Foreign Policy

Matthew Petti | 1.7.2026 12:40 PM

Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic, by Kenneth R. Rosen, Simon & Schuster, 320 pages, $29

When he first started talking about it, President Donald Trump's desire to take over Greenland sounded like a joke. Now European leaders are taking the possibility of a hostile takeover—and possibly even a war for the Danish Arctic island—as a deadly serious threat. After Trump's diet regime change operation in Venezuela, he immediately set his sights on Greenland, with the implication that it would be an armed conquest rather than a voluntary purchase.

"Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN, bragging about a world "governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power." Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that a U.S. attack on any part of Denmark would end "everything" that has to do with "post-World War II security."

What would a battle in the Arctic actually look like? Polar War, a book published by Kenneth Rosen amid the latest threats, aims to answer that very question. Rosen sails along with Norwegian and American coast guard patrols in the Arctic, watches prospective Swedish........

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