Quote:
Originally Posted by GP_Matt
What is the deal with that? How does a country have no army and get others to take care of them?
I read a bit and it said Iceland was considered important against the Soviets so NATO stepped in then. Does Iceland pay NATO for the protection/services or is defense just seen as not important to them?
Iceland is a partner in NATO so if there is a NATO led mission somewhere do they contribute at all or just hang back?
Not trying to sound rude, just curious. Although I do think Canada should flex some muscle and land 20 soldiers in Iceland for an occupation.  |
Well as you say we are strategically located, mind you since the cold war ended much less so. NATO considers us a must hold area, so yeah they pay for this and not the Icelanders, in fact it was often popular to protest the American base here in Iceland before it closed.
When you only have 300,000 people, you don't have an army, it would be near impossible to afford even a bare bones force. The best we could do is a swiss type situation, but Iceland has little need for that with so many powerful allies nearby.