"Iceland b
eing bullied by two much larger powers, US cannot stay neutral"
Icelandic official named "Guy Burgess" warns US of imminent default
Leaked US cable reveals UK pressure to block IMF rescue funds for Iceland
By Leonard Doyle, Washington
A leaked US diplomatic cable (below) reveals that the US has been asked to intercede in the spiraling row between Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands over threats to block International Monetary Fund loans for the indebted country.
Efforts by London and The Hague to link the crisis to Iceland's attempts to join the EU are expected to be rejected by the European Commission. But the Icelandic Parliament has been in uproar over the leak which suggests that its officials were on virtual hands and knees begging for US help to ensure that IMF funds are not witheld.
The classified cable described a meeting between the Reykjavik US embassy head Sam Watson and Permanent Secretary Einar Gunnarsson and Political advisor Kristjan Guy Burgess at the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Whether he's related to the British Cold War Spy Guy Burgess was not immediately clear, but a quick check of Iceland's famous genealogy website Íslendingabók
indic
ates perhaps not.
Kristján Guy Burgess' father is John Noël L
ewellyn Burgess, born in Britain on January 3rd, 1947.
How he came to be in R
eykjavík and why he named his son after the infamous Cambridge Spy is not known. Perhaps
Kristján will explain how he got his name.
British
wanted poster for Cold War
Burgess and Donald Maclean
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