Every Icelander I've met have been Good People. They don't deserve this.
Hope the Nordic Council steps in rather than the IMF.
As Helen also noted, without the money to purchase oil to fuel their fishing fleet Iceland is in a heap of trouble. Norway is in the position to help with that.
I'm sure the Norwegians could at least keep their fishing boat operating :-) - but there is more to Iceland than fishing boats, and I'm sure the Norwegian oil/power industry has its eyes on opportunities in Iceland:
Energy in Iceland
Iceland is the only country in Western Europe that still has large resources of competitively priced hydroelectric power and geothermal energy remaining to be harnessed. Although electricity consumption per capita in Iceland is second to none in the world, only a fraction of the country's energy potential has been tapped. Iceland is therefore the only country in Western Europe that still has large sources of competitively priced hydroelectric power and geothermal energy remaining to be harnessed.
I'm not worried about the people of Iceland - they will survive...the resilience of this people will take them through this, and they will laugh and tell 'sagas' about the madness of it all to their grandchildren.
As for a possible 'union' with Norway, I expect Iceland would see that as preferable to joining the EU :-)
If it comes down to a XOR choice between the EU and Norway I expect the decision will be Norway. There is an obvious 'match' between the Islandic and Norwegian fishing lobbies, tho' may not a progressive match :-). Either way the prospect of the Islander's fishing grounds coming under control of the Japanese zaibatsu¹, say, fills me with horror. It's one of the few fishing grounds that hasn't been totally hosed by modern "Resource Management" (scream.)
Love the sögur, BTW. Just finished reading Morkinsknna last week.
¹ Something on the order of them buying up the Trondelag for its agricultural export potential
Icelanders, being Icelanders, are having a huge argument about the ecological impact (a BIG deal in Iceland, given their natural history) as well as the economy trade offs.
OK I tell a lie - when the sun is shining it is acceptable, and since the weather changes every 10 minutes, there are moments each day when Iceland feels nice. But otherwise I'd rather be in Bognor. You can't be me, I'm taken
AH h'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
An expat Brit in Finland complaining about someone else's weather.
What's deeply wrong with this picture?
:-)
Bloomberg: Iceland Seeks Loan From Russia, Pegs Krona, Takes Over Bank (October 7)
Prime Minister Geir Haarde said at a press conference he was ``disappointed'' that ``we have not received the kind of support we requested from our friends.'' He declined to name countries Iceland may have approached for a loan, adding that the nation ``will absolutely not default on its foreign debt.''
"We have throughout this year asked many of our friends for swap agreements and for other forms of support in these extraordinary circumstances," Mr Haarde said. "We have not received the kind of support that we were requesting from our friends. So in a situation like that one has to look for new friends."
