"The population, not the elites are the problem"

Always nice to get confirmation of what our rulers think of us.

GERMAN PRESIDENT: “THE ELITES ARE NOT THE PROBLEM, THE POPULATIONS ARE THE PROBLEM.”

German President Gauck said in an interview with the ARD about the growing patriotic protest movements and parties in Europe: “

That's right.

Just cancel the referendum and have another go and see if they get it right this time.

Blair does not rule out second Brexit vote

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says that a second Brexit referendum should not be ruled out in the process of redefining the country’s relationship with the European Union (EU).

Press TV,

26 June, 2016

Blair made the comments in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, days after Thursday’s EU referendum, which saw Britain breaking away from the bloc by a 52-48 margin.

Asked whether he would support a new referendum, the former premier said: “As I’m looking at it here, I can’t see how we could do that. But the point is: why rule anything out?”

Blair said that both sides of the debate had to focus their attention on reestablishing London’s post-Brexit relations with the 28-member bloc.

“If there is a desire in the Leave camp to try and bring the country back together,” he said, “I think we also have to show a maturity in the politics of Remain and work out how we do this best for the country.”

Calls for a second referendum began days ahead of the June 23 vote, when polls showed little to no margin between both sides.

For example, a petition demanding the UK government to repeat the vote if the “Remain” or “Leave” vote was less than 60 percent with a turnout of less than 75 percent, has been gaining momentum since the poll, reaching more than three million signatures.

The online petition generated so much traffic that Parliament's website temporarily crashed on Saturday.

By voting to leave the EU, Blair said Britons had “Taken the decision to swap homes, if you like, without seeing what the other [home] looks like,” he said.

The former PM also warned that Europe faces high Euroskepticism levels across the continent and if many other European countries were to hold a similar referendum, they might produce similar results.

European leaders, who had urged the UK to remain in the EU, are now pressing it to set out a quick timetable for its exit from the bloc, to avoid a long period of “uncertainty.”

Blair said Europe had to avoid hasty decisions with regard to the UK as the two sides were renegotiating mutual ties.

This,I am sure, is a fairly accurate reflection of the Eurocrats’ position.

I’m equally sure they are in for a rude awakening.

As Winston Peters says, this is the end of neoliberalism and close to the end of the European project.

The Future of Europe: So What if the British Are Leaving?

A Commentary by Christoph Schult

Spiegel

26 June, 2016

The British aren't the only ones who have let their emotions get the better of reason when considering their frequently fraught relationship with Europe. Germany has also been overly sentimental about the meaning of Brexit, with SPIEGEL pleading "Please Don't Go" and the sensationalist newspaper Bild even offering to recognize the contentious 1966 World Cup goal at Wembley if Britain remained in the EU.

In an editorial I wrote two weeks ago, I suggested countering all the hysteria over Brexit by calmly saying to the British: "Then just go." Many asked whether I was serious. Yes, I was. And no, I am not opening bottles of champagne because the majority of Britons decided to turn their backs on the EU.

This isn't a matter of emotions, but a levelheaded assessment of the actual implications of Brexit. On balance, the consequences will be dramatic for Britain. But from the standpoint of the remaining 27 EU members, Britain's withdrawal offers more opportunities than drawbacks.

This applies to the supposed domino effect, of which European politicians started warning immediately after the UK referendum. Even if right-wing populists like Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, the head of France's Front National, successfully demanded their own votes on EU membership, it is unlikely that a majority of their countrymen would also decide to leave the bloc. The steady stream of bad news coming from Britain in the coming weeks and months will see to that.

Warning Signs

The fall of the British pound is the first warning sign, and we will soon hear about major corporations pulling their headquarters out of London and moving to places like Frankfurt. If the British opt for the Norwegian model, they will continue to pay billions in contributions to the EU without having a say in shaping the rules of the single market. It is doubtful whether this will heighten the appeal of an exit for other countries. Of course, this presupposes that EU negotiators take as tough a stance against London as they have promised.

A second benefit is that the British can now no longer block legislation when Europeans decide to join forces in areas where they are stronger together. The economic union must finally become reality so that national decisions can no longer jeopardize the common currency. The euro zone needs a unified economic government and a European finance minister commanding an independent budget.

DPA   British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha following his resignation announcement on Friday.

The same applies to foreign and security policy. A permanent, shared headquarters is needed for increasingly important EU military missions in places like Mali and the Mediterranean -- something that all EU countries want, except for the British, who have blocked it. And when it comes to foreign policy, it is high time that majority decisions, which have long been customary on issues such as environmental policy, are allowed. In addition, the refugee crisis has shown that a real European border control force is needed, as well as uniform asylum law and a fair distribution of refugees.

Perhaps Advantageous

Critics will now object that it isn't just the British who have blocked the refugee quota. This is true, but if a select group of nations decides in favor of stronger cooperation, this is both legally possible and perhaps even advantageous. The euro and the Schengen Area also began smaller, but both grew as more member states eventually wanted to join.

"More Europe," of course, isn't always the best approach. It would make sense to return some of the powers Brussels now has to the member states. The common agricultural policy, for example, has for decades been nothing but a gigantic money redistribution machine without a discernible added benefit for Europe.

It is an irony of history that even if the British do not get the deal Prime Minister David Cameron negotiated with the other EU leaders, the remaining 27 countries could still implement some of its provisions. For example, a Romanian worker in Germany, whose children still live in Romania, should probably not be entitled to generous German child benefits.

Such tinkering would certainly help make Europe more attractive again for many of its citizens. And who knows, perhaps some Britons will soon regret voting for to leave the union on June 23, 2016.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Alexander Dugin on Grexit

Alexander Dugin on Brexit 
"Brexit - Nothing personal"

Via Facebook

Firstly, the very fact of the referendum is important. The European Union was founded without consulting the will of ordinary Europeans. It was a decision of the European elites supported by Washington and a club of fanatic globalists such as George Soros. No one asked the people, and it was decided without their will. There was the Soviet Union, and so European integration was aimed against our state and the Eastern European camp. However, the Soviet Union collapsed more quickly than was expected, and the European Union had to be completed under entirely different conditions than those in which it was founded.

In the early 1990's, United Europe was close to surprising the Americans. With no more enemies in the East, the French and German national elites aimed to create an independent security system, their own army, the EuroCorps, with a view to getting out from under NATO control, or at least from under US control. Logically, since Moscow dissolved the Warsaw Pact, it was time to dissolve the North-Atlantic Alliance too. Europe was capable of becoming an independent geopolitical player, even if not pro-Russian, then at least clearly not pro-American.

Then, the United Kingdom entered the stage as the United States’ main partner in the Old World. The Americans were once a British colony, but in the 20th century, the roles were changed, and now in political and strategic terms, England became Washington's vassal and satrap. These are the harsh realities of geopolitics; the center of Atlanticism has shifted even further to the West. So, Great Britain criticized all of Paris and Berlin’s initiatives aimed at creating a real Europe, a European Europe, not an American or Atlanticist one. And Britain fulfilled this role successfully. It didn’t intervene in the European Union’s business, but whenever the continental powers declared their position to be different from the American one, the British hastened to the rescue of Washington. Their vassal role required them to do so.

This was the case during the Iraq war. The British, not even accepting the euro, kept the pound, and it seemed like they were outside of Europe by themselves. But as soon as European countries conceived something different, something really European, London immediately became active, often standing on the side of the strangest “Europeans”, those mostly from the Baltic and Eastern European countries who quickly exchanged one master for another and began to rail against the old one. The barking agenda was, of course, decided in Washington, but Foggy Albion contributed a quite unpleasant, anti-European, Anglo-Saxon game veiled in an increasingly outmoded “high” arrogant style.

But now, the British have decided to leave. Brexit. However, after all, the people were not asked when they joined Europe in the first place, and to be honest, the English lose little by being in the EU. Mere trifles. The point of course is different. Who else needs United Europe anymore? The Eurosceptic parties of both right and left are winning in more and more countries, so the main trend is clearly the end of the European Union.

One thing is clear: Brexit means that the same forces that created the European Union, the same old globalist club, are now dissolving it for their own purposes, having become disappointed or now looking for a different strategy. Anyway, this will clearly lead to chaos. Such chaos has existed in the Middle East and the Arab world for a long time now, but now it is Europe’s turn. And everything is prepared for this. The British might be somehow simply fleeing a sinking ship. But they are not exactly safe.

If the British decide to stay, this means that Washington’s strategists will still fear that Europe can get out of control, and that under the threat of a fatal crisis they could accept the proposed alliance with Russia, for example. Moreover, Moscow has stressed that, in any case, the offer of friendship still stands.

European democracy is no longer the rule of the people, but the rule of the elites. Therefore, the people decide nothing. A pure society of the spectacle. Any democracy is but a cover for the elite’s power. Today, this has become obvious to everyone.“
http://katehon.com/article/brexit-nothing-personal

Predictions of global collapse

A Stunning Email About Brexit Vote As Elites Panic And Global Collapse Edges Closer

King World News,

26 June, 2016

This was an email sent to King World News by one of their readers:

“Please, please, please, do not listen to the distorted views of the mainstream media. Yes, immigration is a major problem. But not THE REASON why the we voted to leave the EU. We as a people have demanded our country back from the unelected elites which have become our masters. An unelected EU government with no opposition, with the power to make our laws and determine how we live our lives. Immigration is a secondary topic, the economy is secondary, if we are worse off we will live with our decision. If we suffer, so be it. Our freedom and the freedom of our children is much more important. People have died in the millions to fight for this basic right. We have given a shining example of democracy to the world. We have put our country and our future above our individual interests. The British lion has awakened from a long sleep. Today I have never been more proud of the silent, decent Briton who stood up to be counted.” 

— From a King World News reader in Yorkshire

And now, the real reason for the coming global collapse…

The following are comments from Swiss Egon von Geyerz

Egon von Greyerz:  “When David Cameron decided to let the British people vote on Brexit, he did not realize that he would open a real can of worms. Before the referendum I declared that Brexit would not be the reason for a collapse of the world economy but that it could be the catalyst for such a collapse…

 “We have only seen a one day reaction with heavy intervention from central banks around the world, but judging from the massive volatility we have seen so far, there is now a very high likelihood that a major secular decline in the world economy will now start to unravel. The next few weeks and months are likely to be a lot worse than the 2007 – 2009 crisis.

The problem areas will not just be in the economy but also on the world political stage. The elite are not pleased with Cameron that he gave the British people a democratic vote on the question of the country’s EU membership. Political leaders know that it is very dangerous to give the people the option to decide on any important issue. Only the Swiss people have this right and exercise it frequently. In most countries the elected government take all the important decisions without consulting the people. And in the EU it is even worse than that because most of the binding decisions for all member states are taken by unelected and unaccountable officials. And the European Court of Justice stands above all member states’ judicial systems.

The majority of the British people rejected having their sovereignty given over to Brussels. They have also made it clear that they don’t want to be forced to accept the EU rules on unlimited and uncontrolled immigration, which if continued will destroy the fabric of the U.K. and the rest of Europe.

There Is Now Panic In High Circles Around The World

What is quite astounding is that Cameron and the British government lost the vote in spite of having every economic expert in the world on their side as well as Obama, Lagarde, Carney (governor of the Bank of England) and many others. They also published reports that wages would go down as well as house prices and that taxes would go up. But in the end all this propaganda became counterproductive. The British people just didn’t believe what they heard and they have now called the elite’s bluff. This is why there is panic in many high circles in the world.

For the EU officials this is a serious defeat and a dangerous erosion of their authority to rule Europe as a Superstate because now there are already demands for referenda in many European countries like France, Holland and Denmark. The EU elite will do everything in their power not to let any of the remaining 27 countries have a democratic vote. But the cat has been let out of the bag and it will be very difficult to stop this drive for freedom from the Brussels shackles to spread.

Already On The Verge Of Collapse

The dilemma for Europe and also for the world is that this political unrest is happening in a global economy and a financial system which is on the verge of collapse. Since the beginning of the crisis in 2006, central banks and governments have created roughly $100 trillion of additional debt, reduced interest rates to zero or negative and manipulated most markets. In spite of that, the very serious problems in the financial system that emerged in 2006 have not been solved. On the contrary, they have grown exponentially with global debt having doubled and derivatives of $1.5 quadrillion being mostly worthless and out of control. The European banking system is on the verge of collapse and this will also spread to the fragile American and Asian banks.

Initial global trading on the day after the Brexit vote had panic written all over it with the Nikkei down over 7% and the pound losing over 10%. Panic soon spread to the European markets with the German Dax index down 7% and the Euro falling 2%. The dollar and the yen were the main beneficiaries of the currencies but that is likely to be short-lived as all the currencies compete in their race to the bottom.....[ ]

To read the rest of the article GO HERE

Angela Merkel - An Unexpected U-Turn

Why Merkel Wants To Keep Greece in Euro Zone

Angela Merkel has made a surprising U-turn in her policy on Greece. The German chancellor now wants to stop Athens from leaving the euro zone at all costs -- even if it means massaging the figures in the upcoming troika report. For the German leader, it is essential to avoid the consequences of a Grexit before national elections next year.

der Spiegel,

10 September, 2012

Mantras are short, formulaic phrases that are repeated over and over for meditative purposes. They can be spoken, sung, whispered, recited mentally or even written down and eaten.

The German chancellor has recently opted for the spoken variety, which is the conventional form. Angela Merkel's mantra consists of a short German sentence. It translates as: "We are waiting for the troika report." She repeats it whenever the opportunity arises -- such as two weeks ago, when Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited Berlin.

One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to see through Merkel's maneuver: The chancellor wants to buy time. She hopes to calm the general public and the notoriously nervous financial markets through meditative repetition -- and ultimately create the impression that it actually matters what the troika finds out during its mission to Greece.

But it doesn't. In reality, Merkel has already made up her mind. After long hesitation, she has sided with French President François Hollande and the European Commission. The report from the troika -- which consists of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) and which departed on its fact-finding tour last week -- will undoubtedly conclude that Greece can remain in the euro zone.

Newfound Determination

If that happens, more money can flow again into the debt-ridden Balkan nation this fall. If the chancellor has her way, though, there will be no third aid program for Greece, which would have to be approved by the German parliament, the Bundestag.

Merkel's newfound determination to rescue Greece is a remarkable U-turn for the chancellor. Until recently, Merkel was prepared to drop the country if it failed to meet its commitments. But she now regards a Greek departure from the euro zone as entailing too many risks.

In the Chancellery in Berlin, officials fear that such an outcome could trigger a domino effect like the one caused by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008. At the time, the collapse of the New York investment bank plunged the entire global economy into chaos. In Germany alone, the economy shrank by 5 percent and hundreds of thousands lost their jobs.

But the political costs are also too high for Merkel. If Greece withdrew from the euro zone, her advisers fear that this could mean that it would eventually be necessary to create a common "debt union" to stabilize problem countries like Italy and Spain. It would be a paradoxical situation: Germany would take a hard-line approach with Greece, but might subsequently have to accept jointly issued euro bonds, which German voters widely oppose.

On Ice

The enormous political pressure in this direction is exemplified by the ECB's controversial decision last Thursday to purchase, if necessary, unlimited quantities of sovereign bonds from struggling euro-zone member states.

So the chancellor has made up her mind, and will now continue to muddle along as usual. The problem will be put on ice for now, and re-addressed sometime after the 2013 Bundestag election -- when the current rescue program has ended.

It's clear, though, that it will probably take decades for cash-strapped Greece to modernize itself. "Greece is an Oriental country," says former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in a SPIEGEL interview.

The risks and possible side effects of Merkel's approach are obvious. Once Greece receives more money, the danger increases that the government in Athens will postpone its promised reforms. It wouldn't be the first time.

'Maximum Pressure'

When Greek Prime Minister Samaras visited Berlin recently, he was left in the dark about the degree to which the Germans' view has changed. Instead, Merkel announced internally that it was necessary to continue to exert "maximum pressure" on the prime minister so he would implement the required reforms. At the same time, she praised her counterpart from Athens. Merkel said that Samaras is playing a "historic role" for his country, adding that she was very impressed with what he had to say: "We have to give him a chance."

And Merkel intends to see that he soon gets his opportunity. Her plan calls for the troika's report to present the situation in Greece as less disastrous than previously expected, as this is a necessary prerequisite for disbursement of the next tranche of aid. "We have to find a solution," Merkel instructed her staff last week.

It is the envoys of IMF head Christine Lagarde who are primarily balking at the idea of painting a picture of Greece's situation that is rosier than the reality. But Merkel is optimistic that they will eventually go along with her approach. The IMF statutes may be strict, but the agreements with aid recipients -- in this case Greece -- nevertheless offer a great deal of leeway.

This embellishment of reality could succeed thanks to the top-down method, which is popular in the world of business. It involves doggedly changing the parameters of a model until the desired result is produced.

Changing the Variables

The core of the troika report is the so-called debt sustainability analysis. It calculates the conditions that would be needed to reduce Greece's debt to the halfway tolerable level of 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020. Troika insiders say that this calculation may be a great many things, but a precise scientific forecast is not one of them.

Only one variable needs to be changed to produce the desired result. The troika experts have experience in this regard. In February, when the Euro Group of finance ministers decided on the last program for Greece, they spent four hours conducting calculations before they reached a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120 percent. It's an exercise that can easily be repeated.

The troika could thus certify that the Greeks have made progress. According to this scenario, the inevitable financing gaps would be downplayed as a regrettable but merely temporary departure from the plan -- and one that must be coped with as part of the current second rescue program. After all, the shortfalls cannot be too great, or a third rescue program might be necessary.

And that is something that must be avoided at all costs. A third package, as the Germans have already indicated to their European partners, would have no chance of being approved by the Bundestag. As a result, there is not to be any additional money for Greece. Instead, Berlin intends to alter the current -- second -- rescue program to make it look like Greece is making ends meet, at least for the time being.

Kicking the Can Down the Road

But how? One variant might work like this: If the Greeks need more money in the fall, the payment tranche will be increased accordingly. Later transfers would be reduced in return. This approach would present a decisive advantage for the chancellor. It would not become apparent until 2014, when the rescue program expires, whether the money had been sufficient or not. But that would already be many months after the Bundestag election.

Amending the current rescue package doesn't require the Bundestag's approval. The chancellor nevertheless intends to submit the changes to parliament for a vote. Merkel has reportedly told close aides that she remains confident that she will be able to win majority backing for the amendments when the time comes.

Even if most members of parliament reject the idea of a third aid program, they would still be highly reluctant to support a move that would result in Greece leaving the euro zone -- and Merkel believes that this would certainly happen if the current program isn't amended.

Furthermore, it looks like the crucial troika report will be delayed. It was originally supposed to be prepared by late August, and the next tranche of funding approved in September. Last week, however, officials in Brussels said that Greece's fate would probably not be decided until early November -- partly out of consideration for the United States. President Barack Obama is not inclined to allow his re-election to be jeopardized by an escalation of the euro crisis. Sources in Brussels say that postponing the report is not a problem because the government in Athens has enough money to see it through until then.

Newfound Affection

Attentive observers already noticed the chancellor's apparent change of heart two weeks ago. Merkel, whose father was a pastor in communist Eastern Germany, has suddenly discovered a deep affection for the downtrodden people of Greece. She compassionately expressed empathy for "what many in Greece have to suffer," and said that "it does make one's heart bleed."

Up until this point in time, Merkel and her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, were seen as supporters of the "chain theory." According to this theory, the monetary union is a chain in which each individual country forms a link. Since Greece is the weakest link, if it leaves, as the theory has it, the chain will become stronger overall.

But since this summer, the majority of Merkel's advisers have now become supporters of the "domino theory," which postulates that the monetary union would not become stronger if Greece exits. On the contrary: If Greece falls, one country after the other could then be in danger of toppling.

Domino theorists argue that the impact on the economy, growth and employment would be catastrophic and incalculable. But one thing remains clear: If Greece falls, Germany will have to pay -- and the bill will come to almost exactly €62 billion ($79 billion). This is the colossal sum that the Greeks and their central bank owe the Germans. The entire amount would all have to be written off.

Falling Dominos

And that wouldn't be the end of the story. In order to protect the remaining financially weak countries like Portugal and Ireland, along with Spain and Italy, hundreds of billions of euros would have to be mobilized. But how? There are three possibilities: larger rescue packages, euro bonds or a kind of mutual liability insurance. But no matter what instrument is used, it would ultimately be much more expensive for Germany if Greece leaves the euro zone.

The domino theorists won out in the end. Everything that moves in the direction of a debt or liability union is a nightmare scenario for the chancellor. She knows that the majority of Germans reject euro bonds or the notion of assuming other country's debts. It could jeopardize her re-election next year.

What's more, the domino theory fraction in Merkel's circles has received support from, of all people, a man who has tended to place himself in opposition to the chancellor over the past few weeks: Jens Weidmann, the president of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank. Weidmann, who once served as Merkel's economic adviser, now also thinks that it would be better for Germany in the long run if Greece remained in the euro zone.

But one of Merkel's more important allies still remains a chain theorist. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has indicated to his fellow members of the Euro Group that he sees a Greek exit as an acceptable risk.

During a visit to the Netherlands, Schäuble reportedly told his Dutch counterpart Jan Kees de Jager that this was the only way that German voters could be convinced to keep the rest of the community together and de facto subsidize countries like Spain and Italy with rescue programs for years to come. At first glance, this position might seem to contradict Schäuble's image as a dedicated European. But in reality he wants to strengthen the euro as a political project by reducing the size of the common currency zone.

'Big Picture'

Merkel takes another view. According to her close aides, she is keeping her eye on the "big picture." The chancellor reportedly feels that the EU cannot afford to allow democracy to falter in a member state. She also points out that Greece is a NATO member and an important ally in the eastern Mediterranean -- a region that has enough flashpoints as it is.

But Merkel also sees domestic politics as an integral part of the big picture. Her new, lenient approach has the advantage that it could allow her to reach the election next September without the turbulence of a Greek exit from the monetary union. In return, she is prepared to play for high stakes.

If everything goes her way, the change in tranche payments will have no serious consequences within the second rescue program. She is putting off dealing with Greece until sometime in the future. If she's lucky, the Greeks will have gotten back on their feet by then, and will need less money because the reforms pursued in their country will have finally proven effective.

If she's unlucky, Merkel will be plugging holes by making new ones elsewhere -- and it may all come to a head once the Bundestag election is over.

Another possibility is that the Greek economy performs so poorly that the money runs out before the rescue package expires. This would be the worst-case scenario for Merkel. Nevertheless, she is consciously taking this risk. She sees it as manageable -- unlike a Greek exit from the euro zone.

Translated from the German by Paul Cohen