Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO Secretary General, is in Iceland today. The visit the new NATO chief’s first official visit to an alliance member nation. Read the full story

Two Russian bomber aircraft flew over Icelandic airspace last Wednesday. According to the website of the Icelandic Department of Defense, the two Russian TU-95s, collectively called “The Bears”, flew from the Northeastern part of the country to the Southeastern part of the country between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The Russian TU-95s were about 50 nautical miles (92km) from the Icelandic coast. Read the full story

After weeks of speculation from the public and deflection from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark’s Prime Minister finally announced he was in fact interested in taking over the secretary-generalship of NATO. He was subsequently approved by all of the 28 member states at their conference in Strasbourg and Kehl late last week. Rasmussen will not likely return to Danish politics, even after his time at NATO ends.

Politiken reports that of the 28 nations in NATO, only Turkey had concerns about Rasmussen’s appointment to NATO’s top spot. This stems from the earlier controversy surrounding cartoons considered insulting by Muslims published in Danish newspapers. Behind-the-scenes lobbying and an apology from Rasmussen eventually secured Turkey’s approval. Read the full story

“This was not any sort of formal meeting. The British Prime Minister and I have not exactly been close,” says Ossur Skarphedinsson, who had a short meeting with Gordon Brown at last week’s NATO summit. The opportunity did not present itself to discuss the conclusions of the British parliamentary committee which has been investigating the collapse of the Icelandic banking sector. Read the full story

Barack Obama, the President of the USA, will be formally invited for an official state visit to Iceland at the first possible opportunity, Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said on RUV news yesterday. According to Skarphedinsson, the idea came from Obama himself. Read the full story

Amidst rampant speculation that Denmark’s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is leading the list of candidates to assume the job of NATO’s chief when it opens up in July, the PM insists that he’s not interested. At a press conference covered by the Bloomberg news agency, Rasmussen put an end to rumours that he was leaving his domestic role to pursue a career on the international stage.

“I’m not a candidate for any international top job and it’s my intention to remain prime minister of Denmark as long as voters allow me to,” he said at the press conference in Copenhagen. Read the full story

Finland’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is looking at ways to upgrade its existing missile defence system, from the present arsenal of Russian Gadflies to something more compatible with NATO systems. Finland has been using 16 Gadfly surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs) since 2006, when it negotiated a trade for the package from Russia.

Finland’s Gadfly system is now about halfway into its expected life cycle, so the MoD is considering switching to NATO-standard SAMs for the future. Read the full story

According to official sources speaking to Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence is preparing to significantly increase its troop numbers in Afghanistan in 2009. If things go as planned, Finland will essentially double its participation in the peacekeeping operation led by NATO’s ISAF force. Read the full story

For years Iceland’s Keflavik airbase was an important strategic outpost in the Cold War as American fighter jets and air force personal were based there to ward off any intrusion into North Atlantic airspace by hostile Soviet aircraft.

But when the US withdrew in 2006, it left Iceland defenceless, since the country has never developed a military of its own. In stepped the French, which explains the presence of their Mirage 2000 fighters currently seen at the base. While the Bush government had seen it as a superfluous Cold War relic, no sooner had they pulled out than Russian long range patrols began penetrating Iceland’s air space.

As a NATO member Iceland appealed to the Atlantic Alliance for protection, but an immediate United States return would have been seen as an embarrassment and strategic miscalculation, so four European countries were asked to jointly contribute on a rota system to help protect Iceland’s air sovereignty. These include France, Spain, Denmark, Poland – to be deployed in that order.

The order has been a low key one, hoping not to attract publicity and upset the delicate power balance struggle that continues between Moscow and Washington and which extends to the floor depths of the North Pole.

At present there are four fighter jets and limited personal from the French air force using the base and patrolling the airspace around Iceland.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb, made a statement on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), speaking out against the government of Burma and their actions during the crisis left in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

According to Stuff, the government’s refusal to grant access to relief workers and foreign aid deliveries designed to assist cyclone victims is akin to a crime against humanity.

Mr. Stubb spoke during the YLE’s Launtaiseura programme, and publically agreed with statements made by the French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert.

Mr. Stubb said that he did not believe that forcing the government to accept foreign aid through the deployment of military troops was an option. A NATO response force was not possible in this case, he said.

“I do not believe that is an option. That kind of mechanism does not exist at the moment and it should be discussed because if such a mechanism was adopted, people would die every time a country blocked aid,” Mr Stubb said.

Last Friday, Ripert told reporters that he spoke during a closed door session at the UN and told delegates: “we were moving slowly from a situation of not helping people in danger to a real risk of crimes against humanity, and we cannot accept that.”

Ripert said that he appealed to the United Nations “to finally react strongly, very strongly” to the military regime in power in Burma. The country’s generals have accepted relief but refused all help from foreign disaster management experts or experienced disaster teams to help distribute the aid or bring help to the disaster victims.

Because of lack of access to the area, no one is sure exactly how many people have lost their lives as a direct result of the cyclone; however the Burmese regime claims 78,000 are dead. The real number could be much higher, over 200,000 in some estimates.