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Truth in the Barrel
Devil's Cut | Greenland Is Not For Sale!
00:48:05
Truth in the Barrel | Devil’s Cut | GREENLAND IS NOT FOR SALE Amy and Denver talk about our complicated history with Greenland before speaking with sound designer and native Greenlander, Siri Paulsen. What does Trump want with Greenland?...
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- [00:00]
Amy McGrath
Foreign. Hi everyone. Welcome to Truth in the barrel. I'm Amy McGrath with my co host Denver Riggleman. And today we are talking about Greenland. Why? Why would we be talking about Greenland? Because our president has repeatedly signaled interest in taking over the largest island in the world. And so you might think that's wild and crazy, but we need to talk about this. But before we do, Dan, no, it's just share what you're drinking today.
- [00:43]
Denver Riggleman
I have to share what I'm drinking. But I tell you Amy, it's so good. I don't know why. It just feels good today. It feels really good today. And I want to applaud you for everything you've done to prepare for our Greenland show. And I know we're going to get to that and I can't wait as we talk about it. It's so cool. So in honor Greenland. I don't even know what Greenland whiskey would be. I have will it.
- [01:06]
Amy McGrath
Okay.
- [01:07]
Denver Riggleman
So right. So I have a Willett and this is a very rare. So what you're talking about from the Willett family estate. This is something. This is a bottle. Amy, I know you're going to get really excited about this. I've had this on my shelf about 10 years. Nice, right? You can still see the liquid in there. Right. This is a very special bottle. You know, I bring out the good stuff for you, Amy. This is a single barrel will it right. This was a 13 year bourbon. This was barrel proof, 125.6. So think about that. 62.8% alcohol in this bad boy. Which means after 13 years you're like well Denver, that's really interesting. Right? Why is it such high proof? Well, I want to tell people that when you put something in a barrel like we actually barreled 105 proof here at Silverback, you get about a 2 to 5% evaporation per year called angel share. After a certain number of years, the proof really starts to rise. Our highest proof out of a barrel so far has been 128. We might have hit close to 130, but it depends on the evaporate evaporation on that specific barrel. So just to let all of our listeners know, in a bourbon barrel, when you put the distillate in the barrel, all the color comes from the barrel but it actually proofs up based on evaporation. So this might have been in the barrel at 105 to 110. Now it's high 10 years. Now it's much higher. And that's based on the Evaporation in the barrel, the way that it transfers, the ester transfer and the sugar transfer. So what I'm going to do, so I'm going to pop it, I'm going to pour it. Now this is high proof, right? I feel like was it Bobby Boucher? This is some high proof H2O, right? Or whatever. But this is some high proof whiskey, right? I got it in the silverback glass because of course we've done Christine's whiskeys. So I'm going to give it a little taste right now.
- [02:53]
Amy McGrath
All right.
- [02:56]
Denver Riggleman
Oh my goodness. I keep forgetting. Oh, I keep forgetting. By the way, There was only 125 bottles of this in the world. So we got bottle number 35. So number bottle 35, 13 year old Willett. It's an estate bottled single barrel bourbon, age 13 years. And so that is, that is how we're starting today. And bottled Willett Distillery, Bardstown, Kentucky. Cheers to you, Amy.
- [03:24]
Amy McGrath
Cheers. All right, well, we gotta get into it though, Dan, because this is our deep dive, our Devil's Cut episode and today we're talking about Greenland. Now Donald Trump has proposed buying Greenland in his last, in his first term. But now he's sort of ratcheted it up, right? He's talked about, quote, we're going to have Greenland. One way or another, we're going to get it. That's what he said. He said we'll get Greenland, yeah, 100%. And he hasn't ruled out taking Greenland by force, by the use of force. So you might think, well, that's just another one of Trump's wild ideas, right? Well, he's had a lot of wild ideas that he's actually followed through with. And that's why we need to talk about it. Now. When Trump says that Greenland is very much vital to US national security interests, he's not wrong about that. Right. And so what are some of the national security interests that we might have in that very large Arctic island?
- [04:40]
Denver Riggleman
You know, it goes back to Amy, really, our backgrounds. You know, people might tune in this as a political show, but if they looked at our bios, they would understand that before we were into politics, we had real jobs with real service to the United States of America. I was first introduced to Greenland in 1993. I was 23 years old and I worked on C141. So I was a Mustang. I was prior enlisted and then an officer, and I was an avionics and radar specialist on C141 airlifters. Right. Which we called Rubber Dog vomit haulers. But we did some incredible things, you know, and went all around the world in these C141s. And we could tell those stories, me and you over one of our bourbons later. But what I had to do was, since I worked avionics is I had to test our HF radios, our long range HF. So as you know, in 93 that was a backup communication system. So we would check things called like the ionization bounces or how far we could actually reach. So guess what I had to do. Tooly. Tully. Tully. This is, this is right? This is tail number 1/4 of the day, right? Comms check. Comms check. Right.
- [05:48]
Amy McGrath
And on Thule, and Thule is, was the name of the US Air Force base. Then we're going to talk about that.
- [05:56]
Denver Riggleman
And Thule would answer back. We got you five by five, right? Great to talk to you today. And it got to the point I actually knew the person on the other end after two to three years of doing this. You know, Amy, it's sort of cool, I bet. You know, talking to tooling, I don't think people realize, you know, when you're talking about tooling, where it is geographically is, it's. And the reason why we had Air Forces base, Air Force bases there, why it was so important in World War II, is based on its proximity to not only specific areas in Europe and our enemies, but also to waterways. Right. And the fact is, is that when you have certain types of aircraft and armaments there, it makes it much easier for us to strategically, to hit specific targets. But also for. Here's the big thing for us, it was resupply, right? So now, so it's such an important area when you're talking about Greenland, when you're talking about the north now break, break. We have an incredible relationship with Greenland, as you know, we've had for a long, long time. We have other areas there that sort of, you know, serve the same function. So Greenland is important, but it's already an ally. It's already somewhere that we actually leverage. So it's been sort of interesting to hear Donald Trump talking about maybe even taking a country by force, especially with based on self determination. It does feel like we're a bit of the baddies when he talks like that, when we already have this great relationship. We already know the strategic importance. I'm very familiar with it. But it is a little bit interesting since we already have it, that we're having these type of discussions.
- [07:26]
Amy McGrath
Well, and Greenland is a protectorate right now of Denmark and Denmark is our longtime ally. But strategically for the United States. You're absolutely right. We have, we have had a presence there for the last 80 some years in Thule, which is now called. Okay, thank you, air base. And that's also important because we have early warning radar systems. Right. If you're going to launch an icbm, an intercontinental ballistic missile from Russia, it is going to come over the Arctic Circle. Right. And that's why we have that, that air base there initially, as well as logistics. Also, Greenland sits strategically in what's called the, the Greenland Iceland UK gap. And so from the navy side we have been able to, you know, it's a choke point for Russian naval activity coming out. Right. And, and that is very important. We've had anti submarine forces in, in that area. So that's super important. Also with the climate change and I know there's a lot of people that, you know, don't, don't believe in climate change, but gosh, go to the Arctic Circle and you'll see it for real because what's happening is the ice is melting and so the waterways are, there are waterways that are opening up from, from the trade perspective. So merchant ships, not necessarily having to go through the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal in certain times of the year, they could go right over through the waterways that are now opening up. And who controls those waterways is very, very important strategically. The United States only has two, the US Coast Guard only has two icebreakers. Those are the ships that help escort ships through that waterway. Guess What? Russia has 40 of them. So there's a lot of people that feel like we are, the United States is kind of falling behind in sort of a new race to control. Some people would say militarize the Arctic Circle. And so that is even more of an influence in getting people excited, like Trump, I guess, on the importance of Greenland. But they also have, and you know a lot about this rare earth minerals that we need in technologies, new technologies.
- [10:05]
Denver Riggleman
You know, it, it, you know, it's interesting, we, is this almost goes back to Ukraine also, right. In our rare earth minerals, especially when you're talking about uranium. But the importance, when you're looking at the importance of a specific area doesn't automatically preclude that. We already have areas like Alaska, Iceland and other areas that sort of serve some of those functions. And I think, you know, when you look at Thule slash Petuffic, I always say Thule right off the bat because that's all I dealt with when I was Air Force, you know what I mean? Amy, was tule. When you're looking at Potufic Air Base now, there's one thing I want to tell the American peoples. We're talking to him, Amy, and I know this is going to be pretty profound. I hope you're ready for this, Amy. We're already there. I know this is naughty. We're already there.
- [10:54]
Amy McGrath
And that's the thing. We don't, we don't need to take it over. We, we have, we have been given access to the areas that we need and Petuffic Space Base and all of the other places that they have allowed. And Denmark is our ally. It's our, it's our ally. This is stupid and we don't need to own it to trade with the people there for minerals. I mean, if you're smart. Right?
- [11:22]
Denver Riggleman
Yeah. I think it's the squirrel like brain of Trump. Right. It's the, it's, it's the shiny object that he's looking at, Amy, right now. It's a distraction based on the real issues that we're having geopolitically right across, across this globe right now. Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Yemen. Let me go right down. Israel. Right. Israel, Palestine. There's a lot bigger pro. There's a lot. It's just a ridiculous notion of us, a country that was built on self determination that we would military take over, you know, militarily, take over an allies, you know, territory or, or a place that's nominally right, as you said, a protector, but it's independent. A country that can vote for independence anytime. How dare us as Americans who tout our constitutional values.
- [12:09]
Amy McGrath
And oh by the way, it's against international law. And oh, by the way, it would be giving a green light to Russia to just take over. I mean, you know, Russia has its sights on certain islands in the Arctic that, that are controlled by Norway. It would give a green light for them to do what they're doing. Not, you know, again in Ukraine, but also elsewhere in the Arctic. How about China? China's going to look at Taiwan and be like, well, the United States took over Greenland, let's just take over Taiwan.
- [12:37]
Denver Riggleman
God. The greatest thing we talk about, Amy, is the cascading effects of decision making at a policy level, especially if it's based on fantasy like the Trump administration likes to live in.
- [12:46]
Amy McGrath
Here's another thing that that's happened that kind of got a little bit of News. Vice President J.D. vance, and I won't say what I really think about him, but he went up to Greenland and gave what I consider a very offensive speech, he said, quote, our message to Denmark is very simple. You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security of this incredible, beautiful landmass, which is totally not true. And the base commander, he gave the speech up at the space base, which is for people listening, is in the very northwest corner of Greenland. I mean, you cannot get more remote of a base. It is America's most remote, northernmost base in the world. Very cold, very isolated. He goes up there, he gives this offensive speech in front of American troops, Airmen, Greenlanders, Danes, Danish, Canadians, all of these people that, oh, by the way, have to work together in this very remote place, doing very. In a very harsh environment. It's basically like they're living on a, on a ship, right? They're, they're just, they're sort of, sort of so isolated. He goes up there, gives an offensive speech, leaves. And the base commander, she has to command all these people for the next couple of years. And so she writes an email that basically says, I've thought a lot about what our vice president said, and I don't believe that what he said is reflective of the people in this base. And she was fired. And, you know, and, and a lot of the right wingers are, oh, you know, laughing about this. I, I actually think she had a ton of courage, Amy.
- [14:54]
Denver Riggleman
No, both of us are military officers, or were. There does come a time where you have to do what's right, where integrity trumps just about everything. And I think she showed incredible integrity and courage to do that. I also think we do have a rule of law. We do have codes. We do have things that all of us live by, whether it's legally, ethically, morally. It's a compass that we sort of all hold internally. But as military officers, and as military people, enlisted and officers, we give away some of those freedoms based on the fact that we took the oath, right, to follow the laws of those who are dutifully appointed above us. As you know, we've taken those oaths multiple times. I think what she did showed incredible courage, and she paid a price for it. Amy. Yeah, right. You know, paid a real price for it. So I think right now, I feel that that person, right now, if I'm at a bar, she would never buy a drink if I'm there.
- [15:53]
Amy McGrath
Absolutely. There's two more things that I'd like to bring up in this discussion. One is a little bit of the history of, of United States military Presence in Greenland that I did not know until I started studying nuclear weapons. But 57 years ago, in 1968, we had a B52 during an operation called Chrome Dome, where you probably are familiar with this. Denver. We in the. During the Cold War, we had nuclear weapons flying at all times, nuclear bombs up in the air flying at all times. And we had a B52 flying over Thule.
- [16:37]
Denver Riggleman
Thule.
- [16:37]
Amy McGrath
Yep.
- [16:38]
Denver Riggleman
Tuli.
- [16:38]
Amy McGrath
Thank you. The. The. The air base up there. And one of the crew members stuffed a. A seat cushion in the heater of the B52. It caught fire, and so they had to eject because there was smoke in the cockpit. Too much smoke. They couldn't see anymore. And this particular B52 had four thermonuclear hydrogen bombs on board. They all ejected. They all lived. Except for one crew member did not live past the ejection. But the B52 broke up and all four nuclear bombs, none of them detonated, thankfully. But their nuclear material was scattered all over the place. And Greenland at that time did not know that the United States was flying nuclear bombs above their territory. And so it was an interesting time because the United States, you know, it was revealed that we were doing this, and the people there were not super happy about that. So we have a longstanding history with Greenland. It hasn't always been good. We did find most of the material and cleaned up most of the material, nuclear material, from that accident. But, you know, it's not all of it. Some of it is still up there.
- [18:02]
Denver Riggleman
It's probably some old guy in the north of Greenland in a hut, and he found some of this material. And he's like, you know what's weird? I never have to pay for electricity. My hut is always lit.
- [18:12]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, a little radioactivity. I know we laugh, but they weren't super happy about that. And the last thing I'll tell you, because you were talking about C141s earlier. Do you know, the first aircraft that I jumped out of when I did airborne training was a C141. Isn't that cool?
- [18:30]
Denver Riggleman
141. That is so cool.
- [18:32]
Amy McGrath
141. I don't even think they're flying those things anymore.
- [18:35]
Denver Riggleman
No, I remember I was at Pope Air Force Base. No Hope. Pope. Right. You know, adjacent to Fort Bragg. Right. Fort Liberty. Come Fort Bragg. Well, Fort Bragg come Fort Liberty. And then Fort Bragg again. Now Fort Other Different Bragg. Yeah. Right. Okay. All right. Remember I was NSC 141, you know, and I was the AV Amics guy. On the jumps with the. The. The army cats were actually on the 141. And I'm sitting there, you know, by the jump area. One of the army guys goes, look at you, man. Air Force, getting able to sit back while we do the real work. And I just remember, like, I don't know why any of you idiots would jump out of a perfectly good airplane. And I just remember, you know, we're just laughing and drank with them afterwards. But, you know, that's us, right, Amy? And I think as we're going forward, they're talking about what you've done, what I've done. The one thing that we always loved about the soul of America or the idea of America was self determination, was that we're free, we value freedom and people being able to make their own decisions over everybody else. And now we have a complete Republican Party that believes we should take away the self determination of a country based on the whims of somebody who frankly could be mentally non compos mentis. And I think that's the thing that really gets me right now, is there's no American, Republican or Democrat, any American in the world that lives, you know, whether they're expats or whatever, that would think that the United States of America should be trying to take by force or to manipulate or to persuade a country into giving up their own independence to become part of what we believe is the United States of America. Because then, indeed, I think we are the baddies. And there is no way I'm gonna ever support administration where I think we're the baddies. And we're acting like the very countries we fought against over our history. And I think that's what really makes me angry.
- [20:20]
Amy McGrath
I can't even believe we're even talking about this. This is insane. One of the things that gets lost in the conversation. Cause you and I were both Americans, right? We both traveled all around the world. But we see this from very much an American point of view. And you don't hear much from actual people living in Greenland. And so one of the things when we were thinking about this show, we thought, you know, it would be really cool to talk to somebody there, somebody who grew up there, somebody who knows Greenland because we're all talking about it back here in the United States. But what do we know? Let's talk to somebody. And we. So we brought in a really great guest today. Her name is Sari Paulson. She is a sound designer, expert in musicals, operas and plays. She's a writer and researcher. She's from Greenland and she's based in Copenhagen, but she is a native expert and on Greenland, she's been everywhere in that country and I cannot wait to talk with her.
- [21:25]
Sari Paulson
Hi.
- [21:26]
Amy McGrath
Hey, there she is. How are you?
- [21:32]
Sari Paulson
I'm good. I'm really good. How are you?
- [21:35]
Amy McGrath
Good. Thanks for being on our show.
- [21:37]
Denver Riggleman
Of course, yes. And you're transmitting from Copenhagen, I think you told me, right, Siri?
- [21:42]
Sari Paulson
That's right.
- [21:43]
Denver Riggleman
Oh, my gosh. Well, thanks for coming on and we're going to get right into it, because I want to ask you a question. I was watching the 60 Minutes interview on Greenland and I watched the whole thing, right, with everybody that they were talking to, and they had a pretty interesting statistic. They said that they polled and they said about 6% of green lenders were interested in belonging to the United States. And what I wanted to ask you, based on your background, you know, your extensive, you know, knowledge of the area, do you think that number is about right? Do you think it's 6%? Do you think there's some people that are sort of, you know, not quite sure whether they. They would want to belong to America? But when you're looking at the number 6% and the real sentiment that's happening in Greenland right now, what is your take? Do you think that number is about right? And with your knowledge of the area, do you think that number will ever increase?
- [22:35]
Sari Paulson
That's a good question, because I do think it's right that we do get a bit forgotten. We kind of talk about Greenland as if it's a landmass, as if it's territory that is kind of uninhabited, but that's not true. We live there. We have been living there for thousands of years. And Inuit from Canada and Alaska have words that describe the land on the other side, where the other Inuits are. That's like long Inuit knowledge that goes back thousands of years. Right. We've been traveling between Canada and Alaska, in Russia and Greenland for many, many hundreds of years. I think it's right. I think it's if. If a poll has been made in Greenland, chances are that it's quite correct because we are not that many people. So it's. It's quite diffic. Difficult to get off too far on the sides. You have to interview quite a large part of the population in order to have enough data to make statistics out of it. I do think everyone has a formed opinion. I don't think there's a large group of people who haven't thought about it. I think everyone knows what they would like and not would like for their country. And I think it's correct that 94 plus percent of the Greenlandic population do not want Trump to be the political head of our country.
- [24:16]
Amy McGrath
Sarah, is it correct to say green Greenlandic population, Is that the correct term for. For the people that live?
- [24:24]
Sari Paulson
Right, so that depends how you're asking. Officially, Y.
- [24:29]
Amy McGrath
Yes.
- [24:30]
Sari Paulson
Grammatically, linguistically, yes, it's correct. We say about our country, which means the land of the people, so we actually call ourselves means land or country. So means the land that belongs to the people, specifically this people. Yeah.
- [24:58]
Amy McGrath
So, and you mentioned that there are not that many people. I mean, there's only about 56,57,000 people in all of Greenland. And to give our listeners some context, that's about the size of Charlottesville, Virginia, in terms of population. So my question is, I mean, where do most of the people live? Do they live all in one kind of town, or what does it look like?
- [25:26]
Sari Paulson
Hmm. That's also a very good question. If you would have asked 80 years ago, the answer would be very different from what it is now. Part of the colonial history that Trump is also referring to at times that we have with Denmark includes a history of very traumatic and troublesome forced resettlements of people. This is a history that is similar, yet delayed compared to the indigenous history of the United States. So it's comparable. You have similar stories of people being forced to move. Now, the difference is that Inuit in Greenland, where the majority. We're not a minority in our own country, in our own native land, we are the majority of the people of Greenland. So at this point, the tendency is still the same as it was when it was starting. It started as kind of a forced political put. Forced political enforced tendency to have people move from all over the coast to larger towns. The process has been slowed, but the tendency is still the same. We're gathering, and the prognosis is that in 50 to 100 years, we'll probably mostly be in three to four, maybe five towns on the coast, especially the southwest coast of Greenland.
- [27:11]
Denver Riggleman
And Siri, you know, it's amazing, you know, when you're talking about the history of Greenland and the people there. I have a question. You know, what was it? 2009, I guess Greenland, I guess there was a vote or some kind of resolution where they could declare independence from Denmark, if I know that correctly. Right. 2009. So I just saw where the king of Denmark visited just lately. I don't know if it was yesterday, day before. I'm not quite sure, but I saw where he just visited. And the question for you, based on what you've seen in America, based on the dialogue of Trump and what he said right now with the king of Denmark visiting, meeting with the Prime Minister, I believe, of Greenland, do you think that it's actually had the reverse effect with Trump coming out, where it's now drawn Greenland and Denmark closer together? Do you ever see where there's going to be a referendum, where Greenland actually declares independence for itself now, based on what you're seeing? Right. With these historical flows, what Trump is saying and things of that nature at this point.
- [28:13]
Sari Paulson
Wise men and women would advise me not to. To guess things about the future.
- [28:24]
Denver Riggleman
There's. Yeah, always the hypotheticals. Right. I just, I wonder if, you know, I wonder when, when somebody, when there's a threat from the outside or somebody's verbally, you know, identifying Greenland as a target, which Trump has actually done, do you sense that with the visit from the king, that there's a more sense of staying closer to Denmark and things of that nature moving forward?
- [28:44]
Sari Paulson
Right. Well, I think that the relationship to the king is. And that might seem weird in America, but that is kind of. That is not necessarily as closely connected to staying loyal to the kingdom. So specifically, the king of Denmark has had a very personal relationship to Greenland. He was part of the Sirius Group, the patrol that crosses the inland ice. He's been to Greenland for long periods of time, which seem to have been from the outside on a very superficial level. It seems like he's kind of been to Greenland and had these long periods of time where he had the chance to reflect about his role, about life as a royal person, a king in a becoming king. So I think we have to be careful with saying that him visiting is the same as saying, we'll stay together forever. It's also part of the. The. He's quite a new king, so he's. It is part of what he has to do. They have to come and visit the Faroe Islands. They have to come and visit Greenland and kind of wave the flag and say, I'm also your king still, or so on and so forth. I don't think that if Greenland chooses to become independent, which I have to admit, I hope happens one day.
- [30:37]
Denver Riggleman
There we go. Excellent.
- [30:39]
Sari Paulson
Right. I don't think that has anything to do with the relationship to the king of Denmark.
- [30:48]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, yeah. Why, in your opinion? There are two questions. Why is it not independent at this point? And the second question is, what do you think Americans and. Or Europeans should know that they don't know about Greenland, about the Inuit. Did I say that right? Hopefully I did that. The, the people that live there.
- [31:16]
Sari Paulson
Why is Greenland not independent? I. I don't know why Greenland is not independent, apart from the. The historical not having been given the opportunity until 2009. And then since then we've been struggling to just make ends meet financially for our country.
- [31:44]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [31:48]
Sari Paulson
It'S a large land mass, it's really expensive. And it's a country that's been like in the 50s and 60s and 70s, we were developing the society to become Danish. And it wasn't until the end of the 70s, 1979, that we had got home rule government, that we realized we can administer our country on our own. And at this point, that process of making the society as close to the Danish one, it was so implemented already. Those thoughts and ideas and ideals were implemented at that time. Which means, and I don't know if you know this about Denmark, but this is one of the societies where the public is. The stage is big. Right. The public takes care of so many things that are ensuring safety for women, for children. Everyone gets an education, everyone gets health care. You don't ever have to think about what happens to the sizes of the bills if you are unlucky enough to get sick. So you don't have to think about these things. And so that's quite an expensive standard to be setting for a developing country as Greenland. It's also a country that has had the business relations be very monopolized. So all our businesses in Greenland have been aimed towards Denmark only. And then the businesses has then been going from Greenland through Denmark to the rest of the world. So I think we're not independent because we're afraid, we're not ready yet. And we want to get. We want to be safe before we want to be independent. Does that make sense?
- [33:39]
Denver Riggleman
It does, absolutely.
- [33:41]
Sari Paulson
To be honest, I've lived in Wyoming for four years. Maybe you can hear on my accent that I've spent some time in the U.S. i took my BA at University of Wyoming. And I have to say that visiting the indigenous people of the United States and Canada has really opened my eyes to how, how violent it is around the world, the way that people are being treated and have been treated and how much trauma these societies are dealing with and coping with. And it's very statistically visible that we struggle with some of the same things. Yeah, but. But I have had opportunities in my life and I'm not sure that same chance belongs to everyone who's indigenous in the United States or Canada.
- [34:41]
Denver Riggleman
That's a profound answer, Siri. And I mean, it's a heavy discussion when you talk about another country saying they want to take over another country, when you're talking about the different traditions, when you're talking about even the different political beliefs. Right, Siri. And, and when you're looking at Greenland, you know what's interesting to me? And looking at the pictures of Greenland now, Amy and I have been fortunate to travel around the world, but I haven't been to Greenland yet series. So I have a bit of a more fun question because I know we've been pretty heavy right now with some of the things we've been discussing. So I was looking at the city of Nook. I believe that's. Is that the proper pronunciation?
- [35:17]
Sari Paulson
Nuke.
- [35:18]
Denver Riggleman
Nuke. So nuke. And you know, the only thing I knew about Greenland, Siri, was when I was Air force back in 94, I would have to make high frequency radio calls to Thule Air Base. That was my, that was the thing that I knew about Greenland is that I could actually call from the state of New Jersey all the way to Thule with a high frequency radio and on our aircraft. And this is 1994. So that ages me. Totally. Right? That ages me. So I want to ask you this question about Greenland, talking about Nuke and you're talking about Thule and your air base, which has now changed, obviously. What is your favorite place in Greenlift? Amy and I wanted to say year we want to go to Greenland. Is there one place we need to stand, one place we need to go that people don't know about? That you're like, this really captures our landscape, our people, our heritage. Where do we go when Amy and I go to visit Greenland next year? Where would we go?
- [36:12]
Sari Paulson
That is such a hard question. I've been fortunate enough to be head of Lights and Sound for a children's play that went all the way around the coast of Greenland. So we, we went to 37 different places in Greenland. Wow, that's a lot.
- [36:33]
Amy McGrath
That is awesome.
- [36:35]
Sari Paulson
So I've actually been most of the places where there are people living in Greenland. And there are so many beautiful places now. I'm, I'm a Noomiyok, right? I was born and raised in Nuuk. When I talk about home, I think about the mountain that you can see in the background and how it has a different color every day because there's so much structure in the atmosphere between where you're at in the town and then to the view of the mountain which is some kilometers away. So my favorite place is probably. Is probably Mugedl in Nuuk. It translates. It's a Danish term and we call it that. It literally translates to the valley of the mosquitoes. But it's a really nice.
- [37:40]
Amy McGrath
That would be my favorite place.
- [37:42]
Sari Paulson
It's a nice place because it's. It's full of these colorful houses. And then if you like walk on top of a mountain, you have the view to Nolenl. So very characteristic coastal view where Hensel came 300 years ago. And then if you go on top of that mountain, you can kind of get a view over to Sar Mitzer, that beautiful mountain. But apart from that, there are so many beautiful places. Qarotokh is worth a huge mention. And just like the south of Greenland and Ialiku is beautiful. If you go to Idulisset, the sounds of the ice from the ice fjord is just amazing, an amazing experience on its own. And then I was lucky to go to Kanak, the town that was forcibly moved from where to the air base is. And then came and you know what's interesting about Kanak is that nowhere in Greenland are the houses lined the way that you do it in the US where the streets are completely linear, everything's a square, right? But in Karnakh it is. But if you walk on top of a hill in Karnak, you get to see some of the oldest mountains on the entire planet. And everything is just ice. And it's so beautiful and it's so haunting. And when I went there, which is almost 20 years ago, which also ages me, I guess we couldn't get in or out. Like there's one flight a week. That's it. So we came on a Wednesday and we left the following Wednesday. Wow, it was amazing. And there is not a lot of Internet. And it's just really, really good for the soul.
- [39:43]
Amy McGrath
I would imagine the most southern part of Greenland is the warmest. What is the warmest it will get.
- [39:50]
Sari Paulson
So you've been in the inland climate, right? Of of the U.S. of course, in Greenland we don't really have that because it's all ice when you get past the first couple of mountains. However, we do have those deep fjords. So there is a huge difference between. Like Nuuk is very windy, but the temperatures are quite stable. So they don't go like that high or that low. If you go into the bottom of Nuke Fjord, you can. On a summer day, it will be 15 to maybe even 19 degrees and you'll wear shorts and a T shirt.
- [40:27]
Amy McGrath
So that's 19 degrees Celsius, yeah?
- [40:30]
Sari Paulson
Yes.
- [40:30]
Denver Riggleman
Yeah.
- [40:31]
Amy McGrath
Just check it.
- [40:33]
Sari Paulson
Of course.
- [40:36]
Denver Riggleman
It's amazing. It's almost as if, you know, as Amy and I are asking about this, you know, first of all, I want to visit. I mean, that's now probably on my list, right, is to come to Greenland, if I can. If they would allow me. Now, Siri, I'm sure you're welcome. Oh, my. Well, it's almost as if the landscape, the topography, the heritage, the people define who they are. Right. Ceres, you're talking about your heritage, how you grew up visiting the 37 sites, the beauty of it. And you just rambled off seven, eight different things. And I was trying to write them down, but you might have helped me with the spelling of all the places, you know, that you were talking about, based in your language. I think that's what's so incredible about you coming and agreeing to talk to us is that you seem to represent those values. And when you said that you think it's correct that 94% of the people in Greenland value their independence. I find it incredible that the United States, which is based on self determination, on the fact that we're able to identify ourselves and to break away from people we find oppressive, that our country right now would be wanting to do that to a country that it looks like it values its independence or the way that they're actually structured in the way that they live their lives, where how dare we identify that as something we can take? And I think that's what struck me about talking to you, Siri, is that sort of comes through with you right in the way that you presented your love of your country, you know, your love of Greenland. And I think that's what I asked when my first question about the poll, and I guess it's my follow up, and I know Amy is going to have the final question here. You know, for everything I don't. Based on the politics of Greenland, I don't see where it would really fall in line with Donald Trump politics or the, or the right here in the United States. And I think that's what's interesting to me is I don't think there's been any long term thinking about what it means to if the United States actually were to somehow take Greenland, which Amy and I are very much against, by the way. This is ludicrous that a president of the United States would say this, but do you see that also that the politics of Greenland don't match with Trump at all? I mean, would you think That's a fair question, or it's a fair, I would say, perspective on how you presented Greenland right now.
- [42:58]
Sari Paulson
100%. We are not individualists. We're not even. I mean, we're trying to learn to be capitalist at the same time as trying to treat our community safely. And that's a difficult exercise in a very individualistic, capitalistic world. So definitely, we're so different culturally. When I think of Trump, I think of someone who's ready to burn all the bridges in order to succeed and in order to get his way. And in Greenland, where we just think really differently, we always consider our community before we make choices on behalf of our people. I mean, it's just. And you would think that I'm aware that former presidents of the United States have been more mindful, but it is a different culture. And I think that Trump is just the very extreme version of fundamental American values that. That make extremists like him possible to exist, which sounds really harsh. There's a lot of people I care about in the US and who do not agree with Trump, and there are even people I care about who do agree with what most of what Trump is saying. But Greenland is Greenlands, and you can do and choose whomever you want for your country, but politically, democratically, societally, we choose something else. And I really hope that the message gets through, that we are our own people and we don't want anything to do with Trump. Open for business, not for sale.
- [45:18]
Denver Riggleman
Oh, that's fantastic.
- [45:20]
Amy McGrath
That is, like, the perfect ending, because that is the goal of us even doing this show with Denver and I is to sort of uplift your voice. And I know you don't speak for all people that live in Greenland, but it's so important that Americans hear from you. And, you know, and I just really thrilled that you came on our show this morning. How often do you get back to Greenland?
- [45:49]
Sari Paulson
I just went two weeks ago with my kids, and it was. It was so good. I was. I hadn't been since sometime last year, and it was just really good to know that everyone's still okay. It feels so far away when something like this happens. Right? So it was nice to see that everything looks the same and feels the same. So, yeah, I just went and it was great. You know, if you go to Greenland, go in the springtime, a lot of people would go in the summer, but spring is just. There's still snow on the ground. There's plenty of light. It's beautiful. Still no mosquitoes.
- [46:33]
Denver Riggleman
I'm there. Siri. I'M there.
- [46:35]
Amy McGrath
That's fantastic. Thank you so much for being on our show.
- [46:39]
Sari Paulson
Of course.
- [46:40]
Denver Riggleman
Siri, your perspective is so refreshing and thank you. And thanks for taking your time. It means the world to me and Amy and thank you again.
- [46:47]
Sari Paulson
Thank you for having me.
- [46:49]
Denver Riggleman
Holy cow, Amy. What an incredible interview. She was so perceptive. But her perspective on the people, the fact that she's there, she's been everywhere. I couldn't. She's been everywhere. She knows the native history of the country. But again, kudos to the team, actually, for. For bringing her in and to talk to somebody from Greenland. But that type of knowledge was pretty cool. And Amy, well done. Well done to you and the team, you know, to find Siri. I just think it's amazing. And as we go forward, if people want to continue with these amazing shows and what we put together and today, like you and the team finding Siri and us being able to interview her, you better be signing up on every single podcast that we do. You can go anywhere. You better be subscribing to YouTube, you better be following on our socials because if you're not, you won't find out about places like Greenland and the best places to go. And I hope everybody can spell all the places she said to go because I was trying. I don't think I could. But Amy, well done. It was so great to be on another Truth in a Barrel with you.
- [47:52]
Amy McGrath
Awesome.
- [47:54]
Denver Riggleman
Cheers.
- [47:55]
Amy McGrath
Cheers.
- [47:55]
Denver Riggleman
You're awesome.
- [47:56]
Amy McGrath
Cheers to Greenland.
- [47:57]
Denver Riggleman
Cheers to Greenland.
- [48:05]
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