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Iceland Defies the Anglo-Dutch Financial Oligarchy

Iceland, one of the smallest countries in the world, has declared that the will of the people comes before the will of the oligarchy. In a truly historic moment, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson refused on Jan. 5, to sign a bill that would pay the British and Dutch governments almost 5 billion euros to compensate depositors who had invested in the private Internet bank, Icesave. That figure represents 40% of the Icelandic GDP. Rather than crush the country under debt, Grimsson decided to put the issue to a national referendum, and let the citizens decide. He was thus responding to a mass strike process that has swept throughout the population, almost a quarter of whom (56,000) signed a petition, calling on him to veto the bill.

Referencing the unprecedented number of signatories, Grimsson declared: "It is the cornerstone of the constitutional structure of the Republic of Iceland that the people are the supreme judge of the validity of the law. Under the Constitution, which was passed on the foundation of the Republic in 1944, and which over 90% of the nation approved in a referendum, the power which formerly rested with the Althingi [Parliament] and the King was transferred to the people. It is then the responsibility of the President of the Republic to ensure that the nation can exercise this right."

On hearing the news, Lyndon LaRouche issued a statement entitled "Brave Iceland!": "It goes virtually without saying, that I am proud of Iceland and its President."

The referendum is to decide on the fate of the bill adopted by the Althingi (33 to 30), on Dec. 30, which replaced an earlier bill which was also unjust, but did include amendments which would have protected the country's sovereignty and economic well-being. If, as expected, the upcoming referendum invalidates the bill, the previous one will stand, but will also be challenged.

The Foreign Ministers of both Latvia and Lithuania, two other small countries that have taken a beating from the international financial oligarchy, defended the President's decision to put the issue to a referendum.

In contrast, the governments of Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, all of which are monarchies, denounced Grimsson's decision, demanding that Iceland "live up to its responsibilities", and surrender its sovereignty, or not receive a cent from the international community, including the IMF. Some have warned that Iceland's entry into the European Union would be blocked.

In reality, these are hollow threats. The private Icelandic banks that collapsed were nothing more than appendages of the City of London, and Icesave traded in Great Britain and the Netherlands, under the supervision of those countries authorities. The entire collapse is now under criminal investigation, including the fact that several of the top investors in the bank were British businessmen.

The unilateral decision of the British and Dutch governments to pay off the depositors in 2008 was aimed at covering up the issue of the hundreds of billions of euros of taxpayers' money being used to bail out the banks and reward bonuses to their executives. International legal experts had commented that if the case was brought before a court the British and Dutch would loose. The obvious fear is that if Iceland stands up and wins, that others are sure to follow, including the Baltic countries or Greece.

Iceland's fighting spirit has become infectious, judging by the comments of readers in the British press, many of whom not only applaud the Icelanders, but envy them for not being members of the undemocratic European Union.

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