Just a quick post to alert you to the fact that the link to the Eva Joly article [published here] currently stands at no. 3 on Reddit’s World News “what’s hot” page. Over 12,000 readers [and counting] have logged on to read it since last night [which came in the wake of thousands more earlier in the week, from other sites] and there are a bunch of comments beneath the link [on Reddit] that a number of you might find interesting.
In case the link has moved around by the time you see this [the ranking on Reddit goes by votes], you can find it by typing in “Iceland” on the Search Reddit form.
Just FYI!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
At first I thought your headline meant that Eva Joly and Iceland were being blackmailed by Reddit. “Who is this evil Reddit?” I wondered.
Ditto LDS!
Eva Joly should focus on retreiving the stolen funds. After a year she arranges a meeting with the British SFO? – pathetic. The biggest problem Iceland will face, is if it unleashes the banks again. God help us all!!
( They’ll just bring back the stolen money and buy everything cheap. )
Alda,
Lisa Deeley Smith’s comment explains perfectly why I am hesitant in commenting on some of the posts here in your blog . I think in Icelandic. When I want to say something here in English there is always the fear that the meaning will somehow change because of translation.
But your blog somehow describes so well what we’re doing here in Iceland that I love to read it, eventhough it’s not in Icelandic.
I always read, that Eva Joly is being blackmailed, too, which I hope is not true.
As you are referring to the comments on Reddit, I find some of them rather off-putting. On the base of this infamous Vanity Fair article or on personal grudges they pretend to know everything about Icelanders in a pretty generalizing, hateful manner.
Of course, documents like those with the arrogant replies of Icelandic institutions to the analysis by a Danish bank of the economic situation in Iceland from the time before the crash – which are not new – show, that there is still a long way to go for Iceland to restore its reputation.
And the general perception of the Icelandic demonstrations abroad seems to be, that Iceland is trying to wriggle itself out of its obligations. It’s a thin line.
Eva Joly and Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, our prime minister have started our now most important project, to get Britain and the Netherlands to accept the changes in the contract. (FYI the changes are basically so the contract is more realistic, not meant to try to wiggle out of the nation’s responsibility).
Congrats with the Reddit thing, mindboggling
Peter Reeves – After a year she arranges a meeting with the British SFO? – pathetic — not sure what you’re referring to. Eva Joly has only been an adviser to the government since last spring. But apparently there have been talks between her and the SFO for a while now.
Jóhanna – takk.
LDE – yes, those comments are of the sort that one doesn’t want to spend too much time reading. Similar to the ones that appeared on the blog here first after the crash. Aggressive and hateful and based on very limited understanding. Believe me, I’ve deleted a few of those too since yesterday (and added one more item to the FAQ page as a result!). But I agree with you on the thin line. Definitely. It’s an uphill struggle to communicate to the world that Iceland is not trying to get out of its responsibilities, but only to ensure fairness and manageability.
Hildigunnur – so true.
I read through most of the comments on the Reddit entry, gave me more of a sense of things than I would have had otherwise.
There was one argument I did not agree with at all.
Something along the lines of “Well, you elected the government, so you have no right to complain!”
I find this to be ludicrous and childish in nature.
Firstly, if one voted, but did not vote for the party that was elected, this is not true.
Secondly, if this were a valid argument, then free speech would be banned in all democratic countries.
Clearly, this is not the case.
Just because one voted for an elected official, does not mean that one is not allowed to have criticisms thereof.
A lot of the negative comments struck me as being in this vein.
Also comments about how the people of a country are to be held responsible for the actions of financial institutions, individuals, and elected governments.
Really?
If that is the case, then it seems to put the people who made those comments on very shaky ground indeed, given the countries they come from.
At least one person pointed out that countries such as the UK, NL, and the USA are not immune from finding themselves in a similar position.
Which leads me to having this metaphorical thought, when it comes down to it…
We are all Iceland.
It would seem that Iceland could use the EU and/or international trade tribunals to force the UK and Netherlands to take 75% haircuts up front, given that they imposed guarantees several times that required of domestic institutions with similar risk (cough, Northern Rock, cough). That’s before factoring in any other culpability.
A small group of Icelanders have milked out much more money than Icesave, and the banks resolution committees are completely out of control writing off loans to all their friends and rewarding themselves.
( there is a British expression ‘taking the piss’ ). Just imagine if all the loans dished out in the few months before the crash were retrieved?
Icesave would then become a much smaller component of solving the problem. Why should the 99% of honest Icelanders pay one Krona for a bill that could be paid with all the loot the criminals have hidden away?
Peter, I just SO wish we could find all that loot! It’s out there, somewhere…
Let me say that every Icelander I’ve met or read has excellent English, and the confusion in this post’s headline was unusual because it was unusual. Don’t be shy, Johanna!