The title of “Dalai Lama of the North” was apparently bestowed to Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson by the organiser of the event at which the president will speak. This title has since been removed from flyers advertising the talk.
As reported posters advertising the lecture “The Arctic: A New Model for Global Cooperation” at Tufts University this Monday featured a photo of the Icelandic president, along with the sentence, “Learn Arctic Truths not Myths from One who has been called ‘the Dalai Lama of the North'”. As a Google search in English and Icelandic for “Dalai Lama of the North” turned up no results apart from the event or news stories about it, who has called the president this title remained a mystery.
Until, that is, Pressan managed to track down the person responsible – event organiser Crocker Snow. Snow said that he came up with the appellation himself after watching the president speak about polar issues last year in Alaska.
The posters have since been changed, RÚV reports. The entire sentence involving the Dalai Lama has been replaced with simply “Learn Truth not Myths from Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, president of Iceland”.
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