COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) \u2014 The United States is using its economic power to \u201cassert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike, a Danish intelligence agency said in a new report.<\/p>\n
The Danish Defense Intelligence Service, in its latest annual assessment, said Washington’s greater assertiveness under the Trump administration also comes as China and Russia seek to diminish Western, especially American, influence.<\/p>\n
Perhaps most sensitive to Denmark \u2014 a NATO and European Union member country, and a U.S. ally \u2014 is growing competition between those great powers in the Arctic. U.S. President Donald Trump\u00a0has expressed a desire\u00a0to see Greenland, a semiautonomous and mineral-rich territory of Denmark, become part of the United States, a move opposed by Russia and much of Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategic importance of the Arctic is rising as the conflict between Russia and the West intensifies, and the growing security and strategic focus on the Arctic by the United States will further accelerate these developments,\u201d said the report, published Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The assessment also follows\u00a0the release\u00a0last week of a new Trump administration\u00a0national security strategy\u00a0that depicts European allies as weak and aims to reassert America\u2019s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir\u00a0Putin\u00a0has said Russia is worried about NATO\u2019s activities in the Arctic and will respond by strengthening its\u00a0military capability\u00a0in the polar region.<\/p>\n
The findings and analyses in the report echo a string of recent concerns, notably in Western Europe, about an increasingly go-it-alone approach by the United States, which under Trump’s second term has favored bilateral deals and partnerships at the expense of multilateral alliances like NATO.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many countries outside the West, it has become a viable option to forge strategic agreements with China rather than the United States,\u201d read the report, which was written in Danish. \u201cChina and Russia, together with other like-minded states, are seeking to reduce Western \u2013 and particularly US \u2013 global influence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, uncertainty has grown over how the United States will prioritize its resources in the future,\u201d it added. \u201cThis gives regional powers greater room for maneuver, enabling them to choose between the United States and China or to strike a balance between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has raised concerns about respect for international law with its series of\u00a0deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats\u00a0in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean \u2014 part of a stepped-up\u00a0pressure campaign\u00a0against President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Trump has also refused to rule out military force in Greenland, where the United States already has a military base.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States is leveraging economic power, including threats of high tariffs, to assert its will, and the possibility of employing military force \u2013 even against allies \u2013 is no longer ruled out,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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