Angela's Ashes: How Merkel Failed Greece and Europe

[marmar]

(Der Spiegel) Angela Merkel was already leaving for the weekend when she received the call that would change everything. The chancellor had just had a grueling day, spending all of it in meetings with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras -- sometimes as part of a larger group, and others with only him and French President François Hollande.

They discussed debt restructuring and billions of euros in additional investments. When it comes to issues important to him, Tsipras can be exhaustingly stubborn. In the end, though, Merkel was left with the feeling the EU summit was the milestone that could quite possibly mark a turn for the better.

Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, had pulled Merkel aside in Brussels and whispered to her that Tsipras was seeking allies in the opposition, with whom he could push a reform program through Greek parliament even without the consent of the radical wing of Syriza, if necessary. "Can you help me?" Tsipras had asked Schulz. Schulz has good connections in the Social Democratic PASOK Party.

But when Merkel returned to Berlin, she received a call from Tsipras. He told her that he was not interested in a deal, but that he intended to hold a referendum in Greece first. A short time later, he tweeted: "With a clear 'NO,' we send a message that Greece is not going to surrender."

.....(snip).....

Instead, she did what no German chancellor had ever done before. She followed a policy of pedagogical imperialism, with the lesson plan calling for budgetary discipline, labor market reform and privatization. It worked in Spain, Portugal and Ireland, but in Greece, the conditions imposed by creditors were not seen as necessary medicine but as a poison that was destroying society. ...........(more)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/merkel-s-leadership-has-failed-in-the-greece-crisis-a-1042037.html

[FlatBaroque]

1. Western civilization is enslaved

by private central bankers. Those bankers want to spread the enslavement to the entire planet. They must be stopped at all costs. Merkel's role is that of a Managing Director in this mafia. Bill Clinton, George Bush, Reagan, Obama....for whom have they all worked? This same mafia.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Greece is perfectly free to tell Merkel to take a hike and never pay another penny on their debt,

but they have chosen (so far) not to take this course.

Is it really "enslavement" if it is voluntary?

[BrotherIvan]

3. They just did

Now she can decide which she wants more: to watch the Greeks suffer or to keep the EU together. There is no country that has more to lose if it falls apart. We'll see. She may go full Thatcher.