Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

An eruption, a flood, and some shallow apologies

April 15, 2010

What a crazy day it has been! When I got up this morning, the aftermath of the Black Report was still the Issue of the Day. I flipped through Fréttablaðið during breakfast and was pleased to note that they aren’t shying away from the misdemeanors of their owners TOO much. I haven’t seen Morgunblather since [...]

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Referendum rundown

March 6, 2010

It’s been a rather gray and gloomy day, this day of the first national referendum since the founding of the Republic of Iceland. I got up [relatively] early and headed for the gym. It was packed and I was slightly surprised that I did not hear the word “Icesave” mentioned once. Not in the fitness [...]

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Icesave talks break down and UK/Holland leak a document

February 25, 2010

So, Icesave talks between Iceland and the UK/Holland broke down this evening. The Brits accuse the Icelanders of walking out, as per this report from Channel 4 in the UK, which quotes a Treasury spokesman: The UK and Dutch Governments are disappointed that despite their best efforts over the past year and a half that [...]

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“Of course we are being bullied. Of course.”

January 30, 2010

So, the three-party musketeers who set sail for the UK and Holland a couple of days ago have returned and seem rather pleased with what they accomplished. Even Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson from the Progressive Party, a.k.a. The Great Fearmonger in Parliament, has had to acquiesce that the British and Dutch were rather amenable to finding [...]

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And so, all the animals in the forest decided to be friends

January 12, 2010

Yesterday, our fearless leaders [Jóhanna and Steingrímur] decided to call a meeting of the heads of all the political parties in Iceland’s parliament. At the meeting, all of them – including the Independence and Progressive Parties – agreed to join forces in order to work towards a solution to the Icesave mess – to present [...]

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Of Iceland’s president and the supremacy of Icelandic democracy

January 9, 2010

On eyjan.is – one of this country’s most popular websites – there is a blog called Orðið á götunni [Word on the Street] which is written anonymously and focuses on the buzz in Icelandic society at any given time. The current post claims that, since people are generally so pleased with President Ólafur Ragnar’s appearance [...]

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What’s a President for?

January 7, 2010

The President’s veto of the Icesave bill continues to rank high in the discussion here in Iceland. One of the main themes concerns the question of how democratic it is for the President to be able to oppose parliament the way he did on Monday – for a single individual to be able to hold [...]

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Dubai is not the new us. We’re the new Dubai.

January 5, 2010

Man, what a day it has been! I wonder if people outside of Iceland realize what a huge and serious thing this whole Icesave matter is for our nation. I wrote earlier that the country was practically non-functional for at least an hour after the president’s veto, and that is true – I can’t imagine [...]

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Is this a bad reality TV show?

January 4, 2010

OK, so Prez Ólafur Ragnar has finally announced that he will be announcing his decision on Icesave tomorrow. Meanwhile the Icelandic media, bloggers, Facebookers etc. have debated and discussed ad nauseum what exactly this means, what’s taking him so long, what he’s up to, who he’s talking to, who he’s not talking to, what the [...]

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Icesave still hanging in the balance

January 2, 2010

Right now, there are around 500 people stationed out at Bessastaðir, the President’s residence, to urge him to veto the Icesave bill that was [finally!] passed in parliament just before midnight on December 30. The Prez said on the 31st that he would meet with members of the In Defence group before making a decision [...]

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