‘Committee of Vultures’: Tech Billionaires Circle Greenland
Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland has escalated into a full-blown international crisis. He is threatening military action against NATO ally Denmark and imposing tariffs on European countries that don’t support his quixotic quest to own the icy island.
Meanwhile, Greenlanders have taken to the streets in protest to make it clear they are not for sale. Polls show a majority of Americans oppose stealing Greenland through military force—with even 68% of Republicans opposing military action, according to Quinnipiac.
But there is one constituency that shares Trump’s Arctic fever: tech billionaires. Writing for the New Republic, Casey Michel exposes how a handful of tech oligarchs have a deep interest in Greenland’s natural resources.
From “The Oligarchs Pushing for Conquest in Greenland”:
But there’s another element to this Greenland obsession that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention—and it is just as important to Trump’s designs on plundering Greenland and claiming the island as America’s: money. Specifically, the money set to be gained by the kinds of oligarchic interests that have long backed Trump, and that now stand to benefit from American suzerainty over Greenland. To update another phrase, which we’ve seen recently race to the fore in Venezuela: It’s about looting the resources, stupid.
As Michel documents, this isn’t speculation. The Guardian reported last April that “some of Donald Trump's biggest campaign donors and investors are positioned to potentially profit from any American takeover of Greenland.” Tech moguls and fossil fuel executives have invested in extraction companies across the island—all waiting to pluck it clean if they can just eliminate those pesky Danish and Greenlandic regulatory authorities.
A “closed loop” of investors, billionaires, and Trump has emerged, circling Greenland like a committee of vultures. And a tech billionaire-funded group has raised the prospect of building a Network State city there.
I encourage you to read his full piece for details and names. Michel’s piece also makes a nice mention of my work on this subject.
Casey Michel
Last April, The Nerd Reich newsletter created a four-minute explainer video focused on this bizarre Greenland obsession. You can watch by clicking below—and please send it to everyone you know.
