Greenland enters a geopolitical storm.

Ole Jørgen Hammeken finds an old business card in the pocket of an Inuit elder’s weathered blizzards and storms in the pocket of his blizzard while he is at sea in the most remote part of the Arctic region. It belonged to Donald Trump Jr.

Little Tramp, a Greenland resident and veteran polar explorer with a bow and arrow, met Hammeken in 2016, hoping a hunter would pick him up while he was on the island’s tip. But then the trip fell through as his father ran for the US presidency.

Now, ten years later, the terrorists are back Greenland.

Trump Jr. landed in the capital city of Nuuk this week for a surprise five-hour visit, shortly after Donald TrumpHe said that he wanted to buy the island, which was part of the Danish territory, and that it would not take military force to do so.

It threw its 57,000 people, who live in some of the world’s coldest and most remote, vast, snow-covered lands, into a geopolitical storm. EU leaders have struggled to respond to a territorial threat from a NATO ally.

In Nuuk, where the temperature is below zero for most of the year and the daylight hours of winter are short, Trump’s comments were sad for many. Several Nuuk residents said Greenlanders tend to shy away from conflict in everyday life, and were shocked by Trump’s aggressive tone.

“It was scary for some,” Hamken said.

Greenland’s former prime minister, Kupik Kleist, said many people were angry. They didn’t like it when their home country was treated like a real estate deal.

“You don’t just go and buy a country or its people,” Kleist said.

Hameken, however, believes that Trump’s interest in the island is the opposite.

Many Greenlanders are familiar with the president-elect’s style and know not to take him literally, Hameken said. They are pleased to have brought the question of Greenland’s future to international attention.

“Now Denmark has to listen,” Hamken said.

Colonized by Denmark in the 18th century, Greenland has been seeking increased autonomy. Although it is now an independent state of Denmark and has the power to decide on most issues except foreign and security policy, all Greenlanders interviewed by the FTF at Nook said they want more political control.

“Nobody here wants to be part of the United States, but they want more influence over things,” said Bollet Nielsen, a mining consultant from the small towns and settlements on Greenland’s east coast.

In a cafe near Nuuk’s old colonial port, where a statue of a Danish-Norwegian missionary looms over the fjord and has been painted over by protesters, Nielsen says Greenland’s biggest political mistake lies among those who want more autonomy as part of Denmark. And those who feel Greenland can go completely alone.

Either way, “Trump has stirred up a lot,” Nielsen said. “Denmark should listen more to Greenland. We’ve been yelling for this long.

Greenlanders gave many reasons for overthrowing Danish rule. Some described their personal experience of discrimination, while others said there were inequities between Greenland and Denmark in pensions and wages, or differences in the provision of services such as higher education and health care.

Most notably, people cited recent revelations that Danish doctors put birth control pills on thousands of Inuit women without their consent in the 1960s, an act Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede described as a form of “genocide”.

FRIDAY – Trump’s comments played on one loop as news ticker appears in center of Nuke – Igede He said at a news conference. The island did not want to be part of America or Denmark. He wanted freedom.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen replied that this was “legitimate and understandable”.

“The balance between Greenland and Denmark has changed dramatically in the past few days,” Hammeken said, thanks to Trump’s exchange.

But many Greenlanders believe the island is not economically strong enough to cut ties with Copenhagen and go it alone. This issue is expected to dominate the next election, in the spring.

“I don’t quite understand what people mean when they talk about freedom,” says John Hansen, a musician who lives in Nuuk. Although he feels strongly about his local identity – Hansen has compiled a book of Greenlandic poems and songs – the artist says independence supporters have no plans.

The world’s largest island, Greenland, is financially dependent on Denmark, and by 2024, 53 percent of its budget will come from direct aid from Copenhagen. “How it will be replaced is a mystery to me,” Kleist said.

“Now we live only on the sea, and little tourism,” he said. Fishing accounts for 90 percent of Greenland’s exports, and the industry is the state’s second largest employer.

Nielsen said that Greenland is “too small and too vulnerable” and there is a need to “strengthen other areas”.

It should be one of these places MiningPeople in Greenland’s business community said.

Although many international companies have licenses to mine and the island is rich in rare earth minerals, few projects have come to fruition due to government controls and the logistical challenges of the landscape.

Trump’s comments have boosted the share prices of some domestic mining projects in recent days, with one industry insider describing a sense of a “gold rush” in the air.

In Nuuk’s ice-covered harbor, where small fishing boats and trawlers cut their way through the ice floes to get out to sea, fishermen laughed at the idea of ​​joining the United States. But he said it was valuable in expanding Greenland’s trade.

“We’re thinking of selling not only to Denmark, but to the US as a fishery,” Pavia Rasmussen said over breakfast of raw seal meat at a clubhouse near the docks. “We think it could mean better prices for fish.”

More trade freedom could mean cheaper food from the US, said Niels, another fisherman. “Food from Denmark is very expensive.”

Climate change is making the work of Greenland fishermen very difficult, the men said. Already difficult weather and long winter nights travel. Now the melting of the ice cap is affecting the supply of fish, said Ulrich, head of fishing and fish processing.

Those same climate changes have opened up Arctic waters to more exploration and therefore competition for natural resources. Greenland, as Ulrich felt, was drawn into Trump’s “big game with Russia and China.”

Trump cited US national security as the main reason he wanted Greenland, home to the US’s main military base.

Greenlanders hoping for independence said they realized the island could not defend itself. But they thought that military support and trade agreements could come from many directions.

The former government official said that “Greenland is at a point where it wants to have options. Politicians have been waiting for many countries, including talking to the United Kingdom.”

Trump Jr.’s visit to Nuuk this week lasted only a few hours, but it had residents talking for days. Local media reported that some people wearing ‘Make America Great’ hats at the rally were promised a free meal at an expensive restaurant.

But the trip’s local coordinator, Jürgen Bossen, a Greenlandic bricklayer and Maga supporter who campaigned for Trump in the US, told Norwegian newspaper VG that the suggestion that Trump wants to buy Greenland “should be taken at face value”. A pinch of salt”.

It was about the message he sent.

“He’s here to show Russia and China that Trump is here,” he said.