6th July, 2009
A diplomatic row erupted between the two nations after Landsbanki, the parent bank of Icesave, failed last October affecting 300,000 British savers.
Archive for the ‘Battle for Europe’ Category
UK freezing of Landsbanki assets ‘as damaging to Iceland as Treaty of Versailles’
Posted by seumasach on July 7, 2009
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: Icesave, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Wonders at the credit terms for the Icesave deal
Posted by seumasach on July 4, 2009
29th June, 2009
Wonders at the credit terms for the Icesave deal. The EU has granted countries in recessions loans in recent years at lower interests.
Elvira Mendez, specialist in European Law at the University of Iceland, wonders at the rates offered in the deal that was made with Britain and Holland because of the Icesave commitments. This was reported in the news on the National Radio.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, Icesave, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Iceland Protests Continue
Posted by seumasach on July 3, 2009
27th June, 2009
It is estamated that 300 people are gathered in Austurvöllur to protest the Icesave deal. The protests were orginized by the Voices Of the People. In a statement it says that in addition they are protesting the governments indifference in matters concerning homes and businesses and demanded that they start trying the white collar criminals immediatly.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: Hörður Torfason., Revolution in Iceland, Voices Of the People | Leave a Comment »
Europe’s future with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Posted by seumasach on July 2, 2009
Christopher King
29th June, 2009
Christopher King argues that global economic reality calls for Britain and the rest of Europe to disentangle themselves from the politically dysfunctional and economically disadvantageous relationship with the United States and look east to the emerging economic powerhouses of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: Britain into Europe-Europe out of NATO, SCO | Leave a Comment »
An interview with Eva Joly
Posted by seumasach on June 13, 2009
12th June, 2009
Two days ago, Eva Joly, the Norwegian-French magistrate hired to advise the Icelandic government on the current [colossal] investigation into the bank collapse, threatened to pull out of the investigation unless two very clear conditions were met. One, that the State Prosecutor step down, as he is unfit on familial grounds [his son is an executive in one of the holding companies affiliated with the banks]. Two, that the Office of the Special Investigator into the bank collapse be substantially strengthened and that the number of prosecutors be increased from one to three. Yesterday the Icelandic nation held its breath while it waited for the government’s response to those stipulations. Yesterday evening it was announced that there was agreement in parliament that the government would do everything in its power to ensure that Mme Joly gets the facilities she needs to continue her work. As the nation let out a collective sigh of relief, Eva Joly kindly agreed to sit down with us for a chat.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, Eva Joly, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Mandelson Praises Euro
Posted by seumasach on June 12, 2009
As we predicted at the time, the return of Mandelson has reopened the question of joining the Euro. Recent events tend to confirm that Mandelson has influential backing within the British elite: his coming out on the euro seems to indicate, therefore, a deep division within them. We could posit that Mandelson represents a “realist” element, who recognise the game is up for the pound. It will be interesting to look for the reaction to this statement.
12th June, 2009
Lord Mandelson has reopened the divisive issue of joining the single currency.
The Business Secretary described it as an “important objective” for Britain during a trip to Berlin, hailing the euro as “a great success”.
Posted in Battle for Europe, Financial crisis | Tagged: End of empire, euro, Financial crisis, join the euro! | Leave a Comment »
Latvia’s currency crisis fears spread
Posted by smeddum on June 8, 2009
Latvia’s currency crisis fears spread
June 6, 2009
Worries are intensifying that Latvia’s financial crisis will spread to its Baltic Sea neighbors and to Eastern Europe, economists say. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Battle for Europe, Financial crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Icelanders need to be told the magnitude of their economic problem
Posted by smeddum on May 12, 2009
Make Iceland Pay for Incompetent British Bank Deregulation!
Gordon Brown Spills the Beans on the IMF Counterpunch
>By MICHAEL HUDSON May 11, 2009
Last month the G-20 authorized the International Monetary Fund to increase its loan resources to $1 trillion. It’s not hard to see why. Weakening currencies in the post-Soviet states threaten to raise default rates on foreign-currency mortgages as collapse of the Baltic real estate bubble drags down Swedish banks, while the Hungarian property plunge threatens Austrian banks. It seems reasonable to infer that creditor-nation banks hope to be bailed out. The IMF is expected to lend the Baltic, central European and other debtor-country governments money to pay them. These hapless debtor economies are then to follow IMF “conditionalities” to squeeze enough money out of their populations to pay foreign creditors – and repay the Fund by imposing yet more onerous taxes on their labor and industry, making them even more high-cost and therefore pushing them even further into trade and credit dependency. This is why there have been so many riots recently in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine, as was the case for so many decades throughout the Latin American countries that introduced the term “IMF riot” to the global vocabulary. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Battle for Europe, Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: bankrupt iceland, Defend Iceland!, iceland and IMF, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Perhaps somebody should send Gordon Brown back to school
Posted by seumasach on May 9, 2009
Alda
8th May, 2009
Old Gordon Brown appears not to have all his cups in the cupboard, as the Germans would say. During question time in the British parliament last Wednesday he claimed that Britain was in the process of negotiating with the International Monetary Fund and other institutions on how to collect from Icelandic authorities the money they owe as a result of the collapse of Iceland’s banks.
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
Referendum on EU likely in Iceland
Posted by smeddum on May 5, 2009
Iceland Turns Left and Edges Toward EU
As news comes in from Iceland, it tends to confirm the direction towards a EU referendum. While the citizen’s movement that emerged from the protests in Reykjavík last winter; stresses that those protests had nothing to do with the EU but the collapse of the Icelandic bank sector and lack of actions from the authorities. Sheltering behind the Euro would be good for Iceland’s economy but the fear is that control of the fishing industry would go to Brussels.
While, in particular Europe is against whaling, there is the possibility of a transitional relationship.
By Leigh Phillips
Businessweek April 27, 2009,
Icelandic voters punished the centre-right party that had governed the country for most of the last 18 years and dominated it for generations, delivering a clear majority in a snap general election to the centre-left Social Democrats and far-left and ecologist Left Green Movement. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Revolution in Iceland | Tagged: European Union, Iceland Bankrupt, Iceland into Europe, Revolution in Iceland | Leave a Comment »
France in revolt
Posted by smeddum on May 1, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
An Irishwoman’s Diary
Irish Times
For the first time since the second World War, France’s eight trade unions are uniting for the May Day marches. Above, medical staff protesting against hospital reforms this week.
Lara Marlowe
IT WAS ONE of those eerie moments when an intimation of what could happen hovers over, as when animals feel tremors before an earthquake. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Battle for Europe | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 