Palm Island Jumeirah in Dubai. Instead, it’s a $12 billion “dead zone,” as one visitor put it.
The artificial island has a gigantic shopping mall without shops, a theme park without visitors, high-rise housing blocks without residents and beaches too dangerous for swimming. My colleagues paid a visit to the project, a symbol of China’s never-ending real estate crisis.
AROUND THE WORLD
Image
Credit...Lily Landes for The New York Times
What’s curdling business … in Vermont
It was the cheese that drew Canadian customers across the U.S. border to Willey’s Store in Greensboro, Vermont. Alongside Americans, they shopped for Withersbrook Blue, a recent winner at the World Cheese Awards, and creamy Harbison, which has woodsy notes derived from its spruce-bark wrapping.
But recently, Trump’s threats and tariffs have driven many Canadians away. Willey’s Store sales declined by 33 percent last year, and the entire town is struggling. Read more.
RECOMMENDATIONS
**Train: **If lifting weights intimidates you, get strong with a medicine ball.
Read: In the novel “Tangerinn,” an Italian Moroccan woman examines her family’s legacy of immigration.
**Watch: **Here are seven under-the-radar movies streaming right now.
RECIPE
Image
Credit...Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
In Switzerland, rosti (pronounced roosh-ti) is considered a national dish, and it’s most popular in the country’s German-speaking regions. Traditionally, rosti is made from grated potatoes and fried in a skillet. Our dressed-up version is served with smoked salmon, sour cream and a poached egg. It’s perfect for a weekend breakfast.
WHERE IS THIS?
Image
Credit...Iman Al-Dabbagh for The New York Times
Katrin Bennhold is the host of The World, the flagship global newsletter of The New York Times.
Advertisement