Word of the day: kleptocracy (from the Greek κλέπτης – kleptēs, “thief” and κράτος – kratos, “power, rule).
He acknowledges that the Greek economy is still inefficient, inadequately competitive, hobbled by corruption. But he believes that only a brand new party like Syriza, even one on the left as it is, can be trusted to break up oligopolies and introduce more competition into product and labour markets. How so? Well it is because he and his Syriza colleagues are outsiders, untainted by connections to the wealthy tax-avoiding elite, lacking in connections to corporate vested interests. If Syriza is in power for a year, it too will become captured by the kleptocracy, he fears, so he wants his government to reform swiftly. His message therefore to Mrs Merkel is that he and she have more in common than she may recognise.
(Pic: Getty)
(H/T: Timboktu Cedarlounge)
Sounds fair enuff.
That it does.
Re. the broader debt situation, this is the closing paragraph from a rather excellent article by Kenneth Rogoff: “If concessions to Greece create a precedent that other countries might exploit, so be it. Sooner rather than later, other periphery countries will also need help. Greece, one hopes, will not be forced to leave the eurozone, though temporary options such as imposing capital controls may ultimately prove necessary to prevent a financial meltdown. The eurozone must continue to bend, if it is not to break.”
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/greek-exit-syriza-troika-negotiations-by-kenneth-rogoff-2015-02
I’d imagine politicians would be quite wary about continuing to follow Rogoffs suggestions at this point…
guess they should be given the benefit of the doubt and Europe work with them.
Greece has problems much bigger than it’s debt
I like this fella
This lot are not to be trusted. Especially given the fact that the new Prime Minister is keen to involve his Russian friends if needs be. Apparently Russia aka Putin is being kept up-to-date on Greek developments and keen to extend a “helping hand” should the need arise. I’m sure it won’t come without too many strings. There are already rumblings among some German, Polish and Finnish parliamentarians of stature that the security of EU meetings may be compromised if the Greeks are divulging details to the Russians. While Putin has his spies in Brussels, they generally don’t sit at the negotiating table.
Yes, in western Europe, we should all support the corrupt and illegal western Ukrainian administration. We should embrace the neo Nazis and gangsters and hold them to our bosoms and shake a stick at that dastardly Mr Putin who has acted to protect his borders and his ethnic brothers.
With each passing day, I’m more and more rooting for the so-called “rebels” in eastern Ukraine.
Is this satire?
You are a silly man(or woman,…boy or girl) Jordofthejungle
correct. We should trust our German overlords who have had more debt write off since WW1 than all other European countries combined.
You sound like a member of Eirigi with the aul “German overlords” spiel.
I like Yanis, too. Until recently, he was a lecturer in Sydney.
His old interviews might be of interest, given his new role.
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/10/22/on-abc-late-night-live-discussing-the-dirty-war-for-europes-integrity-and-soul/
Was it Brian Lenihan junior, the late former FF finance minister, who said something similar about Ireland – that he only had a limited window before the vested interests brought too much pressure to bear to stop reforms.
Brian Lenihan’s “limited window” expired 5 minutes after he became finance minister and enslaved the citizens of this country with private bank debt to protect his buddies.
Whatever about the economic dimension of things, there’s definitely a political argument for front-loading reforms.
Have we forgotten that the democratically elected president was driven from office by western backed neo-nazis in Ukraine.
“Democratically elected President” – lol – you keep thinking that dear. Yanokovich was a fine purveyor of democracy alright – he was particularly enthused by Surkov’s (the man who designed the current Russian autocratic regime) idea of a “managed democracy” and went to great lengths to implement it.
Well how did he become President? Was he appointed or something?
Rather like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4-tZqYzh84
The ‘neo-nazis’ you refer to (presumably Svoboda) have a grand total of 6 seats out of 423 in the Ukrainian parliament and are in opposition, not government.
He was elected by a majority of the people, unlike George W Bush.
Oooh, sick burn on Dubya! Bet he’ll cry himself to sleep on a huge pile of money tonight. Seriously though, 2001 called – it wants its A-material back.
2001 called…..?
Eh, physician heal thyself.
Busted! Couldn’t resist a bit of hackery and now I’ve paid the penalty