Ogmundur Jonasson urges Icelanders to reject military expansion

In a column published by mbl.is, Ögmundur Jónasson argues that people should focus on the human consequences of war and resist the expansion of military activity.

He says people often begin by looking at global leaders such as Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Mark Carney and Ursula von der Leyen, before turning much later to Icelandic leaders and ordinary people. But starting with ordinary people, he writes, can reveal what war means for those affected by it.

Jónasson points to an account in the newspaper by two crew members of the Samskip vessel Jökulfell. In 1991, the ship answered a NATO call to transport weapons to the Persian Gulf as war was breaking out. He describes the voyage as extremely dangerous, with deep effects on the crew and their families.

The account, he writes, was powerful because it avoided exaggeration and showed the threat war poses to people, even those who are not in the trenches. He contrasts that experience with leaders who boast that they are ready to fight to the last person, while not intending to die themselves or, preferably, to send their own people to die.

Jónasson refers to recent agreements between Iceland and the United States that he says give the US greater freedom to operate in Iceland than before. He also says Germany wants room for military activity in the country. Comparable agreements have been made across the Nordic countries, he writes, which now host around 40 new US military bases. He says the Nordic countries have joined 52 states hosting US forces for what is described as “defence.”

He asks why the world is becoming less safe for ordinary people. The column also alleges that descendants of Danish slave traders handed the United States control over Greenland, security matters, decisions about resources and the right to determine international agreements this week.

Jónasson says NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte appears pleased with Trump, whom he has called “Daddy,” while von der Leyen embraces Carney. He notes that Carney proposed at a gathering of wealthy people in Davos early this year that the EU and Canada join forces on the second-highest level of the world’s power pyramid, below Trump, Xi and Putin.

Jónasson concludes by calling on people at the bottom of that pyramid to say that enough is enough of the “aggression of resource thieves and arms dealers” and to rise from their knees.