Media365
COPENHAGEN: The US is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike, a Danish intelligence agency said in a new report. The Danish Defense Intelligence Service said Washington’s greater assertiveness under the Trump administration also comes as China and Russia seek to diminish Western, especially US’, influence.Perhaps most sensitive to Denmark — a Nato and EU member, and a US ally — is growing competition between those great powers in the Arctic. “The 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 US will further accelerate these developments,” said the report, published Wednesday.The report echoes a string of recent concerns about an increasingly go-it-alone approach by the US, which under Trump’s second term has favoured bilateral deals and partnerships at the expense of multilateral alliances like Nato. “For many countries outside the West, it has become a viable option to forge strategic agreements with China rather than the US,” read the report. “At the same time, uncertainty has grown over how the US will prioritise its resources in the future,” it added.“The US is leveraging economic power to assert its will, and the possibility of employing military force – even against allies – is no longer ruled out,” the report said.
