Greece
Greece: Getting Out of the Recession
The Greek government has agreed to a new round of fiscal austerity measures consisting of a sharp increase in taxes on income and property and further reductions in pension and other welfare-related expenditures. Based on our model of the Greek economy, policies aimed at reducing the government deficit will cause a recession, unless other components of
Troika policies in Greece are recipe for environmental disaster
Citing a report published on September 15 by WWF Greece that highlighted how legal and political safeguards for environmental protection have been seriously undermined, the Greens urged Juncker to conduct “a rigorous assessment of the environmental and social impacts of economic reform policies in Greece.”
Review of James Galbraith, Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice (2016) |...
Galbraith’s articles and interviews collected in this book (ending in October 2015) traces his growing exasperation at the “troika” – the European Central Bank (ECB), IMF and EU bureaucracy – which refused to loosen their demand that Greece impoverish its economy to a degree worse than the Great Depression. The fight against Greece was, in a nutshell, a rejection of parliamentary democracy after the incoming Syriza coalition of left-wing parties won election in January 2015 on a platform of resisting austerity and privatization.
Kafka in action – half a million Greeks suffering depression
A new survey has found that depression among Greeks has dramatically increased, with women being most severely affected. Greece’s Statistical Authority survey on health is carried out every four years. The first one was conducted in 2009. After six years of recession, Greece’s public healthcare system has been under enormous pressure due to austerity policies
Greece: Protesters clash with police in Athens during Obama’s visit
Riot police fired teargas on Tuesday at protesters demonstrating just a few kilometers (miles) from the presidential mansion where Greek leaders were hosting a state banquet for visiting U.S. President Barack Obama.
Perry Anderson on Cyprus (and Obama in Athens)
One of the reasons, many observers believe, President Obama comes to Greece this week, is to press Athens to be “helpful” for a “solution” to the Cyprus problem. On the other hand the European Commission is also pressing hard both Nicosia and Athens to accept a solution, even worse than the one the Cypriot people had rejected back in 2004, by voting by an overwhelming majority NO in a referendum held in both the territories controlled by the Republic of Cyprus and those under the control of the Turkish Army, which invaded Cyprus in 1974 and does not seem in any way willing to leave the island, with or without an agreed solution.
The Cataclysm: Notes on Election Day and the Politics of Hubris
Βy Jeffrey St. Clair
+It’s 6 am. The sun has risen on this strange election day, illuminating a nation that has finally made up its mind.
Strike...
ΝΑΤΟ, Russia and Cyprus
Aris Petasis*
The Cyprus problem is a Russian problem as well. The current purblind negotiations, ostensibly between the two Cypriot communities (82% Greek and 18%...
Stiglitz’ €-book: Excellent Stuff for Debate
Left critics will have no problem to show that Stiglitz is an ‘ordinary’ neo-keynesian, whose thinking is not that different from mainstream economic theory. He makes no secret of his credo in ‘inclusive capitalism’. When he speaks of full employment, it is in the sense of the NAIRU, which in fact subordinates a social need to a macroeconomic model. He promotes the
Turkey: Is another coup in the cards?
The same forces which "predicted" and encouraged the July coup in Turkey are again in action. Michael Rubin, a neoconservative activist, connected in the past with Turkish Kemalists, has posted an article in the website of the ultra-hawkish American Enterprise Institute titles "Is a new coup in the cards in Turkey".
Rubin's "prophecies" may not ne just "prophecies". They constitute also an indirect, still clear threat. Rubin and the AEI are anything but innocent observers. The same author has already written about the possibility of a coup in Turkey in March 2016, encouraging the Turkish army to go on with it.