Reykjavík Grapevine - apr. 2022, Side 6

A short, sad story: Bob, an eager American
exchange student, is starting his Icelandic
adventure. On his way to school, he scrolls
through local news. A headline stands out:
“The police are looking for a man with a
headache.”
He thinks: “That could easily be me.” Could
he be a test subject escaped from a drug
study promising headache-free futures?
Has the police force been afflicted by a
department-wide bug, and is now forced
to roam the streets with blinding headaches
looking for this man?
Bob opens the article. The police are in
fact looking for someone, and while the
pictures don’t show him notably migraine-
less, Bob’s questions remain unanswered. He
already missed his bus stop, but the obses-
sion grows. He attempts to translate the
original headline manually. Lögreglan ' po-
lice. Good. Lögreglan l"sir e$ir manni me%… '
The police are looking for a man with… Great!
Kollvik'… kollvik? Bob’s eye twitches. Adding
insult to injury, google interrupts: ‘Uzbek
language has been detected’.
At this point Bob isn’t too convinced that
he isn’t this hunted man. Desperation drives
him out of the bus, and onto the streets
of Reykjavik. Wading through the crowds
of tourists, searching for a local to make
sense of this mess. Disheartened, he slumps
down on a bench next to an old woman. In
this case, the elderly’s inability to mind their
business serves him well, she sneaks a peek
at Bob’s screen and chuckles. “That’s funny,
I think they meant receding hairline”
There it is. Koll(ur) is another word for
head. The translator bots certainly had fun
with this one. A word of advice to all expats,
find an Icelandic friend, and save yourself
these headaches. AP
On the heels of a poll conducted in early
March that indicated public support
for Iceland joining the European Union
has grown, with the largest portion of
Icelanders now in favour of taking up
membership, the matter is receiving
somewhat contentious treatment in
Parliament.
RÚV reports that leadership for
the Social Democrats, the Pirate Party
and the Reform Party, are calling for a
national referendum on the subject of
Iceland joining the EU.
Our special position
Iceland, while not a part of the EU, is
part of the EEA and EFTA, but has had
a rocky relationship with the block.
Iceland first began accession talks in
2011, having applied in 2009, during
a time when the country was led by a
very pro-EU government.
The beginning of the end was in
2015, when under a new government,
then Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi
Sveinsson unilaterally decided to send
a letter to EU authorities announcing
that Iceland no longer wished to join
the EU.
As RÚV points out, however, the
application to join the EU was never
formally withdrawn, which has made
the matter an open question ever since.
So where do we actually
stand?
For her part, Prime Minister Katrín
Jakobsdóttir told reporters that she is
personally against Iceland joining the
EU, saying that there are more advan-
tages to being in the EEA and EFTA
than would be afforded by formally
joining the European Union. She added
that it would require a parliamentary
majority to re-activate the application
to join the EU.
Independence Party Chair and
Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson
has said that a referendum on joining
the EU would “complicate matters.”
Given the Prime Minister’s position,
as well as the decidedly anti-EU stance
of the other parties in the govern-
ment–the Independence Party and
the Progressive Party–such a majority
is highly unlikely, at least during this
parliamentary term.
ASK AN
Expert
Q: If the war in Ukraine
expands to involve
conflict with NATO,
how would Iceland be
expected to contribute
as a member state?
Words: John Pearson
Photo: Kristinn Ingvarsson
Iceland is well-known internationally
for being a state with no armed forces.
"There's no appetite for an Icelandic
army," says Baldur &órhallsson, Profes-
sor of Political Science at the University
of Iceland. "It's something that Ice-
landers tend to be very proud of. And
we wouldn't even know how to run an
army. It is much better and safer to rely
on the forces of our allies."
So—other than the obvious finan-
cial methods—how could Iceland
contribute to any NATO war effort?
The security zone at Keflavík Airport
is already used by member states
conducting airborne and marine re-
connaissance for the organisation,
and could be used as a transport and
logistics hub linking European opera-
tions to North America. "And you could
locate a temporary hospital here, for
soldiers or civilians, if you didn't want
to have it on the European continent,"
Baldur observes.
Given the fact that the internet in-
frastructures of nations are now likely
wartime targets, Icelandic digital se-
curity expertise could form part of
NATO's defences, Baldur suggests. And
medical, police and communications
functions, traditionally the core of
Icelandic international peacekeeping
missions, could also come into play.
"Iceland contributed to the policing
of Kabul airport," says Baldur, "and
is already sending people to work in
communications for NATO in the Baltic
states."
But what about the possibility of
fighting forces using Iceland as a
base? About this, Baldur is quite mat-
ter of fact.
"You don't want to be seen as the
weakest link. And if there is no perma-
nent military base in Iceland, you might
be seen by the enemy as the weakest
link. That might lead to a request, dur-
ing wartime—by the Icelandic gov-
ernment to NATO—for a permanent
military base here." °
Will We Or Won’t We Join The EU?
Public opinion is shiftin!. Will policy?
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Creative
Commons
First 6 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04— 2022
LOST IN GOOGLE TRANSLATION
A Real Head Scratcher
SMASHED BURGERS
AND NASHVILLE-STYLE
HOT CHICKEN IN
DOWNTOWN
REYKJAVÍK
HAFNARSTRÆTI
101 REYKJAVÍK