00:00The Arctic used to be dubbed a zone of peace, but things are heating up at the
00:04planet's northern ice cap, turning Greenland into the hottest piece of real
00:08estate up there. Seriously, the US is stepping up, China has a growing interest,
00:15and now the EU is making a fresh push by visiting Greenland. Not to mention
00:20another big player in the neighborhood, Russia, a long-standing Arctic power. So
00:26how do all these actors affect the world's largest island up in the Arctic?
00:31All right, first of all, it's complicated. Greenland is part of the North American
00:36continent, but politically it's an autonomous territory tied to Europe as a
00:41part of Denmark. And Greenland is still largely covered by a massive ice sheet.
00:46But because of climate change, it's losing ice fast. Bad for nature, good for
00:51business, but more on that later. Let's look at the different players and their
00:55games. Donald Trump put the island back at the center of the geopolitical arena,
01:00since he floated the idea of acquiring it. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're
01:05gonna do it the hard way. The Trump administration argues that control over
01:08Greenland is increasingly crucial to US security. It could play a role in a new
01:13missile defense system, Trump's Golden Dome, designed to block threats from China
01:18and Russia. Oh, and if you didn't know, there are rare earths and other resources
01:22underneath Greenland's ice, which will become more accessible as the ice sheet
01:28continues to shrink. The US bid for Greenland is an ongoing story. And as you
01:33can imagine, its allies, the EU and other NATO members are no fans. And Denmark keeps
01:38pushing back. Though some months ago, Trump claimed all are working on a future
01:42deal. Stay tuned. In the meantime, Russia is focusing heavily on its military
01:46presence in the Arctic. It responds to what Putin claims to be an increased NATO
01:50presence in the region. Remember, after Russia attacked Ukraine, Arctic states,
01:55Finland and Sweden joined NATO. And what about China? If you look at the map, it's not an
02:01Arctic nation, but it calls itself a near Arctic state. It's mainly interested in
02:07Greenland's rare minerals and its location. I'm talking about trade routes. Just this August,
02:12a Chinese shipping company started a new route via the Arctic, the Ice Silk Road. It connects
02:18China with Europe and is one alternative to increasingly unreliable routes via the Middle
02:23East. But let's not forget the EU in all of this, because they're hustling to get a foot in the
02:27door,
02:28too. For the European Union, Greenland isn't only about securing access to critical minerals,
02:34it's also about Europe's strategic presence and security in the Arctic. Which explains why the
02:41bloc has proposed in total around 500 million euros of funding for Greenland. And what about the
02:47Greenlanders? They pushed back against becoming a part of the US. Still, regional expert Olena
02:52Potworna says, the attention has given Greenland more leverage in deciding its future on its own terms.
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