My grandfather and Mr. Bjarni Benediktsson then prime minister of Iceland. My grandfather is refusing the highest order og Iceland in this picture and very upset. This in 1965. Bjarni Benediktsson belonged to the same political party this article is about..
To Index in English here.
Delhi N.Y. Aug. 1. 2005.
To whom this may concern:
It came to my attention you had a story on the Icelandic company Baugur Group and the criminal indictments handed out to its owners by the chief of police in Iceland.
Reasonable indictments or political corruption? It might be helpful to look at other cases involving these same political powers to see how powerful Mr. David Oddsson has been in Icelandic society for decades and how he has used those powers.
My name is Mr. Ingimundur Kjarval, grandson of the late Mr. Johannes Kjarval considered in his time the most important artist painter of his time in Iceland, a national treasure.
My family is pursuing a case against the city of Reykjavik. In 1968 the city emptied Mr. Kjarval's studio and took from it more than 5000 artworks, two months before my grandfather was committed to the city mental hospital where he died in April of 1972.
The city always claimed he gave his belongings to the city even though no paperwork or testimony was ever produced. The case is to start in lower court in Reykjavik the 13th of September.
I could name instances of corruption (in my mind) concerning that case. Mr. David Oddsson was mayor of the city of Reykjavik from 1982 till he became primeminister and heavely involed in this afair.
It is my firm conviction that Mr. Oddsson when mayor violated my families human rights in 1982 when the family hired the attorney Mr. Baldur Guðlaugsson to write an opinion. My mother has testified she was threatened not to pursue this case shortly after my fathers death. I believe Mr. Davið Oddsson could be prosecuted for human rights violations for what he did in 1982.
But the most obvious and blatant corruption in my mind would have to be that the Icelandic state radio & Television (a "sister station" to the BBC and almost as old) has as of today never had a news story on this.
When I reported my findings in 2002 to the chief of police in a letter with documents and asked for an investigation, I was ignored. He did not even file my request. Only when I complained to another authority did his office formally decline my request and give it the number 006-2002-113.
You can find more information on my website: www.Kjarval.blogspot.com or contact our lawyer in Iceland, Mr. Kristinn Bjarnarson tel: 588 3666 if he is not on summer vacation, everything seems to shut down in Iceland midsummer. I am also sending you the summons translated by a professional translator.
I for one do not trust the Icelandic justice system, therefore this letter, I consider it controlled by the two political parties now in power for decades. The two last appointments to the Supreme Court were close to Mr. Oddsson, one a relative, the other a very close friend and for many years Mr. Oddssons political "pitbull", both appointments drawing heavy protests from the legal community.
I do not know much about these indictments or for that matter about the company Baugur Group, but I do know that Mr. David Oddsson and the chief of Police Mr. Haraldur Johannessen are very close. Mr. Haraldur Johannessen is the son of a former editor to the Morgunblaðið, a political daily that supports Mr. David Oddsson and his party, for many years the biggest paper in Iclenad by far.
That paper fought fiercely for a law Mr. Oddsson tried very hard to have passed last year to curtail news media owned by Baugur Group, the only law ever vetoed by the president of Iceland. Mr. Oddsson then publicly accused the president of being in the pocket of Baugur Group.
Now the government wants to change the constitution for the only purpose it seems, to take that the veto power from the president. After the presidents veto, the law was automatically to go to a referendum but was instead canceled because it would surly have been defeated, the canceling an unconstitutional act according to many.
Another fact, the father to the chief of Police has for decades been on a governmental honorary salary as a "poet", effectively paying his retirement. Recently Mr. Halldór Ásgrímsson the current prime minister had the government buy all cartoons " Mr. Sigmund" ever made for the Morgunblaðið as a daily cartoonist at the paper, thereby also paying for his retirement it seems. What the government wants with these old cartoons a mystery to me.
To understand Icelandic society one must know how powerful a force Morgunblaðið has been for almost a century. Recently it got into financial difficulties when it invested in a new printing plant as it entered into fierce competition with a free daily the "Fréttablaðið" owned mostly by Baugur Group. Recently Morgunblaðið was able to sell their old building with the added bonus of having a new office building put up next to their new printing plant included in the price. I do not know details on this deal, but in Iceland it seems a handy way to buy political influence, sell real-estate low to the right party and buy high from same.
Recently Mr. Jón Ólafsson a former media mogul in Iceland (relative to Iceland), but on the wrong side of Mr. Oddsson, sold real-estate to the city at too high a price according to Ólafssons enemies. How that deal was to be dirty beyond me, but the accusation loud and persistent, showing that in Iceland selling or buying property for other gain than money is done.
Mr. Oddsson said publicly Mr. Ólafsson was nothing but a thief, Mr. Ólafsson then taking Mr. Oddsson to court for defamation and the court finding Mr. Oddsson´s words null and void but no court costs, fines or damages, a unique verdict.
Mr. Olafsson then sold his assets in Iceland to Baugur Group and fled to England, Mr.Oddsson non too happy his "criminal" got away. Mr. Olafsson is not the only Icelander in exile, others even in Mr. Oddssons own party have found it difficult to live in Iceland against the leaders will.
A couple of seasons ago Mr. Davíð Oddsson, then prime minister, was seen very upset and somewhat disheveled at a mayor bank in Reykjavik taking out all his money. In his mind an executive at that bank was getting to much compensation. Mr. Oddsson was not able to start a run on the bank as seemed his intention even though some took out their funds, but the executive Mr. Einarsson hurriedly reduced his take. This just to show how well Mr. Oddsson keeps us all on the straight and narrow.
A couple of years ago Mr. Davið Oddsson then prime minister accused Baugur Group of having tried to bribe him in a London hotel room. No investigation was started and ever since the people of Iceland have lived with this knowledge, not knowing if the prime minister was lying or telling the truth. This accusation just sits there, nobody does anything, least of all the chief of police. One would think it a serous crime to try to bribe a prime minister.
Recently a play from a short story by Mr. Oddsson was produced by the State television, directed by an old and close friend of his Mr. Hrafn Gunnlaugsson at enormous costs. I haven't seen the play but understand it is about a small beurocrat taking his power seriously. That the head of the state radio and Television station was just appointed ambassador to Canada this fall by Mr. Oddsson probably just another indication that Iceland is small and few hands on deck.
A close friend and political ally of Mr. Oddsson, Mr. Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurason was recently accused of plagiarism from a text of the Icelandic Nobel laureate Laxness. That trial stranded this spring because of a ruling over technicalities, some consider that decision corrupt, that decision now for the Supreme court in Iceland.
One thing for sure, Mr. Davið Oddsson's reign was never bland, his nickname "King Dabbi" an apt one that stuck ever since high school. The question, is it over? Today in his mid fifties when other politicians are still on their way up he has allready been the longest sitting prime minister in Iceland ever.
But Mr. Oddsons health is in question. Shortly before he stepped down as primeminister, his thyroid was removed in an emergency operation, given rise to speculation repeated government crises at the end of his reign were mostly glandular.
In this contest it should be known political parties in Iceland have no duty to show their finances, accusations going back and forth that different interests are buying influence, Baugur Group said to own the opposition leader Mrs. Gísladóttir and a web or an "octopus" connecting Sjálfstæðisflokkinn (Mr. Oddsson's party) to different companies and interests. The possibility that these indictments are little more than the octopus fighting back because Baugur Group is cutting its' tentacles a possibility, but octopi run deep and are hard to see. One thing for sure, Baugur Group is changing the way businesses is done in Iceland.
It could be helpful to look into a fraud case wherein Icelandic oil companies fixed prices to customers for years if not decades, many of the owners being in Mr. Oddson´s political party and one of the them owning a big share in the Morgunblaðið. The justice minister at that time Mrs. Sólveig Pétursdóttir was married to an oil company executive but did not resign. The chief of police Mr. Johannessen dragged that investigation out until most of the indictments expired and then the government lowered the fines eventually handed out.
Many in Iceland consider this price fixing scheme the robbery of the century. Mr. Oddsson said it pointless to levy fines, would only be rolled over on customers. A statement that puzzled many because Mr. Oddsson is an attorney by education.
I of course do not know if Baugur Group or their owners are guilty of anything, have no knowledge nor expertise in that field. Accounting scandals do happen in Iceland, recently an executive at the State telephone company "Síminn" embezzled enormous funds in an attempt (if I understand right, this all extremely murky and underinvestigated by the chief of police) to start a television station to compete with Baugur Group media. Those involved seem to have walked away with light or no sentences.
In my opinion Baugur Group will not get a fair trial in Iceland. Too many judges have been appointed jugdes by the powers that be, or will be appointed out of the ranks of lawyers. In a small society like Iceland a legal person being a lawyer or a judge has to pick sides. And now there is only one side, Baugur Group to be sacked. Even though the English jury system is supposed to be a heritage from the vikings there is no jury in Iceland, all cases decided by appointed judges.
The possibility these indictments are nothing more than blackmail gone bad should be seriously considered. Blackmail by jilted persons out for revenge that are beeing being used by the chief of police.
The attorney in the beginning for the person supposedly delivering most of the evidence, is the same person appointed to the Supreme court by Mr. Oddsson. Maybe that proofs only Iceland is a small country, but maybe it proofs something else. The accuser (informer, blackmailer?) said to one of the defendants in English after a business dispute, his exact words: " I am going to take you down". When that was reported to the police as a threat to his life, no testimony was taken. The other person a woman, lived with one of the defendants and has expressed her self publicly in bitter terms.
I will try to stop here but must add a couple of stories for dessert. Recently two state banks were sold to private investors, accusations now surfacing those sales were manipulated by both Mr. Davið Oddsson now the foreign minister then prime minister and Mr. Halldór Ásgrimsson then foreign minister and now prime minister. I know this is confusing, but they swapped ministries in an unlawful (in my opinion) deal. This you can verify by talking to Mrs. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, the new and hopefully better leader of the opposition. She has made these bank sales an issue and promised to follow them up this fall when Iceland goes back to work. The most serious issue being that the prime ministers family ended up with a portion of one bank. The prime minister is also under the accusation that he as the minister of fisheries in the eighties put together a "fishing or quota system" where in his own family ended up with fishing quotas.
But I have to say, the biggest reason for this mess is an extremely weak political opposition, any thing and every thing goes by while they run from one sideshow to the next, the latest when Iraq was liberated, attacking both Mr. Ásgrímsson and Mr. Oddsson, as if they had invaded on their own without any help from their friends Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. The opposition even bought a whole page advertisement in the New York Times to denounce America, Britain and their own government for having freed Iraq, thereby giving the Icelandic voter no chose, or what reasonable persons wants to be ruled by nuts?
The political opposition in Iceland has literally been shaped by anti Americanism since the second world war, most of the effort effort going into fighting the American military base in Iceland, set up when Churchill and Roosevelt forged their secret agreement so America could take over protection of the North Atlantic well before The United Sates entered the second world war. The United States sending troops to Iceland so the Brits could pull theirs from Iceland and send to North Africa. The Brits occupied Iceland knowing the Germans were on the way.
Some times I feel Osama must have studied in Iceland as a young man just like Pol Pot in France. Or where else could he have learned the fraise "America the great Satan"? Recently a Russian warship came on a courtesy visit to Reykjavik, firing a ceremonial salvo over the City when an Icelandic head of state came on board. The group against the base "Herstöðvarandstæðingar", a powerful leftist political movement for decades, had to be reminded it technically was a "peace movement" before it put out a bland statement of disapproval. If this had been an American warship a more violent response would have been on the agenda.
This Russian warship had a sad duty to perform, from Reykjavik it went on to the north coast of Iceland to remember the convoy PQ-13. There in July 6th 1942 four American freighters perished, the Russian ship Rodina with 200 Russians onboard including government official and their families stationed in London, and the British warship Niger. The convoy PQ-13 was fleeing German attacks when it ended up in a British minefield.
To put things in perspective, Iceland lost more men percent wise during the Second World War than Great Britain or Germany. But being a fishing nation that loss just like another bad gale.
Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic, shipping therefore a lifeline, that's how it was settled before the year 1000 and without goods from Europe the settlers would likely have died out.
During the middle Ages shipping became marginal and problematic. When the British fleet made it in to the Copenhagen harbor, during the embargo against Napoleon and destroyed the Danish fleet burning half the city with it, things did not get any better as Iceland was a colony of Denmark for centuries. Iceland got its independence in 1944 with the help of the Americans.
An important ingredient in the independence movement was to get control over shipping, one of the first mayor companies in Iceland the shipping company "Eimskip" owned and loved by the nation, given the nickname "the nations wish child". My great uncle Mr. Thorsteinn Kjarval later traveled around the country in the early nineteenth century and bought shares from farmers with moneys earned as a guide on British trawlers fishing around Iceland. In the end he had enough shares to affect decisions within the company. Not a bad feat for someone literally given up into slavery as a child, his parents unable to feed him. Not unusual at that time, the poverty so extreme and grinding. He later gave his fortune to a home for aging sailors, now an important nursing home in Iceland, Hrafnista.
In the eighties, another Icelandic shipping company, "Hafskip" put up serious competition to Eimskip, ending in criminal indictments being handed to the owners and the company forced into bankruptcy. Most of the indictments were later thrown out of court. But by then Eimskip had absorbed the assets of Hafskip at a fraction of its value.
Flying is also an important business in Iceland. The first commercial flight from Iceland to Scotland in July 1945 now 60 years ago. In the beginning Flugfélag Íslands (Iceland Air) and Loftleiðir were the biggest companies, one concentrating on domestic flights the other mostly on international, especially America-Luxemburg with a stopover in Iceland.
In the seventies they started competing, ending with Loftleiðir being forced into bankruptcy and its assets absorbed by Flugfélag Íslands. Some in my family still feel strongly about this, think they were literally robbed with the help of the Icelandic government.
Nobody should underestimate us Icelanders, the descendents of people who brought whole armies into the heart of Europe, forcing countries to pay enormous sums (danegeld) on a annual basis so as not to be sacked.
Norwegians, Danes and even Swedes might occasionally have piddled into the Atlantic, but most of them walked all the way from where they came after the ice age and never came near the open sea., Finns obviously because of their languages came from another solar system according to other scandinavians. All Icelanders are from people who came in oceangoing ships, quite a risky venture in the year 800, something to have in mind when trying to understand our investment strategies today.
Our ancestors might have been thieves from Scandinavia and slaves from the British Isles but I say this, only the best. At those shipping rates the rest were left behind.
With best regards Ingimundur Kjarval
To Index in English here.
Delhi N.Y. Aug. 1. 2005.
To whom this may concern:
It came to my attention you had a story on the Icelandic company Baugur Group and the criminal indictments handed out to its owners by the chief of police in Iceland.
Reasonable indictments or political corruption? It might be helpful to look at other cases involving these same political powers to see how powerful Mr. David Oddsson has been in Icelandic society for decades and how he has used those powers.
My name is Mr. Ingimundur Kjarval, grandson of the late Mr. Johannes Kjarval considered in his time the most important artist painter of his time in Iceland, a national treasure.
My family is pursuing a case against the city of Reykjavik. In 1968 the city emptied Mr. Kjarval's studio and took from it more than 5000 artworks, two months before my grandfather was committed to the city mental hospital where he died in April of 1972.
The city always claimed he gave his belongings to the city even though no paperwork or testimony was ever produced. The case is to start in lower court in Reykjavik the 13th of September.
I could name instances of corruption (in my mind) concerning that case. Mr. David Oddsson was mayor of the city of Reykjavik from 1982 till he became primeminister and heavely involed in this afair.
It is my firm conviction that Mr. Oddsson when mayor violated my families human rights in 1982 when the family hired the attorney Mr. Baldur Guðlaugsson to write an opinion. My mother has testified she was threatened not to pursue this case shortly after my fathers death. I believe Mr. Davið Oddsson could be prosecuted for human rights violations for what he did in 1982.
But the most obvious and blatant corruption in my mind would have to be that the Icelandic state radio & Television (a "sister station" to the BBC and almost as old) has as of today never had a news story on this.
When I reported my findings in 2002 to the chief of police in a letter with documents and asked for an investigation, I was ignored. He did not even file my request. Only when I complained to another authority did his office formally decline my request and give it the number 006-2002-113.
You can find more information on my website: www.Kjarval.blogspot.com or contact our lawyer in Iceland, Mr. Kristinn Bjarnarson tel: 588 3666 if he is not on summer vacation, everything seems to shut down in Iceland midsummer. I am also sending you the summons translated by a professional translator.
I for one do not trust the Icelandic justice system, therefore this letter, I consider it controlled by the two political parties now in power for decades. The two last appointments to the Supreme Court were close to Mr. Oddsson, one a relative, the other a very close friend and for many years Mr. Oddssons political "pitbull", both appointments drawing heavy protests from the legal community.
I do not know much about these indictments or for that matter about the company Baugur Group, but I do know that Mr. David Oddsson and the chief of Police Mr. Haraldur Johannessen are very close. Mr. Haraldur Johannessen is the son of a former editor to the Morgunblaðið, a political daily that supports Mr. David Oddsson and his party, for many years the biggest paper in Iclenad by far.
That paper fought fiercely for a law Mr. Oddsson tried very hard to have passed last year to curtail news media owned by Baugur Group, the only law ever vetoed by the president of Iceland. Mr. Oddsson then publicly accused the president of being in the pocket of Baugur Group.
Now the government wants to change the constitution for the only purpose it seems, to take that the veto power from the president. After the presidents veto, the law was automatically to go to a referendum but was instead canceled because it would surly have been defeated, the canceling an unconstitutional act according to many.
Another fact, the father to the chief of Police has for decades been on a governmental honorary salary as a "poet", effectively paying his retirement. Recently Mr. Halldór Ásgrímsson the current prime minister had the government buy all cartoons " Mr. Sigmund" ever made for the Morgunblaðið as a daily cartoonist at the paper, thereby also paying for his retirement it seems. What the government wants with these old cartoons a mystery to me.
To understand Icelandic society one must know how powerful a force Morgunblaðið has been for almost a century. Recently it got into financial difficulties when it invested in a new printing plant as it entered into fierce competition with a free daily the "Fréttablaðið" owned mostly by Baugur Group. Recently Morgunblaðið was able to sell their old building with the added bonus of having a new office building put up next to their new printing plant included in the price. I do not know details on this deal, but in Iceland it seems a handy way to buy political influence, sell real-estate low to the right party and buy high from same.
Recently Mr. Jón Ólafsson a former media mogul in Iceland (relative to Iceland), but on the wrong side of Mr. Oddsson, sold real-estate to the city at too high a price according to Ólafssons enemies. How that deal was to be dirty beyond me, but the accusation loud and persistent, showing that in Iceland selling or buying property for other gain than money is done.
Mr. Oddsson said publicly Mr. Ólafsson was nothing but a thief, Mr. Ólafsson then taking Mr. Oddsson to court for defamation and the court finding Mr. Oddsson´s words null and void but no court costs, fines or damages, a unique verdict.
Mr. Olafsson then sold his assets in Iceland to Baugur Group and fled to England, Mr.Oddsson non too happy his "criminal" got away. Mr. Olafsson is not the only Icelander in exile, others even in Mr. Oddssons own party have found it difficult to live in Iceland against the leaders will.
A couple of seasons ago Mr. Davíð Oddsson, then prime minister, was seen very upset and somewhat disheveled at a mayor bank in Reykjavik taking out all his money. In his mind an executive at that bank was getting to much compensation. Mr. Oddsson was not able to start a run on the bank as seemed his intention even though some took out their funds, but the executive Mr. Einarsson hurriedly reduced his take. This just to show how well Mr. Oddsson keeps us all on the straight and narrow.
A couple of years ago Mr. Davið Oddsson then prime minister accused Baugur Group of having tried to bribe him in a London hotel room. No investigation was started and ever since the people of Iceland have lived with this knowledge, not knowing if the prime minister was lying or telling the truth. This accusation just sits there, nobody does anything, least of all the chief of police. One would think it a serous crime to try to bribe a prime minister.
Recently a play from a short story by Mr. Oddsson was produced by the State television, directed by an old and close friend of his Mr. Hrafn Gunnlaugsson at enormous costs. I haven't seen the play but understand it is about a small beurocrat taking his power seriously. That the head of the state radio and Television station was just appointed ambassador to Canada this fall by Mr. Oddsson probably just another indication that Iceland is small and few hands on deck.
A close friend and political ally of Mr. Oddsson, Mr. Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurason was recently accused of plagiarism from a text of the Icelandic Nobel laureate Laxness. That trial stranded this spring because of a ruling over technicalities, some consider that decision corrupt, that decision now for the Supreme court in Iceland.
One thing for sure, Mr. Davið Oddsson's reign was never bland, his nickname "King Dabbi" an apt one that stuck ever since high school. The question, is it over? Today in his mid fifties when other politicians are still on their way up he has allready been the longest sitting prime minister in Iceland ever.
But Mr. Oddsons health is in question. Shortly before he stepped down as primeminister, his thyroid was removed in an emergency operation, given rise to speculation repeated government crises at the end of his reign were mostly glandular.
In this contest it should be known political parties in Iceland have no duty to show their finances, accusations going back and forth that different interests are buying influence, Baugur Group said to own the opposition leader Mrs. Gísladóttir and a web or an "octopus" connecting Sjálfstæðisflokkinn (Mr. Oddsson's party) to different companies and interests. The possibility that these indictments are little more than the octopus fighting back because Baugur Group is cutting its' tentacles a possibility, but octopi run deep and are hard to see. One thing for sure, Baugur Group is changing the way businesses is done in Iceland.
It could be helpful to look into a fraud case wherein Icelandic oil companies fixed prices to customers for years if not decades, many of the owners being in Mr. Oddson´s political party and one of the them owning a big share in the Morgunblaðið. The justice minister at that time Mrs. Sólveig Pétursdóttir was married to an oil company executive but did not resign. The chief of police Mr. Johannessen dragged that investigation out until most of the indictments expired and then the government lowered the fines eventually handed out.
Many in Iceland consider this price fixing scheme the robbery of the century. Mr. Oddsson said it pointless to levy fines, would only be rolled over on customers. A statement that puzzled many because Mr. Oddsson is an attorney by education.
I of course do not know if Baugur Group or their owners are guilty of anything, have no knowledge nor expertise in that field. Accounting scandals do happen in Iceland, recently an executive at the State telephone company "Síminn" embezzled enormous funds in an attempt (if I understand right, this all extremely murky and underinvestigated by the chief of police) to start a television station to compete with Baugur Group media. Those involved seem to have walked away with light or no sentences.
In my opinion Baugur Group will not get a fair trial in Iceland. Too many judges have been appointed jugdes by the powers that be, or will be appointed out of the ranks of lawyers. In a small society like Iceland a legal person being a lawyer or a judge has to pick sides. And now there is only one side, Baugur Group to be sacked. Even though the English jury system is supposed to be a heritage from the vikings there is no jury in Iceland, all cases decided by appointed judges.
The possibility these indictments are nothing more than blackmail gone bad should be seriously considered. Blackmail by jilted persons out for revenge that are beeing being used by the chief of police.
The attorney in the beginning for the person supposedly delivering most of the evidence, is the same person appointed to the Supreme court by Mr. Oddsson. Maybe that proofs only Iceland is a small country, but maybe it proofs something else. The accuser (informer, blackmailer?) said to one of the defendants in English after a business dispute, his exact words: " I am going to take you down". When that was reported to the police as a threat to his life, no testimony was taken. The other person a woman, lived with one of the defendants and has expressed her self publicly in bitter terms.
I will try to stop here but must add a couple of stories for dessert. Recently two state banks were sold to private investors, accusations now surfacing those sales were manipulated by both Mr. Davið Oddsson now the foreign minister then prime minister and Mr. Halldór Ásgrimsson then foreign minister and now prime minister. I know this is confusing, but they swapped ministries in an unlawful (in my opinion) deal. This you can verify by talking to Mrs. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, the new and hopefully better leader of the opposition. She has made these bank sales an issue and promised to follow them up this fall when Iceland goes back to work. The most serious issue being that the prime ministers family ended up with a portion of one bank. The prime minister is also under the accusation that he as the minister of fisheries in the eighties put together a "fishing or quota system" where in his own family ended up with fishing quotas.
But I have to say, the biggest reason for this mess is an extremely weak political opposition, any thing and every thing goes by while they run from one sideshow to the next, the latest when Iraq was liberated, attacking both Mr. Ásgrímsson and Mr. Oddsson, as if they had invaded on their own without any help from their friends Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. The opposition even bought a whole page advertisement in the New York Times to denounce America, Britain and their own government for having freed Iraq, thereby giving the Icelandic voter no chose, or what reasonable persons wants to be ruled by nuts?
The political opposition in Iceland has literally been shaped by anti Americanism since the second world war, most of the effort effort going into fighting the American military base in Iceland, set up when Churchill and Roosevelt forged their secret agreement so America could take over protection of the North Atlantic well before The United Sates entered the second world war. The United States sending troops to Iceland so the Brits could pull theirs from Iceland and send to North Africa. The Brits occupied Iceland knowing the Germans were on the way.
Some times I feel Osama must have studied in Iceland as a young man just like Pol Pot in France. Or where else could he have learned the fraise "America the great Satan"? Recently a Russian warship came on a courtesy visit to Reykjavik, firing a ceremonial salvo over the City when an Icelandic head of state came on board. The group against the base "Herstöðvarandstæðingar", a powerful leftist political movement for decades, had to be reminded it technically was a "peace movement" before it put out a bland statement of disapproval. If this had been an American warship a more violent response would have been on the agenda.
This Russian warship had a sad duty to perform, from Reykjavik it went on to the north coast of Iceland to remember the convoy PQ-13. There in July 6th 1942 four American freighters perished, the Russian ship Rodina with 200 Russians onboard including government official and their families stationed in London, and the British warship Niger. The convoy PQ-13 was fleeing German attacks when it ended up in a British minefield.
To put things in perspective, Iceland lost more men percent wise during the Second World War than Great Britain or Germany. But being a fishing nation that loss just like another bad gale.
Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic, shipping therefore a lifeline, that's how it was settled before the year 1000 and without goods from Europe the settlers would likely have died out.
During the middle Ages shipping became marginal and problematic. When the British fleet made it in to the Copenhagen harbor, during the embargo against Napoleon and destroyed the Danish fleet burning half the city with it, things did not get any better as Iceland was a colony of Denmark for centuries. Iceland got its independence in 1944 with the help of the Americans.
An important ingredient in the independence movement was to get control over shipping, one of the first mayor companies in Iceland the shipping company "Eimskip" owned and loved by the nation, given the nickname "the nations wish child". My great uncle Mr. Thorsteinn Kjarval later traveled around the country in the early nineteenth century and bought shares from farmers with moneys earned as a guide on British trawlers fishing around Iceland. In the end he had enough shares to affect decisions within the company. Not a bad feat for someone literally given up into slavery as a child, his parents unable to feed him. Not unusual at that time, the poverty so extreme and grinding. He later gave his fortune to a home for aging sailors, now an important nursing home in Iceland, Hrafnista.
In the eighties, another Icelandic shipping company, "Hafskip" put up serious competition to Eimskip, ending in criminal indictments being handed to the owners and the company forced into bankruptcy. Most of the indictments were later thrown out of court. But by then Eimskip had absorbed the assets of Hafskip at a fraction of its value.
Flying is also an important business in Iceland. The first commercial flight from Iceland to Scotland in July 1945 now 60 years ago. In the beginning Flugfélag Íslands (Iceland Air) and Loftleiðir were the biggest companies, one concentrating on domestic flights the other mostly on international, especially America-Luxemburg with a stopover in Iceland.
In the seventies they started competing, ending with Loftleiðir being forced into bankruptcy and its assets absorbed by Flugfélag Íslands. Some in my family still feel strongly about this, think they were literally robbed with the help of the Icelandic government.
Nobody should underestimate us Icelanders, the descendents of people who brought whole armies into the heart of Europe, forcing countries to pay enormous sums (danegeld) on a annual basis so as not to be sacked.
Norwegians, Danes and even Swedes might occasionally have piddled into the Atlantic, but most of them walked all the way from where they came after the ice age and never came near the open sea., Finns obviously because of their languages came from another solar system according to other scandinavians. All Icelanders are from people who came in oceangoing ships, quite a risky venture in the year 800, something to have in mind when trying to understand our investment strategies today.
Our ancestors might have been thieves from Scandinavia and slaves from the British Isles but I say this, only the best. At those shipping rates the rest were left behind.
With best regards Ingimundur Kjarval