Whichever way you cut it, Greece can't win. The EU "bailout" cannot perform the first function of a rescue and save the sufferer from suffering. The Germans, with Dutch and Finnish assistance, are pushing Greece into a death spiral.
Cohen minces no words. And it is high time for all “respectable” commentators to begin doing the same if they want to remain “respectable.”
But “respectability” comes at a price these days: if you are to tell the naked truth, then you must be prepared to fight the increasingly fanatic proponents of austerity who now inhabit the halls of Brussels and Berlin, and, especially, those in your own country who speak, act, and “govern” not as national leaders but as shameful puppets controlled by those who wish your country dead.
Greece, in its current catastrophic predicament, can teach the book regarding such “leaders.”
We already count one who left through the back door once he realized the economy was bust and now remains silent like the Sphinx; one who opened the gates to the “bailout” occupation army and shackled Greece for the next ten generations; and one who is currently trying his absolute best to grind what has been left of Greece into dust.
Thankfully, the Italian election signaled the determination of one of the largest EU countries to throw Germany’s diktats out the window and openly display its opposition to policies that pauperize peoples across Europe.
Italian dislike for the Germans was never a secret, but now it takes a solid, visible form that may be exactly what is needed now that countries like Spain and France themselves begin to realize what is in store for them if they continue the madness of austerity.
Greece, meantime, is the one country already bankrupt and a short step away from losing her shirt and much else besides where government servility and kowtowing to the diktats remain very much the order of the day.
What the Greeks must realize is that the time of getting whipped again and again and then bending their backs for some more of the same has passed.
The Bulgarians realized this a few weeks ago and the Italians have trumpeted loudly their resolve to upset the plans of the Berlin-Brussels Axis.
Sixty eight years after the end of World War II, a new conflict divide is again rising in Europe -- and, again, the instigator is Germany.
For the time being, occupation of the weaker countries is promoted through a vicious form of asymmetrical economic warfare riding on austerity. But there are already reports of German determination for a more “hands on” approach -- like imposing German collection agencies on Greece so that back taxes may be collected for immediate transfer to the lenders.
A confidential security memorandum from the European Commission to EU officers, who find themselves in Athens, shows already that Axis officials are aware there may be more than just silent rage bubbling just below the surface in Greece.
The “safety instructions,” contained in this alleged memo transmitted by e-mail warns EU officials visiting the Greek capital “to stay away from windows” and make every effort to remain unobtrusive when walking in the street.
The one hard fact in all of this is that Greece is simply running its last lap within the “European family” consisting, mainly, of countries that have nothing but contempt and rejection for the “periphery.” And Germany’s “fellow combatants” during World War II are already falling in: Berlin’s best collaborators within “united” Europe reside in Vienna and Helsinki.
What remains to be seen is whether the genocide of the Greeks will finally move countries outside Europe to express openly what they know and discuss privately, viz. that democracy is again in peril in the old Continent -- and that a more consistent mobilization against those who push peoples over the edge must be challenged and opposed in a fashion that cannot be “misinterpreted.”