My mother lived through the German occupation of Athens. I remember her stories of how the course of the war was closely followed, hope replacing despair, despair setting in again as one battle was lost then another one won. It was extremely difficult and extremely dangerous to follow the course of the war. The only reliable news could be obtained from the BBC.

The possession of a radio was illegal, however, and punishable by the well known idea of Nazi justice. Yet the family, like many others, did have an illegal radio which they hid in a backroom or the kitchen or wherever else, in their desperation to follow the course of the war. Particularly the war in North Africa, the outcome of which affected Greece more directly.

Rommel was a great General and kept them going. He came to within 30 km of Alexandria which had to be evacuated of allied troops. Each twist of the war aroused new feelings. The siege of Tobruk. Followed with bated breath. Everyone hoping for the decisive battle that would signal the turn of the tide. All ears stuck to the BBC, softly supplying the truth.

It is perhaps difficult to draw parallels with today’s situation, but they do come to mind. Then as now, Athens was being devastated. In a different way. One obvious difference is that this is not an open war with armies. But it is a war. A war of attrition, driving the country into the ground. Another difference is that the occupied populations of Europe had no idea when and how this would end. Whether they would see their loved ones again.

Today we are being told, that by 2020 we will have reached the debt to GDP ratio that sparked the crisis off originally. Provided we continue ruining our economy, that is. Or, now that the 2020 prediction is being quietly swept under the carpet by the Brussels mouthpieces of the Berlin plan, we are being told that our economy will start recovering in 2050. Provided, as always, we stick to the austerity plan. I.e the death trap. And more of such arrant nonsense. Nonsense that all these apparatchiks appear to have no shame in spouting out. Even though they KNOW it’s all a pack of nonsense.

But back to our own battle won. Hollande’s victory in the first poll of the French Presidential election. Like my mother’s generation hiding in the back room listening to the BBC, we hiss ecstatically, Yes! Yes! We’ve got Rommel on the run!! Allied victory is likelier now. Till the next setback.

Hollande has still to win the final decisive election and we are all hoping. It will mean, we hope, pressure on Berlin to change tactics and actually be made to accept that growth does matter. Another chink of hope comes from the political crisis in the Netherlands. Rutte was damning over the pesky little Greeks and so gung ho with The Frau to make these pips (aka pigs) squeak. Superior finger wagging towards these hapless children of a lesser God that had to be taught a lesson! However, now that his own economy is being threatened by the very policies he championed (for others) has hit him with a vengeance, he has been forced to resign. And one can only hope, perhaps regret his arrogance.

But the war still has a very long way to go. And there is a very dark side to this initial victory filling us with hope. The President of the Socialist International, warmly congratulated Hollande on his victory. A victory signifying hope that the vicious right wing monetary policy being imposed by the Right wing parties currently controlling Brussels should start being reversed.

However, the President of the Socialist International is none other than George Papandreou. The former Prime Minister of Greece, directly responsible for implementing the most vicious and the most ruthless and inhuman of economic policies. Policies that have led to the complete collapse of the Greek economy with 22% unemployment and growing, the suicide rate rising exponentially, extortionist taxation, and the greatest possible impediments to growth. Which remains nowhere in sight.

There is hope to be derived from Hollande’s electoral victory. But the President of the Socialist International now celebrating so hypocritically, should perhaps show some shame and resign on the spot for all his achievements. That would be a good sign that perhaps European politics might take a turn for the better.

First round of French elections today. Second round in a fortnight. The same day as the Greek elections. In an excellent article on the French elections in the Guardian today, Lucy Wadham explains that the French have a bleak outlook for the future, traditionally, because “Change for them comes from convulsion and upheaval.” The violence of revolution, rather than continuity and reform (favoured by British thinking and historical chance of course.*)

But this European, perhaps global, crisis triggered off by the bursting of the financial bubble, is not an economic crisis, if ever it was one. It is a crisis of civilization, a deep social and human crisis that erupted with the 2008 crash, and laid bare the underlying inequalities, hypocrisy, and all the failures of what our Western Society has become. A world that carried on the pretence of living in a world governed by the values of the enlightenment and subsequent French Revolution.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.

None of which exists in today’s modern world, though we are living under a blatant lie that they do. This lie was exposed by the financial crisis but it is the real cause of today’s crisis rather than the bankrupt banks which merely laid it bare. Any vestiges of our Liberte has been completely eroded by the terrible bogey man of The Markets, a fictional man-made entity like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that must always get its way, or else it will destroy us!!!

Egalite? Well George Orwell answered that one for us a long time ago in Animal Farm. “All Animals Are Equal, But Some Animals Are Equaller Than Others.” Today the pigs are not the wretched countries of the European Union being victimised and bullied, but the infamous 1%, or even, as Paul Krugman puts it (in Taxing Job Creators), the 0.1%.

As to Fraternite… well, the best example of this is the current European Union. Although supposedly a union, an alliance based on equality, democracy, interdependence and solidarity, current policy towards the weaker states is not only cruel and vicious but utterly destructive and even vindictive. And is being as undemocratically imposed as the worse excesses against people in our history.

The way things are at the moment in Greece: Utter despair and destruction all around while the IMF/EU only want to see pay slashed or preferably abolished altogether, (and joblessness increased?) I would reiterate Lucy Wadham. Change, real radical change, rather than painting over the cracks, can only come from convulsion and upheaval. The elections in Greece, as opposed to those in France, are likely to be the first step towards change through convulsion and upheaval. Perhaps even inevitably so.

But change is coming. Whether it will be through pain and even violence, in the tradition of the French Revolution, or more mildly as in a Burkian sense of reform through common sense, remains to be seen. But as Lord Tennyson put it in the mouth of the dying and defeated King Arthur, in his poem “Morte D’Arthur”

“The older order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfills himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the World.”

———————-

*I hear you! Don’t forget Cromwell and the Roundheads! And they beheaded their King long before the French did! Yes. Okay. But Edmund Burke created the British norm on this in his “Reflections on the Revolution in France“. And they have never beheaded a monarch since. Not even the questionable Duke of Windsor.

The IMF/ EU directorate is exhibiting signs of panic over the outcome of elections not only in France but also in Greece. Terrorization has begun in earnest. If France does not vote in Sarkozy, the markets will begin a full scale lethal attack on France! If the two parties forming the government which utterly destroyed Greece are not voted back in, then… well they are trying to tell us we will go completely hungry and destitute!

And the greatest ‘threat’ of all: If the elections in these two countries go wrong (yes, that is the way it is put, if the elections go wrong), then the very future of the Euro is at stake!

And they are completely right. I fully endorse the verdict. If the elections in France and Greece go wrong then indeed it will be the end of the Euro and even Europe perhaps. So we must all start rooting for the ‘right’ outcome of these elections. Which is a new President in France who has the guts to tell The Frau that her plans are not only idiotic but totally self defeating, and to VETO them!

And in Greece the servile, destructive parties of PASOK and New Democracy must be given the proper trouncing they deserve. In any case the people must vote for a great resounding NO! No more of this madness! The pips must stop squeaking and start shrieking.

Otherwise good bye to Europe and the Euro. Because if The Frau finds that she can continue down this totally counter productive policy (that she is under the illusion is economic policy), the the whole continent will collapse under the vicious austerity-recession cycle she is obsessed with. Already even the Netherlands have realised that The Frau’s Financial Stability Pact is nothing but a time bomb she has laid at Europe’s foundations.

The only way to neutralise this lethal time bomb is for the electorates across Europe to collectively put their foot down and say, Enough is enough, Frau Merkel! And start taking the  jackboots painfully kicking us around off her pretty little feet.

And the feeling is, more than the feeling, but the indications are that this process is going to begin in earnest. Even if the No! from Greece is not as decisive and resounding as it was in Oct 1940, even if Hollande does indeed find he has to struggle with an onslaught from the markets.

The Tide is beginning to turn. The elegant Mme Lagarde may need her Hermes scarves to wipe her tears sooner rather than later. In any case, we are beginning to let the sun shine in!!!

Perhaps not quite yet. But they do feel it is a terrible nuisance! First the fear was that those pesky little Greeks might upset the apple cart, for all the shock and awe policies* they are being subjected too. Now the greater fear is France! For heavens’ sake! We thought we had that one nicely wrapped up when our little spinally challenged side kick achieved a rebound in the polls after the violent racial killings.

A flutter of panic over Citizens being allowed to express their preferences in Europe. A German magazine (Focus I believe) warns that the 6th May could auger in the end of the Euro! That date being, as I have pointed out previously, when the second and decisive round of the French Presidential election shall be held and the general election  in Greece.

Jose Manuel Barroso suddenly remembers that he is supposed to be the President of the Commission and not Merkel. In this fit of euphoria at the discovery, he makes a big speech addressed to the Greek electorate, of how the EU is there to help (well we’ve heard of sick jokes but… this is ridiculous!) promising funds (which are already available in the structural funds anyway, so nothing new) and support provided  Greece carries out in full the recessionary inducing plan that has been imposed and accepted by the current government.

As if that were not enough, our appointed Prime Minister who did nothing other than agree to all the IMF/EU imposed terms for the new so called bail out and the botched bond exchange, has suddenly also been galvanized into life. Yes. He thought it might be a good idea to talk to Barroso over these great plans for growth in Greece and appear Prime Ministerial, a man there who will ensure Greek recovery…

Oh, and mind you, I am sure he is quite willing to be Prime Minister again! Especially without having to fight an election and face disapproval! Now that’s the kind of democracy Euroland seems to be promoting. Just appoint some one you know will do your bidding rather than that of the people! And NEVER trust the people to express an opinion on this! Or anything else really for that matter.

But for all this nebulous, belated talk of ‘growth’ do not get too excited over any of this. Not a single provision for growth has been made in the death warrant already officially signed sealed and delivered by ‘our’ government and all vague, insubstantial mention of ‘growth’ is always pegged to this “provided”. Provided you slash wages further down, provided you keep taxing to extinction, provided you keep slashing pensions and let the old die out without any welfare and, ultimately, provided you vote in the very same guys who ruined you because those are the guys we want to run our obsessive plans!

So this is the new German inspired meaning of democracy in Europe. WE The Frau’s Directorate decide what should be done, together with the IMF who are good at this kind of thing (see South America for instance) and then you  the people or the great unwashed will be allowed to hold an election provided you rubber stamp our decisions.

A bit skewered, isn’t it? But that is how it is. We decide you ratify. Or else! Or else what? We’ll ruin you? Well, you already have, so it’s no longer much of a threat any more! Nevertheless, see the video below to see how Greece is being held in a state of shock and paralysed. But there is a way out. Going beyond all the lies we are being fed and realising what it is they are doing to us and why. And for all their efforts, we do seem to be getting a little closer to that.

* Naomi Klein has described this tactic perfectly in her book The Shock Doctrine. The video below gives an excellent idea of what this means and what is currently being done to Greece.

Don’t worry. This isn’t a trick question. Anyway, none of those currently in power (mostly the unelected nomenclatura of the Commission and of course The Frau Directorate) are never going to ask us. It’s neither here nor there to them what the people of Europe want. (Note, I say people rather than peoples, because we are one and not many, even though we have yet to fully realise this.)

So we start from negativity. Since they know best, and what is best is saving the banks (well at least they think that is what they are doing) the last thing they want is any kind of democracy because for all the threats and terrorization, ultimately not only will the people not want to pay for the banks with everything they have, including their lives, but they will be unable to.

A point Greece is reaching at the moment. This year’s tax returns under a new extremely harsh system will demand payments from many already below subsistence level on pain of having anything they own summarily confiscated! Which is why the current government of toadies decided to put off submission of tax returns till AFTER the election. They knew they wouldn’t have a chance in hell if it happened before. Now full terrorization of the electorate is being employed.

Professor Varoufakis has an excellent piece on the democratic deficit of Europe, pointing out that when it comes to the democratic deficit, all European countries can (and are) slide into it. As opposed to the economic deficits where (Angela please note) that for some countries to have a surplus others must be in deficit. BY DEFINITION.

So the real danger to Europe and what used to be know as European values is the stark erosion of Democracy. One blatant example being when Greece’s Prime Minister was summoned to Cannes to be told by Merkozy (then) that he cannot ask his people if they agree to the new bailout! He was told not to hold a referendum, or if he insisted, the question would not be the one about agreeing to the terms of the bailout, but whether or not Greece wanted to remain in The Eurozone.

The sad part is that our then PM came back with his tail between his legs like a whipped dog acquiescing to all of the Merkozy demands. A nasty blow to the concept of Democracy.

Now that the Merkozy monster has split (at least until the French Elections), the bully’s side kick finds himself in the place he so relished putting the hapless Papandreou into. As we said yesterday, after seeing his chances of reelection go dangerously down in the polls, he decided to demand that the ECB should play a role in promoting growth in the European Union.

A very sensible, if belated, proposal. And something the people of Europe not only want but need and are unanimously in favour of. But what happens? Almost a replay of the Cannes ignominy Papandreou was subjected to.

Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank (and hence far more important and far more powerful than any piddly elected head of state, be that of France or Spain) thunders out the following: What nonsense from Sarkozy! The European Central Bank should not give any attention to economic growth! And that’s final! And about Spain and the dangerous rise in her spreads?

Spain should not expect the ECB to pull it out of the mire. So what if its spreads have gone up temporarily? All this means is that the Spanish government should pull its act together and screw its people even harder and more viciously. (My paraphrase of what the man actually said. But not of his meaning).

So there we have it. Who gives a damn about elections in France? It is the Bundesbank laying down the law! As for Greece? Why doesn’t that messy place just sink into oblivion! We really have no use for it any more.

No. They don’t. And especially not for one of the things produced there many many years ago. No, not olive oil. But Democracy. They have no use for that at all!

As we pointed out in a prior blog, crucial elections are to be held on May 6th. The second round of the Presidential elections in France and the general election in Greece. And lo and behold! Suddenly certain candidates have finally seen the light!

Purely by coincidence, the opinion polls are going against these neophytes who have suddenly seen the light. The first, by order of priority and significance is France’s President Sarkozy. Francois Hollande may be rather dull and uninspiring, but he has dared speak out against the iron lady’s great scheme.

The Frau’s idiotic plan whereby all countries in the European Union must not have a deficit and will be penalised if they do! Whereas there is no cap on surpluses, still less any provision for recycling surpluses, (God forbid!), is a critical part of the Great German Scam. Sarkozy was very happy not only to sign up to it but to be vociferously on the bully’s side. As always.

All of a sudden, however, he has realised that all this toadying up to The Frau and her self serving brain waves that are in the process  of ruining Europe, don’t seem to be going down all that well with the electorate. So lo and behold! After Hollande said he would renegotiate the pact and insist on serious provision for growth. Sarkozy suddenly pipes up.

The ECB, he says, must be activated and enlisted in the struggle to achieve growth! A taboo subject. And The Frau nearly went apoplectic. How dare her side kick and best toady mention the ECB! It must not be touched! It must not do anything! Germany does not want to tackle the European crisis, she wants to make the best of it for herself, and solutions such as that are anathema to her!

Second is our own rather unpleasant former Minister of Finances (unpleasant because he barks at us and threatens us and when he is in Brussels he cringes). Now this gentleman was directly responsible for the policy implemented that has ruined the Greek economy and plunged us into continual recession achieving an official unemployment figure of 22% (and growing).

This gentleman has now become Leader of the PASOK party and all of a sudden it has suddenly dawned on him that the Greek economy needs growth! Oh really? Why did he do everything he could when he was in power to strangle growth? Not least the exorbitant property tax under the threat of having your electricity cut. And as if that were not enough, not only did he sign, but also claimed credit for what is known as the new bail out agreement. An agreement that has no provision for growth but is designed to push the economy into ruin.

So what is this? The Toadies rebellion against The Frau? Hardly! It’s just the blind panic of the prospect of losing power! So they have started saying anything to save their skins. And in the case of Venizelos (the current leader of the PASOK party), we all know very well that should, God forbid, he be returned to power he will renege on his belated good intentions, and turn round and tell us,

“Oh well yes… I did say we needed a change in policy… but, well… The Troika Won’t Allow it!”

So we all better be very careful what we vote! At least we know that this little lot of toadies has botched it completely.

Megan Greene of Roubini Global Economics is reported as having said: “If the Spanish government does not announce further austerity measures, the markets think it is not serious about hitting its fiscal targets and shun Spanish sovereign debt. If the Spanish government does announce additional austerity measures, however, the markets fret that the swingeing cuts will push Spain further into recession and shun Spanish government debt.”

There you have it. In a nutshell. Europe’s conundrum.

In other words, this is a case of heads they win, tails we lose. Under current German dictated policy there is no way Europe will ever recover. All that will be achieved is a continual sinking into the austerity quagmire. Recession turning into depression, depression into full scale catastrophe.

Is it really so hard to see that this policy is not only leading nowhere, but is in fact causing far more damage than it seeks to amend? Can’t anyone see that we are stuck in a cul de sac without any possibility of ever getting out, like the Hotel California? Isn’t there any little boy in the crowd to shriek “Look! The King isn’t wearing any clothes!”?

But creative thinking requires imagination and a willingness to smash established concepts. It does not need rigid adherence to rules and regulations with German precision that can only lead to ruin. The ruin of Europe.

Will this be Europe’s fate?

Even the best laid plans can go terribly wrong. Today is Easter of the Greek Orthodox Rites which coincides with the Jewish Passover (which always makes us smugly think that it is we who have got the date right and not the other, western, side of the schism who are usually too early in celebrating the event!).

A whole lot of literature has appeared over recent years with the discovery of the Gospel of Judas and controversy over his role. Was he really the bad traitor the official Gospels portray him as? Or Jesus’ greatest disciple and the only one with the intelligence and insight to understand him?

For there to be Christianity there had to be a Judas, otherwise perhaps it would all have quickly faded out.

I do not intend to get embroiled in any religious controversies, but I would like to share the Last Supper song from the musical Jesus Christ Super Star  with you. At some point, honing in to the importance of the Great Betrayal for Christianity’s very existence, Judas says “What if I just stayed here and ruined your ambition?” when Jesus is urging him to go, just go and betray him, so the story can unravel. What if I just don’t do it? What then?

Jesus of course was God, or the son of God and his plans did not go wrong. But I would urge others trying to play God without the stature or the brains, to ponder the fact. A little detail they are sure will not go wrong may well throw the proverbial spanner in the works and blow their small minded little plans to high heaven.

A Happy Easter to you all and enjoy the clip.

On the eve of our general election here in Greece, the Director of the IMF has decided to tell us how to vote. Not the small marginal parties! She declares with horror. They are irresponsible! What next? The troika will not allow any parties that do not grovel to it to stand for election at all. But we know all this, we’ve been through it all before. Most recently during the military dictatorship.

But this piece is not about the eroding of democracy by the IMF/EU evil partnership, once the economy has been destroyed. We leave this one for later.

No, today I want to comment on how mean Mme Lagarde has been to our appointed Prime Minister. Since he is out going now (we hope, she doesn’t) she chose to praise him and the work he has done as Prime Minister of the Southern Balkan Protectorate (formerly known as Greece).

Now, this gentleman carried out all the commands of the troika with perfect, German precision and efficiency. He slashed minimum wages, pensions even more, agreed to implement all the further recession inducing inane ideas concocted  by the troika and worse of all, he and his government (made up of the parties Christine wants us to vote for) signed away just about every sovereign right Greece had left. No wonder she praises him!

All revenues (including taxes) will go into an escrow account from which the banks will be paid first and only if anything is left will it go to the Greek Economy. Minimum wages will drop to 200 Euro a month, though all prices on utilities and taxes will rise exponentially. Labour Laws have been abolished. Those trying to work have no rights left. They will get a below subsistence wage and may be hired and fired at will and work for as long as is needed. Overtime? What a stupid notion! And more and worse. No wonder she praises him!

Also this model Prime Minister Lagarde has chosen to lavish praise on, decided to misinform (to put it politely) the Greek people through Parliament. On the build up to the miserable bond swap, he officially assured us that the new bonds would not be issued under British law. British law means that the rights of the new bond holders are totally and utterly assured at the expense of the Greek state and of course the Greek people.

That is in the event of a default, or rather when Greece defaults fully, and it will, because the troika’s policies make sure of that, any bond holder can come in and claim anything and everything belonging to the Greek state. And what happened? Despite the PM’s assurances in Parliament, the bonds have been issued under British law and not a word of apology or even explanation. Talk to the plebs? Heavens no! Just whip them into submission. No wonder she praises him!

Furthermore, this bond swap was supposedly one of Private Sector Involvement, that is only private bond holders would have to pay. So the European Central Bank did not have the bonds it holds shorn. But hang on a minute… The various social security funds are NOT private sector! Are they? Shrug of indifference. They got shorn anyway. Why? The PM probably didn’t think it mattered. So did the funds of Universities, state hospitals etc. Anything within Greece got shorn whether it was private or official sector or not. No wonder she praises him!

So this is what the outgoing (hopefully!) appointed Prime Minister achieved, aided and abetted by the two major parties Christine wants to see back in power. Well of course she does!

But by lavishing such praise on the poor man she has merely exposed him to even greater contempt that his low profile might have avoided. How mean of her!

Greece is teetering on the brink of total collapse. A situation constantly made worse by the supposed remedies being cruelly imposed. Need we say it again? This obsession with austerity to the exclusion of everything else. In this context we have the troika continually bullying us and badgering us to do this, to do that to do the other. Otherwise they’ll cut off our life line!

And what is this, this, that and the other? You know very well. Slash pensions, slash wages, raise tax levels. VAT to an unsustainable 23% which has resulted, of course, in LESS revenue from VAT because a little economic detail they appear to be ignorant of, elasticity of demand, is in play. Not to mention, not the erosion but the collapse of disposable income.

Nevertheless, we are constantly being told that we HAVE to carry out these nonsense commands, or else! Or else you wont get the loan money! That is, we are threatened with the cutting off of our life line. At least, that is how our own politicians like to present it to us. In fact, these preposterous loans to Greece do not  constitute Greece’s life line, but that of the banks, where the money goes. Hardly any of these billions ever goes in to the Greek economy. On the contrary, the Greek economy has virtually been sucked dry of all and any self generated funds, but be that as it may.

Now, our wonderful politicians, those of the two larger parties that have been alternating in power, decided that since elections were coming up, they needed money. So what did they do? They voted in perfect unison, (with a few but note worthy exceptions) in the middle of the night, to treat themselves to millions in funding from… well where else? The taxpayers.

The taxpayers, who have been squeezed dry, an exponentially growing number of whom are in fact unemployed, but still have to pay. Oh, and unemployment benefits have been slashed because the troika commanded they should. And pensions have been slashed because the troika commanded they should. And so on. The troika commands and the so called Greek governments scuttles to obey.

Yet… yet, when these compliant, servile politicians of ours decide to help themselves to millions of Euros in funds at the taxpayers’ expense, the troika initially says nothing. After the outrage aroused within Greece from the Greek taxpayers (whom nobody gives a damn about at all), the leader of the Liberals in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt,  also raises the issue.

And the answer? Quite deafening in its arrant hypocrisy and total cynicism. Jose Manuel Barroso, Chairman of the Commission officially stated that when it comes to the funding of parties it is up to the individual governments of every state to decide. The European authorities have no say in the matter.

Flabbergasted? You can imagine what we feel like! Our so called government has no say in the troika’s decisions to overtax and reduce all income to below sustainable living standards. But when it comes to the parties helping themselves to rich dollops of what has been so inhumanly squeezed out of us, only to pay for all the lies they want to tell us, then they can do what they like and the troika will of course not intervene!

So what is the real object of the exercise? The Greek economy and how to put it right? Hardly! How to save the banks? Probably (though I don’t see how anything is going to be salvaged if this goes on much longer). Nevertheless, it is now not only a matter of save the banks, screw the people! But screw the people, try and save the banks, but above all! Save those wretched politicians! Particularly the ones most responsible for the mess in the first place!