Drones over Denmark – the mood has changed

On Monday 22 September, Copenhagen Airport was shut down for four hours. The reason? Unidentified drones were flying overhead. Two days later, it was reported that drones had been observed at other Danish airports – in Aalborg, Esbjerg and Sønderborg, as well as over Skrydstrup Air Base. The Danish Armed Forces announced that drones had been spotted circling a number of military installations. Since then, there have been several reports of unidentified drones across the country.

With Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the helm, the Danish ruling class are now trying to whip up a storm about the country being as close to a full-blown war with Russia as it can get, without actually being in one. They do not dare to call it an outright attack, but rather an ‘affront’, saying that a so-called hybrid war is now being waged against little, peace-loving Denmark.

The Russians have been designated as the unmistakable enemy, villain and aggressor. The Social Democratic Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, has even compared the current situation to that following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001, in which 3,000 people were killed. It is obvious that the government is trying to create fear and exploit the situation to their own political advantage.

However, a lot of things are still up in the air (not counting the drones). For instance, there is still no evidence as to whom they belong in the first place. Furthermore, reports have started trickling in that there might not have been any drones in the first place, with anonymous sources from the intelligence services sowing serious doubts about the government’s claims.

Even if we assume that the government's claim that Russia is behind it is true, we must ask the following question: how has it come to this? Is it true, as Mette Frederiksen suggests, that Danish politicians have just been sitting at home, eating their rye bread in peace and quiet, when suddenly, out of the blue, the Russians have chosen Denmark as their next target?

Not at all. On the contrary, she – along with almost every other Danish politician – has pursued an extremely aggressive and escalatory foreign policy towards Russia.

Always pointing the finger

The ruling class in Denmark uses the media to try to portray itself and its allies as always acting defensively, while its competitors, rivals, and opponents are to blame for every problem in the world.

We are seeing this right now in Gaza. According to Danish politicians, Israel ‘has the right to defend itself’ by massacring tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children. Forget the previous 80 years of occupation, displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, Danish politicians and media described it as unprovoked aggression on the part of Russia / Image: public domain

The same has been the case with Russia. When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, Danish politicians and media described it as unprovoked aggression on the part of Russia.

They said nothing about how the West helped introduce the most corrupt form of mafia capitalism in Russia, when the Soviet Union fell. Nothing about how NATO, a hostile military alliance, has expanded eastward ever since, accepting Russian border states as members. Nothing about the many NATO bases, military exercises and troop deployments along the Russian border. Nothing about the West supporting the Maidan coup in 2014, which established a new pro-western regime in Ukraine, that started a civil war against the Russian-speaking part of the Ukrainian population.

The fact that the war is actually a war between western imperialism on the one hand and Russia on the other, being fought on Ukrainian territory, is of course passed over in silence. What politicians and the media wanted us to focus on was that Russia had attacked Ukraine. Full stop.

It is the very same picture that is being painted now.

Military aggression towards Russia

If we are interested in more than simply scaremongering, and we actually want to understand the situation, we need to understand the policies pursued by Mette Frederiksen and Denmark more generally.

Since World War II, Denmark has benefited from the United States' dominance in the capitalist world and has therefore always been extremely loyal to Washington. This is why Danish politicians have happily followed the Americans when they have bombed and invaded one country after another in the Middle East in recent decades. 

This relationship with the United States, combined with Danish interests in Eastern Europe, was also the reason why Frederiksen, backed by the entire Danish Parliament, took such a strong stance on the war in Ukraine. In an attempt to weaken Russia, the United States, led by Joe Biden, helped provoke this war in Ukraine, which the Danish government supported from the outset.

Danish politicians have not only sent a staggering 75 billion Danish kroner (US$11.6 billion) of taxpayers' money to Ukraine, but also aircraft, tanks and other military equipment. In Europe, Mette Frederiksen and the government have been among those who have pushed the hardest to escalate the war.

In May last year, Mette Frederiksen was one of the first to give permission for Ukraine to use weapons donated by Denmark for attacks inside Russia. Mette Frederiksen also took the lead in pushing for Ukraine to be allowed to use their long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia, despite Russian statements that they considered this a declaration of war by NATO.

In a direct continuation of this, she said in an interview last summer:

“You cannot be on a peace mission in Russia. We have tried, but we have nothing left to talk with Putin about. And we in Europe will soon have to understand that Russia does not want peace. That is why we must dare to do what previous generations did: use military force to secure democracy and human rights.”

In reality, statements like these amount to a declaration of war against Russia on the part of Denmark. It is in this context that we must view the escalation that Mette Frederiksen has continued ever since.

From 1 December, the Ukrainian company Fire Point will begin producing fuel for Ukraine's long-range cruise missiles in Denmark, which have a range of 3,000 kilometres. Danish politicians have thus given Ukraine permission to build weapon parts in Denmark, which will be used in the war against Russia, and which can strike Russia directly.

Then there is the latest step on Denmark’s ladder of escalation. Five days before the first drones were observed over Danish airports, the government held a press conference on what it itself described as a historic “paradigm shift.” For the first time, the Danish military is to arm itself with offensive weapons in the form of long-range precision missiles. The government made it very clear that the weapons Denmark is now acquiring are being purchased because of Russia, and must be capable of hitting targets inside its borders.

If you take a step back and think about the policies Mette Frederiksen is actually pursuing, it seems completely insane. Denmark, a tiny country, is not only ruling out peace, but is spearheading a constant escalation of the conflict with Russia. If Russia had behaved as aggressively towards Denmark, as Denmark does towards Russia, and had escalated in the same way, we would indeed now be at war with Russia.

If Mette Frederiksen's policy is taken to its conclusion, it would ultimately lead to a full-scale war with the world's largest nuclear power, which also possesses the largest combat-trained army in the world. 

No stick

Contrary to the picture generally painted in the Danish media, it is the Danish government that is behaving in an extremely belligerent manner, puffing itself up and constantly poking its Russian foe in the eye. 

Mette Frederiksen has been at the forefront of this course of action, and tried to use this aggressive stance towards Russia to increase her own authority. For example, at the Social Democrats' annual conference, she had Mattias Tesfaye, Minister for Children and Education, introduce her as “Putin's headache.” One would be hard pressed to find a more self-righteous and obnoxious form of posturing.

If Mette Frederiksen's policy is taken to its conclusion, it would ultimately lead to a full-scale war with the world's largest nuclear power / Image: public domain

Peter Viggo Jacobsen, associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, and one of the main military pundits in Denmark, aptly described Fredriksen's actions as follows:

“Former US President Theodore Roosevelt said that being at war requires one to speak softly and carry a big stick. Denmark has an incredibly loud voice and no stick. 

“It is only logical that when you stick your nose out that far, you also risk getting punched in the face.”

Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly provoked the largest, strongest, and most heavily nuclear-armed power in Europe. Most people would be able to figure out that sooner or later this would provoke a backlash. Whether or not Russia is behind these drone flights, it has nevertheless thrown the entire political establishment into an embarrassing state of complete confusion and powerlessness. 

The impotence of Danish politicians

As the Revolutionært Kommunistisk Parti, the Danish section of the RCI, we have always pointed out that Russia has no interest in invading Denmark or any other NATO country, and that is still the case today. Whether you like it or not, nations have spheres of interest. Just as the US would never accept Chinese or Russian military installations in Mexico or Canada, Russia could not accept Ukraine – the largest European country bordering Russia – becoming a NATO member or anything of the sort.

But the Danish government has continued to fuel fears of an imminent Russian invasion. The reason for this is that the US, led by Trump, is not only trying to get out of the war in Ukraine, but more generally to leave Europe, including Denmark, to fend for itself. That is why politicians and the media are whipping up fear, so that they can gain tacit acceptance for the billions spent on weapon purchases and further militarisation. This allows them to override laws and regulations, for example, in order to build military installations such as the aforementioned Ukrainian Fire Points factory.

This fear has undoubtedly taken hold among part of the population. Many workers support Danish military build-up, due to the effectiveness of the fear-mongering employed by politicians. Many workers have been frightened, because they want to defend their homes, their families, and their livelihoods.

But what the drone affair has shown is that Danish politicians are incapable of defending even an inch of the country.

Have Danish politicians appeared decisive and resolute in the wake of these events? On the contrary. They have been completely at a loss, brimming with incompetence and with no idea what to do. A flurry of meaningless press conferences have been held, attended by large groups of politicians and senior officials, but without anything meaningful to say. When asked, for example, why the drones were not shot down, they looked confused and mumbled something about it being dark and the dangers of shooting something into the air, because it will fall back down again.

It seems to have come as a complete surprise to them that drone technology is something to be reckoned with in the 21st century, even though it has been the main component of the war in Ukraine for the past 3.5 years, and drone flights had already been observed over the port of Køge, south of Copenhagen, back in January.

Many people are undoubtedly sitting at home thinking about the fact that politicians have put Denmark on a collision course with Russia, and that they have no idea how to protect us from ‘attacks’ like these. They are no doubt drawing the conclusion that this is a completely insane policy. It is the Danish politicians that are creating fear and uncertainty about war in the future, but when faced with even the slightest test, they falter. Mette Frederiksen and co. have shown themselves to be all bark and no bite.

Weak government

This is creating an ever-widening gap between politicians and the population, which Mette Frederiksen is attempting to bridge by reenacting the COVID-crisis, with herself cast as the hero of the hour. With opinion polls showing support for the Social Democrats on the decline, and upcoming municipal elections set to be a bloodbath for the party, this is an obvious opportunity for the Prime Minister to create a new sense of crisis, reminiscent of the pandemic, in order to make herself a figure of unity once again, and increase her support.

Mette Frederiksen and co. have shown themselves to be all bark and no bite / Image: public domain

But the effect of her alarmist politics is not the same as it was during the pandemic. Since then, distrust of Mette Frederiksen and the rest of the politicians has grown and grown.

Very few people believe that the current government will handle this crisis well. The display of their incompetence over the past week has only given evidence to this sentiment. The government is in a very weak position, which is not helped by new and ongoing scandals. At present, a misconduct case is weighing heavily on Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen – the leader of Denmark's main bourgeois party.

At the so-called ‘People's Meeting’ a few months ago – a yearly event where politicians and the upper echelons of society gather in the name of ‘celebrating Danish democracy’ – a thunderclap rang out as an F-35 fighter jet flew over the island, first while Mette Frederiksen was giving an interview on national TV, and then when Troels Lund Poulsen was chairing an event.

The timing was too good to be true. When subsequently asked whether he had ordered the planes, he flatly denied. But now this has been shown to be a lie. The military has been put to use, as part of the government's own propaganda machine. It is impossible to say how this case will end, as the minister has directly lied to the Danish Parliament, which is illegal. Ultimately it may cost him his position as minister.

The mood has changed

With cases like these, it is no surprise that more and more people are losing trust in Mette Frederiksen and her government. The prime minister's response to criticism of the handling of the drones has been to label all critical voices as Putin supporters, “sowing division” among the population. In other words, she is trying to scare people into keeping quiet and doing as they are told.

The prime minister's response to criticism of the handling of the drones has been to label all critical voices as Putin supporters / Image: Revolution

However, unlike during the pandemic, where there was a real health risk, the mood has now changed. 

Visit any comment section on social media, and it is not just a few anti-government internet warriors who are grumbling. There are many critical comments posted by ordinary people. Many directly blame Mette Frederiksen for the situation, because they see that she is the one who has continued to provoke Russia. Others point out how she and other politicians have been talking about strengthening defenses for years, but even now nothing has been done. There is also a smaller group of people who do not believe that there have been any drones at all, or that it is the government itself that has launched them.

This is the most significant aspect of the current situation: the shift in mood and the change in consciousness.

The drone affair is happening at a time when we are witnessing new historic events every week. Therefore, it not only increases the deep mistrust of politicians and authorities, but also forces more people to question how society as a whole is organised. It is this change in consciousness that is actually the greatest danger to those in power.