For those of you who don't know, Iceland is a small island nation geographically located in Europe, Northwest of the British Isles.
Iceland was also one of the countries that was hardest hit by the recent global financial crisis. The country proud of its film industry (which has the highest number of films produced per capita) that also produced pretty prominent artists (Björk, Sigur Rós, among others), it felt that being a participant in the EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement) would keep it cushioned from much of the financial blow. Alas, it proved untrue for the island nation, resulting in massive public protests (people threw yogurt and snowballs at the parliamentary building, oh my!). Currently, Iceland's public debt exceeds the country's GDP by over five times! What does this mean? Bank failures of the three largest Icelandic banks (Glitnir, Kaupthing, and Landsbanki) means the country's banks have amassed a debt of €50 billion. Not that big if you compare it to the debt of the United States. BUT, here's the kicker: Iceland has only approximately 320,000 people! It's barely larger than the city of Strasbourg, population-wise! So a country with 320,000 people and €50 billion dollars in bank debts means that each Icelander owes €160,000!!! That's also several times greater than Iceland's annual GDP, which is estimated to be €8.5 billion.
Discontent Icelanders continued to riot to a point that eventually the police had to step in, tear gassing thousands of protesters. Quite a shock for an otherwise extremely sparsely populated, quiet, and peaceful nation. Last year, amidst public disapproval of the government's handling of the economic failure, Valgerður Sverrisdóttir, an EU-friendly prime minister was elected, replacing the previous Euroskeptic government. The result? Iceland applied to join the EU and its candidature is currently being reviewed and once it passes the referendum back in Reykjavik (Iceland's capital), it will most likely be the EU's newest member. Appropriately, there was a map caricature I stumbled upon that demonstrates the EU's overpowering of Iceland.
Can you identify all of the countries of the EU that correspond to the "body parts" of the giant crushing Iceland?
Today's Random Quiz:
| You Paint the World with Calming Colors |
 Your friends can always count on you to be competent. You are good at anything you do. You are a truly successful person ... though sometimes it's hard for you to appreciate your success. You are quite cautious and conservative. You like to weigh risks carefully. |
