Danish Netflix drama, Borgen, helps Albanese government understand Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland

Australia is expressing hope of a “negotiated settlement” between the US and Denmark over President Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland, with the Assistant Defence Minister revealing much of his knowledge of the dispute comes from a Netflix drama.

Despite the rising trans-Atlantic tensions, as well as escalating military threats from Russia, the United Kingdom is proceeding with the deployment of one of its few nuclear-powered submarines to Western Australia under AUKUS.

When asked on Tuesday whether President Trump’s push to seize the strategic arctic territory represented a threat to the future of NATO, Assistant Defence Minister Peter Khalil emphasised the importance of international law.

“It certainly is an issue for Denmark and Greenland to manage, and it’s an issue for the people of Greenland as well about what their wishes are and the Danish government’s engagement with the Trump administration and the US government,” he told Sky News.

“I get a lot of my knowledge around Greenland from the Danish political drama Borgen, which uncannily, is kind of almost, you know, art imitating life, or life is now imitating art in some respects,” the Assistant Minister said.

“There is an indigenous population of Greenland, and there’s always been this tension about their independence from Denmark, which obviously acquired Greenland, I think was over 100 years ago. So, it’s a complicated thing”.

Borgen – a television series which premiered 16 years ago – dramatises the real-life career of Birgitte Nyborg as she becomes Denmark’s first female Prime Minister in a Coalition agreement.

One early episode portrays the PM travelling to Greenland after Danish journalists reveal American prisoner transports have illegally been moved through the territory – in breach of the arrangement between both NATO partners.

Over recent days President Trump has threatened to hit European nations with a slew of new tariffs if they do not strike a deal to hand over the strategic self-governing territory to the US.

The Albanese government has consistently declined to criticise the actions of its ally and AUKUS partner but has instead repeatedly asserted the dispute is “a matter for Denmark and Greenland”.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge has described the government’s approach as “bizarre” and accused Labor of being fearful to express any criticism of its closest military ally.

“This isn’t a Netflix drama, it is real life, with a rogue superpower threatening its neighbours and friends. What adds to Australia’s difficulty is that the rogue superpower happens to be the United States and Australia’s closest ally,” he tells The Nightly.

“The Albanese government not even expressing a view on this is bizarre and smacks of fear”.

The parallels between the 2022 season of Borgen, which focused on the fictional US-Danish rift went deep, with even a US Secretary of State expressing concerns over the presence of China in Greenland - a common theme in Mr Trump’s demands for the territory.

Former Danish politician Martin Lidegaard, who was a consultant on the newest season, told the BBC in 2022 that the Arctic was “somehow under-estimated, both in Denmark, in Greenland, but also in the rest of the world”.

“There was a very unclear deal between Denmark and Greenland about what would actually happen economically, if oil was to be found,” he said, which gave rise to the final season’s plot.

“That basic idea that we were so unprepared for such a situation with all the geopolitical aspects of it.”

The show – despite its creators insisting at the time that it was not based on real events or real politicians – also makes much of the uneasy relationship between Greenland and Denmark. Greenland was only granted self-rule in 2009 after decades as a colony, later a constituency, but remains financially dependent on Denmark.

Price told Reuters last year that Mr Trump’s wish to control Greenland was “absurd” and made it more difficult to write political fiction.

“When reality becomes absurd, like I think it has become in recent weeks when we are talking about the current situation with Greenland and Trump and Trump’s demands, what are we to write?” Price said.

“Because if I had pitched this as a new season of “Borgen”, I think most people would say, like five or 10 years ago, that I was completely out of my mind and had lost my sense of reality,” he said.

As European leaders continue to warn of a “dangerous downward spiral” in relations with the United States over the Greenland dispute, the Royal Navy’s HMS Anson has recently docked in Gibraltar ahead of its expected arrival at Perth’s HMAS Stirling naval base next month.

Last month UK Defence Minister Luke Pollard insisted there was a “strategic advantage and importance” in deploying Astute-class submarines to Australia under AUKUS despite the deteriorating security situation in the Euro-Atlantic.

“The agreement that we have with our Australian and American friends is that there will be rotations between a UK Astute boat and the Virginia-class American submarine operating out of Western Australia.”

“That will build the knowledge that the Australians will need to be able to operate those boats,” Minister Pollard told a House of Commons Committee hearing into AUKUS on December 2.

Under the first stage of the AUKUS partnership, British and US boats will be temporarily stationed at HMAS Stirling from 2027 as part of Submarine Rotational Force-West, or SRF-West, to improve Australia’s understanding of the advanced technology.

Military analysts in the UK have however questioned the timing of the long-distance deployment given the Royal Navy appears to have no other nuclear-powered submarine available for contingencies including threats from Russia.

Britain’s dire naval situation was highlighted last month by First Sea Lord Gwyn Jenkins who warned: “the advantage that we have enjoyed in the Atlantic since the end of the Second World War is at risk. We are holding on, but not by much”.

Earlier this month a former top British naval officer warned the UK does not have the capacity to help deliver a new fleet of AUKUS submarines with Australia, and that there was a high probability the program would fail.

Retired Rear Admiral Philip Mathias, a former director of nuclear policy and nuclear submarine commanding officer, told The Nightly that the project was agreed to by enthusiastic politicians and policy advisers who did not appreciate the capacity constraints for delivery.

“Whilst the US may sell some SSNs to Australia, there is a high probability that the UK element of AUKUS will fail, making the international row in 2021 over the cancellation of the plan for Australia to build French-designed submarines look like a non-event”.