#prime minister of iceland

[sofiaflorina2021]

The Youngest Elected Serving State Leader in 2024

The current Prime Minister of Iceland (Forsætisráðherra Íslands) since 21 December, 2024, Kristrún Frostadóttir, from the Social Democratic Alliance party (centre-left), is the youngest elected serving state leader per January 2025 at age 36. Hopefully their government will run smoothly and still get parliamentary support.

She is beautiful!

Media Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEQM4jEAHzi/

[higherentity]

[ceilidho]

gaz is the kind of guy that when he gets back from leave and soap's like "oh i saw my nan and hung out with friends" and price's like "spent time with the wife and kids" gaz is like. oh i was in ibiza with ke$ha for a week. visited Machu Picchu. had dinner at a restaurant inside a volcano in Iceland. Met the prime minister of New Zealand.

and everyone’s just staring at him like huh

[carmen-art]

Tinganes - Tórshavn, Faroe Islands 2023

/Instagram

Tinganes is a historic part of Tórshavn, serving as the site of the Faroese government since the Viking Age. This small peninsula is home to the Prime Minister’s Office and other government buildings, with structures dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

As one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places in the world, along with Tynwald Hill in the Isle of Man and Þingvellir in Iceland, Tinganes dates back to 825, when the first Norwegian settlers established their Ting (parliament) here.

[antialiasis]

Icelandic Fact of the Moment: Words Named After People

Sometimes, a person's behaviour becomes so iconic that they get permanently associated with that thing. Accordingly, Icelandic has some compounds where the first part is someone's first name, forever tying some lucky/unlucky individual to an abstract concept.

Gróusaga (gossip)

This one is admittedly not named after a real person. Instead, the namesake is Gróa á Leiti, a character from Jón Thoroddsen's 1850 romantic novel Piltur og stúlka, often considered the first Icelandic novel traditionally published in Iceland. Gróa, who in the book lived at the farm of Leiti, would spread salacious stories around, always keeping the source anonymous. Ever since, anonymous tales of gossip have been called gróusögur, or "Gróa stories". The word is generally used dismissively, to suggest a story is not true.

Þórðargleði (schadenfreude)

Schadenfreude is a fun German word encapsulating an important part of the human experience, namely the idea of taking joy in others' suffering. English just wholesale borrowed the word from the Germans. In Iceland, instead, we call it þórðargleði, or "Þórður's joy". In the 1947 memoirs of an Icelandic priest, Árni Þórarinsson, he explains how one day he met this one farmer Þórður, who was laughing uproariously about how in the north of Iceland it hadn't stopped raining all summer and everyone's hay was ruined, and he'd love to see the looks on their faces. Árni promptly coined a new word, and it stuck, forever immortalizing this guy as the epitome of a special kind of asshole.

Höskuldarviðvörun (spoiler alert)

In April 2016, the Progressive Party was in disarray after their chairman Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson finally very reluctantly resigned after being implicated in the Panama Papers. The party called a meeting, with a slew of reporters waiting outside to hear who would be the new chair and thus prime minister. MP Höskuldur Þórhallsson exited the meeting early and walked down the stairs into the crowd of reporters, who asked if he had anything to say, probably expecting a "No comment" at best. Instead, Höskuldur thought they already knew the results and were just asking for his take on it, so he told them he was fully behind the selection of Sigurður Ingi Jóhannesson in the prime minister position and more. The video is gloriously awkward.

A week later, Stöð 2 aired an episode of the sitcom Modern Family, in which a character saying "Spoiler alert" was subtitled with Höskuldarviðvörun, or "Höskuldur warning". Everyone took to this with glee because the incident was very funny and also something about the sound of the word feels very satisfying and appropriate. The translator, Arnór Hauksson, had been stuck on how to translate the term, which didn't have a good Icelandic equivalent at the time, and was then apparently inspired by tweets suggesting Höskuldur should have said "Spoiler alert!" before he started speaking. Today, höskuldarviðvörun has stuck and is legitimately used in, for instance, newspaper reviews of films that are about to discuss spoilers.

[royal-confessions]

“mary looked great at the gala for the iceland prime minister! i’m loving her in the pearl tiara instead of her beloved ruby one lol” - Submitted by Anonymous

[veganism]

Letter to Denmark's PM regarding Paul Watson's extradition

To the attention of:   Mrs. Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark   Christiansborg Palace   1218 Copenhagen K   Denmark

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you today to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the extradition of Paul Watson, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, to Japan. Mr. Watson was arrested on Sunday, July 21, in Greenland while making a refueling stop with his ship. He is now in detention and faces the risk of being extradited to Japan, following a 2012 arrest warrant for "conspiracy to board." This warrant, however, is fundamentally flawed and abusive, as it targets Mr. Watson for his courageous efforts to prevent the illegal whaling activities that contravene international conventions.

It is crucial to recall that Captain Paul Watson and his crew were headed to the North Pacific to prevent the Japanese ship Kangei Maru from illegally killing whales. His intervention, though radical, has always been peaceful and aimed at enforcing the 1986 international moratorium that bans whaling. Thanks to his actions, approximately 5,000 cetaceans have been spared from harpoons. Whaling is an outlawed and illegal practice that only three countries shamefully continue: Japan, Norway, and Iceland.

Paul Watson has devoted his life to protecting endangered marine animals. The Japanese arrest warrant is an abuse of Interpol's "red notice," originally intended to track international criminals, now being used to suppress a political and environmental opponent. Extraditing Paul Watson to Japan would be tantamount to a death sentence. At 73 years old and a father of three, he would face harsh imprisonment conditions.

For the past year, Paul Watson has been residing in France, where he continues his fight alongside Sea Shepherd France, traveling across the country to give lectures and tirelessly advocate for ocean conservation. It is imperative that France, represented by President Emmanuel Macron, formally request that Denmark refuse this extradition.

### Legal Argumentation

It is also essential to highlight the following legal aspects, which render this extradition not only morally reprehensible but potentially illegal and an abuse of law:

1. *Violation of International Moratorium*: Japan continues to practice whaling in blatant violation of the 1986 international moratorium, an interdiction supported by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). By extraditing Paul Watson, Denmark would indirectly support this illegal activity.

2. *Non-Refoulement Principle*: Under international human rights law, notably Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture, Denmark is obliged not to extradite a person to a state where they risk being subjected to torture or inhumane or degrading treatment. Given the harsh detention conditions and potential treatment Paul Watson might face in Japan, his extradition could violate this fundamental principle.

3. *Abuse of Procedure*: The use of an Interpol red notice by Japan in this context constitutes an abuse of procedure. Interpol’s mission is to combat international crime, not to pursue individuals for actions aimed at enforcing international law. The arrest of Paul Watson on this basis is legally questionable and could be considered an abuse of law.

4. *Defense of International Public Order*: The extradition of Paul Watson contradicts the principles of international public order, which include respecting international conventions on the conservation of endangered species. By protecting Paul Watson, Denmark would demonstrate respect for these principles and support the fight against illegal whaling practices.

By choosing not to extradite Paul Watson, you would powerfully affirm your commitment to justice and environmental protection. Your decisive action can make all the difference. Extraditing Paul Watson would not only be unjust but also send a disastrous message to all those fighting to preserve our planet.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this urgent matter. I sincerely hope you will intervene to prevent this unjust and inhumane extradition.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

May 10th, 1940: The United Kingdom occupies Iceland and appoints Winston Churchill as its Prime Minister. Nazi Germany invades France, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

[mariacallous]

On January 9, 2024, Swedish defense chief Gen. Micael Byden stood on a stage in Salen, Sweden, and gave a presentation intended to shock. Projecting a series of grisly images from the front lines of the Ukraine War, overlaid on a backdrop of snowy Swedish field, he asked: “Do you think this could be Sweden?”

Until February 2022, these questions would be unimaginable for a country that has maintained a careful 75-year strategy of peaceful nonalignment toward NATO. In a 2012 speech, the supreme commander of Sweden’s military at the time, Sverker Goranson, said that, in the event of an attack, “Sweden can survive for a week.” But at this recent Society and Defense Conference in Salen, leaders made it clear that the era of de-emphasizing defense was over. There, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson urged his citizens to prepare to defend themselves “with weapons in hand and our lives on the line.”

For Russia’s Scandinavian neighbors, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine disrupted a cool calculus of neutrality. Last year, Finland became NATO’s newest member, with Sweden likely soon to follow, pending approval from Hungary. These new northern alliances are shifting the geopolitical power balance, with Arctic NATO nations soon outnumbering Russia seven to one. And, just as the melting Arctic ice opens new resources and routes for global economic competition, it also exposes new defensive vulnerabilities.

Today, as Ukraine and its NATO allies push Russia into a corner, global leaders—together with Scandinavians themselves—are increasingly turning a troubled gaze north. They’re asking: How likely is escalation in colder climes?

“The increasing competition and militarization in the Arctic region … is worrying,” NATO military committee chair Adm. Rob Bauer said in an October 2023 speech at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. “We must be prepared for military conflicts arising in the Arctic.”

“Low tensions in the High North”: so have global leaders and analysts referred to a post-Cold War period of relative polar stability. For the past several decades, bilateral and international agreements between Russia and other Arctic states have emphasized shared northern security as well as scientific and safety interests. But after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, these arrangements quickly fell apart. In March 2022, the Arctic Council, a forum between the eight Arctic states, suspended talks. (In May 2023, it cautiously resumed but has yet to make Russia’s involvement clear.) In September 2023, Russia left the smaller Barents Euro-Arctic Council with Norway, Finland, and Sweden—saying the Scandinavian states had “paralyzed” cooperation. In February 2023, Russia amended its Arctic policy, emphasizing new alliances with other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations, particularly China. That month, it also suspended participation in New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia.

“There’s this post-Cold War political idea of ‘Arctic exceptionalism,’ that the north is excepted from developments in global politics,” said Rasmus Bertelsen, the Barents chair in politics at the Arctic University in Tromso. “The problem is, it’s never been valid.”

Look a little closer at the past decades, Bertelsen said, and you’ll see a Russian Arctic strategy that closely follows its global agenda. In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Munich Security Conference firmly rejected a U.S.-led, post-Cold War global order of stability. That same year, Russia launched its first cyberattack on Estonia and made a bold Arctic territorial claim by planting a Russian flag in the seabed below the North Pole. Putin has also concentrated militarization around the High North. Since 2014, the year Russia annexed Crimea, Russia has steadily grown a northern fleet of nuclear submarines, surface ships, missile facilities, air fleets, and radar stations. Today, Russia’s largest military base is on the Kola Peninsula, which borders Norway and Finland, where it is also testing new hypersonic missiles and a nuclear torpedo drone. Though about 80 percent of Russia’s northern land forces were deployed to Ukraine, its air and sea forces remain intact.

“Earlier, Russia had an interest in seeming like a constructive partner, including in the Arctic,” said Andreas Osthagen, a senior fellow at the Arctic Institute in Oslo, Norway. “Just like in the rest of the world, that has deteriorated.”

Russia’s full-scale invasion came as a wake-up call to Scandinavian neighbors that have, for decades, resisted militaristic alliances. Suddenly, neutrality began to look a lot more like vulnerability. Finland had an especially stunning reversal: As recently as December 2021, 51 percent of Finns opposed joining NATO. Today, 78 percent support the membership. With this alliance comes the promise of U.S. military might. In 2023, Finland and Sweden both signed bilateral military agreements with the United States, permitting American personnel and weapons at dozens of bases, including nine in the Arctic. Norway, an active NATO member since its formation, already has several bases that permit U.S. personnel and weapons. Still, since the Cold War, Norway has followed a “reassurance” policy that limits NATO and its allies’ presence past the 28th longitudinal zone, close to Russia. Now, it’s unclear whether that policy will hold.

Since 2009, the Nordic Defense Cooperation has aligned Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland on national military policy. In 2022, Norway, Finland and Sweden announced an agreement to strengthen the alliance with a focus on the high North. Today, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland are in ongoing talks about formally sharing their air forces. In March 2024, Norway will lead an expanded “Nordic response” exercise for these nations to test their coordinated defense plans. Michael Paul, a senior fellow in security policy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said that history will reveal this new Nordic alliance as “one of Putin’s greatest mistakes.”

“If the war in Ukraine has achieved anything, it’s to align the Nordics on security,” Paul said. “You want to divide your enemies, not unite them against you.”

Ferguson sees the U.S. Swedish and Finnish military bases as mutually beneficial: Where the U.S. has resources, it often lacks technical expertise in extreme conditions. These smaller nations, she said, have a lot to teach the United States military. And their alliance with NATO is, she said, a “game-changer.”

“We now have seven out of eight Arctic nations geopolitically aligned with highly capable militaries,” Ferguson said. “I don’t know if there is such a concentration of alignment and capabilities between nations anywhere else in the world.”

Still, Ferguson emphasized that this is all in the name of deterrence. And experts agree that a full-scale northern conflict is unlikely. Paradoxically, Paul noted, Russia’s sheer military capacity and economic resources that increase Arctic tensions also deter real escalation. In the north, Russia simply has too much to lose: The immense territorial mass and extensive fossil fuel resources both stand as major claims to its identity as a global superpower. And unlike the cases of Ukraine and Crimea, Putin has never publicly imagined reclaiming Finland, which declared independence from Russia in 1917, nor has he spoken about accessing the Atlantic through Norway. Paul said that the Kremlin has an interest in maintaining a “low level of tension” in the north.

For now, that has meant hybrid warfare: “gray zone” tactics that are harder to trace or attribute. For instance, in November 2023, after a massive surge of asylum-seekers prompted Finland to become the first neighbor to close its border to Russia, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called the move “instrumentalized immigration”; that is, retaliation for joining NATO. (Russia denied the charge.)

At sea, potential aggression is even harder to trace. In April 2021 and January 2022, fiber-optic cables connecting the Svalbard archipelago to the Norwegian mainland was mysteriously severed. Later, vessel-tracking data revealed, in both instances, that Russian fishing boats had passed repeatedly over the cables prior to the damage. In October 2023, a Chinese container ship called the Newnew Polar Bear damaged a Baltic gas pipeline before entering Russian waters. According to the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, a severed anchor likely belonging to the ship caused the damage, but experts still dispute whether the damage was intentional. Proving malicious intent is extremely difficult, and investigations are ongoing.

“It’s one of the major questions being asked right now: How do we defend against attacks on subsea critical infrastructure?” said Marisol Maddox, a senior Arctic analyst at the Polar Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. “There hasn’t been a single instance of serious consequences. At this point, the lesson that Russia is learning is that they can get away with it.”

Intentional or not, the effects of such infrastructure damage can be extensive and long-lasting: For example, the fiber-optic cable damaged in April 2021 wasn’t identified and repaired until November of that year. Luckily, one other subsea cable remained to keep the lights on in Svalbard. But absent that redundancy, thousands of people could have been left stranded without power for months. In the event of an explicit conflict, Maddox said, those kinds of vulnerabilities are extremely worrying.

In highly militarized zones, mistakes may carry the highest risk. To Osthagen, “miscalculation and misinterpretation” are the “greatest security risk in the North Atlantic Arctic.” In this region, Russia and NATO both conduct frequent military exercises, rehearsing mobilization of their forces and fleets. These routine rehearsals are especially necessary in colder climates, which require cold-resilient equipment and technology. (Notably, Osthagen emphasized, Russia has simulated direct attacks on its neighbors, whereas NATO has strictly simulated defensive strategies.) But these are complicated operations, often testing people and procedures for the first time. All it takes is one accidentally discharged firearm, one crossed signal, for rehearsal to open a military theater. Typically, such exercises are clearly communicated and coordinated across borders. But more recently, this communication has suffered.

“Paradoxically, after February 2022, the tension and fear of something happening has increased, whereas the potential for dialogue has disappeared,” Osthagen said. “This is the most troubling aspect of all.”

And where does this warfare, hybrid or explicit, end? In the worst case, the current war in Ukraine could conclude with a northern strike. Russia has 11 submarines capable of launching long-range nuclear weapons; eight of them reside in the Kola Peninsula. For this reason alone, the Arctic carries a particular weight for global leaders who must consider escalation to its absolute hypothetical end.

Even so, Paul emphasized that Arctic conflict of any form still remains counter to Russia’s interests and is less likely than in other parts of the world. Still, he cautioned against assuming that Putin will behave rationally. If backed into a corner, as NATO expands and Ukrainian troops advance, it is impossible to know how he will respond. But a fact remains that Arctic nations won’t easily forget: The remainder of his military might centers on the north.

“Putin made a big mistake in Ukraine,” Paul said. “He could make another in the Arctic.”

[ukrfeminism]

3 minute read

Anti-slavery charity Unseen says it is receiving record numbers of calls to its helpline, with significantly more reports of forced labour, domestic servitude and people being trafficked for sex.

Unseen saw a “huge increase” between 2021 and 2022 in the number of calls to the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline reporting potential victims of forced labour in care homes or private residences, and is calling for proposed legislation that criminalises victims to be shelved. 

“To be serious about tackling modern slavery in the UK we need much more awareness of the true size of the problem, better support for victims, and many more resources going into targeting the criminals behind the exploitation”, said Justine Carter, director of Unseen.

“Instead, the UK is bringing in new migration laws that criminalise some victims of modern slavery, forcing them underground and keeping them vulnerable to traffickers.”

The news comes as Prime Minister RIshi Sunak is expected to tell a Council of Europe meeting in Iceland that policing human trafficking is “not working”.

“It is very clear that our current international system is not working, and our communities and the world’s most vulnerable people are paying the price,” Sunak said ahead of the trip “We need to do more to co-operate across borders and across jurisdictions to end illegal migration and stop the boats.”

But Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused the PM of “hypocrisy” and “trying to make it easier for trafficking gangs in the UK” with the Illegal Immigration Bill.

“If he really believes countries should tackle trafficking he should stop pushing through legislation at home which will make it even harder to prosecute traffickers,” Cooper said in a statement.

The Illegal Migration Bill currently being pushed through parliament seeks to “prevent and deter unlawful migration” but campaigners say it will ban support for victims of human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery.

Under the law, genuine victims of human trafficking who arrive in the UK on small boats won’t be allowed to enter the government’s framework for identifying victims of modern slavery and referring them for support, called the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). This means that a vulnerable person who arrives in the UK to seek asylum but is then trafficked into slavery will themselves be criminalised, rather than the traffickers. 

The helpline reported a 134 per cent rise in the number of cases of labour exploitation in sectors including hospitality, construction, farming and retail they received. 

A call to the helpline in 2021 led to the discovery of nine vulnerable Indian students who were being exploited in care homes in north Wales. They were found sleeping on mattresses in cramped and unsanitary conditions and were described as appearing to be always hungry.

More than 6,500 potential cases of of human trafficking were made to the helpline in 2022, a 116 per cent increase on the year before, but this is just “the tip of the iceberg”, with Unseen estimating that around 100,000 people in the UK are in modern slavery.

“It’s encouraging that more people are contacting us so that we can help them out of a life of misery,” said Carter, however, every call the charity receives is “one too many as slavery should not exist today.”

The helpline reported 479 cases of sexual exploitation, where people are forced into sex work, an increase of 66 per cent. 

Cases of domestic servitude, a form of forced labour where people working as cleaners, nannies, cooks or carers in private homes are unable to leave, rose by 75 per cent. 

In April The Big Issue reported on the case of Joanna – not her real name – who was brought to the UK as a domestic worker with a wealthy family from Dubai. She was forced to care for an elderly man for 12 hours a day, after which she was locked in a hotel room each night. 

“I didn’t think to run because I am honest. I had done nothing wrong, why should I run?” she told The Big Issue, “I have an employer, they should pay me.” But after weeks of forced labour in the UK she’d been paid just £20. 

She escaped after British police arrived at the hotel and advised her to run away. After a lengthy process, Joanna was identified as a victim of human trafficking by the government referral system.

Kalayaan, a charity supporting migrant domestic workers, is campaigning for a change to visa rules to make it easier for those from overseas to change employers. This would give them a legitimate escape route out of domestic servitude if their employer is being controlling, exploitative or abusive. 

Avril Sharp, who works on policy, campaigns and case work at Kalayaan, said that the rise in numbers of calls to the helpline aligns with the fact that the number of referrals to the NRM is currently the highest since it was established in 2009. 

“The NRM [is] nearing breaking point”, she told The Big Issue. 

“Kalayaan has been contacted by many survivors reporting difficulties in trying to access a referral to the NRM, and who have been advised by some to approach either the police or the helpline for further assistance.”

She argued that more organisations must be trained and allowed to refer potential victims of slavery to the NRM. 

“The government must acknowledge that the increase in numbers of survivors coming forward wanting to access advice, information and support means that there needs to be an increase in the numbers of trained and specialist non-statutory first responder organisations”, she said. 

[lost-carcosa]

Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland

Design shows intent to keep control of Faroe Islands and Greenland – which Trump says he would like the US to buy

The new design (right) features a large polar bear and ram, representing Greenland and the Faroes.

The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.

Less than a year since succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe, after she stood down on New Year’s Eve 2023, King Frederik has made a clear statement of intent to keep the autonomous Danish territory and former colony within the kingdom of Denmark.

For 500 years, previous Danish royal coats of arms have featured three crowns, the symbol of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which was led from Denmark between 1397 and 1523. They are also an important symbol of its neighbour Sweden.

But in the updated version, the crowns have been removed and replaced with a more prominent polar bear and ram than previously, to symbolise Greenland and the Faroe Islands respectively.

The move comes at a time of increased tension over Greenland and its relations with Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy.

Incoming US president Trump last month said again that he wants the US to buy Greenland, and the Greenlandic prime minister, Múte Egede, recently accused Denmark of genocide in response to investigations of the forced contraceptive scandal of the 1960s and 70s. In Egede’s own new year’s address he accelerated calls for Greenlandic independence and called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, was expected to visit Greenland on Tuesday, a local government official told Reuters, adding that it was a private visit and that he would be recording material for a podcast and would not meet with any local officials.

Trump Sr later confirmed the trip was taking place in a post on his Truth Social website, without mentioning a date. He added: “Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

The royal household said the coat of arms, which is used on official documents and seals and elements of which date back to the 12th century, “strengthens the prominence of the commonwealth”. The three crowns, it said, had been removed “as it is no longer relevant”.

The changes, it said, were made after a recommendation from a committee that was appointed straight after his accession on 14 January 2024.

Last week, in his first new year speech, the king said: “We are all united and each of us committed for the kingdom of Denmark. From the Danish minority in South Schleswig – which is even situated outside the kingdom – and all the way to Greenland. We belong together.”

Since 1819, the royal arms have been changed three times before now, in 1903, 1948 and 1972. But the latest changes have been met by shock in some quarters.

Ever since the peace treaty of Knäred in 1613, which ended the Kalmar war, Sweden was “forced to accept the Danish king’s rights to use the Swedish symbol of the three crowns, said Dick Harrison, a history professor at the Swedish University of Lund, making its removal from the Danish coat of arms now “a sensation”.

“The symbol survived the huge defeats in the wars against Sweden in the 1640s and the 1650s, the loss of Norway in 1814, the loss of Schleswig to Germany in 1864, the transition to modernity, the loss of Iceland and the German occupation in world war II,” he said. “Thus, from the point of view of history, the fact that King Frederik X has decided to remove the symbol is a sensation.”

But Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen, a historian at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said it sends clear signals about current geopolitics, especially amid Greenlandic calls for independence.

“When the Greenlanders, and in a sense also the Faroese, toy with the idea of achieving full independence, the royal house shows they support the state’s policy, which is to preserve the unity of the realm,” he told Berlingske.

Royal expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen believes the changes reflect the king’s personal interest in the Arctic, but also send a message to the world.

“It is important to signal from the Danish side that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Danish realm, and that this is not up for discussion. This is how you mark it,” he told TV2.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

So ... Ze just posted on his Insta story this picture

"MEETING CEREMONY WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF ICELAND, BJARNI BENEDICTSON AND COMMENTS TO THE MEDIA."

But when you click the link for the livestream ... you get not the livestream. But this. 😅

I guess Kyrylo is going to be a terrifying T-Rex for Halloween. 😂👍

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Gareth Southgate

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

GARETH SOUTHGATE

It has often been said that being the England men’s football manager is ‘the impossible job’ given the levels of expectation that come with the role.

The England men’s team have only won a solitary international tournament – the 1966 FIFA World Cup staged on home soil, with that legendary 4-2 win in the final at Wembley against arch rivals West Germany a rare triumph.

Since then, ‘It’s coming home!’ is a regular theme for England teams who reach the latter stages of tournaments, the groundswell of expectation giving way to despair and heartache when defeat ultimately occurs.

While the influence of the mainstream media may have waned in recent years from the lamentable era when managers such as Graham Taylor had his head super-imposed on a turnip, the pressure still weighs heavy on whoever takes the job.

Big name coaches such as Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello came and went without lifting trophies, the success of the Premier League adding undue hope that this time, things will be different.

After England’s disappointing exit at the hands of Iceland at EURO 2016 and the short-lived tenure of Sam Allardyce after a scandal, what England needed was a safe pair of hands, someone to give the pride back to the Three Lions.

Former international Gareth Southgate, a quiet and under-stated former international defender, was promoted to coach the senior men’s team after a spell in charge of the England under-21 team.

Seen at the time as an underwhelming appointment, especially after his young charges finished bottom of their group in the 2015 European Championship, Southgate inherited a national team who appeared to need dynamic re-invention.

Perhaps his greatest achievement has been to make the team a success without the swashbuckling pizazz that many demanded.

Seen as a light touch, particularly given some of his reactions in-game, Southgate did far more to reinvigorate the men’s team than he is often given credit for.

Football management is a results game, and Southgate took England to the FIFA World Cup semi-final, which they lost against Croatia; before two Euro finals, losing first to Italy on penalties and then to Spain earlier this summer.

It’s important to note that Southgate won nine tournament knockout games during his tenure, as many as England had ever won in major men’s tournaments before his reign.

Some might argue that having worked with one of the more talented of England squads, he should have won a major trophy, but there was far more to his success than just winning games.

Southgate oversaw the England job during a turbulent period in England’s history, with the nation having to endure the drama of Brexit, five Prime Ministers, rising living costs and culture wars which stoked division among society.

That’s where Southgate’s strength lay, acting as a calming influence but also one who was not afraid to take a stand and do what he considered to be the right thing.

During his tenure, there was little to no scandal, such were the standards Southgate expected and secured from his charges.

But he was also brave enough to face down criticisms for the sake of social causes, encouraging his players to take the knee before games as a protest against racism, despite criticism from some of the fanbase, who had found themselves stoked up by populism.

It was fitting that the first game where this took place was an England match in Middlesbrough, where Southgate had played for many years, steadfast despite the mixed reaction from fans before the game.

He was not afraid, either, to address issues such as the rainbow captain’s armband when the decision was made not to wear it under threat of sanctions in Qatar, a conservative state where the FIFA 2022 World Cup took place.

Southgate explained: “I think we are supportive of the LGBT+ community. A large number of the team on the staff have either relatives or friends from that community, so it’s a relationship and a situation that we’re very conscious of.

“We have tried to be supportive, but I also accept that members of that community felt let down by the World Cup, but I think you have to live your life as you see it.

“I do know that we’re in a position where there might be a feeling we haven’t done enough in certain situations and if that’s the case we have to accept that criticism, but it’s not intentional that we would let down any of our fans, but these are all very complex situations that we’re trying to do our best at navigate.”

Qatar was a rare case of Southgate being caught in external political crossfire, but within the camp, he was a master of creating harmony.

Mindful of the factions that had hampered England before, during and after his player career, Southgate had also set about creating unity where there had previously been division, removing ego and selfishness for the selflessness which came naturally to him.

Players reported a good atmosphere during training camps and call-ups, the pressure of representing England being replaced by a calm environment in Southgate’s image, which allowed players to thrive.

That ability to manage egos, to meld players who spent the majority of their lives competing against each other, is one of his greatest legacies. It helped that he brought through players from different clubs who had played together at youth level for England, the bonds of camaraderie already established.

For example, Phil Foden, Marc Guéhi, Conor Gallagher and Jadon Sancho were all part of the England side that lifted the under-17 World Cup in 2017, while Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer played in the winning England under-21 Euros team in 2023. Having come up through the England ranks together, these footballers had an existing relationship that made them likely to form better bonds in the senior team, despite spending most of the year with their different clubs.

When three black England players, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bakayo Saka, received racist abuse online after missing penalties which contributed to England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy, something Southgate experienced himself in 1996, the coach was a reassuring figure looking to protect the youngsters from the bellowing external criticism.

He said: "For some of them to be abused is unforgivable really. It's just not what we stand for. We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody and so that togetherness has to continue.

"We have shown the power our country has when it does come together and has that energy and positivity together.”

The decency and kindness which Southgate exhibited so often has been such an contrast to the aggression and petulance many other coaches show on the sidelines.

It felt like a bond had been built between England players and fans that hadn’t existed for a generation.

Even when ‘fans’ were throwing plastic beer glasses onto the field after a dour 1-1 draw against Denmark, Southgate retained his dignity and humility and faced down his critics, proving that decency is something to invoke inspiration; a strength, not a weakness.

There were criticisms, based around his tactical approach, that he was often too cautious and lacked a clear style of play.

But instead of being seen as the kiss of death, England became adept at winning penalty shootouts, not to mention the progress he made at the business end of tournaments.

Regardless of his failure to lift that elusive trophy, Southgate made the England men’s team contenders again. Where fans often crowed with misplaced pride, he gave them something to be proud of – not only becoming a football force again, but as ambassadors for the English game.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Southgate’s last act as England manager was to publish a letter on the Football Association website confirming that the defeat in Berlin was his last in the role.

“As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England. It has meant everything to me, and I have given it my all.

“We have the best fans in the world, and their support has meant the world to me. I’m an England fan and I always will be.

“I look forward to watching and celebrating as the players go on to create more special memories and to connect and inspire the nation as we know they can.

“Thank you, England – for everything.”

As Rory Smith says in the New York Times: “No other England manager has spoken as much or as convincingly as Southgate. No other England manager has so successfully articulated a sense of what the England team is meant to be about, what it stands for and why it matters.”

[allthegeopolitics]

Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman and investor, has won Iceland’s presidential election, topping a crowded field of candidates in which the top three finishers were women, the country’s national broadcast service reports. Tomasdottir, 55, was elected to the largely ceremonial post with 34.3 percent of the vote, defeating former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, with 25.2 percent, and Halla Hrund Logadottir, with 15.5 percent, RUV said on Sunday (Jun 2).

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[tomorrowusa]

Remember how Trump often whined about NATO members allegedly not paying enough for their own defense? Under President Joe Biden, over 70% of NATO members have reached their defense spending targets – a high for this century.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that 23 of its 32 member states were expected to meet the alliance's defense spending commitments this year. That is 13 countries more compared to last year's data, and five more than an earlier estimate in February. "This is good for Europe and good for America," Stoltenberg said in a speech unveiling the newest numbers in Washington, "especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States."

One of the NATO members is Iceland which technically has no military. But the stats don't include Sweden, a strong investor in defense, which just joined this year.

And as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reminded us above, a lot of that European defense spending benefits US industries.

Speaking to DW, Davis Ellison, a strategic analyst from the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, said that the collective recognition of NATO targets is especially noticeable when examining how much defense spending is now dedicated to new equipment. "In the past, you had a lot of focus on personnel costs, which ranges everything from pension to health care and everything else," Ellison explained. "But now you have a much greater collective investment in equipment, which is more to meet NATO targets than anything else." The security expert pointed out that this extra spending compounded NATO's military might.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for liberal democracies. It's significant that four of the top six NATO countries for defense spending share a land border with Russia.

Trump's claim that our allies respected America more during his administration is a bizarre joke. In fact, they actually made fun of him behind his back. Remember this classic SNL sketch about a NATO summit in 2019?

The only international leaders who liked Trump were dictators who found him easy to manipulate.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia called Trump "creepy".

Malcolm Turnbull says Donald Trump's 'creepy' embrace of Vladimir Putin a threat to Australian security

NATO and other liberal democracies have become stronger since Trump's departure.