Takeover by the Kremlin?

The Stockholm-based daily Svenska Dagbladet asks who stands to gain from Russia giving Iceland a loan: "What happens if Iceland gets its huge loan from Russia and then can't pay it back? Will the Kremlin take over this strategic island? Iceland is a Nato member but it lacks its own armed forces and the last American soldier left Keflavik two years ago. This would be an interesting case for international bankruptcy law. States and rulers have often defaulted on payments, but it was mostly others who suffered the economic consequences ... As an open Western economy Iceland cannot run away from its debts. However, now it's not Iceland as a state but its expansionary banks that have borrowed money. If the banks had gone bankrupt the assets would have been divided up among the debtors."

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