Political, financial turmoil in Greece

I am greatly amused to see that the new coalition government is headed by a far left party, whose leader, now PM, is a card carrying Communist, and that the far right party is their partner in this brave new enterprise. It seems their only point of contact is the austerity/ bail-out situation. Oh, just seen that the new government says it will keep the Euro. I will say no more, merely sit back and see what happens. LL

IMO, the EU experiment, and the euro in particular, is finished whatever happens, LL. People don't want to be globalised; they don't want their family's future decided by oligarchs and bankers thousands of miles away. And they're sick to death of enforced 'multi-culturalism', and their home countries not having borders any more.

Greece, IMO, is just the first domino to fall. A lot of elections are due this year - Podemos in Spain is particularly worth watching.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-greece-election-finmin-idUSKBN0L00QU20150128


Greek PM Tsipras names anti-austerity cabinet, port sale halted

Looks like the new government has stopped the looting, I mean sell-off, of Greek assets. That won't go down well with Soros and co.

And I wonder how a G could be fitted into BRICS?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-27/greece-begins-great-pivot-toward-russia

If it is in the best interests of the people of Greece to look towards the Eurasian alliances, then go for it. Anything crooked bankers and hedge fund crooks don't like, is bound to be good for the rest of us.

And if Germany is screaming, well, they've still got all that Greek gold the Nazis looted.

Good for them. Putin is no dummy either.

Well, you know the EU faffed and sulked about the South Stream pipeline so much, the Kremlin got fed up and made more suitable arrangements?

Guess where the more suitable arrangements will be?


The plans for the Russian-Turkish project were presented after a meeting between Putin and Erdogan on December 1.

Speaking at a press conference after the talks, Putin made clear that Russia was suspending the South Stream gas pipeline.

The new pipeline is to cross the Black Sea seabed, bringing gas from Russia to Europe via a gas distribution hub on the Turkey-Greece border.

It is to have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters.

Erdogan made clear that the implementation of the gas pipeline project would allow Turkey and Europe to get as much gas as they need, while Turkey would become a regional energy hub.

- See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/165354/Turkish+Stream+to+Replace+South+Stream+Gas+Pipeline-+Erdogan#sthash.7Z5j9xd9.dpuf

If Greece and Turkey can stop snarling at each other for five minutes, then I am sure plans could be made to their mutual benefit.

Russia has made it clear it would be delighted to star buying Greek agricultural produce again, if Greece says to the EU and the sanctions nonsense, which was just about the last straw.

I am just waiting for the White House to announce that Greece is now a hub of terrorism, or NATO to decide it has to 'protect' Greece.

Remember, ordinary Greeks got little benefit from all that borrowed money - it went to dodgy banks and even dodgier hedge funds. Ordinary Greeks did, however, get stuck with the bill for it, and millions of ordinary Greeks have seen their lives ruined.

Cannot fault one stroke of your post, Bonny.

Apropos this Greek/Nazi gold story, all of the occupied countries had their gold snatched by the Nazis - Hungary for instance had nearly £33million taken and they don't bleat on about it - Hungary is a poor country compared with Greece. LL

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/greece-politics-russia-idUKA8N0UD00O20150128

Greek minister says Athens against sanctions on Russia
ATHENS Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:50pm GMT

Link this
Share this
Email
Print
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Greece is against sanctions on Russia, newly appointed Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said on Wednesday, a day before the European Union is due to extend sanctions on Russia for six months.

"We are against the embargo that has been imposed against Russia. Greece has no interest in imposing sanctions On Russia. We have no differences with Russia and the Russian people," said Lafazanis, according to the semi-official Athens News Agency.......full story at link.

Game on! 2015 is going to be very, very interesting indeed. It will be deeply ironic if, when the history of this period is being written, Cookie Queen 'F*ck the EU' Nuland is held responsible for the disintegration of the EU, the collapse of the euro and the end of rule by multi-national and thieving bankster.

You can't blame them one bit.

I don't think one of the aims of the EU was to reduce people to near-feudal poverty, Lily, and drive women doctors into prostitution to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. But that's what they did in Greece, and to a lesser extent in other countries.

While the people responsible for the debt and mess carried on thriving, and selling off chunks of Greece. So no, I don't blame anyone for going to the EU and all its works.

That's an, er, interesting take on it. I've never quite pictured Ms Merkel as a Valkyrie before....

http://annaraccoon.com/2015/01/29/turn-left-at-athens/

That's a very thoughtful piece.

What's often forgotten is that much of the current financial chaos was set in train when the PUBLIC sector had to bail out the PRIVATE sector in the shape of the so-called 'too big to fail' banks.

No 'ism' has all the answers. However, crony capitalism is NOT free enterprise, any more than universal health care is communism.

The multi-nationals have kept small businesses down; the free market is being stifled by Washington and its stupid sanctions, which are crippling already-weak European economies.

And if Washington thinks left-leaning European governments are going to go along with their insane foreign policy, they've got another think coming.  After all, not even Washington can bomb the entire world into submission.

No-one signed up for the EU to be the new Holy Roman Empire, with NATO acting as enforcer.

Oh, and speaking of the public sector bailing out banks - I heartily recommend reading up on the role Goldman Sachs played in helping previous Greek governments forget to tell anyone about the full extent of the country's problems.

Looks like Greece is standing its ground:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-30/greece-slams-eu-bailout-ers-we-dont-want-7-billion-we-want-rethink-whole-program

I like this comment, it rather puts things in a nutshell:

Reason and basic common sense lead to the same conclusion reached by Varoufakis - it makes no sense to impoverish an entire nation so that it can pay fiat back to an organization which is printing trillions (1.5 planned so far) out of this air.

Let's see, how much does the US owe today?

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

$18 TRILLION plus - the clock is whirring too fast to copy. That breaks down to a debt of $154,047 owed by each US taxpayers.

Lily, how would you feel at being ordered to starve, go without heating (or cooling, in your case) and all the other necessities of life to pay off that $154,047? Knowing you were responsible for about $47 of it?

Because that's what's been done to the people of Greece.

In other words, paying in actual dollars for the interest payment on a fiat currency humongous 'loan' = bonuses to the chosen?   I think that is it?

The bankers et al must be laughing their socks off........

That's about it, yes, Lily. The Greeks are being expected to repay with REAL money something that existed as computer-screen money. Oh, except when those rows of zeros were being syphoned off by their lords and masters and heading for private offshore bank accounts.

I genuinely think there is an almighty crash coming; Western debt is unrepayable and is NOT backed by tangible assets.

I think 'those' in the know expect that to happen but may not know when it will happen. It has started if the Greeks continue this way.

No wonder Merkel is furious.

http://news.sky.com/story/1419566/ex-imf-head-strauss-kahn-on-trial-for-pimping

Disgraced former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn goes on trial in France accused of aggravated pimping as part of a prostitution ring.

If convicted, the one-time presidential contender, known as DSK in France, faces up to 10 years in prison and a €1.5m (£1.1m) fine.

Strauss-Kahn and more than a dozen other French and Belgian businessmen will be tried in the northern city of Lille.

Luxury hotel managers, police, freemasons and a brothel owner nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp" are also standing trial.

I am sure that will make the good people of Greece so much more gracious and understanding towards the IMF and the rest of the carpetbaggers.

This should be good. He is such a sleazy scum bag.

Shock! Horror! Politician tells the truth!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-06/yanis-varoufakis-sums-europe-one-sentence

Wish there were more of them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31318120

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who denies charges of pimping, has told a court in northern France that he took part in only a few rare sex parties.

He said prosecutors had greatly exaggerated the frequency of his "licentious evenings". There had only been 12 in three years, he said.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is accused of helping procure sex workers for a prostitution ring based at a hotel in Lille.

He has argued that he did not know the women were prostitutes.

Although using prostitutes is not illegal in France, supplying them or assisting in supplying them is. Prosecutors have been quoted as saying Mr Strauss-Kahn, 65, played a pivotal role in facilitating the orgies, describing him as the "party king".

If found guilty, the one-time potential candidate for the French presidency could face up to 10 years in jail and a €1.5m (£1.13m) fine.

'He did it for fun'
As he took the stand on Tuesday, Mr Strauss-Kahn said: "I committed no crime, no offence."

"The prosecution gives the impression of unbridled activity," he told the court. But, he added: "There were only 12 parties in total - that is four per year over three years."

I don't think he's quite grasping that he really isn't helping the image of the IMF by moaning about 'only' having four orgies a year......

David Roquet, ex-head of the BTP Eiffage construction firm, said he had taken part for "professional reasons"

Mr Roquet, aged 46 and one of the men who organised the parties, said on Monday that he had taken part for "professional" purposes.

It was important for his construction business and it enabled him to have contact with Mr Strauss-Kahn, he told the court.

"He did it for fun. We had some lovely evenings," he told French radio earlier, adding that five or six couples would be involved.

Among the 13 co-accused are luxury hotel managers, a lawyer, a former police commissioner and a brothel owner nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp".

You know, it's things like this that lead to Revolting Peasants and heads on spikes.....