Iceland review - 2006, Qupperneq 12

more of a “social context.” Heijnen interviewed
150 Icelanders ages three to 90 living in Reykjavík
and the rural south as part of her doctoral
research at the University of Århus in Denmark.
Financial Crisis Hits
Icelandic Banks
The Icelandic króna fell several percentage points
in February and March as confidence in the
economy was undermined by reports from ratings
agencies. The crisis started on February 21 when
Fitch revised its rating of the Icelandic economy
from “stable” to “negative.” According to Fitch, the
change was triggered “by a material deterioration
in Iceland’s macro-prudential risk indicators,
accompanied by an unsustainable current account
deficit and soaring net external indebtedness.”
The Iceland Stock Exchange fell after the report,
as well as the values of the three major Icelandic
banks. A Merrill Lynch report issued in early March
caused the króna to fall a further four percent.
The situation recovered slightly, but took
another dip on March 21 when Danske
Bank published a damning report that
warned of a recession in 2006-07.
Icelandic banks issued a flurry of press releases,
assuring investors of their liquidity and angrily
pointing out the flaws in Danske Bank’s report.
A press release by Glitnir stated: “There are
numerous inaccuracies and errors, which
coincidentally all serve to paint a bleaker
picture than the facts would warrant.”
Despite widespread international coverage of
the financial jitters in Iceland, the devaluation of
the króna comes as good news to the Icelandic
tourism industry and exporters, who were
hard hit by the high level of the currency.
The official line from the banks and the
government is that the crisis was overblown. In
an interview with business paper Vidskiptabladid
on March 17, David Oddsson, former prime
minister and now chairman of the board of
governors of the Central Bank, said “I don’t think
this is a crisis – not even a hint of a crisis.”
For Now, Baugur
Off the Hook
On March 15, the District Court of Reykjavík
acquitted the managers of Baugur of eight charges
out of 40 originally filed against the investment
company last year. The other 32 charges had
already been dismissed by the District and Supreme
Courts on technical grounds. According to RÚV,
defense counsel Gestur Jónsson, who represents
10 VIEWS OF ICELAND
Baugur CEO Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, said he
was “not surprised in any way” by the verdict.
The technical reasons were that the description of
the alleged crime was flawed, how the alleged
crime related to the law was flawed, the alleged
crime did not match the description of the crime
and sometimes even contradicted the description,
and in many cases it was not clear how each of the
accused was involved in perpetrating the alleged
crime. The court also said that the indictment was
unclear. On March 22, the special prosecutor
appointed in the case appealed the Reykjavík
District Court’s verdict for six of the eight charges to
Iceland’s Supreme Court. Gestur Jónsson told daily
Morgunbladid he was “surprised and disappointed”
by the prosecution’s appeal. A Baugur-sponsored
IMG poll released on March 27 claimed that the
“overwhelming majority” of Icelanders was in favor
of stopping the prosecution of Baugur managers.
Cut the Junk
Icelanders received a staggering 12 kilograms of
junk mail and other “unrequested papers” in their
mailboxes this January, RÚV reported. However,
this figure did not include the additional eight
kilograms of junk included in a daily subscription
of Morgunbladid. A month’s worth of junk
from daily Fréttabladid adds seven kilograms,
and three for the smaller daily, Bladid.
A similar survey conducted in 2003 concluded
that the average Icelandic home received 19
kilograms of junk mail over an entire year although
Fréttabladid was not included in this figure.
American Teen Icelandophile
Translates 20 Children’s
Books into English
During his spare time, a 13-year-old American
boy translated 20 Icelandic children’s books
into English, reported Morgunbladid.
After reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit,
Peter Streich became so interested in Nordic
culture that he decided to teach himself
Icelandic using grammar books and tools from
the Internet. Streich, who lives on a farm in
Wisconsin, calls Icelandic the “most pristine”
of all the Nordic languages because it is
most similar to the language of the Vikings.
Streich and his father visited Iceland this March.
“Iceland is a beautiful country and the people
here are very friendly, strong-willed and open-
minded,” he told Morgunbladid. “Reading
is widespread, and I like that. I also like the
culture better here than at home in the U.S.”
Iceland still
getting warmer
February was the warmest month on record
since 1965, and the fourth warmest since
1866 when meteorology measurements began,
reports daily Morgunbladid. According to the
Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavík’s
average temperature in February was 3.3
degrees, 2.9 degrees above normal.
Precipitation and sunlight hours in February
were also higher than usual. There were 87
millimeters of precipitation in southern and
western Iceland, roughly 20 percent above
average, and 58 hours of daylight, six more
than usual. The lowest temperature this year,
-25.8°C, was reported at the Brúarjökull glacier,
and the highest was 16.2°C in Seydisfjördur.
American F-15s
Fixing to Take Off
The United States announced March 15 that
the US Naval Air Station in Iceland will be
considerably downsized by no later than the end
of September of this year, ending the permanent
stationing of US military forces in Iceland. The
United States is responsible for Iceland’s defense
through a 1951 agreement under NATO.
The downsizing of the station includes the removal
of U.S. helicopters used in search-and-rescue
operations in Iceland, service members and four
F-15 fighter jets, all elements of what has been
known as the Iceland Defense Force. No plan
for American service members’ reassignment had
been announced at the time of publication.
Mark Pekala, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the
US Department of State’s Bureau of European
and Eurasian Affairs, said the US will honor its
1951 agreement to defend Iceland, and that there
would be “no gaps or reduction in the defense of
Iceland during or after the departure of the F-15s.”
Iceland’s
Dreamers
New research by Dutch anthropologist Adrienne
Heijnen indicates that Icelanders are believed
to have more clairvoyant dreams, reports the
Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, RÚV.
Icelanders are thought to have dreams that predict
the future, whereas central Europeans are believed
to have dreams more reflective of personal
psychological conditions. Dreamers in Iceland
are also believed to be frequently visited by the
deceased in their sleep, thus giving their dreams
VIEWS OF ICELAND: This Quarter’s News from Home and Away. Compiled by Iceland Review Staff