Good Morning And Happy Thursday !

As Greece Turns - as another deadline slips ( Febuary 15th was the deadline for the PSI final deal offer to be extended or is it Febuary 20th ) . this coming meeting is a critical meeting to consider the second but not the last rescue of Greece - or is it ? Europe wants to help Greece work through their troubles or do they ? As the Greeks fall deeper into the agony of austerity ( industrial production falling , manufacturing falling , unemployment rising , young people fleeing the country , depositors pulling funds from the Greek banks , protests , / strikes and rioting rising , despair / homelessness and suicides rising - I think the greek people generally wonder as to German / Troika / EU intentions !  The evershifting demands - especially new demands raised just as the old ones are met , fuel the anger ( thus the comments of the Greek President yesterday questioning "  Who is Schauble to insult Greeks ?  Who is Netherland ? Who are the Finns ? " Consider the following - it helps to focus one's mind on the games being played and the Troika and AAA Bloc Nations provocations toward Greece. The comments of EuroGroup Chairman Juncker - after conceding Greece had met the existing terms , rolled out the latest demand grenade tossed toward Greece ! now the troika wants : ! )  Athens must somehow appease and assure the Troika , Germany , Netherland , Finnland that the agreed rescue plan will be strictly adhered to despite the outcome of the April elections or perhaps the elections should just be cancelled  ; 2 )  key economic Ministries should be held by Troika selected and supervised  technocrats on a permanent basis - despite any so called elections Greece might be allowed to pretend to have ; 3 ) an escrow account should be established into which revenues would be placed to ensure debt slavery payments are made first before Greece pays anything else . In other words , the German plan to appoint a Budget Commissioner hasn't gone way - it has just been transformed. the goal remains the same - submerge democracy , take away the vote from the people , take away the sovereign rights of the indentured servants known as Greece. Stamp the mark of the Troikans on every Greek forehead ! Any wonder the Greeks are belatedly ( on the political front ) starting to rebel ?

   Why focus on Greece ? It's a small country , a small portion of the overall GDP of the Eurozone - in fact , the latest spin is that Greece doesn't matter , any default can be managed . Greece matters because the living hell imposed on the greek people to save european banksters - its a blueprint for what will come in the rest of the PIIGS , the rest of Europe including the UK , the US . Greece is the first test run of the grand scheme. Here's hoping the Greeks have the wisdom , fortitude and will to stop the Troikans and their madness !

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/53333

Bailout, PSI hang in the balance

by Dimitris Yannopoulos 16 Feb 2012

Closeup of the map of Europe seen on the face of a 10 cent coin in Paris, 15 February 2012 (Reuters) Coalition party leaders have met the final two demands set by the country's international lenders to seal a bailout, paving the way for a deal and an agreement to ease its debt burden to be announced on Monday, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told fellow eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday.   Venizelos told reporters late on Wednesday that the cabinet had decided how to plug a 325m euro gap in the 3.3bn euros of extra budget savings this year which the EU and IMF are demanding in return for the 130bn euro rescue.   However, the teleconference of the 17 eurozone finance ministers failed to dispel lingering doubts over the fate of the second Greek bailout and the private sector involvement (PSI) in a writedown on the country's debt.   The Eurogroup agreed to put off a decision on these issues for its regular meeting in Brussels on February 20, barely a month before a 14.4bn euro bond falls due, risking a Greek default unless a PSI deal has been finalised in the meantime.   Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker conceded that Athens had taken the necessary steps to open the way to close the deal worth over 130bn euros, including identifying 325m euros of cuts in its 2012 budget and providing written assurances by its two main political leaders.   "We received the strong assurances provided by the leaders of the two coalition parties in Greece's government," Juncker said in his statement, which followed the Eurogroup teleconference.   But Juncker refrained from approving 30bn euros earmarked from the new bailout as a credit sweetener for the launch of the PSI tender to private bondholders who are supposed to write off 50 percent of the face value of their Greek bond portfolios.   Instead, Juncker expressed vague hopes that the appropriate decisions will be taken on February 20 without spelling out the priorities or the certainty that these will be fulfilled on time to avert a disorderly Greek default. "On the basis of the elements that are currently on the table and the above-mentioned additional input, I am confident that the Eurogroup will be able to take all the necessary decisions on Monday, February 20," Juncker said.   However, reports from Brussels suggested that eurozone hardliners at the teleconference had insisted that Athens must ensure that the austerity measures attached to the new bailout will be implemented in full regardless of the results of elections.   According to some reports, these proposals would imply that, either the elections should be indefinitely postponed or certain key economic ministries should be held by "permanent technocratic ministers" along the lines of the Monti government in Italy, appointed and supervised by the troika of Greece's creditors.

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/53334

Papoulias attacks Schaeuble's 'insults'

16 Feb 2012

In better times: President Papoulias on an official visit to Germany in 2006 (Eurokinissi) President Karolos Papoulias accused German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Wednesday of insulting Greece, reflecting growing public resentment of almost daily lectures from Berlin on the dire state of the Greek economy.   A visibly angry Papoulias singled out Schaeuble after he appeared to suggest Greece might go bankrupt, and also attacked critics of his country in the Netherlands and Finland.   "I cannot accept Mr Schaeuble insulting my country," said Papoulias, 82, who participated in the resistance against the Nazi occupation during the Second World War.   "Who is Mr Schaeuble to insult Greece? Who are the Dutch? Who are the Finnish?" he said in a speech at the defence ministry.   The comments by Papoulias, who studied law in Germany and speaks German fluently, marked a highly unusual foray into international controversy for him.   In a radio interview earlier on Wednesday, Schaeuble asked whether the troika could be assured that Athens would stick to the bailout deal after likely elections in April.   "When you look at the internal political discussions in Greece and the opinion polls, then you have to ask who will really guarantee after the elections ... that Greece will stand by what we are now agreeing with Greece," he told SWR2 radio, a public broadcaster serving the German southwest.   He also claimed that recession-weary Greeks were being let down by their politicians who are failing work together effectively and are not implementing reforms needed to make their country run more efficiently.   He said the eurozone was now better prepared for the financial failure of one of its members, but insisted the willingness to help Athens was still there.   "We will do everything we can to help Greece," Schaeuble said, blaming the worst of the crisis on Greek politicians.   "We are already seeing the severe hardship that people in Greece are enduring, because the political class in Greece has failed over the years and decades." He added: "And now I'm not sure if all the political parties in Greece aware of their responsibility for the plight of their country. We are very well aware of our responsibility towards Greece and the Greek people very well. But, as I have always said, we can help, but not indefinitely."   Resentment   Resentment in Greece of the tough German stand on Greece's failure to meet targets set by the EU and IMF in return for financial aid has become widespread in recent months.   Protesters in Athens burned a German flag last week and newspapers have run computer-generated pictures of Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform.   With EU patience with Greek party politicians close to breaking point, Schaeuble has made a series of critical remarks in recent days.   He has likened the country to a bottomless pit and said on Monday that the eurozone was better prepared to overcome a Greek bankruptcy than two years ago.   Papoulias pointed out that Europeans had fought together in the past and said they should now work together during Greece's crisis.   "We were always proud to defend not only our freedom, our country, but Europe's freedom too," he told a lunch attended by the defence minister and the country's top military brass.   Finland has demanded that Greece put up collateral for rescue loans, while Dutch politicians have also taken a tough line on Greece's problems.   Salary   Earlier, the president said he had given up his salary in a symbolic gesture of support for recession-hit citizens.   Papoulias receives an annual income of €283,694 for the job. His term of office expires in 2015.   The president announced his decision at a meeting with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, three days after parliament slashed Greece's minimum wage as part of a drastic new austerity package. "This is an action that honours, Mr President. It's a symbolic gesture when the Greek people have been called upon to make such sacrifices. The country's first citizen is giving up his salary," Venizelos said.   "This is very important and symbolic initiative, for which I thank him and will inform the prime minister and cabinet."(Reuters, AMNA, Athens News)