Denmark announced that it would allow the permanent presence of US troops on its territory, a decision that ended a ban that had lasted for more than 70 years. This new defense cooperation agreement marks a new phase in Denmark's relations with the United States. What is the reason for the sudden change in Denmark's position of rejecting the presence of US troops?Denmark's military size is quite limited, with a total strength of only about 20,000 men. With no threats on the European continent, Denmark can enjoy a relatively peaceful life.
However, the risk of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is escalating, and Russia has announced two rounds of military expansion, bringing its armed forces to 2.2 million people. On the entire European continent, no country can compete with Russia, which has a huge military power, and even the armies of the entire European countries combined are not necessarily Russia's opponents. European countries have long relied on the US security umbrella, which has led to their relative backwardness in armaments.
In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Russian army has a steady stream of ammunition**, and there is a shortage of ammunition when the European Union gathers assistance to Ukraine. Faced with the uncertainty of EU assistance, Denmark has no choice but to rely further on the United States for security protection. At the same time, the United States can further control Denmark's sovereignty and profit from it by playing up the Russian threat to equip Denmark. As a result, the United States and Denmark have taken what they need and reached a community of interests.
With the exception of France, most European countries have US troops of varying sizes stationed on their soils, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Greece. Among them, Germany was forced to allow the stationing of US troops due to historical reasons, while other European countries had to give up their sovereignty because of the need to protect US affairs.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the three Baltic states and Eastern European countries such as Poland have been urgently asking for the permanent presence of US troops on their territory, because these countries are afraid of Russia and desperate for the protection of US troops. Poland, in particular, submitted a large order to the United States after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, purchasing hundreds of sets of "Hippocampus" rocket launchers in one go. (Wen Tu Tsai).