Category: Eurozone
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Greece told to flog its assets
The troika supervising Greece’s relegation into poverty, unemployment and a Third World economy based on tourism, olives and cheap wine has been laying down the law to the New Democracy-Pasok-Kavala coalition government. The troika represents the unelected European Commission, the unelected European Central Bank and the unelected International Monetary Fund. Their reps are sleek, cold-blooded…
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On the Gulf of Messinia
It’s evening. From our hillside terrace we look down across olive groves and cypresses to the calm waters of the Gulf of Messinia. The light is golden; the heat has finally gone out of the day. Our landlord, coming up the hill in his tractor, waves a greeting. It’s blessedly peaceful. We arrived on Monday…
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The Euro-fantasy crashes into a wall
As our Euro-Star train from St Pancras was pulling into the Gare du Nord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was arriving for dinner at the Elysee with the new Socialist Party President Francois Hollande. Today (Thursday) they both trooped off to Brussels for yet another Euro-summit. The whole Euro thing has become part circus, part nightmare.…
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And we’re off
We’re embarking on the next phase of the great adventure – this time in Europe. Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you our reports and thoughts on developments there. In the months since Come the Revolution was launched in Australia Alex has spoken to hundreds of people in bookshops from Brisbane to Bowral,…
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Papandreou drops referendum – and credibility with Greeks
The international bankers have stiff-armed the Greek Government and forced Prime Minister George Papandreou to drop the planned people’s referendum on the Euro zone bail-out. The decision to put the poverty-inflicting measures to a vote followed a marathon session of ministers and senior members of the ruling PASOK, the Pan Hellenic So…cialist Party, which ended…
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Athens – Olympics 2004, Bankrupt 2011
The media has been aghast at the temerity of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to call a referendum on the EU bail-out plan.Listening to the aggrieved cries of TV and radio commentators and reading the outraged reaction of newspaper columnists has been a weird experience. They find abhorrent Papandreou’s plan to hold a popular vote…