In Iceland's Defence

Loading player...
Iceland is an island of great beauty and even greater strategic importance. Its position in the Greenland Iceland UK Gap, the gateway between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, makes it crucial to Nato operations in the High North.

But Iceland is one of the few nations in the world with no military of its own. A country of approximately 400,000 people, its security relies on the umbrella of protection it derives from being a founding member of NATO, a bilateral agreement with the United States signed in 1951 and a highly skilled coast guard and police force. In a climate of fracturing political alliances, is entrusting national defence so heavily on the guarantees of allies a sustainable strategy? Sandra Kanthal travelled to Reykjavik to find out.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.
20 Apr 8PM English United Kingdom Education

Other recent episodes

Mika Obanda: Mosaic art

Mika Obanda creates vibrant mosaics using egg shells in his Kenyan studio. He gets the eggshells from local hotels and paints them after cleaning and shaping them. Last summer Frenny Jowi visited him as he prepared his latest collection, Trying to Blossom, for an exhibition. But then disaster struck -…
10 May 8PM 29 min

Searching for Soldier Dad: Ep 1. Love story

Why don’t I have a father? Cathy is 10 years old when she starts asking questions. The secret her mum Maggie is forced to reveal changes everything. Years later, when lawyers and a geneticist turn up in their hometown in Kenya to take DNA samples, Maggie hopes they can help…
9 May 8PM 38 min

A 93 year old president gets a deputy

At 93, Paul Biya is the oldest head of state in the world. In June he will have been the leader of Cameroon for 44 years and is currently serving his eighth consecutive term. It was announced in April that for the first time in Biya's leadership, the position of…
9 May 8AM 26 min

Sir David Attenborough

As Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday, we bring together conservationists and film-makers to discuss the impact of his long career, and the influence he has had on how we think about nature. We hear how his tv programmes and books have reached audiences around the world and the…
8 May 8PM 26 min

Befriending the man who killed my family

Thirty years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, some convicted perpetrators are returning to the communities they once devastated. Felin Gakwaya travels to eastern Rwanda to meet both survivors and perpetrators living side by side again. He hears from Daniel Gasangwa, who went to visit the men who…
7 May 8PM 30 min