Things just keep getting worse for Iceland, the western country that's been hardest hit by the global credit crunch.
Iceland's banking sector has collapsed. Caught up in that debacle is a pile of money belonging to British savers and investors who did business with the failed banks -- the Daily Telegraph says it could run to as much as 20 billion pounds. Gordon Brown, the UK's prime minister, wants the money returned and is using anti-terrorist legislation to seize Icelandic assets located in Britain. Iceland's government says this as British "bullying of a small neighbour" (and fellow NATO member).
Recalling periodic tiffs between Iceland and the UK over fishing rights in the 1970s (the so-called "Cod War"), some British wags are referring to the latest tensions as the "Wad War" –- as in "wads of cash" at stake.
The Iceland government's international standing has taken an additional hit following revelations that Arni Mathiesen, the finance minister, is an expert in fish biology rather than economics. Widespread loss of confidence in the country's financial future and its political elite is also not doing wonders for the mental health of everyday Icelanders. On Friday, a Reuters report revealed that Iceland has opened up a special trauma counselling centre where people feeling stressed following all the bad news can seek help.
"We have to take into account that there are thousands, dozens of thousands of individuals in Icelandic society who have been hit by what has been taking place over the last week or so," Dr. Engilbert Sigurdsson from Landspitali University Hospital told Reuters. He is the psychiatrist who is overseeing the centre.
Here's one more measure of the fear gripping Iceland -- Bloomberg News reports that consumers are "stocking up on food as the collapse of the banking system threatens to cut the island off from imports. (link: ) Prime Minister Geir Haarde is urging people to go fishing to forget their problems. And one Icelander says it's a good thing the country is so amply suppluied with fish, because everyone is so broke they'll have to get used to catching their food.
That trauma centre must be busy indeed.
National Post
Neil Hrab is a former National Post editorial writer, who has also served as a communications advisor to the federal government.
