US President Donald Trump said in a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway that he no longer feels obligated to "think only about peace" because he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Reuters reported. In the letter, he reiterated his demand for control of Greenland, BTA reports.
The letter, which Reuters obtained, is in response to a brief message to Trump from Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they opposed his decision to impose tariffs on European allies for their refusal to allow the United States to take control of Greenland, Støre said in a statement.
"Given that your country has decided not to award me the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping eight wars, plus other achievements, I no longer feel obligated to think only about peace, although that will always be paramount, and I can also think about what is good and right for the United States of America," Trump wrote in the letter.
Støre said he had repeatedly explained to Trump that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the peace prize, is independent and that the Norwegian government has no control over its decisions.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The prize includes a gold medal, a certificate and a sum of 11 million Swedish kronor. Machado gave Trump her gold medal during a meeting with him at the White House, although the Norwegian Nobel Committee has stated that the prize cannot be transferred, shared or withdrawn.
In his letter to the Norwegian prime minister, Trump also again questioned Danish sovereignty over Greenland, stating: "Denmark cannot defend this land from Russia or China, and why does it have "ownership rights" over it at all? There is no written record of this – "It is only said that a boat docked there hundreds of years ago, but we have had boats dock there too." "The world will not be safe if we do not have complete and total control over Greenland," Trump added in the letter. Greenland, a large, mineral-rich Arctic island, is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.