Berlin and Brussels colonized Greece, debt entrapping it in the euro straightjacket, the country pillaged, its people impoverished, its crown jewel enterprises and assets sold off at fire sale prices. It continues to grab what’s left.
Paying bankers comes first, a wealth grab against sovereign states and their most vulnerable people.
The more Greece borrows in so-called “rescue” packages, the deeper in unrepayable debt it becomes, heading for eventual default and economic oblivion.
Its long-suffering people are entrapped in dystopian harshness, force-fed austerity taking a terrible toll to enrich financial oligarchs, wanting everything of worth in Greece pillaged.
Serving them created mass unemployment, poverty wages for workers, drastic cutbacks in vital services, higher taxes, slashed pensions, weakened or eliminated labor rights, transferred losses onto the public sector, and a brain drain, many of Greece’s best and brightest gone, others leaving.
On Thursday, Greek parliamentarians again surrendered to Berlin and Brussels. They imposed additional draconian measures, the price for more bailout help, the country mired in deep Depression.
Since spending cuts and higher taxes were initially imposed in 2010, one-fourth of its national output was lost, its unrepayable debt increasing exponentially.
In the last seven years, it’s gotten about 260 billion in bailout loans, ballooning its debt to 179% of GDP.
New austerity measures imposed include more spending and pension cuts, higher taxes, increased privatizations, and reportedly promised new legislation to curb or entirely eliminate strikes.
On Monday, eurozone finance ministers will discuss more bailout relief, contingent on Athens repaying 7.5 billion euros to bankers in July—instead of responsibly defaulting and ending banker occupation.
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras lied, saying “I’m confident we’re entering a period of stability and strong recovery.” In 2015, he lied, promising to end austerity.
Youths suffering from around 50% unemployment, hard-hit public-sector workers, and pensioners aren’t buying it anymore.
On Wednesday and Thursday nights, violent protests raged, public fury over more draconian measures on top of many others earlier.
Thousands gathered in Syntagma Square near parliament. Masked demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and smashed windows. Police responded with tear gas.
The only responsible solution in Greece, elsewhere in Europe and America is nonviolent revolution. Nothing else can work.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” Visit his blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com . Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
Since 1948 Greece has never been a sovereign state. It has been controlled by outside forces ie: Russia, CIA, and other interests. Now it is the EU’s turn to put the screws on the Greek people. Just a little payback for saying no during WWII. Anyone who helped the Nazi’s like Croatia, Albania, Bosnia etc: get a pass. The Greek people however have to suffer for their sins. We shall see how long the Greek people will put up with this onslaught. One can only hope there are still some spartans left in that country to stand up for their people.
What would nonviolent revolution look like?
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well done JP. A good take and no doubt part of the reason Greece is being wantonly punished.Germany and its satellites today are simply the successors of Austria-Hungary and Bismark’s Germany of yesterday..they never did stop wanting to own the Balkans by sowing dissension and hey bonus we break up the potential alliance of Orthodox Christians at every turn.All this even though it was the Christians of these lands who have fought jihadists the longest.Thats right jihadists didnt start with 9/11 and Isis. It started back 1400 years ago and the central europeans and their ilk allowed the jihadists to massacre christians here in 1800s,1915,1922 and yes 1999 when certain Atlanticist powers bombed Serbia one of bravest allies they had in WWII.You reap what you sow Establishment Europe and when the knives come out your own population will hang you from the lamp-posts once they finish with the Moslem Menace…that is if they survive the Moslem Menace.