(the last Greek thread, ‘Crunch Time’ is here.)
(the transcript; preferable, imo) a snippet:
SPOURDALAKIS: Antonis Samaras–resigned, yeah. The leader of the opposition and the previous prime minister resigned from the leadership of his party. So that risky, for many people, initiative by Tsipras to call for a referendum had many repercussions inside Greece and outside. Send a message to Europe, say yes, we want–Greece would like to be part of the European process. But part of the European process, that first of all is democratic. Secondly is, that process and this development and dynamic should be based on real dialog, solidarity, and democracy. That’s something that we haven’t seen in the past many, many years, where primarily Germany assisted with France, occasionally in fact they dictate what is happening, what is going to happen in the union, bypassing in the most arrogant way you can imagine the will of the nations. So the governments that they might have minor differences with, with that kind of leadership.
The question in Europe–let me say two more phrases. The question of the referendum and the question of the relationship between Greece and Europe is not just the economic problem. The rescue, if you like, quote-unquote, plan for Greece, it has to do with the issue of democracy. Greece has been, and we all know that, the only democratic response after the crisis in Europe. And this hasn’t been appreciated by the EU’s leadership at all. It’s been disregarded. It seems to me that European leadership can much more tolerate the right-wing populismo, or even neo-nazis, so radical right expressions or responses to austerity more than the democratic response to austerity. Even this might happen to be Syriza, in other words, a radical left party.”
‘Why No Means Yes, July 6, 2015 by Michael Hudson; Greece Rejects the Troika. Where Do We Go From Here? One prescription:
“What Greece needs is a domestic central bank – or failing that, a national Treasury – empowered to create the money to monetize government spending on economic recovery. Mr. Draghi has shown the ECB not to be “technocratic,” but a cabal of right-wing operatives working to bring down the Syriza government, in a way quite willing to empower the far-right Golden Dawn party in its stead. In light of his refusal to carry out the duties of a central bank and act as lender of last resort when Greek banks run out of cash, Mr. Varoufakis has said that: “If necessary, we will issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU’s, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago.” [skip to the finale]:
“Last Tuesday, Tsipras explained to Greek voters that the Troika had put nothing in writing about debt writedowns. This pierced the haze of media-induced panic. His seeming willingness to surrender simply dared the Troika to back up their promises in writing. He certainly was not going to make the tragic mistake that Russian leader Gorbachev made when he believed the verbal NATO promises that it would not move into the post-Soviet countries of Central Europe and the Baltics.
The Troika’s position was and is: “Impose austerity now. We’ll talk about debt writedowns later. But first, you must sell off what remains of your public domain. You must lower wages by another 20%, and force another 20% of your population to emigrate. Only then, when we’re sure that we can’t get another euro out of you anyway, then we may be willing to talk about writing down some of your debt. But not until we have stripped you of anything left to pay in any case!”
No, Frau Merkel wasn’t pleased with the vote, but she is biding her time, my pretties!
In hopes that this will be justified in the days yet to come, but for now, some funnies. What comes just below is serious business:
The arrival of the Greek Trojan Bird..
H/T Naked Capitalism (comments, too!): ‘NUDELMAN’S NEW WAR, NULAND’S NEMESIS – WILL GREECE, OR WON’T GREECE BE DESTROYED TO SAVE HER FROM RUSSIA, LIKE UKRAINE?’, John Helmer, Moscow, at Dances with Bears
Whoa it’s long, and filled with great graphics, photos, realpolitik, his take on ze Troika zeitgeist, and portentous history of putsches, both recent and in from the Wayback Machine (including the Papandreouses, Mother Russia, and more in the mid-1980s and earlier). The opening teaser:
“A putsch in Athens to save allied Greece from enemy Russia is in preparation by the US and Germany, with backing from the non-taxpayers of Greece – the Greek oligarchs, Anglo-Greek shipowners, and the Greek Church. At the highest and lowest level of Greek government, and from Thessaloniki to Milvorni, all Greeks understand what is happening. Yesterday they voted overwhelmingly to resist. According to a high political figure in Athens, a 40-year veteran, “what is actually happening is a slow process of regime change.”
Until Sunday afternoon it was a close-run thing. The Yes and No votes were equally balanced, and the margin between them razor thin. At the start of the morning, Rupert Murdoch’s London Times claimed “Greek security forces have drawn up a secret plan to deploy the army alongside special riot police to contain possible civil unrest after today’s referendum on the country’s future in Europe. Codenamed Nemesis, it makes provision for troops to patrol large cities if there is widespread and prolonged public disorder. Details of the plan emerged as polls showed the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps neck and neck.” Greek officers don’t speak to the Murdoch press; British and US government agents do.
“It was neck to neck until 3 pm,” reports the political veteran in Athens, “then the young started voting. “
Can the outcome — the 61% to 39% referendum vote, with a 22% margin for Οχι (No) which the New York Times calls “shocking” and a “victory [that] settled little” – defeat Operation Nemesis? Will the new Axis – the Americans and the Germans – attack again, as the Germans did after the first Greek Οχι of October 28, 1940, defeated the Italian invasion?
The Kremlin understands too. So when the State Department’s Victoria Nuland (nee Nudelman; lead image, right) visited Athens to issue an ultimatum against breaking the anti-Russian sanctions regime, and the Anglo-American think-tanks followed with warnings the Russian Navy is about to sail into Piraeus, the object of the game has been clear. The line for Operation Nemesis has been that Greece must be saved, not from itself or from its creditors, but from the enemy in Moscow. The Russian line has been to do nothing to give credence to that propaganda; to wait and to watch.”
Skipping down the page, is this Tsipris whistling past the graveyard?
“Political sources in Athens acknowledge that after taking power in January, Tsipras and his Syriza colleagues quietly took precautions against a putsch by the security forces. “The leadership [of the military and intelligence services] was changed,” the sources say, “but not radically. The defence minister [Panos Kammenos] is rightist so there are no ‘radicals’ in command.”
Well, how about those Very Unhappy and Very Nationalistic Generals who’d signed that letter the Trotskyites at wsws.org channeled or new about…?
“In Moscow there has been scepticism from the start that Tsipras could or would withstand the American and German pressure. For more, read this. In April, and then again in June, Kammenos sidestepped the issue of what fresh military cooperation with Russia is contemplated by the Greek side. Discussion of the details has been postponed until the two governments hold a joint ministerial commission meeting later this month.”
Also weighting in on Project Nemesis at wsws.org: ‘Operation Nemesis: Danger of state repression against protests in Greece’, fwiw.
Ooof: they mean war! they mean death to punish ordinary Greeks! because they voted for dignity and democracy, rejecting servitude to Bansters. Via the Guardian liveblog:
“ELA to Greek banks maintained:
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided today to maintain the provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks at the level decided on 26 June 2015 after discussing a proposal from the Bank of Greece.
ELA can only be provided against sufficient collateral.
The financial situation of the Hellenic Republic has an impact on Greek banks since the collateral they use in ELA relies to a significant extent on government-linked assets.
In this context, the Governing Council decided today to adjust the haircuts on collateral accepted by the Bank of Greece for ELA.
The Governing Council is closely monitoring the situation in financial markets and the potential implications for the monetary policy stance and for the balance of risks to price stability in the euro area. The Governing Council is determined to use all the instruments available within its mandate.
— Frances Coppola (@Frances_Coppola) July 6, 2015
ECB tightening the thumbscrews.
— Matt O’Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) July 6, 2015
I’m surprised the ECB wants its fingerprints even more on Greek bank failures that could kick it out of the euro.
More reaction to follow… Reaction? Perhaps it might be The Breadwives and ‘the angry people singing’ as the Rabble sang in the gallery of the Spanish Parliament in Spain while they considered the new Gag Order?
Meanwhile, in Spain overnight:
From El Pais: ‘Spain moderates its line against Greece after referendum ‘no’ vote; Economy chief Luis de Guindos says he wants country to remain part of the euro’
The minister admitted that the ‘no’ vote made “things more difficult,” but added that the irreversibility of the euro was a fundamental matter and one of the basic principles of the euro zone.
Pablo Iglesias, secretary general of Spain’s anti-austerity Podemos party, welcomed De Guindos’ words, saying the economy minister had said “very reasonable things” about the future for a Greek agreement.
Iglesias on Monday also took the opportunity to remind the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) that the Greek people had given their full support to the government of Alexis Tsipras.
The comments came in reaction to statements made last week by the PSOE’s economic affairs advisor Jordi Sevilla, who described the referendum as “surreal” and asked the Greeks not to turn their back on Europe.
“Today is a good day for the PSOE to reflect,” Iglesias said.
Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez again on Monday asked the Tsipras government to show some “loyalty” to its European partners and end its “confrontations” with other members over its finances.’
“I’m very optimistic, I’m sure that in the next few days we’ll have an agreement,” Iglesias said at a news conference, adding that he was expecting to speak with Tsipras later on Monday.
Podemos is one of the closest allies of Tspiras’ Syriza party. Asked whether the outcome of the Greek vote would be good for his party in the upcoming Spanish elections, Iglesias said “it was good for the people.”
Yes, cautious…but direct.
But dayum, how perfect; please please please do watch the video; it’s short. I doff my hat to Pedro daCosta:
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
Well, hello, world.
Yves Smith believes this would spell disaster; is this what Michael Hudson is recommending, as in: could the greek banking system become its own Central Bank?)? (as per Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in Athens, tut, tut, ‘n all that rot):
“Syriza sources say the Greek ministry of finance is examining options to take direct control of the banking system if need be rather than accept a draconian seizure of depositor savings – reportedly a ‘bail-in’ above a threshhold of €8,000 – and to prevent any banks being shut down on the orders of the ECB.
Government officials recognize that this would lead to an unprecedented rift with the EU authorities. But Syriza’s attitude at this stage is that their only defence against a hegemonic power is to fight guerrilla warfare.
Hardliners within the party – though not Mr Varoufakis – are demanding the head of governor Stournaras, a holdover appointee from the past conservative government.
They want a new team installed, one that is willing to draw on the central bank’s secret reserves, and to take the provocative step in extremis of creating euros.
“The first thing we must do is take away the keys to his office. We have to restore stability to the system, with or without the help of the ECB. We have the capacity to print €20 notes,” said one.
Such action would require invoking national emergency powers – by decree – and “requisitioning” the Bank of Greece for several months. Officials say these steps would have to be accompanied by an appeal to the European Court: both to assert legality under crisis provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, and to sue the ECB for alleged “dereliction” of its treaty duty to maintain financial stability.
Yves Smith July 6, 2015 at 1:55 pm
Not “believe”. They can’t. For starters, you need special stock and they only would have limited supplies. And as we discussed at great length in our posts over the weekend, domestic cash in whatever form (euros, drachma, scrip) does nothing to help them with imports unless you think hauling cash to border towns, taking it across the border, and depositing it in banks across the border is something importers are prepared to do on a routine basis.
See Clive on this issue:
The ECB controls euro note production and issuance, regardless of how we, or Greece, feel about this. Greece is bound by treaty to produce euro notes in accordance with the ECB’s stipulations. To quote http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/euro/circulation/html/index.en.html
“The ECB closely monitors the stock and circulation of euro banknotes and coins. It is the Eurosystem’s task to ensure a smooth and efficient supply of euro banknotes and to maintain their integrity.” (emphasis mine)
If Greece were to issue new euro notes outside of the ECB’s permission, the ECB would, using the provision that it must “maintain integrity” (of the euro) take steps to rein in Greece. They would not hesitate, worse-case, to declare Greece’s “screw you, ECB” euro notes counterfeit.
TarheelDem July 6, 2015 at 8:31 am
Eurozone rules….Eurozone rules….Eurozone rules…
Some clues what needs to change to deal with this crisis. Have European countries painted themselves into a corner with the interactions of their rules?
MyLessThanPrimeBeef July 6, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Scorched earth before the end of war AND afterwards.
Salting fields around Carthage was after.
Sherman’s March was before.
And ‘we give you Reconstruction, with funding for public schools, and charitable institutions, and massive aid to improve railroad transportation and shipping. But only after you surrender.’
Fire bombing Dresden was before.
Again, ‘you will get Marshall Plan, but only after the Soviets have their revenge at the citizens of Berlin. Right now, the scorched earth policy is still on, because you won’t surrender. Surrender now, I repeat. Why won’t you?”
And these guys will brag. “Look at Germany now. Rich and powerful…or hegemonic.” Or, “look the Rust Belt North.
And then they move on to Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
“Money will be there afterwards…for someone.”
It turned into a major food fight after that. at least somewhat over how Yves parsed ‘the debt’ to which institutions, yada, yada, and ‘illiquidity v. insolvency’ issues.
Goodnight, world; goodnight jupiter and venus in the western night sky. dream of a better, and more just world.
and remember the immortal words of lao tzu:
‘A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Time flies like an arrow…
And fruit flies…like a banana’
Off the top of my head:
The Greeks have capitulated/surrendered repeatedly during their long period of suffering under the lash of Berlin and Brussels, but for whatever reason, the Euro-Titans refuse to accept their surrender. They keep moving the goalposts and demanding more and ever more suffering by the Greek people before they will even consider Greek capitulation.
The standard myth is that the Greeks have done “nothing” to meet the demands of their creditors, but the assertion is absurd on its face. In fact, the Greeks have met most of the demands made of them, leading to immense suffering among the Greek people, and the government continues to say that they will go even farther. But they cannot go all the way — because it is a mathematical impossibility.
That simple, demonstrable truth appears to be the wedge the Greeks are using — so far effectively — to undermine the Titans. I was watching some of the arrival statements of EC members leading up to the meeting in Brussels today, and they were all over the map. These Titans don’t know what to do — because they don’t know what’s being done to them. They can’t fathom the Greek approach (good) and so are flailing impotently.
The Greeks are the weakest eurozone member, and yet they are wielding enormous power. The referendum and the subsequent unity government that emerged has totally flummoxed the Titans. They can’t pull something like this off in their own countries.
One of SYRIZA’s main objectives is “changing Europe.” They seem to be doing it by driving their wedge into the heart of the European project, one that without substantive change will fail — is on the cusp of failure right now.
Their wedge consists of truth-telling and surrender on the one hand, and steely resolve on the other. The Euro-Titans have so far been unable to deal with it.
pretty good for off the top of your head, and so early, too.
yes, i’d been perusing statements of the Biggus Wiggus folks, and they’re indeed all over the map, even from statement to statement. one player did admit that greece can’t take any more punishment by way of further austerity, but i don’t even think that’s based on ethics, but pragmatism for any sort of future recovery.
a few do seem to intuit that syriza is driving a wedge into the whole EU experiment, but ‘stake into its heart’ might even be closer to the truth. oh, yes, the german vice chancellor said, “it was foolhardy to let greece in!” well, that’s their fault; they had to have known that jp morgan helped them cook the books had they cared to pay any attention. by the by, one might wonder how much influence nato had on their final decision.
now this is interesting, via the guardian: 16 of the 18 member nations want them out! well, they also get that the markets are tanking over all this, which is why jack lew is saying: fix it, as is his japanese counterpart.
oh, do you have any idea as to the proposals for the greek banks to print euros: would that mean acting as their own central bank? it would seem so to me. as an aside, yves smith going on about that eventuality making greece a pariah made me laugh. more of a pariah? oy. but then she also said their banknotes could be deemed counterfeit, so…there’s that i guess. but it seems that lagarde is immovable: no more ELA from us; them’s da rules, as you defaulted! what.a.pickle.puss.
oh, crap, and right on time, and made to order: ‘Source: CNN: U.S. jets intercept six Russian planes ‘ bombers, maybe carrying Nukes! ff the coasts of CA and alaska!! The Russians are coming!’ Wolf says it must be cuz poroshenko’s there to collect his filthy lucre…or something. goddam, they really do seem to want a war. and to demonstrate that they’re ready.
I liked your post at nakedcapitalism.com very much, Ché Pasa. Disinformation is flying around all over the place, particularly on the subject of the Varoufakis resignation and ‘ineffectiveness’ of the referendum, whilst all the time some of the moves I predicted are taking place (such as consolidation with ‘opposing parties’. That is huge I think. It very much reminds me of the ‘our partners’ rhetoric of Putin which so befuddled the ‘new Cold War’ strategeries. They wanted war; he refused to give them war. They said his troops were too close to the border; he drew them back so there would be no misunderstanding.
It will look like compromise – but it will have them foaming at the mouth in frustration. Because they don’t want compromise.
What’s that wonderful saying about the flexibility of grass? Maybe I can find it.
Aha:
“When the wind blows, the grass bends” – Confucius
And lastly, again thanks wendye for casting your perceptive eye upon these shenanigans. If the Saker is a falcon, I’d say you are a golden eagle of the Rockies – lovely birds.
As to those 16 who want Greece out, maybe they should hold referenda of their own? And maybe they should try digesting these figures when they accuse Greece of stealing their tax dollars:
The money Greece owes, $370 billion, compared to the taxpayer-funded bailouts banks got…
Citigroup – Citigroup $2.513 Trillion
Morgan Stanley – $2.041 Trillion
Merrill Lynch – $1.949 Trillion
Bank of America – $1.344 Trilliom
Barclays PLC – $868 Billion
Bear Sterns – $853 B
Goldman Sachs – $814 B
Royal Bank of Scotland – $541 B
JP Morgan Chase $391 B
Deutche Bank – $354 B
UBS – $287 B
Credit Suisse – $262 B
Lehman Bros – $183 B
Bank of Scotland – $181 B
BNP Paribas – $175 B
Wells Fargo – $159 B
Dexia – $159 B
Wachovia – $142 B
Dresdner Bank – $135 B
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer at moonofalabama.org | Jul 6, 2015 11:22:25 PM | 160
a companion to the confuscius quote might be a japanese one advising that the deeper the muck a pond lily grows through, the larger and more magnificent the bloom. ;-)
you’re entirely welcome, albeit i’m likely more of a cassein’s finch or house sparrow.
i’d seen that list tweeted on the #greekReferendum twitter account, but i was loth to bring it, not knowing the source. but it just may be that the hoarsewhisper does know, and it’s a staggering amount of lucre.
i haven’t but scanned this, but here’s: ‘‘Angela Merkel must act now for Greece, Germany and the world’, a letter to Angela Merkel reminding her of a few bold historical facts she seems to have forgotten about german debt write-off post-WWII, and asking for a ‘course correction’ (ahem) It’s signed by ten or so apparently influential economists, including the Very Popular thomas picketty. at least one used to work at the IMF (sachs).
also, if you have time, do watch the video at the end; i hope Ché will as well, and if you click on jane24’s comment, it will take you to another of jacob freeze’s murals, and a petite vignette about its creation.
added on remembering: further referenda of the euro nations in thrall to the Creditors of Note…is exactly one of the fears of the self-same Creditors. thus: bold statements for the further punishment in store for the *present* greeks government.
it’s bread day again for me, so i’ll just drop a few links, and maybe one comment.
RT: ‘Greece asks for new 3yr loan, promises reform plan on July 9’
Published time: July 08, 2015
‘Greece Proves Again Why Democracy is the Criminal Classes’ Great Fear’, by Wm. Black
the best stuff is at the beginning, imo, then he gets into the propaganda machine of the western press, linking to other of his posts. but he ballasts the belief that the Troika is scared witless of further plebiscites being held in other euro nations
‘Syriza MP: It’s Time to Take Over the Banks’ (2/2) TRRN
sadly, Costa Lapavitsas doesn’t really deliver what the title implies, except for nationalizing the greek banking system, and hunting for euros (in the vaut lockboxes?) and ledgers, but not acting as a central bank, as per m. hudson’s recommendation.
while musing about the possible to likely implosion of the euro experiment, it occurred to me that along with that fear is what it might/would mean for NATO. the guardian (or maybe the nato twitter account, actually *both* iirc) made a point about listing some of the former soviet bloc nations who are dying to get into the EZ: albania, bosnia-herzogovenia (sp?), latvia, etc., and on the nato account there was indication that they’d already signed ”memos of understanding’ with many f them, much in the way they did with ukraine. all of which seems to mean that they are essentially NATO protectorates. why, how convenient. anytime war, endless war….sorry china and russia.
Here is the UBER-Article from Michael Hudson. (Apologies if you’ve got it up above, wendye – I didn’t see it till this posting.)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/08/71809/
In this article, Prof. Hudson takes apart the entire neo-liberal system, and joy to me within it homes in on student loan debt as a government crime. He brings up with great clarity the example of ‘fraudulent conveyance’ as in the case of a lender who lends $10,000 for the purchase of a $100,000 house and then turns around and requires payment in full. That’s a fraudulent conveyance. He strongly suggests that there must be an international court to apply this concept between nations – “International law needs to be updated to recognize that finance has become the modern-day mode of warfare.” Good description of the forgiveness of German debt after WW2 as well.
He also mentions NATO at the end, so great minds again, wendye.
no, that piece is from two days later than the one i’d stuck in the OP. yes, some of the same elements. i’ll do more than scan it when i’ve completed my (ahem) chosen tasks. ;-)
meanwhile, just for fun and a display of over-the-top invective from a belgian MEP:
‘Grevolt? Voices supporting Athens grow in European Parliament’
not enough, of course, but heartening, and what a shame that Guy Verhofstadt got so many claps. of course, the audience is fighting for the life of the euro project, so…there is that. do they even know it? it’s hard to say.
http://rt.com/news/272461-tsipras-euro-leaders-brussels/
At the Hudson article there is a footnote link to his forum discussion with several other folk from various countries – fascinating stuff but it is l-o-n-g, so I have done been through half of it so you don’t have to, noble me. I will maybe do more tonight if there’s nothing on the tellie. Just saw the morning session, peripheral countries, left wing representatives from Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain . . . the Ireland guy was a firebrand. All giving short speeches of how the Troika had wrecked their countries’ economies.
whoa, it’s a tome! but given how alarmingly ugly the ‘new and improved’ counterpunch is, here’s the version at his own site.
http://michael-hudson.com/2015/07/eu-infrastructure-undermines-sovereignty/
as you’d given some highlights, i skipped to the finale. he calls the ECB *not a real central bank*, partially because it’s built in that they can’t do deficit spending, limiting defecits to 3% of gdp, without which…greece can never grow its economy. think of how hamstrung the nation is to provide stimulus projects, jobs, etc. but then he says it’s actually baked in that greece can’t sell anything (perhaps rent, too?) anything to say: those fooking rooskies, but can only be privatized and looted by the eurocrats. swell plan, isn’t it?
the best part of his thesis, imo, is that since the troika has waged financial war on greece, it’s only fair that *all* of their debt gets written off. cool.
I’ll just put up this latest link, from the real news – read one yesterday from Bill Black that was depressing as he seemed to be throwing up his hands at the total corruption in all the banking entities being fed upon by international elites, which as a former regulator he’d see in stark terms for sure. And then this morning, Yves is closing comments, and I do think it is all becoming too much for her as well. I sort of think of fine violins being forced to fiddle while Rome burns. And Rome is the whole shebang this time.
So, here’s the link:
http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/88-more-blog-posts-from-mark-blyth/2447-a-pain-in-the-athens-why-greece-isnt-to-blame-for-the-crisis
It has important facts I wish I could understand, so I’ve only skimmed. The point being there’s so much at stake in the huge banking bubble crafted within the EU banks that even though Greece seems a pittance in the pot, dealing with that wee debt alone will set the whole house of cards on fire. It’s not even a matter of choice – they have to do the austerity or the whole system collapses. And it will. It won’t matter if Greece caves and doesn’t pull the plug. Someone else will.
i dunno mark blyth, but he’s making a similar argument as michael hudson, that the Euro Rulez (aided by the imf) were *designed* to bail out the banks, not the nations in debt to the ECB or individual creditors, who made a killing, essentially. m. hudson had mentioned some treaties that stipulated those terms, but i didn’t take the time to look them up.
” At the time of writing, the ECB is not only violating its own statutes by limiting emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks, but is also raising the haircuts on Greek collateral offered for new cash. In other words, the ECB, far from being an independent central bank, is acting as the eurogroup’s enforcer, despite the risk that doing so poses to the European project as a whole. We’ve never understood Greece because we have refused to see the crisis for what it was—a continuation of a series of bailouts for the financial sector that started in 2008 and that rumbles on today. It’s so much easier to blame the Greeks and then be surprised when they refuse to play along with the script.”
it seems has france enjoyed as much profit as germany, though, at least deutch band and its french counterpart. well, good on blyth.
(amy goodman had richard wolff on yesterday, but as well, some dude i looked up who played the euro role only too well: “and you’re surrounded by ISIS and russian dominance and…what are ya gonna do?”) pffft. but then she had chris miller, banderist, from the kyiv post on twice, too, so…
yves closed the comments? my goodness.
Tsipras in his speech to the European Parliament seems to have made the same inferences as Blyth, that Greece was set up as a conduit for European taxpayer monies to be siphoned (got that on the brain, sorry) back to banks – Blyth says German and French, Tsipras more diplomatically says European and Greek banks. Instead of ‘conduit’ Tsipras says Greece was a laboratory experiment for austerity – again, more diplomatic, doesn’t call it a criminal enterprise, though later in the speech he certainly takes prior Greek regimes to task:
“. . .Honorable Members of Parliament, despite what I’ve mentioned, I am not one of those politicians who claim that “evil foreigners” are responsible for my country’s woes. Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy because the previous Greek governments created a clientelistic state for many years, they supported corruption, they tolerated or even supported the interdependence between politics and the economic elite, and tax evasion on vast amounts of wealth was left unchecked. According to a study by Credit Suisse, 10% of Greeks possess 56% of the national wealth. And that 10% of Greeks, in the period of austerity and crisis, were left untouched–they haven’t contributed to the burdens as the remaining 90% of Greeks have contributed. The rescue programs and the Memoranda did not even attempt to address these great injustices. Instead, they exacerbated them, unfortunately. None of the supposed reforms of the Memorandum programs, unfortunately, improved the tax collection mechanism that collapsed despite the eagerness of some “enlightened,” as well as justifiably scared, public servants. No supposed reforms addressed the notorious triangle of corruption that was set up in our country many years ago, prior to the crisis, between the political establishment, the oligarchs and the banks. No reforms have improved the operation and efficiency of the State, which has learned to operate to serve special interests rather than the common good. . .”
Here’s the link to Tsipras’ speech and rebuttal:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2015/07/08/pm-tsipras-speech-at-the-european-parliament-i-ii/
Financial Warfare, InDeed! Unless the New Zealanders, et al want the $haft that’s certain to follow the TPP; they had better Fight And DEFEAT TOJObama’s ultimatum to join his Grater EastAsia C0-Austerity $phere!!
Bugger him and his Company $lave TRAITORS!!!
many say that an Empire in decline is at its most dangerous. O and nato plus their client states are seeming to prove the rule, yes? but one slight quibble: so far, it doesn’t seem to matter what the Rabble class in the potential signatory nations object too; there’s all that corporate profiteering lucre to be made.
though i will admit, when i saw the little lucre that it too buy senate and house votes for their Yeses in the last round, i thought ‘what cheap whores they are!’
oh, and a tech question: how do you get your photos and other images to embed in the comment stream? i tried getting their urls to stand alone, and entered them, but all i got was…the url. (duke of url)
Unfortunately the kiwis seemed to take umbrage at ‘foreign interference from Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden in the last election (not to mention uncharismatic Kim Dot Com) so they re-elected Obama’s minion even though he’s busy selling off the country and privatizing everything as fast as he can.
Left to their own devices they may just wake up, so I’m doing that.
new developments:
the head of the european commission, donald tusk, ‘blindsided’ the creditors by asknig for major debt relief for greece, a la the IMF’s (leaked) report on sustainability. tusk: “Tusk: we hadden harder grenzen moeten trekken.” see? france has been helpful, but frau merkel has her supporters in saying: “Nein! Nein! Nein!”
queen lagarde is sanguine as to immovability, noting that the IMF has zero power to write off their debt because: ‘it’s in the rules, and they defaulted!’ the EU leaders yell the same thing.
apparently the coalition in greece ain’t goin’ all that well, :”Kathimerini explains:
New Democracy leader Evangelos Meimarakis met with Tsipras and four other party leaders on Monday, resulting in the issuing of a joint statement. However, the conservative said on Wednesday that he refused to hold another meeting in private with Tsipras and called on him to address Parliament.
Meimarakis said that he wanted Tsipras’s comments to be officially recorded, which suggests that the New Democracy chief has become suspicious of the prime minister’s motives. Meimarakis also decided to send ex-ministers Dora Bakoyannis and Costis Hatzidakis to Brussels for discussions with officials there.
Former PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos suggested that Tsipras is trying to trap the opposition parties so he can call snap elections without reaching any agreement with the institutions.”
http://www.ekathimerini.com/199211/article/ekathimerini/news/creditors-await-greek-proposals-after-loan-request
..and Greek media claim that the plan could include up to €12bn of tax rises and spending cuts, more than expected. hmmmm.
meanwhile, the gossip that’s gone viral: did tsipras diss pablo iglesias as he entered parliament for distancing spain from greece as parallel too strongly for alexis? looks like it to me.
his…mmmmm….apology 5 hours ago?
retweeting this:
Yes, it would be hard to see the coalition holding in light of the segment of the speech that I quoted above. Gotta be some oligarchs in that mix. Tsipras has gone with ‘oi polloi. I remember from the nakedcapitalism comments that ekatherimi is sort of the Greek version of NPR.
Tsipras’ final statement referring to Sophocles ‘Antigone’ is poignant. The heroine of that play had been engaged to the despot Creon’s son, who perishes along with her as she refuses to submit to Creon’s ‘my way or the highway’. It’s a tragedy, but a clarion call for justice to be the overriding principle, since Creon himself also loses in the end, losing his son.
thank you for his words, and the links to his speech. yes, i’d seen either tsipris or new FM euclid ? reference sophocles and ‘justice is all there is’. sounds like antigone me to me.
for now, i did some tasks beyond which this iteration of my body could handle, and i need some rest. i *may* even put up a new thread with *allegedly* breaking news. dunno about ekatherimi, really, but the guardian is more suspect, lol. ergo: ‘allegedly’ .