Week of Jan. 8, 2026

From the editor’s desk

If you’ve been tuned in to the news this week, you noticed that the notion of the U.S. annexing Greenland was rapidly upgraded in the public consciousness from blusterous bluff to actual possible threat.

You may have seen headlines like these this week, stating various methods by which the U.S. could force, purchase or bribe its way into taking over the remote, Arctic territory of 60,000-ish people.

• From the BBC: “US discussing options to acquire Greenland including using military, White House says” 
• From the New York Times: “Rubio Tells Lawmakers Trump Wants to Buy Greenland”
• And from Reuters, just this afternoon: Exclusive: Trump administration mulls payments to sway Greenlanders to join US

As all of these announcements have unfolded, I’ve been wondering what Greenland residents themselves are saying.

Yesterday, a reporter from Canada’s CBC asked Avaaraq Olsen, the mayor of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, what the mood is like there. Olsen said people are going about their daily lives as usual and added, “Many people feel anxiety. They are very concerned. … We just want to live peacefully, as we do.”

The reporter asked, “Is this what people are talking about right now?” Olsen said: 

Everybody mentions it and says, “Oh no, not that again.” We already said our opinion. We held the largest demonstration in Greenland, ever, in the spring, where we strongly rejected the Americans, and that’s still the state of the Greenlanders. … We think it’s very disrespectful and offensive that we are brought into this again, because we have already said our opinion.

Later in the five-minute interview, she said: 

We feel like we are not treated as our own people living in our own country. We are treated like an item to buy, and we really want to get away from that. 

On Tuesday, The Independent published a piece by an astronomy enthusiast from Finland named Dennis Lehtonen, who has been living in Greenland for the last three years, working in fish factories. The headline is “What the Greenland locals really think of Trump—and why he could be in for a shock.” Lehtonen gets those points out of the way quickly:

When President Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland, I asked many local people what they thought. I didn’t hear a single person say it would be a good idea then, and I am still waiting. 

Most of the article is a detailed picture of what life in Greenland is actually like. He writes:

The truth is, life here couldn’t be more starkly different from what the average American is used to. In fact, it is probably worse than they could ever imagine in their wildest nightmares. 

A few highlights: 

• In towns of hundreds or fewer, “A dentist typically visits for only a few days each year.”
• “Fresh fruit and vegetables are hit and miss.”
• “Nutaarmiut, a tiny island settlement of just 30 people, where I worked, had no shop at all. During winter, we travelled 20km over the sea ice to the neighbouring settlement of Tasiusaq to shop, loading as much as possible onto sleds. But when the sea ice thins here, Nutaarmiut becomes inaccessible, as it is not even served by helicopters.”

And the winter temperatures? Given that I got my own sidewalk shoveled in about four minutes this morning, and did it comfortably in sneakers, the “–37C” that Lehtonen mentions is pretty much impossible for me to compute.

Yet despite Greenland’s “nightmares”—or rather, because of the necessarily close-knit communities of people who endure them—Lehtonen is charmed by the place.

Should U.S. officials actually proceed with trying to acquire Greenland, you’ll probably want to know what and whom they’re moving in on. His article is a great primer and a great read.

For yet more glimpses of this magical seeming place, check out his Instagram feed, @astrodenniina, replete with icebergs, fur pants and sled dogs.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor

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A quick question from the publisher about print

We’re now eight days into the first month since June 2022 during which there isn’t a new RN&R print edition hitting the streets.

We’re making strides in beefing up our online/digital coverage—including new Arts Notes and Music Notes columns, and the launch of our new “From the Archives” newsletter coming on Monday, Jan. 12. The vast majority of our readers have been supportive of and understanding about our move to a (mostly) digital-only existence.

However, we’ve also heard from some people that they just don’t “do” online news—meaning that they won’t read the RN&R digitally at all. And we’ve heard from a LOT of people that they already miss the print edition.

A return to monthly print, mass-produced on newsprint, like we’ve done for the previous 43 months is simply not feasible, for all sorts of reasons we’ve already discussed. That said, all of the comments we’ve gotten about people missing our print edition have led us to start brainstorming about ways in which we could possibly return, in some way. If you have any ideas (besides “sell more ads to casinos”—trust me, we tried that), let us know.

Meanwhile, here’s one idea we’re pondering: We’d produce a quarterly print edition. The “winter” edition, released in September, will be our Best of Northern Nevada issue—free distribution, mass-produced on newsprint, just like before. The other three print editions (in March, June and December) would be produced by a local printer, magazine-style, and sent to paid subscribers and some supporters, with a limited number distributed to local libraries and community centers, so people who can’t afford to subscribe would have access to them. The PDFs would be posted for everyone to enjoy on our Issuu page. The three non-Best Of editions would be financed by subscribers, and perhaps an issue sponsor or two.

What are your thoughts? For the print-lovers out there: How much would you pay for something like this? Would you pay, say, $69.99 for a yearly mail subscription for the four issues (including Best Of), or $19.99 a single copy? Or is that too much?

Please send your feedback to jimmyb@renonr.com. Thank you!

—Jimmy Boegle