Author: Spencer

A huge demonstration in support of the Greek government’s call for a No vote in the Sunday, July 5 referendum took place in Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament. Police estimated there were at least 50,000, but photographs show that demonstrators filled the entire square, which holds anywhere between 100-500,000 people. In any case it was the largest demonstration in four or five years, and unlike previous ones, this was in support of the government.

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has posted on his website the powerful speech he delivered at the No rally. He begins by declaring that the referendum is a celebration of democracy in the face of blackmail and ultimatums. Excerpts below:

Then referring to the Troika, Tsipras went on, “According to mythology, it was from this very place that Zeus abducted Europe. It is from this very place that the austerity technocrats want to abduct Europe again.

There was also a Yes rally which was apparently considerably smaller.

A huge demonstration in support of the Greek government’s call for a No vote in the Sunday, July 5 referendum took place in Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament. Police estimated there were at least 50,000, but photographs show that demonstrators filled the entire square, which holds anywhere between 100-500,000 people. In any case it was the largest demonstration in four or five years, and unlike previous ones, this was in support of the government.

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has posted on his website the powerful speech he delivered at the No rally. He begins by declaring that the referendum is a celebration of democracy in the face of blackmail and ultimatums. Excerpts below:

Then referring to the Troika, Tsipras went on, “According to mythology, it was from this very place that Zeus abducted Europe. It is from this very place that the austerity technocrats want to abduct Europe again.

There was also a Yes rally which was apparently considerably smaller.

On Saturday, July 4, Lyndon LaRouche participated by videoconference hookup in a Town Hall Meeting in Manhattan. What follows are his introductory remarks, and the first question and answer. The remainder of the dialogue will be made available over the next 48 hours.

DENNIS SPEED (MODERATOR):

On such a full sea are we now afloat. We, in the United States today, are in a condition which is as dire as the condition at the time that this country was founded. The present occupant of the White House should be impeached, and that should be what we should be celebrating today.

Unfortunately, many citizens, or so-called citizens, prefer to consider that the situation that they face, is not the situation that they face. For over four decades, Lyndon LaRouche has insisted that truth is better than deception, truth is better than dissembling, truth is better than propitiation, truth is better than compromise, truth is better than going along to get along.

Tomorrow, in Greece, a population may stand up and rise up, and overthrow a certain tyranny—at least over themselves. We don’t yet know whether that will occur. And, one could say, that that assembly that will happen tomorrow in Greece, is the most important assembly that will happen, and is happening in our time. But, actually, this assembly could be as or more important, because the issue of our time and our civilization, is, do we have the moral fitness, do we have the moral fortitude, do we have the courage, to survive?

We’re not talking about a mere United States; we’re talking about the entirety of human civilization. In a call that was done on Thursday, Lyndon LaRouche insisted, against the better and worst judgment of many of us on the phone call, that he was going to make it clear to us, where we were and what time it was. And so, he insisted to have this meeting today. And, I can’t think of a better place for you to be, and a better place for all of those who will ultimately see this broadcast—or webcast, as we call it sometimes—this dialogue. I can’t think of a better thing for them to do, than to consider, seriously, and courageously, the words you are about to hear.

I’d like to introduce—and it’s always my honor to introduce—Lyndon LaRouche. [applause]

LYNDON LAROUCHE:  Well, we’ve started the process. We’ve started it actually about a week ago, but it’s going to continue from that point on. The intention is, to recognize that Manhattan — New York City — was actually the center of organization of the United States, that was led, largely, by a great President, himself, and by his principal associate, who crafted the foundations of our United States.

Today, we’re faced with the fact, that those traditions of our Presidency have been abused, suppressed, and so forth. We’ve come to a time, where many of the American citizens are confused as to which way they should walk, in order to respond appropriately to the kind of tyranny which we’ve experienced recently. The Bush family, for example, has been a disaster. Of course, the Bushes are not much. The original Bush of significance, Prescott Bush, was a pro-Nazi in his policy expressions, going into a world war. But, the younger Bushes, who have occupied the Presidencies, I do not treat seriously as intellects. They’re not serious; they’re clowns. But, they’ve become a nuisance because they occupy the office as a clown, or virtual clown.

We have had poor Presidents much of the time. We had one good President, Ronald Reagan, under whom I served for a brief period of time. We’ve had other Presidents — Bill Clinton, for example, an excellent choice, even though he was under tough, difficult, circumstances, extremely difficult, both with his Vice-President, who was a very bad choice, but Bill had no choice but to accept it at that time.

And, that’s pretty much what’s happened. We have had, since Bill Clinton’s ouster from office, worse than junk. We’ve had more and more of this kind of crap. And with Obama, this has now occupied almost the equivalent of eight terms of office of the Presidency. And, what we’ve had, under those eight terms of Presidency, and since Bill Clinton left office, has been bad. It’s often been even evil, as now, with the current President.

So, the time has come for us to recognize that the time to change the picture is now. What I can do, in terms of contributing to shaping and encouraging the establishment of a new Presidency, who will replace the waste that’s been going on for most of eight terms of office. The time has come, now.

I think that Manhattan, the island of Manhattan, in terms of its relationship to the President, of George Washington, and to George Washington’s most trusted aide and advisor, Alexander Hamilton, is the tradition we want to get back to, fast.

So, I’d like to hear what you have to say about it.

SPEED:  Okay. So, the floor is now open. The way this goes, is, people just come up. There’s a microphone right here. I should say, let’s get our first three people sort of lined up here. Go head, sir. We have the gentleman here in the back, first.

Q1:  Hello, Mr. LaRouche. It’s nice to speak with you. My question is, do you feel that the UN should be dumped just as soon as Obama should be dumped? Agenda-21 [a 700-page action plan of the United Nations pushing “sustainable development”], which is in effect in this country now, has shut down all of our manufacturing. Obama, by fiat, is trying to use UN resolutions to take away our civil liberties, take our guns away, and I just wanted to know how you felt about that?

LAROUCHE: [laughing] I feel very strongly about those matters. I don’t get wild about these things, because I know that what we’re doing, is living through history. And, sometimes, we’re living through a very bad period of history, which has been the case for virtually four terms of office of the Presidency, just recently. So, that’s what my view is.

I think these Presidents have been very bad Presidents, and should be treated, not with absolute abuse, but with contempt anyway. The problem that concerns me, is, why do the people of the United States tolerate such Presidencies? That’s the mystery. Bill Clinton was not perfect, but he was at least an honest President, even though his Vice-President was not too honest, to be frank with you. The things go that way sometimes.

But, the time has come, that, in order to save civilization, we’ve got to take steps, as we may be able to do so, to make some changes, through the bringing about of the formation of a new, fresh, Presidential team. When I say “President,” I recognize the position of President usually, if they’re not members of the Bush family, for example — which I absolutely abhor, and justly abhor, from then until now — these have been the worst sources of influence on our people, and on our destiny, that I can imagine, in recent history.

The issue here, is now, now are you going to convince a new Presidency? Now, I think there are some people I’m conjuring about, wondering if they can come up to the level of what a Presidency now requires for our civilization, and for civilization in general. That’s my concern. I do not believe that there’s any single person who could be arbitrarily chosen to be the next President. I think what’s required is an actual President, a good choice. But, even a “good choice” is not a perfect Presidency. So, we need a team, under a new President, who is qualified in these terms of his own capabilities, but also has a team which contains the necessary elements of that.

I had such an experience, directly, in the case of one of our Presidents — Ronald Reagan — who, unfortunately, was assassinated, but he re-bounded back, but not too well, as an attack from the source, inside the United States. He was up, in office, and under these conditions.  It gave them the opportunity for the Bush family to intrude and subordinate the role of the actual President from that term. The result was, is that the Bush family legacy has dominated the United States’ electoral processes ever since that time.

Bill Clinton had to fight against that sort of thing, in two terms. Bill Clinton also had the misfortune that, during his second term in office, he was actually butchered, politically, by the Queen of England, personally. She was the one who set up the framework, with the aid of the Republican Party, the leaders of the Republican Party, who set up a framework against Bill Clinton, during his second term in office. The destruction of the credibility, according to President Clinton, was the origin of the greatest evil that has been done to the United States, by the United States, so far.

The Presidency is my issue. How can I, with my experience and knowledge — which is not inconsiderable — how can I strike a blow, to enable a new Presidency to come into office, soon, preferably by aid of the impeachment of the current President?

On Saturday, July 4, Lyndon LaRouche participated by videoconference hookup in a Town Hall Meeting in Manhattan. What follows are his introductory remarks, and the first question and answer. The remainder of the dialogue will be made available over the next 48 hours.

DENNIS SPEED (MODERATOR):

On such a full sea are we now afloat. We, in the United States today, are in a condition which is as dire as the condition at the time that this country was founded. The present occupant of the White House should be impeached, and that should be what we should be celebrating today.

Unfortunately, many citizens, or so-called citizens, prefer to consider that the situation that they face, is not the situation that they face. For over four decades, Lyndon LaRouche has insisted that truth is better than deception, truth is better than dissembling, truth is better than propitiation, truth is better than compromise, truth is better than going along to get along.

Tomorrow, in Greece, a population may stand up and rise up, and overthrow a certain tyranny—at least over themselves. We don’t yet know whether that will occur. And, one could say, that that assembly that will happen tomorrow in Greece, is the most important assembly that will happen, and is happening in our time. But, actually, this assembly could be as or more important, because the issue of our time and our civilization, is, do we have the moral fitness, do we have the moral fortitude, do we have the courage, to survive?

We’re not talking about a mere United States; we’re talking about the entirety of human civilization. In a call that was done on Thursday, Lyndon LaRouche insisted, against the better and worst judgment of many of us on the phone call, that he was going to make it clear to us, where we were and what time it was. And so, he insisted to have this meeting today. And, I can’t think of a better place for you to be, and a better place for all of those who will ultimately see this broadcast—or webcast, as we call it sometimes—this dialogue. I can’t think of a better thing for them to do, than to consider, seriously, and courageously, the words you are about to hear.

I’d like to introduce—and it’s always my honor to introduce—Lyndon LaRouche. [applause]

LYNDON LAROUCHE:  Well, we’ve started the process. We’ve started it actually about a week ago, but it’s going to continue from that point on. The intention is, to recognize that Manhattan — New York City — was actually the center of organization of the United States, that was led, largely, by a great President, himself, and by his principal associate, who crafted the foundations of our United States.

Today, we’re faced with the fact, that those traditions of our Presidency have been abused, suppressed, and so forth. We’ve come to a time, where many of the American citizens are confused as to which way they should walk, in order to respond appropriately to the kind of tyranny which we’ve experienced recently. The Bush family, for example, has been a disaster. Of course, the Bushes are not much. The original Bush of significance, Prescott Bush, was a pro-Nazi in his policy expressions, going into a world war. But, the younger Bushes, who have occupied the Presidencies, I do not treat seriously as intellects. They’re not serious; they’re clowns. But, they’ve become a nuisance because they occupy the office as a clown, or virtual clown.

We have had poor Presidents much of the time. We had one good President, Ronald Reagan, under whom I served for a brief period of time. We’ve had other Presidents — Bill Clinton, for example, an excellent choice, even though he was under tough, difficult, circumstances, extremely difficult, both with his Vice-President, who was a very bad choice, but Bill had no choice but to accept it at that time.

And, that’s pretty much what’s happened. We have had, since Bill Clinton’s ouster from office, worse than junk. We’ve had more and more of this kind of crap. And with Obama, this has now occupied almost the equivalent of eight terms of office of the Presidency. And, what we’ve had, under those eight terms of Presidency, and since Bill Clinton left office, has been bad. It’s often been even evil, as now, with the current President.

So, the time has come for us to recognize that the time to change the picture is now. What I can do, in terms of contributing to shaping and encouraging the establishment of a new Presidency, who will replace the waste that’s been going on for most of eight terms of office. The time has come, now.

I think that Manhattan, the island of Manhattan, in terms of its relationship to the President, of George Washington, and to George Washington’s most trusted aide and advisor, Alexander Hamilton, is the tradition we want to get back to, fast.

So, I’d like to hear what you have to say about it.

SPEED:  Okay. So, the floor is now open. The way this goes, is, people just come up. There’s a microphone right here. I should say, let’s get our first three people sort of lined up here. Go head, sir. We have the gentleman here in the back, first.

Q1:  Hello, Mr. LaRouche. It’s nice to speak with you. My question is, do you feel that the UN should be dumped just as soon as Obama should be dumped? Agenda-21 [a 700-page action plan of the United Nations pushing “sustainable development”], which is in effect in this country now, has shut down all of our manufacturing. Obama, by fiat, is trying to use UN resolutions to take away our civil liberties, take our guns away, and I just wanted to know how you felt about that?

LAROUCHE: [laughing] I feel very strongly about those matters. I don’t get wild about these things, because I know that what we’re doing, is living through history. And, sometimes, we’re living through a very bad period of history, which has been the case for virtually four terms of office of the Presidency, just recently. So, that’s what my view is.

I think these Presidents have been very bad Presidents, and should be treated, not with absolute abuse, but with contempt anyway. The problem that concerns me, is, why do the people of the United States tolerate such Presidencies? That’s the mystery. Bill Clinton was not perfect, but he was at least an honest President, even though his Vice-President was not too honest, to be frank with you. The things go that way sometimes.

But, the time has come, that, in order to save civilization, we’ve got to take steps, as we may be able to do so, to make some changes, through the bringing about of the formation of a new, fresh, Presidential team. When I say “President,” I recognize the position of President usually, if they’re not members of the Bush family, for example — which I absolutely abhor, and justly abhor, from then until now — these have been the worst sources of influence on our people, and on our destiny, that I can imagine, in recent history.

The issue here, is now, now are you going to convince a new Presidency? Now, I think there are some people I’m conjuring about, wondering if they can come up to the level of what a Presidency now requires for our civilization, and for civilization in general. That’s my concern. I do not believe that there’s any single person who could be arbitrarily chosen to be the next President. I think what’s required is an actual President, a good choice. But, even a “good choice” is not a perfect Presidency. So, we need a team, under a new President, who is qualified in these terms of his own capabilities, but also has a team which contains the necessary elements of that.

I had such an experience, directly, in the case of one of our Presidents — Ronald Reagan — who, unfortunately, was assassinated, but he re-bounded back, but not too well, as an attack from the source, inside the United States. He was up, in office, and under these conditions.  It gave them the opportunity for the Bush family to intrude and subordinate the role of the actual President from that term. The result was, is that the Bush family legacy has dominated the United States’ electoral processes ever since that time.

Bill Clinton had to fight against that sort of thing, in two terms. Bill Clinton also had the misfortune that, during his second term in office, he was actually butchered, politically, by the Queen of England, personally. She was the one who set up the framework, with the aid of the Republican Party, the leaders of the Republican Party, who set up a framework against Bill Clinton, during his second term in office. The destruction of the credibility, according to President Clinton, was the origin of the greatest evil that has been done to the United States, by the United States, so far.

The Presidency is my issue. How can I, with my experience and knowledge — which is not inconsiderable — how can I strike a blow, to enable a new Presidency to come into office, soon, preferably by aid of the impeachment of the current President?

Three days ago Russian Envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said that Moscow is prepared to help Greece out economically. “Russia is ready to cooperate with Greece. As far as I know, Greece has not turned to Russia for direct financial aid. We have the ability of increasing our economic cooperation, in particular Greece has the ability of privatizing, including railroads and the port” in Thessaloniki, he told RIA Novosti in an interview.

On Thursday he told Russia 24 TV,

Well-known French economist Thomas Piketty told Belgium’s Le Soir daily that he supports a ‘no’ vote in the referendum because the plan the creditors propose to Greece is bad and recessionary. He reminded those who want to vote ‘yes’ that the Europeans broke their promise in 2012 over restructuring the Greek debt. As for the idea that a Grexit would supposedly have no effect on the Eurozone, he said, those who believe this are “sorcerer’s apprentices”; by contrast a Greek exit from the euro “would bring a huge shock to the Eurozone in the whole. It would, probably be, the beginning of the end….”

Meanwhile other foreign supporters have expressed their support for the “Oxi” vote. Members of the campaign groups Global Justice Now and Jubilee Debt Campaign, on July 3 unfurled a banner at the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum with the slogan “OXI No — No More Looting — Support Greece.”

Britain’s Guardian daily reports that 100 researchers from the European University Institute have issued a statement in support of the “No” vote, saying that with

Three days ago Russian Envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said that Moscow is prepared to help Greece out economically. “Russia is ready to cooperate with Greece. As far as I know, Greece has not turned to Russia for direct financial aid. We have the ability of increasing our economic cooperation, in particular Greece has the ability of privatizing, including railroads and the port” in Thessaloniki, he told RIA Novosti in an interview.

On Thursday he told Russia 24 TV,

Well-known French economist Thomas Piketty told Belgium’s Le Soir daily that he supports a ‘no’ vote in the referendum because the plan the creditors propose to Greece is bad and recessionary. He reminded those who want to vote ‘yes’ that the Europeans broke their promise in 2012 over restructuring the Greek debt. As for the idea that a Grexit would supposedly have no effect on the Eurozone, he said, those who believe this are “sorcerer’s apprentices”; by contrast a Greek exit from the euro “would bring a huge shock to the Eurozone in the whole. It would, probably be, the beginning of the end….”

Meanwhile other foreign supporters have expressed their support for the “Oxi” vote. Members of the campaign groups Global Justice Now and Jubilee Debt Campaign, on July 3 unfurled a banner at the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum with the slogan “OXI No — No More Looting — Support Greece.”

Britain’s Guardian daily reports that 100 researchers from the European University Institute have issued a statement in support of the “No” vote, saying that with

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the nation yesterday to argue for a “No” vote in the July 5 referendum on whether to accept or reject the demands of the creditors. He very strongly used the report by the International Monetary Fund which had revealed that the Greek debt is unsustainable and must be cut by at least 30%.

ANA-MPA news quoted Tsipras as saying,

and thus the government only learned about it yesterday.

He urged Greeks to head calmly to the polls:

Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis told local private radio station Sto Kokkino that a “Yes” vote implies that the Greek people can at least can bear the fact that “we live under a regime of limited sovereignty at the margins of a protectorate.” Referring to the end of the bailout program and the latest IMF report, he said, “Now that the [bail-out] program has ended we have the opportunity to set the debt issue more clearly” as the IMF report’s reference to the unsustainability of the debt “changes all the facts.”

In a combative statement, retired senior diplomat Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos told EIR that the European Union has become Greece’s enemy by literally declaring war on the government. He described the propaganda campaign as nothing less than the work of Goebbels using lies to create terror in the population.

He said that, in his estimation, if a “No” vote wins, the government is likely to go to the EU and say, “OK you have our proposals, so let’s begin negotiations.” If the creditors reject talks then, the next step would be to renounce the loan agreement and file for indemnities for damages done by the loan agreement. If the Greeks vote yes, the government will resign and then a constitutional process will occur, which may lead to elections or a caretaker government.

Either way, the fact that the EU has treated Greece like an enemy will have deep psychological effect in a very large portion, if not the majority of the population.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the nation yesterday to argue for a “No” vote in the July 5 referendum on whether to accept or reject the demands of the creditors. He very strongly used the report by the International Monetary Fund which had revealed that the Greek debt is unsustainable and must be cut by at least 30%.

ANA-MPA news quoted Tsipras as saying,

and thus the government only learned about it yesterday.

He urged Greeks to head calmly to the polls:

Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis told local private radio station Sto Kokkino that a “Yes” vote implies that the Greek people can at least can bear the fact that “we live under a regime of limited sovereignty at the margins of a protectorate.” Referring to the end of the bailout program and the latest IMF report, he said, “Now that the [bail-out] program has ended we have the opportunity to set the debt issue more clearly” as the IMF report’s reference to the unsustainability of the debt “changes all the facts.”

In a combative statement, retired senior diplomat Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos told EIR that the European Union has become Greece’s enemy by literally declaring war on the government. He described the propaganda campaign as nothing less than the work of Goebbels using lies to create terror in the population.

He said that, in his estimation, if a “No” vote wins, the government is likely to go to the EU and say, “OK you have our proposals, so let’s begin negotiations.” If the creditors reject talks then, the next step would be to renounce the loan agreement and file for indemnities for damages done by the loan agreement. If the Greeks vote yes, the government will resign and then a constitutional process will occur, which may lead to elections or a caretaker government.

Either way, the fact that the EU has treated Greece like an enemy will have deep psychological effect in a very large portion, if not the majority of the population.

In the face of a concerted mobilization by the European oligarchy to overthrow Greece’s government, Athens is mobilizing for the “No” votes. Minister for Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, said that the July 5 referendum is an “experiment” to put pressure on Greece’s creditors. Lafazanis said in a radio interview July 2:

Responding to an MP with the government’s minority partner, the Independent Greeks, who declared that he would vote “Yes,” the party’s leader, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, announced the member’s expulsion, saying, “We are at war and we do not do discounts. Whoever cannot endure, leaves.”

The famous film director Costas Gavras, in an interview with the ANA-MPA, came out in full, unqualified support for Prime Minister Tsipras: “Alexis Tsipras is right to hold a referendum, it is necessary. I think, in any case, that the work that Tsipras has done up to today is absolutely necessary, and I hope that things go in accordance with his hopes.”

According to Gavras, the main problem that Tsipras will face, will be to make Greece a proper state. “We Greeks are a nation but there is no state. If we do not become a state, I don’t know where we’re going. We will be a colony of the banks.”

“Alexis Tsipras is an important leader. I always think of this young person [tsipras], aged 40 years old, who arrives in Brussels, in this terrible place with all those people that have immense experience, political and economic. I am amazed that he was able to defend himself and get where he got. We don’t get such leaders often in Greece, and I think I have not seen the like in the last 70 years.” 

In the face of a concerted mobilization by the European oligarchy to overthrow Greece’s government, Athens is mobilizing for the “No” votes. Minister for Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, said that the July 5 referendum is an “experiment” to put pressure on Greece’s creditors. Lafazanis said in a radio interview July 2:

Responding to an MP with the government’s minority partner, the Independent Greeks, who declared that he would vote “Yes,” the party’s leader, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, announced the member’s expulsion, saying, “We are at war and we do not do discounts. Whoever cannot endure, leaves.”

The famous film director Costas Gavras, in an interview with the ANA-MPA, came out in full, unqualified support for Prime Minister Tsipras: “Alexis Tsipras is right to hold a referendum, it is necessary. I think, in any case, that the work that Tsipras has done up to today is absolutely necessary, and I hope that things go in accordance with his hopes.”

According to Gavras, the main problem that Tsipras will face, will be to make Greece a proper state. “We Greeks are a nation but there is no state. If we do not become a state, I don’t know where we’re going. We will be a colony of the banks.”

“Alexis Tsipras is an important leader. I always think of this young person [tsipras], aged 40 years old, who arrives in Brussels, in this terrible place with all those people that have immense experience, political and economic. I am amazed that he was able to defend himself and get where he got. We don’t get such leaders often in Greece, and I think I have not seen the like in the last 70 years.” 

In the face of a concerted mobilization by the European oligarchy to overthrow Greece’s government, Athens is mobilizing for the “No” votes. Minister for Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, said that the July 5 referendum is an “experiment” to put pressure on Greece’s creditors. Lafazanis said in a radio interview July 2:

Responding to an MP with the government’s minority partner, the Independent Greeks, who declared that he would vote “Yes,” the party’s leader, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, announced the member’s expulsion, saying, “We are at war and we do not do discounts. Whoever cannot endure, leaves.”

The famous film director Costas Gavras, in an interview with the ANA-MPA, came out in full, unqualified support for Prime Minister Tsipras: “Alexis Tsipras is right to hold a referendum, it is necessary. I think, in any case, that the work that Tsipras has done up to today is absolutely necessary, and I hope that things go in accordance with his hopes.”

According to Gavras, the main problem that Tsipras will face, will be to make Greece a proper state. “We Greeks are a nation but there is no state. If we do not become a state, I don’t know where we’re going. We will be a colony of the banks.”

“Alexis Tsipras is an important leader. I always think of this young person [tsipras], aged 40 years old, who arrives in Brussels, in this terrible place with all those people that have immense experience, political and economic. I am amazed that he was able to defend himself and get where he got. We don’t get such leaders often in Greece, and I think I have not seen the like in the last 70 years.”