After the first Viking raids in AD 985, Greenlanders fear there is another invader on the horizon.
— The Telegraph, Feb. 19, 2025
America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White and Blueland.
— Congressman Buddy Carter (R-Ga.)
As a Rotary Fellow in Denmark in 1966-67, I witnessed some interesting political developments. The most significant was that the Social Democrats teamed up with the Socialists for a 90-seat win — the largest left-wing coalition ever. A Social Democrat member of Parliament from Greenland secured the majority.
In 2019, Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen had to fend off Donald Trump in his outrageous attempt to buy Greenland during his first term. Her response then was that the idea was “absurd” and that Greenland was “not for sale.”
At the start of his second term, Trump is back with the same request, but this time he said that he might have to take it by military force. JD Vance had the audacity to call Denmark a “bad ally” for not agreeing to the deal. A Republican senator with a spine, Lisa Murkowski countered that Denmark is a “good ally” and implied that Greenland is not ours to take.
It is supremely ironic that a small country (a little larger than Maryland with only 6 million people) owns the world’s largest island with a current population of 60,000. The original Norse settlers died out in the early 15th century for reasons that are still disputed.
In the 18th century Dano-Norwegian missionaries returned and converted many Inuit, which then led to Danish colonial control. In 1933, Norway declared that they were rightful owners of the island, but the International Court in the Hague, with strong support from the U.S., ruled in favor of Denmark.
In 1979, Greenland was given home rule, and in 2008, 76% of Greenlanders voted for conditional independence with the Danish government still controlling defense, currency and foreign policy. Half their budget still comes from the Danish government.
Just this month, Greenland’s prime minister Múte Egede (descendent of an 18th century Norwegian missionary) declared: “We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.” There is talk of having a referendum on full independence after parliamentary elections next month.
The biblical story of David and Goliath is a compelling analogue for the task at hand. In 1 Samuel 17:3, we read that David chose five stones from a brook as ammo for his trusty sling. I believe that Denmark has five effective "missiles" to use if Trump follows through with his threats. Imagine the bullet points as stones.
- Denmark is a member of NATO and Article 5 of the treaty compels all member nations to come to the aid of any member nation that is attacked militarily.
- The Danish shipping company Maersk is the second largest in the world. Four other European companies are among the top five. If they all decide not to visit American ports, the U.S. economy would come to a halt.
- Denmark’s pharmaceutical industry is world famous. Novo Nordisk produces the popular anti-obesity drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. This Danish company could easily stop shipments of these products to the U.S.
- The Danish company Vestas is the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer. Its website boasts that it “is a market leader in the North American wind industry with 45,000 megawatts installed and 40,000+ megawatts under service in the U.S. and Canada.”
- There are five Disneylands but there are 10 Legolands all over the world. This Danish toy company is the largest ever and American kids would be very sad not to be able to have the latest Lego creations.
A group of Lego executives and actors from the wildly popular Nordic Noir Drama series have proposed to buy California. The group has launched crowdsource funding with a goal of raising $1 trillion. A spokesperson admits this is a “ridiculous idea” but he says that if Trump “stops his colonial expansion, we will stop our campaign and we can all go back to playing Legos.”
Denmark is small in geographical size, but its business footprint in the world is huge. According to the World Competitive Center, Denmark ranks third behind Switzerland and Singapore in business competitiveness with the U.S. in 12th place. The Danish David can easily defeat the American Goliath.
After living four years in Denmark, Gier has grown to admire the Danes and their achievements. Read his other article on Greenland at bit.ly/41igpo4 and other articles on Denmark at nfgier.com/?s=Denmark+. Email him at ngier006@gmail.com.
