Posted on 02/16/2010 1:04:10 PM PST by jpl
The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
You left out the Dark Ages, The Black Death, The Inquisition, And The Hundred Years War.
The "Golden Years"
2) They could stay in the eurozone but accept the loss of sovereignty, and be forced to make cuts in spending.
3) They could stay in the eurozone, keep their sovereignty, but sell territory to the larger economies of Europe in exchange for a bailout.
Cheers!
California is our Greece. They are running out of money and will our feds make the other states cover for them or force them to make cuts?
I hope it’s the latter.
If the crisis in Greece does not force them into fiscal responsibility—THEN NOTHING WILL!!
I have to clear up a few things about Greece in WWII. When Mussolini invaded in 1940, the British did offer help. KEEP IN MIND that the Brits were fighting in north Africa, had other commitments around the world, and had to protect their home island (Battle of Britain ended shortly before the invasion). Air units were sent and British forces were on Crete. Greece asked for a large British force to help against the Italians, but the Brits simply did not have enough troops to send to Greece. They offered a small force, but Greek dictator Metaxas refused realizing that such a small force would make no difference and quite possibly provoke the Germans into attacking.
Metaxas tried very, VERY hard not provoke any German move into Greece (unknown to him, Germany began planning to aid Mussolini when it became clear the Italians screwed up). After Metaxas died, the new Prime Minister accepted Britain’s offer for a small ground force on the mainland.
Britain did contribute at sea. The Italians never were able to fully exploit their naval superiority over the small Greek navy thanks to the Royal Navy triumphs at Taranto and Matapan.
It’s not fair to complain about the small contribution Britain made to aid Greece. It would have been great had they done so. Britain had too many commitments elsewhere and even if more troops were sent, I highly doubt that would have stopped the Germans.
The other big problem I see is that there’s no one government that can really be held accountable for what happens to the Euro. In our country, politicians, like Carter, who spend like crazy to buy votes generally have to face the music when the dollar goes in the toilet (at least, I hope this is still the case).
When Greek politicians do this, they can try and count on the rest of Europe to pick up the slack fiscally. You basically get a tragedy of the commons with inflation.
In my travels throughout Greece in my younger days, I never met a kinder people who were more friendly to me as an American that the Greeks, and I can compare them personally to most other countries in Europe and the old Soviet Union.
The Poles were a very close second, IMHO.
God bless them and, as with all of us in the cooming months and years, I hope they figure it all out and once again live in peace and harmony and in balance in all things political and economic.
Sounds serious...
What if Washington trades California for $14 trillion in Chinese held US bonds???
marker
The Oil Shock, caused by the Oil Embargo that OPEC imposed on the West in punishment for assistance given to Israel during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War.
As a direct result, the-powers-that-be in Europe capitulated, and began the march toward becoming Eurabia, with a foreign and domestic policy favorable to the Islamic world.
That meant favoring the Palestinians over the Israelis and permitting the immigration of millions of Arab Muslims into the heart of Europe.
1973 changed Europe forever, and set in motion the likely prospect of a bloody civil war sometime this century that will extend to the Middle East and Islamic Asia.
Greece is run by George Papandreou, a marxist. The terrorists are marxists (and were the most successful killers to avoid capture in Europe. The ETA, BMG and IRA were rolled up long before any dent was made in the Greek terrorists).
Don’t expect “all quiet on the Greek front” to happen. The Left won’t let it, even if they have to attack and kill both the ruling marxists and the capitalists.
Glad to see that someone knows their WW2 European/Med. Theater of Operations history.
The British, using torpedo planes, sank almost the whole Italian fleet at Taranto Bay, thus ending a potential threat to the US, British and French fleets (Free French) in Northern Africa.
Much of the French Vichy fleet was destroyed in No. Africa, possibly at Oran. It too was a real threat to the Allies.
If I recall history correctly, the British loss a lot of troops on one of the Greek islands, probably Crete. After that, they had almost no major military presence in the area for years.
Correct me or add more information if you want to.
I’ll trade most of California for some good crispy egg rolls, wonton soup, and Sweet & Sour chicken which isn’t soggy or dry.
The original countries were relatively well off (excepting Italy perhaps) when the EEC was first formed in 1957 and included:
Belgium, France, (then-West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands–
Britain came in 1973 I think, and later Spain, Portugal and Greece (these 3 relatively less well off).
I remember discussions when this group of three were up for consideration, and the argument against was that the richer existing members would wind up subsidizing the poorer countries.
Later still came East Germany (upon unification, Sweden, Finland and many others.
The trouble with Greece indicates the fears at the time of entry were fully justified. I heard recently one out of three jobs in Greece is with the government, which means most are non-productive.
Ony oil rich Norway has stayed out of the EU, wisely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
Britain had four major stages of intervention in Greece -
- The initial deployment of supporting ground forces, including an Australian division and the New Zealand division, a British tank brigade, and supporting logistics units, RAF, etc., 60,000 men, pretty much the limit of what the British could support given the shaky and interdicted supply lines. These were hit by an overwhelming German offensive and had to evacuate mainland Greece, with heavy loss. There were also heavy losses of shipping to the Luftwaffe.
- The defense of Crete, mostly by the same units earlier evacuated from Greece. These were also evacuated, also with heavy loss, and even greater Naval losses.
- The attempted liberation of the Dodecanese islands upon the Italian surrender in 1943, which were attempted without adequate nearby airbases (the common theme of all the British attempts), and thus the Germans counterattacked causing further heavy loss.
- The occupation of Greece following the German withrawal in 1944, to ensure that the legitimate Greek government-in-exile got in instead of the Communists. Yet more British losses, this time to Communist Greeks.
The British all in all lost about 50,000 men trying to help Greece.
I thought we sold California??????
“You left out the Dark Ages, The Black Death, The Inquisition, And The Hundred Years War....The “Golden Years” “
Those Were The Days
Mary Hopkin
Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I’d see you in the tavern
We’d smile at one another and we’d say
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
I know that song in RUSSIAN! LOL!
“Darogi Dalneyu”
Ah...Those Were The Days.....
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