Greek fighting: the eurozone's weakest link starts to crack

So the latest four-day episode in Athens and other Greek cities comes as no great surprise. The Greeks are a feisty people. This is meant as a compliment - broadly speaking - just in case any Greek readers should take it the wrong way. Hitler was so impressed by Greek bravery that he accorded Greek soldiers full military honours, almost the sole example among captive nations in the East - or at least professed to do so at first.

That said, these riots are roughly what eurosceptics expected to see, at some point, at the periphery of the euro-zone as the slow-burn effects (excuse the pun) of Europe's monetary union begin to corrode the democratic legitimacy of governments.

And an editorial: "Greece has gone up in flames and the concept of democracy and law and order has been eliminated"

Without wanting to rehearse all the pros and cons of euro membership yet again, or debate whether EMU is a "optimal currency area", there is obviously a problem for countries like Greece that were let into EMU for political reasons before their economies had been reformed enough to cope with the rigours of euro life - over the long run.

In the case of Greece, of course, Athens was found guilty by Eurostat of committing "statistical alchemy" to get into the system - ie, they lied about their deficits.

Be that as it may. Greece's euro membership has now led to a warped economy. The current account deficit is 15pc of GDP, the eurozone's highest by far. Indeed, the deficit ($53bn) is the sixth biggest in the world in absolute terms -- quite a feat for a country of 11m people.

"Greece is too big to fail —. . ."

"I am a little surpised that the riot phase of this long politico-economic drama known as EMU has kicked off so soon, and that it has done so first in Greece where the post-bubble hangover has barely begun.

The crisis is much further advanced in Spain, which is a year or two ahead of Greece in the crisis cycle."

yitbos

""I am a little surpised that the riot phase of this long politico-economic drama known as EMU has kicked off so soon, and that it has done so first in Greece where the post-bubble hangover has barely begun. The crisis is much further advanced in Spain, which is a year or two ahead of Greece in the crisis cycle." yitbos "

Unfortunately this kind of rioting is common among HOME GROWN European origins youths who call themselves 'anarchists' for decades now. They are anti-capitalist leftists, anarchists and hooligans, mostly youths and students are involved behind the riots and more ofthen then not they come from wealthy familes. The kid who was killed when to one of the most expensive and private schools in Greece.

French Anarchists Riot 2006
Anarchists Riot in Germany / Rostock (G8)
Berlin 1980s & 90s Anarchists Riots
Anarchists Riot in Greece Feb. 2008
Anarchists Riot in Gothenburg, Sweden
Anarchists Riot in Stockholm 2006
Anarchists Riot in Greece 1985-1990

Anarchist movement in Greece traces its origins to the brutal military junta in the 1960s & 1970s. It ruled the country from 1967 to 1974 and it still is a sore spot with most Greek today.
Greek Military Junta of 1967-1974

In 1973 a student protest against the junta at Athens Polytechnic university resulted in the military sending tanks into the school and in the deaths of over 40 civilians, mostly students, but this event was just the climax to over six years of brutal military rule in the country. Since the country has this violent past the Greek population is very sensitivity to state violence against civilians, which is why the authorities hesitant to use overwhelming force against them. To this day Greek police and military are not permitted to enter college campuses since 1973, when tanks quashed the student uprising at Athens Polytechnic. The movie "Z" is actually based upon Greek military rule of this time period.
Z Film

In 1985 another police shooting and the death of a teenager, Michalis Kaltezas, resulted in WEEKS of rioting by angry anarchist youths and months of daily clashes between students and police, those riots were MUCH worse then the ones we are seeing today.

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