Syriza to get majority in Greece.

[tzijlstra 11]

But apparently not by Greece, who have the upper hand at the moment with the money they owe,

 

http://rt.com/news/greece-wwii-reparations-germany-339/

 

Right, so you admit that I was right and you were wrong by posting a pie-in-the-sky idea from some irrelevant (because no longer in power) Greek politician who has every reason to want free money from Germany after years of cooking the books and causing their own downfall, on a news-source that has every reason to want to spread propaganda against the EU at the time?

 

This forum is great

[retep 68]

Right, so you admit that I was right and you were wrong by posting a pie-in-the-sky idea from some irrelevant (because no longer in power) Greek politician who has every reason to want free money from Germany after years of cooking the books and causing their own downfall, on a news-source that has every reason to want to spread propaganda against the EU at the time?

 

This forum is great

 

You have some strange ideas on being right, the Greek politician was asking for their money back, you know the money that was stolen from his country at the cost of many of his country men's lives, not free money or cooking the books.

[L00b 441]

Greece has been bailed twice, to the tune of €270bn or so, and Germany has put up the lion's share of that total. Germany will give little ground to Tsipras, because Angela Merkel is just as subservient to her own domestic opinion, which will be hostile to any concessions.

 

Merkel will also be acutely aware that any deal which appears to reward Syriza would embolden populist movements in other euro countries on the skids, particularly Spain and Portugal.

 

For any country to leave the euroclub would be destabilising to the system on formal and procedural grounds...but if Tsipras gets his way, the euroclub would be one where borrowers have the upper hand rather on the lenders, and the international financial system can't have that.

 

I think Tsipras will shortly have to choose between backing down on his electioneering populist promises, or handle a Grexit...if he's not offed beforehand through an act of realpolitik.

Edited January 27, 2015 by L00b

[Ellco 10]

So if he was kicked out of Respect for dodgy dealings you have to wonder why UKIP took him on and made him into a MEP.

 

George Galloway only announced it the other day. He said he was approached by people in his constituency who were worried that he was going to be selected. UKIP didn't know and he never mentioned it of course.

 

---------- Post added 27-01-2015 at 10:08 ----------

 

The events in Greece are the beginning of the end. Nigel Farage said, last year I think, that the EU would be dead in five years. Only time will tell. Whatever you think of Farage there are not many people who know how the shambles is panning out.

[Harrystottle 10]

Presumably you find the UK undemocratic by those standards?

 

I don't know about undemocratic. But it is certainly true that our ruling elites are becoming more authoritarian. The "war on terror" is being used as an excuse to remove civil liberties.

 

Also (and this is harder to define) some UK politicians seem to have a very entitled attitude these days. They seem to think that because they get 30% of the vote they get 100% of the right to do what they want if they get elected.

[truman 10]

brilliant result

hey bankism TOO BIG TO FAIL

cant wait for this year

 

Why's that then?

[LeMaquis 10]

George Galloway only announced it the other day. He said he was approached by people in his constituency who were worried that he was going to be selected. UKIP didn't know and he never mentioned it of course.

 

When UKIP suspended him they said it was partly due to his family's restaurant business employing illegal immigrants. But this was known about last May before the elections. So how come they let him stand and even be their small business spokesman if they had concerns about him which led to them suspending him 8 months later;

 

"The UKIP leader claimed there were questions over money in Brussels, the apparent employment of illegal immigrants at his restaurant...."

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1414289/farage-fights-back-after-mep-defects-to-tories

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/16/ukip-candidate-family-restaurant-fined-illegal-immigrants

[Ellco 10]

When UKIP suspended him they said it was partly due to his family's restaurant business employing illegal immigrants. But this was known about last May before the elections. So how come they let him stand and even be their small business spokesman if they had concerns about him which led to them suspending him 8 months later;

 

"The UKIP leader claimed there were questions over money in Brussels, the apparent employment of illegal immigrants at his restaurant...."

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1414289/farage-fights-back-after-mep-defects-to-tories

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/16/ukip-candidate-family-restaurant-fined-illegal-immigrants

 

He lied he said he'd resigned as a director in the company a long time before the story broke. It now appears that he resigned 3 days after the story broke. This is why his legal team dropped action against some media because he had been misleading everyone.

[ricgem2002 11]

It would help if you mentioned where "here" was.

 

But here, knock yourself out: 22% of eligible voters in Iceland signed a petition calling for a referendum on whether Iceland should or should not join the EU, 84% of the population wants this referendum, allegedly. Bit odd that they want a referendum on JOINING the EU, isn't it?

so 1 fifth of eligible voters signed a petition calling for a referendum on joining the eu, did the other 4/5s not want to join then ?:hihi:

[tinfoilhat 11]

so 1 fifth of eligible voters signed a petition calling for a referendum on joining the eu, did the other 4/5s not want to join then ?:hihi:

 

Those sort of percentages are normally good enough for Union strike action.

[ricgem2002 11]

Those sort of percentages are normally good enough for Union strike action.

start a thread about it then

[L00b 441]

Greece has been bailed twice, to the tune of €270bn or so, and Germany has put up the lion's share of that total. Germany will give little ground to Tsipras, because Angela Merkel is just as subservient to her own domestic opinion, which will be hostile to any concessions.

 

Merkel will also be acutely aware that any deal which appears to reward Syriza would embolden populist movements in other euro countries on the skids, particularly Spain and Portugal.

 

For any country to leave the euroclub would be destabilising to the system on formal and procedural grounds...but if Tsipras gets his way, the euroclub would be one where borrowers have the upper hand rather on the lenders, and the international financial system can't have that.

 

I think Tsipras will shortly have to choose between backing down on his electioneering populist promises, or handle a Grexit...if he's not offed beforehand through an act of realpolitik.

So, 4 months on.

 

Greeks are stashing ever more cash under mattresses (preferably lying outside Greek borders), Greece is back in recession and, yesterday, Ms Lagarde went on record with a warning that a Grexit is now a potential. In an interview to a (very popular/widely circulated) German newspaper, so to my tea leaves, that's as good a call as in any poker game I've ever seen or played.

 

Grexit in 3, 2, 1...

Edited May 29, 2015 by L00b