Iceland without military protection

[Winston]

I believe you were also ready to go to war with us over that whole Saga business in the 1960's.

If we're ever to fight a rogue state over fisheries or 12th century parchments, Iceland could still be of use to the alliance.

[Herra Gautason]

You Danes were only borrowing those books! You even burned half of them. Idiots.
Bloody good stories to.

[Winston]

We preserved them for you, compiled them and carried out research pertaining to them (which is still ongoing today). I've never heard of any being burned.

You even got some of them back, so be quiet.

[Herra Gautason]

Some of them burned in a fire in Copenhagen. It was a luck that they didn´t all burn.

[Winston]

As I recall, they were endangered in an early 18th century fire, which laid waste to most of central Copenhagen and claimed tremendous losses of historic documentation, but not the sagas. They were salvaged.

Good thing too, otherwise you'd have to go ballistic over something completely different.

[Herra Gautason]

OK, you didn´t burn any sagas but you did burn some books, records, notes and **** that Arni Mathiesen had been working on.

[Winston]

Yeah, well, half the city went up in flames.

Biggest barbecue in history. And we weren't even fighting anyone at the time!

[Dis]

Originally posted by Oerdin


They were needed to maintain the anti-submarine line along the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap. NATO wanted to maintain control of that waterway in order to keep Soviet ships out of the Atlantic sea lanes. NATO built a really expensive line of underwater sonar arrays which stretched from Scotland to Iceland and from Iceland to Greenland.

I think the operative word is do, not did.

We know what they did do. But in a world with no Warsaw Pact or Soviet block, what good can they do for us now? Any war in northern europe is very unlikely. So they can't contribute anything.

Not like those bases are useful for middle east operations, or operations in south america or Asia.

But they were useful for a number of years, and it's nice of us to provide for their defense should they need it. It's the least we can do. We can send over a few south central gangs, and that should be enough to repel any invasion.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Herra Gautason


Yes, Irish people mostly, called ad fara i viking(The usual viking raping, pillaging, stealing thingy). And the united kingdom. Have you forgotten about the cod-wars?

They should have sent in the fleet. See how your little fishing vessels coped then

[Winston]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
They should have sent in the fleet. See how your little fishing vessels coped then

Um, in fact, that's what you did do..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_War

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Red Storm Rising had a whole section on the USSR's invasion of Iceland. It was fictional but still.

I know-- I read it and thats what LOTM was referring to as well .


But Iceland has had strategic value since at least WW2. The poster's commnets about their role in WW2 was unsurprising. In the cold war era they were a great place for submarine detection and to base aircraft.

and realistically how much of a military can a country with so few people really contribute anyway

[Kuciwalker]

The catch is, in any situation where Iceland would need defending, it would be in our interests to do so.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Dis


I think the operative word is do, not did.

We know what they did do. But in a world with no Warsaw Pact or Soviet block, what good can they do for us now? Any war in northern europe is very unlikely. So they can't contribute anything.

Not like those bases are useful for middle east operations, or operations in south america or Asia.

But they were useful for a number of years, and it's nice of us to provide for their defense should they need it. It's the least we can do. We can send over a few south central gangs, and that should be enough to repel any invasion.

These are all good reasosn that the US does not need need a large number of active duty personell there right now. But I assume that its doesn't really cost NATO much to keep Iceland in so why not leave things alone.

I agree that the sub line is a lot less necessary now and it is tough to imagine a scenarion where Iceland comes into play, but there is little harm in maintaining the relationship and it probably gives the NATO fllet another port where they can call and sample the local female population

[Herra Gautason]

Yeah, well, half the city went up in flames.
Biggest barbecue in history. And we weren't even fighting anyone at the time!

Unlucky.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by BeBro
Who protects us now from Iceland?

Polar Frogs