Rubio in Iceland: No US Designs on the Island, and Shared Arctic Worries

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure NATO ally Iceland that the Trump administration has no designs on the island — and at the same time that Washington shares Iceland's deep concerns about Arctic security — as tensions between the United States and Russia rise in the high north and elsewhere, PBS NewsHour reports.

The two halves of that message do different work. One is a denial of appetite. The other is an offer of common cause, made because the Arctic is the kind of place where an ally's worries now need answering out loud.