Opinion of Alexis Tsipras

[ag]

the smart money is on a Grexit now.  we're just warming up.  Tsipras and Yanis could've kept bowing down to the IMF, lost power within a year or two and been forgotten.  by bowing out of the Eurozone they put the chips on the table.  it's gonna be chaos, and they know it.  Yanis has said so, talking about 'scrip money' and other huge difficulties.  it'll either be a landmark moment in the history of struggle against neoliberalism, and reversal of Austerity, or a disspiriting warning sign that the people who own the world can force their will upon you.

I am afraid, the way they are managing it, it will be truly a landmark moment. Unfortunately, it seems like a couple of generations of Greeks will have to pay for it very heavily. They, surely, will never get a chance to forget.

[ag]

Can someone reasonably explain how austerity will help the Greek people?

Not that they have any options. It is either austerity within euro, or austerity outside of euro. They should be trying to bargain for some help in order to minimize the consequences for their citizens. But they are not doing that.

[ag]

If they're ejected from the euro, they will suddenly hit bottom and have nowhere to go but up.

Oh, there is: they could dig. I would be pleasantly surprized if there is no major political instability within the next few years. They might go through some sort of a violent revolution.

[ag]

There's no happy ending to this story is there? Depressing.

Greece is near bottom and will soon start to recover, no matter how badly they screw up. If they're ejected from the euro, they will suddenly hit bottom and have nowhere to go but up. If they capitulate, they will resume the upward trend they were on before Tsipiras.

In either case it might be slightly relevant to note that literal neo-nazis polled third place in the last election and still exist as a thing

Not impossible, in fact.

[ag]

"The original and fatal error <...> was the notion that huge, interest-bearing loans made in emergency conditions for emergency purposes could ever ber repaid by one government to another. It simply could not be done, politically".

From "On Active Service in Peace and War", 1948,  by Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy

(Stimson was, among other things, Hoover's Secretary of State).

M. Tsipras and his men are in a bind. Politically.

[ag]

The "reforms" that the EC, ECB, and especially the IMF, are trying to force down Greece's throat would not actually do anything to resolve the current issues. They would only make things worse, as the previous "reforms" have for the past five years.

And there was no hyperbole in my comments. Some people are literally starving, or living in houses without water or electricity, or don't have a house at all. That's mere reality.

You may well be right here. But Greece does not have many options. Germany is also a democracy, you know. It is not a coherent approach to insult Germans, and then to ask their government for a bailout. Greeks should have tried to negotiate a controlled exit from the Eurozone, stressing the social consequences and appealing for European solidarity. As it is, it is going to be kicked out - and many more Greeks will be starving.

This all is, of course, a gigantic foock up. I feel really sorry for innocent Greek citizens. It is going to be nasty.

[ag]

Troika just asked for us to achieve some fiscal targets. They left to us how we d'achieve that.

This is patently false. All the accounts I have heard of the talks (coming from mainstream media sources, not some random leftist hackblog) pointed out that the creditors had asked for very specific reforms. The IMF in particular was hellbent on imposing cuts to pensions.

Juncker has explicitly stated that he was fine with cutting the military instead.

What they did not want were the measures they did not believe would achieve the goals.

Anyway, the goals were, probably, politically unfeasible.

[ag]

Troika just asked for us to achieve some fiscal targets. They left to us how we d'achieve that.

This is patently false. All the accounts I have heard of the talks (coming from mainstream media sources, not some random leftist hackblog) pointed out that the creditors had asked for very specific reforms. The IMF in particular was hellbent on imposing cuts to pensions.

Juncker has explicitly stated that he was fine with cutting the military instead.

What they did not want were the measures they did not believe would achieve the goals.

Anyway, the goals were, probably, politically unfeasible.

Maybe Juncker said so, but the IMF never dropped their demands. In fact, I heard at some point that Greece wanted the IMF out of the negotiation and sought to strike a deal with the more cooperative EC and Central Bank, but the latter refused.

It is pretty obvious that there the European negotiators have not much trust in the current Greek government. Anyway, there is no evidence that the Greeks even considered cutting the military. And, according to Juncker, they went out of their way to misinform the public about the negotiations.

[ag]

I have been avoiding to vote here, but after the last couple of days there is no doubt: Tsipras is a horrible disaster for Greece.

[ag]

It's unfortunate that the EU is what it is, when in theory it should have been something radically leftist. The idea of transcending a nationalism that did so much damage in Europe remains a beautiful idea to me, it's too bad it can't be implemented.

A radically leftist EU of 3 or 4 countries, you mean?

[ag]

It's unfortunate that the EU is what it is, when in theory it should have been something radically leftist. The idea of transcending a nationalism that did so much damage in Europe remains a beautiful idea to me, it's too bad it can't be implemented.

In any case. it is Greek nationalism that is forcing Greece out of the Union now. Other countries in trouble have been able to supress their national pride and play by the common rules.