Conflict over Arctic island: Trump desires to ship US hospital ship to Greenland | EUROtoday

According to President Donald Trump, the USA desires to ship a hospital ship to Greenland and thereby threat new tensions in relations with its NATO companion Denmark. It ought to assist look after the sick who can not get assistance on the Arctic island, Trump wrote in a publish on his Truth Social platform. “It’s on the way!!!” He spoke of a “great” ship, however in any other case gave no additional particulars.

Trump’s repeated threats to annex the strategically essential island, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, even by power if essential, have led to tensions between Europe and the USA in latest weeks.

The US Navy has two giant hospital ships. In the previous, the floating hospitals had been relocated to affected areas for reduction operations after pure disasters resembling large earthquakes or devastating hurricanes. During the height section of the corona pandemic, they had been additionally used at occasions in US ports. According to the Navy, the hospital ships every have a capability of round 1,000 hospital beds, together with 80 beds within the intensive care unit.

Only slightly below 57,000 individuals dwell within the huge space of ​​Greenland. Recently there have been no reviews of a serious medical want there that will make sending a hospital ship essential.

Were Denmark and Greenland requested prematurely?

It initially remained unclear whether or not the deliberate deployment of the hospital ship, in keeping with Trump, had been coordinated with Denmark’s authorities or in largely autonomous Greenland. The time-frame for the relocation additionally remained unclear: on the one hand, Trump wrote that the ship was already on its means, however however, it normally takes a while to equip a hospital ship with full personnel. During common operations, when the ships are at anchor, there’s solely a minimal crew on board.

In Greenland, along with public well being amenities within the space, the Queen Ingrid Hospital within the capital Nuuk is chargeable for extra difficult instances. In particular person instances, sufferers are flown from Greenland to Denmark for extra advanced procedures.

European nations resembling Germany, Great Britain and France have backed Denmark and Greenland within the battle with the USA. The governments in Copenhagen and Nuuk strongly oppose annexation by the United States. They have now began talks with Trump’s authorities – with the purpose of discovering a compromise.