Category: Aggregated

Among the numerous hideous features of the EU-Greek “agreement,” two stand out as modeled on what the British Empire designed as their “Cyprus Template,” as Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem coined the phrase back in March 2013. This is a “bail-in” of Greece’s assets, including its banking system, in order to bail-out the bankrupt trans-Atlantic banks. Such measures will not save the insolvent system, but they will contribute to killing off millions of Greeks—which is the British Empire’s intended result.

The ECB has not increased its ELA lending to Greece by one euro, despite the July 13 deal, which means that the Greek banks still cannot reopen their doors. Nor is there any reason to believe that they ever will—until they are taken over and picked apart by international vulture creditors. Everything that Greek citizens and businesses hold in bank accounts is now controlled by the international banks, and will probably be stolen, as it was in Cyprus. The Euro Summit statement of July 13 said that “a buffer [will be established] of EU10 to EU25 billion for the banking sector in order to address potential bank recapitalization needs and resolution costs [emphasis added].”

A July 13 New York Times article takes note of this feature of the plan, to “replenish capital and, if needed, to close insolvent lenders… The mention of bank ‘resolution’ in the statement — a term meaning to shutter a failed lender — was an acknowledgment that some banks may be too badly damaged to survive.” The article reports that Greek banks have lost about 25% of deposits since December, and that although the ECB is scheduled to meet this Thursday to discuss ELA funds to Greece, it is not scheduled to conduct a “thorough review of Greek banks until after the summer.”

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, writing in the July 14 Telegraph, says that the decisive factor in the “coup” against Greece, was the ECB’s asphyxiation of the country by freezing ELA funds. He reports that cash at Greek banks will run out this week, both for the 60-euro daily withdrawal limit, as well as for the payment of 120-euro-per-week pensions and unemployment.

Lyndon LaRouche commented that “this is going to cause an explosion.” Cutting off pensions for these people is tantamount to killing them, he stated.

A second “bail-in” feature of the EU statement rammed down Greece’s throat, is the transfer of EU50 billion in Greek assets targeted for privatization, to an “independent fund” under EU supervision, which will be used principally to repay Greece’s phony debt.

And while the Euro Summit declaration insisted that “nominal haircuts [write-downs] on the debt cannot be undertaken,” even the IMF issued an alarmed memo on the eve of that summit warning, as it had before, that the Greek debt would remain completely unsustainable unless Greece were given a 30-year grace period on all its debt, along with major extensions on its maturity. Failing that, the IMF warned, Greece’s creditors should prepare for “deep upfront haircuts” on existing loans, willy nilly.

Leader of Greek Independence Party Panos Kammenos (now Greek Foreign Minister) in Washington, D.C., December, 2013, organizing members of the U.S. Congress with an LPAC delegation for a transatlantic Glass-Steagall

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, party leader of the Independent Greeks government coalition partner, issued a statement charging that the agreement forced on Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras constitutes a coup that is still ongoing.

“It is without a doubt obvious to everyone in Europe, that a coup took place in the heart of Europe,” Kammenos charged. “The prime minister [Alexis Tsipras] was blackmailed into agreeing to a document that was different from the one authorized by Parliament and unanimously adopted by the plenary. They are adamant about bringing down the government and replacing it with one that was not elected by the people.”

Therefore, he said, there are parts which his party would not support.

“We are committed to voting for what we had agreed to at the political leaders’ council and only that,” he said. Referring to the measures imposed by Brussels, he said, “We will not allow this game to continue. We will proceed with Alexis Tsipras and the people.”

Commenting on speculation of the formation of a national unity government, he said that this is what those who are counting on austerity want, and the Independent Greeks will not be part of it.

Energy Minister and leader of Syriza’s Left Platform Panagiotis Lafazanis called on the government and Prime Minister Tsipras to reject the preliminary deal.  In a statement posted on his ministry’s website Tuesday, Lafazanis said that the July 13 deal is “unacceptable and unworthy of being credited to a radical party, like Syriza, and a fighting government, which pledged to abolish the memorandums and austerity.” He accused the creditors and the “German establishment” of treating Greece “as though it were their colony” and behaving like “callous extortionists.”

While the agreement might pass Parliament, Lafazanis said, “it will not pass the people, who will effectively annul it. The government and the prime minister himself, even in the final hour, have the right and the opportunity to reposition themselves, and take back the deal before any final and conclusive decisions are taken by Parliament.”

He charged, “The dilemma of creditors: capitulation or destruction is fake and terroristic and has collapsed in the popular consciousness.”

State Minister Alekos Flambouraris also issued a statement charging that the creditors attempted to make a “coup d’état against the Greek government” at the Euro Summit and the “extreme anti-European forces that attempted it do not stop.” He warned the that Greeks “must feel the danger for our country. We must understand the intention of the reactionary forces to humiliate us, to divide the people and to devastate the country. To not deliberately or unintentionally contribute in the success of such plans.”

The population is also beginning to protest with their feet. The public sector union, ADEDY, called for a 24-hour strike of all civil service workers on July 15, when the Parliament is supposed to vote on the agreement. The union members will then hold a demonstration in front of the Parliament in Syntagma Square at 7 p.m.

More rallies are expected on the same day. 

The inclusion of India, along with Pakistan, two major South Asian nations, as full members will enable the security grouping of SCO to realize its full potential, said China’s Tsinghua University research professor Xie Chao, in an article Tuesday in China’s state-run Global Times.

“It is high time for both [India and China] to try more concerted efforts in multilateral security forum. For instance, a joint work is urgently required for their joint efforts to fight terrorism, especially the threats posed by radical Islam and drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan. The latter is a neighbor of nearly all the countries in the SCO,” said Xie Chao.

At the recently concluded BRICS and SCO summits at Ufa, one of the most important decisions made was the plan to integrate China’s Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) under the auspices of the SCO. On the integration, strong support was lent by both China and Russia.

Rejecting the views of some analysts who consider that inclusion of India and Pakistan — who have a number of unsettled bilateral disputes and have fought three short wars over those disputes — would be disruptive for SCO, Xie said in his article that “there is no record of India bringing bilateral issues to multilateral forums. As a matter of fact, it is in its interest to keep the issues in the region rather than drag in outside powers.”

On the contrary, the article pointed out that “the SCO will provide another platform for China to discuss its relations with India when both are finding a range of issues of common interests, together with all other members in the bloc. Actually history has proven that they can cooperate very well in a bunch of multilateral framework.””It was a political decision for China to accept more powers into the bloc since the expansion is unavoidable. All in all, an open SCO is better than a closed one,” Xie concluded.