Word: icelanders
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...same moment Iceland, a NATO member and until very recently a prosperous Western nation, seemed ready to bite the dust in the global financial crisis, a cavalry rode to the rescue, just as it does in the movies. Except the cavalry in this case came from an unexpected direction: Russia...
That comes as something of a surprise to some local councils. There have been warnings since the beginning of the year that all was not well with Iceland's banks. As early as Jan. 30, credit-ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said it was placing on review for possible downgrade Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir, another Icelandic bank. It did indeed downgrade all three a month later. In July, Kitty Ussher, then Economic Secretary to the Treasury and now a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, was quizzed by an influential House of Commons committee after newspapers reported...
Kent County Council, controlled by the opposition Conservatives, tops the list of local government bodies looking to retrieve investments in Iceland: $85 million of its total budget of $4.42 billion is stuck in Icelandic accounts. Nick Chard, the council's cabinet member for finance, says he and his colleagues chose its banks in line with government rules about spreading risk by placing deposits with a range of institutions. Those rules also stipulate that councils should try to obtain as high a return as possible and should always check the credit ratings of the institutions. "At the time of making...
When the dust settles, the committee might want to revisit Ussher's words and maybe even question the wisdom of the rules governing local-council investments and how local councils interpret them. For the moment, Britons' ire is directed outward: at Iceland's hubris in allowing its banks to expand imprudently. There are also mounting concerns about how Iceland's economic meltdown will affect British Main Streets. Icelandic investment companies also own significant shares in famous retailers such as Debenhams, Hamleys and Oasis, and an Icelandic entrepreneur even owns the East London premiership football club West Ham United...
According to a Westminster source, the British government urged Iceland to apply to the International Monetary Fund for assistance. Instead, Iceland is negotiating a loan from another country accustomed to being regarded as the bad guy by Britons: Russia. With relations between Moscow and London in a deep freeze since the 2006 murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, the display of Russian-Icelandic amity helps confirm Reykjavik's status as a British bogeyman. That won't worry the British government at all. In times of crisis, it's good to have friends, but it's even more useful...