Here are some of the interesting stats from the story:

+ Credit default swaps on five-year debt issued by Iceland narrowed to 376.4 basis points on April 30, compared with 817.5 a year earlier, according to Bloomberg data.

+ That compares with an April 30 CDS of 718.5 basis points for Greek debt versus 156.2 on the same contract one year ago.

+ Iceland’s gross debt will be equivalent to about 160 percent of economic output next year, before declining “quickly.” That compares with Greece’s 115 percent debt of gross domestic product last year.

+The Greek economy will contract 4 percent this year and a further 2.6 percent in 2011 before it returns to growth in 2012, the government estimates.

+ Iceland’s economy shrank 6.5 percent last year and will contract a further 3.4 percent in 2010, before returning to growth in 2011 the central bank estimates.

“Oh my God, I wouldn’t want to be in the position they’re in… The position Greece is in is quite different from the position Iceland is or was in; Greece has the euro and we can debate whether or not that’s good for them for the time being.” – Icelandic Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson

There’s not a minute goes by within a new tweet about it.

And they keep on flowing.

English language media in the country (The Reykjavik Grapevine, Iceland Weather Report and Iceland Review) have jumped on the volcano bandwagon to varying degrees. While most have provided great coverage (The Iceland Weather Report), I’d argue Reykjavik Grapevine has come out on top. Just watch out for Ice News hawking its volcano stories too, which are no more than promotional trash for its advertisers.

But you know: life goes on in Iceland.

It has just banned all strip clubs in the country.

There’s also a fight over the sale of its natural resources to pay for the financial crisis.

So is there a chance we can talk about something else?

The vast majority of IceNews volcano stories are purely news items – as is true of all our articles.

The occasional advertisements are easy to spot and do not impact upon our news service at all.

IceNews is consistently one of the most visited Iceland news websites in English and usually breaks new stories first – so don’t dismiss us too quickly!

Kind regards
Alex Elliott, IceNews editor

It’s David Hale.

And he’s suggesting Iceland takes prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to help alleviate the financial crisis they’re in.

“The US could show its appreciation to Reykjavik for hosting prisoners by allowing its banks to join the troubled asset relief programme. The US Treasury could cover the cost of repaying Iceland’s retail deposits in the UK and the Netherlands with just one-half of the profit it made on its Goldman Sachs shares. As the prisoners come primarily from Afghanistan, they would probably prefer Iceland’s cooler climate to the tropical heat of Cuba.”

A realistic Icesave solution?

Probably not.

Given the fact Iceland is already embroiled in the deeply divisive Icesave dispute, opening another deeply devise issue with Guantanamo prisoners just doesn’t make sense.

And why re-open that base at Keflavik? A stain of American influence on the clothes of a country that has a fierce independent streak.

It’s not the Cold War anymore either.

The world’s geopolitical situation has changed.

What do you think Icelanders?