Iceland, Greece-- And Financial Terrorism

Thursday Roland asked, facetiously, whether Wolfgang Schäuble and the German and Wall Street banksters were going to make Greece sell any islands or give away naming rights to sites like the Parthenon. I'm not sure how long before Lucas Papademos persuades Athenians it wouldn't be so terrible to have a nice, tasteful neon sign up the hill that says Deutsche Bank AG begrüßt Sie auf dem mächtigen Parthenon with a proper translation for the local slaves, of course, if they're ever given a day off:


But... more street-level gangsters than the banksters, apparently aren't willing to wait. The banksters may be divvying up the isles but "armed robbers have stolen dozens of artefacts from a Greek museum dedicated to the history of the early Olympics."

Two masked men smashed display cabinets and took more than 60 objects after overpowering a guard at the museum in Olympia, officials said.

The town's mayor said the items, mostly bronze and clay statuettes, were of "incalculable" value.

Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos has tendered his resignation, but it has so far not been accepted.

He has gone to the site which is on a forested hilltop in western Greece.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says the robbery-- the second major museum theft this year-- raises fresh questions about museum security... Last autumn a senior member of staff at the museum wrote to the government warning that budget cuts had reduced staff there to a point where the museum's security could no longer be ensured.

...Greece's culture ministry, like most state departments, has seen its budget cut as part of austerity measures imposed by the government.

In January, a Picasso painting, given by the artist himself, was stolen from the Athens National Gallery, along with a Mondrian painting and a sketch by Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia.

A unionist with the culture minister said museums nationwide are short of some 1,500 guards, after two years of layoffs imposed by the government, according to AFP.

"All museums have suffered cuts, both in guards and archaeologists, the staff are no longer enough to operate at full shifts," said Ioanna Frangou, general secretary of the union of short-term culture ministry staff.

I bet some of the lucky ducky one-percenters who Rumsfeld and Bush let acquire the ancient treasures of Babylon and Ur will provide wonderful homes in London, Berlin, Dallas and New York for these awesome treasures as well. But while Greece unravels-- whether in an orderly or disorderly fashion, no one seems to know-- there is news of an alternative to the Austerity regime that the German and Wall Street criminals are pushing as "inevitable." Iceland, as Tyler Durden put it yesterday, "is winning."

While Greece and Europe continue sinking ever deeper into the colonial quicksand of Pax Goldmania, Iceland, which blew up, pushed its banks into bankruptcy, and arrested its corrupt bankers, is well on its way to being the world's only normal country.

• ICELAND RATINGS RAISED TO INVESTMENT GRADE BY FITCH

• FITCH UPGRADES ICELAND TO 'BBB-'; STABLE OUTLOOK

• FITCH DOES NOT EXPECT ICELAND TO SLIP BACK INTO RECESSION

• FITCH SAYS ICELAND GOVERNMENT DEBT PEAKED AT 100% OF GDP IN '11

Too bad the Goldman colony of Greece (and soon everyone else - thank you first lien "bailout" debt) will not see headlines such as these written about it any time in the next century.

The news is out there, but no one is trumpeting it from Wall Street's or Berlin's parapets. Dow reported it, quietly yesterday:

Fitch Ratings lifted its rating on Iceland to investment grade, citing the nation's progress in stabilizing its economy and pushing ahead with structural reforms.

The upgrade puts Iceland's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating at triple-B-minus, placing it on the first rung of investment-grade territory. The outlook is stable.

As one of the first countries to take a hit from the global financial crisis, the country is now showing a "promising" economic recovery, said Paul Rawkins, a senior director at the ratings firm.

He added that Iceland has successfully completed a program with the International Monetary Fund and gained renewed access to international capital markets.

Fitch believes that Iceland's gross general government debt may have peaked at around 100% of GDP in 2011, while net debt is significantly lower at around 65% of GDP.

Excluding the possibility for further shocks, the firm said Iceland should see a reduction in its public debt to GDP ratio, assuming its economic recovery continues to progress and fiscal targets are adhered to by the government.

Fellow ratings firm Standard & Poor's Ratings Services last year raised its outlook on Iceland to stable from negative, pointing to the country's improved economic fundamentals and growth expectations.