Alaska Climate and Aviation Podcast

Arctic Encounter Part 2~Strategic Ground: Greenland in the Center of Arctic Geopolitics

• Katie Writer • Season 5 • Episode 6

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The 11th Arctic Encounter was held at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage Alaska, July 30-August 1st, 2025.  This years Arctic Encounter was attended by participants of over 27 countries. 

Founder and CEO of Arctic Encounter, Rachel Kallander, Advisor, Jackson Blackwell, and team members,  Reed Davidson, Anna Kardashyan, Harmony Wayner, and Trina Landlord welcomed Arctic ambassadors, policy makers, Indigenous leaders, Arctic business leaders and scientists to share perspectives and voices of the Arctic. 

Libby Casey, Senior News Anchor of The Washington Post, was the Moderator of this episode's topic, "Strategic Ground: Greenland in the Center of Arctic Geoploitics".

The panelists included on this episode are as follows:

Libby Casey, Senior News Anchor of The Washington Post.

Ms. Aki-Matilda Hough-Dam, Member of the Parliament of Greenland, Member of the Danish Parliament, Chair of the Arctic Delegation.

Mr. Mads Qvist Frederiksen, Executive Director, Arctic Economic Council of Norway. 

Mr Kuno Fencker, Member of the Parliament of Greenland.

Mr. Thomas Dans, Former Commissioner, US Arctic Research Commission.

The episode includes discussions of the sovereignty of Greenland, why it is not for sale as well as  the desire for self determination of Greenland.

Thank you for tuning into the Alaska Climate and Aviation Podcast.

Katie Writer

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UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04:

Greetings! Today is August 27th and I'd like to pick up from where I left off in the last episode of the Alaska Climate and Aviation podcast with the topic being the Arctic Encounter. For a quick review, the Arctic Encounter was held in Anchorage, Alaska this past summer from July 30th to August 1st at the Denina Center. On the second day of the Arctic encounter, a session held on strategic ground Greenland in the center of Arctic geopolitics brought together leaders from Greenland to discuss the sovereignty and independence and desires of Greenlandic people. There's been a lot of discussion of Greenland in the news with the recent discussion of whether or not it could be purchased by another governing body such as the United States. Well, senior news anchor Libby Casey moderated this panel and the people that were on the panel included Miss Aki Matilda who is a member of Parliament of Greenland She is also the member of the Danish Parliament and chair of the Arctic delegation. Mr. Kuno Funker, the member of Parliament of Greenland, was also present, as well as Mr. Mads Frederiksen, who is the executive director of Arctic Economic Council of Norway. Lastly, former commissioner of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Mr. Thomas Stans, was present. For starters, in the discussion, there was discussion of what the Greenlanders want for their country. Apparently, there was a survey that was passed around amongst the people as well as the leaders, and Libby Casey asked a few questions, and we get to hear what Aki Matilda had to say about this survey.

SPEAKER_03:

When Greenlanders are polled, a majority say they would like independence, although a little less than half say they don't want it if it decreases quality of life, which I'd like to hear from you both about, Aki Matilda and Kuno, about what that means. But also... Now the rep, am I pronouncing your party so incorrectly, that your party was excluded from the new coalition government. So how are you still working on these issues and trying to make sure that they're also evacuated?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thank you so much for that question. First of all, I was also in that survey and I wanted to see how it all worked out. And there was a bit bias in that survey that I really have to recognize. The survey said, do you want an attendance? Yes or no? Okay. They said, yes. Next question. What if you died? What if you became hungry? Would you still want it? I was like, of course not, but that's not how we're going to do it. And I said, no, but I still fight for independence. So I'm just saying, be aware of how the questions are made as well, because it's really important of these surveys if we want to have a clearer view of what the population of Britain really wants. That's the election. So during the election, the two biggest parties that were voted in were the current government party called DEMOKRATINS, which means the Democrats, and there are a liberal party, and NANAP, which is us. And you can say that we are kind of like a working class indigenous party. And both of these parties actually went to the election for the same issues, almost identical, the same issues, even about independence. And what surprised us the most was perhaps how things shifted after the election. But that's a part of the debate. But in that term, I will say, if you look at what was actually talked about during the election times, none of the Democrats were agreeing on so many points. I believe this is what the Greenlandic population wants.

SPEAKER_04:

The next statement is of Mr. Kuno, who is also a member of the Parliament of Greenland.

SPEAKER_02:

We want our own sovereignty and create our own cooperation with other countries and other organizations.

SPEAKER_04:

Aki Matilda continues her thoughts on the Greenlandic political sovereignty.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's very important, first and foremost, to say that when we look at these conflicts that are all around the world, they are usually created by these great powers and great leaders, but with a lot of big institutions. And sometimes because they fill our media space so much, we forget that it's all created by single individuals, people, humans. And when we usually meet those humans, we realize how much more we have in common than what divides us. When the United States have wanted to purchase Greenland, a lot of Greenlandic people, of course, were really hurt on the inside. But when we met a lot of Americans like you, Libby, like Rachel, there were so many great Americans to actually talk to. And the same goes with a lot of these great powers. They have a lot of great people as well. So I think it's It is important to state that us in Greenland, as indigenous people, we have always stated that we're not interested in trying to pick out these competitions between the big states and great powers and trying to pick a side as such. We want peaceful and respectful cooperation with all partners, but not in the cost of our sovereignty. We are still not naive. are still realistic and we do know that we have to have close cooperation with like-minded democratic countries and this is still a great importance of us because Greenland is just not a pawn. It's not like we are a passive soul of a wilderness of no people at all. We are a political actor. We are a people with our own right and we want to be treated as such and this is really important for us ongoing with further international interest that this is recognized internationally, hence the political sovereignty is important for us.

SPEAKER_04:

The discussion of geopolitics of Greenland would not be complete without touching on a topic that in the past few months, the conversation of whether or not Greenland could be purchased by another country. Libby Casey asked the question to the panelists.

SPEAKER_03:

Should the U.S. pursue buying Greenland? Aki Matilda?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no country in the world should be able to be bought like that. No people should be able to be

SPEAKER_02:

bought. Thank you. Well, I'm saying it's not time to be offended. So we would like to see solutions. And of course, Greenland is not for sale. No country should be for sale or be annexed or be taken over. And we want to get out of the annexation of 1953. Hence, we are not for sale. We will not be annexed again. So what I have seen here, we have seen a lot of propositions from Greenland, even the union or even some kind of protocol where Greenland is a sovereign state. The United States has come up with a solution, eventual solution, with a compact of three associations. But we never hear from Denmark. They just say, it's up to you. It's up to the Greenlandic people. But the Greenlandic people has the right to external self-determination according to Article 21 and also the Act. But we are not... The other parties in Greenland don't want to activate that. I've been working on it for almost three years, made a bill in the Parliament of England, but nobody wants to do it. Like the fear-mongering of the media, especially the Danish media and Danish scholars, Danish experts and so forth, that are giving us a lot of statistical information of why we would probably not have to do this, why it would be better to be a Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04:

Here are a few more thoughts of Aki Matilda.

SPEAKER_00:

means that we focus on our people, that we focus on the economy, but most importantly that we actually focus on international relations. With you guys, everyone that's listening here, we can create cooperation not only economically, but also in terms of security and how we can make these stuff work. If we look at some countries in the world, there are some countries that have even gained political independence with only around 10,000 people. So of course it's possible. It's only about how we can make it work. We have to use our brains, but we also have to to use our strength. I believe that the Greenlandic people, the Inuit people, are usually being told that we are too quiet people, but that should not be mistaken because we have proved that we can make negotiations without dominance but without submission as well. And we can stand our ground but also try to negotiate and be willing to find solutions together.

SPEAKER_04:

The former commissioner of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Mr. Thomas Danz, enters the conversation.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm in politics. You gave me too much time to think. So I've been thinking this is not a question for Tom Danz. It's a question for people of Greenland and for the wealthiest North American countries in the world, the leader of that, President Trump.

SPEAKER_03:

Can I follow up with you on that then, Tom? You know, he's compared this to a real estate deal, but territories and countries aren't like properties that are bought and sold. So in this day and age, it's like post-colonial moment. So how How do you respond to criticism that that language is not appropriate for international diplomacy and trying to make deals?

SPEAKER_01:

I can't respond to the abstract about some of his comments off him. Well, it's not

SPEAKER_03:

abstract. It's like if he says, I want to buy Denmark, if I want to buy Greenland, I'm going to send Denmark. If I want to buy, that'll be next. If I want to buy Greenland, it's not abstract. It's a true little thing that he's talked about.

SPEAKER_01:

And

SPEAKER_03:

he's the president, so we have to take it seriously.

SPEAKER_01:

Of course, in the book, the President Trump, look at what he says and what happens. I mean, that should be instructive to everyone. So take the manager's word. But, you know, we have to step back and look at this in the context of the bigger picture, which is the security that's been provided by the U.S., as I said, since 1949 to 1940, and basically still is. And I think that Greenland's Following

SPEAKER_04:

those remarks from Mr. Thomas Danz, Mr. Kuno Fenker, the Member of the Parliament of Greenland, comments...

SPEAKER_02:

We know that we can be politically independent. We know that it's utopia to be fully independent, but we need cooperation. We need to give out some of our sovereignty to bigger powers, just like Denmark has given out sovereignty to the EU. Hence, does it mean that they are fully independent? Probably not, when 80% of their law is created by the EU. So you can talk about political sovereignty and nation-building Jakob Ispensen,

SPEAKER_04:

who is head of the representation to Greenland and to Canada, shares his thoughts to finalize the conversation.

SPEAKER_01:

For every people, I guess, that is not something that is controversial or something else. That, of course, we want to have a say or we want to decide on behalf of ourselves in matters of general affairs or to develop our own society. And that is what we have been doing for many, many years, what our forefathers have been doing. and fighting for it. It's not something that has just been given by the Danes. It's something we have discussed and developed together with them, as I mentioned, back to 1979 when they were granted home rule. And we have basically fulfilled all these areas. We negotiated with the Danes again to create a new framework within the Kingdom of Denmark which was granted us these things that I mentioned before, the self-governance. And last months, the prime ministers of Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland met in Torshavn, the Faroe Islands, where they agreed that they will modernize again the kingdom of Denmark. So I think that we have the experience and witness by the desire, by the will, by the wish for the Greenlandic people that we want more, that we want to have more to say. And that's how we have developed together with the things. And I'm sure it will continue in the So it's going to be exciting to see what disagreement that they have that they have talked about and how it will be in the future.

SPEAKER_03:

Jaco, thank you so much. Head of Marine Land Representation to the United States and to Canada. We should mention that as well. Thank you very much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04:

And that concludes today's episode of the Alaska Climate and Aviation Podcast. And this was the Arctic Encounter panel discussion of strategic ground, Greenland, and the center of Arctic geopolitics. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Katie Ryder, and have a great rest of your week.