Except the Russian loan did not or at least has not yet happened. Iceland has gotten money from Norway and the IMF and I believe that they're talking to Sweden.

The deal was never actually announced, only that the two countries were discussing it. I can think of many reasons for Putin to decide the deal wasn't worth it. Iceland's finances were likely worse than he was led to believe, he's spent several tens of billions recently propping up his own economy, and it was a Naval _Air_ base whereas a naval _ship_ base would be much better for him, but he'd have to spend serious cash to build it.

BTW I'm not claiming that the Russian economy is about to tank or any such. He has still spent much more propping it up than was ever discussed for Iceland.

Hello Richard,

Nebulous describes it. We're only seeing the smoke.

Russia and the US should be in alliance.