Greek election - January 25th 2015

[rob in cal]

Has immigration played much of a role in this election.  I read that Samaras recently brought up the issue.  What is Syriza's stance?  Wondering if this is one issue where Syriza and the "establishment"  which is  often more pro-immigration than typical citizens in many countries, might be on the same side.

[rob in cal]

Has there been much discussion during the campaign about Syriza's political reform ideas?  I saw in their platform that they want proportional representation, by which I'm guessing that they want to abolish the bonus seat provision?  Also, the platform says they support direct democracy.  Do they want to allow something like in Switzerland or many US states where we have initiative and referendum?

[rob in cal]

So, does the move toward Anel signal that a Grexit is more likely or less likely than first thought?

[rob in cal]

In terms of reparations relating to World War 2, has Tsipras also asked Italy to be part of this. It was the Italian invasion of Greece in fall of 1940 from bases in Albania that got the whole disastrous events started. Hitler was actually furious about the invasion when he first heard about it as he correctly saw that it would lead to diversions in men and material from the main event, Operation Barbarossa the invasion of Russia the next year. Hitler would much rather have had Greece played a role similar to that of Bulgaria or Turkey.  There were even some German attempts at facilitating a peace between Italy and Greece soon after the Italian invasion started.
   History digression over.

[rob in cal]

Jaichind, has anything like your compromise idea ever happened anywhere?  It would be interesting to see a working model of it.  Personally, the island of Corfu looks wonderful to me. I propose renting a nice apartment there every summer as part of my early retirement program, and thereby stimulating the local economy.

[rob in cal]

Looks like Marine Le Pen of the French National Front is also a Syriza supporter, outside of Syriza's immigration policy.  The move toward ANEL will probably confirm those feelings.

[rob in cal]

Actually, I believe the National Front also calls for proportional representation and I believe Direct Democracy, which Syriza does.  I'm guessing it would also support many aspects of Syriza's foreign policy, especially avoidance of foreign entanglements at the behest of the US.