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| UK freezing of Landsbanki assets 'as damaging to Iceland as Treaty of Versailles' | ||
| Author: Rowena Mason - The Daily Telegraph | ||
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| Morally repugnant - Britain and Netherlands bully little Iceland | ||
| Author: Arsaell Valfells - Forbes | ||
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| Brown's Icelandic blame game | ||
| Author: Eiríkur Bergmann - guardian.co.uk | ||
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Gordon Brown's government has repeatedly blamed Iceland for its own financial failures. It's time to set the record straight |
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| British MPs Receive Letter from Iceland | ||
| Author: Iceland Review | ||
| 14/05/2009 | 15:00 “The UK Government became an active participant rather than a passive observer in the unfolding financial turbulence in Iceland with potentially unforeseen consequences,” as stated on the website of Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. |
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| Gordon Brown Spills the Beans on the IMF | ||
| Author: Michael Hudson - counterpunch.org | ||
| May 11, 2009 "When Icesave went broke in October, British monetary authorities panicked. Mr. Brown sought above all to prevent its owner, Landsbanki, from doing what Lehman Brothers had just done on Sept. 14 when its New York office emptied out the funds in the account of its London affiliate just before the U.S. firm declared bankruptcy. [... ] Evidently he thought that classifying his peaceful NATO partner as a terrorist economy would panic its government into paying. But the effect was to cause a run on Iceland’s currency, making payment impossible. The króna entered a period of freefall on foreign exchange markets. " "Mr. Brown’s statement [on May 6] that he intends to use IMF leverage to deepen Iceland’s debt position by forcing its government to bail out British depositors has rubbed salt in this wound – precisely by demanding for his country what Icelanders are not receiving from their government!" |
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| Icelandic investments to be returned | ||
| Author: Gemma Ilston - policeprofessional.com | ||
| 23 Apr 2009 Police authorities that invested in Icelandic banks that collapsed could get almost all their money back, it has been revealed this week. Administrators for Heritable Bank and the UK arm of Landsbanki, Ernst and Young, have released a report which suggests investors could receive up to 80 per cent of invested funds back. “The failure of a British-regulated bank is something that would have been unthinkable 12 months ago. Even the local government watchdog, the Audit Commission, had money invested with Heritable." |
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| MPs blame 'impotent' FSA over Icelandic banks | ||
| Author: Rowena Mason - The Daily Telegraph | ||
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"The committee, chaired by Labour MP John McFall, also singles out the Treasury for criticism in its use of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Securities Act – an inappropriate "blunt instrument" – to freeze the UK assets of Landsbanki, which had the effect of souring diplomatic relations betewen the UK and Iceland. " |
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| Iceland protest in London at 'terrorist' tag | ||
| Author: Isle of Man Today | ||
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"Austin Mitchell MP, chairman of the British-Icelandic All- Party Parliamentary Group, said: 'I welcome this petition. Government was too quick to act against Iceland when we should have helped them.'" |
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| MP receives petition from Icelanders | ||
| Author: fishupdate.com | ||
| 23 March 2009 "The outspoken Labour MP earlier accused the Government of 'big power bullying '. 'Perhaps HMG wanted to look tough. But it could be a plot to force Iceland into full membership of the EU despite the Common Fisheries policy which gives equal access to a common resource so that imposing it on Iceland would ruin their basic industry. As it has ours.' He added: 'We need the fish to keep the market and the factories going. Iceland needs the revenue to help it out of its troubles.'" |
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| MP backs Icelanders' petition | ||
| Author: Grimsby Telegraph | ||
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AN Icelandic petition criticising the UK's handling of the banking crisis has been presented to Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell. Signed by a quarter of Iceland's 319,756 population, the petition slams the Government's use of anti-terror legislation to confiscate assets in Icelandic banks. |
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| Icelandic demonstrators protest British actions at the start of financial crisis | ||
| Author: APTN - 3News, New Zealand | ||
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Icelandic demonstrators marched on the British parliament on Tuesday in a new protest against the way London acted against Reykjavic at the start of the banking crisis last autumn. |
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| Icelanders take asset freeze protest to London | ||
| Author: Raphael G. Satter - AP/Taiwan News | ||
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A group of Icelanders pleaded with U.K. lawmakers in London on Tuesday to unfreeze the assets of the Nordic nation's banks, saying Britain had been wrong to use anti-terror laws to freeze them last year. Submitting a petition backed by about 80,000 Icelanders _ about a quarter of the tiny island country's population _ the delegation of Icelandic activists insisted: "We are not terrorists." |
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| Icelanders take asset freeze protest to London | ||
| Author: AP/International Herald Tribune | ||
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A group of Icelanders pleaded with U.K. lawmakers in London on Tuesday to unfreeze the assets of the Nordic nation's banks, saying Britain had been wrong to use anti-terror laws to freeze them last year. |
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| ESBA calls on the British and Icelandic Governments to consider how their actions damage small businesses | ||
| Author: ESBA - European Small Business Alliance, Brussels | ||
| 9 February 2009 "Only two days after the Landsbanki Freezing Order, two of the largest credit companies in the World, Euler Hermses and Atradium closed all credit facilities to Icelandic companies involved in import and export, regardless of any prior trading history or creditworthiness." |
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| Iceland hits back at UK jibes | ||
| Author: BBC News | ||
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The Icelandic president has hit back at Scottish critics who used the collapse of its banking-based economy to promote an anti-independence stance. |
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| Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander sues Britain over UK subsidiary | ||
| Author: Michael Herman - The Times | ||
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Kaupthing is suing the Government over its handling of the stricken Icelandic bank's UK subsidiary in a legal action bankrolled by the Icelandic Government. |
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| Iceland considers taking Britain to European Court of Human Rights | ||
| Author: Mark Macdonald - labourhome.org | ||
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The problem with some laws is not what is said on the statute book but how they are applied. Over recent years, we have seen many occasions where the police and the CPS, by their practice, have stretched the laws far beyond that which Parliament had intended. I wonder when Parliamentarians were debating the anti-terrorism legislation they ever foresaw the possibility of being taken to court by Iceland! [From discussions in Comments:] "It was intended that freezing orders could be used in respect of a range of activities, but there is no doubt that what was envisaged was terrorism or a crime with a link to terrorism. This is clear from the answer we gave when the LibDems proposed an amendement limiting the powers to terrorism. [...] As far as I can see in the Landsbanki case there is no suggestion of terrorism or crime - whether linked to terrorism or not. " |
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| Iceland may take UK to European court over freezing of bank assets | ||
| Author: Hélène Mulholland - Guardian | ||
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Reykjavik hopes court of human rights will award damages after Gordon Brown froze Icelandic banks' assets |
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| Iceland to sue the UK over anti-terror legislation | ||
| Author: Rowena Mason - The Daily Telegraph | ||
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Iceland has decided to sue the British Government through the European Court of Human Rights for using “wrongful and unjustified” anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the assets of collapsed bank Landsbanki. |
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| Iceland's Kaupthing to sue UK over bank action | ||
| Author: Valur Gunnarsson - Associated Press | ||
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| Iceland to hold UK store stakes | ||
| Author: Tom Braithwaite, Alex Barker and Anousha Sakoui - Financial Times | ||
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An Icelandic government official told the Financial Times that legislation pushed through the Reykjavik parliament just before Christmas allowing the minister of finance either to pay for or to assist someone in taking the UK government to court was “a pretty clear statement from the parliamentarians that the country and its companies have been unfairly treated”. |
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| How Iceland Collapsed | ||
| Author: Andy Jordan - The Wall Street Journal | ||
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WSJ's Andy Jordan examines how Iceland's economic miracle came to an abrupt end and explains why the world should care about the collapse of the small country's financial system. |
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| The Isle That Rattled the World | ||
| Author: Charles Forelle - The Wall Street Journal | ||
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"Early Wednesday morning, Kaupthing's chairman was working with his bankers to try to sell some UK assets, when bad tidings flashed across his TV screen: British authorities, worried about the solvency of Kaupthing's U.K. subsidiary, had seized its assets and transferred them to the Dutch bank ING. The seizure would trigger a cascade of defaults for Kaupthing, blows it simply couldn't survive." |
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| Iceland scowls at UK after crisis | ||
| Author: Ray Furlong - BBC News | ||
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"A decision on whether to go to court is expected by early January, focusing on action by the British authorities to put the UK operations of the bank's subsidiary, Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander (KSF), into administration." |
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| Iceland: frozen assets | ||
| Author: AA Gill - The Sunday Times | ||
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Six months ago, Iceland was one of the world’s richest nations. Now it’s bankrupt. AA Gill visits the first victim of the economic ice age "... The act that tipped the last Icelandic bank off the edge of the cliff was delivered by Gordon Brown, who froze Icelandic assets in the UK using our new, gleaming anti-terrorist legislation. The Icelanders mind that — they’re hurt by that. You see, they always imagined they were one of us, not one of them. But Gordon needed to do something cheap to look competent, so he beat up a smaller kid. Not just a bit of a slap, but a vicious kicking. Showing off to impress the girls. He would never have started it if the banks had been German or French, or even from Liechtenstein. " |
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| Indonesia, Iceland and the IMF | ||
| Author: Dr. Terry Lacey - The Palestine Chronicle | ||
| Dec/10/2008 "The nub of the Icelandic case is that increased political popularity for the British Labour Government accrued from strong-arm tactics during the British-Icelandic ´banking war`, should not have included using anti-terrorist legislation against an ally. The UK then used seized funds, sophisticated EU financial engineering and superior bargaining power to reduce UK liabilities and ensure the Icelandic taxpayer would pick up as much of the tab as possible. " |
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| Don't allow terrorists to win | ||
| Author: Hugh Cortazzi - The Japan Times | ||
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"When Icelandic banks got into difficulties and the safety of the deposits of British citizens in these banks seemed in jeopardy, the government froze the assets of these banks under antiterrorist legislation even though there was never any suggestion that Iceland or its banks posed any threat to British security." |
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| In Iceland: Dinner Over a Crisis | ||
| Author: Andy Jordan - Wall Street Journal | ||
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German and Dutch delegations come to Iceland to retrieve money frozen in failed banks and end up breaking bread over a traditional Icelandic dinner. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports. |
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| An MP's job is to uncover information for the public good | ||
| Author: Charlotte Leslie - Guardian | ||
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"... it is a protest that a few more Britons might be taking notice of after the extraordinary arrest of Damian Green on Thursday night." |
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| UK's role in the economic collapse of Iceland on PACE agenda | ||
| Author: The Financial, Georgia | ||
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Iceland’s parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has opened a current affairs debate by suggesting that “a Council of Europe member state, the United Kingdom, was instrumental in bringing down the economy of another member state – Iceland.” |
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| Iceland Abandoned - Brown's actions helped to worsen the island's financial crisis. | ||
| Author: Hannes H. Gissurarson - The Wall Street Journal | ||
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"Prime Minister Brown also talked darkly of last-minute bank transfers from England to Iceland. Whether that is true or false remains to be seen. But interestingly, the last-minute transfer of $8 billion from Lehman Brothers in England to America in September did not land the U.S. Treasury or the Federal Reserve on the British list of terrorist organizations." |
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| Britain, like Iceland, in big trouble | ||
| Author: Hugo Dixon and Edward Hadas - Herald Tribune | ||
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"Put simply, Britain has an air of Iceland about it. The tiny island state was brought down when foreigners lost trust in the government's ability to bail out a banking system with massive foreign currency debt at a time when the country was also running a huge trade deficit. After foreigners refused to finance its banks, they went bust and the currency sank like a lead balloon." |
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| Letter from Iceland | ||
| Author: Robert Jackson - Financial Times Weekend Reportage | ||
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"There you see the Iceland of today – the victim of an economic 9/11 and one of the very few places in the world where the words “financial meltdown” can be used without fear of exaggeration." |
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| Iceland's next saga: The wounded tiger's tale | ||
| Author: Matthew Hart - The Globe and Mail, Canada | ||
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However Iceland plays its cards, its hand is a bad one. Perhaps its best hope lies in its sense of itself as a people united by a history of survival and a cherished culture. |
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| How likely is a sterling crisis or: is London really Reykjavik-on-Thames? | ||
| Author: Willem Buiter - Financial Times | ||
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With the pound sterling dropping like a stone against most other currencies and credit default swap rates on long-term UK sovereign debt beginning to edge up, this is a good time to revisit a suggestion I made earlier on a number of occasions (e.g. here, here and here), that there is a non-trivial risk of the UK becoming the next Iceland. The risk of a triple crisis - a banking crisis, a currency crisis and a sovereign debt default crisis - is always there for countries that are afflicted with the inconsistent quartet identified by Anne Sibert and myself in our work on Iceland: (1) a small country with (2) a large internationally exposed banking sector, (3) a currency that is not a global reserve currency and (4) limited fiscal capacity. |
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| The first casualty of the crisis: Iceland | ||
| Author: Jon Danielsson - VOX | ||
| 12 November 2008 Iceland’s banking system is ruined. GDP is down 65% in euro terms. Many companies face bankruptcy; others think of moving abroad. A third of the population is considering emigration. The British and Dutch governments demand compensation, amounting to over 100% of Icelandic GDP, for their citizens who held high-interest deposits in local branches of Icelandic banks. Europe’s leaders urgently need to take step to prevent similar things from happening to small nations with big banking sectors. |
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| Don't isolate Iceland | ||
| Author: Eirikur Bergmann - Guardian | ||
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The UK is blocking Iceland's application to the IMF, but why won't it let the the European court of justice settle the dispute? Rumors have been floating around that the British government is manoeuvering behind closed diplomatic doors in an effort to stonewall Iceland's application to the IMF – until the Icesave dispute has been resolved. |
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| Dutch and British block IMF loan to Iceland | ||
| Author: Cees Banning in Rotterdam and Jan Gerritsen - NRC International, Netherlands | ||
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Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos and his British colleague Alistair Darling are blocking a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Iceland until it agrees to pay back citizens the money they deposited with the bankrupt Icelandic bank Icesave. |
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| Iceland turns to European Commission for funds | ||
| Author: Jan Strupczewski - Reuters | ||
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Crisis-hit Iceland has formally asked the European Commission for financial help, but support from the EU executive would be small and is conditional on sorting out deposit guarantees between Iceland and EU members. "This can only be done after Iceland and some EU members reach an agreement on bilateral issues related to the deposit guarantee schemes and protection of depositors," Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told a regular news briefing. |
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| Stunned Icelanders Struggle After Economy's Fall | ||
| Author: Sarah Lyall - New York Times | ||
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The collapse came so fast it seemed unreal, impossible. One woman here compared it to being hit by a train. Another said she felt as if she were watching it through a window. Another said, “It feels like you’ve been put in a prison, and you don’t know what you did wrong.” |
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| Brown admits Kaupthing funds may be irretrievable | ||
| Author: Adrian Darbyshire - Isle of Man Today | ||
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CHIEF Minister Tony Brown has admitted for the first time that it may not be possible to recover the Kaupthing millions frozen in the UK. He suggested [ ... ] that the Isle of Man could seek compensation for the depositors as it was the UK Government's actions that contributed to the collapse of Kaupthing's Isle of Man subsidiary. Mr Brown said the use of anti-terrorism legislation by the UK had made it 'very difficult to find out what's going on'. When KSF (UK) was put into administration, the high court judge Mr Justice Floyd ordered that the court file be not made available for public inspection. |
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| Iceland to Britain: 'We're No Terrorists' | ||
| Author: Jonas Moody - TIME Magazine | ||
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Iceland, thrown into deep economic crisis by the worldwide credit crunch, has to expect charges that it has been imprudent and even profligate. But does the tiny North Atlantic country belong on a list of terrorist entities? The government, along with its population of 300,000, emphatically thinks not, and now a spirited national counteroffensive has been launched against the British government after it invoked a 2001 antiterrorism act to freeze an Icelandic bank's assets in Britain. |
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| Icelanders Blame UK For Cash Woes | ||
| Author: Sky News | ||
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Many Icelanders are blaming Britain over the debt-ridden nation's mounting economic woes, according to reports. |
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| An Iceland Mired in Debt Blames Britain for Worsening Its Financial Troubles | ||
| Author: Sarah Lyall - NY Times | ||
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No one disputes that Iceland’s economic troubles are largely the country’s own fault. But there may be more to the story, at least in the view of Iceland’s government, its citizens and even some outsiders. As grave as their situation already was, they say, Britain — their old friend, NATO ally and trading partner — made it immeasurably worse. |
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| London, Iceland says, made its crisis worse | ||
| Author: Sarah Lyall - Herald Tribune | ||
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| Gordon Brown 'was told about Iceland's banking crisis six months ago' | ||
| Author: Ian Drury - Daily Mail | ||
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The Prime Minister was warned that Iceland's banks had serious problems in April - six months before they crashed, it was claimed last night. [...] But they chose not to alert British savers, companies and public bodies, including local councils, police forces and charities, which continued to pour money into the teetering banks. Opposition MPs last night called for an investigation into exactly what the British Government knew. |
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| Iceland hires Lovells as legal showdown looms | ||
| Author: Michael Herman - Times | ||
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A legal showdown between the Icelandic Government and HM Treasury looked likely today as it emerged that senior officials in Reykjavik have hired one of London’s top law firms. |
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| Payouts to savers would cripple Icelandic economy, says Geir Haarde | ||
| Author: Bronwen Maddox - Times | ||
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The Icelandic economy would be crippled if the country had to pay British savers in its stricken banks the full amount that Britain claims is due, the country’s Prime Minister said yesterday. |
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| Britain has devastated our economy, Iceland complains | ||
| Author: Nigel Morris and Martin Hickman | ||
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An Icelandic minister launched an extraordinary diplomatic attack on the British Government as she issued a direct plea to MPs to help rebuild shattered relations between the two countries. In a letter seen by The Independent, the Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir condemned Britain's use of anti-terror laws to freeze the assets of Iceland's crisis-hit banks and protested that the language used by British ministers had caused "devastation" in her country. |
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| Iceland trawler owners in 'shock phase' | ||
| Author: fishupdate.com, UK | ||
| 29 October, 2008 ICELAND'S trawler owners, who supply more than half of Britain's white fish, have told Fishupdate.com in an exclusive interview that they have been in a shock phase following the recent banking crisis. 'We have been going through difficulties in Iceland because of the freezing order on all transfers of all payments the British government issued on October 8. Icelanders are shocked, sad and angry that the British Government used their Terrorist Act to force this order. We have been working on a solution and some payments are now starting to come through, but this has caused severe difficulties to the Icelandic fishing companies. Some money was getting through, but other payments had been 'lost' in transit.' |
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| Iceland Says Darling Knew of Bank Guarantee Before Seizing Bank | ||
| Author: Niklas Magnusson and Gonzalo Vina - Bloomberg | ||
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Iceland's government released a letter suggesting the British finance minister received assurances about deposits in Reykjavik-based banks days before he froze accounts, stepping up tensions over the incident. |
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| Why raising interest rates won't work | ||
| Author: Jon Danielsson - BBC News | ||
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The first industrialised country to request assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in over 30 years is Iceland. "Given the damaging role of high interest rates in events leading up to the crisis, it is very unfortunate that the IMF has insisted on a high interest policy ." |
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| Geysirgate - The mystery letter - Did Chancellor Alistair Darling read this letter? | ||
| Author: Financial Times | ||
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A copy of this correspondence is currently doing the rounds in the Iceland. If genuine, it goes some way to substantiating the Icelandic claim that they had delivered a firm promise to protect UK deposits in Landsbanki’s Icesave accounts. |
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| Long-term consequences may be ruinous for Iceland | ||
| Author: Thráinn Eggertsson - Financial Times | ||
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"The burden is unrealistic. The most likely consequences are: extremely high inflation, economic decline, mass emigration and political disorder. I am reminded of the situation facing Germany in 1919 following the Versailles Peace Treaty, which John Maynard Keynes famously analysed in Economic Consequences of the Peace." |
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| 'Terrorist status' leaves desperate Iceland out in the cold | ||
| Author: Robert Jackson - The Sunday Business Post, Dublin | ||
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With its currency effectively frozen, its stock market collapsed, inflation ballooning and a rescue package of €1.6 billion agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it would seem this island of 300,000 inhabitants had enough to contend with already. |
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| Financial crisis: Alistair Darling suspected Icelandic banks were in trouble weeks before collapse | ||
| Author: Ben Leach - Telegraph | ||
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The Chancellor Alistair Darling suspected that Icelandic banks were in trouble weeks before their collapse, new documents show. |
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| Horrified Darling knew Icelandic banks were in trouble, secret tape reveals | ||
| Author: Brendan Carlin - Daily Mail | ||
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Alistair Darling was alerted to the possibility of a meltdown of Icelandic banks 'weeks' before they collapsed, taking billions of pounds of British savers' cash invested in them. |
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| Who's to blame for the Icelandic banking mess? | ||
| Author: James Daley - The Independent | ||
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"If, however, the British Government's actions – which included the use of anti-terrorist legislation to seize the Icelandic banks' assets– were part of the problem, then we must certainly bear the responsibility to compensate these people." |
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| Icelandic anger at UK terror move | ||
| Author: BBC News | ||
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Thousands of Icelanders are sending a message to Gordon Brown that they are not terrorists after the UK used terror laws to freeze their assets. |
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| Icelanders hit back at Brown freezing bank's assets with 'We are not terrorists' campaign | ||
| Author: Niall Firth - Daily Mail | ||
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Now furious Icelanders who feel they have been branded terrorists are fighting back. |
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| Who are you calling terrorists, Mr Brown? | ||
| Author: Claire Soares - The Independent | ||
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After Britain used anti-terror laws to freeze Icelandic assets, the people of a proud island nation hit back... |
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| Alistair Darling: questions over Icelandic banks' compensation | ||
| Author: Jon Swaine - Telegraph | ||
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A claim by Alistair Darling that the Icelandic government had refused to compensate British savers in the country's banks has been challenged by phone transcripts. |
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| Chancellor accuses Iceland of misleading him over health of its financial sector | ||
| Author: Christine Seib - The Times | ||
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Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, accused Iceland's Trade Minister of misleading him about the health of the country's banks in a telephone conversation at the height of Iceland's financial crisis. But a transcript of the conversation, revealed last night on Iceland's state-owned television channel RUV, undermined Mr Darling's claim that Iceland had refused to honour its commitment to protect British savers. |
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| Did Mr. Darling play it straight? - The IceSave–Battle Timeline | ||
| Author: Gudni Elísson | ||
| 24 Oct 2008 Did Mr. Brown and Mr. Darling have grounds for assuming that the Icelandic government would not honour its agreements? The following timeline brings out the facts. |
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| Iceland - The Darling Tapes | ||
| Author: Gudni Elisson - Financial Times | ||
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Could the blow-up that transpired between the UK and Iceland over Kaupthing’s UK-based deposits have come down to a simple misunderstanding in a phone conversation between UK Chancellor Alistair Darling and Icelandic Finance Minister Árni Mathiesen? |
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| Transcript challenges Darling's claim over Iceland compensation | ||
| Author: David Ibison - Financial Times | ||
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A transcript of a conversation between the chancellor, Alistair Darling, and his Icelandic counterpart appears to question the British government's claim that Iceland had refused to compensate UK savers. |
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| Transcript challenges UK position on Iceland savings | ||
| Author: David Ibison & George Parker - Financial Times | ||
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At no point does the Icelandic finance minister state unequivocally that Iceland would not honour its obligations. Instead, Mr Mathiesen says that Iceland plans to use its compensation scheme to try to meet obligations to British depositors. |
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| The Darling - Mathiesen Conversation before Britain used the Terrorist law against Iceland | ||
| Author: Iceland Review | ||
| Icelandreview.com publishes a complete transcript of the October 7 phone conversation between Icelandic Minister of Finance Árni M. Mathiesen and UK Chancellor Alistair Darling. The day after this conversation Britain froze assets of Icelandic banks in Britain with reference to the so-called terrorist law. According to Icelandic newspaper Morgunbladid on October 9 this conversation is what sparked this act, according to sources in the British Chancellery. |
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| Terrorism laws can be abused to stifle dissent: UN rights expert | ||
| Author: AFP | ||
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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Britain's use of anti-terror laws to freeze the assets of failing Icelandic banks shows how such legislation can be abused for purposes other than originally intended, according to a UN independent expert. |
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| Former FSA head Howard Davies attacks Britain's response to Iceland | ||
| Author: Richard Spencer - Telegraph | ||
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Sir Howard Davies, the former head of the Financial Services Authority, has attacked the Britain's "beggar-thy-neighbour" behaviour towards Icelandic banks as he called for an overhaul of financial regulation. |
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| Kaupthing could bring legal action against UK 'within weeks' | ||
| Author: Alex Spence - Times Online | ||
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The Government could face legal action within weeks over its decision to put the UK arm of Kaupthing, the failed Icelandic bank, into administration. |
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| The Great Iceland Meltdown | ||
| Author: Thomas L. Friedman - NY Times | ||
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"So think about it: Some mortgage broker in Los Angeles gives subprime “liar loans” to people who have no credit ratings so they can buy homes in Southern California. Those flimsy mortgages get globalized through the global banking system and, when they go sour, they eventually prompt banks to stop lending, fearful that every other bank’s assets are toxic, too. The credit crunch hits Iceland, which went on its own binge. Meanwhile, the police department of Northumbria, England, had invested some of its extra cash in Iceland, and, now that those accounts are frozen, it may have to reduce street patrols this weekend. And therein lies the central truth of globalization today: We’re all connected and nobody is in charge." |
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| Xenophobia rears its head in government's treatment of Iceland | ||
| Author: Guðmundur Heiðar Frímansson - Scotsman | ||
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THERE has been vigorous discussion about the downfall of Iceland's Landsbankinn and of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, a subsidiary of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, regarding what went wrong and who is responsible. I do not want to condone the mistakes of the Icelandic banks, but it seems to me that the British media overlooks important facts and distinctions in this context, and some are important for Scottish banks. |
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| Gordon Brown Killed Iceland | ||
| Author: Arsaell Valfells - Forbes | ||
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"On Oct. 8, the U.K. government took action to freeze the assets of Icelandic companies, citing the U.K. Anti-Terror Law. Among them was Kaupthing, and its online banking operation, which was taken over in what looks like an act of revenge in the confusion created in the wake of the collapse of Landsbanki." |
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| The Ice Storm | ||
| Author: Gauti Kristmannsson - NY Times | ||
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ICELANDERS have woken up in a new novel by Franz Kafka, where everybody is guilty by default. One by one, the mighty banks have been seized by the government, and Icelanders, aghast, have been told that each and every one of us owes millions of dollars — to whom, we don’t know. |
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| Iceland: Britain's unlikely new enemy | ||
| Author: Ingibjörg Thordardottir - BBC News | ||
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Until a few days ago, Britain was admired and respected by the average Icelander. But the UK's moves to seize the assets of this isolated European state have provoked a backlash of feeling and escalating resentment. |
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| My Darling Brown | ||
| Author: Eiríkur Bergmann - Daily Mail | ||
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As most Icelanders I am a great fan of Britain, travel to London few times a year to visit our friends, watch English football regularly and follow English media every day from my home in Reykjavik. |
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| Forced into Russia's arms | ||
| Author: Eiríkur Bergmann - Guardian | ||
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The run on Kaupthing, prompted by Britain's PM and chancellor, has had far-reaching economic and geopolitical effects |
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| Iceland and the hazards of internet accounts | ||
| Author: Gylfi Zoega - Financial Times | ||
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"The people of Iceland should not have to suffer unnecessarily from the consequences of decisions made by the billionaire owners of the Landsbanki nor the rage of the British government." |
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| Frozen out | ||
| Author: Eiríkur Bergmann - Guardian | ||
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Britain's £100m loan to Landsbanki is pure self-interest. Mark my words, Icelanders will not soon forget or forgive recent threats |
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| Icelandic Meltdown: The Next World War? It Could Be Financial | ||
| Author: Peter Boone and Simon Johnson - Wasington Post | ||
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"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision last week to sue Iceland over this issue may escalate the crisis. The use of counterterrorist legislation to take over Icelandic bank assets and operations in the United Kingdom also has a potentially dramatic symbolic effect. Most of the time, financial war of this kind is painful and costly. It will lead to decades of lower international capital flows and could have other far-reaching effects on politics and global peace. Unless the leading industrial countries take concerted action, there's a very real danger that we will all suffer more. " |
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| The shocking errors of Iceland's meltdown | ||
| Author: Richard Portes - Financial Times | ||
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"Kaupthing still seemed viable. But last Tuesday, Mr Oddsson made public remarks that were interpreted to mean that Iceland would not meet its obligations to UK depositors. This was politics for home consumption. So was the UK's retaliation, with an ill-considered invocation of anti-terror laws to seize the UK assets not only of Landsbanki, but also of Kaupthing. Gordon Brown's highly aggressive statement was not his best moment of the financial crisis." |
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| Kicking Iceland while it's down | ||
| Author: Ben H Murray - Guardian | ||
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It's been a desperate week for the country – and now most of its citizens will blame Gordon Brown for making things worse |
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| Warning on use of anti-terror law to freeze bank assets | ||
| Author: Michael Peel - Financial Times | ||
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The use of anti-terror powers to freeze billions of pounds of Icelandic bank assets in Britain is a distortion of the law's intent and risks further gumming up the ailing financial system, legal experts warned yesterday. Financial crime lawyers said the government's un-precedented decision to apply the freezing order for purposes other than tackling terrorism opened the way to its use in other cases centred on commercial and political interests. |
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| Iceland blames UK for banking crash | ||
| Author: Stephanie Kennedy - ABC News, Australia | ||
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Iceland has accused the British Government of helping to bring down its troubled banking system after the United Kingdom used anti-terrorism legislation to freeze Icelandic assets in Britain. |
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| 'Nordic Tiger' Iceland Finds Itself in Meltdown | ||
| Author: Keith B. Richburg - The Washington Post | ||
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The bad news just keeps coming for Icelanders, who in the last week have seen the international financial empire that they built on this remote North Atlantic island start to crumble, piece by piece. On Thursday came the worst shock so far: The government seized the country's largest bank, completing the emergency takeover of virtually the entire financial system. |
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SCANDINAVIAN
| Islänningar protesterar i London | ||
| Author: Svenska YLE, Finland | ||
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Omkring en fjärdedel av Islands befolkning har skrivit på en petition mot Storbritanniens behandling av de isländska tillgångarna i landet. Petitionen överlämnades av en inofficiell isländsk delegation till det brittiska underhuset i London i dag. |
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| Norge skviset Island | ||
| Author: Thomas Vermes - ABC Nyheter, Norway | ||
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Den islandske staten ønsket å gå til retten for å fastslå at den ikke hadde ansvar for å dekke banktap. Norge og EU-land sa nei. Det får vanlige islendinger svi for økonomisk nå. |
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| Island fortsatt terrorister | ||
| Author: Thomas Vermes - ABC Nyheter, Norway | ||
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Regjeringen i Reykjavik gir opp å kvitte seg med terrorist-stempelet i Storbritannia. Men islendingene protesterer. "Tre måneder seinere er Island fortsatt i en desperat finansiell situasjon, og fortsatt underlagt britisk terrorlovgivning. Og slik skal situasjonen forbli i overskuelig framtid, viser en beslutning den islandske regjeringen gikk ut med rett før helga." |
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| Raseriet vokser på Island | ||
| Author: Thomas Vermes - ABC Nyheter, Norway | ||
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Politikere og bankspekulanter fikk sitt pass påskrevet da tusener av islendinger på ny demonstrerte i Reykjavik lørdag. |
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| Kaupthing saksøker Storbritannia | ||
| Author: Sindre Heyerdahl - E24, Norway | ||
| 06.01.09 06:59 Kaupthing Bank, som er satt under den islandske statens administrasjon, saksøker nå Storbritannia for å ha satt den islandske krisebankens britiske virksomhet under administrasjon i oktober. |
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| Eventyret over på Sagaøya | ||
| Author: Torgny Hasås - LO-Aktuelt, Norway | ||
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"Sammen med andre har de startet et nettsted under mottoet «Icelanders are not terrorists». På siden ligger hundrevis av postkort til den britiske regjering. 75 000 har skrevet under på kravet om at Storbritannia skal heve sanksjonene mot Island. Dette utgjør 25 prosent av den islandske befolkning." |
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| Presidenten som sporrar Island | ||
| Author: Gabriel Mellqvist - Dagens Industri, Sweden | ||
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Islands president är arg. Landets finanser ligger i ruiner, och det allierade Storbritannien har blivit en bitter fiende. Samtidigt är Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson optimistisk. Han tror att hela världen kommer att lära av Islands misstag, och lovar att nationen ska resa sig. Di.se hälsade på hemma hos en prövad nordisk landsfader. |
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| Vi är inga terrorister | ||
| Author: Johan Arkert - Aftonbladet, Sweden | ||
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Island jämställs med al-Qaida Tiotusentals upprörda och djupt sårade islänningar protesterar mot att Storbritanniens premiärminister Gordon Brown likställt landet med terrorstater. – En allvarlig situation har förvandlats till en nationell katastrof, skriver upphovsmännen bakom uppropet på sidan indefence.is . Hundratals islänningar publicerar nu bilder på sig själva där de håller plakat med texten ”I'm not a terrorist”. |
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| Vi er ikke terrorister - Et helt folk føler seg uthengt | ||
| Author: Kim Jansson - DinSide, Norway | ||
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Grunnen er at Brown tidligere denne måneden varslet at han ville gå til rettslig sak mot den islandske regjeringen, for å forsikre seg om at britiske kunder i islandske banker ikke mister sparepengene sine. Storbritannia har tatt steget helt ut og bruk antiterroristloven Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act of 2001 for å kunne fryse deres aktiva. Dette er en lov som er blitt brukt mot Al Qaida og terrornettverk i Iran og Nord-Korea, ifølge svenske Aftonbladet. |
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| Vi er ikke terrorister | ||
| Author: Mads Gudim Burheim - Dagbladet, Norway | ||
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Titusenvis av sinte islendinger har nå satt navnet sitt på en underskriftkampanje rettet mot den britiske regjeringen og statsminister Gordon Brown. Nettsiden Indefence.is hevder å ha samlet over 55 000 navn, et tall som tilsvarer over 15 prosent av den islandske befolkningen, og tusenvis av deltakerne har lastet opp bilder av seg selv med plakater som viser påskrift som «Vi er ikke terrorister», og «Dette er ikke vår feil». De høylydte protestene skyldes Storbritannias beslutning om å utnytte terrorlovgivningen fra 2001, den såkalte «Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act», til å fryse islandske midler i landet. |
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| 50.000 skrev på isländskt upprop mot brittisk lag | ||
| Author: Marianne Björklund - Dagens Nyheter, Sweden | ||
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Det isländska folket kokar av ilska. Ett upprop mot att britterna använt antiterrorlagar för att frysa isländska tillgångar har lockat över tio procent av befolkningen. Samtidigt är missnöjet med den egna regeringen stort. |
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OTHER LANGUAGES
| Island steht Kopf | ||
| Author: Die Welt - Halldor Gudmundsson | ||
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Der Inselstaat war eine heile Welt, bis die Finanzkrise über die Menschen hereinbrach wie eine Naturkatastrophe. Und plötzlich brauchen auch Islands Polizisten Tränengas |
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| Island: Bankrott auf ganzer Linie | ||
| Author: Claudia Buckenmaier - ARD, Germany | ||
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So zeigen sich Isländer gerne. Hart im Nehmen. Mit gelassenem Schritt stolzieren sie ins drei Grad kalte Wasser. "Hier drin spürt man die Krise nicht mehr", ruft eine Unerschrockene. |
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| Islande, voyage au pays de la crise | ||
| Author: Pierre COCHEZ - La Croix, France | ||
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Les Islandais ont vu en deux mois l’économie de leur pays s’écrouler. Les habitants d’une des plus riches nations du monde s’interrogent sur les marchands de rêve qui les ont conduits au bord de la faillite. |
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| Icesaving; op jacht naar spaargeld | ||
| Author: EénVandaag - Nederland 1 TV, Netherlands | ||
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Wat is er nu precies gebeurd met het geld van Nederlandse spaarders in IJsland? Dat was de vraag waarmee 4 gedupeerde spaarders vorige week naar IJsland afreisden. De vier zijn een afvaardiging van een groep van 469 spaarders die meer dan 100.000 euro op hun Icesave rekening hadden staan. spaarders krijgen tot 100.000 euro terug via de Nederlandse Bank, maar weten voor de rest niet waar ze aan toe zijn. reisden ze af naar een land in crisis op zoek naar antwoorden en spraken met bewindvoerders, lokale actiegroepen en vertegenwoordigers van het bedrijfsleven in IJsland. |
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| Island zurück in der "Steinzeit" - Zusammenbruch des Finanzsektors und Massenentlassungen | ||
| Author: Thomas Borchert, DPA - Hamburger Abendblatt, Germany | ||
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Eigentlich wollte Karlheinz Bellmann in Island nur Auskünfte über seine verschwundenen 110 000 Euro bei der zusammengebrochenen Kaupthing-Bank erhalten. Als er vier Tage später die Heimreise ins hessische Dieburg antrat, ging dem Vater von vier Kindern anderes durch den Kopf: „Was kann man tun, um den Menschen hier zu helfen?“Weinende Familienväter hatten ihm vom plötzlichen Verlust des eigenen Jobs, dem der Frau und der Wohnung erzählt. |
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| IJsland lijdt door plek op Britse terreurlijst | ||
| Author: Gijsbert Bouw - Reformatorisch Dagblad, Netherlands | ||
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Groot-Brittannië zette IJsland op de lijst met terroristische landen en organisaties na het omvallen van de drie banken op het Scandinavische eiland. Zo kon het beslag leggen op alle buitenlandse tegoeden van IJsland. De gevolgen zijn enorm. „We zijn geschokt door deze actie van een bevriend land.” Onzekerheid heerst. „Misschien raken de winkels wel leeg.” |
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| IWF schiebt Hilfe für Island auf die lange Bank | ||
| Author: Audunn Arnorsson - Der Spiegel, Germany | ||
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| δυστυχώς επτωχεύσαμεν… [A country in bankruptcy ] | ||
| Author: Sophia Papaioannou - SKAI, Greece | ||
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| La sorprendente caída de Islandia | ||
| Author: MERCADO, Argentina | ||
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| Brasileiros relatam derretimento da economia na 'Terra do Gelo' | ||
| Author: Marcelo Cabral - Globo G1, Brazil | ||
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Islândia foi a primeira vítima da crise financeira internacional. Quebra de bancos gerou filas nas agências e corrida aos supermercados. |
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| Petition gegen GB - Isländer wollen nicht als Terroristen gelten | ||
| Author: oe24.at, Austria | ||
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57.000 Isländer unterzeichneten eine Petition, die London vorwirft isländisches Bankguthaben wegen wegen einem Anti-Terror-Gesetz einfrieren. |
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| L'Islande s'en prend à Gordon Brown | ||
| Author: Jean-Louis Legalery - mediapart.fr, France | ||
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"Alistair Darling justifie cette décision par le souci de protéger les petits déposants britaninques. Apparemment le chancelier de l'échiquier et son premier ministre n'ont pas dû réfléchir aux conséquences de leurs actes, car l'affaire, une fois portée devant la High Court de Londres, pourrait leur coûter plus de 2 milliards de livres sterling de dommages et intérêts à verser à l'Islande." |
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| Isländer wehren sich gegen Terrorvorwurf | ||
| Author: Sascha Lehnartz - Die Welt, Germany | ||
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Die Isländer wissen, wie man Stürme überlebt – das könnte ihnen in der Krise helfen. Die Menschen auf der Atlantikinsel glauben an ein Leben nach dem Banken-Crash. Die Isländer wollen einfach nicht begreifen, dass ihre Erfolgsstory zu Ende sein soll. Doch erst einmal wehren sie sich gegen die britische Regierung. |
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| Les Islandais refusent d'être traités de terroristes | ||
| Author: Anne Bauer - Les Echos.fr, France | ||
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Au pire de la crise financière, la population islandaise lance un appel désespéré. Réclame-t-elle de l'argent, des appuis, des médicaments ? Vous n'y êtes pas. Les Vikings veulent juste retrouver leur dignité. Ainsi, en moins de 48 heures, quasiment 20 % de la population a apporté sa signature à cette pétition : « Les Islandais ne sont PAS des terroristes. » |
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| 冰岛5万网民声讨布朗 [50,000 Icelandic web cams denounce Brown] | ||
| Author: [Liang Yue] - People, China | ||
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近日，冰岛一个名为indefence的网站发起一项网上请愿活动，抨击英国把冰岛人当作“恐怖组织成员”对待。截至26日，请愿活动的支持者已超过50000人。占冰岛人口总数的六分之一。 |
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| Isländer sind keine Terroristen | ||
| Author: cpm/sda - Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerland | ||
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Die Isländer protestieren vehement dagegen, dass ihr Land von Grossbritannien indirekt mit Terroristen in Zusammenhang gebracht wurde. |
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| Island - Mit Humor gegen die Finanzkrise | ||
| Author: wed - Focus | ||
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Die Isländer sind von der Finanzkrise gebeutelt – und wehren sich. Weil Gordon Brown mit Hilfe eines Anti-Terror-Gesetzes die Vermögenswerte der mittlerweile verstaatlichten Landsbanki einfrieren ließ, betonen die Einwohner auf ihre Art, keine Terroristen zu sein... |
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| "Terrorista" e em crise, Islândia usa humor contra britânicos | ||
| Author: Sakari Suoninen - O Globo, Brazil | ||
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| ¿Qué ha pasado en Islandia? | ||
| Author: Jon Danielsson - El Pais, Spain | ||
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El colapso islandés de los últimos días no tiene precedentes en la historia, al menos en tiempos de paz, en función de su rapidez y profundidad. Las cuotas de las hipotecas y otros préstamos se han doblado, los precios han aumentado más de un 30%, casi todos los ahorros se han esfumado, los sueldos están congelados y se prevén despidos masivos. Islandia es la primera víctima del credit crunch, y su catastrófico colapso nos muestra lo importante que es contener rápidamente la crisis para evitar que lo que ha pasado allí pueda repetirse en el resto del mundo desarrollado. |
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| Mit ein wenig Hilfe unserer Freunde - Island und die Bankenkrise | ||
| Author: Steinunn Sigurdardóttir - Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Switzerland | ||
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In der vergangenen Woche kollabierte das isländische Bankensystem, und der Staat musste alle drei Banken des Landes übernehmen. Seither wird die Insel im Nordatlantik von vielen europäischen Anlegern geschmäht, da sie mit erheblichen Verlusten rechnen müssen. |
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| Kalter Finanzkrieg: Brown attackiert fast bankrottes Island | ||
| Author: Jasmin Fischer - Westdeutsche Zeitung, Germany | ||
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Englands Premier friert mit Anti-Terror-Gesetzen isländisches Vermögen ein, um britische Ersparnisse zu retten. |
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| Ein Staat kämpft ums Überleben | ||
| Author: Karl Wendl - Die Bild, Germany | ||
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„Gott segne Island!“: Mit diesem dramatischen Stoßgebet beendete Ministerpräsident Geir Haarde schwitzend seine Rede an die Nation (320 000 Einwohner). |
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