We learn from experience that even if men let go of religious absolutism, they do not stop living and thinking in absolutisms, but transfer their emphasis from God to something else. The nation, the state, the party, the market, the asset, financial and social advancement ( get ahead and further than others) to name this [...]

From the Wikileaks documents. Interesting comments from the US Embassy on the situation in Iceland in October and November 2008. Russia, Independence Party, IMF, Icelandic politics and the  EU. The old guard of the Independence Party is working hard at discrediting these leaks stating that “foreigners know nothing about things work in Iceland”. But according [...]

Halla Tomasdottir’s assertion that Icelandic women are taking over the boys’ mess, gets a worrying ring to it when examining the popular webzine Pressan.is this morning. Compare the articles written by women and men and make up your mind yourself: “Are carbs fattening?” – Agusta Johnsen (Fitness) Roughly speaking, carbs are either complex or simple. [...]

One of the biggest lessons learned by Icelanders so far seems to be that they need to step up their PR. A seminar at the University of Iceland last semester explained how a research on UK media coverage on Iceland had gone from positive to negative from 2007-2009. The author concluded that to avoid negative [...]

I answered a question for kannski.is, a website giving opposite views on matters relating to the EU.  It was whether Iceland could not join NAFTA instead of the EU, unilaterally adopt the dollar and keep its sovereignty intact instead of risking it within the EU.  Although I presently believe that Iceland’s long term prospects are [...]

A year after the crash, reporter Eric Campbell investigates the tragi-comic saga that saw this nation of 310,000 try to become the new Wall Street. He uncovers not just over-confidence and incompetence but widespread corruption. ‘Some of the ministers from the government had very close ties with these banks and this was never really revealed [...]

Like the United States, the banking industries of Britain, Ireland and Iceland brought up the rear, as their financial centres all suffered in the crisis. Iceland’s banks were ranked the fourth most unsound, rivalled only by Zimbabwe, Mongolia and Ukraine, while Britain was the ninth from last and Ireland the 13th worst. Like the United [...]

Now that the IceSave agreement is throught Althingi and Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has signed, sealed and delivered it onwards, the focus is increasingly pointing towards the so-called “fortress” that the government promised to build around Icelandic households during the parliamentary campaign last spring. It is now almost one year since the economic disaster with the [...]

“If you think we have problems, wait until you see this place”. Australian 60 Minutes on the Iceland Crisis

In the build-up to the global crisis of 2008, tiny Iceland was a canary in the mine, a leading indicator of wider vulnerabilities. Now, amid growing optimism about global recovery, Iceland may again be a leading indicator of trouble ahead. In the space of a few days last October Iceland’s whole banking system collapsed and [...]