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October 13, 2008

Who's Your Buddy? Who's Your Pal?

And who could turn out to be your worst nightmare?

Iceland, with IMF deal in works, turns to Russia

Icelandic officials are in Moscow on Tuesday for talks on an emergency loan that could be worth billions of euros, the country's latest attempt to raise cash to help save its economy from collapse.

...An official from Iceland's central bank said a delegation from the bank and government left for Russia on Monday to begin talks on the emergency loan, a move that has raised questions about Russia's motives and what price Moscow might extract.


Putin makes Tony Soprano look like a rank amateur.

Say "goodnight", Iceland.

Posted by tree hugging sister at October 13, 2008 10:51 PM

Comments

There's a reason why we had military bases in Iceland (up until 2006, I mean). Putin knows this.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at October 13, 2008 11:54 PM

Putin won't be able to be quite as much of a danger if the price of oil continues to drop.

Posted by: Dave J at October 14, 2008 12:11 AM

Dave, he'll just find other means of funding his plans. Russia is re-emerging as a serious military power, and Putin isn't likely to let little things like an economic crisis slow him down.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at October 14, 2008 12:38 AM

Let's be clear, Russia never ceased being a serious military power. They just stopped being aggressive for a while.

True, they aren't as powerful as before, but they never stopped being able to throw a pretty heavy punch.

It's not surprising that Iceland would turn to Russia for loans. They have long had a strong anti-US attitude, even when I lived there back in the mid-seventies. They used to buy their gasoline from the USSR back then, too. It was pretty bad quality, always a lot of water getting into your car's gas tank.


Posted by: Skyler at October 14, 2008 09:16 AM

Red Route One is open for business. Time to tune up the SOSUS net.

Posted by: mojo at October 14, 2008 11:56 AM

Skyler, we can agree to disagree on Russia's changing military power status. The rest, no argument.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at October 14, 2008 12:15 PM

Red Route One is open for business. Time to tune up the SOSUS net.

Unfortunately, the SOSUS net needed US forces in Iceland for it to work.

The Russians may end up successfully executing Operation Polar Glory without firing a shot.

Posted by: Poohbah at October 16, 2008 11:47 PM