(dramatic music) - [Johnny] Whoever controls
the oceans has the power, and here in the high north, a new ocean is being born. (tense music) - I am wandering through a graveyard of American military equipment, on the largest island in the world. Like what I'm seeing here is just a bunch of American
military infrastructure that was set up during World War II, used during the Cold War, and now it's just abandoned. Like this massive dish that was a part of the Cold War defense in the
Arctic that the US used, creating a chain of radar so that if the Soviets
invaded from the Arctic, they would be able to detect it. And this giant dish is one
of those radar boosters. After the Cold War, the US sold this town
and all of its buildings back to the Greenlandic government for $1. They didn't need it anymore. That's because the world was at peace, everything was good. And the Arctic was just a frozen place, that now with the Soviet
Union falling apart, was not strategically that important; but, things are changing. I want to show you what this looks like, what it actually looks like on
the ground here in Greenland. Get you up to speed on
everything you need to know to understand what is
certainly going to be one of the most important
geopolitical issues for years to come. - Increasing tensions. - [Male News Anchor]
Looming war in the Arctic, as a massive military build-up, - [Female News Anchor]
Happens in the Arctic Circle, could have far-reaching
implications for us all. - I'm at an airport in rural Greenland. It's like in this Fjord system, near the village of Uummannaq. And I'm realizing that I need
to let you in on something, which is today's video is
sponsored by Storyblocks. I've been using Storyblocks for a decade, long before I was ever a YouTuber. I was just a video maker
and I was using Storyblocks; they used to be called Videoblocks, now they're called Storyblocks. So I'm able to go out here into the field, take all these beautiful shots, right? I'm taking all these
amazing shots of Greenland. Most of the time I'm not able to do this. This is an expensive thing, to come out here and get all these shots. Most of the time I'm in my office, making videos about the world. How do I do that? Storyblocks. Storyblocks is a giant
repository of visual assets, footage, templates, sound effects, that you can use to
bring your story to life. So for me, mostly that's the footage. I go onto Storyblocks, I type in what I need and
I get loads of results. And then the best part is, I can download unlimited clips. Like you pay one subscription and you can go buck wild and download as many clips as you want. This is a very good feeling for anyone who's had to
pay to license footage per clip, or per second. Storyblocks is just like
you pay a subscription, it's a very reliable, no hidden fees, reliable rate every month and you get as many clips as you want. This works for individual
creators that are small, big, this works for big production companies, like when I was working at production companies or different places, I would use Storyblocks. It's for creators, production
companies of all sizes. I use Storyblocks all the time, and I'm really glad that they have decided to sponsor one of my videos. I've actually thought about it, I was out here shooting and I was getting all
this amazing drone footage and I was like, I should get some of
this up onto Storyblocks. So right now I've
actually uploaded a bunch of my own clips from this trip, from Greenland, to Storyblocks. These are gorgeous clips, I'm telling you. I got some of the best footage of my life while I was here. And a bunch of that is up on Storyblocks. So, oh, and I didn't mention this, but Storyblocks also has
After Effects templates, like animation templates, that you can use to start
off your animations. I know how to do animation,
I love animation, but I secretly use templates all the time because they make life so much easier. Oh, and they just put out this plug-in, right in Premiere and After Effects, where you can have like
Storyblocks inside of the editor. So you're not actually going
to a website and downloading, you're just browsing Storyblocks
inside of the editor, which is a (emulating explosion
noise) like mind blowing. What is happening? Life is so much easier when you have unlimited
access to clips and assets right inside of your editor. So, giant fan of Storyblocks over here, really grateful that they're
supporting today's video. There's a link in my description, it is Storyblocks.com/JohnnyHarris. Clicking that link helps
support this channel, not surprisingly, but it also shows you how
you can get in on this. You can go find what the
pricing looks like for you, you can go get a bunch of my clips that I've uploaded to Storyblocks, here from Greenland, and hopefully you'll
be a better, stronger, more versatile creator because of it. Let's get back to this story because there's a lot to cover. I have been moving through Greenland, exploring this massive island. Mostly I've been in the Fjords in these rural communities, hunting for seals and birds, riding on dog sleds, getting to know how ice works. Ice is way more complicated
than you can imagine and the people here know it very well. And filling in my gap of knowledge. It's a gap of knowledge that
I think a lot of people have. Like a lot of people know Greenland for memes about how little
is known about Greenland. Or maybe you know it as the island that is always exaggerated in its size by the Mercator map projection, but maybe that's probably just map nerds who think of it that way. But anyway, the fact is this place is not very well known or understood, but I'm telling you
that is about to change. The top of our planet is a giant ocean. For centuries, Empires
who control the oceans are the ones that had the
power, but not up here. This ocean has always
been frozen, desolate and inaccessible to powerful navies in search of power and influence. So the Arctic has remained a
geopolitically quiet place. This is one reason why Inuit traditions have been able to stay alive here, though that's a whole nuanced subject and I went on a deep dive in another video I made from Greenland. The fact is that things are changing. A new man-made blanket of
carbon is now in the air and it's been trapping more and more heat on our globe and warming it. Just a few degrees, but somehow enough to change everything. Here's what the ice up here looked like at its lowest point in the eighties, and here's what it looked like at its lowest point last year. Yeah. And this new ocean in the high north is heating four times faster
than the rest of the planet. And where there are liquid oceans, there will be countries looking
to control those oceans. The new shipping routes, the
oil and gas, the minerals, and just generally the opportunity to control and influence a new place. So you've got Canada who's laying claim to the northwest passage, saying that this valuable
new shipping route cuts right through their
territory and should be theirs. You've got Russia with
all these military bases dotting their Arctic frontier. They're also claiming all of this ocean, all the way up to the North Pole. They even put a flag on the
ocean floor a few years ago. The US is spending over a billion dollars to buy and build icebreaker
ships to patrol the Arctic. And even the rising super-power China, a non-Arctic nation, is trying to get in on
the influence up here. Working with their ally Russia to create an ice silk road, investing 10 billion in projects across the Nordic region. So yeah, lots of activity
happening all over this region, I've just scratched the surface on a few highlights here, but the fact is the Arctic
is getting a lot of attention and one major focus is here in Greenland; a place that has been pretty
ignored by great powers. Until, that is, there's
something they need or there's something to gain, which is exactly what's becoming the case as the ice melts and
this new ocean appears. Are you a global super power looking to project influence
in the newly opening Arctic? Look no further than Greenland, the gateway to the Arctic Ocean. Most of Greenland, this massive island, is located conveniently
within the Arctic Circle. This is why it was the
chosen jumping-off point for Arctic explorers who were trying to be the first to reach the North Pole in the early nineteen hundreds. In fact, the US recognized
that this massive island was a smart geopolitical
location a long time ago, convincing Greenland's colonizers to help them evict an Inuit community, so that they could put an airbase up here. The top of the world turned out to be a perfect location to traverse their growing empire and to spy on the Soviets
during the Cold War. They even had nuclear
weapons up here for a time. And it wasn't just one base; over the course of the 20th century, the US set up a handful of
military bases in Greenland. They used this island to put up these massive radar systems, which would serve as early warning in case a Soviet invasion
came from the North. And now it just looks like a full-blown prop
from a "Star Wars" movie. I mean, look at these. So Greenland's strategic
potential was clear, but once the Soviet threat went away, the US mostly abandoned its presence here; though they still have
that base way up North and they've turned it actually into the base of their Space Force. But they eventually closed down their embassy in the capitol, and Greenland went back to being nothing really useful to the great powers. Just a frozen island at the
doorstep of a frozen ocean. So Greenland, this massive Arctic island at the gateway to the Arctic Ocean is now becoming much more important. That's because this ocean
that's always been frozen is melting more and more every year, opening it up to new trade
routes, to new resources, to new versions of influence
that can be exerted at the top of our planet. And so great powers are once again paying attention to this place, because great powers no longer see a desolate frozen island. They see opportunity, they see
an island perfectly located close to new, enticing shipping lanes. They see an island with territorial waters full of new resources, whose territorial claims
theoretically extend all the way past the North Pole, incidentally overlapping
with Russia and Canada. They see the potential of this place being a repository of rare earth elements, the stuff we need to
build modern electronics, like cell phones, computer hard drives, and electric vehicles. Suddenly this place is
becoming a lot more valuable in the eyes of people who want power. A fact that was highlighted by a guy who spent his life sniffing
out real estate deals on land that was about to become valuable. - Trump wants to buy Greenland. - It's a large real estate deal. So the concept came up and I said certainly I'd be, strategically it's interesting. - Yeah, that actually happened. Boy, that was a crazy four years. I'm glad it's over. Anyway, the point is that Greenland is now getting
loads of attention and becoming much more valuable, which brings me here, to perhaps the clearest symbol of this renewed interest in Greenland. This is the new US consulate in Nuuk. After saying they planned
to buy the country, the Trump administration backed down after Denmark was like, hell no. Get outta here. And instead took a different approach. They ramped up efforts to build relations between Greenland and the United States, building mutual economic interests, which resulted in the opening of this consulate just in 2020. The US now has a diplomatic presence, a physical presence in Greenland; this big frozen island that no global superpower really thought was that important until recently. - I'm pleased to announce we will re-open our consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, this summer for the first time since 1953. - So this actually reminds me of a story I did a while back, when I was up in the
Arctic for Vox Borders, and I was visiting a Russian consulate on this little island. And it truly never ceases to surprise me that in an era of sophisticated alliances, and international institutions, and sophisticated military weaponry, we still resort to just putting human bodies and buildings in places that we want to have influence in, like it's a board game. Some things will never change. But as the US looks to deepen
its ties with Greenland, so is another power,
another global superpower. One that incidentally is
nowhere near the Arctic. But who knows that if they want to be the top dog on the world stage, they're gonna need a
foothold in this new region. - [Male News Anchor] A race for resources could lead to a boil over. - A lot of focus is placed on the Chinese, they do control a
significant amount of supply. - We are so adamant that
these areas of the world, that are the arteries
of trade and shipping, remain peaceful. - There is a worry of this Chinese, possible infiltration, in the country. - In 2017, Greenland wanted
to build more airports, like the one behind me
that they're building. Here in Greenland, they don't have a lot of
infrastructure for big airplanes. So you can't get big commercial flights in and out of large
amounts of the country. You have to fly around in
small planes and helicopters. Which is kind of cool if
you're going on an adventure, but if you're trying to
develop your country, you need bigger airports. The problem is building
airports is expensive. And no one wanted to fund this, except for: China. The prime minister of Greenland went to Beijing, their friend, and said, hey do you want to
help us fund our new airports? China was like, yes, we will give you a loan
to fund the airports, but it has to be a Chinese
construction company that builds the airports. And Greenland was like, okay, let's do it. That sounds great. And immediately over in the United States, alarm bells start going off. This is not good. The context here is that China has a habit of giving loans to countries that they want to have influence in, in the future. They do this a lot in Africa, like they give loans, knowing that they now have leverage over all of these countries who now owe them money. Anyway, so the United States sees this potential deal happening between Greenland and China and hates it. Greenland, this place that
is so strategically located, that is right next to the United States, that is really a huge part of the future of global influence in the Arctic, suddenly in debt to China? No! In fact, the Pentagon freaked out and was like, what if Greenland defaults
on their payments to China and China seizes the airports and starts using it for their military? Little bit of an alarmist
doomsday scenario, but it's true. Like when you owe someone money, they have leverage over you. The US did not like this. So the US goes to Denmark and
tells them to kill the deal. Denmark does it, they agree. And suddenly Denmark is now funding two thirds of these airport projects. China got rejected on these airport deals thanks to US pressure, but they didn't give up. They started setting their sights on those rare earth minerals that we talked about earlier. The vital ingredients for your phone, your computer and your electric car. China holds a near monopoly on mining and processing these minerals. So they see Greenland as an opportunity to continue that near monopoly, but also an opportunity
to access the Arctic; another place where they can
compete with Western interests. It started when this Chinese corporation made a deal to fund a zinc and lead mine in the far north of Greenland. It was all going to plan until the Australian owners of this mine suddenly decided to end their deal. Oh, and shortly thereafter, they got a 650 million dollar cheque from the United States
to fund the project. Once again, the US blocked their rival from getting a foothold in the Arctic. Another Chinese company has had their mining licenses revoked entirely by the government of Greenland. So between this diplomatic pressure, as well as some local
anti-mining political sentiment, China has been blocked time and time again from getting its foothold on this island. - China's words and actions raised doubts about its intentions. Beijing claims to be a near-Arctic state, yet the shortest distance between China and the Arctic is 900 miles. - So yeah, the USA has
made its stance very clear that they don't want
China, a non-Arctic nation, to be meddling in this region, to be gaining a foothold in
the gateway to the Arctic; this region that is opening up, that is becoming really important. And in addition to
blocking China's efforts, the US has also stepped
up their own efforts to get more US influence
and presence in this place. To prepare for the future
of geopolitical conflict. The US is doing investments on its own, investing billions of dollars in military infrastructure in this region, including a $4 billion upgrade of that air and space
installation in the north. They're also committing to military training exercise within the Arctic. The US Army has been
sending their soldiers to train in Arctic-like conditions, to mimic what conflict might look and feel like in the high North. The US government is offering millions of dollars in
aid directly to Greenland, to help them develop their
mining and tourism sectors. So yeah, once again, we see the struggle for influence playing out between great powers in all of these kind of
hard-to-see battlefields. Loans, infrastructure,
blocking trade deals, diplomatic pressure, military presence. This is kind of the
flavor of modern conflict. I mean, not the Russian
flavor of modern conflict, but like the great powers conflict plays out in these other ways, these hard-to-see ways, these
bureaucratic systematic ways. But who cares about these big superpowers and what they want for Greenland? I came to the capitol, Nuuk, to talk to my friend Qupanuk about what Greenlanders actually want. After all, this is their island. They should decide how
it's used and by whom. - We are not just looking at the western world through Denmark anymore, but we are seeing more globally. So we are starting to realize, more and more, how lucky we actually are. - That's super interesting. It turns out that about
half of Greenlanders actually think it's a good thing that China is increasing in its power and influence around the globe. But when you ask them specifically about China investing in Greenland, they're more hesitant, with nearly 70% saying that they oppose foreign investment from China. But a country like Greenland, which has such a fraught
history with colonizers, also has reservations about
Western interests here too. - And a lot of injustices have been, and are still, being done in colonial and de-colonial nations. More and more things are
just being shown now, because people are more
aware of their rights, and more aware of the rights
that are being violated. - [Johnny] So Greenlanders are waking up to their power in this situation, waking up to the leverage that they have in this new global competition. And while they might have their concerns about China and the West, they're looking for the
best deal for their country. - The first ones must
be our closest friends and like-minded nations. And then if other countries want to invest in
Greenland and in our way, we are open for business. - [Johnny] So as we move into this new era of great power competition, the map is changing in unexpected ways. Add to that the warming globe that is creating a new ocean, and suddenly this island so often forgotten by great powers, is now in a position of leverage. - There are many Greenlandic people who haven't realized
how powerful we can be. How much is like, I don't know how small
Denmark is without Greenland. It like it's a tiny, tiny country, if they didn't have us. we should be more aware of it and be more proud of it and realize how powerful we
can actually be in the future. (contemplative music)
☭☭☭ COME SHITPOST WITH US ON DISCORD, COMRADES ☭☭☭
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