Skip to main content

Greece – The Way Out. Troika Involved in “Financial Terrorism”. It’s “Economic Waterboarding”

by Peter Koenig*


What the troika is doing to Greece these days is the pinnacle of financial terrorism. It is economic waterboarding. It is blackmailing of the first degree. These people are neoliberal fascists, putting the Greek government before a dilemma – ‘either you present us with an acceptable list of austerities, or we will prepare one for you’ – literally. An austerity plan you better accept, lest you may default and being expulsed from the European monetary union and maybe even the EU. That is their threat. That is what Brussels does to a brother; to one of theirs. There is not a shred of solidarity left in this miss-called ‘Union’. This ‘Union’ doesn’t deserve existing.

No-Solidarity’ is the brand mark of Europe. It is depicted all over the map. Another glaring example is the EUs refusal to aid the trans-Mediterranean refugees, the victims of wars and conflicts inspired by Washington and carried out in full complicity with Europe – Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Egypt, Somalia, Central Africa, Yemen – and more.

In Greece the troika is applying a strategy of ‘reverse objectives’. The EU does not want Greece or any other member, no matter how weak economically, to leave the Eurozone. A Grexit may risk causing a chain reaction. By threatening to expulse they are inciting Greece to beg for mercy.

Earlier during these month long ongoing negotiations, Madame Lagarde, the Iron Lady of the IMF, the epitome of a marionette to the Masters of Washington, had the audacity to observe, I want to talk to adults, when she referred to obtaining a ‘better, more serious’ austerity plan. She is the personification of IMF supremacy.

Mind you, it is the IMF, the extended arm of the US Treasury that calls the shots in Brussels. The EU, acting as vassals, plays along in full ideological complicity. A socialist government in the EU cannot be tolerated; even less so as it hosts the key European NATO base. The Greek people are being penalized for having had the audacity to elect a socialist government – How dare they! – That’s the verdict.

It is however also amazing how adamant Mr. Tsipras and Syriza defend the idea of staying at all cost in the Eurozone. Why? – The Euro is doomed. The Euro is barely 15 years old. We all remember the happier times with our own sovereign national currencies. With the onset of the Euro, Europeans have become enslaved to predatory banking. Europe has surrendered its sovereignty to a bunch of monster mega banks, all linked to Wall Street.

In fact, the European Central bank (ECB) is not a real central bank, but a mere instrument of Wall Street. Mr. Draghi, the President of ECB, is a former Goldman Sachs executive. In other words, Goldman Sachs runs Europe’s monetary and economic policy.

The mystery remains – why commit suicide, economic suicide of an entire nation, by stubbornly clinging to a sinking ship – yes, the western monetary system with its dollar-based greed economy is doomed. It is only a question of time. All signs are on the wall.

Do the Greek people who still believe in the shattered vision of the ‘glamorous euro’ know this? Does the European citizen at large realize that his life savings might disappear in thin air? The European Commission has just passed a law that gives the banks the right to steal – yes, steal – the money from depositors to save themselves, the banks that is, from collapse. It is called ‘bailing-in’ as opposed to ‘bailing-out’ which has been the previous, but minor crime, stealing tax payers’ money.

The bail-in has already been explored in Cyprus – remember, on 25 March 2013, a test run for a new rescue strategy for too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks was unveiled for the world in Cyprus, when close to 50% of bank deposits were stolen by the banks. The rest of Europe just smiled for spite – this can never happen to us. They called it disparagingly a ‘haircut’. No solidarity then, no solidarity today.

As of August 2015, this strategy of deceit and theft by Big Finance will be law in the Eurozone. Hardly any Euro-citizen knows about it. Otherwise there would be a run on the banks. Or do people just hope it will never happen? – It will happen. It is just a question of time. But when it happens it will be too late to act. We must act now. One way of acting is getting out of the Eurozone.

Greece has a unique opportunity to exit the Eurozone gracefully, head high, telling the troika, especially the fratricidal Brussels gang, that honoring the election commitment to the Greek people is a priority – no more austerity, no more pension cuts, no more privatization of public services and public assets, no more closing of hospitals – for these honorable reasons Greece will exit the Eurozone – not surrender, never surrender. This is not surrender; this is a wise move that will lead Greece into a new and prosperous future.

There are two ways of going about it. One would be the traditional one – defaulting at the end of June, unable paying back the € 1.6 billion owed to the IMF for the ill-begotten ‘rescue’ package. This illustrious, but criminal institution has already declared on 25th June, it will not extend the payment due date of 30 June, as this would be against IMF policy.

Defaulting is nothing new. This was done by many countries before Greece – Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador – and – yes – even Germany. According to German economic historian Albrecht Ritschl, Germany has defaulted 3 times on its debt in the 20th Century. The last time in the 1990s. He calls Germany’s defaults the biggest debt transgressions in Europe’s history.

Greece’s debt pales if compared to the German defaults. – Why does nobody seem to remember? – It’s simple – because the bought mainstream media is silent about it.

Defaulting on her debt, Greece would declare simultaneously exiting the Eurozone, taking back monetary and fiscal autonomy and returning to its own currency, the drachma. The next step would be nationalizing and regulating Greek banks, activating the Greek Central Bank as a sovereign institution that makes monetary policy, using local banks to jump start the local economy, followed by negotiating Greece’s 360 billion euro debt with her creditors and with a devalued drachma – at Greece’s terms and conditions.

A bolder, unusual but totally legal solution – call it Plan B – would be for the sovereign Greek Central Bank to produce (electronically – as all banks do, including the ECB) her own currency, the Euro. “Printing” a nation’s own currency is every country’s sovereign right. The Euro is still Greek’s currency. For a bank producing money is producing debt. In this case the Central Bank of Greece creates an internal debt of 1.6 billion euros to service the IMF loan at the end of June – an internal debt to be dealt with domestically, not with outside interference. There is no EU or ECB rule forbidding a central bank to create its own money mass. It may not have happened before in the Eurozone, but it is not against any rule. That would be a Master Move, probably admired by many countries in similar predicaments.

Simultaneously Greece would declare leaving the Eurozone, reverting to the drachma, nationalize and restructure its banking system which will then lend to the Greek productive and service sectors to quickly revamp her economy. This is a sovereign and legal action. Brussels might be furious and in shock. Would they call for a boycott within the EU and even beyond? – Perhaps. So what? There is Russia and China and other members of the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to ‘bail Greece out’ with emergency supplies. These are countries still remembering the meaning of solidarity. Greece may soon be surrounded by amigos also from Europe, friends who think alike and want to act the same, just didn’t dare.

As recently said by one of Russia’s top economists, Sergey Glacyev, the future for Greece lays in diversity, including in the East, restoring and developing her economy in association with Russia and China, becoming part of the new Silk Road, a Chinese initiative for economic development stretching from Shanghai all the way through Central Asia, Russia – and maybe Europe, if and when Europe will wake up.

This sick Washington-led system needs to get a cold shower, a slap in the face.

Greece undeniably will remain part of Europe; but Greece may also become the gateway to a NEW Europe of sovereign federal states for which solidarity is a principle of the union – a Europe decoupled from the hegemony of the dollar and detached from the fangs of the decaying US Empire.

________________________________

* Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik News, the Voice of Russia / Ria Novosti, TeleSur, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution – Essays from the Resistance.

Source:

Comments

  1. Anonymous28/6/15 14:01

    @Peter Koenig

    Interesting comments.

    Only: people are responsible for their own actions. Even voters.
    They are the ones who are sovereign. They are the ones who are responsible. And no, people who remind them of their obligations (like debts entered into on their authority) are not "terrorizing" them.

    Greece was not ready for the Eurozone (entering on the strength of fudged statistics) and has its systemic economic failures painfully exposed as a consequence. Now that it leaves the Euro it has a chance to regain its competitiveness through devaluation. It will be austerity squared. Perhaps that will help. At least it will be politically noiseless.

    If Greece wants a "socialist" society, fine. Go straight ahead. Only don't expect the rest of the EU to subsidise that. Besides which, outstanding debts aren't cancelled though internal elections.

    The IMF for example is financed (in part) by countries with a much lower standard of living than Greece. As such they have absolutely no patience with what they see as hugely preferential treatment for a first-world country (which consistently failed to get its affairs in order over the past 5 years) that they themselves never received. If mrs. Lagarde wishes to stay on at the IMF she must show she can treat Greece as firmly as the IMF treated dozens of other countries.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Netanyahu Is Getting His War Between The U.S. & Iran!

The Jimmy Dore Show   Little progress is being made in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, and that may be by design. The U.S. is demanding a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for the Iranians. Meanwhile, the U.S. appears to have reneged on a promise to get a ceasefire and humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for the release of the last American hostage, so Hamas — and by extension Iran — feel the U.S. cannot be trusted in negotiations. Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how Israel appears to be orchestrating a U.S. attack on Iran that few Americans have any interest in.    Related: Trump makes key move to beat Biden in their race to start a war with Iran

Trump in SHOCK: Putin & China FLIP His Grave Mistake into STUNNING Victory

Danny Haiphong   Putin & China just gave Trump a rude BRICS awakening, and this bombshell will change everything for generations to come. Geopolitical analyst Ben Norton details the truth about Trump's biggest failure against the rising power of BRICS led by Russia and China, and why the US's role as super power is now in serious question.     Related: Trump's tariffs: A unique opportunity for BRICS and the Global South to fully escape from dollar tyranny

Trump's attempt to divide Russia & China is failing, badly

Geopolitical Economy Report   Donald Trump claimed he would "un-unite" Russia and China, but the US divide-and-conquer strategy is failing. In a meeting in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of their nations' victory in World War Two, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that "China-Russia relations have reached the highest level in history" and will "jointly resist any attempts to interfere with and disrupt the traditional friendship and deep mutual trust between China and Russia". Ben Norton explains.     Related:   Why China supports Russia

Inside Iran's Savak torture museum

The Grayzone   Caution: This report contains depictions of simulated violence that may upset some viewers. Max Blumenthal tours one of the most disturbing museums on the planet. Set in Tehran's former Ebrat Prison run by the anti-sabotage unit of Shah Reza Pahlavi's Savak intelligence services, the museum is filled with shockingly graphic exhibits featuring lifelike mannequins recreating the hideous torture tactics deployed to repress dissidents rebelling against Iran's monarchy. Many mannequins on display represent notorious torturers who either fled or were executed after the Islamic revolution in 1979, while others are modeled after famous prisoners locked away in Ebrat like the current Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.  

14,000 babies could die if aid doesn’t enter Gaza in 48 hours, UN warns

Some 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC today. Though Israel said it would allow “basic aid” into Gaza, only five trucks entered the enclave yesterday, two carrying shrouds to help bury Palestinians killed in Israel’s bombs. Others were in Gaza, but were being held by occupation forces and had not reached Palestinians. This was the first delivery of aid since 2 March, when Israel completely sealed the enclave. This, Fletcher explained, is a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for a population of over 2.3 million, and for which no aid has been allowed to enter for 80 days.    “Tonnes of food is blocked at the [Gaza] border” by Israel, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday. This comes just weeks after the UN agency of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians eat only one mea...

"Kidnapped in Int'l Waters": Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Aid Ship, Detains Greta Thunberg & Others

Democracy Now!   Eleven peace activists and one journalist on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship, the "Madleen," were detained by Israeli soldiers as their ship carrying vital humanitarian aid for starving Palestinians approached Gaza.    The ship was intercepted by Israeli forces in the middle of the night in international waters. Its supplies were seized and communications jammed. The unarmed activists will likely be transported to Israeli detention or "immediately deported," says Ann Wright, a U.S. military veteran who has participated in four Freedom Flotilla journeys and now serves on the steering committee of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. She calls on citizens of countries around the world to push for the activists' release and an end to Israel's war on Gaza. 

Latest on Los Angeles anti-ICE protests in US

CGTN     Views of downtown Los Angeles where protests against immigration raids entered their third day on Sunday local time.   Protesters clashed with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles during the latest wave of demonstrations against statewide immigration enforcement operations that swept across California over the weekend.  

Never, Ever Let Anyone Forget What They Did To Gaza

by Caitlin Johnstone   I will never forget the Gaza holocaust. I will never let anyone else forget about the Gaza holocaust. No matter what happens or how this thing turns out, I will never let anyone my voice touches forget that our rulers did the most evil things imaginable right in front of us and lied to us about it the entire time. I will never stop doing everything I can with my own small platform to help ensure that the perpetrators of this mass atrocity are brought to justice. I will never stop doing everything I can to help bring down the western empire and to help free Palestine from the Zionist entity. I will never forget those shaking children. Those tiny shredded bodies. Those starved, skeletal forms. The explosions followed by screams. The atrocities followed by western media silence.   I will never forget, and I will never forgive. I will never forgive our leaders. I will never forgive the western press. I will never forgive Israel. I will never forgive the main...

They Will Starve You In A Killing Cage Too

by Nate Bear   Starvation is taking hold in Gaza. Twenty-nine people have starved to death in the last few days.  Death by starvation is horrific, the body feeding on itself, first consuming carbohydrates and fats, and then moving on to the protein parts of tissue. Once these are used up, vital organs and tissues start to fail as they aren’t being nourished by essential nutrients. The heart, lungs, muscles, ovaries, testes and brain physically shrink and shrivel. The kidneys start to fail. Eventually the body begins scavenging muscle, including the heart muscle. When this starts to happen, death is hours away, preceded by hallucinations, severe mental disturbances and convulsions. With less stored fat and higher metabolic needs, children die first. Starving parents hold their dying children, at this point nothing but skin and bone, in their arms. Adults can survive anywhere between twenty and forty days without food. Those already weak, chronically ill or immuno-compromised di...