Iceland's president explains -- democracy was on the line

 
In the financial crisis of 2008-, Iceland refused to saddle its citizenry with huge debts incurred by private banks, despite tremendous pressure from European governments and institutions.  Today the president of Iceland described the danger to democracy at that time on CBC Radio's Sunday Edition.

Have a listen and learn:

• How 15 demonstrators stood between police protecting the PM's office and rock-throwing protesters, preventing who knows what.
• How when all of Iceland's allies turned their backs on Iceland, or made terrible threats against it, only China (!) was willing to discuss aid and support
• How "Gordon Brown [UK PM] will be remembered in Iceland when he has been forgotten in Britain."

You will have to listen to, or skip over, some other material at the beginning of  the segment.

Image:  One of Iceland's other minor problems during the same period.

That Chilean volcano

Two pics -- click to expand and get a better effect -- from the Big Picture.  Yes, the white stuff is ash.  What do you do about an ashfall when it's over?

The volcano was merciful

No hold-up on the flight to London, and only a three- or four-hour delay coming back. So I am back to my own side of the Atlantic.

Bonus: we flew way north to avoid the ash cloud on the return trip, and got to see the white, white mountains of Greenland.

That volcano's name

Jeff Sypeck illustrates the rather large distance between Old English (and its cognates in Old Norse) and English now.

More volcano pictures

From the Big Picture.

Guess what this is?

Thanks to the photographer; to Brad DeLong; and to Sean Garrison, who always knew we should fear volcanoes.

Volcano photos via TalkingPointsMemo

More here.

Reflections on an Icelandic volcano

Since I am scheduled to go to Britain at the end of the month, I am watching the Icelandic volcano and the disruption of air travel with more than a little interest.

I have gathered from news reports that this is not a Krakatoa; it's just special geological circumstances and the location of the eruption that endanger extremely busy air routes. Would anyone care if this was happening on South Georgia Island? Besides the 2,000 who live there?

This incident, like the big icestorm that hit Quebec and eastern Ontario about a decade ago, underlines how we (OK, I) expect that complex structures we depend on will just routinely keep working, when there are all sorts of unlikely but perfectly possible catastrophes out there lurking. My favorite one, besides all the climate catastrophes, is a major solar flare that fries every satellite in orbit.

Sweet dreams!