Russia's role in rescuing Iceland is apparently to drive the US and UK mad with jealousy:
When Iceland announced it was seeking a $6bn (£4bn) loan from Russia to help rescue its crisis-ravaged economy, some in the NATO alliance, of which Iceland is a member, took fright.They suspected that Russia was acting to further its geopolitical interests in the region in the guise of a white knight.
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For its part, Iceland said Russia was not its first choice for saviour – they had expected significant help from the US and the UK.“Considering the fact that many of our friends were not willing to help us, we had to discuss [the loan] with Russia,” Prime Minister Geir Haarde told Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat.
Iceland took particular offence at Britain’s use of anti-terrorism legislation to freeze assets of banks operating in the UK.
As Gauti Kristmannsson, an associate professor of translation studies at the University of Iceland, put it, “We thought we had friends, in Europe and in the United States.”
“The disappointment with our old ‘friends’ is great,” he wrote in the New York Times.