Opinion of Alexis Tsipras

[Velasco]

Incompetent. 3 months on and the guy has done exactly what over the first 100 days?

A better question to ask is 'What could he have done given the circumstances?'

Yes, exactly. It's absolutely hypocritical and unfair deeming Tsipras as an "incompetent", or whatever adjective you want to use to discredit him, if the extremely adverse circumstances are not taken into account. Another question is that I found certain moves or decisions strange, but in any case my opinion of Tsipras has changed little since January. Basically, anyone trying to find a way out surrounded by enemies deserves a vote of confidence.

[Velasco]

Does Tsipras find himself in a bad situation? Sure. But let's not forget that he has made it far worse by acting like a Marxist teenager. Before he entered government, the country was slowly but surely recovering. Now it's back in a deep recession, its banks are empty and it's about to face a messy exit from the eurozone.

I have to assume that you welcome that the leader of a small bankrupt country is in a "bad situation".

Let's not forget that before Tsipras entered in the government, a large proportion of the Greek population was (and still is) in a situation of humanitarian emergency. That "recovery" you mention was for sure "slow", but it was nowhere near from being "secure". Why are you persisting in false premises? Should we remember again that austerity policies failed in the very purpose for which they were designed? Stating that "we are shouldering the dignity of our people" is "teenage Marxism", in your view? Well, just say that the very Jean-Claude Juncker has admitted a couple of premises supported by Tsipras and his people: a) Greece is indeed in a state of "humanitarian emergency";  b) he stated that the "Troika insulted Greece's dignity".

http://en.protothema.gr/juncker-the-troika-insulted-greeces-dignity/

Thus, I have to conclude from your post that a former leader of certain tax haven state is suffering an illness called "Marxist childishness". It's a brilliant and original argumentation, no doubt about it.

[Velasco]

The importance you attribute to Jean-Claude Juncker is irrelevant. He's the president of the European Commission and therefore an important actor in this tragicomedy. I know that you only give credit to Angela Merkel and Wolgang Schäuble, and they are probably the true bosses alongside with other de facto powers. However, Mr. Juncker has a say due to the office he currently holds and it's truly worrying and symptomatic the way you disrespect the highest European authorities. You must be suffering that illness called Euroescepticism. For Greek people this situation is not a comedy, it's simply a tragedy. Honestly, you are insulting them with sentences like:

Ultimately the Greek people have no one to blame but themselves for finding themselves in a position where other institutions were placed to supposedly disrespect their dignity. If you get a bailout from the IMF, expect to hand over your sovereignty.

I must ask you if that bailout from the IMF was demanded by Greek people and where is the money.

[Velasco]

Just as a reminder, this is how a recent article in the NYT describes in short the process:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/magazine/a-finance-minister-fit-for-a-greek-tragedy.html?_r=0

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Let's focus on that part in bold letters. No doubt that Greek leaders were "corrupt" and "sclerotic". The article defines those financial institutions lending money to that rotten political and institutional machine as "imprudent". It's a way to put it mildly, because that behaviour was not only hazardous: the way banks inflated the Greek bubble and speculated for the sake of the Goddess of Profit was at the very least objectionable and morally irresponsible. Special mention deserve European institutions, whose officials turned a blind eye to the make up of public accounts submitted by the Greek government (it was a ND adminstration, btw). In short, the responsibility lies not only on corrupt authorities, but on lenders who knew that Greek accounts were inflated, audit firms that helped corrupt authorities with make up workshop (Goldman Sachs), EU institutions and member states. However, the burden of the austerity package has fallen on the shoulders of the Greek people. Probably people like you think the impoverished Greek deserve the fate they have, in spite of the fact that common people usually know nothing about high finance. I believe that it's a blatant injustice that the ones who are collectively responsible of that state of affairs (past corrupt administrations, banks, audit firms, international finantial institutions, EU and country members) are not only unpunished... ultimately, banks have benefited with the Greek disgrace. Still, all of them feel entitled to give morality lessons if someone dares to say that people can no longer afford the prohibitive burden they impose. I think we had enough of that hypocrisy, to be honest.

On a side note, the demonisation of Varoufakis could be amusing to some extent. The pains of Greek people never, dear austerity mongers.

Personally, I think that no Greek bailout should have ever taken place (with European countries then bailing out their own banks in the aftermath of a Greek default) but that's an entirely different matter.

Personally, I think that Greece should never been admitted in the Euro. It's amusing how hypocrites in some EU countries fail to see their responsibility on that.

And yes, I'll freely admit that I don't much care about Juncker or his office. He's a washed up Luxembourger who preaches water and drinks the wine of other European countries by offering shady tax deals to companies. So you'll have to excuse me for not placing too much importance on his public statements about European solidarity.

Again, that's entirely irrelevant. You can propose granting full powers to Frau Merkel or Herr Schäuble in the EU Commission if you want.

[Velasco]

FF and a terrible poker player

Maybe, but in fairness his cards are all marked since the beginning of the game and there's no real choice in terms of strategy. Perhaps the tactics have not been always the best, but in any case better tactics in negotiation wouldn't have changed the very fact of the extreme disproportion in power relations. The ECB can destroy Greece whenever it wants.

Actually the bargaining is a big farce. The alleged intransigence or unwillingness to undertake reforms attributed to the Greek government are not the real motivations to permit a Grexit. EU governments are unwilling to make (even minimal) concessions because they would raise internal opposition in their countries. The negative to give in showed by the IMF seems irrational and incomprehensible, taking into account the institution advocated for a default back in 2010 and Mrs Lagarde admitted the failure of austerity policies a couple of years ago. What happens if the strength of the single currency is being overestimated? Quoting Wolfgang Munchau's Twitter, Germany seems "giddy with excitement about looming Grexit, like a turkey voting for Christmas".

[Velasco]

The bankers are never innocent, but in this case most of the banks who borrowed Greece money did it at low interests and in good faith (...)

lol ingemann, that's terribly ingenuous. In addition, that's not true. When a bank lends a certain amount of money, is seeking to obtain a profit in return. Morality and "good faith" are not involved at all in the banking business. We are talking about financial transactions and that is all. Sadly and regrettably, because in my opinion concepts like "ethics" and "moral responsibility" should be more present in the business world. The counterparty is that when you lend money you are assuming a certain amount of risk. It's naive to think that bankers were ignorant about the real state of Greek finances, they have enough tools at their disposal to know how creditworthy is a loan seeker. In fact, the makeup of the Greek public accounts would have been impossible without a bit of outside help. In conclusion, bankers loaned at their own peril and they have no right to demand anything under a moral point of view.

However and as you said: "Of course by now the debt have mostly been bought out by the rest of EU". Of course? It's funny how naturally you accept that EU taxpayers pay what is in good part the result of the irresponsibility of bankers. Some people call it "socialisation of losses". 

[Velasco]

People here who think that banks are at fault for giving greece loans would be upset just as much that "the banks are being greedy by not letting greece borrow so they could create a welfare state".

This sentence is so absurd that I'm speechless.

[Velasco]

Scare quotes in "reforms" must be there for something.

So that makes it okay to impose such harsh austerity that people are starving in the streets while the rich don't pay a dime?  that

Sadly, that's not solely a Greek issue; we're having problems with malnutrition in the UK as well due to benefit cuts.
People

We have a serious issue with poverty increase and child malnutrition in Spain. People denying that there's a problem leaves me perplexed.

If anyone's interested, there's an interesting book about the Eurozone here:

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?cat=44

The cover illustrates perfectly the trap we are caught in.

[Velasco]

Yes, it's very very unfortunate.

[Velasco]

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?

Is the already dead foundational spirit radically leftist? In that case, I'd go for it . If anyone considers that the current disfunctional dystopia is what the founding fathers had in mind, that cannot be taken seriously.