The youngest spy scandals show how Western allies are increasingly unreliable friends

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen sounded surprised and emotional when he spoke a press conference on May 7th.

According to the Wall Street Journal, US intelligence officers were asked to collect information about Greenland's politicians, independence activists and mining interests that could be used from Greenland to the United States if they were purchased or transferred.

Greenland is a semi -autonomic Danish territory in which Donald Trump has declared that he wants to become part of the United States. The US Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on the allegations, and the director of the national secret services, Tulsi Gabbard, said that she had opened an investigation into leaks for classified information.

This looks like a large powerful nation that does everything to undermine an ally and member of NATO, which is why the Danes are so insulted.

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The real surprise of history is that it became so public. But this drama comes at a time of the increasingly frosty relationships between Denmark and the USA, which worsened by a visit by the US Vice President JD Vance, who did not go through diplomatic channels. Danish supermarkets also marked US products so that consumers could boycott them.

In another case with some parallels to the Greenland spy -saga with an ally that spies on another, there were reports on a newly discovered Hungarian spyering in Ukraine who collected military data for Russia. Hungary said the reports were propaganda.

Hungary is theoretically aligned with Ukraine as a member of the EU and NATO. However, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has expressed sympathy for Russian agendas and has the closest relationship with Moscow of a current EU leader. Orbán has even repeatedly tried to block the EU aid to Ukraine.

The alleged discovery of a Hungarian espionage network could increase the creeping distrust of Hungary by other EU members and the feeling that it is even closer to Russia.

Recently there has recently been an example of spying on countries that apply loose allies. For example, North Korean spies were recently caught in China.

In particular, the Greenland and Hungary episodes shed light on how the world order is re -enacted. We are in the middle of this shift, with technological intelligence playing an important role. These episodes show that governments that thought they were allies quickly discover that they could be opponents.

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Read more: Like Donald Trump's suggestion to buy Greenland

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Regulation through revelation

The efforts registered by the United States to spy on Greenland and Denmark is a window in the secret service business.

In general, intelligence efforts against allies are generally only limited if they are subject to a public scandal. Intelligence historian Richard Aldrich described this as “regulation through revelation”. The studies on these operations usually lead to a slight criticism of politicians or judges and undertake not to repeat the crimes and the subsequent changes to the processes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLFMGB_RFK0

What will happen in the Greenland case is still unclear, especially if the Trump government has proven to be particularly immune to public, media and political challenges. The most effective challenge for enemy activities against Greenland could be an impact on the international mood of the stock market, but even that is not guaranteed.

The trust of the US constitution and international law towards participants who behave appropriately is now tense under the Trump administration. The lack of reluctance to the US power can cause the nations to rely more on their own secret service skills.

Intelligence could start as a political area to reflect on tariffs and trade in order to further create uncertainty, among other nations through its foreign policy goals.

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Read more: US and Russia argue about the security of the Arctic, while the melting ice cream opened the shipping routes

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Technology makes it easy

Another factor in contemporary intelligence, however, is that nations can now spy on more easily. The technical skills become cheaper and easier to use.

For example, communication section, satellite images and open source data analysis spy spy methods are cheaper than ever. Due to the development of machine analyzes and the finished availability of computing power and data storage, these approaches offer more insights.

Allied allies will continue to spy on allies because they are able to do so. This ability drives a demand to know and do even in the period of peace, even in the period of peace and what other national leaders and their public think.

The nations are also aggressive at the moment because the world is particularly unstable in many regions and on the edge of the conflict. To understand where conflicts could break out, why and with what strength and consequence for the defense attitude of a nation of essential importance.

The nations only know which devices are to be bought, which resources for storage and how many people in their military have to be used with this insight. Intelligence is also about avoiding surprise as the circumstances to surprise others. In this sense, intelligence is just another instrument of state art.

Most nations have spied on their allies as long as they did. During the Cold War, the United States bought the Swiss encrypted communication company Crypto AG and sold hundreds of safe communication devices with weakened security.

This type of operation was the forerunner of the widespread secret services of the US National Security Agency, which has been responsible for the collection of information for intelligence purposes in recent years.

For Denmark, the challenges of working with their allies through NATO, while the defense of Greenland are becoming increasingly complex. In the meantime, the EU will also be concerned, which Hungary shares with its other “friends”. International allies and alliances are always not trustworthy as part of the tectonic changes in global geopolitics from 2025. The recent revelations are only part of this movable picture.