ii đ˘ LATEST UPDATE: Denmarkâs report hints NATOâs foundation is wobblingâwhen allies fear pressure, rivals smell opportunity đĽ

Denmark just did something almost unthinkable for a NATO ally: it put the United States in the same threat conversation as the worldâs usual suspects.

In a new annual assessment, Denmarkâs Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) for the first time describes the U.S. as a potential security concern, warning that Washington is increasingly willing to use its economic and technological power to pressure even partnersâand, in the most chilling line, that it no longer rules out force âeven against allies.â
This isnât some abstract bureaucratic phrasing. The report lands in the middle of rising Arctic tension and renewed anxiety over Greenlandâan autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark that has suddenly become a geopolitical magnet. Denmarkâs intelligence warning explicitly links the shift to intensifying superpower competition in the Arctic and to Americaâs sharpened interest in Greenland, which Copenhagen sees as an issue of sovereignty, influence, and long-term stability.

And the tone is what makes it hit like a siren. DDIS is essentially saying: the U.S. may still be our closest ally, but its behavior is getting unpredictable enough that we have to plan for pressure campaigns aimed at us, too. Even as Denmarkâs intelligence chief stressed that America remains fundamental to European security through NATO, the report signals a painful realityâDenmark is now forced to prepare for a world where the U.S. might treat alliances like leverage, not commitments.
That fear doesnât exist in a vacuum. Across Europe, confidence in Washington as a steady security guarantor has been wobbling, and Denmarkâs assessment warns that uncertainty could create openings for adversariesâespecially Russiaâto escalate âhybridâ pressure on NATO countries. In other words: when alliances look shaky, rivals get bolder.

Then comes the second shockwave: while Denmark is warning about U.S. coercion, Reuters reports the Trump administration has been pressuring the International Criminal Court (ICC) with an extraordinary demandâamend the Rome Statute in a way that would prevent the court from prosecuting Trump and other top U.S. officials, backed by threats of additional sanctions if the ICC doesnât comply.
The administration is also pushing for the ICC to halt investigations involving Israeli leaders related to Gaza and to formally close the Afghanistan probe, despite the U.S. not being an ICC member. Reuters notes that changing the Rome Statute would require a two-thirds vote of ICC member statesâan enormous hurdleâmaking the demand read less like legal diplomacy and more like raw pressure politics.

Put those pieces together and Denmarkâs alarm starts to make grim sense: a superpower thatâs willing to squeeze institutions and allies alike is no longer âjustâ a friendâitâs a variable.
And the backdrop keeps getting hotter. Reuters also reports a major escalation in U.S. enforcement against Venezuela: the U.S. seized a tanker carrying Venezuelan crude under sanctions, with officials signaling more interceptions may be coming. In Denmarkâs eyes, moves like this are part of a broader patternâhard power, hard leverage, fewer guardrails.

Thatâs the real headline inside the headline: Denmark didnât suddenly âturn anti-American.â Denmark is signaling that the rules of the relationship are changingâand when a small country has to publicly say it out loud, it means the private warnings have already been screaming for a while.

