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Denmark and two islands — tiny Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and Greenland, the largest in the world — find themselves caught between Russia, the old Cold War rival, and the U.S., the (theoretically) protecting power. “For the first time in 80 years, we are threatened from both sides,” observes Jonas Parello-Plesner, executive director of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and a former Danish diplomat, from Copenhagen. “We are in a world on the brink of collapse.”

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Denmark, after World War II, was neither neutral, like its neighbor Sweden, nor pacifist […] “We gave very little thought to territorial defense,” Parello-Plesner reflects. “Now, suddenly, with Ukraine, we’re not on the front line [against Russia], but we are on the second line, precisely in Bornholm. And on the other side, in the west [in Greenland], we were used to having our friend, partner, and ally.”

Not anymore, and all of this is very much present on the Baltic island. “If we want to send a message to the United States,” says a soldier during an informal conversation, “we could send our guys from Bornholm to Greenland.”

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