Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis

By Eric PagliaNews Politics

Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis episodes

January 18 Explaining the America First motivation for acquiring Greenland with former Trump administration official Alexander B. Gray
What geopolitical reasoning is driving Donald Trump’s incessant pursuit of Greenland? As Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the White House National Security Council during the first Trump administration, Alexander B. Gray was closely involved with the initial U.S. attempt to acquire Greenland in 2019. In this episode of the podcast, Mr. Gray, who is today CEO of the strategic advisory firm American Global Strategies, explains why he shares Donald Trump’s strong belief that Greenland should be situated within the political orbit of the United States. He also discusses the role of Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as Canada, as key components of the concept of Hemispheric Defense, and explains why he advocates an America First policy for Antarctica.
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34 min
January 15 Seek support, create offramps and keep the Greenlanders close: Copenhagen’s strategy for containing the Greenland Crisis
Several weeks into the latest, most acute, phase of the ongoing Greenland Crisis, a Danish strategy for keeping the Kingdom intact in the face of the Trump administration’s unwelcome advances can be discerned. Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen from the Center for Arctic Security Studies at Royal Danish Defence College joins the podcast to provide his analysis of Copenhagen’s approach to managing the crisis, and to discuss dynamics inside the Kingdom of Denmark at a time of extreme external pressure from the United States in its attempt to acquire Greenland.
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39 min
January 14 View from Brussels: the role of the EU and NATO in the Greenland Crisis
With transatlantic ties and the future of NATO at stake, security policy analyst Maria Martisiute from the European Policy Center in Brussels joins the podcast to discuss the role of the EU, NATO and member states in attempting to mitigate the Greenland Crisis. She also presents six recommendations for potentially turning the crisis into an opportunity to enhance Arctic security and foster greater cooperation between Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and European countries and institutions on issues ranging from natural resources to collective security. Her recent article on the topic is called It’s a bargain: the case of Greenland.
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28 min
January 08 Coercive diplomacy: Trump’s turning of the screw in US pursuit of Greenland
The appointment of Jeff Landry as special envoy reflects the Trump administration’s increasingly assertive pursuit of Greenland – what Prof. Steven Lamy of the University of Southern California sees as a strategy of coercive diplomacy directed towards the Kingdom of Denmark. In an interview recorded in late December, Prof. Lamy, a scholar of political science and international relations, joins the podcast to explain how the current US approach towards acquiring Greenland represents a radical departure from post war American foreign policy and resembles a 19th century spheres of influence worldview.
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35 min
November 19, 2025 Geopolitics in an Unfrozen Arctic: flashpoints, future scenarios and forces shaping the circumpolar North
What might the future of the Arctic look like, and in what ways has the optimistic Arctic future of 15-20 years ago taken a different path than expected at that time? Mia Bennett, associate professor at the University of Washington and producer of the Cryopolitics blog, joins the podcast to discuss the new book she has co-authored with Klaus Dodds, Unfrozen: the fight for the future of the Arctic (Yale UP 2025). The conversation covers topics such as Arctic flashpoints and future scenarios, the effects of a weakened Arctic Council on the political voice of Arctic indigenous peoples, the demise of Arctic Exceptionalism and narratives of a Global Arctic, interest in the Arctic among Asian states, Greenland, and the role of technologies in the circumpolar North.
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40 min
October 10, 2025 Arctic economic development: Business, investment and infrastructure in a complex geopolitical context
Perceptions of massive economic opportunity have propelled Arctic geopolitics for almost two decades, and the late Scott Minerd estimated the region required over $1 trillion in infrastrucutre investments to realize its full potential. On this episode, Mads Qvist Frederiksen, executive director of the Arctic Economic Council, discusses the Arctic’s business environment, the array of opportunities and challenges faced by would-be stakeholders, and the role of narratives in reflecting and shaping the present and future of the circumpolar North. The recent AEC mining report on Critical Raw Materials is discussed, as is the new Arctic Encyclopaedia published by the Arctic Economic Council as part of its extensive communications efforts that promote the Arctic as not only a place for investment but also as a region of diverse cultures and environments.
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Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
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59 min
September 10, 2025 Emerging trends in American engagement in the Arctic and Antarctic under Trump 2.0
Greenland has for good reason gotten most of the attention, but what other emerging trends can be seen in US interest and activities towards the Arctic and Antarctic during the current Trump administration? On this episode, Evan Bloom, a former senior diplomat who for over two decades helped shape American polar policies at the State Department, discusses concerns over funding cuts for polar science, proposed US investments in icebreakers, the question of extended continental shelf claims around Alaska, the current state of the Arctic Council, and great power dynamics in Antarctic governace. As a co-editor and contributor to the new Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Polar Law, he also explains the relevance of international legal regimes in the Arctic and Antarctic.
33 min
July 17, 2025 America in the Arctic: the evolution of U.S Arctic engagement in an era of strategic competition and climate change
The United States, due in large part to Donald Trump’s renewed ambition to acquire Greenland, has this year dominated discussions on Arctic geopolitics. A timely new book, America in the Arctic: Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North (Columbia University Press 2025), analyses the long-term evolution of U.S. Arctic engagement across an array of issue areas. The book’s author Mary Thompson-Jones, a retired diplomat with the U.S. State Department and currently Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, joins the podcast to share her wide-ranging insights into the formation and future directions of U.S. policy in the Arctic, including topics such as climate change and science diplomacy, the Arctic as a theater for strategic competition, the procurement of icebreakers, and the increasingly important role of the U.S. Arctic gateway states of Alaska and Maine.
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1 hr 6 min
July 15, 2025 ATCM 47 underwhelms: Alan Hemmings on the dismal state of Antarctic governance and changing geopolitical dynamics within the ATS
In the wake of the recent 47th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Milan, Alan Hemmings, Adjunct Professor at Gateway Antarctica at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and veteran of many a ATCM, joins the podcast to provide a comprehensive, somewhat sobering, analysis of the current state of Antarctic governance, and the changing geopolitical dynamics within the Antarctic Treaty System. Among the range of topics discussed are the uncertainty of American Antarctic engagement under the Trump administration, the dual function of science in Antarctica, and the actual significance of the year 2048 for the Madrid Protocol and the ATS.
Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol
Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
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Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
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1 hr 17 min
May 20, 2025 Crisis diplomacy, Kingdom of Denmark chairship of the Arctic Council, and the evolution of Greenlandic foreign policy
Two major international crises of recent years, Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have had profound effects on Arctic governance. American interest in acquiring Greenland has meanwhile complicated relations between key Arctic countries. With Greenland now leading the newly-launched Kingdom of Denmark chairship of the Arctic Council at a time of great geopolitical uncertainty, this episode explores the evolution of Greenlandic foreign policy through a lens of “crisis diplomacy” with Rasmus Leander Nielsen, associate professor and head of Nasiffik - the centre for foreign and security policy at the University of Greenland.
Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
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40 min

About Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis

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A podcast on the Arctic and Antarctica that applies the lens of geopolitics to analyze a wide range of critical issues pertaining to the polar regions and international affairs. In interviews with…