ask the Icelandic people if there is a credit crunch...
going to RUSSIA hat in hand is like asking Tony Soprano for a loan... you better be hurting pretty damn bad befor you even CONTEMPLATE it...
Quote:
Geopolitical Diary: A Russian Financial Power Play in Iceland
October 8, 2008
The Russians are coming. Only this time they are invited and by Icelanders of all people.
Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde confirmed Tuesday that indeed the NATO member state and staunch U.S. ally against the Soviet Union during the Cold War had asked for a $5.43 billion (4 billion euro) loan from its “new friend” Moscow and that it did so because it found no aid coming from its Western allies. Iceland’s economy has been devastated by the global credit crunch that destroyed its banking sector and currency. Icelandic banks have been either nationalized or propped up by the state, but the krona (Iceland’s currency) is falling precipitously. The Russian loan may have staved off a speculative run on the krona that ultimately saves the country from complete bankruptcy.
It was hard not to notice the bitter and wounded tone of Haarde, particularly when explaining why Reykjavik turned to Moscow for help in the face of rejection from his country’s equally financially stressed Western allies. That tone may soon be repeated by a number of countries as the financial crisis picks off the weakest and shakiest economies, a tone that will certainly be welcomed by the Kremlin looking to extend its influence globally.
Of course, the game of handing out money to allies in exchange for influence is not new to Moscow. The Soviet Union based its foreign policy in large part on buying allies (particularly in the Middle East and Africa), a strategy that to an extent helped bankrupt Moscow and bring the Cold War to an end. Thus far, post-Soviet Russia has been extremely careful and frugal — even the Iceland financial package is a loan and not a grant — in part because of its experiences and lessons from the Soviet era and in part because there was not any money to be shared with potential allies in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse.
..... <<more from Stratfor....>>>>
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