Forsetinn læs á málflutning breskra stjórnmálamanna en Steingrímur hefur sagt þjóðinni stríð á hendur

Ég hlustaði á málflutning Steingríms í Kastljósi í gær en hann segir þar að hann þurfi að ráðfæra sig í sínum herbúðum. Menn í herbúðum eru í stríði. Hverjir eru meðlimir í herbúðum Steingríms. Eru það Indriði og Svavar Gestsson? Eru það Jóhanna og Össur Skarphéðinsson? Hvar á Björgólfur Thor skuldhafi Icesave heima í herbúðum Steingríms?

Ólafur Ragnar tók afstöðu með lýðræðinu við litla hrifningu Steingríms sem hefur tekið þá afstöðu í Icesave deilunni að gera beri skuldir Björgólfs Thors að vandamáli barna okkar til þess að fría núverandi ríkisstjórn vandamálum í samtíðinni. 

Hrædd ríkisstjórn er ríkisstjórn sem almenningur getur ekki treyst.

Hugaður forseti bætir stöðuna verulega.

Nú er spurningin hverja ætlar her Steingríms að herja á. Mun Steingrímur hlaða fallbyssur sínar með börnum okkar til þess að skjóta niður sjálfsstæðisflokkinn?

Grein í Indipendent vekur athygli á óréttmæti krafna á hendur Íslendingum vegna Icesave:

Leading article: Iceland should not be bullied

The British Government has behaved like a bully in its treatment of Iceland. First, when the country's banking crisis broke, it froze Icelandic assets in Britain using legislation that had been introduced to target the funds of terrorist groups. And then, when the Icelandic President ratified legislation last summer that would have seen the country compensate Britain for its losses, the Government effectively vetoed the plan, insisting it could not accept the various caveats that applied to Iceland's plans.

Since then, Britain has used every avenue possible to pressure Iceland. It is clear the government has used its influence within the European Union and at the International Monetary Fund to block aid packages that hold the key to Iceland escaping its ongoing economic crisis. Good old fashioned blackmail, one might call it.  

Meiri skilningur í gær og dag

Financial Times hneykslað á ESB

Framganga í Icesave málinu hneykslar fréttamenn Financial Times sem fara hörðum orðum um framgöngu Evrópusambandsins og stóru alþjóðlegu bankanna. Ófullkomnar reglur voru smíðaðar svo að stórir erlendir bankar myndu græða sem mest. Þegar allt springur vegna þessa á Íslenska þjóðin að taka skellinn.

Hér er greinin í FT:

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Iceland's president, this week rejected a law settling his country's dispute with the UK and the Netherlands over the sorry Icesave affair. In truth he had little choice: a quarter of this fiercely independent electorate signed a petition against it, a show of defiance no leader can ignore.

The law will now go to a referendum, likely to vote it down. This may teach Dutch and British leaders the limits of what can be achieved with duress, but too late to do anyone much good.

Landsbanki offered the Icesave accounts under European "passporting" rules, which let banks open branches abroad if they satisfy the home country's regulators and take part in its deposit guarantee scheme.

But as its October 2008 collapse showed, Landsbanki was exposed far beyond what Iceland's deposit guarantee fund could pay.

 In June, the UK and the Netherlands agreed a 15-year loan to the guarantee fund to reimburse their Icesave depositors, but demanded an Icelandic government guarantee for the loan, which would leave taxpayers on the hook for more than one-third of Iceland's yearly output. (The amount actually paid would be less, depending on what can be recovered from Landsbanki assets). Icelandic legislators passed it only after limiting the guarantee to a share of economic growth over the life of the loan. When British and Dutch authorities balked at the guarantee possibly expiring with the debt still unpaid, changes were passed that were acceptable to the creditors - but not to Mr Grimsson or to most Icelanders.

It is hard to fathom the need to make an example of Iceland. For the creditors, the loans are trivial: they sum to €3.9bn, one-hundredth of what the UK alone will borrow this year and next. Neighbourly generosity would cost Amsterdam and London next to nothing.

They are also not innocent victims. British and Dutch banks benefited greatly from the rules. Had they failed on the same scale, it is delusional to think their governments would take on hundreds of billions in debt to rescue foreign savers, and odious to force a weak neighbour to do the equivalent.

From the start, Iceland has been under the gun. Loans from Poland, Nordic neighbours and the IMF depend on successful IMF reviews that in turn hinge on an Icesave solution. A lifeline-grasping application for EU membership is hostage to British and Dutch goodwill.

Landsbanki showed that Europe must reform its rules to achieve stronger commonstandards. This will not be done by putting Iceland in a debtors' prison.  

 

Árni Þór: Staðan þung

Brostnar vonir íslensku þjóðarinnar

Í janúar fyrir ári síðan voru mótmælin gríðarlega þung. Krafa var uppi um lýðræðisumbætur og lát á leynimakki og svikum af hálfu stjórnvalda. Steingrímur og Jóhanna tóku síðan við valdastólum og hafa unnið gagngert gegn umbótum en eins og vanþroskaðir pólitíkusar hafa þau dregið upp sín gæluverkefni en hunsað þjóðina.

Ég fékk senda grein áðan sem birtist í Dagens Nýheter um það leiti sem við vorum að hrekja burt hrunstjórnina:

Isländska protester trots löfte om nyval

 

Publicerat 2009-01-24

 

REYKJAVIK Val i maj duger inte. Regeringen bör avgå omedelbart, krävde flera tusen demonstranter i Reykjavik på lördagen. Gräsrötter samlar nu styrkorna för att bilda en lista som bryter Självständighetspartiets långa dominans på Island.

 

Trots att statsminister Geir Haarde på fredagen utlyste nyval den 9 maj fortsätter protesterna på krisdrabbade Island. Flera tusen samlades för att demonstrera på lördagen. De kräver att regeringen med Självständighetspartiet i spetsen omedelbart lämnar ifrån sig makten.

 

- Vi tillåter inte mer skit, regeringen ska bort. Vi har fått nog av hur de kontrollerar allt, bara ser om sitt eget hus och inte bryr sig ett dugg om folket, sade Jakobina Olafsdóttir i talarstolen och fick allmänt jubel till svar.

 

Hon och många andra på Island vill se ett nytt samhälle, utan den vänskapskorruption de anser råder och utan det på Island sedan länge så mäktiga Självständighetspartiet.

 

Sedan finanskrisen slog ned som en bomb på Island och grävde djupa hål i islänningarnas plånböcker har olika proteströrelser vuxit upp som svampar i jorden. Med Facebooks hjälp samlar de snabbt tusentals anhängare och kan lätt kalla till möten. Nu pågår samtal mellan de olika rörelserna om att bilda ett gemensamt manifest för ett nytt samhälle.

 

- I dag finns helt onormala band mellan den politiska och finansiella makten. Vi försöker ena olika motståndsgrupper i en falang. Vi vill att regeringen avgår omedelbart, att en nödregering tillsätts, att experter tillfälligt tar hand om makten fram till maj, när val hålls, säger Sigurlaug Ragnarsdóttir, en av initiativtagarna till proteströrelsen Nya tider. 

 

Steingrímur fundar á Norðurlöndunum