Icesave in a nutshell
Because the government here seems to have incompetence in connection to PR (the previous government had the same incompetence), it seems the Icelandic point has gotten very lost.
0. An Icelandic bank, Landsbankinn, had these Icesave accounts available on the UK and NL. People put their money into the accounts. The Global Financial Crisis/Meltdown happened. Landsbankinn failed. Lots of people lost their money. Happiness didn't ensue.
1. The Icelandic refusal to pay isn't a refusal to pay any money at all. Rather we disagree with the amount the Cloggies and Limeys want and their payment plan.
2. The deposit guarantee is supposed to be for €20k. The Cloggies and Limeys paid out €100k, and in effect want to send the bill for the whole amount to Iceland.
3. Iceland's position has been that it's fine to pay out on the €20k. The Cloggies and Limeys disagree. They also want a heckvalot of interest on the €100k. Total amount due if the Cloggies and Limeys get their way is somewhere between 1 and 3 times Iceland's GDP.
4. Because the (Icelandic) Finance Minster at the time has only a vague understanding of English*, he managed to bollocks the above up in one phone conversation with Alastair Darling (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer).
5. Alastair Darling comes away from the above chat with a wrong impression, and said terrorism laws are applied.
6. You know, Blair&Brown and the rest of you? You could've avoided a lot of trouble if you'd named the damn bill you passed something else. Crime Bill of 2001** or something like that would've been fine, and Iceland wouldn't have gotten that much whining to do about terrorism laws.
7. The referendum was essentially meaningless, since there's a better deal on the table now. Negotiations stopped temporarily because of the referendum.
8. The leaders of the government didn't vote in the referendum.
9. The Dutch get involved at some point, because there were Dutch Icesave accounts as well. The Dutch involvement has gotten complicated because the Dutch government has recently failed.
10. As far as I'm concenred the person who came up with the idea of Icesave, and the name, should be severely punished.
11. The IMF loans, and their economic plan is dependent on the Icesave dispute getting solved.
12. A lot of countries have pledged loans and other assistance, but only if the IMF plan goes forward.
13. Meanwhile Icelandic is ****ed. The government is a bunch of blithering idiots. Alþingi contains 61 blithering idiots, there are two members there that aren't blithering idiots, but you never see them speak at the same time. I wonder if they only have one brain cell between them.
14. I really wish this damn matter was over with, it's got me talking way too much about politics.
*He's a vet, the type that deals with animals. I guess you don't have to know English to have your head up a cow's ass.
** No, I didn't look up when the bill was passed. Year chosen at random.
0. An Icelandic bank, Landsbankinn, had these Icesave accounts available on the UK and NL. People put their money into the accounts. The Global Financial Crisis/Meltdown happened. Landsbankinn failed. Lots of people lost their money. Happiness didn't ensue.
1. The Icelandic refusal to pay isn't a refusal to pay any money at all. Rather we disagree with the amount the Cloggies and Limeys want and their payment plan.
2. The deposit guarantee is supposed to be for €20k. The Cloggies and Limeys paid out €100k, and in effect want to send the bill for the whole amount to Iceland.
3. Iceland's position has been that it's fine to pay out on the €20k. The Cloggies and Limeys disagree. They also want a heckvalot of interest on the €100k. Total amount due if the Cloggies and Limeys get their way is somewhere between 1 and 3 times Iceland's GDP.
4. Because the (Icelandic) Finance Minster at the time has only a vague understanding of English*, he managed to bollocks the above up in one phone conversation with Alastair Darling (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer).
5. Alastair Darling comes away from the above chat with a wrong impression, and said terrorism laws are applied.
6. You know, Blair&Brown and the rest of you? You could've avoided a lot of trouble if you'd named the damn bill you passed something else. Crime Bill of 2001** or something like that would've been fine, and Iceland wouldn't have gotten that much whining to do about terrorism laws.
7. The referendum was essentially meaningless, since there's a better deal on the table now. Negotiations stopped temporarily because of the referendum.
8. The leaders of the government didn't vote in the referendum.
9. The Dutch get involved at some point, because there were Dutch Icesave accounts as well. The Dutch involvement has gotten complicated because the Dutch government has recently failed.
10. As far as I'm concenred the person who came up with the idea of Icesave, and the name, should be severely punished.
11. The IMF loans, and their economic plan is dependent on the Icesave dispute getting solved.
12. A lot of countries have pledged loans and other assistance, but only if the IMF plan goes forward.
13. Meanwhile Icelandic is ****ed. The government is a bunch of blithering idiots. Alþingi contains 61 blithering idiots, there are two members there that aren't blithering idiots, but you never see them speak at the same time. I wonder if they only have one brain cell between them.
14. I really wish this damn matter was over with, it's got me talking way too much about politics.
*He's a vet, the type that deals with animals. I guess you don't have to know English to have your head up a cow's ass.
** No, I didn't look up when the bill was passed. Year chosen at random.