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This is a MUST-LISTEN interview with Paul Craig Roberts, where he talks about Greece and expresses what I have been hoping for.
Interview starts at the 9 minute mark.
Paul Craig Roberts talks about Greece with Ellen Brown
Are Alarm Bells Ringing Over
Greece's Pivot To Russia?
12
March, 2015
With German
media asking "who is more dangerous for us? Greece or
Russia," recent
actions by both 'antagonists' in that question suggest they may
become one and the same sooner than many expected. With tensions
rising between Greece and the Eurogroup, recent and future visits to
Russia have gained in importance since Russian FinMin confirmed
that Moscow
"could consider financial help to Greece." While
this Russian pivot meme was the stuff of conspiracy theorists just
weeks ago, The
BBC is now asking directly,"could
Europe lose Greece to Russia?" and
with more
Greeks positive on Russia (61%) than Europe (23%),
it should not shock anyone.
Deepening
ties between Greece's new government and Russia have set off alarm
bells across Europe, as
the leaders in Athens wrangle with international creditors over
reforms needed to avoid bankruptcy. While Greece
may be eyeing Moscow as a bargaining chip,
some fear it is inexorably moving away from the West, towards a more
benevolent ally, a potential investor and a creditor. As
The BBC asks, Europe
is not pleased. Should it also be worried?
A drove of Greek cabinet members will be heading to Moscow.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May, accompanied by coalition partner Panos Kammenos, defence minister and leader of the populist right-wing Independent Greeks party.
The timing has not escaped analysts.
Greece's bailout extension expires at the end of June and the worst kept secret in Brussels is that Athens will need new loans to stay afloat.
Officially, Greece is not searching for alternative sources of funding.
But a loan from Russia, or perhaps China, could seem a more favourable alternative - or at least supplement - to any new eurozone bailout with all its unpopular measures and reforms attached.
Greece could look forward to cheaper gas for struggling households, increased Russian investment and tourism to provide a much needed economic boost.
Moscow, in return, would be rewarded with a friendly ally with veto power inside the EU at a time of heightened tensions over the Ukraine crisis.
...
"My feeling is that the Greek government is playing the 'Russian card' in order to improve its bargaining position in the current negotiations," says Manos Karagiannis, a Greece-born specialist on Russian foreign policy at King's College, London.
"But it will be very difficult for Athens to distance itself from the EU and Nato."
...
For Prof Karagiannis, what matters is that Greece is fully integrated into the West, but he warns against underestimating the risks of a Greek exit from the euro.
"A Grexit could certainly fuel anti-EU sentiments among the Greek population. And an isolated and weak Greece could jeopardise the stability of the entire region," he says.
A weakened country, cast out of the eurozone and possibly the EU, would then be far more open to closer ties with Russia.
*
* *
Isolated
indeed...
h/t
@KeepTalkingGreece
Germans Furious After
Varoufakis/Tsipras Amit
"Greece Will Never Repay Its
Debts"
12 March, 2015
The
Greco-Germanic war of words continues... Having pissed off The Greeks
with his "Troika" remarks, Germany's Schaeuble went on
today to more ad hominum attacks by reportedly calling
the Greek FinMin "foolishly naive." TheGreek
ambassador has 'officially' complained to
"friend and ally" Germany about the personal insult. But
The Greeks had the last laugh, as first Varoufakis and then Tsipras
explained respectively that "Greece
would never pay back its debts," and
"Greece cannot pretend its debt burden is sustainable." The
German response, via tabloid Bild, "there
must be an end to this madness. Europe must not be made to look
stupid."
As
Bloomberg reports, Germany
and Greece confirmed Thursday that the Greek ambassador in Berlin
made an official protest late Tuesday to the German Foreign Ministry
over comments made by Schaeuble.
Schaeuble and his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis have traded barbs in recent weeks, with Schaeuble on Tuesday suggesting that Varoufakis needed to look more closely at an agreement that Greece signed in February: “He just has to read it. I’m willing to lend him my copy if need be.”
“It was a complaint after what he (Schaeuble) said about Mr. Varoufakis. As a minister of a country that is our friend and our ally, he cannot personally insult a colleague.”
Koutras did not specify what the insult was, but Greek media had reported that Schaeuble had said that Varoufakis was “foolishly naive.”
Schaeuble said Thursday that any suggestion he insulted Varoufakis at the meeting is “absurd.”
*
* *
And
then, as Reuters reports, Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has described his country as the
most bankrupt in the world and said European leaders knew all along
that Athens would never repay its debts,
in blunt comments that sparked a backlash in the German media on
Tuesday.
A documentary about the Greek debt crisis on German public broadcaster ARD was aired on the same day euro zone finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss whether to provide Athens with further funding in exchange for delivering reforms.
"Clever people in Brussels, in Frankfurt and in Berlin knew back in May 2010 that Greece would never pay back its debts. But they acted as if Greece wasn't bankrupt, as if it just didn't have enough liquid funds," Varoufakis told the documentary.
"In this position, to give the most bankrupt of any state the biggest credit in history, like third class corrupt bankers, was a crime against humanity," said Varoufakis, according to a German translation of his comments.
Followed
today by comments from Syriza leader Tsipras...
- *TSIPRAS: GREECE CAN'T PRETEND ITS DEBT BURDEN IS SUSTAINABLE
- *TSIPRAS: IT'S VITAL FOR GREECE'S PUBLIC DEBT TO BE RESTRUCTURED
Wait
What!!
The
Germans are not happy... the
remarks caused a stir in Germany where
voters and politicians are increasingly reluctant to lend Greece
money.
Bild daily splashed the comments on the front page and ran an editorial comment urging European leaders to stop providing Greece with ever more financial support.
"The Greek government is behaving as if everyone must dance to its tune. But there must be an end to this madness. Europe must not be made to look stupid," wrote a commentator.
*
* *
European
'Union' indeed.
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