Iceland Forced To Seek Russian Capital Injection- (4 BILLION Euro Loan!)

Financial Times ^ | 10-07-08 | Tom Braithwaite in Reykjavik and Catherine Belton in Moscow

[tcrlaf]

Iceland expressed disappointment that western allies had failed to provide support to help ease the country’s financial crisis, forcing it to turn to Russia for a €4bn loan.

[tcrlaf]

Icelands bank are on the hook for $25 times more than Iceland's entire national GDP, and the EU Central Bank won't help them!

[BGHater]

Oh, they will help them alright. But, they are waiting for them to crash.

It’s better for the EU to work with Iceland when the addict has no other options.

[Malesherbes]

Iceland was our NATO ally all during the Cold War, providing a strategic base in the north Atlantic. Now, for all practical purposes, it belongs to Russia.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

This can’t be! Iceland is an environmentalist’s dream with geothermal and tidal alternate energy sources. Where have they been spending their money, hmmmmmmmm?

[Truth29]

The price to the EU and US could be high. It is reported in The Spectator that Russia wants landing and limited repair.refueling rights at Keflavik which was the former US/NATO air base. That could well be a prelude to a Russian base in Iceland. He who has the gold makes the rules...

[laconic]

They’ve been spending their money on huge, expensive SUVs and off-road vehicles. The problem is that it was borrowed money and it was often borrowed from foreign sources in a currency mix of Swiss francs and Japanese yen. The Icelandic krona has fallen more than half in value against the euro in the past six months; hate to think what these people owe in yen and Swissfrancs - its at least double what they thought they owed.

[Murder Incorporated]

“Iceland expressed disappointment that western allies had failed to provide support to help ease the country’s financial crisis, forcing it to turn to Russia for a €4bn loan.”

We're spending $850b bailing out all banks foreign and domestic and throwing around money like there is no tomorrow, and we couldn't spare an extra $6b to save Iceland from Putin?

January can't get here soon enough.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Iceland isn’t a member of the EU. Seems they figured they would be financially better off by not having to share their fishing waters with the EU, as happens under the common fisheries policy for member states. Sounds like that is coming back to bite them on the arse....

[RipSawyer]

This can’t be! Iceland is an environmentalist’s dream with geothermal and tidal alternate energy sources.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You forgot to mention some of the hottest women on the planet!

[Wallace T.]

Iceland is an important key to control of the North Atlantic. During World War II, we occupied the island a year before Pearl Harbor to prevent a German takeover. Our bases in Iceland were a major factor in our successful struggle to maintain control of the seas during the Cold War. We could intercept Soviet submarines leaving their Arctic ports.

While we are deeply involved in southwest Asian wars and our recent financial difficulties, Russia is reconnecting with old and new friends in Latin America and attempting to woo Iceland over to their side. We had better keep better track in our deteriorating position in the Western Hemisphere.

[VU4G10]

Iceland is paying the price for an economic boom of recent years that saw its newly affluent companies go on an acquisition spree across Europe and its banking sector grow to dwarf the rest of the economy. Bank assets are nine times annual gross domestic product of 14 billion euros ($19 billion).

[wolf78]

We're spending $850b bailing out all banks foreign and domestic and throwing around money like there is no tomorrow, and we couldn't spare an extra $6b to save Iceland from Putin?

Population of Iceland: 300,000
Population of the U.S: 300,000,000

If the US were in the same deep sh*t that Iceland is right now, the bailout package wouldn't be 700,000,000,000, it would be 6,000,000,000,000. Yeah baby, that's 6 trillion.

Just for perspective.

[VOA]

This can’t be! Iceland is an environmentalist’s dream with geothermal
and tidal alternate energy sources. Where have they been
spending their money, hmmmmmmmm?

Boy howdy, that's all you ever see on The Discovery Channel when
they're building natural energy power plants.
Or Bear Grylls is showing how to boil a dead goat's eyeball in
thermal springs using a boot-string.

On MSM news, we're always reminded how Iceland is home to just
about the most literate population on the planet.

FOX News Channel needs to do a documentary as Iceland was a long-term
ally to the USA:
"Who Lost Iceland?"

(as was done when mainland China went Communist..."Who Lost China?"
was a popular blame game back then)

[patton]

Well, the thingvellir is home to america - the continent is/was born there.

and from the thingveller west, iceland is in america (on the american continent).

and, the first republic on the american continent was founded - on the thingvellir.

so, yeah, we have some tings in common.

we are both broke.

[TruthConquers]

Actually, we might be just as broke as Iceland is. No one knows how big the CDS “House of Cards” really is. But I have seen estimates of at least 5 trillion. And estimates usually under guess these sort of things. And that does not include foreign banks, credit card debt, car loan debt, companies needing short term loans and FDIC coverage of banks. You get the idea.

Just for perspective.

[Daryl L.Hunter]

If the U.S. government takes an ownership position in banks could legislation be passed to mandate the government sell its ownership position upon recovery of bank solvency and banking’s ability to repay the governments capitalization?

The government screws up everything and banking is too important to gamble with.