Red October

Lots of news lately, with lots of people getting hurt. Iceland's financial woes are even making news here in fly-over-land. Now the Russians are expressing an interest as well. Altruistic generosity? Think about these things (which the Bush Administration obviously has not):

• Recent discoveries suggest a potential "North Sea" sized oil reserve off-shore from Iceland's North Coast.
  
• Russia has become a major player in the world's oil markets, supplying the far East and Europe.
  
• A large Russian base/oil port in the North Atlantic would insure that shipments to Europe and even Canada would not be subject to pipeline disruptions.
  
• The US base in Iceland was closed two years ago, the US military is currently over-extended with most of its budget going to the occupation of Iraq.
  
• The Russians (and Soviets before them) have always taken an interest in Iceland.
  
• The prestige coming from a successful "partnership" could be used by Russia to pressure other small countries to join in the Russian circle.

With the advent of "Uncle Vladimir's" sudden interest in Iceland's welfare, the possibility of deeper ulterior causes for the crisis is always a possibility. The abandonment of Iceland by the U.S. government over the last few years has reached an inevitable tipping point. The lack of interest in and support of the USA's traditional allies may well end up being the worst blunder (of many) by the Bush Administration.