US won’t buy Greenland, but world powers are eyeing the Arctic

Denmark might not be selling Greenland, but the world’s eyes are on the Arctic

Hi again, welcome back to another exciting week of Plain English. I’m Jeff. JR is the producer and you are listening to the best podcast for learning English. This is episode 188 of Plain English, so you can find all the resources at PlainEnglish.com/188.

On today’s episode: In a strange incident, it emerged that Donald Trump was interested in buying Greenland from Denmark, even though the world’s biggest island wasn’t for sale. Greenland won’t be part of the US, at least for the foreseeable future. But the incident did shine a spotlight on the power struggle in the Arctic, and that’s the topic of today’s episode. Later on, we’ll talk about the English expression, “float an idea.” And since it’s Monday, we’ll close with a quote. Today’s quote is about Alaska.

If you’re interested in taking your English to the next level, we have a great new program called Plain English Plus+, which has even more resources associated with every episode. To learn more, please visit PlainEnglish.com/plus.

All eyes on the Arctic

The real estate developer-turned-American President Donald Trump floated an idea last month to buy the world’s biggest island. Greenland, population about 55,000, is currently an autonomous territory of Denmark. Upon hearing of Trump’s interest, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen immediately rejected the idea, calling it “absurd.” Trump retaliated by canceling an upcoming state visit to Copenhagen. The whole issue turned into fodder for internet memes and jokes.

But it does shine a spotlight on what will surely be an issue of increasing importance in the coming years: the jockeying for influence in the Arctic. The planet’s northernmost region is of interest to certain world powers for three interconnected reasons: shipping, natural resources and geopolitics.

We can start with shipping. Shipping in the Arctic region is limited to smaller ships and a short season. However, one effect of rising global temperatures is that shipping lanes are widening and opportunities are opening up to cut global shipping times. A trip through the Arctic, for example, could cut weeks off the journey between China and the West. None of the world’s big powers want to cede control of the Arctic as a potential shipping corridor in the future.

Next up, natural resources. Scientists think that between a fifth and a quarter of the world’s oil, gas, and mineral reserves could be in the Arctic region. Greenland itself is believed to have deposits of zinc, coal, copper, iron ore, and rare earth metals. Many of the rare earth metals that are used in the manufacture of electronics are currently only available in China, and China is using this for leverage with the United States in the current trade war between the two powers.

Geopolitics ties together shipping and natural resources. There is an organization called the Arctic Eight, comprised of Russia, Canada, the United States, Denmark (for Greenland), Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. The group has typically resolved territorial disputes and governance issues in the Arctic amicably. That’s probably because the stakes have traditionally been low. The Arctic region is covered in snow and ice. The land mass is remote, inaccessible, and, for the most part, uninhabitable. Although it is known for its reserves of oil and gas, no country has made much of a serious effort to extract natural resources because of the extreme difficulty in doing so. Aside from an oil-drilling agreement between Finland and Russia, natural resource extraction in the Arctic has been extremely limited.

That doesn’t mean that the world’s powers are ignoring the region. Russia has started investing in military bases in the Arctic region and has increased purchases of ice-breaking ships, to help clear shipping lanes. Russia also sent a submarine to the sea bed at the North Pole and planted its flag there. China, not to be outdone, has declared itself a “near Arctic state,” which has no real meaning, but signals its interest in the area. One way that China exerts influence on the global stage is by investing in infrastructure in other countries. Sure enough, a Chinese state-owned construction company looked to build airports in Greenland, until the government of Denmark objected. China is also working with Russia on natural gas extraction in the Arctic region.

All this has given the US a sense of being left behind in the race for influence in the Arctic. That brings us back to Trump’s suggestion of buying Greenland. The Internet was full of commentary saying Trump was foolish to say he wanted to buy sovereign territory of another country, especially before he even determined whether it was for sale. It may not be as silly as it sounds. The US does have a long history of buying territory from other countries, including from Denmark when the US bought what was then the Dutch West Indies and is now known as the US Virgin Islands. It’s more likely, though, that Trump wasn’t really looking to buy Greenland; instead, he was probably trying to signal his interest in the Arctic. A much more reasonable measure between the US and Greenland is going forward, despite the war of words between the two countries’ leaders. The American consulate in the Greenland capital of Nuuk is scheduled to open next year.

We have a lot of new listeners to Plain English these days, so if you’re new to the program, I want to say hello and welcome. As you heard, we are on episode 188, so there’s plenty to explore in the archives. I did want to send a special hello to two groups of people today. First, I noticed that we have a lot of people listening on Deezer. A lot of you listen on Spotify, but Deezer is a competitor to Spotify and they were a little slow getting into the podcast game. But Plain English is available on Deezer, and I can tell we have a lot of new listeners on that app, so if that’s you, then I wanted to say hello and welcome. I also noticed we have a lot of new listeners from Thailand. So JR and I also want to welcome all our new listeners from Thailand.

Have you ever used the Quizlet app? It’s a great, free app for creating flash cards. It’s the most popular app on the internet for flashcards and studying. Kids use it in school and it’s also really popular for language learning. That’s why we used Quizlet when we wanted to include flash cards as part of the Plain English Plus+ membership. JR and I produce five flash cards of English words with each episode, and Plus+ members can study them on their phones or right on the web site. If you want to see what it looks like, you can see the sample Plus+ episode by visiting PlainEnglish.com/sample. Even if you don’t subscribe, you can at least see how Quizlet works. PlainEnglish.com/sample.