Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.08.2014, Side 10

10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2014
;OL<UP]LYZP[`VM0JLSHUK:[\KLU[)HY The Student Cellar
cheap food, brunch, excellent bar,
coffee, cakes & entertainment
Z[\KLU[HRQHSSHYPUUPZ
MHJLIVVRJVT:[\KLU[HRQHSSHYPUU
6WLUL]LY`KH`MYVT 
L_JLW[;O\YZKH`HUK-YPKH`MYVT 
The University of Iceland
Bookstore
The University bookstore offers a wide
selection of books on Iceland, Icelandic
novels in many languages and various
University of Iceland products.
www.boksala.is
6WLU^LLRKH`ZMYVT  
University of Iceland
Sæmundargötu 4 - Reykjavík - tel: 570 0890
Meanwhile, two tourists
who were clearly more
concerned with Iceland
than the street pooper
risked their lives in
order to swerve around a sheep
that had jumped into the road. The jeep
flipped and rolled over. Thankfully, the
tourists suffered only minor injuries.
Speaking of tourism, an Iceland-
er hoping to sell group trips to
North Korea has pulled the plug on
the operation. “We had a complete
group, but when news stories about
concentration camps and starvation in
this otherwise fine country began to be
reported, people started to cancel,” he
told reporters.
In other news, Hallgrímskirkja
has been voted one of the
world’s strangest buildings. Hall-
grímskirkja is the largest church in
Iceland and according to the State
Architect Guðjón Samúelsson who de-
signed it, it is meant to resemble basalt
lava flows in Iceland’s landscape.
Perhaps weirder still is
the news that a group
of Icelanders are
aiming to have the
country brought un-
der the administration of the Nor-
wegian government as “Norway’s
20th county.” The group in question,
Fylkisflokkurin (“The County Party”)
purports in their mission statement
that they aim for “the re-unification
of Iceland and Norway,” wherein “the
Norwegian government would consti-
tutionally protect and promote Icelan-
dic culture while Icelanders would en-
joy all the same rights as Norwegians.”
Lastly, on a happy note, Crossfit athlete
Annie Mist Þórisdóttir and found-
er of deCODE genetics Kári Ste-
fánsson have had a great few weeks.
Annie finished second overall in
the 2014 CrossFit Games despite a
back injury, which threatened to keep
her from competing, and Kári was
recognised by the Alzheimer’s As-
sociation for his work in research-
ing the genetic aspects of the disease.
Congratulations to them both!
— Continued —
NEWS IN BRIEF
LATE JULY
Opinion | Politics
When I returned home later that eve-
ning, I did some online investigation.
Wasn’t Barber nominated for this vital
position last year? Why is it taking so
long for him to be confirmed by the
U.S. Senate? Is this delay simply the re-
sult of bureaucratic inefficiency, or are
lawmakers within the Senate playing
partisan games and using America’s
relationship with Iceland as a means
of scoring political points and gaining
political leverage? Regardless of the
exact reasons for Barber’s protracted
confirmation process, American poli-
cymakers should, from this point on,
prioritise their nation’s invaluable
partnership with Iceland and vote
swiftly to restore the U.S. Embassy in
Reykjavík to full working order.
Barber’s Long, Bumpy
Road From Nomination
To Confirmation
President Obama formally announced
Robert Barber’s nomination for U.S.
Ambassador to Iceland on October 29,
2013. His selection for the position ini-
tially drew criticism from Republicans
because Barber, who has never been
to Iceland, was a prolific fundraiser
for Barack Obama during his 2012 re-
election campaign (he raked in a hefty
total of 2.9 million USD for the incum-
bent president). Outside of his political
activities, though, Barber is an accom-
plished attorney with degrees from
Harvard and Boston University who
works as a managing partner at a Cam-
bridge law firm. Barber is clearly a po-
litical appointee with little experience
in foreign affairs, but his prodigious
law career and fundraising prowess
suggest that he is a capable profes-
sional and leader with the potential to
make a significant, positive impact on
U.S./Icelandic relations.
At the same time Barber was cho-
sen for the top diplomatic post in Ice-
land, President Obama also named
his controversial selections for vacant
ambassadorships in Hungary and
Norway: television producer Col-
leen Bradley Bell and CEO of Chart-
well Hotels George Tsunis. Both Bell
and Tsunis made national headlines
in the U.S. when they bungled their
confirmation hearing before the Sen-
ate Foreign Relations Committee.
Bell struggled, and ultimately failed,
to name a single commercial interest
the U.S. has in Hungary, while Tsunis
made a series of humiliating gaffes,
claiming that Norway has a president
(Norway is a constitutional monarchy)
and mistakenly characterising mem-
bers of Norway’s majority coalition in
parliament as “fringe elements” who
“spew hatred.” Barber emerged from
the hearing relatively unscathed, but
the other appointees left not only the
members of the committee but also the
American public completely stunned
and underwhelmed, likely causing
considerable delays in all three nomi-
nees’ final confirmations.
The Politics Of
Postponement
Prolonging the approval of ambas-
sadors, especially those who are not
career diplomats, is not an unusual oc-
currence. In fact, it is a long-standing
tradition within American politics.
Both Republicans and Democrats have
stalled confirmation votes in the past
not only to curry favour with their
parties’ bases but also to enact politi-
cal retribution. Just recently, the Sen-
ate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry
Reid, took to the Senate floor to address
this issue, heaping his Republican col-
leagues with scorn, accusing them of
jeopardizing America’s economic and
national security
interests abroad by
leaving “gaping
holes” in the coun-
try’s diplomatic
“frontlines.”
In his speech,
Reid noted that
thirty ambassadorial
nominees are cur-
rently awaiting final
authorization by the
Senate, including
critical posts in Viet-
nam, Bosnia, and over a quarter of all
African nations. He went on to accuse
Republicans of blocking these crucial
votes as “payback for rule changes in-
stituted by the Senate."
Petty squabbles and partisan poli-
ticking aside, the need for a permanent
representative of the United States in
Iceland is becoming more and more
apparent, as the two nations are close
partners in business, trade, and the
battle against climate change.
In The Meantime…
The absence of the U.S. Ambassador to
Iceland certainly reveals the sad state
of American politics, but the embassy
staff in Reykjavík continue to faithfully
execute its duties, undeterred. Until
Barber is confirmed, Chargé dé Affaires
Paul O’ Friel has assumed administra-
tive command of America’s diplomatic
mission in Iceland, as procedure within
the U.S. Department of State dictates.
All embassy functions have continued
as scheduled, and Iceland and the U.S.
remain strong allies who willingly col-
laborate on economic and social mat-
ters pertinent to both nations.
However, American politicians’
stubborn refusal to approve the nation’s
backlog of ambassadorial nominees
continues to send a tacit message of
indifference to the rest of the world, an
unfortunate situation that will hopeful-
ly be resolved soon. If you are an Ameri-
can living in Iceland, there is something
you can do to help: send a letter to your
senator back home, imploring him or
her to bring Barber’s confirmation up
for a vote. Tell them America’s long-
standing relation-
ship with Iceland
is not a political
bargaining chip:
Iceland is an es-
teemed partner
and ally in com-
merce, world af-
fairs and the fight
for human rights
that should be
respected, not ig-
nored.
Elliott is currently earning an M.A. in
English literature at the University of
Iceland.
I recently attended the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavík’s an-
nual American Independence Day celebration, a lively
event with great music, a delicious American-style buffet,
a host of accomplished people and an abundance of patri-
otic spirit. As I scanned the mingling crowd, I recognised
several highly-distinguished Icelandic guests, including
former president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and newly-elect-
ed Reykjavík mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson. However, as
the evening wore on, I realised that one important Amer-
ican figure was noticeably absent from all the festivities:
Robert Barber, President Obama’s nominee to replace
Luis Arreaga as U.S. Ambassador to Iceland.
Where’s Robert Barber?
The confounding case of the missing U.S. Ambassador to Iceland
Words by Elliott Brandsma
“Bell struggled, and
ultimately failed, to
name a single commer-
cial interest the U.S.
has in Hungary, while
Tsunis made a series
of humiliating gaffes,
claiming that Norway
has a president…”