Greece’s confrontation with the euro overlords will shape resistance to austerity – and the future of the whole European Union
It’s now clear that Germany and Europe’s powers that be don’t just want the Greek government to bend the knee. They want regime change. Not by military force, of course – this operation is being directed from Berlin and Brussels, rather than Washington.Class warfare.
But that the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the troika of Greece’s European and International Monetary Fund creditors are out to remove the elected government in Athens now seems beyond serious doubt. Everything they have done in recent weeks in relation to the leftist Syriza administraton, elected to turn the tide of austerity, appears designed to divide or discredit Alexis Tsipras’s government.
They were at it again today, when Tsipras offered what looked like almost complete acceptance of the austerity package he had called a referendum on this Sunday. There could be no talks, Merkel responded, until the ballot had taken place.
There’s no suggestion of genuine compromise. The aim is apparently to humiliate Tsipras and his government in preparation for its early replacement with a more pliable administration....
Already the class nature of the divide between the wealthier yes and more working-class no camps is stark.
The Guardian
Syriza can’t just cave in. Europe’s elites want regime change in Greece
Syriza can’t just cave in. Europe’s elites want regime change in Greece
Seumas Milne
ht Clonal
24 comments:
"They were at it again today, when Tsipras offered what looked like almost complete acceptance of the austerity package he had called a referendum on this Sunday. There could be no talks, Merkel responded, until the ballot had taken place."
Well, that makes sense doesn't it. How can you accept a government's proposal when there is another deal on the table that that government has already submitted to a referendum?
Once Tsipras called for the referendum, he put everything on hold.
When Tsipras called for a referendum, the eurocrats took the deal off the table and said that a referendum on a deal was pointless since there was no longer a deal to vote on.
So Tsipras made another offer closer to the eurocrats', ostensibly to vote on, and they rejected it.
The choice as it stands is to accept the full austerity package the the eurocrats (creditors) are demanding or leave the EZ and go it alone.
Tsipras had promised to try to get a better deal on austerity which would allow Greece to remains in the EZ. He was unable to accomplish that since the creditors have been unbending.
So the Greeks can either sign on to unending depression or decide to go their own way (which would likely meaning joining BRICS).
Well, he is still campaigning for a "no" vote on something!
They haven't finalized the question yet, as far as I can see. It can no longer be a vote on a deal if that deal is off the table and there is no current deal other than the original demand that sparked the whole thing. The austerity package that is demanded would dump the payment on Greek workers and pensioners.
Join the BRICs!
Dan, The Troika has been playing a version of a shell game with Greece. Contrary to what you read in the mainstream media, Tsipras did NOT accept the plan that he walked out on (The "Take it or leave it" ultimatum plan of Friday) That one was the original memorandum recycled - and that is what the referendum is about.
When the referendum was announced, the EU put up a slightly modified version of Greece's last proposal on its website, with the suggestion that it was the plan that Tsipras rejected. It was not. Tsipras called the bluff by accepting that proposal with minor modifications. That is what all the bruhaha is all about.
Of course Merkel and Schauble were apoplectic about it, as evidenced in their performance in the Bundestag today.
What has been happening in the negotiations is that there is a verbal agreement between Greece and the techocrats of the Trioka. The agreed upon plan goes to the EuroGroup, and it gets nixed by Ireland, the Baltic states, Spain and Italy. (There has to be unanimous agreement in the EuroGroup) And so the old recycled meorandum is what gets resent everytime back to Greece.
This is the background of what has been happening. You will not find this reported in the mainstream media, but in the twitter feeds of journalists as reported on some sites the the live feed at the Guardian. Thay have caught many of the EU spokesperson actually telling untruths, but they talk about it on Twitter and not challenge the lies in person, or even report on them.
I once traveled with a reporter of the journal "The Economist". He told me that he could not afford to tell the truth, because he had a family to support, and if he told the truth, he would be fired.
In the US, you have seen what happened to Gary Webb and his career for telling the truth. Nobody in the press today wants to be a martyr.
Right. Sandwichman today.
http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-cover-up-is-alway-worse-that-crime.html
Unknown-- Yeah, I've noticed a lot of strange reporting on this, along the lines you describe. But it's the Greek voters who count now, isn't it? What's going on in the Greek media?
Tom, the referendum question has already been printed. What are you talking about? Of course the question has been finalized.
Tom, Dan K-- We've been through a lot of theoretical exercises together. But this is real, and the choice is clearcut, no? This reminds me of Iraq war 2 (2003), where the people speaking common sense were demonized.
IMF Confirms Greek Referendum "Irrelevant" After Program Expires On Tuesday
Detroit Dan,
What choice are you talking about?
To me this has been a case of what happens when a resistible evil force meets an incompetent object.
Tsipras has no coherent position. He's not speaking common sense, or promoting any progressive cause. He has no progressive economic restructuring plan on the table to provide the rationale for getting debt forgiveness while rejecting the Eurocrat's neoliberal restructuring plan. He just doesn't want to change anything inside his corrupt and terribly governed country, and has no plan for ending the Greek depression and putting millions of Greeks back to work. He's just a hack and a bungler fighting for a debt restructuring and credit extension that won't fix anything. By failing to define any kind of larger context, he's allowed the Eurocrats to present themselves as the only adults in the room.
I don't think that Tsipras is the guy to blame. He has not been doing the negotiating. Varoufakis has as finance minister. But as finance minister YV doesn't have authority to propose or agree to anything that his government doesn't approve, which, practically speaking, means Tsipras.
Varoufakis was elbowed aside in April. The new negotiating team says it learned of the referendum proposal from Twitter.
To me it's a simple question, put your trust in the Troika and its policy of renewed austerity, or try to do something better, with a lot of questions as to exactly what.
I'll go with the Socialists and their bold idea that they can do better than continuing cuts to pensions and so forth.
Dan K -- I'm sure you could do better than Tsipras. But that is not the choice now, is it?
Dan K -- Whatever the details, Syriza is right here. Let's support democracy and the chance for Greece, and the rest of us, to find our own paths. It's probably not easy taking on the neo-liberal establishment. The folks for Syriza seem to be trying to find a way through the gauntlet of misinformation and slander. Is this really such a difficult call?
Varoufakis was elbowed aside in April
http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-shuffles-team-negotiating-with-creditors-1430135685
That's not exactly true according to YV. He is still the negotiator. This is one of the beefs of the eurocrats. The ploy was to pretend that YV was downgraded but that was not the case according to YV.
'I'm still in charge'
Greece's semi-official ANA news agency also reported progress and an improved atmosphere in talks.
Varoufakis has insisted however that he is still in charge of Greece's overall handling of the talks.
"Yes, I'm in charge. I'm still responsible for the talks with the Eurogroup," he told the weekly Die Zeit on Thursday. "I'm supported by various government members, not least by good friend Euclid Tsakalotos. The fact that some media are portraying as if he is replacing me in the talks is just another proof of how low journalistic standards have sunk," he said.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/eu-hails-progress-greek-debt-talks-after-varoufakis-sidelined-314274
If YV were not in charge, he would either be removed as FM or resign.
Moreover, as recently as Jun 20 YV reports negotiating with them but they won't negotiate with him.
http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-finance-minister-europes-negotiators-are-ill-equipped-to-forge-good-hard-decisions-2015-6
Yup, Detroit Dan. As I have been saying, Syriza's grand strategy is absolutely right, and it does appear they have been adhering to it carefully. The referendum was bruited about for some time before the announcement - including by negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos- so if they learned of it by Twitter, it wasn't much of a surprise. As Michael Hudson comments:
"What is not recognized is how successful the Syriza negotiating strategy has been. While most voters opposed austerity, they also initially (and still) have a fear from withdrawing from the eurozone. Tsiparas and Varoufakis have walked a fine line and accurately judged [how] unyielding and totalitarian the Institutions’ “hard money” creditor approach would be."
See e.g. graphs Clonal posted Greek Political Barometer 145, June 2015 showing support for the EU & the Euro has shown a steady decline. See also my comment at the "What If Berlin And Frankfurt Do Not Budge" post.
It's also worth mentioning these lines from the Delphi Declaration
We denounce the illegal and unacceptable agreements successive Greek governments have been obliged, under threat and blackmail, to sign, in violation of all European treaties, of the Charter of UN and of the Greek constitution.
The plain and simple truth on the illegality of the Eurocracy's behavior. It is chilling how few people understand that though, understand the legal basics.
@Calgacus you should also look at the findings of the committee headed by the speaker of the Greek Parliament Zoi Konstantopoulou (a human rights lawyer) that was looking into the legality of the Greek Debt found.
Two items to read - Greek Debt Committee Just Declared All Debt To The Troika "Illegal, Illegitimate, And Odious" and also a book on the legality of the Greek debt published in 2011 - Greece's 'Odious' Debt
The Looting of the Hellenic Republic by the Euro, the Political Elite and the Investment Community
From the parliamentary report
All the evidence we present in this report shows that Greece not only does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay this debt first and foremost because the debt emerging from the Troika’s arrangements is a direct infringement on the fundamental human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to the conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal, illegitimate, and odious.
Yes, some of Greece's debt may be odious, but that is not the easiest thing to prove. I have discovered that the lack of understanding of law begins at a level far below "odious debt." What I meant by chilling is the widespread ignorance of the legal framework that everyone has been living under since 1945. People have been brainwashed into forgetting legal rights that are unanimously, universally recognized, even by the most right-wing, neoliberal, neocon whatever theorists.
For I was just apparently banned from Naked Capitalism for unsuccessfully trying to correct the blog's serious misstatements of (international) law, which I had devoted quite a lot of labor to. YS is convinced that EU law overrides the UN Charter! That Greece is not a sovereign state! That if Greece just said: we're outta here (from the EZ or EU) that there is some legal punishment - maybe including force!- that the EU could impose. I think the last post I was able to make there was that quote of the Delphi Declaration. What is chilling is that so many, almost everyone at NC, highly educated people blithely accept such incredibly wrong, easily falsified statements.
What Michael Hudson & others understand is that Greece's strategy is to try to keep to as strict legality as possible. This is usually a very good idea. But you have to have some faint understanding of what the law is to understand that!
Thanks Calcagus and all.
Let's hope for the best today for Greece and Europe.
Whatever lottery ticket I wake up to find (tomorrow morning) that the Greek people have bought, the Principle of Conflict remains and will run on an on, until the mass of people understand the difference between materialism, and aspiring to be human!
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