Iceland review - 2016, Page 20

18 ICELAND REVIEW
THE BIG STORY OF OCTOBER WAS THE PARLIAMENTARY
ELECTION AND EVENTS LEADING UP TO IT, COVERED
ON PAGE 80. ASIDE FROM THE ELECTION, THE PAST TWO
MONTHS HAVE SEEN EARTHQUAKES, ARCHAEOLOGICAL
FINDS, INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITIES, A POWER LINE
STRUGGLE, SPORTING SUCCESS AND THE
ANNIVERSARY OF A SUMMIT.
In October, the Höfði Reykjavík Peace Center was opened
in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Reykjavík
Summit. The center will be a forum for international coop-
eration to encourage peace in the world.
October 11-12, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan and
Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Höfði House,
halfway between their two superpowers, to discuss arms
control. According to a member of Reagan’s negotiating
team, Ken Adelman, who spoke at the Höfði Reykjavík
Peace Center opening reception, more was accomplished
during ten and a half hours of negotiations at Höfði House
than there had been during seven and a half years of nego-
tiations in Geneva.
Although the meeting produced no signed agreement,
it is generally credited with having paved the way for the
1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. It
required the two superpowers to eliminate their nuclear
and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise mis-
siles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km, unofficially marking
the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
BY VALA HAFSTAÐ.
News Roundup
PHOTO BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
P
H
O
TO
B
Y
P
Á
LL
S
TE
FÁ
N
S
S
O
N
.
ON THE BALL
The Icelandic national football teams have
continued to do well.
In mid-September, the women’s team
qualified for the UEFA Women’s EURO
2017. This is the third time in a row
that the team qualifies for the European
Championship.
Meanwhile, the men’s team is currently
playing in the qualifying round for the 2018
World Cup. Their three games have result-
ed in a draw with Ukraine and victories
against Finland and Turkey, placing ‘Our
Boys’ with Croatia at the top of their group.
GOOSE HUNTERS DIG UP VIKING
September was the month when goose
hunters turned archaeologists. On a riv-
erbank in South Iceland, they stumbled
upon a sword dating back to the Viking
Age. Archaeologists were sent to the scene
to start digging, but not until a second
set of goose hunters arrived on October 2
were human bones discovered, likely of the
sword’s owner. A valid ID was nowhere to
be found, so his identity remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, a major archeological find in
East Iceland in September suggested the
country may have been inhabited by Nordic
settlers as early as the year 800, or 74 years
earlier than its official settlement date. Now
we’ll have to revise our history books.

THIRTY
YEARS SINCE
REYKJAVÍK
SUMMIT