On February 19th, the Center for Canadian & Arctic Studies hosted a Greenland Roundtable featuring Simon Lynge, John Johnson, Michelle Koutnik, and Jose Miguel Roncero Martin.
Simon Lynge, a featured speaker, was interviewed for The Seattle Times. Read the article here.
Greenland is an autonomous and self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark which is a NATO ally and member of the European Union. Ninety percent of Greenland’s citizens are Inuit, and they are also citizens of Denmark. Under the second Trump administration the United States has aggressively sought to acquire Greenland with President Trump threatening the use of force against a NATO ally and an Indigenous population. Denmark has said it will invoke NATO’s Article 5 provisions and the European Union’s 42.7 mutual assistance clause if attacked, which would lead to a rupture in the trans-Atlantic alliance, and Greenlanders are actively discussing EU membership. American threats to Greenland‘s sovereignty have provoked a crisis for Greenlanders, for the transatlantic NATO alliance, and the European Union, and from Inuit organizations internationally while changes in the Arctic environment due to climate change are also impacting Greenland. The Greenland Roundtable brought together four experts on Greenland, Denmark, and NATO to explore the ongoing emergency from Inuit, environmental, EU, and NATO perspectives.
John Johnson was stationed in Brussels at NATO HQ from 2018-21 where he served as the primary public affairs advisor to the U.S. Ambassador and former senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. He was also Deputy Chief of Mission of the Afghan Affairs Unit in Doha, Qatar from 2021-22 where he worked to rebuild the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in August of 2021.
Michelle Koutnik is an Associate Research Professor in the UW Department of Earth and Space Sciences, where she explores the how glaciers and ice sheets evolve in response to climate change. She had conducted field work on the Greenland Ice Sheet and in Antarctica and teaches Arctic interdisciplinary courses on campus and a study abroad course in Greenland.
Simon Lynge is a Greenlandic/Danish singer/songwriter who was raised in Alluitsoq, South Greenland and Holstebro, Denmark. He has released five solo albums and toured internationally with Emmylou Harris. Rolling Stone called his album ‘…one of the most memorable and melodic debut albums of recent years’. He now lives in Port Townsend, WA, with his wife and two children.
Jose Miguel Roncero Martin (Miguel Roncero) is an EU civil servant hosted by the Jackson School of International Studies under the EU Fellowship program. Miguel’s research focuses on the development of the blue economy in the Arctic as a way to foster cooperation between Europe and North America.
This event was co-sponsored by the Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.