General Order number 1

General Order number 1 is non interference, General Wesley Clark however gives an interview where he admits US plans for the middle east while casting the blame elsewhere, "...came from above..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aL_KxtYZCRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL_KxtYZCRw

The truth about the middle east and Syria is that petroleum is running out everywhere else. The other truth about the region is that religion offers an excellent point for leverage. Everytime there is turmoil in the area analysis eventualy boils down to differing Muslim factions and religious leaders along with their fanatic followers. There is an endless pool of victims of violence who would like to become perpetrators in turn. It is a simple process. Everytime that a car blows up the only victim that is not random is the suicide bomber, becoming one gives the individual this sense of control along with the distinction that seperates them from the crowd. Of course nobody would take their own life simply as a fashion statement so religious leaders offer spiritual incentive to commit the double sin of murder-suicide. The "higher cause" clause is good mental food for western military servants who also need a moral excuse or reasoning to start shooting or bombing at random in some far away country. Typically though once the fun begins there are many volunteers who will do any number of unspeakable acts just for the hell of it. Putting an end to terrorism is simply fodder for the public ear. I have a feeling that everyone in the military knows who's next and is simply biding their time.Trekkies know that intervention only leads to worse violence and hopefuly the Trekkies will rule the day with the non-interference prime directive. Gotta love those Vulcans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

Whose watching who?

Looking back not too long ago, when the foundations of the Alexander the great plan (http://ellinomangia.blogspot.gr/2011/10/alexander-great-plan-unmasked.html) where laid out, one can trace the causes of this crisis. It did not start out with debt at all but instead with the control of the central bank of Europe and the allotment of debt. We were told as Greeks that we had escaped the worst when the bubble burst back in 2008. Greek banks had not invested in "toxic" funds and derivatives. So as the financial world reeled under the weight of trillions in unpayable debts Greek as well as Cypriot banks seemed to have escaped the worst. What happened in the meantime to bring us into this unbelievable nightmarish circumstance? What laws and mechanisms have alowed the hardest hit nations of the last financial crisis, Germany, to escape relatively unscathed? They managed to use creative accounting to sweep their debt under the carpet while exposing the debt accumulated by smaller EU members. These smaller countries that where relatively debt free, appear to have surpassed their GDP in loans. It only makes sense when you take into account the lack of a national bank.
      So when exactly did the European Union enter this phase. Well it didn't exactly, not all of it anyways. Some countries opted to hold onto their national currencies and their national banks. The most prominent one being Great Britain. The former Cyprian currency, the Cyprian Lira or pound, enjoyed a healthy price as it was always closely tied to the British currency. It was actualy stronger than that. The Cyprians also signed onto the euro currency and became part of that majority of EU countries that share a common currency. At what price though? Well today the price is crystal clear as a country without an independent fiscal strategy or central bank is like a ship without a rudder. In this case it is more like a train rolling down a preset track. Our measly little politicians here in Athens got to gloat as they pointed out the price of the Cyprian governments resounding "NO" to the central European bailout plan. What they shouldn't forget is how much more they have agreed to sell out than the Cyprians have been forced to since their refusal. The thing is that all these countries, including Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and all other nations that boast the euro currency, have already agreed on Private Sector Involvement (PSI) and trimming of large depository private accounts. The law was ratified in Brussels two or three years ago by a majority of the European parliament. It is specific and all those who have read it did not lose a single cent in Cyprus or in Greece. It will come into full effect in 2015.Shocking eh!
     As for my title it is of course inspired by those wonderful Whos that live in Whosevile under the watchful eye of the Grinch. The Grinch has been watching this and other bloggs. He used to be mostly American and Russian but as I have been tracking my trackers as of this year, 2013, the Grinch is mostly German...

Cyprus and European instability

Certainly it comes as no suprize to me that the opening of banks in Cyprus did not lead to a panic. How could it anyways with all the restraining laws on withdrawals and transfers. As for writing a cheque well, it wont be honored in Cyprus. So the citizens of this island watch as forces much larger and way beyond their control play with their fate. After the unanimous rejection of the five to eight percent trim deal that the Eurogroup offered the talk was of a fifty to eighty percent trim on all deposits over 100000 euros. It is hard to guess what will happen. The fallout from this financial bust will be felt in ripples across the continent. Certainly the Cyprians where not the only people whose economy was based mostly on banking. There is Malta and Luxemberg who are also a part of the European Union. So this union has become uneven, undemocratic, economic only in its nature. There is still no real constitution or even a roadmap of what human rights and rights of the individual that this union would be willing to guarantee or at least protect for its member citizens. There are no borders to this union and no guarantee to its members of any kind for protection of their independence. What the union does offer, and this thanks to the Maastricht deal signed not so long ago, is the ability to plunder. Big members can plunder smaller ones without having to pay any kind of taxes, without any kind of hinderance that a national bank might offer. There is no way to resist this and I am not sure when the concentration of power and sovereignty to one member only will stop. The only sure thing is that if things continue this way Germany will once again become a superpower. Her influence on the lesser union nations already has reduced them to the status of satellite states.

Cyprus fulcrum...

Certainly it would be a feat of German engineering to balance east and west on a point. Question is will they be able to balance so many opposing interests in such a small amount of time. The last year has passed through the hourglass with little or no change to the status quo so why now? There is a big scuffle over the first six or so billion of funding needed to get Cyprus out of its present situation. If the Cyprians sign the deal then there will be no problem for an additional twenty or more billion euros. It is truly a cunundrum this German financial engineering that can shut down a country for nearly ten days now. No money, food and medicine shortages, you know, the stuff that is typicaly done to former colonies... there is a ring around the moon tonight, I wonder if it is a healing ring or not. Such a highly orchestrated inability to reach a deal on both sides. So many players and so much at risk in the eastern mediterranean. The little island where east meets west...

Cyprus says... no.

After a weekend barrage of scare tactics and lightly veiled threats by the Troika the Cypriot parliament settled in to vote for its salvation. Then a funny thing happened. Instead of this little pipsqueak nation ratifying the deal, like Greece and Portugal and Ireland and Spain, with the usual two thirds that the troika requires, Cyprus did something totaly unheard of. Its parliament voted a resounding no with not a single vote in favor. Not one member of any faction voted yes. Merkel and her merry band of thieves found their first bit of resistance. Sure they are very busy trying to convince the entire world that they have the only viable solution. Sure they insist that Europe can't keep funding little Cyprus. Sure they are dropping hints that all this Russian money in Cyprian banks is somehow illegal. Certainly they had no qualms about taxing it. They are ridiculous and at last someone has found the power to resist the beast. The bankers and that little clique of theirs can now, as the Greeks say, fart mentos (farting mint flavoured candy is a reference to a chill that passes through you). Shine on you crazy diamond...

The Cypriot Affair

This blogger is always looking for something interesting to write about. The news today is a real whopper. Seems that our global village has become so intertwined that nobody can do anything without disturbing someone elses slumber. After the exceedingly brave and humane stance taken by the EU bankers on a "bail-in" plan for the failing Cypriot banking system the fall out begins. Comments like "the Cypriot economy is too small to affect us" or "we do not need to bail you out" did alot to arouse public sentiment on that small island. The political leaders, just like back in the days of the "Internationalists", new how to play their game. Simply put everything on the playing board when you know you have a better hand. Now Soimble and Merkel and their merry gang have to back peddle and reword their previous comments. You simply can't ask a tax haven, similar to the Swiss model, to start taxing deposits. The Russian bear awakes and kicks out all foreign banks from her soil in reaction. Then Putin gives the go ahead for Gazprom to draft its own bail-out plan for Cyprus with hard cash in return for natural gas development rights. The ace up the sleeve? Cyprus has already signed with Israel for military protection of its exclusive economic zone. To re-cap last weeks events, European bankers and the IMF both refuse yo bail out little Cyprus. Cyprus agrees to a "bail-in" plan as prescribed by her European partners. The Cyprian political leaders insist on full participation even from small depositors. Russia reacts. Europe rescinds. Everyone waits to see. Germany can't survive without Gazprom gas. Will the house of Fugger finaly fall? Will there be a Lutherian reaction to this constant transfer of debt to the small guys with the inevitable suffering that it produces? We wait to see on this first day of Orthodox lent...

After-Before Kozani

What can I say about the latest piece of artistry and technological wizardry. It was just last week when we turned on our t.v. sets to see the results of a bank robbery gone sour. The faces of the arrested assailants were splattered all over the screen of our receivers as we gazed upon a brave new world. A world all too familiar where the state knows no bounds and no laws apply to it. A world where dissidents are marginalized and end up having no voice. An unfriendly polarized and violent world where in the flash of a moment years and years of lawmaking and earnest efforts at a moral and just society with deep democratic tradition and beliefs are shattered as a broken glass. These youths where no ordinary bank robbers of course but where in fact members of a hard left group with a long winded name. Their beating and the subsequent illegal publication of their photos are meant to send a message to others who would folow their example of armed struggle. I fear the opposite message has been sent. Determination is part of human nature and after a total of 3000 suicides over four years directly linked to this economic crisis the country is quickly turning into a powder keg. The fuse of violence is lit and now it is simply a matter of time. Will wiser men and calmer voices prevail? Here are some photos of the same robbers before the photoshop touch ups: