Could the volcanic ash cloud currently paralyzing Britain’s air traffic and exacting a heavy economic toll on the country be Iceland’s latest strike in a curious and long-running spate of hostilities between the Viking republic and Her Majesty’s Government? For two NATO allies, Iceland and the United Kingdom have engaged in some pretty nasty spats over the years. As recently as October 2008, London invoked rarely used anti-terrorist legislation to seize Icelandic companiesa s property in Britain in a bid to compensate British savers who had lost $5 billion placed with collapsed Icelandic banks. That move drew the wrath of then-Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who termed it an “unfriendly act,” and approached Russia for an emergency loan, sparking fears of all sorts of geostrategic shenanigans in the frozen north.
Posts Tagged ‘Geir Haarde’
Volcano in Iceland: Brits add it to their grievances toward Viking republic
Monday, April 19th, 2010“Temporary” Resignations To Clear “Good” Names
Saturday, April 17th, 2010Illugi Gunnarsson and Bjorgvni G. Sigurdsson resign as MP’s. Not because they have done something wrong but because they want an opportunity to clear their “good names”.
That is also what Bjorn Ingi Hrafnsson said when he stepped down as editor of Pressan.is
Now Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir has also resigned…”temporarily”.
The lessons learned for the rest of us should be that they have no shame. And that maybe the rest of the corrupt politicians need to have their homes under siege before resigning?
Thorgerdur’s husband Kristjan Arason, a CEO of Kaupthing transferred billions in debt into a company a few days after she was warned in a government meeting about the impending situation. According to them, they are safe and financially sound afterwards. What kind of voters are going to let her back into the political arena?
Photo: A trustworthy economic management is the biggest welfare issue when all things are considered. – Geir Haarde and Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in an Independence Party ad for the 2007 election.
Related posts:
“Temporary” Resignations To Clear “Good” Names
Saturday, April 17th, 2010Illugi Gunnarsson and Bjorgvni G. Sigurdsson resign as MP’s. Not because they have done something wrong but because they want an opportunity to clear their “good names”.
That is also what Bjorn Ingi Hrafnsson said when he stepped down as editor of Pressan.is
Now Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir has also resigned…”temporarily”.
The lessons learned for the rest of us should be that they have no shame. And that maybe the rest of the corrupt politicians need to have their homes under siege before resigning?
Thorgerdur’s husband Kristjan Arason, a CEO of Kaupthing transferred billions in debt into a company a few days after she was warned in a government meeting about the impending situation. According to them, they are safe and financially sound afterwards. What kind of voters are going to let her back into the political arena?
Photo: A trustworthy economic management is the biggest welfare issue when all things are considered. – Geir Haarde and Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in an Independence Party ad for the 2007 election.
Related posts:
How Long Can Illugi Hide?
Friday, April 16th, 2010After the state announced that it was going to take over 75% of Glitnir it was clear that Stodir/FL Group, the largest owner of the bank would go under. It had been clear for some time that Baugur, Stodir/FL Group’s owner was in a bad shape financially. This created an immense problem for two funds owned by Glitnir, Fund 1 and Fund 9, as their more than 50% of their total assets were in Baugur and Stodir/FL Group.
At a board meeting at Glitnir it was decided that the bank would buy all the Stodir/FL Group shares from the funds. Larus Welding, CEO says in the report that he had met with Geir Haarde and Arni Mathiesen about this, as it was known that the state would becoming an owner of the bank at the time.
In a phone call with Geir, “Geir had said that this was a difficult issue but indicated, “yes, I suppose this has to be done”. Arni had not objected. The shares were bought for 10.7 billion ISK.
Larus also says that “Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson had sat with us earlier in the day and so had Illugi Gunnarsson, a board-member in these funds. Illugi emphasized strongly that this should be solved, so this was approved by the board and done.”
Geir said to the committee that he thought Larus was introducing the issue to himself and Arni but not looking for approval or denial, and to examine if they had any objections. Geir admits that “If we had said no we don’t want this at all, then I suppose they would have though this over.”
A few days earlier, the management of Glitnir bought 33 billions ISK worth of shares from the fund. Three days after, the resolution committee took over.
This is from the report, translated from Vb.is.
I urge you to read this from one year ago and ask yourself how long can somebody like Illugi hide within Althing without answering for his part in this and blatantly misleading voters?
Related posts:
The IceSave Memorial: How We Got To Where We Are
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010The idea of an IceSave memorial is a great one. So here is a homage to the people who got us IceSave.
As Prime Minister and Finance Minister, David Oddson and Geir Haarde privatized Landbankinn into the hands of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, who had no experience in banking but had served a sentence for his part in the bankruptcy of Hafskip and made a mint in post-communist Russia. Half of the purchasing fee was borrowed from Bunadarbankinn (which became Kaupthing) and never repaid. Landsbankinn returned the favour for their Progressive Party counterparts.
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and his son, Bjorgolfur Thor wasted no time and appointed a host of Independence Party members to key positions in the bank. They also used the bank as their own personal piggy bank, borrowing billions upon billions to acquire publishing houses, newspapers, pharmaceutical companies, telephone companies to name a few businesses. Landsbankinn’s loans to connected individuals were way above anything which could have been considered as normal in banking. Or imagine Fred Godwin borrowing billions from RBS to buy Penguin, The Telegraph, Vodafone etc.
The father and son retained Kjartan Gunnarsson as the chairman of the board. Meanwhile he was also the CEO of the Independence Party. It was a cosy relationship. A few days before the Independence Party government approved a new law limiting the amounts of grants political parties could accept, 25 million ISK found their way from the bank to the party. A big chunk but still just a part of the pie as MP Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson’s finances have revealed.
The man who approved the huge grant was former youth officer of the Independence Party and then CEO of Landsbankinn, Sigurjon Th. Arnason. A new employee at Landsbankinn in 2007 recounted how when he started working there, Sigurjon’s friend from the Independence Party and mid-level manager told him about the “real organization chart”, which showed how things really worked if you wanted to get ahead in the world of Landsbankinn’s type of international banking. 
The other CEO, Halldor J. Kristjansson had been the assistant of Progressive Party minister who turned billionaire through the privatization of Bunadarbankinn into Kaupthing. When financing the risky model that Landsbankinn like the other Icelandic banks were running, the bank came up with IceSave.
Alistair Darling is the finance minister of the UK. The UK allowed Landsbankinn to prey on the savings of the Brits when it should have been clear that the Icelandic Central Bank had no way of acting as a lender of last resort.
But neither did his Dutch counterpart and the Dutch National Bank do their homework. They allowed Landsbankinn to move in on the Dutch when one simple look at the Central Bank of Iceland’s foreign reserves should have told them not to.
They should have stopped it because this guy wasn’t going to. Jonas Fr. Jonsson was the CEO of the Financial Authorities in Iceland and an Independence Party member. His job safety depended on not rocking any boats.
And guess who was by then calling the shots at the Central Bank of Iceland?
New chairman of the Independence Party, wasted no time in using IceSave for the political gain of his party. By screaming from the top of its lungs the party has managed to divert attention from its own role in the economic collapse of Iceland. No other issues have been able to hold the spotlight, such as the several times larger bankruptcy of the Icelandic Central Bank under the management of David Oddson, a review of the bank privatization process or the finances of the political parties.
Of course, distinguishing the Independence Party from IceSave is a hell of a task. Thorlindur Kjartansson and Erla Osk Asgeirsdottir ran for Althingi in 2008 as the young, shining stars of their party. They had just come off their jobs at Landsbankinn where they were supposed to do market research into which other countries Landsbankinn could launch IceSave. If they are next in line to succeed on the party’s behalf then surely a diversion tactic is needed to cast the blame for IceSave elsewhere.
The smoke and mirrors game also suited the old ally of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party under new leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson who has cried wolf from the top of his lungs on the IceSave issue. The Progressive Party has a long history of chasing easy votes. It was not hard to convince a large part of the Icelandic nation that it might not have to honour its obligations.
So the InDefence group was formed. Behind the group which sort of promised Icelanders who signed their petition that they would not have to pay the IceSave debt is a nice little group of Progressive Party members, such as economist Magnus Arni Skulason who had to resign from the board of the Central Bank earlier this year for trying to assist wealthy parties in by-passing the currency restrictions in place in Iceland. A trustworthy and honest group if you ever saw one.
And the unloved lame-duck president bought the hype.
Finally we can only have ourselves to blame. For not being more alert to people who had grown so accustomed to running the country that they considered it a birthright. For not being more critical until after the crash. We were too busy keeping our jobs, TV’s and our cars safe that we forgot our basic rights and liberties. The Icelandic people allowed this to happen by becoming oblivious to criticism and celebrating cronyism. And for not wanting to learn from what has just happened.
Obviously the government of the Social Democrats and the Left Greens approved the IceSave agreement at the end of 2009. But it is sort of ridiculous and evil even to blame the cleaning crew for the mess left behind from the party.
Isn’t it?
Related posts:
Everyone saw the Icelandic crash coming, except the Icelanders
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Robert Boyes, Times correspondent and author of the new book Meltdown Iceland, says that everyone except Icelanders knew the Icelandic economic collapse was approaching as early as 2006.
In an extended interview on RUV’s Silfur Egils political talk show, Boyes said Iceland had been poorly governed by the Independence Party and that they had betrayed the nation.
Boyes said David Oddsson’s Independence Party had tried to implement a Margaret Thatcher-style economic revolution without putting the necessary strong state infrastructure in place to regulate it. Iceland is, he said, a great nation, but a weak state.
Boyes also criticised the fact that Icelanders allowed Geir Haarde to act as crisis manager for three months despite being ineffective and “David Oddsson’s lapdog”, although he later rephrased it to “very loyal”.
The politically-active Silfur Egils television presenter, Egill Hegason described Boyes’s book as the best yet written on the Icelandic economic crash.
Boyes said in the second half of the interview that he is largely happy with Iceland’s progress since the crash and was impressed with what he saw while living in Reykjavik to research his book. He still believes that Iceland can be the first of the seriously affected countries to come out of the current global crisis – pointing to the recent National Meeting and young people’s innovative new businesses as areas of success.
The interview can be viewed here for a limited time and begins 30:50 into the video.
How Did Baldur The Bureaucrat Become A Multi-Millionaire?
Saturday, October 24th, 2009The case of Baldur Gudlaugsson, the secretary of the Ministry of Education who quit yesterday because of an investigation by the Special Prosecutor, is intriguing to say the least.
Baldur is being investigated for selling his shares in Landsbankinn, after attending a meeting late in the summer of 2008 with Alistair Darling, the British Chanchellor of the Exchequer regarding the impending danger posed by the IceSave savings accounts. At the time, career bureaucrat Baldur was the secretary of the Financial Ministry.
The CEO of N1, the petrol and retail company asked last week in a column what could possibly be wrong with Baldur having sold his shares? He should have the right to protect himself and his family. But what the misguided CEO doesn’t understand is that public officials should be looking out for public interests, not simply their own…well how would he understand?
Much has been said in the media how Baldur sold his shares but what is even more interesting is how a bureaucrat, apparently without family wealth managed to amass 200 million ISK (the suggested but unconfirmed amount) in the bank he helped privatize.
It is telling of the distrust Icelanders have in their political leaders that the following scenario is being questioned:
As a young man, Baldur Gudlaugsson formed a friendship with other young men while they published a magazine called Eimreidin. That group included David Oddson, Kjartan Gunnarsson, Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson, Geir Haarde, Þorsteinn Palsson and Jon Steinar Gunnlaugsson.
Þorsteinn, David and Geir became Prime Ministers and leaders of the Independence Party.
Kjartan became the party’s longest serving CEO and sat on the board of Landsbankinn before and after privatization.
Jon Steinar became Supreme Court Justice in their time.
Hannes Holmsteinn has been provided with a tenure at the University of Iceland.
But Baldur Gudlaugsson became a bureaucrat. And as such he was brought into the state privatization committee as a replacement for Steingrimur Ari Arason. Steingrimur, a respected bureaucrat like Baldur resigned saying he’d never seen such questionable methods as were being used in the privatization of the state banks. Baldur then signed off on the behalf of the privatization committee that Landsbankinn could be sold to Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Bjorgolfur Thor, the Independence Party favourites.
Seven years later he sells shares in said bank said to be worth hundreds of millions.
There might be nothing questionable about how Baldur, noted for being a knowledgeable and affable man became a multi-millionaire through Landsbanki shares. But the lack of trust in Icelandic society right now makes it imperative that it should not just be investigated how he sold the shares, but also how he gained them in the first place.
Why this lack of trust? Well, it has been revealed that Bjorn Ingi Hrafnsson, assistant to Progressive Party leader Halldor Asgrimsson around the time of privatization managed to get a bullet loan without personal risk, unavailable to regular customers with Kaupthing afterwards to buy shares in the bank and profit handsomely. It was the Progressive Party that steered Bunadarbankinn into the hands of Kaupthing.
And Sigurjon Arnason was the CEO of Bunadarbankinn when Bjorgolfur and son borrowed billions to buy Landsbankinn, when the public thought they had brought in their own money. A short while later he was the CEO of Landsbankinn.
The web must be untangled before “New Iceland” can rise from the ashes. Who within the government, administration and political parties profited personally from the privatization of the banks?
In the middle of this whole mess, a certain editor in chief of a daily newspaper in Iceland who withheld relevant news about Baldur’s situation in the last couple of weeks. The man who says he warned everybody, but in fact was the man who lit the fire.
Sick Of It All
Friday, October 23rd, 2009On October 25th last year, I wrote the first EDA piece called Connecting the Dots Part I. After so many words, so many entries, its simplicity is striking;
David Oddson
used to be prime minister with
Geir Haarde
the current prime minister as financial minister representing the Independent Party where
Kjartan Gunnarsson
used to be the CEO and the party’s representative on the board of the nationalized Landsbankinn which was privatized to the lowest bidder
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson
a member of the Independent Party who kept
Kjartan Gunnarsson
on the board of Landsbankinn and hired
Sigurjon Arnason
a member of the Independent Party as the bank manager who initiated the IceSave scheme in the UK while Landsbankinn’s business was monitored by the Central Bank of Iceland whose govenor was at the time was former prime minister.
And that was it. The essence of the Iceland that collapsed into the cold autumn of 2008.
I had a run-in recently with an economist who’s been working on saving the banks from the taxpayers. This economist who has been working on behalf of the government has no qualms about maintaining that write-offs in household debts would plunge Iceland into a deeper recession with a 50% tax rate and disastrous effects for the pension funds.
Meanwhile rumours of write-offs and re-organization for the well-connected are everywhere. Magnus Kristinsson, 50 billion, Karl and Steingrimur Wernerson 45 billion, Bjarni Armannsson 800 million, the owners of World Class Gym 1 billion, Morgunbladid 3-4 billion, Sjova, Baugur… Can someone tell us how Baldur Gudlaugsson, an average career-bureaucrat could amass hundreds of millions in Landsbanki shares? A business genius or just David Oddson, Geir Haarde and Kjartan Gunnarsson’s old friend?
There are few glorious winners and deserving heroes hiding in the North Atlantic Ocean these days. The Icelandic economic miracle was really the fairy tale of the Emperor Without His Clothes. The players who came out on top were the equivalent of diving, doping cheats. They now refuse to hand back their undeserved medals.
You get the drift.
For quite a while now, I have been absolutely sick to my stomach writing about David Oddson‘s and Hannes Holmstein Gissurarson, Bjarni Armannsson and Brynjolfur Bjarnason, Hreidar and Sigurdur, Olafur Ragnar, Karl Wernersson, Hannes Smarason…I should have written more about Hannes Smarason. I get mad when I read up on Halldor J. Kristjansson, Finnur Ingolfsson, Halldor Asgrimsson, Valgerdur Sverrisdottir and the Exista brothers. I want to throw sharp, heavy things at cute little puppies when I hear about Jon Asgeir Johannesson, Halla Tomasdottir, Arni Sigfusson and Arni Pall Arnason.
But for me, the economic disaster is no longer about money but identity.
I have lost enough money. My mortgage has soared, its value no longer matches its capital. I have lost pension and some savings and I lose everytime I shop for anything in Icelandic kronas anywhere on Icelandic soil. I have lost two jobs, I have lost income and I have lost through high interest rates. I have lost government service and I am paying more for less all over the place.
Like most ordinary Icelanders I am a big, bloody economic loser.
Broken identity
But that is only money. I used to live abroad. And I have many friends and acquaintances abroad. And I read a lot of foreign media. And the verdict isn‘t good. Iceland kind of sucks.
Iceland is broke, bankrupt, doesn‘t pay its debts, doesn‘t accept responsibility and it is cold and dark.
Iceland is home to greedy, irresponsible, nepotistic, naive and corrupt people.
The legacy left behind by David Oddson, Halldor Asgrimsson, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Geir Haarde, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir and the leading lights of their generations is that Icelanders find it more difficult to find pride in their country anymore. That has been taken away.
The national identity is broken. There are gaps and divides opening up everywhere. Left and right, extremists and non-extremists, haves and have not, those who took part and those who claim they didn‘t.
Any seriously contemplating Icelander who attempts to look at the events of the past couple of decades will surely realise that the national identity needs a rewamp. But what is needed is not so much a make-over as a massive construction.
Fruity little elfs
But Iceland is hardly in a constructive mode right now. Instead, the nation has become a parody of itself. Thirty-five percent of Icelanders have caught the Stockholm syndrome and would love nothing more than to bring the Independence Party back into power. The RUV news magazine last Sunday broke new ground on not investigating anything to do with the economic collapse. The people who lead the protests of last year have either fled the country or become parts of an unchanged system. Normal Icelanders are walking around like fruity little elfs popping happy pills, priding themselves of not watching news or reading newspapers because they “make one sad and angry“.
The fruity little elfs are shocked and scattered. They are organizing group hugs in Laugardalshollin and writing columns about looking forward not backwards, turning the other cheek etc. Meanwhile Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson has the gall to compare himself to the jewish persecuted by Hitler and billionaire Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson thinks he is the victim of McCarthyism.
A friend asked if there had been any progress? Yes, the Independence Party is not in power, that is progress. People are laughing at, not with the Progressive Party, that is also progress. Eva Joly and the SFO are on the scene, that is positive. There is open, harshly debated discussion on meaningful matters within the government, that is progress.
But this is just one of those periods when you get sick of it all. I’ll get over it but these days it is nice just to concentrate on the good things in life. Where there is no room for David Oddson or Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.
Keep checking back, even if posting is a little less frequent these days.
EDA Film Review: God Bless Iceland – Not Enough Mustard
Monday, October 12th, 2009Unfortunately the trailer is better than the movie.
So I’ve said it. The first documentary about the Icelandic economic disaster to hit the theatres does not deliver what it promises. Helgi Felixsson, a documentary film-maker who’s lived in Sweden for most of his life saw the potential in a nation coming apart at the seams last winter. His distance from Icelandic society is too apparent in the result. Maybe the film could have done with collaboration from people who are more knowledgeable.
The good parts are the footage from the riots and demonstrations, but the feeling remains that it could have been done even better. It is sort of like if they’d halved the battle of Gondor in the Return of the King. A middle class, flat-screen hogging, gas-guzzling, overweight nation toppling its democratically elected government in time of relative world peace? Come on? You must be able to do better. The build is slow and the collective anger and frustration on display in Reykjavik last winter is not given enough momentum.
Some pieces are haunting. Geir Haarde’s internal convulsion before addressing the nation, then total lack of judgement when he declares that he never considered the demonstrations personal. Asgeir Fridgeirsson’s turn as Bjorgolfur Thor’s very own version of Smithers is comically sad. Bjorgolfur’s own absence from reality is vile and disturbing.
If the intent was to show the effect of the crash on Icelandic families, then the decision to follow teamster Sturla Jonsson around shows astonishing lack of judgement on the behalf of the filmmaker. Sturla is one of the least sympathetic victims of the Icelandic crash, when you consider that his fight originally revolved around lower petrol prices, against the grain of everything humanity should be fighting for. It is one thing to build a home with your bare hands but a collection of cars and a motocross cycle confirmation present to his son only make him look foolish. His parliamentary campaign was sad, especially when he’s sitting at home dreaming of a seat in parliament because it would be nice to get a job.
Eva the witch is on the other hand a brilliant character. Her declaration of having a completely changed mindset regarding paying her mounting debts is one many can sympathise with. The God-fearing policeman displayed an extraordinary character in tough situations where you almost felt like the men in black would like nothing more than to turn their batons the other way. But the film’s subject are not typical Icelanders in any way, maybe we have to wait for Gunnar Sigurdsson’s documentary to see their side.
Helgi’s decision to film Jon Asgeir Johannesson, Geir Haarde and Bjorgolfur Thor while they thought the camera was off has been much criticized. It is impossible to argue against such dirty tricks which are likely to chase these villains away from cameras where more clever interviewers could have gotten a better “peek into their soul”. Helgi’s tricks only work as marketing stunts for his movie, he doesn’t really get anything interesting from these exercises and the paying customer has to ask whether that was all it was?
There are too many dull moments, the interesting bits to few and the best bits cut short too early. On the whole for a dish that is supposed to be served hot, there just ultimately isn’t enough mustard.
But the trailer is brilliant.
Just Some Private Business Downtown
Saturday, October 10th, 2009Gisli Marteinn Baldursson, Independence Party city council member doesn’t want the state to be responsible for the debts of “some private business downtown”, i.e. IceSave.
Except Landsbankinn is not just a private business downtown. It was privatized by David Oddson from the Independence Party, into the hands of Independence Party favorites Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Bjorgolfur Thor. The chairman of the board of Landsbankinn was simultaneously the CEO of the party. Independence Party hopefuls rose quickly to prominence within the bank. The CEO, Sigurjon Arnason was a youth party member and so was MP candidate Thorlindur Kjartansson, whose responsibilities included marketing IceSave.
The connection with Geir Haarde’s government and David Oddson’s Central Bank was wide and varied. Landsbankinn was anything but a private business downtown.
God Bless Iceland – Trailer
Friday, September 4th, 2009
The first of many documentaries about the crash is soon to be ready.
God Bless Iceland, citing Geir Haarde’s infamous speech to the Icelandic nation includes interviews with such figures as Bjorgolfur Thor, Jon Asgeir Johannesson and Geir Haarde. Also footage from the protests in January, a policeman’s perspective and a protester’s perspective.
The Right Man In The Right Place
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009I just love the fact that the finance minister of Geir Haarde’s ill-fated government who was denounced for being a vetenarian is now working…as a vetenarian.
And God Taketh…
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009Amazingly for a nation that is heathen to the core in its behaviour and cringed when Geir Haarde asked the man in the sky to bless it last year, the Protestant National Church is hard to shake off.
It would be nice to say that Iceland has a commonsense like those nations who have seperated between church and state, but commonsense has shown itself to be lacking in our makeup for quite some time now.
While we are counting our chickens though, some curious things are revealed. The salary of one priest for example (paid for by the state coffers) is equivelant to 2 and a half police officers. The amount of direct state funding accepted by the church is just half of what the state spends on the University of Iceland. In indirect gains it is probably much higher.
A question revelant in all times is given even more weight under current circumstances. Should the state still be paying for this?
Even if they have Darth Vader on their side?
PS: I don’t care if you choose something to believe in. I just think it is unfair that one belief system is given such unfair advantage over others.
Icelandic Politicians And Businessmen on Facebook
Friday, August 28th, 2009This post is inspired by this. Keep em coming and I’ll keep updating.
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson became a fan of money (10 years ago)
Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Hannes Smarason, Lydur Gudmundsson, Jon Asgeir Johannesson, Sigurdur Einarsson, Bjarni Armannson like this
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Bjorgolfur Thor has a red Hummer (6 days ago)
Sigurdur Einarsson and Bjarni Armannson like this
Jon Sigurdsson where did you get it, I want one too
Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson mee too
Hannes Smarason Sweet Dude!!! I‘ll get one tomorrow
Lydur Gudmundsson Rock on, me too
Jon Asgeir Johannesson Love it, I´ll have my white one painted tomorrow
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Sigmundur Ernir Runarsson is having a drink (30 min ago)
Ragnheidur Rikhardsdottir likes this
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Thor Saari is now friends with Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson (2 months ago)
Bjarni Benediktsson likes this
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Thor Saari is now friends with Bjarni Benediktsson (2 months ago)
Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson likes this
Bjarni Benediktsson Welcome to our gang mate!
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Birgitta Jonsdottir Everyone is stupid except me! (1 month ago)
Thor Saari and Margret Tryggvadottir like this
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David Oddson is taking a bath (12 hours ago)
Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson likes this
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Kjartan Gunnarsson thinks Steingrimur J. Sigfusson is responsible for IceSave (2 weeks ago)
David Oddson, Sigurjon Arnason, Halldor J. Kristjansson, Geir Haarde, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, Bjorgolfur Thor, Jonas Fr. Jonsson like this
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Jon Asgeir Johannesson went skiing, bought the mountain (1 year ago)
Bjorgolfur Thor where did you get it, I want one too
Hannes Smarason mee too
Agust Gudmundsson Sweet Dude!!! I‘ll get one tomorrow
Karl Wernersson Rock on, me too
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The Independence Party is now friends with FL Group (3 years ago)
Kjartan Gunnarsson likes this
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Jon Gerald Sullenberger is opening up a new grocery store (1 month ago)
David Oddson, Styrmir Gunnarsson, Jonina Benediktsdottir, Jon Steinar Gunnlaugsson, Kjartan Gunnarsson, Bjorn Bjarnason, Geir Haarde like this
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The group FL Group has been deleted by its moderator
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The group Landsbankinn has been deleted by its moderator
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The group Kaupthing has been deleted by its moderator
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The group Glitnir has been deleted by its moderator
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The group SPRON has been deleted by its moderator
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The group Baugur has been deleted by its moderator
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The group Islandsbanki has changed its name into Glitnir (3 years ago)
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The group Glitnir has changed its name into Islandsbanki (6 months ago)
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Dorrit Moussaief Why don‘t they all eat cake? (8 months ago)
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson does not like this
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Birgitta Jonsdottir sent Thrainn Bertelsson an invite to join the group The Citizen‘s Movement (1 month ago)
The invite has been rejected
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David Oddson has invited his friends to join his gang in Mafia Wars (10 years ago)
Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson, Bjorn Ingi Hrafnsson and Sigurdur Einarsson like this
Halldor Agrimsson has accepted the invite
Valgerdur Sverrisdottir has accepted the invite
Geir Haarde has accepted the invite
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson has accepted the invite
Magnus Thorsteinsson has accepted the invite
Bjorgolfur Thor has accepted the invite
Olafur Olafsson has accepted the invite
Finnur Ingolfsson has accepted the invite
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Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson has just won 100 billion playing TexasHoldEm on Facebook (7 years ago)
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Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson has just lost 1.000 billion playing TexasHoldEm on Facebook (10 months ago)
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Sigmundur Ernir Runarsson has just sent you a drink. Sigmundur sent you a glass of red wine (2 days ago)
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Hannes Holmsteinn Gissurarson has just poked you (5 hours ago)
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The Social Democratic Party is now friends with Magma Energy (1 month ago)
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Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has just been tagged in a photo by Hannes Smarason (2 years ago)
Album – “Our president”
Geir Haarde At BBC
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Geir Haarde, the fallen PM appeared on the Europe Today show at BBC. Diverting the attention from Iceland and focusing on Ireland and Latvia, Geir also claimed that the economic disaster had caught him by surprise.
The real surprise is why anyone actually offers the man a forum anymore?
YT as edited by Geir Haarde on BBC World Service today
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009The Continued Shame Of The Icelandic Media
Saturday, August 8th, 2009Last night the newsmedia was filled with stories of violent activity by Saving Iceland members at the Ministry of Industry. Most of the headlines revolved around police being attacked with pipes and a policeman being kicked in the head.
Then this morning we get this video and a strong protest by Saving Iceland which states that the police is lying and there is no evidence of such violence. On the contrary, the police was the brutal party in the exchange.
But why did the media report from the incident in that way. Perhaps the answer lies here in this video where former Prime Minister Geir Haarde throws a fit when asked difficult questions from reporter G Petur Matthiasson who later apologized to the nation for not having shown this on the news when it happened.
Icelandic journalists are underpaid, overworked and always on deadline so they catch an issue, go and find someone who is an authority on the issue, hand them the microphone and allow them to make statements. If they cannot find a countering statement then they just leave it be.
That is how Geir Haarde, David Oddson and other politicians were able to bully the media for such a long time and that is why arguments countering the “Icelandic economic miracle” were so few and far between.
The reporting from yesterday’s skirmish is yet another shameful example of this. When you look at the video over an over again, you cannot help but wonder whether the woman will press charges for sexual assault.