The Greek parliamentary election of January 25 was won by the "Coalition of the Radical Left," better known by the acronym SYRIZA (Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás). It was not an altogether unexpected development, as both the mainstream Greek parties had lost the faith of the electorate by slavishly following the dictates of Brussels and Berlin to (mis)handle the Greek economic crisis. Yet speculation that Greece might leave the Eurozone, or even the EU, is at best premature. There might be more to the Greek situation than meets the eye.
That October Spirit
On the face of it, Syriza promises a clean break from the Berlin-dictated policy of "austerity" – in effect, laying waste to Greece to feed the European and American bankers. Its original 40-point manifesto is an eclectic mixture of leftist causes, from the nationalization of banks and utilities (#18 and #19, respectively), subsidized mortgages (#15) and nationalized health care (#14, 25, 26), to raising taxes (#3, 5, 6) and prohibiting "speculative financial derivatives" (#7). Syriza also wants to demilitarize the police (#29), open the borders (#30, 31) and withdraw from NATO (#37, 40). But it’s the very first item in the manifesto that gives the banksters of the West nightmares:
"Audit of the public debt and renegotiation of interest due, and suspension of payments until the economy has revived and growth and employment return."
While much of the media attention has been on Syriza’s leader and the new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the party’s focus on Greece’s finances will mean the man to watch would be the minister of finance in the new cabinet, Yanis Varoufakis. And in his words:
"The real deficit in Greece, it is a dignity deficit. It is because of this lack of dignity that we have accepted stupid measures and this has fueled a vicious cycle of indignity which itself maintains discontent, fear and resentment. All this is not good."
Varoufakis sees the solution in invoking the "spirit of October 28"; this is the date on which, in 1940, Greece laconically rejected the ultimatum by Mussolini’s Italy. The resulting Italian invasion turned into a fiasco, leading to Hitler’s invasion of Greece in April 1941.
The invocation of World War Two is not accidental: the fact that the Eurozone’s oppressive fiscal policy – more on that in a bit – is basically dictated by German bankers has caused comparisons with Nazi occupation for years, ever since the 2010 economic meltdown.
But will Syriza tell Berlin and Brussels "No," or is this just populist posturing?
Confusion in Athens
Twelve days before the vote, Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras wrote an open letter to the German public, published by the business journal Handelsblatt. In it, he explained that the fraudulent "bailouts" of the Greek state – in effect, of its Western creditors – were costing the German taxpayers money, and the Greeks their dignity. "What is even worse," Tsipras wrote, "in this manner, before long the Germans turn against the Greeks, the Greeks against the Germans, and unsurprisingly, the European Ideal suffers catastrophic losses." He concluded by saying that Germans had "nothing to fear from a SYRIZA victory."
Given Syriza’s proclaimed foreign policy goals – and the disastrous effects of EU’s "sanctions" (and Russian countermeasures) on the already moribund Greek economy, the new government was expected to oppose new anti-Russian measures in the EU. According to Reuters, however, Greece backed (!) extending the existing measures at a meeting on January 29. The aforementioned finance minister Varoufakis protested the news coverage, citing Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias that the Greeks were not even consulted, let alone consenting.
Reuters reported differently:
"We are not against every sanction," Kotzias said later. "We are in the mainstream, we are not the bad boys."
And while the German FM Steinmeier had "expressed frustration with the ambiguity of the Greek position" earlier, after meeting with Kotzias in private he "said he was less concerned".
Somebody’s lying here – but whether it’s Reuters, Kotzias, Varoufakis or the Germans, is almost impossible to ascertain.
Murky Business
There are other tidbits of information out there, pertaining to the new government in Athens. The departing cabinet left the offices without power, Internet service and even toilet soap, suggesting genuine animosity. However, Tsipras snubbed the Greek Orthodox Church in refusing to swear the oath of office before the clergy, as is custom.
Then there is the matter of Tsipras visiting Washington two years ago, discussing such issues as "the ultra-right Golden Dawn party and anti-Semitism… Greek-Turkish relations, the Cyprus issue and Greece-FYROM differences." Let’s recall that Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi) was the party giving EU and US officials major heartburn at the time, after winning 21 seats (Syriza had won 52) in the 2012 parliamentary election.
At the time, the Western media raised a storm over Golden Dawn’s "Nazi" nature. By September 2013, the party’s leadership was jailed on charges of criminal conspiracy, and the party was considered moribund. It is perhaps worth noting, then, that Golden Dawn won 17 seats in last weekend’s election – but nobody is worried about them any more. Why?
Last week, news came that the well-known "philanthropist" George Soros – currency speculator notorious for funding "civil society" and "democracy" groups acting as Trojan horses of the Atlantic Empire – was opening a "solidarity center" in Greece. To what end? Nobody knows for sure.
A Problem Called Euro
While there is no denying that past Greek governments have been terribly corrupt, their far greater sin was partnering up with Goldman Sachs to hide its bad debt – and letting the banksters profit from the arrangement, while the Greek taxpayers were saddled with the impossible bill.
You won’t hear any of it in the mainstream media, of course. They are peddling the bankster-promoted myth of the "lazy southerners" – not just the Greeks, but the Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese, in similar economic straits. By contrast, the "northerners" – Germans, Frenchmen, Brits, Balts and Scandinavians – are supposed to be the epitome of hard work and discipline.
However, one analysis, comparing the economic performance of Spain, Italy, Greece, France, and Germany for a decade before and after the implementation of the Euro, suggests that the currency standards are to blame, and the myth of "southern laziness" is pure bigotry. Others have argued likewise.
All of this raises the question whether the self-proclaimed "radical left" in Greece will follow its own manifesto and execute a "Grexit" from the Eurozone, or will it be unmasked as yet another Trojan horse of the Empire, seeking to fit into the increasingly impossible "mainstream". One suspects we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
Read more by Nebojsa Malic
- Russophobia Trumps Terrorism: Media Stir Over Arrest of Chechens in France – January 25th, 2015
- Terror in Europe – January 16th, 2015
- Why We Fight – December 19th, 2014
- South Stream Blues – December 5th, 2014
- Two Parades and a Drone – October 24th, 2014
Billy
January 30th, 2015 at 10:24 pm
More nice work with another perspective from Mr. Malic…. A view to which I easily tend………..
Nick Mulgrave
January 31st, 2015 at 6:08 am
Lenin and Stalin tried to turn the Greeks into communist for over 40 years and failed.
Merkel turned the Greeks into communist in only 5 years.
That's quite an accomplishment.
Michael Kenny
January 31st, 2015 at 10:23 am
The fact that this author isn't jumping for joy and proclaiming the imminent (and, as always, inevitable!) collapse of the hated EU speaks volumes. That, indeed, is the general view on the American internet. Everybody is lamenting A few articles from now, he'll probably be denouncing Tsipras as a traitor to all things good and holy! As always, when you see an author on the American internet reaching for the swastika, you know he's run out of arguments! As always, when you go to the source of the cherrypicked quotes, it doesn't prove the author's claims.
Michael Kenny
January 31st, 2015 at 10:25 am
The communists got 5% of the vote. Claiming that that the Greeks into communists is quite an accomplishment.
muggles
January 31st, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Well, one must always be skeptical.
However, Socialist (leftist) governments tend to over promise and gain popularity by capitalizing on negative emotionalism, not practical solutions. Long ago, the new Greek government might have been looking forward to a Russian financed bailout of some kind. Not today.
The problem with leaving the Euro zone for Greece is that the alternatives are worse. Does anyone think resuming the drachma is a solution? Good luck borrowing with that. No one trusts leftists in power with the money supply, which is why the crisis happened in the first place.
However, as a general rule, change is good, new crooks for old. Let them muddle through for a while.
However Greece is too small to go it alone for long. Creditors have long memories.
Andrewp111
January 31st, 2015 at 4:21 pm
Until recently, I did not appreciate the fact that all the anti-EU parties in Europe are pro-Russia and pro-Putin, regardless if they are formally left or right. This is true for Syriza, France's National Front, the UKIP, and others. Those parties are also anti-US and anti-NATO, and are quite open about it. Their positions are not secret. So, it is really hard to know what is actually going on in Europe – how much is driven by internal politics, and how much by geopolitics. There is the potential for some great surprises in the coming years.
Nick Mulgrave
January 31st, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Actually SYRIZA which is a Radical Left Wing political party got 35.5% of the vote in the Greek elections.
And SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras who is a former member of the Communist Youth of Greece even named his son Ernesto after Ernesto Che Guevara.
If that is not a communist then what is?
Andrewp111
January 31st, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Syriza is a far left umbrella coalition that includes communists. However, that says nothing about what is really driving their policy decisions.
REED RICHARDS
January 31st, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Nebojsa Malic, why be a purveyor of half truths and lies? Now, if you are correct that Greece supported sanctions against Russia, I would find that troubling. But outright lying saying that a Grexit is part of the Syriza plan or that they should do this right away is a bald faced lie. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufais himself has said many times on camera (Russia Today is a prime example of his interviews) that Syriza has no desire and will not as a matter of policy willingly abandon the Euro and leave the Eurozone compact. Why you may ask? Because there is no Greek Drachma to prop up and as a consequence the entire Greek economy (what's left of it) would completely crash. The chaos would be immense. Stop lying or stop posting these lies on Antiwar.com
REED RICHARDS
January 31st, 2015 at 4:48 pm
He is lying to you. FM Yanis Varoufakis has said openly on camera with a SYRIZA victory there will be no Grexit.
eric siverson
January 31st, 2015 at 9:54 pm
communists no national socialist maybe
eric siverson
January 31st, 2015 at 9:59 pm
maybe they are realists
eric siverson
January 31st, 2015 at 10:14 pm
Malic I think Reed said there would be no Grexit with the Syriza plan . So he is saying the same thing you are although I agree approving the sanctions against Russia by Greece is troubling . I think that was done maybe without Greece's permission this a problem being a small country in the E.U.
tadzio308
February 1st, 2015 at 5:32 am
"The well-known 'philanthropist' George Soros" is a misnomer. It should read convicted felon George Soros. He has lost all appeals, He bribed officials for inside information on pending economic moves. He earned the right to be called a convicted felon. Do not deny him his essential persona.
goldhoarder
February 1st, 2015 at 12:28 pm
Why do they want to stay in the eurozone? Because it has been so good for them? LOL. That is ridiculous. People are idiots. Why not just look at what Iceland did and take the exact same steps. F the Eurozone.
Sam
February 3rd, 2015 at 3:54 am
SPAM