Syriza wins elections in Greece

[Tonz]

`Things are tough in Greece , how are they surviving?
with no to little access to funds , well they regroup , who ever has an income is who holds the fort ,the other family members , most all will be unemployed or working with with held funds ,regroup all to one address , one power bill ,one water bill , one phone bill, sell the cars and keep only one or two between a few families, cook lentils say a big lot in a pressure cooker thats lunch for everyone , rice with a little veg and olive oil is dinner, every one that can goes fishing , the Mediterranean provides a lot of small fish and squid, any area of the home that can be cultivated is also employed , a number of families or a bigger family band together , count there blessings, talk politics and do there best to send some one out to the world to work somewhere else, that may also help to contribute to the group.

Many would why stay ,why not immigrate any where that may be better, its not easy , they love there country , love there land ,there history.
No they will not leave . they are enslaved but know they may one day be free ,they will wait and eat grass ,but they want there freedom.
Can we blame them for being so stubborn, they ,,,i hope will use there stubbornness , something that always has been one of there weaknesses to become there strength , they will wait.

[ronin]

`Things are tough in Greece , how are they surviving?
with no to little access to funds , well they regroup , who ever has an income is who holds the fort ,the other family members , most all will be unemployed or working with with held funds ,regroup all to one address , one power bill ,one water bill , one phone bill, sell the cars and keep only one or two between a few families, cook lentils say a big lot in a pressure cooker thats lunch for everyone , rice with a little veg and olive oil is dinner, every one that can goes fishing , the Mediterranean provides a lot of small fish and squid, any area of the home that can be cultivated is also employed , a number of families or a bigger family band together , count there blessings, talk politics and do there best to send some one out to the world to work somewhere else, that may also help to contribute to the group.

Many would why stay ,why not immigrate any where that may be better, its not easy , they love there country , love there land ,there history.
No they will not leave . they are enslaved but know they may one day be free ,they will wait and eat grass ,but they want there freedom.
Can we blame them for being so stubborn, they ,,,i hope will use there stubbornness , something that always has been one of there weaknesses to become there strength , they will wait.

a thought came to me this morning after listening to Modwiz and his talk on hunger.
it is just a thought and i have know way of knowing if or could it work....
many farmers throw away good food along with the supermarkets that is not sold.
i think it is classed as theft if you are a freegan who seeks throwaways.

the reason it is theft is because somebody cannot make money on it?

now i,m sure if the farmers and supermarkets knew it would be going to a good cause they maybe be inclined to help.
only thing is the pickup and distribution?

there should be no need for anybody to go hungry!

a peoples distribution network.not a government one!

[Tonz]

This has been happening is Spain for about 5 years now , I would imagine the same happens in Greece for quite some time now.the suppers and even smaller outlets organize after hours to give away the stock ,they just don't throw it away, some people are organized and form ques , others that have experienced aggressiveness have changed to charity and food helpers / organizations (volentry mostly)right across the country , but not all towns ares so organized and many places just do not have enough to give, yes it is not enough ,but it helps.

[Elbie]

excellent analysis


EU sanctions meeting
by Alexander Mercouris, plotical commentator based in London



As Eric Kraus has pointed out there is complete confusion in the media today about how to spin the latest EU sanctions decision. Did Syriza fold as per Reuters and Bloomberg. Or did the meeting expose growing splits within the EU as per the Financial Times and the London Times.

The best answer is that nothing definite was decided at the latest EU Council meeting but Syriza did manage to put a marker down.

I go back to my piece about Syriza for Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/germany...015/01/27/2785). Whether one likes the fact or not, for Syriza relations with Russia are not the priority. Syriza does not agree with the sanctions, but its overriding priority is Greece's own economic crisis.

Given that this is so, it is simply unrealistic to expect a very young government in the very first days of its existence to provoke a crisis within the European Union that pitches it against the Commission, Germany, Britain and France, risking a deeper crisis in Greece and putting in jeopardy its own existence, on an issue that for Greeks is of only peripheral importance.

What Syriza did on Thursday was all that in the circumstances it could realistically do: apply a soft brake on the sanctions train.

The European Council meeting was convened by Mogherini, the EU's "foreign minister", following demands from the EU hardliners led by Donald Tusk (who now nominally chairs the European Council when it meets at heads of government level) who have been calling for a strong EU response to the breakdown of the ceasefire and the ongoing NAF offensive, which has resulted in the capture of Donetsk airport and the gradual encirclement of the Debratselvo pocket. It also took place against a drumbeat of orchestrated hysteria following the shelling in Mariupol. Prior to the meeting Tusk said that he was not interested in a meeting that was purely declamatory.

That however is what Tusk got. What came out of the meeting was essentially declamatory.

The Greeks insisted on a belligerent paragraph directed against Russia being removed from the text of the final EU statement and postponed any further decision on further sanctions to a European Council meeting on 12th February 2015, which will take place at heads of government level. In return they agreed to an extension of the limited sanctions against specific Russian companies and individuals that came into force in March, but not for a full year (as the hardliners apparently wanted) but only for 6 months (to September 2015).

These sanctions are a serious matter for the individuals concerned, but they are not critical for Russia.

This is not the outcome that either the Russians or the EU hardliners led by Tusk had wanted, but it gives time and space for Syriza to sort out its own position and make whatever alliances within the EU it can, both on the critical debt question and on the less critical question of sanctions.

The next test will come at the European Council meeting on 12th February 2015 which Tsipras himself will attend. As of now it is looking unlikely that the EU will impose further significant sanctions on Russia at that meeting. Syriza is opposed to such sanctions but more importantly some of the other EU states are not keen on them either. They now known that one EU government - that of Greece - is strongly of that view, which is likely to make their opposition still stronger. To what extent more sanctions can be prevented at the meeting on 12th February 2015 will depend on the extent to which Syriza is able to play on the doubts of these other EU states. Significantly Syriza did manage to play successfully on these doubts at the meeting on Thursday, when it received the discrete support of several other EU states.

The big test however will be when the sectoral sanctions come up for renewal in July. That is the key decision upon which the future of the sanctions ultimately depends.

I would add that by July - and even more by September when the sanctions that were extended on Thursday come up for renewal - we will also have a better idea of the prospects for a Podemos victory in Spain.

If Podemos does win in Spain, then the entire calculus changes with Syriza having one of the big EU countries as an ally. I hardly need say that Spain carries immeasurably more weight within the EU than does Greece. A Podemos government in Spain can afford to go it alone on sanctions and defy the other big powers in the EU. A Syriza government cannot.

In my opinion Thursday's decision was the best that could be expected in the circumstances. As I said the big decisions are still to come. It would be of no benefit to Russia, Greece or Syriza if Syriza had provoked a crisis in the EU on Thursday on a question of extending the least important sanctions, which caused a dramatic escalation of the economic crisis in Greece, which in turn meant that Syriza was either swept from power in Greece or was unable to make independent decisions when the big decisions come up in July.

I would finish by again repeating what I said before in my Russia Insider piece and here.

Greece is a small and economically very weak country. For its people the sanctions are not the priority. The economic crisis is. That is why they voted for Syriza: to solve the economic crisis, not to get the sanctions on Russia lifted. On the sanctions issue people should not expect more from Syriza than it promised or can realistically deliver.

[Elbie]

http://kingworldnews.com/hell-now-br...-loose-europe/

With the ECB now shutting off direct funds to Greece, today one of the greats in the business warned King World News that all hell is now breaking loose in Europe. He also warned that the situation is spiraling out of control and deteriorating quite rapidly.

Eric King: “The ECB has now shut off direct funds to Greece. The ECB is playing hardball with the Greek negotiators.”


John Hathaway: “This is just a sign that things are spiraling out of control and in a much worse direction than central planners had expected. That’s what spooked the markets late Wednesday. I was amazed to see the Dow give up all of its gains in the space of half an hour.

“There are no contingency plans in the eurozone to deal with the possibility of a Greek default and exit from the euro system.

One of the things that’s starting to happen in Europe is you are seeing these splinter political parties gaining power. We’ve seen it in Greece. We are seeing it in Spain. We are also seeing it in France. There is now an open rebellion against Brussels.

So all hell is now breaking loose in Europe and the Greek situation is just feeding into the rebellion happening elsewhere. For example: Why else would the Dutch have started to repatriate their gold? The Germans felt pressure from the same grassroots unrest to ask for their gold back from the New York Fed. At the same time there is this monetary unrest in Europe and a run on the bank. Today's news also caused a surge in the gold price at the end of the day and it is continuing to move higher in the access market.

Desperation Setting In As Situation Rapidly Deteriorates

What we just saw in Switzerland was the inability of a central bank to control the market. So this desperate attempt to maintain monetary order is starting to deteriorate quite rapidly.

Greece is really part of a bigger rebellion against the authority that Brussels represents on the entire European continent. So if Greece completely revolts
All Hell Is Now Breaking Loose In Europe!
February 05, 2015
All Hell Is Now Breaking Loose In Europe!

With the ECB now shutting off direct funds to Greece, today one of the greats in the business warned King World News that all hell is now breaking loose in Europe. He also warned that the situation is spiraling out of control and deteriorating quite rapidly.

Eric King: “The ECB has now shut off direct funds to Greece. The ECB is playing hardball with the Greek negotiators.”

John Hathaway: “This is just a sign that things are spiraling out of control and in a much worse direction than central planners had expected. That’s what spooked the markets late Wednesday. I was amazed to see the Dow give up all of its gains in the space of half an hour….

Continue reading the John Hathaway interview below…

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“There are no contingency plans in the eurozone to deal with the possibility of a Greek default and exit from the euro system.

One of the things that’s starting to happen in Europe is you are seeing these splinter political parties gaining power. We’ve seen it in Greece. We are seeing it in Spain. We are also seeing it in France. There is now an open rebellion against Brussels.

All Hell Is Now Breaking Loose In Europe

So all hell is now breaking loose in Europe and the Greek situation is just feeding into the rebellion happening elsewhere. For example: Why else would the Dutch have started to repatriate their gold? The Germans felt pressure from the same grassroots unrest to ask for their gold back from the New York Fed. At the same time there is this monetary unrest in Europe and a run on the bank. Today's news also caused a surge in the gold price at the end of the day and it is continuing to move higher in the access market.

Desperation Setting In As Situation Rapidly Deteriorates

What we just saw in Switzerland was the inability of a central bank to control the market. So this desperate attempt to maintain monetary order is starting to deteriorate quite rapidly.

Greece is really part of a bigger rebellion against the authority that Brussels represents on the entire European continent. So if Greece completely revolts against Brussels, defaults and defiantly leaves the euro system, this will pave the way for others to break away as well. This would have a collapsing effect on the euro system. The man on the street is in open rebellion. Austerity is dead and Europe is now in danger of breaking apart at the seems.

[Tonz]

I sorrow so much for the good people that will suffer though all of this , but at the same time I know its the best road for southern Europe to break away and reset in a united southern Europe , something that I had been arguing with friends and colleges for nearly 15 years ,They really do not need the North, and the North will have to look at themselves for there difficulties instead of blaming the south whilst they get them to pay for northern debts as well as there own, finally it is coming.
The union of southern Europe has never really been put on the table publicly but give it another year.

[Elbie]

athens, feb 5th 2015

Thousands Organize First Pro-Govt Rally in Athens

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015...-recent-years/



“European Central Bank (ECB) President Draghi chose to play Merkel’s game again and blackmail the Greek people and the new Greek government,” was, among others, declared in the demonstration’s declaration, calling people to hold a peaceful protest in Syntagma Square against ECB’s decision not to accept Greek bonds as loan collateral."

------

also via zerohedge

"In what is being described as "the first Greek pro-government rally", thousands of people have gathered outside Greek Parliament in the infamous Syntagma Square to protest against a decision by the European Central Bank to restrict the eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral from Feb. 11, rather than at the end of February. “ECB Chief Draghi chose to play Merkel’s game again and to blackmail the Greek people and the new Greek government,” is one of the charges being aired on the pro-SYRIZA quarters of cyberspace..."http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-05/thousands-anti-ecb-protesters-gather-athens-first-greek-pro-government-rally-live-fe

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photo by george mastropavlos, Yanis Varoufakis, the new finance minister of greece.

from this poignant photo of Mr V., as if microphones turned into mighty swards... he stays put.


.

[Tonz]

I hope the Greek politicians get the point , that photo says it all. They can make any decisions they feel best but those decisions are there with the full length of the peoples spear to keep them in check.
If they buy in again to the central bank there will be a revolution and unrest for Greeks, and in turn supported by the revolution expanding though half of Europe.

[Elbie]

I hope the Greek politicians get the point , that photo says it all. They can make any decisions they feel best but those decisions are there with the full length of the peoples spear to keep them in check.
If they buy in again to the central bank there will be a revolution and unrest for Greeks, and in turn supported by the revolution expanding though half of Europe.

Mr V isn't budging and has already upset quite a few circles in EUs ECB .



here's why max keiser thinks mr V is going to pull through...in short, because he is fighting a financial guerilla war, deploying guerilla tactics against the very structured ECB.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gg3qK_gYkI

[Elbie]

Syriza-led Greek parliament ‘will never ratify TTIP’ Posted: February 3, 2015

The newly-elected government in Athens has always been suspicious of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and will use its Parliament majority to sink the EU-US trade pact, claims a former Syriza MEP now turned minister. EurActiv Greece reports.

After making its voice heard in the debate over sanctions on Russia, the new government in Athens is now making its opposition known to the EU-US trade deal, TTIP.

Georgios Katrougkalos, a former influential Syriza MEP who quit his European Parliament seat to become deputy minister for administrative reform in the leftist Greek government, said the new leadership in Athens will use its veto to kill the proposed trade pact – at least in its current form.

Just before the January elections, he told EurActiv Greece that a Syriza-dominated Greek parliament would never ratify the EU-USA trade deal.

Asked by EurActiv Greece whether the promise still holds now Syriza is in power, Katrougkalos replied:

“I can ensure you that a Parliament where Syriza holds the majority will never ratify the deal. And this will be a big gift not only to the Greek people but to all the European people”.

Double veto power

The leftist Syriza party may not have an absolute majority in Parliament but its junior coalition partner seems to share the same views on the EU-US trade pact.

Syriza, which won a stunning victory at snap elections a week ago (25 January) formed a coalition with the right-wing anti-austerity Independent Greeks party, which is intent on opposing laws seen as too favourable to big business.

>> Read: Greek leftist scores victory over austerity

The coalition agreement gives the new Greek leadership an effective veto power over TTIP and other deals submitted to Parliament ratification.

Indeed, once the pact is negotiated – a process which may still take over a year –, it will be submitted for a unanimous vote in the European Council, where each of the 28 EU national governments are represented.

This means that one country can use its veto power to influence the negotiations or block the trade deal as a whole, an opportunity Syriza will no doubt use.

And even if the pact makes it past this first stage, it will then be submitted to ratification by all parliaments of the 28 EU Member States, offering opponents a second opportunity to wield a veto.

Welfare state under threat

Like many other leftists and social democrats in Europe, Katrougkalos raised serious concerns about the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism, or ISDS, contained in the pact.

The mechanism is designed to protect companies’ foreign investments against harmful or illegal rulings in the countries where they operate. It gives them the chance to take legal action against a state whose legislation negatively impacts their economic activity.

Katrougkalos underlined the uncertainty surrounding the ISDS negotiations, saying the European Commission’s precise mandate was unclear.

“An undemocratic practice of lack of transparency has prevailed from the very beginning of the negotiations,” he claimed.

The newly-appointed minister understands that TTIP’s objective was not to reduce tariffs, which are already “very low” but to make an adjustment to the rules governing other sectors. “It contributes to the elimination of some bureaucratic procedures on exports, helping this way the economic efficiency,” he said.

But he made clear that the danger lies in the fact that in most economic fields the regulatory rules are different in the EU and the US. For him, multinational companies stand to benefit the most from lower regulatory barriers, citing banks and brokerage firms, which are subject to weaker supervision in America than in Europe.

“For example we [the EU] don’t permit GMOs, data protection is significantly more important as well as the protection of national health systems,” he said, adding that any consolidation in these rules “will undermine the way the welfare state is organised in the EU.”

Independent Greeks take the same line

Meanwhile, Syriza’s coalition partner, the right-wing anti-austerity Independent Greeks party, takes a similar stance against TTIP.

In a statement issued on 4 November 2014, the then-opposition party said the deal will not live up to its promise of relaunching economic activity.

“It is supposed to be an agreement that will boost the real economy, but its main supporters are international bankers and lobbies,” emphasised Marina Chrysoveloni, a spokesperson for Independent Greeks.

“In simple words, the speculative capital will have even more freedom to move […] in a huge single market with eight hundred million people,” she concluded.

On Syriza’s side, Katrougkalos admitted there was uncertainty about how the talks will conclude but said he was confident that the trade pact “will be approved by the European Parliament”.

“The social democrats have objections on ISDS [investor-state dispute settlement] mechanism but it seems they accept the trade deal’s logic,” Katrougkalos said. In his view, the centre-right European People’s Party and the Liberal ALDE “have a safe majority in Parliament”.

EurActiv Greece by Sarantis Michalopoulos

https://greekleftreview.wordpress.co...r-ratify-ttip/

[Elbie]

via rt

Payback time? Greek PM seeks reparations over Nazi occupation & war-time loan

http://rt.com/news/230479-greece-tsipras-germany-nazi/



Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, referring to Nazi Germany’s four-year occupation of Greece and a forced war-time loan during World War II that saddled the Greek economy in huge debt, wants Berlin to pay reparations.

Tsipras, leader of the anti-austerity Syriza party, said Athens had a “historical obligation” to claim from Germany billions of euros in reparations for the physical and financial destruction committed during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece.

Beyond the historical obligation, he said Greece had "a moral obligation to our people, to history, to all European peoples who fought and gave their blood against Nazism," he said in a keynote address to parliament on Sunday

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"We only have one commitment: to serve the interests of our people, the good of society," Tsipras said, while emphasizing the "irreversible decision" of his government to carry out its campaign promises.

[Elbie]

New round of pro-government demos in athens and other major cities in greece: Feb 11th 2015


"Thousands of protesters are due to rally outside the Greek parliament building on Syntagma square in Athens on February 11, on the same day the Eurogroup meets in Brussels to discuss the country’s debt problem."

as we now now, no party budged yesterday and the negotiations are postponed until Mon feb 16th .. when they are meant to resume

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8XDnEppboA




(from greek) the slogan saying: do not step back

[Elbie]

No deal

the talkes failed acrimoniously



greece has until end of this month to sign extention of the deal or risk not getting 7 billion towards stricter implementation of EU austerity programme..sounds paradoxical and i don't see how verioufakis could lose any sleep over coming to this decision..in words, he is not withrawing good will and cooperation but his use of blunt language infused with irony says it all. here are some of his earlier statements:

“Our government is not asking our partners for a way out of repaying our debts. We are asking for a few months of financial stability that will allow us to embark upon the task of reforms that the broad Greek population can own and support, so we can bring back growth and end our inability to pay our dues,”


"We were offering to refrain effectively from implementing our own program for a period of six months and all we were getting back was a nebulous promise of some flexibility that was never specified,"


via rt:

"As the talks finished early, sources in the Greek government slammed the bailout terms as “unreasonable” and “absurd” to news agencies".


via reuters:

Varoufakis told a news conference, warning that the language of ultimatum never worked in Europe.

He cited what he called a "splendid" proposal from the European Commission by which Greece would get four to six months credit in return for a freeze on its anti-austerity policies. He said he had been ready to sign that - but that Dijsselbloem had then presented a different, and "highly problematic", deal.

.

[Elbie]

the final round of talks as attempt to resolve a stand off between Gr and Eu




Wolfgang Schäuble and Yaris Varoufakis

to my eye, yanis does not look as if he's been losing any sleep over this..instead while looking away from wolfgang, he may in fact be looking elsewhere...for funding and such


"Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had earlier submitted a proposal to Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, asking for a six-month extension for his crisis-ravaged country. The proposal, in which the Greek government accepted some reforms, gave consent to control by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Athens' document met with strong opposition from Germany. "The letter from Athens is not a substantial proposal for a solution," Martin Jäger, spokesman for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told German press agency dpa. According to Berlin, Varoufakis' letter contained neither concrete measures nor any alternatives to social and labor market reforms that the former government had implemented."

"In telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande late on Thursday, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras complained about Germany's hard stance in the discussions."

http://www.dw.de/greece-faces-decisi...ons/a-18270040

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[Elbie]

Greek and Eurozone Officials Leak that Eurogroup Reaches an Agreement

"The nineteen Eurozone Finance Ministers appear to have reached an agreement at the Eurogroup meeting being held now in Brussels."

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015...-an-agreement/

"According to an unnamed Greek official cited by Reuters, “there is an initial agreement on a joint draft text among the institutional partners, which is now being presented to all ministers,” following preparatory talks between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “Details may be defined later. But let’s see,” the same source declared."



Wolfgang Schäuble and Yanis Varoufakis

no wonder yanis looks so upbeat while the other guy looks like one of those foiled packed 'oven ready' meals.


"According to the latest information emerging from the Greek government, the new agreement entails a four-month extension of the loan agreement without new austerity measures and a commitment that no unilateral actions will be taken.

According to yet another source cited by French news agency AFP, the exact agreement conditions are to be determined, nevertheless “we should await for the text to be formalized, as the delegations may also raise other objections.”

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well done yanis .

# wish i lived closer to green lanes.. if i did , i'd be off tonight to enjoy some crockery bashig!