The Week Ahead: First among many

The venue Iceland chose to reveal the direction of its Arctic Council chairmanship says just as much as the topics it will prioritize.

The Arctic Council has never made much use of the Arctic Circle, a big annual conference held in Reykjavík, Iceland, each October: It was not present the first year, and during ensuing sessions it has mostly stuck to the sidelines. Senior Arctic Officials, the diplomats and senior civil servants representing Arctic states on the council, don’t make a point of attending. One insider describes the two as “frenemies, but not good ones.”