The E.U. Pushes Greece to the Brink

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/eyes-no-memory-see-nothing-eu-pushes-greece-brink-1350565846

The situation in Greece is reaching a point comparable to that of mid-1930s Spain. On the brink of civil war, as a lab rat in the ongoing neoliberal austerity experiment, Greek society is being pushed further and further towards the complete obliteration of democratically achieved civil and human rights and is becoming a festering sore of rightwing nationalism.

Last week, as the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union, this troubling zeitgeist was clearly illustrated by further police repression and the violence of fascist gangs on the streets of Athens.

There seems to be no end to the rank hypocrisy. As hundreds of thousands of Europeans have been driven into poverty just in the past few months by austerity measures imposed by the Troika; as the gates of Europe have been slammed shut in the faces of destitute refugees overwhelmed by crises of all kinds; and as courageous, angry citizens across the continent have given democratic voice to their resentment of neoliberal policies only to be answered with clubs and teargas: Europe is being recognized for its efforts at achieving peace.

The esteemed ladies and gentlemen in Oslo are acting on false hopes, not reality. Similar to how they awarded Barack Obama the same prize shortly after his inauguration in the hopes that he would strike out on a path they mostly imagined for him, the pseudo-liberal Nobel committee seems to hope to rescue, with this now-dubious honor, the failing European Project from the rising forces of reaction and nationalism.

[DetlefK]

1. Wow. So many mistakes:

1. The EU got the Nobel Peace Prize for its past deeds.

2. Barack Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for the symbolism of his victory.

3. What's the EU supposed to do? Pump billions upon billions into Greece to keep it afloat, while corruption and tax-evasion try to sink it? That was done for the last decades. The easy access to EU-money, without the tools to handle it properly, is the reason for Greece's problems.

Let's ponder, the EU would indeed pump those billions into Greece, to decrease its debt and to get the economy going again:
* Where would those billions come from?
Germany, again? (There's no way, german politcians or voters would object to that!)
Print that money?
A loan from the ECB? (They are already preparing for this, though everybody knows it's unconstitutional.)
* How can we be sure, those billions get used properly? (There are no political instruments for that.)
* What are the odds, the EU would ever see this loan repaid?
* What's the EU supposed to answer, when Spain, Italy and Ireland come asking for money?

[eridani]

3. See post #2 n/t

[mbperrin]

2. Time to pull an Iceland and simply walk away from all the "debts"

the Greek people are claimed to owe.

[skiptaylor]

4. EU Prison

Let Greece out of the Euro prison

Let them devalue their currency

Give the Greek people back some of their pride