War by Other Means

When Europeans aren’t lauding themselves for their feelings and opinions, they can usually be found abusing office for a little payola, and in this case whoring out their Foreign Minister as a debt collector for private bank customers.

To put pressure on Iceland to meet agreements about compensation for Dutch savers who lost money in the Icesave bankruptcy, Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen told his Icelandic counterpart that he could block its bid to join the European Union.

Icelanders – all 3 of them – are sure to eventually develop a taste for that sort of domesticated sophistication and come to love it, if they can get past the Dutch attempt to get blood from a turnip.

Iceland has been hit especially hard by the credit crisis. Last week, it formally announced it is eager to join the European Union. The 27 foreign ministers of the member states said they will discuss the request at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Whis is to say that there’s nothing to take, even if the Dutch could ameliorate their argument that there is some sort of “constitutionally sound” reason for the pay-for-play that they’re looking for.