The Open Threat - Stephen Miller, Greenland, and the Claim to a World Shaped by America Where Brown Specters Must Be Driven Out

What is now being said openly in Washington would, only a few years ago, have been considered a foreign policy taboo. Stephen Miller, one of Donald Trump’s most influential advisers, stated in a television interview that the United States had the right to take Greenland - if necessary by military force. No one, Miller said, would dare to challenge the United States militarily over this. It was not a rhetorical slip, but a deliberately placed statement, embedded in a worldview in which strength outweighs law and power decides outcomes. Miller, now deputy chief of staff, one might casually also describe him as a chief enforcer, in the White House, justified his position with what he called a realistic view of the world. The world, he said, is not governed by rules, but by force, violence, and the ability to impose one’s will, a poorly disguised description of fascism and right wing populism. This logic, he claimed, is timeless and has always shaped international politics. In doing so, he made clear that for him, international law and binding agreements are at best polite, meaningless formats, as long as they stand in the way of his own interests.

The timing of these remarks was no coincidence. After the US military incursion into Venezuela, during which President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were seized from Caracas, the Trump administration further escalated its rhetoric. Miller followed this line and openly declared that the United States was now effectively governing Venezuela. Through a complete oil and trade embargo, so his argument went, the country’s economic existence lay in American hands. He did not mention lithium, likely because that would have made the motive too obvious. Anyone wishing to trade, according to this new American definition of values, would need Washington’s approval. Anyone wanting to keep an economy running would as well. This, Miller argued, made it clear who was in charge. The only reassuring point was that he did not speak about freedom of expression, because in the United States, under Trump, it can now be found at best in dictionaries printed before 2025.

This language triggered international outrage. Even close US allies criticized the operation in Venezuela. UN Secretary General António Guterres said the seizure violated the Charter of the United Nations. Within the United States itself, Miller’s appearance also drew sharp criticism. Senator Bernie Sanders spoke of a chillingly precise description of what imperialism means: the appropriation of other countries’ resources under the pretext of national interests. Historians have described exactly this logic before, particularly in the 20th century, for example in the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, where access to foreign resources was justified as an alleged national necessity.

At the same time, Greenland once again moved into the center of American power fantasies. Miller claimed that the island rightfully belonged to the United States. He ignored the fact that Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, as well as existing treaties. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, responded with unusual clarity. The threats coming from Washington, she said, were unacceptable but had to be taken seriously. A US military attack on Greenland would mean the end of NATO. If one alliance member attacked another, the entire structure would collapse.

Such a step would indeed shake the foundations of NATO. The alliance is built on the promise of collective defense. An attack on Denmark would be an attack on all. Frederiksen made it unmistakably clear that Greenland is not for sale and that only the people of the island have the right to decide their future. In a joint statement with several European heads of government, it was also emphasized that the principles of the UN Charter - sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of borders - are not negotiable.

That such warnings have to be voiced at all shows how far the American debate has shifted. With his rhetoric, Miller draws on a dark tradition in which smaller and weaker states were coerced through military pressure. What is new is not the idea itself, but the openness with which it is now expressed. Treaties, alliances, and the right of peoples to self determination appear in this mindset as obstacles whenever they limit access to land, resources, or political control. In Denmark, this has led to a palpable sense of unease. Security experts speak of a new quality of threat, not because an immediate attack is expected, but because the willingness of the United States to use force now appears to extend even to its allies. The operation in Venezuela has shown that Washington is prepared to deploy military means without regard for international rules.

What remains is the image of a world order in which law is increasingly displaced by claims of power. Stephen Miller did not obscure this view, but articulated it openly. Greenland, Venezuela, the disregard for international agreements - all of this forms a single claim that leaves no room for equality. Anyone who accepts this logic also accepts that security depends solely on the goodwill of the strongest. That is precisely where the real danger lies, and why it must be resisted. That the United Nations have now finally taken the step of voicing clear and sharp criticism is a first, necessary move. But it does not bring the dead in Venezuela back to life, nor does it undo the damage that has been done. Donald Trump is a danger to the world. Right wing populism is a danger to the world. And the time has come to stand against it.

In many countries, these dark, brown specters are on the move. They go by different names everywhere, but their spirit is always the same - and it is destructive. Media outlets that still possess democratic integrity are called upon to live up to that responsibility and consistently reflect it in their work. Society as a whole must also rise up. Every country has these brown specters, and they must be driven back.