Iceland

Iceland is a European island country in the North Atlantic, with a population less than 300,000 and capital city of Reykjavik. Much of the country's heating comes from hot water that is pumped from the ground, the country being famous for its hot springs, geysers, and active volcanoes. It is not a member of the European Union.

Media
The BBC says of the country's media:


 * The Icelandic constitution guarantees press freedom. There is a wide range of publications, which includes privately-owned and party-affiliated newspapers.

Iceland/U.S. military relationship
The U.S. had soldiers in Iceland from the end of World War II until the last troops withdrew in September 2006. Iceland is a member of NATO but does not have a military itself. It has declared itself a nuclear-free zone.

Philip Morris' "Nordic Plan"
A 1987 Philip Morris strategy report for the Nordic area outlines PM's comprehensive corporate plan to attack the secondhand smoke issue in northern Europe. Aimed at reversing the declining social acceptability of smoking in the Nordic area, the plan includes crafting a "second opinion" about the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS, "building smokers' self-esteem," creating an "airline milieu" to use as a venue for offering their own information, putting on "healthy building seminars" using Gray Robertson's company, Air Conditioning and Ventilation Atlantic or ACVA Atlantic (which later became Healthy Buildings International, after Philip Morris took it over) and an extensive media plan aimed at assuring that PM's point of view stretched to reach virtually every citizen of northern Europe -- without anyone realizing the point of view emanated from PM. The entire document offers significant detail about PM's wide-ranging battle tactics to fight public health measures. Their plans even includes a diversionary "white-hat" proposal for currying favor among Nordic-area politicians while they clandestinely fight pro-health legislation: "Prepare plan for approaching other issues in society (AIDS, traffic, etc.), offering statistical material and helping them to get more funds for their projects."). One very telling line from the document is listed under "Tactics." It states, "4. Build IAQ [indoor air quality] industry and science without visible tobacco industry presence."

search_term=Iceland confidential

Leaders

 * Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President
 * Geir Haarde, Prime minister since June 2006, head of the conservative Independence Party

External resources
search_term=Iceland confidential

External articles

 * Richard Hollingham, "Iceland faces 'green' energy dilemma", BBC, March 21, 2007.
 * James Shaw, "Icelandic whalers await quota decision", BBC, April 25, 2007.

External resources

 * Iceland, National Geographic, accessed February 2008.
 * Timeline: Iceland, BBC, accessed February 2008.