As being reported today:

“Handelsblatt is reporting that eurozone finance ministers are refusing to sign off the deal until elections have taken place next month, at which point the communist president, Demetris Christofias, will have departed.”

The deal is the bailout for Cyprus. The Eurozone finance ministers have also stated misgivings over this particular bailout because Cypriot banks have, apparently, a large amount of Russian funds, and we don’t want to bail out bad Russian mafia types.

No, only bad European mafia types qualify I suppose.

So, the Eurozone concept of democracy is becoming clearer and clearer. First it is a question of intervening in the elections and referenda held by another country. Ireland, Greece, now Italy. Through threats and bullying the electorates are cowed into voting for what the Brussels/Berlin axis wants. As became particularly obvious in the Greek elections.

Though Samaras’ party only got 18% of the vote the first time around, which was the genuine feeling of the electorate, after out right meddling and threats of disaster, this went up to around 30% in the second elections. The vote of the oldies terrified that they would lose their pensions.

The irony is that they did lose their pensions anyway.

Now the Eurozone has progressed. No deal guys at all till your elections. And you can’t vote that Commie in again whatever you do! In other words, vote for the guy we want for us to consider bailing you out. And then again, we have those awful ruskies to consider.

I suppose in Euro newspeak this would be termed a necessary reform of democracy.

Today, Antonis Samaras declared in Berlin that “the glass is half full”, that reforms in Greece are proceeding apace. Yannis Stournaras, the Minister of Finances has also declared that the first signs of recovery will appear in the second half of this year.

So is this the cause of hope I am referring to? Well, no… Not at all. How could it be when:

Today’s Eurostat figures show that unemployment in Greece has risen to 26%, just 0.6% lower than Spain and that youth unemployment is the highest in the Eurozone at 57.6%. Stournaras’ own budget was based on a forecast of further recession in 2013 of 4.5%. (And that, as we know all too well, is optimistic.) And the debilitating contraction measures to suck a further 10 billion or so out of the economy this year, that Samaras and Stournaras are so proud of because Wolfgang Schauble and Angela Merkel gave them a pat on the head for them, have not even started to kick in yet.

Christos Yannaras, a revered Professor of Philosophy at the University of Athens, has said (and I paraphrase) that these statements from our politicians are either all nothing but empty tricks and ruses to maintain their grip on power, (a kind of smoke screen or playing with mirrors) or else our politicians are totally cut off from reality, one could say in compete denial, which is a pathological condition. Either way, this is not a sustainable situation.

Coming to Samaras’ boast of reforms. The only “reform” that has been achieved in Greece is the dismantling of labour laws designed to protect the labour force, hand in hand with the necessary slash in wages. What the neo liberals like to call a “flexible” labour market has indeed been achieved. The result? Even greater unemployment, forecast to rise to catastrophic proportions of 30%. (Not taking into account the high number of emigrants.)

Now there may perhaps be something positive in this wanton devastation of the Greek economy and Greek society. And that is that the Greek people are becoming more and more acutely aware of what Greece’s fundamental problem really is. It is not the economy. It is not the debt. It is the corrupt and decaying political structure that has grown like a cancer.

It is a Constitution designed to exempt and exonerate all those wielding power. It is a system designed to provide maximum perks to those in power and their hangers on at a maximum cost to the ordinary, honest, law abiding individual. It is the judicial system which is equally corrupt and known for passing judgement on the basis of kick backs rather than evidence.

In other words the whole structure is rotten. The reform of this rotten structure is not even contemplated by the narcissistic Samaras who can see no further than his image in the mirror. An image that is more in his possibly demented mind, than actually in the mirror, in that it bears absolutely to relation to reality.

I have saved the country! he declares as the bumper tranche of billions of Euro was released. Does he not even realise that the cost of getting this tranche released is the complete and utter devastation of not only the Greek economy but of Greek society as a whole? It would appear not.

And now we have the infamous Papaconstantinou/Venizelos scandal* of how they shielded possible tax dodgers on the Lagarde List while mercilessly imposing impossible taxation on the Greek people. (An act Stournaras has out done them both in.)

Papaconstantinou whines “I will not be scapegoated for all the ills of the post junta period!” That is, all the corruption and rot that has ballooned into a terminal cancerous growth over the past 30 years. To his “credit” he does not dispute this, merely states the obvious. That he is not the only one responsible for this (undisputed) rotten state of affairs.

Venizelos and his coterie are in a blind panic, refusing to address the issue, blaming the opposition for trying to undermine the government and hopelessly, helplessly clinging onto power.

Kouvelis, the leader of what used to be a left wing party has also succumbed to pressure, pressure from Samaras and Venizelos but also pressure from his own young acolytes eager and desperate to cling onto power, and unequivocally supports Venizilos, summarily expelling honest members of his own party for daring to rock the boat and potentially deprive them of power. Power for its own sake. Power to serve the interests of a select few who hope to become Ministers and officials and so on.

I should have my head examined for considering this a positive development. A cause for some hope. But since all we have left to cling on to here in Greece is straws, there is scope for considering that we may be witnessing the beginning of the collapse of this rotten regime oppressing us here. When thieves turn against each other it is when they lose.

*For greater detail and more analysis of the deep corruption of the Greek state see Kosta Vaxevanis’ article in the NYT.

Effectively. In their infinite wisdom the forces behind the troika decided to squeeze Greece until the pips squeaked because it had become over indebted and insolvent.

The stringent austerity has brought about a collapse of the Greek economy, plunging the country into Depression conditions and growing unemployment (by some expected to reach 30% this year).

Nevertheless the Samaras’ “teachers’ pet” government has pledged to increase revenue by at least another 2 billion or so. In a shrinking economy, while shielding tax evaders and above all shielding those shielding tax evaders such as Vangelis Venizelos. Who, coincidentally, is leader of one of the parties supporting the Samaras government so it is therefore expedient to shield him.

Now, in their brilliance, in order to raise revenue they have slapped an exorbitant tax on heating fuel. In plane English (and simple economics of which it appears they are incapable) they have priced heating fuel (and natural gas, if with a slightly lesser tax) out of the market. As a result, people have turned to open fires, log stoves and such, burning whatever they can get their hands on so as not to freeze.

This, surprise surprise has led to a growing pollution problem, producing smog and such. At the same time, revenue from fuel consumption has collapsed since no one can afford it any more. So not only has the object of the exercise failed (increased revenue) but a further severe pollution/health problem has been created.

The simple answer would be, reduce the tax significantly and thereby collect far more in taxes than you are now and deal with the pollution problem. Not to mention allowing people to heat themselves. But no. No. here too the Samaras regime follows European practice. Which is:

Never admit you have been wrong about anything! And never try to repair the damage you have done.

So Mr Stournaras refuses to budge on the hefty tax, because, he says “it is a memorandum obligation” and we cannot jeopardize the credibility we have gained (!) (exclamation mark on two counts: what credibility do they imagine they have gained and with whom? and the memorandum obligation he is referring to is designed to raise revenue, I would imagine, and not per se to ruin the health and jeopardize the lives of the people.)

Oh, and since the pollution is becoming very dangerous, the government has suggested that perhaps they should ban open fires and such to contain it. In other words deprive the population of all and any means of heating.

Now Greece has a very benign climate. Which is one of the reasons analysts through the ages have said, why philosophy flourished there. Nevertheless, winter does bring the cold and the snows and the sleet with it. Not for as long as in northern Europe perhaps, but long enough for people to suffer and die from the cold.

We are entering zero and sub zero temperatures at the moment, and being scolded by those in power for burning anything we can find to keep warm. But not for a moment are they even considering the obvious. Lower the consumption tax on fuel.

So since it is quite obvious that this measure is not only not raising tax revenue, but actually slashing such revenue from what it would have been with a lower tax rate, and also causing added acute pain and suffering on the populace, why is the Samaras/Stournaras regime insisting on it?

The only thing this achieves is depriving Greeks of one more human right. The right to keep warm and healthy in winter. The right to work has been abolished. The right to fair pay has been abolished. The right to health care has been abolished. The right to education is also being abolished. So now we are on to abolishing the basic necessities of food and heating.

Had such pain been inflicted on a an African or Asian country, and so wantonly, with such malice and obvious desire to cause pain and suffering rather than achieve anything else by it, the whole of the so called civilized world would have been up in arms over it.

Now, not only does no one in the so called civilized world gives a hoot over this human tragedy, but the Greeks are being continually scolded and vilified over it. So called economists (not real ones) churn out all sorts of nonsense why this policy should be continued (till the Greek population has been decimated and reduced to pauper status perhaps?) and the Samaras regime preens itself that it has regained “credibility” and god forbid that we should risk losing it again! (Stournaras).

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” *

Will heads really have to roll before sense and a modicum of the humanity Europe used to pride itself for is restored?

*- Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1.4.90), Marcellus to Horatio

In that brilliant work by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, there is a scene in Chapter 3 where a problem has to be solved. Alice and the various animals have got soaking wet after falling into a large pool created by Alice’s tears. The problem they have to solve is how to get dry. And the debate goes like this:

‘Ahem!’ said the Mouse with an important air, ‘are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! “William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria- -“‘

‘Ugh!’ said the Lory, with a shiver.

‘I beg your pardon!’ said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: ‘Did you speak?’

‘Not I!’ said the Lory hastily.

‘I thought you did,’ said the Mouse. ‘ ? I proceed. “Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable ? “‘

‘Found what?’ said the Duck.

‘Found it,’ the Mouse replied rather crossly: ‘of course you know what “it” means.’

‘I know what “it” means well enough, when I find a thing,’ said the Duck: ‘it’s generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?’

The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, ‘” ? found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William’s conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans ? ” How are you getting on now, my dear?’ it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke.

‘As wet as ever,’ said Alice in a melancholy tone: ‘it doesn’t seem to dry me at all.’

‘In that case,’ said the Dodo solemnly, rising to its feet, ‘I move that the meeting adjourn, for the immediate adoption of more energetic remedies ? ‘

‘Speak English!’ said the Eaglet. ‘I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and, what’s more, I don’t believe you do either!’ And the Eaglet bent down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly.

And this, dear readers, is exactly how the debates in the European Summits and the Eurogroup sound. Total irrelevance, misplaced pomposity, and, of course, they never get anywhere! For Mouse read whichever dignitary is taking the chair, either Barroso or Merkel will do, but all the others sound the same. And for the Dodo read Herman Van Rompuy. There is no mistake there.

The only trouble with the European Summit debates is that we have yet to find an Eaglet among them. Because the eaglet is the only one who is right. Not only does nobody have a clue what you are trying to say, but you yourself have no idea either!

Thank you Lewis Carroll, for helping us understand… not how the European Summits work, but why the do not.

At the very last moment! The nail biting thriller resolved. Obama did it! Danger of Fiscal Cliff resolved. Congress also agrees to plan to avoid the disaster. Stock Markets all over the world go up! Thank God! We have been saved!

Now just what is it that the whole world has been saved from? America falling over the Fiscal Cliff of course! And what does that mean? That if an agreement had not been reached at exactly the eleventh hour, then the US Economy would have been obliged to go into austerity automatically. It would have had to make slashing cuts and raise taxes all around.

And why would that have mattered? Because the US Economy would have been plunged, by that very policy, into recession and this recession would have been catastrophic for the global economy.

Oh, I see. In other words the US Economy would have gone the way of the Merkel variation of the infamous There Is No Alternative. The US would have been obliged to apply exactly the same policy that the Brussels – Berlin Axis is imposing all over Europe. Maintaining that this is the only way to put the economy back on track.

Hmmm. So what the hell is going on then? The Markets cheer and go up because the US avoided at the very last minute, a policy that would have been so destructive that the whole world trembled at the prospect. While in Europe countries are cajoled and threatened that if they do not follow that very same policy the US avoided then The Markets won’t like it.

Nevertheless, despite the schizophrenia of The Markets, it is an undeniable fact that the Merkel imposed policy of stringent and relentless austerity has produced a very dangerous result. Recession over the whole of the Eurozone and beyond in the whole of Europe, high and growing unemployment, misery, indifference to human well being and even life.

So if the whole world could see just what this Fiscal Cliff would have meant for the global Economy, why is Germany let off scot free for destroying the European Economy with the enormous repercussions this has had and is having on the global economy too?