As we head closer to the day or reckoning for Greece , interesting to see the military coup angle floated agai - that hasn't been floated since last November

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/53774

Former French PM: Greece could face military coup

by Makis Papasimakopoulos 4 Mar 2012

(reuters) In an interview to leading french newspaper Liberation, a former French prime minister stated that increased austerity measures, such as those imposed on Greece by its lenders, could well see the country having to deal with an explosive social upheaval sooner rather than later.   “Nobody seems to be saying it, but the only way out for Greece, could well be a military coup”, Michel Rocard said, while also expressing his belief that no nation “can be democratically governed, when you cut back 25 percent of its earnings”.   He believes that the only solution for the debt ridden countries of southern Europe is for said debts to be completely wiped off the table.   Rocard, a member of the French Socialist Party and currently a member of the European Parliament, served as prime minister under Francois Mitterrand. and one example of the coup mem floated last fall.... http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/10/26/the-real-greek-solution-a-military-coup/ The Appalling Greek Solution: A Military Coup + Comment now There’s a not very funny joke going around the financial markets at the moment, that the real solution to the Greek problem is a military coup. (Just to make it clear, no, of course I’m not advocating a coup. See below) Instead of Germany trying to fund the Greek debt they should instead sponsor such a coup: Only half in jest is it sometimes said that a better use for Germany’s money than pouring it down the drain of further bail-outs would be to sponsor a Greek military coup and solve the problem that way….. The reason being that a military dictatorship cannot be in the European Union. Thus, if there was such a military coup Greece would immediately have to leave the EU and thus whatever happened to its economy would simply be someone else’s problem. What’s so sad, or bitter if you prefer, about the joke is that, if we ignore the little problem of it being a military dictatorship, this would in fact be a good solution to Greek woes. They simply cannot, under any circumstances, pay the current debts so they’re going to have to default. But default in itself doesn’t solve the major problem, which is that they’re caught in a monetary union at a price which makes Greek labour woefully uncompetitive. Which means in turn that Greek wages, Greek living standards, have to fall in order to make that labour competitive. Or, if you prefer, Greek labour productivity needs to rise very strngly and very quickly. Either path is extremely difficult and painful. The third alternative is for Greece to leave the currency union and then devalue the New Drachma. However, the way that the European Union and the eurozone are set up a country leaving the monetary union would be considered to be a shocking defeat for the whole European ideal. What the military coup would allow is, as I say ignoring that little detail about it being a military coup, what should probably happen and would certainly be the least painful way for Greece to deal with its problems: default and exit from the euro. That we have to joke about such horrible things as a military takeover though does show quite how dysfunctional European politics has become. No one really wants to talk about a dictatorship as the solution to a fairly simple economic problem but that is what we’re reduced to as the current system simple will not take that reasonably simple solution seriously. Update: I’ve changed the headline from “Real” to “Appalling” just to make clear that of course I’m not advocating a coup. Yes, of course I know my Greek history. I can see that there’s at least one translation of this post into Greek out there and I assume that some of the subtlety of the English language original has got lost. I was not, do not and would not advocate something like a military coup as a solution to a simple economic problem. The point of the post was to point out that there is a dark and bitter joke going around stating that given that the EU is so mismanaging this situation then that might be the best path left. No, no one who tells the joke nor I in repeating it think that this is the best path: or even an acceptable one. The point being made is that the EU is so mismanaging matters. This is a dark and bitter comment on the EU, not advocacy of a course of action.