Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deal involving the United States, Denmark, and Greenland; Ukraine’s “largest-ever” attack on Moscow; and an armed rebel alliance against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
Greenland Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had reached a deal with Denmark and Greenland giving the United States “permanent control over security” in Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. Trump said the United States would immediately begin “developing a large Military presence” on the island, which has strategic importance for Arctic security.
Trump said the agreement satisfies Washington’s key demands, but it is unclear how much the deal differs from the rights the United States already holds to operate on the island. The United States has operated a military base—now the Pituffik Space Base—in Greenland since the United States and Denmark first signed a defense treaty in 1951.
The deal follows months of diplomatic scuffles between Trump and European leaders since the U.S. president threatened to “take” Greenland in January, triggering a crisis within NATO and deepening the loss of trust in the trans-Atlantic relationship. After previously refusing to rule out using military force to seize the island, Trump finally insisted that he wouldn’t “use force” in a Jan. 21 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he also said he had established the “framework of a future deal” with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
In his Friday announcement, Trump said that “from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.” This could give the United States virtually unilateral control over Greenland’s vast critical minerals and rare-earth supply—although the island’s harsh climate, limited mining infrastructure, and local opposition could make it difficult to reach speedy deals. Regardless, Greenland-linked rare-earth stocks surged Monday.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen expressed their support for the deal in a Friday press release, highlighting its recognition of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Greenland and its people. The agreement “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area and therefore is great for NATO and Europe as well,” Frederiksen said.
Despite Trump’s claims that the agreement would give the United States permanent control of the island’s security, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told national broadcaster TV2 on Sunday that, to a large extent, “it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic.” That difference in perspective—and the broader issue of Arctic security itself—will likely be a hot topic as world leaders convene in New York City this week for the United Nations General Assembly, where Denmark, Greenland, and the United States are expected to sign the deal on Tuesday.
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The World This Week
Tuesday, Sept. 22: The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) general debate opens, with Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron set to speak, among others.
Trump meets with Gulf leaders to discuss the Iran war on the sidelines of UNGA, in addition to meetings with world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.
Wednesday, Sept. 23: The U.N. general debate continues; speakers include Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Zelensky.
Trump leads a Board of Peace meeting on the margins of UNGA.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington.
Morocco holds parliamentary elections.
World leaders attend the sixth summit of the Crimea Platform in New York.
Thursday, Sept. 24: Trump and Xi hold talks at the White House.
The U.N. general debate continues; speakers include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudanese President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Rodríguez.
Friday, Sept. 25: The U.N. general debate continues; speakers include Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Saturday, Sept. 26: The U.N. general debate continues; speakers include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Sunday, Sept. 27: São Tomé and Príncipe holds parliamentary elections.
France holds elections for half of the members of the Senate.
Monday, Sept. 28: The U.N. general debate concludes.
What We’re Following
Attacks on Moscow. Ukraine launched a massive assault on Russia overnight Saturday into Sunday, launching more than 1,000 drones and missiles at the country—including hundreds aimed at Moscow. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the attack, which killed three people and wounded 20 others, the “largest-ever” on the capital city.
The Ukrainian strikes targeted critical infrastructure, including the Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district as well as logistics facilities in the Ramensky district. Russia intercepted more than 1,900 drones, as well as guided aerial bombs, cruise missiles, and rockets, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday. In response, Russia launched strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and nine other regions overnight on Monday, killing at least one person and setting Ukraine’s historic Zaporizhzhia National University ablaze.
The Ukrainian attack came as Russia entered the final day of voting on Sunday in the country’s first parliamentary elections since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Preliminary results in the tightly choreographed vote show the ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, winning 57.83 percent of the vote, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission.
Kremlin officials have been quick to portray the result as evidence of support for the country’s leadership. “These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing.
Independent opposition groups were restricted or banned from participating in the election, and independent and foreign election monitors were not invited to oversee this year’s vote.
Border violence. Pakistan launched strikes on eastern Afghanistan on Monday, in an escalation of cross-border fighting between the two countries that has been ongoing since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. The attacks followed a deadly suicide bombing targeting Pakistani security forces near the border on Friday, after which Islamabad’s information ministry warned about the possibility of retaliatory attacks.
Pakistani officials said they were targeting suspected hideouts of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that the country blames for the suicide bombing and has designated as a terrorist group. Pakistan’s information ministry said 28 militants were killed in the strike, but the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said at least three of the deaths were civilians.
Tensions have simmered in recent years over Pakistan’s accusations that Afghanistan is harboring the Taliban-aligned TTP—an accusation Kabul rejects. Pakistan’s construction of a security fence along the disputed Durand Line dividing the two countries has also increased friction.
Hostilities have surged since February, when Pakistan responded to the Taliban government’s attack on its military bases with a barrage of airstrikes on Afghanistan’s border provinces, an escalation that Pakistan’s defense minister later referred to as “open war.” Cross-border violence has caused more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan so far this year, UNAMA reports. In July, Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said 819 Pakistanis, including soldiers, police officers, and civilians, had been killed since January.
Regional powers including China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have sought to mediate between the two sides, but Monday’s attacks threaten to complicate those efforts. Pakistan’s information ministry accused the Taliban of “pretending to be willing to negotiate” following Friday’s suicide attack. Kabul plans to “respond appropriately to this aggression,” according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson of the Taliban-run government.
A new alliance. In a dramatic political realignment, seven armed groups in Ethiopia formed a new alliance late on Sunday in an effort to remove the government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his ruling Prosperity Party. The alliance, called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, blames Abiy’s administration for enabling and facilitating “war, genocide, mass destruction, and utter poverty.”
The alliance brings together former rivals, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the Amhara Fano National Movement, and the Oromo Liberation Army. It also includes four smaller groups representing the Ogaden, Afar, Benishangul, and Gumuz peoples.
The objective of the alliance is to establish an “inclusive transitional government,” according to the groups’ joint statement. “[W]e, the peoples’ forces concerned with the survival of Ethiopia’s peoples, bear the historic responsibility of overthrowing this regime,” they wrote.
When Abiy came to power in 2018, he set out to transform Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism system by recentralizing state power, which sparked tensions with the TPLF, a dominant force in the ruling coalition at the time. Those tensions erupted into the bloody two-year Tigray war, which ended in 2022 when a peace deal was reached between Ethiopia’s federal government and the TPLF. The situation escalated again, however, in 2023, when Abiy’s government moved to dissolve regional security forces. More recently, reports surfaced of an alleged alliance between the TPLF and Eritrea, sparking concerns of a broader regional war between the neighboring countries.
Odds and Ends
Craving a story about artificial intelligence that doesn’t send you into an existential doom spiral? Look no further than the Maldives, where researchers are using the technology to grow back beaches and combat receding coastlines caused by global warming. Using a combination of AI and satellite and ocean current data, Coastal Assembly, a company that originated in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been able to extend a 300-foot stretch of beach outward by 90 feet; another project built a new sandbar with more than 30,000 cubic feet of sand in just six months. The company plans to continue restoring coastlines in the Maldives, in addition to future projects in the Bahamas, Boston Harbor, and Miami.
