Iceland and the Long View

I was interested to read in today’s FT about Russia’s $4bn loan to Iceland.

“We have not received the kind of support that we were requesting from our friends,” said Geir Haarde, prime minister. “So in a situation like that one has to look for new friends.”

Iceland has always been strategically important given its location right in the middle of the north Atlantic and bridging the American and European tectonic plates.

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As the advance of global warming makes the North West (and North East) passages a reality, Iceland stands to become a hugely important staging post for cargo travelling between the Far-East and the markets of Europe and the American East coast.

This is a smart investment by Russia.

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