Tiny Iceland takes on credit card giants in Wikileaks flap

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Source: Digital Journal



Tiny Iceland takes on credit card giants in Wikileaks flap Dec 12 2010

Representatives from Mastercard and Visa were called before a parliamentary committee to explain the credit companies’ refusal to process donations to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

“People wanted to know on what legal grounds the ban was taken, but no one could answer it,” said Robert Marshall, chairman of Iceland’s allsherjanefnd, according to the Reykjavik Grapevine.
Vidar Thorkelsson, CEO of Valitor, which operates Visa and Mastercard in Iceland, said the Icelandic branch had nothing to do with the decision.

Meanwhile, DataCell, the Icelandic-Swiss web host is reporting that donations to Wikileaks have increased in recent days, despite the actions of Mastercard and Visa. The web host has been processing direct bank transfers to help facilitate the donations.

...
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301340#ixzz17ufl66Gq



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301340

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A tiny country is big in heart, makes US seem shriveled in comparison.

[dipsydoodle]

1. DataCell are already suing

what I believe to be both companies anyway.

[JDPriestly]

2. Iceland is not as dependent on oil as we are.

That's the big difference. They use a lot of alternative energy -- geothermal energy.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. interesting point!

[primavera]

15. Virtually no one is

We consume about three times as much energy per capita as any other country, save the oil producing countries themselves.

[valerief]

27. I wonder how much we consume if you exclude our military. They're the biggest consumers. nt

[guzzie]

30. No you consume more than any other nation per capita - period.

[guzzie]

29. Every country is dependant on oil - seriously WTF ?

And there are literally dozens who are entirely dependent on oil - and almost 200 hundred you are dependent in some way - but there is not one single country on earth who behave like the US dose in international relations - oil dependence is absolutely no excuse.

[freeplessinseattle]

40. re-read, then react

"Iceland is not as dependent on oil as we are."

Nowhere does the OP suggest they don't depend on oil at all. Being less dependent is a feat in itself though.

[PatrynXX]

48. yeah there's a good reason for that

1. could exercise yourself walking across the country and 2. they have to provide their own power.

course one could also go to Sealand... ( http://www.sealandgov.org/ ) not sure if Juilian wants to spend his time couped up on a country that could catch fire any moment

[LawnKorn]

3. K&R

[aquart]

4. We crippled the world with our financial crap.

There seems to be some lingering resentment.

[On the Road]

17. Well, Iceland Isn't without Blame by a Long Shot

The 2008–2010 Icelandic financial crisis is a major ongoing economic crisis in Iceland that involves the collapse of all three of the country's major commercial banks following their difficulties in refinancing their short-term debt and a run on deposits in the United Kingdom. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland’s banking collapse is the largest suffered by any country in economic history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932010_Icelandic_financial_crisis

[truedelphi]

21. But how much of that financial crisis would have occurred

Without their "financial experts" borrowing the notions of our "financial experts?"

[On the Road]

35. That May be True,

but they're still financial experts. They're responsible for their actions. They even pushed the Icelandic economy to greater extremes than the US. Most US experts were following the trend also.

[ExPatLeftist]

23. It is important to keep in mind...

...that this was the work of a handful of individuals. Money-grubbing bankers and a corrupt government - and the rest of us our left holding the bill. Perhaps a niggling point to make, but "Iceland" did not do this. I think we tend to oversimplify far too much when attributing actions and even feelings to nations, when they apply only to individuals.

[On the Road]

34. From What I Know,

I think the Icelandic banks are probably more to blame than US banks, since leverage, property values, and general bubble economics were worse in Iceland than in the US. But the government was less culpable, in that they took greater ownership and more aggressive policies once the crisis broke.

In both cases, small groups of people were instrumental in creating the crisis.

[defendandprotect]

45. Exactly ....

[sabrina 1]

49. Yes, but Iceland is now leading the way on how to deal

with the corruption that caused their problems. They have nationalized their banks, starting prosecuting their former leaders, have introduced legislation that would forced the Banks, who caused the problems to forgive all debt especially wrt foreclosures and are attempting to find the money that was spirited out of the country.

They threw out their corrupt, greedy, rightwing government and are now on the road back to recovery. They are a small country, the first to fall and the first to start emerging from the crisis. And the first to get rid of a government that was in the pocket of the Multi-Nationals.

I hope governments across Europe, not only fall, but that many of the corrupt greedy leaders are not allowed to go on, as Tony Blair has, to greater riches and a life of luxury, still pulling strings even though out of office. I hope like Iceland, countries will start prosecuting these crooks who were instrumental in aiding and abetting OUR criminal government.

I think there will be some big changes and the Globalists who care about no country, are scared especially with all the revelations drip, drip, dripping from the leaks published by Wikileaks showing them all up as weak, conniving, greedy, power-hungry people who cared little for the people who elected them.

[asolarski]

54. Who is to blame?

Iceland or Iceland's corrupt banking regulators and greedy bankers? They are not one and the same. Iceland's banks were deregulated in 2001 and the rest is history.

[molly77]

18. aquart

love the understatement.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Indeed. USA =

[earcandle]

7. Dear Emma!

Dear Emma

Enjoy!

[Joe Bacon]

6. And what would our Congress do?

Well, we know what our ass-kissing Whorehouse of Representatives would do...kiss the asses of the CEOs who run Mastercard and Visa...

[InvisibleTouch]

8. I applaud anyone who takes on monsters. Go Iceland! n/t

[redirish28]

9. Iceland...The 22nd century "America"? Standing up for what is right and justed?

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[EFerrari]

10. Wkileaks exposed the corruption that led to the banks crashing in Iceland.

Iceland will support Wikileaks.

[Jefferson23]

11. K&R

[ExPatLeftist]

13. Iceland: We've got our problems...

...but standing up to Goliaths ain't one of them.

[laughingliberal]

14. Bravo! Courage like that is inspiring. nt

[Sherman A1]

16. Yes,

:kick:

[SoapBox]

19. Woo-HOO! I agree...major BRAVO to Iceland!

[madmax]

20. Bravo Iceland nt k&r

[marylanddem]

22. Since I donated via mastercard

about a week ago - before they shut off donations - my credit card has been rejected twice (though there's plenty of credit on it) - When I called mastercard - both times - the wikileaks donation was mentioned. The first time it was called "suspicious activity" and the second - no explanation. I was assured it would not happen again but I feel like Big Brother has his eyes on me...
I just wonder if others have had this experience.

[Ruperto31]

31. You can still use credit cards donate to Wikileaks through Xipwire

https://xipwire.com/give/wl

[midnight]

24. The fact that they have no explanation for refusing to process

donations says it all....

[cbdo2007]

25. I don't understand why people think a bank can't decide what you can do with it's money.

They aren't saying you can't contribute your own money. They're just saying you can't borrow their money to contribute with.

[cosmicone]

26. The bank cannot pick and choose how one spends one's unsecured credit line

What if they said you can't contribute to DU? It is not THEIR money ... it is the card holders' money. In effect, when a bank issues you a $10,000 line of credit, you have signed a promissory note which is the bank's asset and not the money itself ... the money is yours.

For banks to have this kind of control would create a second de facto government where they can say you can't shop at certain stores or buy certain magazines or certain products.

[cbdo2007]

28. The banks and retailers already have control over how you use their money

because not all retailers can accept credit cards unless they pay a fee. At Costco, they have arranged a lower rate to pay with American Express to exclusively accept American Express cards. You may argue that this is the retailers decision but in this case, American Express is giving them a better rate for the exclusivity as well, so it is the bank deciding you can't use Visa or Mastercard there.

I can't use my Visa or Mastercard to purchase from a local artists studio here in Kansas City because she can't afford their fees. By charging a fee for a retailer to use their service, they already control which stores you can and cannot shop at.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

37. NO, in that case the retailer controls how i can pay them. not the bank.

the bank owes me whatever money is in my checking and savings account and should not prevent me from spending it, as i choose. a retailer can prevent me from spending money in a certain form, but not the bank.

its not their money. its my money.

[rasputinkhlyst]

38. Nope banks control the FEE for the merchant and consumer

... and the line of credit. If the merchant does not want to pay the bank fee the merchant can opt out of using the card, and if the consumer still desires to purchase from that merchant, the purchase can be done via a cash advance, should the consumer so desire. Therefore, the control of whom one purchases from is not absolute, although the upper limit of how much you may purchase is set.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

55. That's really tortured logic. -nt

[Ghost Dog]

51. That sounds right, and very well-expressesd,

also.

[Fokker Trip]

47. Yeah...thats it

You just keep defending those banks you little Authoritarian you.

[Ghost Dog]

50. Hmm. You do have a point, there...

... if you're still silly or desperate enough to use usurous credit, rather than direct debit cards. Or, you know, straight cash.

[Jefferson23]

32. Good for them..excellent. n/t

[egoclothes]

33. YO Icelanders. Good on you!

[xchrom]

36. Recommend

[pleah]

39. K&R

[colsohlibgal]

41. You Go Iceland!

Congratulations Iceland, you've moved way up on my list of favorite nations. As old HST would say/do, give 'em Hell!

[Shining Jack]

42. So freaking K&R!

Tiny land of the free and home of the brave for real!

[Arrowhead2k1]

43. I love Iceland, K&R but...

Damn, they've got to learn how to spell stuff so that normal people can pronounce them. allsherjanefnd... Reykjavik?? Gibberish to me. :rofl:

[russspeakeasy]

44. They are frozen, but they have balls.

[defendandprotect]

46. US government is "shriveled" because it now represents only elites/corporates ....

reverting back to its earliest days -- cruel, brutal, violence -- crimes and theft --

[myrna minx]

52. K&R n/t

[VeryConfused]

53. Valiant effort, but I think ultimately futile