Fréttablaðið | War in the North Atlantic - Is Iceland Safe?
Following the recent collapse of fisheries in the east, many fishing vessels are headed to the waters west of Iceland according to sources at Fiskistofa. While these ships float in the waters off Snæfellsnes, war lurks just over the horizon in Greenland. Several fishing boats have already reported encounters with Swedish military vessels who are aggressively patrolling that area of the Northern Sea.
Greenland is a young country, having recently gained its independence from Denmark only to find itself set upon by yet another of its Nordic siblings as Swedish boots now storm Greenland's icy shores.
Is Iceland safe?
As a small independent nation, Greenland sought safety in numbers. Last month Greenlandic authorities signed a treaty officially declaring themselves a member of The Inglourious Basterds, an alliance composed of nearly 20 other countries - including Denmark, clearly showing Greenland intended to maintain close friendly relations with its 'parent' country.
This alliance however pulled Greenland into a geopolitical vortex, putting them at odds with the B.E.E.R alliance and their powerful Nordic sibling, Sweden. With war raging between the two alliance blocs and Denmark having already been overwhelmed in mainland Europe, Sweden was handed a seemingly perfect opportunity to seize control while many of Greenlands IB allies were occupied elsewhere.
Sweden's attacks came quickly. On the 12th of August Sweden successfully captured a beach head in Greenland's North Eastern territory. On the 13th, Sweden successfully took control of both Southern Greenland while simultaneously taking the Faroe Islands, on the other side of Iceland, from Denmark in the same day.
In the days following the first Swedish attacks, Greenland has rapidly signed several defensive pacts with other nations, including Latvia and Oman and made a large monetary transfer to Egypt, ostensibly in exchange for further military aid. Sweden has been declared an official 'enemy of the state'. These legal maneuvers however have done little to stop the tide as Sweden has washed over and claimed Greenland's eastern coast and southern tip - taking control of valuable metallic deposits in the process which may aid in offsetting the cost of the military operation.
Iceland by comparison has remained independent. Icelandic authorities feel confident that the current conflict in Greenland is due to the ongoing conflict between blocs and should not involve independent nations. If however another nation turns hungry eyes upon our peaceful island Iceland feels confident in the economic might of our fishing industry and our ability to overwhelm any would-be attacker with lucrative defense contracts and likely a few herring thrown with great force.