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US Senators visited the Norwegian Arctic archipelago
Eight US senators and their staff visited the Norwegian Arctic archipelago Svalbard last weekend. This is reported by Svalbardposten, among others.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski led the delegation, which was invited by UiT, the Arctic University of Norway.
"We are here with a bipartisan message about the importance of our allies, and Norway is obviously one of them. The challenges in the Arctic are enormous, the Arctic is an enormous region, and the United States cannot solve everything alone. It is important that we can work together with our allies to solve the challenges we have in the Arctic," Shaheen tells the newspaper.
According to Svalbardposten, the agenda included a presentation of Arctic climate research, as well as visits to Isfjord Radio and UNIS - the university centre in Svalbard.
"When we see the Arctic warming and new dangers emerging in the Arctic, it is very important for us to get a better understanding of what those challenges are and to ensure that we have a bipartisan understanding of what the United States can do," says Shaheen.
More Icelanders see USA as adversary than ally
According to a new survey, a majority of Icelanders describe the US as an adversary and not an ally, writes RÙV.
40% of respondents say they would describe the country as an adversary, 32% as an ally and 28% take no position or do not want to answer.
The younger people are, the more likely they are to regard the USA as an adversary. People living in the capital area are also more likely to see the USA this way than those in rural areas. Lower-income groups are slightly more likely than higher-income groups to regard the United States as an adversary, while higher earners are more likely to regard it as an ally.
Russian aircrafts operating off of Alaska
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked Russian aircrafts operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone on February 19, the command informs in a press release.
The Russian aircrafts were two Tu-95s, two Su-35s, and one A-50.
NORAD launched two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3, and four KC-135s to intercept, positively identify, and escort the aircraft until they departed the Alaskan ADIZ.
"The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaskan ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat," NORAD states in the press release.