This week I spoke to Arctic geopolitics expert Heather A. Conley, before President Trump made a speech at The World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. Heather spoke to me about a place most of us barely think about—until it becomes the center of a global power struggle. Greenland has gone from frozen afterthought to geopolitical prize, and its story reveals a lot about American expansionism, NATO politics, and the race now unfolding in the Arctic. We trace Greenland’s strange political history with Denmark and the U.S., unpack why its location has always mattered militarily, and explore what happens as China and Russia push north. We also confront the uncomfortable truth behind Trump’s “buy Greenland” moment—and why the people who actually live there want neither Denmark nor America to own them.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices