Greenland is preparing for an awkward visit of the US Vice President.

A high -power delegation of US officials will spend Friday at a remote military base in Greenland in what is seen as the last manifestation of US designs in the semi -autonomous semi -autonomous territory scarcely populated.

The American group includes Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha, the National Security Advisor of the White House Michael Waltz, the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah.

The trip marks the last turn in what has become a tangled diplomatic trip that began with what was originally announced as a private tour of the second lady of the United States.

Usha Vance was supposed to only travel to Greenland with her son to attend cultural events, such as a dog bullshit race, and spend time visiting the capital of Nuuk.

However, the planned visit raised his eyebrows, in the light of the repeated comments of President Donald Trump that he would like to annex Greenland rich in minerals, which, according to him, is critical for the security of the United States.

When it was announced that Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, would join the delegation that visited the island, the people of Greenland and Denmark seemed uncomfortable. American visits began to look less like a cultural interaction and more as an effort to end up the island’s internal policy by gathering support for the closest ties with the United States among the local population, at the expense of Danish sovereignty.

The interim prime minister of Greenland, Mute B Egede, said it was a “provocation” and “demonstration of power”, and asked the international community to intensify.

“Only for registration, the Groenland government has not extended any invitations for any visit, private or official,” said Egede.

The common Greenlands also announced their disgust, promising that the US delegation would not receive a warm welcome.

In Sisimiut, where the annual dog race is celebrated, the mayor refused to establish a meeting with the second lady, citing the municipal elections next week as a reason. A silent protest had also been planned, which would have seen the locals turn their backs on US visitors, a potentially uncomfortable situation and poor optics for Mrs. Vance.

“The US administration could see that they were heading to the Catastrophe of PR,” said the political analyst Noa Redington.

“They were heading to an offensive of charm without charm,” he said. “With people absolutely not happy to see Usha Vance or any other American politician.”

Just two days after Usha Vance’s trip was announced, the cultural itinerary was withdrawn, replaced by a single visit to a remote American military installation: the Pituffik space base. And now, Vice President Vance would join his wife.

Waltz no longer appeared on the itinerary, although he was added again later.

“The leaders in the United States and Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for too long,” said JD Vance, announcing his visit. “That has been bad for Greenland. It has also been bad for the security of the entire world. We believe we can take things in a different direction.”

Despite their comments, political leaders in Denmark cautiously welcomed the change of plan, and especially the limitation of the itinerary only for the base of the United States.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that while the presence of the vice president can increase the formality of the visit, it was actually “masterful turn” which made the United States “seem that they intensified when they are actually broken down.”

“In fact, I think it is very positive that Americans are canceling their visit to the Groenland community. Then they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he said.

Vance is the highest American official who has ever visited Greenland and, although the limited scope of the trip has pleased Denmark, the fact that he rises at all underlines the high level of interest that the Trump administration has on the island.

The president of the United States himself has continued to reiterate his desire to acquire Greenland for reasons of national security, saying Wednesday that the United States “will go as far as we have to get” to achieve that goal.

According to Michael Williams, professor of international politics at the University of Ottawa, Trump’s approach in Greenland seems to reflect a broader international strategy that implies exerting American influence on key territories within his sphere of geographical influence.

Canada and Greenland, both early objectives of interest to the administration, occupy key arcic river paths that are being challenged by other global powers, such as Russia and China.

The recent movements of the United States could be seen as an attempt to gain advantage in these strategic regions of Americans.

“You want to expand the American presence in the north and its control over those northern scopes,” said Williams.

“If you can do that, then you can potentially control those northern waters in a much more direct way than it had never been necessary before.”

The attempts of super powers to exert influence in the least powerful nations echo the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union faced each other in the global ideological competition.

But the focus of these efforts were typically non -aligned nations, not the closest allies and neighbors in the United States.

While Vances’s trip to Greenland can be reduced, the largest designs in the United States on the island do not seem to have decreased. Any sigh of relief in Copenhagen can be short.

Vance’s visit to the Pituffik spatial base suggests a closer approach to American security and military affairs. The shortest route for Russian nuclear missiles to get to the United States crosses Greenland, and Pituffik plays a crucial role in the United States antimisile defense.

“I am sure it will say that Greenland’s security is not safe in Denmark,” said Redington, adding that this “would exert more pressure on the Danish government.”

“This is not absolutely the end of anything. It is the beginning of something even more complicated than before.”