Troika tightens stranglehold on Greece

The window for Greece to remove itself from the boot of EU oppression gets ever narrower and more remote as one group of corrupt politicians replaces another in that raped country's so-called "national government".

Pretty much the same thing as occurred in Britain yesterday, as Cameron and Clegg reshuffled their Cabinet that is supposedly in charge of running and determining the future course of the country - LOL! Much more on that in the coming last months or weeks of the now certainly doomed coalition. Zero attempt to confront the national crisis is anywhere evident in any of the changes made - these two men's absolute pride, blind ignorance and stupidity is truly quite astounding!

Apologies for that digression, the latest from the Trioka returning to Greece today is to impose a 17 hour day and six day week while enabling the asset and land grab finally to begin to take place, so that the finest islands and remaining Greek wealth can be distributed at bargain prices to the victorious industrials from the northern heartlands of the EU, as reported by City AM here and more emotively from Workers Liberty here.

The refreshing innocence of Stacey Dooley on the EU Crisis

May I suggest, for those who may have missed last evenings 8 pm TV Programme on BBC Three TV, that time be found to watch on BBC ipod, the programme by Stacey Dooley on the present Greek tragedy. Her refreshing innocence verging from time to time on naivety and bravery in riots and facing the threats of riot police goons in a wealthy suburb, speaks volumes on not only the distress of the people of Greece but the present generation of youngsters in England.

The touching attempt to help at least one family of the EU's victims with which the programme ended, with the hope that such aid might continue beyond her departure from Greece, might best be achieved if some of our politicians were prompted to reassess their own cynicism.

Dutch Caretaker Government prepare to cede €40 Billion spending authority to the ESM

The artcile summarising the state of play in the soon to be bankrupted country of Holland was described this morning on this link, which concluded as follows:

In the present ESM, the EFSF, a unanimous vote by all participating countries was required. For the ESM, this obtains regarding decisions that must be taken quickly, the backing of 85 percent of the participating countries is sufficient, to avoid small countries being able to cause decision-making to stagnate.
The Netherlands (with a share of just 5.7 percent) will not be able to block any ESM measures on its own. Earlier, the Council of State and government auditors were also extremely critical of the permanent emergency fund, particularly the limited opportunities for checking up.

The measures mentioned can cover spending of €4.5 billion in the case of Holland, plus another €35 billion in guarantees. Think how much cash-strapped France is giving away for the ESM which will be as doomed over Spain, Italy,  et al just as the EFSF and EFSM have proved over Greece!!

Troika cannot hold back full Greek payment as most is due to the ECB

The opening paragraph in Open Europe's daily press briefing today makes amusing reading, see here, makes wry reading as it points out the Troika will withold €1 Billion of the payment. Why not all one must wonder, as the country has no government, read on and you will siscover that 3.3 of the 5.2 payment must go to the ECB!

No doubt the other unmentioned €900,000,000 is also destined for other clients and/or dependents of the Troika!!

Greece rejection threatens EU's continued existence!

The following image on the state of parties following the Greek election, reflects the outright rejection of the crooks who have bankrupted and robbed the nation but for the moment very little else:

Parliamentary Elections 2012
Nationwide 98.23% Updated: 07-05-2012 06:58:18
Parties Percentage Seats Votes   18,92% 108 1.174.788   16,75% 52 1.039.657   13,22% 41 820.606   10,58% 33 657.031   8,47% 26 525.855   6,97% 21 432.748   6,09% 19 378.402   2,93% 0 181.630   2,90% 0 180.079   2,56% 0 158.913   2,14% 0 132.707   1,79% 0 111.207   0,95% 0 59.283   5,73% 0 355.843

Link to ekathimerini.

Greek railways up for grabs after Athens' subway falls to Germans!

The rape of Greece continues apace as the spoils of  the deliberately manufactured  Euro currency disaster continue to destroy and impoverish the southernmost former sovereign states of Western Europe. Reuters exclusive report tonight covers the bidders eyeing the Greek national rail system, among whom it reports is France's nationalised rail company SNCF; makes sense after the Germans getting the new investment for the Athens metro, n'est ce pas?

SNCF management would do well to remember Oradour-sur-Glanes and the dreadful previous consequences of collaboration with injustice!

Fancy Corfu? Greek sell-off continues apace!

The Daily Mail is not interested in the detail, as was ever the case, but they manage to pick up pretty well on the consequences! Read here on a piece of Corfu up for grabs!

Greek manufacturing - Down the plughole! - Thanks to the EU!

H/T Acting Man, linked here.

The long term history of Greece's PMI.

Schultz addresses the Greek Parliament as the EU vice tightens

The above image is from the report on the EU Parliament President's visit to Athens last evening from The News Tribe, linked here!

This visit seems odd in itself, plus being particularly insensitively timed.

 It could well foster deepening concerns amongst many in Europe, that the title of the YouTube video posted below might prove frighteningly wrong:

Dan Hannan on Greece!

Amusing to see the head-nodding to EU federalism, from the beneficiary of BBC nepotism, (supposedly the impartial interviewer anf informed programme hostess,) as the rabid Lib/Dem, EU federalist and craven flunkey makes the absurd points that, only for the moment, still keep him in unparalelled luxury:

Proof positive that all freedoms & liberty have now been destroyed in Greece!

The following thoroughly sickening and fawning item has just appeared in ekathimerini from Greece, linked here:

The PM's quiet dignity

It is almost impossible to say anything good about anyone participating in the governance of the country right now.
We must, however, acknowledge the efforts made by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos over the past few months in order to ensure Greece’s position in the eurozone and to stave off a disorderly default.
Papademos achieved a fine balancing act between the political parties in his government, while also earning the badly dented trust of our international partners.
The first phase of his mission has been accomplished, but several tough weeks remain ahead.
However, even those who disagree with the agreement forged in Brussels should acknowledge not only the hard work put in by the prime minister, but also his quiet dignity and the moral standard he brought to the office he was assigned in such adverse conditions.
It has been during his tenure that Greece’s main political parties have really grasped the magnitude of the problems the country faces and as a result have begun to work together, something that seemed inconceivable last November.

Ask yourselves, would any newspaper publishing in a country where democracy survived and human rights were still assured, write such nonsense about their Leader, imposed from the outside, without ever gaining a vote in any position he ever held, while slowly imposing misery and poverty described as "necessary austerity"?

This is what the EU has wrought!

Nick Cohen on the EU being a failure of decency! Recommended!

The entire "Comment is free" of today's Observer/Guardian is linked here. Try to read it all, I will try to capture the flavour with some brief quotes:

Greece has invaded no one and committed no crimes against humanity. Yet the EU, which boasts that solidarity is its founding principle, is forcing it into destitution and chaos.....

Currency union is – self-evidently – a disaster. Admitting that would bring a loss of face too great for the European elites to bear.....

Europe does not seem pleasant, prosperous or peaceful today. When historians write about the end of its postmodern utopia, they will note that it was not destroyed by invading armies anxious to plunder Europe's wealth or totalitarian ideologues determined to install a dictatorship, but by politicians and bureaucrats, who appeared to be pillars of respectability, but turned out to be fanatics after all.

Nigel Farage warns of the dangers for Europe from the power-crazed EU!

Link

Daniel Hannan MEP on Greece for TV viewers in the USA

H/T Sue @EU_Dictatorship

N.B. the Upton Sinclair quote:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

This in relation to the army of those who now depend on the continuance of the EU

Schäuble has suggested postponing Greece's elections - Economist

Just as this blog suspected and as it has been warning for some time, national elections for the former sovereign countries that are now merely EU member states are to be the next target for the Popperian tyranny now being unleashed upon Europe. The quote from the influential magazine, The Economist, published this afternoon is linked here and  was as follows, concluding a long description of recent events:

To make the reforms stick, Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, even suggested postponing the election and setting up a small technocratic cabinet like Italy’s to run Greece for the next two years.

Greek Conservative Leader capitulates to EU Blackmail & Signs

The report from ekathimerini, this evening, is linked here, and is entirely self-explanatory, needing no added comment.

What is presently being done to democracy and individual freedoms across Europe is truly, excruciatingly awful - worse even perhaps, as it been so long expected.

Oh No! Ollie still optimistic!!

Olli is still "confident"

From EUobserver, linked here.

           §§§§§§§§§§

Greek vote 'crucial step' for second bail-out, says EU commissioner

Today @ 14:43

Related

1. Greek MPs back crucial austerity deal
2. Tensions flare in Athens ahead of austerity vote

By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - The EU commission and the German government on Monday (13 February) welcomed Greece's adoption of a further austerity package as a "crucial step forward" for securing a second bail-out, but more spending cuts are needed by Wednesday.
"The vote is a crucial step forward towards the adoption of the second programme," EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn said during a press conference in Brussels.
He said he was "confident" that the remaining conditions - further spending cuts of €325 million and written pledges by the political leaders that the austerity programme will not be undone after elections due in April - "will be completed" by Wednesday.
This is when eurozone finance ministers are to meet in Brussels and approve the €130bn bail-out along with the voluntary debt restructuring by private bondholders to the tune of another €100bn.

§§§§§§§§§§

With my web browser it is possible to play the sound track of the video of Athens in flames last night with that of what this blog has made Olli Rehn's theme song. An eerie experience!

German state broadcaster leads on Greek Corruption.

The leading item on the web page of Deutsche Welle this afternoon concentrates on the levels of corruption amongst the Greek political classes. Hardly the burning issue of the moment it seems to this blogger. It is therefore linked here as an item of curiosity to make one ponder on the real questions of today which that organisation quite obviously is seeking to avoid:

TOP STORIES / World / Europe

World

Corruption and division in Greek's political elite

Athens saw a partial success with the passage of its latest austerity package. But commentators say that Greek politicians are incapable of solving the country's problems, leaving voters with few alternatives.

A Quote from unelected Greek PM ex-ECB VP Lucas Papedemos

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told lawmakers the violence witnessed outside the parliament was completely unacceptable. "Vandalisms, violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country and won't be tolerated,"(source Deutsche Welle)

The real consequences of the Greek vote may be read from here. A quote:

The Greek economy was expected to contract by 3pc in 2011 under the original EU-IMF Troika plan. In fact it shrank by 6pc, and is now entering what the IMF fears could become “a downward spiral of fiscal austerity, falling disposable incomes, and depressed sentiment.”
Manufacturing output fell 15.5pc in December. The M3 money supply crashed at a 15.9pc rate. Unemployment jumped to 20.9pc in November, up from 18.2pc the month before, and is already above the worse-case peak pencilled in by the Troika.
Some 60,000 small firms and family businesses have gone bankrupt since the summer, the chief reason why VAT revenues dropped 18.7pc in January. The violence of the slump is overwhelming the effects of fiscal retrenchment. So much Sisyphean effort for so little gain.
You can argue that Greece has dragged its feet on EU-IMF demands - though the IMF is careful not make such a crude claim, offering mixed praise in its last report.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writing in the Telegraph.

74 Greek MPs offer hope for a return to democracy in Greece!

The following is from eKathimerini this morning:

Greece’s Parliament approved in the early hours of Monday the country’s new loan agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund despite more than 40 PASOK and New Democracy MPs voting against the terms of the deal.
Out of 300 lawmakers, 278 cast their ballot following several hours of intense debate. Of those, 199 voted ‘yes’ in principle, while 74 voted ‘no’ and five voted ‘present’. The rest did not vote.
Twenty two PASOK MPs and 21 New Democracy deputies voted against the bill. In both cases, thoe lawmakers were expelled from their parties.