Forum Post: Why Iceland?
Posted 10 years ago on June 11, 2013, 8:42 a.m. EST by windyacres
(1197)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The MSM on their reporting about Ed Snowden have mentioned several times that Mr. Snowden may seek asylum in Iceland. It is done in a way that gives no clue why Iceland would be anyone's choice for asylum.
They are not answering the, "Why Iceland", question for the American people, because they do not want them to know about what has recently happened in Iceland, especially how they handled corruption in their banks and government.
My guess is less than 10% of Americans are familiar with the recent history of Iceland. They don't want what happened in Iceland to happen here!
''Why Iceland ?'' Good question and great post. Well, maybe an answer can be glimpsed here :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/hong-kong-edward-snowden-asylum & as an aside :
http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-contrast-between-iceland-and-ireland-some-thou/ and also see :
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/09/icelandic-legislator-im-ready-to-help-nsa-whistleblower-seek-asylum/ and please try to also read, reflect and ruminate upon the following :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america ~*~
Daniel Ellsberg - ''In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.'' Finally Glenn Greenwald in chat with Amy Goodman :
fiat lux ...
Is it true in Iceland that their government provides every citizen free internet access? Is it true that bankers went to jail?
Ed Snowden was obviously privy to the courage-for-independence (and stick-up-the-finger attitude at major powers) level of various countries or principalities such as Iceland and Hong Kong. He had the means to do so and his life depended and will depend on his good judgment.
Hong Kong's pluckiness was directed at the Beijing government and Iceland's was directed at the freakin' banks and accomplices. Iceland dared to defy the financial elites and scored a very quick economic recovery.
In the U.S., General Motors was put through the wringers and came out fine and that no doubt saved jobs for people but the Obama administration (Eric Holder specifically) dares not tackle the far bigger problem of the 'too-big-to-jail' financial vampires so we are looking forward to decades of hohum improvement in the living standard of our people punctuated by financial catastrophes when the millstones around the U.S. economy drag it to the dust whenever vampire-feeding sessions go overboard.
Exactly, they are concerned that Americans would agree with what the people of Iceland did in their country. That is NOT what they want in America!
Yes, as LeoYo pointed out that even the people of Iceland were stymied by the entrenched politicians from reaching their goals so for the U.S. it is almost hopeless to pursue a similar path unless we return to our point of origin as a nation and see it for the first time, not pretty for the populace but nonetheless a cleansing experience that will be etched in their memories for generations.
A cleansing experience to maintain our soul. Are false hopes any better than not having hope at all? Anything is better than...no hope, but false hopes that I personally have held to are not what I need. Personal introspection to uncover realistic hopes are now in my thoughts. Basic instincts to fight for justice and freedom are still present, but how to fight for them is changing. .
Personal implosion is a path that the U.S. populace may well tread, too. It is similar to how plutonium is detonated by the tremendous pressure of implosion but the geometry to achieve detonation can be tricky for the U.S. populace. It may end up like North Korea's first nuclear explosion and fizzles if the geometry is not quite right. A nuclear architect is called for here.
and I still don't need another car
No matter. There are gobs of Chinese who will gladly have a first car. General Motors still enjoys the benefits of the reputation of America in China. As the U.S. descends into the dust and the goodwill accrued to it disintegrates, most of the business overseas of our multinational corporations will disappear, too. The U.S. would then become another England if we were lucky and managed somewhat to maintain our soul.
Bobby Fischer, the now deceased former world chess champion, I think sought asylum there too ......
he should have just chosen the easy level of the computer game
Iceland is not all that it's been made out to be.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/with-new-constitution-post-collapse-iceland-inches/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/putsch-icelands-crowd-sourced-constitution-killed-/
What happened in Iceland couldn't happen in the U.S. Iceland has a homogenous population smaller than Santa Ana, CA and couldn't pay off the debts of its private banks. The U.S population could pay off the debts of its "too big to fail" private institutions, so that's just what the government did with the taxpayers money without any serious efforts of boycotting from the masses of disgruntled taxpayers who, unlike Iceland, don't have two-thirds of their population living in or around the nation's capital. That makes a big difference when it comes to the ability of an entire people to protest their government.
The U.S. had the advantage of paying off U.S. dollar-denominated debts with nearly infinite capacity of our Federal Reserve to create credit/money (it did require the backing of the U.S. taxpayers and even outsourcing the printing shortly after the crash because of the insufficient speed of printing money domestically). Iceland did not have its debts denominated in its own currency so it cannot possibly pay back with printing-press money.
That advantage will disappear if and when the U.S. dollar loses its reserve currency status, most likely when OPEC dumps the dollar.