FBI Banned from Iceland

Attempted to infiltrate country in hunt for WikiLeaks.

REYKJAVÍK (Rixstep) — FBI agents landed in Reykjavík without prior notification in an attempt to investigate WikiLeaks operations in the country, but Home Secretary Ögmundur Jónasson found out about the visit and forced them to leave the country, with the Icelandic government then issuing a formal protest to US authorities, according to Islandsbloggen.

The hunt for WikiLeaks by the US has on several occasions involved private individuals and companies on Iceland. Authorities in the US have for example succeeded in obtaining account information from Twitter on parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir. Jónsdóttir today refuses to travel to the US out of fear of being arrested for her connections with WikiLeaks.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir is also one of the people behind a new piece of Icelandic media legislation which will make the country a bastion for freedom of speech and source protection. The law proposal is still a long way from being completed and can still take years before it's ratified by the Icelandic parliament.

This past summer the credit card company Valitor was forced by a court decision to again offer the opportunity to donate to WikiLeaks. Their payment channel had previously been closed off after massive pressure was brought to bear by international credit card companies which in turn was fueled by US efforts to stop the organisation. An appeal of the ruling is expected.

http://www.ruv.is/frett/fbi-kom-hingad-til-ad-rannsaka-wikileaks


The Icelandic government have already protested against the activities of the US in Reykjavík. It's been found, for example, that the US embassy there is monitoring people who enter the immediate area, and they also attempt to thwart people taking pictures of their building, this despite it being perfectly legal.

A private plane landed at the Reykjavík airport in August 2011. Onboard were FBI agents who'd flown directly to Iceland from the US. Their mission was to investigate WikiLeaks operations in the country as part of a larger investigation of the whistleblower organisation. The FBI agents contacted the head of the national Icelandic police and the head prosecutor in an effort to gain access to all available information on WikiLeaks.

Home Secretary Ögmundur Jónasson learned of the visit and summoned the FBI agents. They were told that the Icelandic government would not permit a foreign power running their own investigations in the country. Jónasson admonished the FBI agents to return to the US. Foreign minister Össur Skarphéðinsson was given the task, after a special meeting of the cabinet, to formally protest against the behaviour of the US.

The story was revealed in an Icelandic national broadcaster RUV report on 30 January 2013 by WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson. Hrafnsson explains.

'The FBI arrived in private planes and landed at the Reykjavík airport. According to my sources, which are highly reliable and which I have been able to corroborate, news of the visit reached Home Secretary Ögmundur Jónasson who reacted sharply, as it was unbelievably presumptuous to come to Iceland that way. According to my sources, Jónasson demanded that the FBI agents pack their bags, get back onboard, and leave the country. The matter was then brought before the cabinet and a formal protest was issued to US authorities.'

Ögmundur Jónasson corroborates for Morgunblaðið that FBI agents arrived on Iceland and remained in the country a few days. He claims he doesn't know how many there were, but that it was out of the question that a foreign power be allowed to conduct private investigations of Icelandic citizens and their activities in the country:

'I can corroborate this took place in August 2011. Agents from the FBI arrived in Iceland. They'll have to answer for what their plans were. I can also corroborate that they wanted to get the cooperation of the national police and the national prosecutor's office.'

Read more about surveillance by the US embassy in Reykjavík here.

See Also
Islandsbloggen: FBI portade från Island av minister - ville utreda WikiLeaks

Collective-Evolution – Why Did The Media Keep The Recent Peaceful Icelandic Revolution Quiet?

Joe Martino January 11, 2013

Did you know about the peaceful Icelandic revolution that took place over the last 5 years? If you didn’t, it is likely because it was never televised or talked about very much at all on mainstream news. One would have to be part of the right websites or Facebook pages to even find out that this has been going on. Why is this the case? Why keep something so monumental hidden from the public?

First let’s discuss what took place with this revolution, then it will become much more clear as to why this was never televised.

It was during a time of a lot of financial turmoil around the world and and stories were popping up all over the news of how banks around the world had been crushing or minimizing rebellions by receiving massive bailouts to keep them alive. The Iceland story is different because, there was no crushing or ending the rebellion, instead, the people rose up. This is why this was not seen on TV anywhere. If the rest of the world knew that the people won, it may give them some ideas.

During the financial turmoil of 2008 and 2009, the people of Iceland forced their government and banks to resign. How did they do this? Peacefully. The following is a summation of what steps they took over a porcess of several years, and it all began with each one of them realizing this couldn’t continue.

How to Start a Revolution – Learn From Iceland!

2008 – The main bank of Iceland is nationalized. The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market halts. The country is in bankruptcy.

2008 – Citizens rise up at Parliament and succeed in forcing the resignation of both the prime minister and the effective government. New elections are held.

Yet, the country remains in a bad economic situation. A Parliament act is passed to pay back 3,500 million Euros to Great Britain and Holland by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with 5.5% interest.



2010 – The people of Iceland again take to the streets to demand a referendum. In January of 2010, the President of Iceland denies approval, instead announcing a popular vote on the matter by the people.

In March, a referendum and denial of payment is approved by popular vote of 93%. Meanwhile, government officials initiate an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis. Many high level executives and bankers are arrested. Interpol dictates an order to force all implicated parties to leave Iceland.

An assembly is elected to write a new constitution (based on the Denmark’s) to avoid entrapments of debt based currency foreign loans. 25 citizens are chosen — with no political affiliation — out of the 522 candidates. The only qualifications for candidacy are adulthood and the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly started in February of 2011. It continues to present ‘carta magna’ from recommendations provided by various assemblies throughout the country. Ultimately, it must be approved by both the current Parliament and the one created through the next legislative election.

It’s quite a story isn’t it? You can most definitely see at this point why this was not covered in newspapers, on radio networks and on television. Imagine seeing this story on TV several times each day wherever you live in the world, do you think the people would start to get ideas? Maybe try the same thing? Most definitely. There is always a constant push of fear, murders, anger, government success, health fallacies and false information, but never do we hear of stories that could be a threat to the system.

Another key factor of this revolution that we has to look at is that it did not come from a place of violence, bloodshed or anger. No guns or fighting! It was simply people getting together peacefully and working things out. This is something this entire world is capable of but believes is impossible. Humanity has been so programmed to give itself little credit in this department. We always hear about how we need to be governed, there are too many crazy people out there, we need a big brother keeping control. The truth is, without the confines and certain rules the system employs, we would be a much more peaceful people mainly because we are no longer acting in survival mode. Now I am not here to say that the system is the only issue because it isn’t, our programming is also very strong in what we have been taught and believe about ourselves. I am simply here to say, this programming can be broken and our consciousness can and is changing.

I also thought it was a big step to see Iceland employ a new means of choosing it’s leaders. Someone who is an adult and has 30 people supporting them can run. This is great as the only reason why we have politicians today who have educations is because the elite needs to know that these people are programmed to repeat this system. Generally they also have to have corporate affiliations as well so they know they can be controlled by money.

Now Iceland is proceeding to actually prosecute some of their formerly most powerful bankers and the Icelandic special prosecutor has stated that it very well may indict some 90 people. Meanwhile, over 200 people, including the former chief executives of Iceland’s three biggest banks, face criminal charges for their activities. While I don’t agree with the judgment factor being used here, I understand that this is the step they feel right in taking.

Hopefully more countries around the world begin to follow suit!