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Though it is hard to discern a method in the madness, greed and an insatiable hunger for power seem to drive Donald Trump's talk of "owning" Greenland. In Peter Høeg's 1992 novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, the plot turns not on critical minerals, gas, or oil, but on another kind of natural resource. A mysterious meteorite lies embedded in the Greenland ice. It seems alive. It generates its own energy.
At the novel's end, Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen, daughter of a Greenlandic mother, confronts the supervillain Tørk, who is determined to exploit the sensational discovery at any cost. In Bille August's film adaptation, Richard Harris embodies Tørk as a compelling blend of mad scientist and greedy speculator. After he has described the meteorite's extraordinary properties to Smilla (Julia Ormond), she asks:
"And why do you do all this, Tørk?"
His answer is honest: "Money. Fame. More money."
If one can look past the clichés of genre fiction, Høeg's global bestseller is a rather deep dive into Denmark's struggle with its colonial past and into greed as a driving force of capitalism. Yet another Danish fictional character surpasses Smilla as a guide to Greenland's place in Danish history – and in contemporary geopolitics: Birgitte Nyborg.
In the fourth season of Borgen – released on Netflix with the subtitle "Power & Glory" – Nyborg is no longer prime minister but foreign minister. An oil find in Greenland sparks a global scramble for Arctic resources, pushing Denmark onto a geopolitical tightrope between the US, China, and Russia, as it navigates Greenland’s push for independence and its own green ambitions.
In the final episode, a Greenlandic huntsman asks Nyborg why she allowed the exploitation of the island and, implicitly, betrayed her ideals. What did she get out of it?
"Power," she replies.
Unlike Tørk, Nyborg ultimately makes a sharp turn. Returning to her green agenda, she halts the oil project – with a little help from the Americans.
It is hard not to think of Birgitte Nyborg when watching Denmark's foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, now trying to handle J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and, ultimately, Donald Trump. The dilemma is similar: representing a small country in a world of greedy, power-hungry giants.
The difference is that Birgitte Nyborg knew who her allies were.
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