If it seemed to you, as it did to me, that Trump’s threat to take over Greenland came out of nowhere, ponder this: the Arctic Circle, where Greenland sits, is warming four times faster than anywhere else on earth. This has opened an area rich in resources and military potential. The competition for exploitation is fierce.
The North Pole is a part of the globe largely out of sight. Yet it teems with marine life, reserves of fossil fuels and critical minerals, and has vital trade routes. It is also home to a sizable minority of Indigenous groups who consider themselves its caretakers.
Every nation with territory in the region (see map below) is eyeing the area for profits. Jeff Landry, U.S. special envoy to Greenland stated, “American dominance in the Arctic is non-negotiable.” Not to be left out, China’s government has declared its country a “near-Arctic state.”
Money to be made
The “Arctic Eight” are the countries bordering the Arctic Circle. Clockwise from the right, they are: Russia; Finland; Sweden; Norway; Iceland; Denmark [Greenland]; Canada; and the United States [Alaska]. MAP: Shutterstock
Ease of transport is also important to the mining and petroleum industries. The territory is loaded with valuable ores and 13% of the world’s untapped oil. Sadly, unlike Antarctica, there is no treaty protecting the Arctic from international development.
In 2007, Russia staked a claim by sending a mini-submarine team to plant its flag in the mineral-rich North Pole seabed. Underwater mining “is like a new ‘gold rush’ with the robber barons leading the way,” reported Lois Danks in 2024 (“U.S. expands its borders: the rush to mine the bottom of the ocean”). And China has doubled its investment in the far north to include a major stake in mineral extraction.
In Alaska, despite fierce opposition by local tribes and environmental groups, the Trump-approved Ambler Road Project is moving forward. Designed to remove a treasure chest of natural resources, this massive plan includes 211 miles of private gravel road, bridges and airstrips. Of all the materials set to be extracted, there is an estimated $7 billion worth of copper alone.
Because of the rare earth minerals involved, critics describe this scheme as an AI arms race with China, with Trump-supporting tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, Apple and OpenAI leading the charge.
Strategic for warfare
The Arctic offers many possibilities for military operations, ranging from space and satellite combat to strategic positioning of nuclear-armed submarines. Military jockeying is on the rise, hence Trump’s bid for Greenland.
As far back as World War II, the U.S. considered Greenland crucial to the defense of North America. In 1946, President Truman proposed to buy it for $100 million, but its colonial overlord, Denmark, declined to sell. In response to current threats by Trump, NATO has increased its firepower in the region.
Russia has more military installations than NATO, and climate warming is smoothing the way for the rehabilitation and expansion of Soviet-era bases. The war in Ukraine has impacted the area by increasing Russian conflict with NATO nations Finland, Norway and Sweden. It has also paused deliberations by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of the eight regional states that negotiates ecological and other concerns.
Trampling the original inhabitants
Spread across the territory are fifty different Indigenous groups. These include the Inuit, Yupik and Saami peoples who have lived on the land for thousands of years, developing traditions and cultures in harmony with the unique Arctic environment.
“When geopolitics gets heated, you get into this mode where state leaders start talking and the first thing that is forgotten is Indigenous peoples,” said Gunn-Britt Retter of the Saami Council, an organization representing her people in Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden.
But the trampling of native people is of no concern to business interests, whose sole goal is the pursuit of profit.
Natan Obed, an Inuit activist, sums up the threat and the resistance to it: “The concerns we have as Inuit go back as far as the 1940s and 1950s, when Canada and its allies … did whatever they wanted in the Arctic … sometimes displaced us … and then left a mess. We don’t want to see that happen again.”
The solution is collective and anti-capitalist
The consequences of rising temperatures and melting ice threaten not only the Arctic but the entire globe. Land-based polar ice stores about 20% of the world’s fresh water and plays a crucial role in regulating planetary climate.
The Earth is one ecosystem and the survival of the Arctic is the survival of the planet. Stopping its destruction for profit will require international ecosocialist solidarity with the world’s Indigenous peoples, as they lead the fight for sanity and sustainability.
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Exploiting the climate crisis
by Veronica Davis
Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the world has seen increasingly severe weather, from record-breaking heat waves to winter storms that blanket huge parts of the U.S. in ice. Many global capitalists pretend this is normal.
Meanwhile, actuaries are projecting the future of the climate crisis, and the numbers are clear. It is an environmental catastrophe. The mega-capitalists won’t use this information to reverse course. They want to profit off the calamaties and hoard even more wealth, to insulate themselves while leaving the rest of the world to suffer the consequences of their actions.
But numbers aren’t the whole story. Every day more people awaken to how serious the crisis is and begin organizing to toss out the billionaires. It is what will save us all.
