Iceland Is Our Future

Lie back and think of an economic upturn...bathers take to the Blue Lagoon, near Reykjavik. (Photograph: Bruno Morandi/Getty -- The Guardian)

The Party's Over For Iceland, The Island That
Tried To Buy The World -- Guardian

Almost overnight, its population became the wealthiest on Earth. Tracy McVeigh in Reykjavik finds that the credit crunch is making the cash disappear.

The snow has arrived early in Reykjavik after an unusually long and warm summer. The freeze has brought out the ghostly green haze of the aurora borealis - the Northern Lights - the shape of which shifts dramatically across the tiny city's black skies.

The bars and restaurants of Iceland's capital are packed, the Range Rovers and BMWs are parked nose to tail all along the streets of the central 101 district, and music is pumping from a black stretch Hummer limousine cruising by.

'What can we do? Its difficult times but we've spent all day talking about it, watching the news getting worse and worse. We had to go out and be with friends. Maybe it's like the party at the end of the world,' says Egill Tomasson, 32, sitting in the Kaffeebarinn bar.

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My Comment: This article is not related to military and/or war news .... but the consequences of not administrating one's budget will eventually impact many aspects of a society.

The Europeans are on a course .... and have been for a long time .... for a financial meltdown. As much as we in North America are focused on the U.S. financial system, the Europeans are in a worse position. This will impact every aspect of their life .... the military being one of them.

The Europeans .... like the Americans .... have been successful this week to delay the day of reckoning. Icelanders are facing it today. What is happening in Iceland is probably what we will face in a few years. When .... I do not know .... but like a visa statement ..... the bill will arrive. when it arrives .... trust me .... the tension that it will create will result in more wars and conflicts than we can imagine.