ECB
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The ECB’s Noose Around Greece: How Central Banks Harness Governments By Ellen Brown
Remember when the infamous Goldman Sachs delivered a thinly-veiled threat to the Greek Parliament in December, warning them to elect a pro-austerity prime minister or risk having central bank liquidity cut off to their banks? It seems the European Central Bank (headed by Mario Draghi, former managing director of Goldman Sachs International) has now made… Continue reading
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Syriza’s Only Choice: A Radical Step Forward By Spyros Lapatsioras, John Milios, and Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos
The transitional “bridge Agreement” of the 20th of February is a truce intended by the Greek government and welcomed by the other side (the European “institutions”). Within the truce period (the next four months), the conditions for negotiating the next agreement will be shaped. This could mean that everything is still open. However, that is… Continue reading
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Greece Told Deeper Austerity Needed to Secure Additional Loans By Robert Stevens
Euro zone finance ministers met Monday to discuss a set of proposals from the Syriza-led Greek government based on the austerity programme both sides signed on February 20. Greece was required to submit a list of austerity measures deemed acceptable to its creditors as a precondition for receiving a pending load of €7.2 billion and… Continue reading
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The Shorty Long of It By S. Artesian
No sooner does the Syriza government reverse its “policy” regarding the extension of and compliance with the 2012 agreement and its so-called reforms, than our eternalists take hope from the very bleakness of the situation. Syriza has “bought time.” To do what, exactly? Continue reading
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The Cat in the Box: Quantum Social Democracy and the Uncertainty Principle By S. Artesian
I have to wonder what’s “wholly correct” about the approach of the “The Left Platform” if it provides an indication to Tsirpas that he should by-pass parliament and simply impose the reform package, because that “would possibly have split Syriza in a big way”? Unless it is to keep Syriza in power. Continue reading
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Yani and the Hand Jive By S. Artesian
Before and upon assuming government, Syriza explicitly recognized that none of the “reforms” required by the Troika could or would allow Greece to repay the debt. Liquidation sales are never designed to repay the face value of the debt. Prior to taking power, Syriza correctly identified the Greek economy as insolvent with the privatization program… Continue reading
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24 hours late, and € 240 billion short
A day late and more than a dollar short, Yanis Varoufakis submitted a “program” of reforms to the Eurozone finance ministers (Eurogroup) regarding the Greek government’s development and implementation of tax policies, public finance management, revenue administration, public spending, social security reform, public administration and corruption, instalment schemes, labor market reforms, product market reforms, better… Continue reading
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The Anti-Empire Report #137 By William Blum: A Greek Tragedy
In 1964, the liberal George Papandreou came to power, but in April 1967 a military coup took place, just before elections which appeared certain to bring Papandreou back as prime minister. The coup had been a joint effort of the Royal Court, the Greek military, the KYP, the CIA, and the American military stationed in… Continue reading
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Greece: GameBoy at the PlayStation By S. Artesian
All dressed up in his Roy Batty best, the new finance minister of Greece, Yanis “GameBoy” Varoufakis was on the road. Laptop, Ipad, and PlayStation all synched, linked, and tethered, he was a man in full in that great digital daisy chain of bankers, academics, politicians. and entertainers. Continue reading
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The European Union and Greece: the Murder of a Nation By Anna FILIMONOVA
At the end of July, eurozone deputy finance ministers approved another transfer of money to Greece to the tune of EUR 6.8 billion (it had previously been thought that Athens would be allocated EUR 8.1 billion). Several days earlier, meanwhile, the Greek parliament approved the latest in a series of legislative acts, the adoption of… Continue reading
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JPMorgan calls for authoritarian regimes in Europe By Stefan Steinberg
In a document released at the end of May, the American banking and investment giant JP Morgan Chase calls for the overturning of the bourgeois democratic constitutions established in a series of European countries after the Second World War and the installation of authoritarian regimes. Continue reading
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Financial Cleansing: The Cyprus Bail-in Template By grtv
The recent bail-in in Cyprus has given the world a glimpse at the future of the banking landscape. Now, as Canada gets set to hardwire the bail-in process into law, analysts like Michel Chossudovsky are warning how the big banks can use this template to further consolidate their monopoly of economic control. This is the… Continue reading
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The Cypriot Pawn By Thierry Meyssan
Washington was quick to use the financial crisis in Cyprus to implement a strategy for capturing capital described three weeks ago in these columns [1]. With the help of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, US comprador Christine Lagarde, the American leadership challenged the inviolability of private property in the European Union and… Continue reading
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Europe’s Economic Crisis: Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Belgium are Heading in the Same Direction as Greece by Bob Chapman
It isn’t over until it is over. Of course, we are referring to Europe and its version of 1984. We find it profound that the bankers, politicians and bureaucrats of Europe can do what they have done with a straight face. Investor had a haircut shoved down their throats and the ECB, the European Central… Continue reading
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Europe’s Transition From Social Democracy to Oligarchy By Michael Hudson
The easiest way to understand Europe’s financial crisis is to look at the solutions being proposed to resolve it. They are a banker’s dream, a grab bag of giveaways that few voters would be likely to approve in a democratic referendum. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 