Halligan Links Financial Crisis, War Provocations Against Russia

Daily Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan, a firm proponent of Glass-Steagall who is normally measured and even understated in his commentary, penned an unusually agitated column on Jan. 31 over the Greek crisis.

“Greece and its official creditors are now issuing full- blooded threats and counter-threats regardless of the impact on financial markets… There is concern the Syriza-led coalition could take direct control of Greek lenders and write off billions of euros in household loans, destroying bank balance sheets in a frenzy of populist contractual vandalism.”

Lyndon LaRouche commented in response:

Halligan went on to warn that

“the current [greek] bail-out package expires at the end of February. After that, Greek banks won’t be able to borrow from the ECB—which would result in a bank run, a shut-down of depositors and almost certainly, widespread civic unrest. A new deal simply must be done by month-end.”

Halligan added that the new Tsipras government in Greece said it had not been consulted on the latest EU statement on Russian sanctions, and that it was therefore not “unanimous,” as reported.

“This amounts to a diplomatic hand grenade, lobbed directly at Brussels. EU sanctions against Russia will expire in March unless renewed by the unanimous decision of member states, giving Greece an effective veto.”

Halligan then concluded: “If these Greek debt negotiations go wrong, and positions become so entrenched and tempers unchecked that the madness of an outright default prevails, or even looks very likely, financial markets across the Eurozone and the entire world could endure a Lehman- style systemic lurch.”