July 10, 2015
Translated by Timofei
Really, something of the sort was bound to happen sooner or later, if not in Greece or in Spain, then in Portugal, or maybe even in Italy itself, which would be the most tragic option for the “United Europe”.
The inevitability of a systemic crisis was inherent in the very structure of the European Union and the “eurozone”. The important thing is that it occurred before the time it was “due”, as the economies of the “southern Euro” have not been completely obliterated, and their citizens are turning out to have a fairly strong will to resist.
Let us consider this with Greece as our example.
In the beginning, the banks of northern Europe, mainly those of Germany and France, pumped the economy, the banks and the populace of Greece full of easy and poorly secured credit money, which went mainly into fueling an increase in consumption.
After that, about five years ago, the Greek financial system entered a pre-default state, and the “new lender troika” came “to the rescue”: the European Commission, the European Central Bank and – couldn’t do without this “wonder of nature”, now could we – the International Monetary Fund. De-facto, it took over the debt to original banks, transformed the private loans made to Greek entities into Greek state debt and forced Athens to accept an “aid program”.
Over the five years, just as it was intended, the “aid program”, whose money, it has to be noted, mainly went into repaying loans to the very same German and French banks, predictably led to a 25% drop in GDP, a 60% youth unemployment level and a major decrease in Greek quality of life in general.
The debt became essentially impossible to repay.
Meanwhile, the “troika” continues to demand that Greece reach a primary budget surplus exceeding 3% of GDP (!), despite it being clear that these conditions would signify a further contraction of the economy in general and certain death for the last functional sectors of the economy, tourism and agriculture.
In essence, this is premeditated murder, followed by post-mortem debt slavery – there is no other way to describe that.
The funniest thing here is that, in the meanwhile, the remaining economies of Mediterranean Europe – Spain, Portugal and, with some irregularities, Italy – continue their descent into debt slavery via similar, though “softer” schemes.
Through these means, Germany, and partially also France, become the chief supervisors andgauleiters of the USA in Europe because of purely economic reasons. There’s nothing principally new here – it was through approximately similar means that the Moscow princes obtained the right of supremacy from the Khans of the Golden Horde.
But then, something unforeseen happens: the Greeks revolt. First they bring the “non-systemic” SYRIZA and Tsipras into power, then they set up a referendum that fully observes all rules and norms. Only after that they “display readiness for further negotiations”, but what negotiations could be held with these brazen Greeks now?
The problem here is not Greece – God knows, it’s not really significant for the “big European home”. The problem is that no matter what will be decided – it really doesn’t matter, at all! – Greece has created a precedent.
If you write off their debts, Spain and Italy will come for their turn with their trillion-sized debts – what are they, red-headed stepchildren? If you let them declare default and kick them out of the “eurozone”, you’ll show everyone else how to escape, first from the “eurozone”, then from the European Union, and after that, who knows, maybe from NATO itself – after all, if you go, then go all the way. This last bit, however, is unacceptable, not for Germany and the “euro-atlantic” crowd, but rather for their suzerain from the Shining City on the Hill, infinitely distant from the current troubles of Greece.
In short, it ain’t fun.
Thus, all that remains is to look for some sort of “compromise”, some “provisional decision”, which can now be anything but “good” for the new “Northern European vassal hegemons”. At best, it can be not particularly bad.
About the author: Dmitry Lekukh was born in 1965. Graduated from the Gorkiy Institute of Literature.Entrepreneur, journalist, writer. Authored several books on the football fan movement in Russia: “We’ll Come to You”, “Angel Behind the Right Shoulder”, “White Minority Hardcore”, “I’m Russian”. Actively participated in the ultra-right faction among the fans of Moscow FC “Spartak” in the recent past.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
a.gif)
No comments:
Post a Comment