We had grown accustomed in our little corner of Europe to the threats of our bigger partners every six months or so. The Troika would visit and the news would be full of stories of what Merkel or Soimble or someone else said about Greece. They would play this kind of good cop bad cop game with us similar to a hot then cold shower. Something of a torture that has now been stepped up to twice a week in an attempt to sway public opinion in little Greece. The newly elected government of Alexis Tsipras and his coalition partner Panos Kammenos do enjoy an overwhelming 75-80 percent support in the polls for the way they are handling negotiations. Today, Monday the 16th of February, was yet another meeting of the Eurogroup to discuss solely the Greek crisis and bail-out plan. Our newly elected leaders have a clear mandate not to continue the existing austerity plans, not to renew the memorandum. At the meeting in Brussels a joint statement was presented to mr. Yanis Baroufakis, the Greek finance minister, that he was willing to sign. It stated how all parties would continue to work to achieve a mutualy beneficial solution with respect to existing agreements and responsibilities and so on. Then this joint statement was retracted in favour of another that stated that Greece must sign the continuation of existing agreements (the memorandum) by Friday and there would be no other options. Needless to say mr. Baroufakis did not sign this. An ultimatum from conservative governments in Europe to lil ol Greece. Why does the beast make these sudden ill planned moves? Because it is fataly wounded and thrashing about. A Grexit would mean the end of the Euro, and German economic domination, within the year.
I will try to make this crystal clear. Already Europe has been dabbing in foreign affairs and until recently without the participation of Greece. Our former foreign minister, Venizelos, would not even bother to travel to Brussels for meetings having simply given his consent to whatever the majority decided. Our new government was four days old, not even sworn in yet, when the EU decided to make new sanctions against Russia over the situation in the Ukraine. Greece objected and vetoed any new sanctions until the next planned foreign ministers meeting in September. In terms of foreign affairs Germany is not a big player. She has a small standing army and no nukes. Greece has a huge standing army, 5000 modern tanks, 3000 German leopard and 2000 RussianT-150 and hundreds of block 3 or 4 F-16s and eurofighters and mirage 2000. A powerful navy, if you don't take into account the listing German built subs. Both American and Swedish AWACS and Patriot and Russian S-100 anti-aircraft and anti-missile batteries along with some Greek weaponry like the Artemis anti-aircraft guns. The huge list of Greek military equipment makes Athens a much bigger player than Berlin. Berlin as a matter of fact has enjoyed US protection for so long that she does not have the kind of intelligence capability required to be a major player. The proof is in the German inspired ceasefire achieved in a 17 hours long deliberations marathon between leaders of all sides in Minsk last week. It is not a lasting ceasefire as only Germany got what she wanted.
So this whole thing with ultimatums does not seem to be working for Merkel and her merry men. They keep showing up dressed respectably in their suits and ties while practicing dirty tactics. The whole thing is bound to blow up in their face. The original structure of the Euro currency needs to be rethought as it is without flexibility and favours the industrialized north. The free trade agreeement does not make up for lost income in pension funds from the importing nations to the exporting nations. Trade imbalances grow and the system favours the nation that can export the most. Manufactured products hide many forms of tax revenue before they go to market that benefit solely the producing nation. Now that there are no tariffs in place importing nations have no way to balance this inequality. Today Merkel and her gang of henchmen demanded that we appoint a new minister of finance in Greece as they refuse to speak to mr. Baroufakis. It is only part of that hot cold strategy... interference in a smaller countries internal affairs.
So after this Friday there is nothing. Oblivion! no Eurogroup, no European Commission, no more bailout plans, no more European Central Bank buying Greek bonds. The lines are clearly drawn by both sides and there is no possible solution without one side backing down. Saturday the Alexis the Great plan kicks into effect. http://ellinomangia.blogspot.gr/2011/10/alexander-great-plan-unmasked.html
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| Irish finance minister shows up at Mondays' Eurogroup with a blackened eye. He later quipped "I thought we were going to gang up on Baroufakis..." |
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| Dajselbloom tries sneaking past Baroufakis who has made his mark... |
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| Notice the distinctive handshake styles, firm vs limp |
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