The fight for Greenland

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The New Statesman

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🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

US President Donald Trump has his sights set on making Greenland part of the US, claiming the autonomous, self-governing territory of Denmark is essential "for national security and international security."

However, the vast majority of Greenlanders have said they do not want to become part of the US. Denmark has also strongly opposed the suggestion. Despite this, the US President has continued to pursue the issue - his vice president JD Vance recently visited Greenland to make the case for the US annexing the territory.

Katie Stallard is joined by Markus Valentin, a journalist based in Greenland, and Romain Chuffart, a professor of Arctic Studies, to discuss.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Dan Snow here from Dan Snow's History Hit podcast.
0:04.3	So we've got a massive conventional war on the European mainland, and there are ever more signs of climate breakdown.
0:12.0	If you're trying to make sense of all the wild things we're living through, my podcast, Dan Snow's history hit, is here to help.
0:19.0	Our expert historians, thinkers and storytellers, unravel the history behind the headlines
0:24.9	so you can navigate the news with confidence and clarity.
0:28.4	Dan Snow's History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:34.1	The New Statesman.
0:37.9	How we doing?
0:39.9	It gets cold as shit here.
0:41.4	Nobody's told me.
0:44.6	Last Friday, J.D. Vance and his wife, Usher arrived at the U.S. military's Petufic Space Base.
0:51.7	It was minus 22 degrees.
0:54.0	I've never been to Greenland. Apparently, I'm the first vice president to ever visit Greenland,
0:58.0	so that's a pretty cool thing.
0:59.0	In the run-up to the visit, the plans changed repeatedly, as it became clear that the Vance's
1:05.0	would be greeted by protests and questions about what they were really doing there.
1:10.0	He's not welcome to Greenland and his administration because he wants to buy us.
1:14.6	I am a human. I am a human. Human are not for sale.
1:18.6	When Donald Trump first raised the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, it was treated as something
1:25.6	of a joke.
1:26.6	President Trump has talked to aides and members of Congress about possibly buying Greenland.
1:32.3	Yeah, of course he fucking did.
	...

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