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damn the euro politicians

“The news that Iceland has regained its investment grade rating - with unemployment down to 6pc - comes as a timely reminder that countries can indeed go it alone and live to tell the tale. Though of course, Iceland’s debts are in sovereign krona, not Mr Schäuble's euro, and Iceland exports a lot of aluminium.”

And Greece has tourism.

greece is a ‘useful victim’ for eussr politicians

“Mr Daskalopoulos now seems resigned to a ghastly denouement, fearing that Greece has been turned into a "useful victim" for countries pursuing their own political agenda. "They need to stop pretending that Greece is a special case and decide once and for all what they are going to do with all the culprits or PIGS [Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain] and what they want Europe itself to be. Are they really going to flush Greece down the toilet and hope it will disappear from planet earth?" he said.”

greece gets worse terms than germany in 1953

This guy will be censored if he keeps truth telling.

“The US, Canada, Britain, France, Greece, and other signatories at the London Debt Agreement of 1953 granted Chancellor Konrad Adenauer a 50pc haircut on all German debt, worth 70pc in relief with stretched maturities. There was a five-year moratorium on interest payments.

“The express purpose was to give Germany enough oxygen to rebuild its economy, and to help hold the line against Soviet overreach. This sweeping debt forgiveness caused heartburn for the British - then in dire financial straits, themselves forced to go cap in hand to Washington for loans. The Greeks had to forgo some war reparations.

“Yet statesmanship prevailed. The finance ministers of the day agreed to overlook the moral origins of that debt, and the moral hazard of “rewarding” a country that had so disturbed the European order.

“The Wirtschaftswunder whittled down the burden of German debts to modest levels within a decade. Germany emerged as a vibrant democracy and a pillar of the western security system.

“Greece has less strategic relevance, and must comply with tougher terms.”

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#greece_eu_victimisation_200212

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can the right save portugal, or has the destruction by the left gone too far?

In one year, Portugal and Greece have doubled their bond rates.

[The Socialist government has now gone in Spain.]

“Just four countries in Europe still look left as Portugal votes to kick out its socialist government.

“The only four remaining left-led governments among the EU’s 27 member states are Greece, Austria, Slovenia and Cyprus.” [Quoted from dailymail.co.uk]

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#socialist_economic_chaos_130212

on greece

the euro temple is crumbling

“At the beginning of the Clinton administration in the early 1990s, adviser James Carville was stunned at the power the bond market had over the government. If he came back, Carville said: I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”
[Quoted from Wall Street Journal, February 25, 1993, p. A1]

“ "It’s not the end of the world if someone leaves the eurozone," said Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice-president, uttering in public a view already prevalent in Berlin and other northern capitals as Greek rescue costs rise by a further €15bn to €145bn.

“ "It’s always said, if you let one nation go, or ask one to leave, the entire structure will collapse. But that is just not true," she told De Volksrant.

“Greece’s EU commissioner Maria Damanaki said "contingency plans" are now under way for a Greek withdrawal. "The policy for Greece is internal devaluation within the eurozone but there is preparation for other solutions, if Greece doesn’t make it on the euro zone path," she said.”

Oh, 80 billion euro, is that all? No worries then!

“Foreign banks have slashed exposure to Greece by 60pc to €80bn since 2009...”

how much greek pain will it take to satisfy the german debt collectors?

Greek bond rates as at 11 December 2011: 21.14%.

“The three parties were handed the draft after final touches were agreed between the PM and EU, ECB and IMF officials.

“The accord is likely to include a 20% minimum wage reduction, pension cuts and 15,000 civil service lay-offs.

“Public transport came to a standstill on Tuesday as an estimated 20,000 people protested against the cuts.

“At one point a German flag was set alight outside parliament.”

related material
EMU (European Monetary Union) and inflation – a civil liberty issue

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#on_greece_080212

important and very clear statement in the commons by theresa may

“It is simply not acceptable that Britain is unable to deport radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada who "poses a serious risk to our national security", Home Secretary Theresa May said today.

“Mrs May said she disagreed with a senior immigration judge's decision to bail Abu Qatada yesterday, which means he will be free and walking his child to school within a week.

“ "The right place for a terrorist is a prison cell; the right place for a foreign terrorist is a foreign prison cell far away from Britain," Mrs May said.”

“It is simply not acceptable that after the Jordanians have guaranteed his treatment, after British courts have found that he is dangerous and after his removal has been approved by the highest courts in our land, we still cannot deport such a dangerous foreign national. We continue to consider the case for a British Bill of Rights, and the Prime Minister is leading the Government’s attempts to reform the European Court of Human Rights.”
[Quoted from Hansard, HC Deb, 7 February 2012, c165]

2:22 mins

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#abu_qatada_problem_070212

eussr - pigeons and roosts and coming home

Recommended reading.

“It is a revolt against a 1930s policy that imposes all the burden of adjustment on the debtor states and fails to recognise that North-South imbalances must be closed from both ends, and ultimately condemns all EMU to ruinous slump.”
—
“The half-century habits of Franco-German condominium die hard. It is a painful process for French elites to admit that monetary union is asphyxiating their economy and must inevitably trap France in mercantilist subordination to Germany.”

Sarkozy doing a John Major and destroying the credibility of the Right.

related material
EMU (European Monetary Union) and inflation – a civil liberty issue

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#france_asphyxiated_by_euro_060212

germany has a balance of payments surplus with southern europe

Now southern Europe cannot afford to pay for German manufactures.

The south of Europe is a dumping ground for German surpluses. Germany is increasingly becoming an imperialist power looking to exploit the backward empire of the south.

When will a country go to the UN to ‘demand’ independence?

[Prompted by this and this.]

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics_eu_022012.php#imperalist_germany_020212

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