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Icelanders More Likely To Perceive Americans As Adversaries Than Allies, Report Finds
A new survey conducted by Maskína finds that Icelanders are more likely to think of Americans as adversaries, as opposed to allies. Forty percent of respondents would describe Americans as antagonists, while 32 percent would describe them as allies, RÚV reports. Twenty-eight…
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USA Seizes Russian Oil Tanker Near Iceland
The United States has taken control of the oil tanker Marinera, sailing under the Russian flag, approximately 200 kilometres off the coast of Iceland, reports RÚV. The US had been tracking the vessel for over two weeks as it was en route…
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Icelandic Companies Asked To Abandon Diversity Policies For U.S. Contracts
Icelandic companies are being required to comply with U.S. laws that prohibit implementing policies promoting diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI), reports RÚV. However, Icelandic law mandates that companies have equality plans in place. Icelandic companies wishing to do business with the U.S.…
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Reykjavík Queer Choir Cancels World Pride Performance Amid LGBTQAI+ Rights Concerns In The U.S.
Hinsegin kórinn (Reykjavík Queer Choir) has withdrawn from its planned performance at World Pride in Washington, D.C., citing concerns over the safety of trans and non-binary individuals amid increasing restrictions on LGBTQAI+ rights in the United States, reports Vísir. “The choir decided…
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Bjarni Ben Speaks With Donald Trump Over The Phone
Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson spoke with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump over the phone on Wednesday, reports RÚV. During the call, the political leaders discussed the strong relationship between the two countries, trade and security and defence cooperation. The prime minister also emphasised…
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Iceland’s First Lady Met With Joe And Jill Biden
Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland, met with First Lady of the United States Jill Biden to discuss equality issues. The meeting took place at the White House in Washington. Joe Biden, the President of the United States, also came to…
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Hold My Skyr: American Consumers Start Legal Fight Over Yankee Yogurt
A storm in a skyr pot is brewing over the authenticity of an American version of Iceland’s traditional yogurt-esque foodstuff, RÚV reports. Icelandic Provisions Incorporated is a company which manufactures a product described as “traditional Icelandic skyr” at its facility in New…
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MP Raises Questions About CIA Activity
According to a report in Fréttablaðið, it has recently come to light that the Danish military’s intelligence service has given the CIA access to the country’s fibre optic network, which the Americans are using to spy on Denmark and other countries. A…
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Reviewing Iceland’s Relationship With The US Becomes Hot Topic In Parliament
The withdrawal of US forces in northern Syria, thereby opening the way for Turkey to attack Kurds in the region, has been a matter of strong contention in the Icelandic Parliament, with some suggesting that Iceland’s relationship with the US should be…
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“Iceland Is The Size of Corpus Christi, Texas, How Can The US Not Figure This Out?”
“Iceland Is the same Size as Corpus Christi, Texas, or Anaheim, California. They can figure it out. If the United States can’t figure it out, then no business being involved. Because if Iceland … an area that small as Corpus Christi, Texas.…
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My Bubba: Milk From Another Planet
Icelander Guðbjörg Bubba Tómasdóttir and Swede My Larsdotter grew up close to each other in the southern part of Sweden, but never met until Bubba responded to My’s “roommate wanted” ad in Copenhagen ten years ago. Bubba moved in right away, and…
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Dj. Flugvél Og Geimskip Loves Airwaves! And Coffee! And The Last Year!
Steinunn Eldflaug Harðardóttir, aka dj. flugvél og geimskip, steps inside Hressó, hugs me and apologises profusely for being fifteen-minutes late. She was held up, she says, because her two cats dragged a bird into her living room. The bird wasn’t visibly hurt,…
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Meet Robert Barber, Obama’s Controversial Pick For US Ambassador
In October 2013, President Obama nominated Boston lawyer Robert Barber to succeed Luis Arreaga as US Ambassador to Iceland—a choice that drew surprisingly intense scrutiny and criticism from the media, in the United States and elsewhere. An industrious fundraiser for Obama’s two…
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Icelander Probably Won’t Be Extradited To U.S
Icelander Alfreð Örn Clausen who is wanted by California police for stealing millions will most likely not be extradited, reports RÚV. So far the Icelandic government – neither the Ministry of Interior nor the National Police – have been contacted by the…
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New U.S Ambassador To Iceland Practices Icelandic
The new U.S Ambassador to Iceland, Robert C. Barber, has published a video explaining a little bit about himself in anticipation of his arrival to Iceland, reports RÚV. Barber will formally take over his duties in Iceland on January 28 and explains…
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Nuland: US And Iceland Have Pioneering Bilateral Agreement
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, has said Iceland’s bilateral agreement with the US is pioneering and that she wants to see the same kind of cooperation between the US and nations in Eastern Europe. Nuland visited Iceland yesterday to…
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MP: We Need To Reassess Whaling
MP and leader of the Left-Greens, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, has said Iceland needs to reassess whaling and evaluate to what extent the Icelandic economy benefits from the practice, reports Vísir. Katrín also criticised Minister of Finance Bjarni Benediktsson for his statement in response…
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Reykjavík Turning Point In Cold War
The Reykjavík Summit in 1986 was a turning point in the Cold War, says former ambassador and diplomat Ken Adelman in his new book, ‘Reagan at Reykjavík’, in which he documents his own experience as a member of the US delegation to…
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Jon Stewart: Iceland’s Ambassadorial Nominee Has Never Been To Iceland
During a segment entitled “The Diplomat Buyer’s Club,” on The Daily Show this week, Jon Stewart called foul on many of President Obama’s nominations for international diplomatic positions, including that of Robert C. Barber, Obama’s nominee for the ambassadorship in Iceland. The issue…
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America Daze
For the last few years, visitors to the Icelandic grocery chain Hagkaup have been met by a trio of unusually high profile greeters. Surrounded by enough American flags to trick out a NASCAR rally on the 4th of July, Elvis, John Wayne,…
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Warning To Travelers
I had a drink with an elderly couple from Washington, D.C. the other day. They were stopping over for a few days before continuing elsewhere and our mutual friend in D.C. thought it would be fun for us to meet. So I…
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Haukur’s 12th Editorial!
For some reason, I don’t have a lot to say this time around. No witty comments or clever analyses to espouse. If there ever were any. However, I did recently receive an interesting letter from a friend of the Grapevine’s. I dug what it…
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Editorial: WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?
Where did it all go wrong? How did it come to this? The United States seemed like such a good idea at the time. At the end of WW2, they were hailed as liberators the world over. Marshall Aid was extended to…