re: #731 Occasional Reader

Here are the details (didn’t want to trust my memory):

Foreign diplomats hardly believed what they heard when the Icelandic president said that his country needs “new friends” and that Russia should be invited to take use of the old U.S. airbase of Keflavik.

In the lunch which took place in Reykjavik last Friday, Mr. Grimsson accused neighboring countries of failing to support the crisis-ridden Iceland, newspaper Dagbladet reports with reference to Klassekampen.

An internal memo from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, obtained by the newspaper, describes the diplomats present in the event as “shocked” by the speech.

-The North Atlantic is important for the Nordic countries, the USA and the UK. That is a fact which these countries seem to ignore, the president said, adding that “Iceland should rather make new friends”.

barentsobserver.com