March 2009

Some changes

March 18, 2009

I’ve been taking a breather, figuring out where I want to go with this blog and trying to get some perspective. I am still in the process of sorting my thoughts; however, I know that if I am to continue with this exercise I need to make a few changes. First of all, my liberal [...]

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About that Vanity Fair article

March 11, 2009

A number of people have asked me for my reactions to the Vanity Fair article that everyone’s been talking about … so last night I decided to take the plunge and read it. As some readers will already know I had initially given up after the first page or so, as soon as I was [...]

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Eva Joly appointed special adviser to the government

March 10, 2009

Without a doubt the best news of today, and perhaps even of this year*: Eva Joly has been appointed special adviser to the Icelandic government, in the investigation into the economic collapse and related crimes. Anyone who has seen the interview with Joly that I linked to in the last post will understand how immensely [...]

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Another day, another bank failure

March 9, 2009

Iceland’s fourth bank was nationalized this morning: Straumur-Burdarás, which as it happens was also owned by the two Björgólfurs. Straumur Burdarás was primarily an investment bank – indeed I was under the impression that it was exclusively an investment bank, but according to news reports this morning it was licensed to operate as a commercial [...]

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Of censorship and suppression

March 8, 2009

I attended a fascinating lecture and panel discussion this afternoon organized by the Icelandic division of PEN, entitled Censorship/Suppression/Self-Censorship. As the title suggests, the idea was to question whether a silent type of censorship and suppression has existed in Icelandic society, whether members of the media have practiced censorship out of fear of repercussions from [...]

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Another lengthy outage last night

March 7, 2009

… This one lasting about six hours. Argh! Apologies to anyone who was trying to access the site. Just as a reminder, I try to post the status to the Facebook page when something like this occurs. Having a very busy day today, will post something substantial [i.e. the post I was trying to get [...]

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I get dizzy trying to understand the sums

March 4, 2009

Yesterday’s post focused on a report on Kastljós a couple of days ago, which raised questions about claims by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, the former owner of Landsbanki, concerning the Icesave debacle. The point of contention – whether British authorities had or had not offered to move the Icesave accounts into British jurisdiction – was seized [...]

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British FSA denies claims by former Landsbanki owner about Icesave accounts. What’s the deal?

March 3, 2009

Last night, news magazine Kastljós ran a rather illuminating report on the Icesave debacle. For those who don’t know,  Icesave was an online bank launched in the UK by Landsbanki, Iceland’s oldest and most established banking institution, in October 2006. [It was subsequently launched in the Netherlands, as well.] With its offer of top interest [...]

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Enter the vultures

March 2, 2009

One of the main news stories here last week concerned the sale of the company Árvakur, which is best known for publishing Morgunblaðið, which has been a daily newspaper here since 1913. For several decades it was the mouthpiece for the Independence Party, but has eased up on the propaganda in recent years and is [...]

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