What happens when a NATO member threatens another NATO member? As a consequence, there is a definite NATO problem here, because the critical point is that Greenland is linked, absolutely, to a NATO member state and under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, an attack on one member state is an attack on all of them, and then every member state is required to come to the defence of the one that is under attack. But the situation is that no one ever envisaged when NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, was created that the attack would come from another member state, and yet that is what the USA is planning; it is planning to attack a NATO member state. Is NATO still functional if one member state is now planning an attack on another member state? The US is threatening a NATO member state.

Source: The Guardian January 08, 2026 09:39 UTC