– NATO...Are Its Final Days Just Ahead

"Get out of NATO!"
Norden

"The Nordic NATO members should resign from the club. The main concern of the new NATO seems to be military action in remove countries, action designed primarily to promote the military interests of the USA," Steingrimur Sigufsson told the Nordic Council plenary assembly and the Nordic the prime ministers in Oslo on Tuesday.

"If Iceland, Denmark and Norway resigned from NATO, new opportunities would open up for protecting the security of the Region. The Nordic countries could agreed on neutrality, form a nuclear-weapon free zone, spark a new era in the development of Europe's defence and environment policy and serve as a model for the rest of the world," Sigufsson explained.

He also stressed that the Nordic countries have enjoyed, and still enjoy, a great deal of trust in the world.

"We can't just live off our good name and old statistics about equality and welfare for ever though, at least not if inequalities are allowed to continue to grow."

Sigufsson also reminded his audience that Nordic environmental policies are not unambiguously positive either, a comment directed at the Finnish nuclear power plants and Iceland's rather controversial policy for heavy industry.

"We should dare to think big. Let us define new ideals. We can draw up new environment and defence policies, set up joint response systems and create a joint system of development aid. Why not extend the Nordic Swan environmental label, which was ahead of its time, to cover global responsibility as well, so we develop solidarity in our work on globalization," he said.

More specifically, Sigufsson called for the establishment of a Nordic Environment Institute.

"A place where we can pool our strengths in the struggles against man-made climate change, with a particular eye on the north Nordic or Arctic regions and marine environments. Why not a climate campaign headed by the Nordic Region as a green region that invests in renewable energy such as solar power, wave power, wind power and biofuels?" he asked.