Word: icelander
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Yarmouth-Thor collision-there were no casualties-was the latest incident in the increasingly nasty "cod war" between Great Britain and Iceland (TIME, Dec. 29). What started out as a semicomical high seas skirmish over Iceland's unilateral claim last October to a 200-mile territorial fishing limit, has become a tense crisis for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Two weeks ago, Iceland broke diplomatic relations with Great Britain...
Unless the fishing-rights dispute is resolved, Iceland might withdraw from NATO and rip up bilateral agreements with Washington that allow the U.S. to maintain a naval airbase at Keflavik. The base is a key NATO installation; its facilities include long-range aircraft, radar, ICBM warning and tracking systems and ELINT (electronic intelligence) units. U.S. surveillance aircraft fly from Keflavik to monitor Soviet surface and submarine traffic in the North Atlantic...
...mile fishing limit causing the trouble stems from Iceland's attempts to save a key segment of its economy. The tiny island country (pop. 219,000) wants more control over fishing rights in its coastal areas to maintain fish stocks, especially cod. Sales of cod account for fully 40% of Iceland's exports, but this vital crop could vanish in a few years, Icelanders claim, unless drastic conservation measures are taken. Even British officials concede that cod stocks are dwindling, but argue that the situation is not so perilous as Iceland says...
...costly. But many scientists feel that cheaper technologies may soon become available. Then the treaty could fall apart as old claims are revived and there is a rush to divide Antarctica's spoils. "If that happens," says one pessimistic U.S. official, "it could make the fishing wars off Iceland look as innocent as a schoolyard scuffle...
...Iceland feels that there is little room for negotiation. "The natural resources at stake here do not mean anything to the British economy as a whole," said Icelandic Foreign Minister Einar Agustsson. "But they are Iceland's only natural resources and therefore not only important but a matter of life and death for us Icelanders. Without fish we haven't even a chance of survival." Tiny Iceland, moreover, believes that it has one potent weapon in its not-so-funny war with London. If Britain refuses to give in, it may well close NATO'S surveillance station...