Hurtling into view, noisily and quickly, comes another twist in the rollercoaster that is diplomacy in the era of President Trump.<\/p>\n
Splenetic social media posts, bold claims in front of the cameras and provocative and to some deeply offensive AI-generated images of an American-owned Greenland.<\/p>\n
And now, so many of America’s allies allow themselves a deep breath and an expression of relief.<\/p>\n
Just as so many of the furious rows begin on social media under this US president, this latest one has cooled considerably via social media too – with another post on his platform Truth Social.<\/p>\n
Within the government here in the UK, there is a quiet pride that Britain made its contribution to the welter of diplomacy European neighbours and others have been doing in recent days.<\/p>\n
I hear that the British diplomatic machine cranked up at every level: involving ministers, officials and embassies.<\/p>\n
The prime minister insisted on what he saw as the merits of “calm discussion” – but had to judge how to calibrate his response, both publicly and privately.<\/p>\n
At the core of this row, there was a fundamental public disagreement between Downing Street and the White House, something Sir Keir Starmer has sought to avoid where possible.<\/p>\n
But for him the integrity of a state – with Greenland’s future being for Greenlanders and Denmark to decide – was a non-negotiable bottom line.<\/p>\n
In the 48 hours or so since spelling that out explicitly, in front of the cameras, on Monday morning, risk hung in the air – could the carefully cultivated relationship with President Trump be uprooted before our eyes?<\/p>\n
By Tuesday morning, it looked like the answer could be yes, with the president sounding off in capital letters about the government’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, an arrangement he had previously endorsed.<\/p>\n
What might come next? Again Downing Street held its breath, before deciding to notch up its critique in the Commons on Wednesday.<\/p>\n