I remember when I first arrived in Greenland. It was September 1969, and I was part of a small military contingent sent to Thule Air Base for the purpose of resupplying a smaller site called Nord to the east and further north for the Arctic winter. At Thule, there were a hundred or more American soldiers and Danish contractors, and then there were the Inuits. I remember seeing them for the first time and I recall I was immediately struck by their East Asian features. Yet here they were, 1,700 miles, as the tern flies, from the Bering Strait, and much longer if you were to follow the more probable route from Asia to Greenland, thereby avoiding crossing the pole, which is no mean achievement (even today). This trek from Asia to Greenland was a journey that, in fact, took centuries and many generations to accomplish because the migrants had no specific destination in mind. They hunted, fished when possible, and when the game played out, they moved on.
Originally, it was the Paleo-Inuit (2500–800 B.C.) who left their artifacts in Greenland before they disappeared from the pages of history. Greenland was subsequently inhabited by the Norse, led by Erik Thorvaldsson, also known as Erik the Red. At the time, Greenland was described in a thirteenth-century manuscript called The King’s Mirror as a realm of “. . . great frost and boundless ice. . . .” It was Erik who, in spite of the barren land, called it “Greenland” (Grœnland) in order to fool or entice his Viking countrymen to settle there.
Now, Erik had a violent temper and had been banished from Iceland for murdering his neighbor Eyjolf the Foul in a land dispute. After he was condemned, he sailed west until he discovered what would later be known as the largest island on the planet: Greenland. The Thule people (i.e., the Inuits) arrived from the west only a generation or more after Erik and the Norse. The Norse settled in the southern coastal area, where the climate was more suitable for farming, while the Thule people remained around the northwestern shore. The Thule people were itinerant hunters who moved wherever the fish, seals, reindeer, and caribou could be found. This mobility worked to their advantage when contrasted with the Norsemen, who built permanent structures to which they were awkwardly anchored. Eventually, the Norse settlements folded, and by the fifteenth century, they lay in ruins.
The bedrock of Greenland is older than that of most other areas on this planet. Much of the island appears to be barren and inhospitable to other peoples of the world, but to the descendants of the Thule people, it more than suffices. In fact, their culture is based on what they’ve learned from the land and the sea.
For centuries these communities have relied on their natural resources, strong leaders, and innovative tools and skills to adapt to the cold, harsh environments of the Arctic north. The Inuit people survived primarily on fish and sea mammals such as seals, whales, caribou, and walruses.
Out of respect for the land and ocean that provided for them, they, like other Indigenous Peoples, used all parts of the animal efficiently for food, clothes, and tools, creating innovative spears and harpoons, parka coats, blankets, and boats. Therefore, to this day, the Inuit place high value on inclusiveness, resourcefulness, collaboration, and “decision making through discussion and consensus.
These traditional values and cultural norms of the Inuits are inextricably intertwined with the figure of Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea and of the creatures within. While the belief in Sedna continues to this day, she is no longer a spirit to be appeased but rather an inspiration for Inuit culture. She is the link between the people and the sustenance they derive from the sea. The Inuits are very aware—perhaps more so than we are—of global warming, as they see the effects of this environmental change daily.
While today’s Inuits are taught to be self-reliant, they are also taught to help their neighbors when the occasion presents itself. Community is everything to them.
Balance is particularly important. The Inuits have no tolerance for greed, excess, or plundering the land, which stands in stark contrast to the plans of the current administration in the U.S., which have foisted an existential crisis on the Greenlanders without regard for the values and sensibilities of not only the Greenlanders but also the Danes.
The northern lights
The most common color in Arctic auroras is green. These auroras form at altitudes of 60 to 120 miles above the ground. Here, charged particles unleashed by the Sun and carried to the Earth by the solar wind collide with oxygen particles in the Earth’s magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is one of the layers that surround the Earth, alongside the ozone layer. At altitudes higher than 120 miles, the same interaction creates a red color in the lights. If predominantly nitrogen instead of oxygen molecules are present, blue and purple effects are achieved, and when both oxygen and nitrogen are present, pink and magenta-colored auroras result. While there is no irrefutable evidence that the aurora borealis has ever portended a historical event or altered the course of history, there have been claims that these events were in some sense significant. If a solar storm is particularly powerful, these lights may be seen as far south as the Carolinas.
The Antarctic continent of our planet likewise has southern light displays caused by the same reasons as the northern lights.
But as to that matter which you have often inquired about, what those lights can be which the Greenlanders call the northern lights, I have no clear knowledge. . . In appearance they resemble a vast flame of fire viewed from a great distance.
– The King;s Mirror (1250 A.D.)
The midnight sun
The midnight sun is the term used for periods of perpetual light, where the sun is visible twenty-four hours a day, depending on the latitude (which must be at least 66.5 degrees north) and the season. The Scandinavian countries, along with Finland, Russia, and Canada (including Alaska), all experience the midnight sun to some degree.
It is very difficult for a stranger to understand or predict how perpetual light (or darkness) affects the human psyche. We have circadian biorhythms that can be disturbed, triggering hormonal (melatonin, cortisol, and serotonin) and behavioral irregularities in people unacquainted with the phenomenon. For ancient mariners and navigators, the midnight sun was particularly frustrating, as they could not chart their position based on the stars.
Dundas
While Dundas does not look particularly imposing here, the mesa made mostly of slate and shale is 724 feet high. Also called Uummannaq, Dundas was birthed by lava intrusions into the sedimentary rock some 630-675 million years ago. I was informally told during my time at Thule that Dundas was considered to be a sacred mountain to the indigenous inuits, likely because in the mythology of the Thule people, spirits lived on mountain tops from where they would influence the lives of mortals in the neighboring environs below.
Live and let live
Greenland has largely been left alone by the world, and the world has left Greenland alone until just recently. During World War II, the Germans established small weather and radio facilities on the Greenland coast and on the small islands surrounding Greenland. These stations supported German U-boats and possibly Luftwaffe attacks on England during the Blitz. Additionally, after the Second World War and the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying atomic and then nuclear bombs of destruction, the U.S. secured permission to build a DEW Line base at Thule, Greenland, which was necessary for the early detection of Soviet missiles headed toward the U.S.
“. . . if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice. Think of it. Those missiles will be flying right over the center of that piece of ice.”
– DJT
This does not tax Greenland or disrupt its fragile Arctic ecosystem. However, the U.S. is now demanding much more from Greenland and its gentle, nature-loving Inuit population.
Beyond plundering Greenland’s mineral rights and selling the earth’s riches to the highest bidder, Trump reminded the public last week that there is an additional reason for the U.S. to seize Greenland. As he said to attendees at Davos according to NBC News:
. . .Psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease for a large piece of ice in the middle of the ocean, where, if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice? Think of it. Those missiles will be flying right over the center of that piece of ice. . . .
Also today, Greenland is receiving increased—and likely unwanted—scrutiny. Tom Clancy fans and those who took Geography 2201 in college know that the only way to access the Baltic and Barents Seas by deep water—home to the northern Russian submarine bases on the Kola Peninsula—is through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom Gap (GIUK gap). NATO has peppered these two channels with SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System) buoys to detect and identify Russian submarines heading out to the Atlantic or returning to base after a mission.
Why does Trump want Greenland?
So, first of all, Greenland has rare earth elements and vital resources that the U.S. needs, including neodymium, dysprosium, and gold, to mention just a few. It also has lithium, niobium, hafnium, and zirconium, which have military applications or are needed for U.S. industry.
Secondly, there are carbon fuels—namely, 17.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.19 trillion cubic meters of natural gas—to be siphoned away elsewhere. Add uranium and a few other minerals, and it’s a lot to loot.
Thirdly, we’re told that Greenland is vital for Trump’s “Golden Dome” anti-missile initiative, which may not be true because the initiative might not even be technically feasible or could be impossibly expensive to build. If we had trouble constructing an anti-missile defense system capable of destroying incoming missiles traveling at Mach 2, how can we expect to shoot down missiles traveling at five times that speed? Moreover, whatever bases the U.S. might build in Greenland would likely be wiped out in the first strike of a nuclear war, and not a man, woman, or walrus would survive.
Also, and again without proof, we are supposed to believe that Russia and China are pursuing their own initiatives to control Greenland. We have only the word of a convicted felon that this is true. Apparently, it is not understood in Washington that by acting as bad actors toward the native Greenlanders, we might be driving them into the Russian or Chinese camps.
Since Davos ended last week, the President of the U.S. has subsequently alluded to an unspecified arrangement reached with NATO chief Mark Rutte whereby the U.S. would have sovereignty over parts of Greenland. This report was news to Greenland, Denmark, and the other twenty-nine countries of NATO. Because this president sees a tactical advantage in setting the narrative (true or false), he may not have even spoken to Rutte yet alone reached an understanding.
This President is not above using ham-fisted force to subdue the Danes and the 72,000 people of Greenland. To him, this island with its unique ecosystem is just a “piece of ice”. It is up to the nations of the world and the people in the U.S. who still have a sense of compassion and clear sense to keep this from happening.
Read here how Greenlanders perceive this threat.
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Thanks for this important piece of pertinent information. We all need the facts, history and truth today.