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Putin's Unexpected Victory: Europe Furious That Greece Is Now A Russian Sanctions Veto
Two days ago, Zero Hedge first, and shortly thereafter everyone else, pointed out something stunning: the biggest surprise to emerge so far out of the new anti-Troika/austerity Greek government was not so much its intention to proceed with the first test of "Odious Debt" - this was largely known in advance - but its dramatic pivot away from Germany and Europe, and toward Russia.
As we noted before, not only has Greece already blocked all ongoing privatization processes, a clear snub of Merkel and the Troika which demands the piecemeal blue light special sale of Greece to western buyers as part of the "bailout", but is also looking at plans to reinstate public sector employees and announce increased pensions for those on low incomes: further clear breaches of the Troika's austerity terms.
But the most important message that Tsipras is sending to Europe is that (after meeting the Russian ambassador first upon his election) Greece is now effectively a veto power when it comes to future Russian sanctions!
This was first hinted when the Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who arrives in Brussels today to discuss possible additional sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, said a few days ago that the Greek government disagreed with an EU statement in which President Donald Tusk raised the prospect of “further restrictive measures” on Russia. As Bloomberg observed before, in recent months, Kotzias wrote on Twitter that sanctions against Russia weren’t in Greece’s interests. He said in a blog that a new foreign policy for Greece should be focused on stopping the ongoing transformation of the EU “into an idiosyncratic empire, under the rule of Germany.”
And Europe, shocked that one of its own has dared to question its "unanimous" policy toward Russia, a policy driven by the US foreign state department whose opinion of Europe is best captured by the hacked and intercepted "Fuck the EU" outburst by Victoria Nuland in February 2014, has been forced to backtrack. From DPA:
The European Union denied Wednesday that it ignored Greek objections when it issued a statement raising the prospects of new sanctions against Russia.
The row is the first of several clashes expected between Brussels and Greece's new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who was elected Sunday on promises to renegotiate the bailout granted to Greece by its European neighbours and the International Monetary Fund.
Tsipras has in the past also spoken out against sanctions on Russia, rejecting the use of "Cold War language."
The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, notably economic measures restricting Russian access to European credit markets and European exports. On Tuesday morning, EU leaders in a joint statement tasked their foreign ministers with considering "further restrictive measures" when they meet on Thursday.
But Tsipras complained to Greek media that his country had not been consulted on the statement. "Greece do not consent," a statement by Tsipras' office said on Tuesday evening, adding that the announcement from Brussels violated "proper procedure."
A spokesman for EU President Donald Tusk, who issued the statement on behalf of the leaders, denied that Athens had been sidelined during the preparation of the text.
"We consulted everybody, as we always do, and we didn't ignore or sidestep Greece in any way - quite to the contrary," Preben Aamann told dpa. "We tried to find a special solution that would accommodate them."
Actually what the EU "always does" is to ignore the voices and interest of everyone but the most powerful. And as for "not ignoring" Greece, apparently the EU failed. Only this time Greece, its government no longer a Eurozone lackey, will no longer let it slide: "Greek broadcaster Skai said newly appointed Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias would bring up the issue at Thursday's meeting in Brussels. Tsipras is also expected in the Belgian capital on February 12 for an EU summit that will touch upon the situation in Ukraine."
And here is how Russia just won another completely unexpected victory in Europe: "EU sanctions require unanimity to be implemented, so a Greek veto could block any further measures." And all thanks to the epic blunder by Brussels to allow a European nation to voice its opinion in a democratic fashion.
It wasn't just Zero Hedge who first suggested the Greek Russian pivot: here is RBS' Greg Gibbs who says that there are now "concerns Greek government may threaten to veto further Russian sanctions in exchange for debt relief fuels fear of conflict."
To be sure, Germany, whose theatrical opposition to money printing folded like Boehner's lawn chair last week, as it is now all too clear the preservation of German export dominance (and hence aversion to the DEM) and the sanctity of Deutsche Bank is what it is all about no matter the hyperinflationary concerns of the people, is quite furious that the grand ambitions of Europe's economic powerhouse - which as we reported moments ago has now officially entered deflation - have been crushed by tiny, depression-ridden Greece.
Here is Germany's economy minister Gabriel, who was on the tape earlier, casting fire and brimstone at Greece. From Reuters:
Greece should not burden the rest of Europe with its internal political debates, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, adding that Greece's own inequalities were to blame for problems that it tried to blame on its multilateral lenders.
Gabriel told parliament Greece should stay in the euro but the new leftist leader Alexis Tsipras must respect the terms of its bailout. Greece could not blame the "troika" of multilateral lenders for its own unfair distribution of wealth, he said.
"All democratic people must respect the democratic decision of voters and a newly-elected government's right to decide its course - but the rest of Europe's citizens should not have to expect changes in Greek politics to burden them," he said.
Of course, as long as the changes in Greek politics allowed the rest of Europe's citizens to continue to benefit at Greek expense, nobody batted an eyelid. But change the equation and all hell breaks loose.
And the final confirmation that suddenly tiny Greece may have all the leverage in Europe is that moments ago Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that European sanctions on Russia are complicated by the "new Greek government."
The good news for Greece, of course, is that it now has all the optionality: it can use its veto power as a bargaining chip to unblock US foreign policy in Ukraine (because at the end of the day, Europe is merely losing as a result of the Russian sanctions) and demand a debt haircut in exchange for siding with John Kerry on further Russian "punishment." Or he may simply hold the line and hold off for a competing, better offer from Russia and the BRICs, whose leverage may be nominal now that crude is plummeting, but if and when the last shale junk bond investor blows up and the US shale renaissance is over sending crude soaring right back to $100, then watch as the oil exporters are back with a bang, and dictating geopolitical terms.
And whatever happens, please don't remind Brussels that point 40 of Syriza's 40 Point Manifesto, aka the "nuclear option", is "Closure of all foreign bases in Greece and withdrawal from NATO."
It is so bad that Business New Europe went so far as to ask if the New Greek Government is "Russia's Trojan horse inside the EU?"
In any event, the European balance of power has just shifted and in a way that nobody anticipated:
The biggest winners: if only for now: Greece and Russia (and, while it will never be admitted, all those Europeans who desperately need the Russian import market).
The biggest losers: all the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels who at this moment are scratching their heads how to bring the bad news that there is no longer unanimity on Russian sanctions to John Kerry, and all thanks to a country nobody thought would dare to speak up.
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No.
He's deciding whether or not to shell the Parthenon.
Has anyone seen the movie "12 angry men"?
I think Greece is playing the part of Henry Fonda.
Obama under das recession bus
Yanis Varoufakis on Channel 4 - 2012
http://youtu.be/KwY89ZuQWdc
How dare you insult Boehner's lawn chair...
This new government would be very wise to re-arm the people. Heavily.
most greek citizens have guns.
Especially in crete.
Athens is pretty much the pussified washington d.c. of greece... athens will fall and crete will prosper.
Greece is goint to fuck the EU right up the ass. Its called Greek for a reason.
ecellent work
This Greek governement is a joke. Take a look at some of their "Plan":
Increase taxes on big companies to that of the European average.
Adoption of a tax on financial transactions and a special tax on luxury goods.
Raise minimum salary to the pre-cut level, 750 euros per month.
Use buildings of the government, banks and the Church for the homeless.
Open dining rooms in public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to children.
Free health benefits to the unemployed, homeless and those with low salaries.
Subvention up to 30% of mortgage payments for poor families who cannot meet payments.
Increase of subsidies for the unemployed. Increase social protection for one-parent families, the aged, disabled, and families with no income.
Nationalization of banks.
Nationalization of ex-public (service & utilities) companies in strategic sectors for the growth of the country (railroads, airports, mail, water).
Preference for renewable energy and defence of the environment.
Equal salaries for men and women.
Limitation of precarious hiring and support for contracts for indeterminate time.
Extension of the protection of labor and salaries of part-time workers.
Recovery of collective (labor) contracts.
Increase inspections of labor and requirements for companies making bids for public contracts.
Constitutional reforms to guarantee protection of the right to education, health care and the environment.
Increase funding for public health up to the average European level.(The European average is 6% of GDP; in Greece 3%.)
Nationalization of private hospitals. Elimination of private participation in the national health system.
some of that is nuts, and most likely wont see the light of day.
But atleast they are doing something different.
I think of this government as a transitional government, they just need to ease the pain and get some solid fixes in there to allow greece to escape the nazi euro oppression.
Not all bad, I like item 11. It looks like the current government stole some of the positive Fascist planks from Golden Dawn. The most gratifying result is upending the Soviet EU and ideally leading to the demise of that monstrosity.
Nationalization is the first step to liquidation at auction.
Like all communism it sounds so nice, so good, so generous, but like all communist governments it will melt into a heaping pile of stinking shit.
As loong as it speeds the demise of the EU and its oligarchies, why would you care?
"This Greek governement is a joke. "
why are they a joke?
have you looked at the condition of the ussa recently?
Stop stating the obvious. Of course USSA is a joke. But so is Greece's
consider this
The USSA tells the whole world what to do. Greece can't even get her Elgin Marbles back from the gonifs in London.
10. Nationalization of banks.
This point alone is probably sufficient to fund all the other pledges.
I am sure that Brussels is worried that some of those other effin Mediterranean types might also grow a pair.
I guess they need some false flag terrorist attacks like in France. Langeley is busy planning as we speak to murder and plunder.
We phocked sum phokes......
The Mouse that Roared...
"The Mouse that Roared..."
... and the elephant got really freaked out.
And Bit Nuland's Clit
Greece has been kicked around for so many years. AND NOW, they just might start asking the right questions in order to get out of their vice before they are seriously destroyed.
Go Greece Go. Many eyes are watching because you could be the next one after Iceland.
Here is a question. Will Iceland step up their pressure onto those that have created such destruction?
Pens,
Look, I hope this clown dissolves the EU, but can we all agree he's a "useful idiot"?
His beef is that Greece doesn't have even more money to throw around, and like a degenerate gambler, keeps demanding more and more to dig them deeper and deeper. And the "austerity" that Greece is experiencing is a joke. What can't go on forever, won't, yet this guy is just doubling down with more government jobs and spending.
If Germany offered them a new loan package to stay in the EU, he'd take it in a heartbeat. This is just about getting a new loan so he can buy more votes. He's no hero, just a loose cannon that's going off in the right direction.
Tsipras is kind of like the Schroedinger's Cat of geopolitics. It is early in the day and he may sound good, but actions will reveal whether he is a loose cannon or hero. The box is not yet open.
Yes. But George Washington was too. Often, it does not work out, but sometimes it does. Personally, I am all for federation, not empire. Federation, meaning INDEPENDENT states. And apparently the EU and the Euro have just reminded us that you cannot have an independent state if someone else controls the currency. What this is all about. The Euro.
"I am all for federation, not empire. Federation, meaning INDEPENDENT states."
I think you are for confederation, not federation.
Even better!
Yes. Thank you.
Hitler fit that category. Hindsight is 20/20
Germany couldn't pay reparations from war debt.
Greece can't pay the EU loans
And who offered Weimar Germany money for its vote?
The IOC?
"but can we all agree he's a "useful idiot"? " NO
Read his open letter to the German people .Also on Zerohedge
So he should sell Greece's vote in the EU for 20 pieces of German silver?
Isn't that why the world is so fucked up in the first place?
Making new friends with (sound money) everywhere they go!
Future's so bright Putin's gotta where shades!
And it's only gettin better!
Is it too early in the morning to have my second White Russian of the day? Look at the ruble FX. 69 dude. I might have to buy some....naw, I won't. How can the Russian's worthless paper be worth that much less then our worthless paper? My worthless paper is worth more than your worthless paper because ours is quilted and super-absorbent but does tend to plug up the toilet so you will need a plunger. What a bankster scam. Speaking of which, check out silver today. That is an ass-reaming and I am losing fiats on it big time but I am still laughing. Gold is taking an ass whooping as well. Lose a thousand here and lose a thousand there.... blah, blah, blah so what? If there is one thing that I have learned over the years it that you have to laugh in order to stay sane.
So when exactly are gold and silver going be worth zero? The day of reckoning is coming make no mistake.
Did you buy the 20kopek?
Yes. In fact two of them. Now I need this one. I have never seen one for sale. Hell, I have never een seen one. 1924-1925 soviet coins are very scarce. I particularly want it because Thomas Ross designed the reverse who is obviously not Russian but rather an Englishman. How the hell did that happen? I hate to buy things online when it comes to numismatics because the chinee have faked so many coins that they are ruining the market.
I also want one of these and as you can see it is for sale. The wife and I sat down last night and looked at Soviet Russian cars for sale. Her parents owned of those Uaz busses and she rode in it. The problem is that I have no idea what I would do with it. It's the Russian version of Volkswagon "peace bus" but has 4WD. For all of the years they made that vehicle they never changed the design at all. I was laughing until the back of my head hurt and Soviet Russian woman asked what I what I was laughing about. She said, "They are still good yet." which only made me laugh harder. I want one.
edit: I want this one too. I have never even heard of anyone who has one. They are out there and it my life's goal to track down these coins no matter how long it takes. You can't really trust Russian mintage numbers because most of the coins did not survive. I have a thousand or more U.S. silver coins right here in front of me but I have very few Russian coins. No one really knows how many Russian coins survived. That is why most people will not collect it because it impossible to have them. There is no such thing as a complete set of all Russian coins ever minted. It will never happen.
Is it too early in the morning to have my second White Russian of the day? Look at the ruble FX. 69 dude. I might have to buy some....naw, I won't. How can the Russian's worthless paper be worth that much less then our worthless paper?
Man
Russia's Ruble in an FX market is what you say it is only because the FX continue to alter the rules of the game "by adding yards to the field and lowering or raising the goal post(s)" whenever it sees fit to hurt itself... Like holding Russia "hostage" with SWIFT!
If that is the unintended consequences of continuing to do business with the West in their own manipulated markets which are suffering much worse every day I'll be going long and take my chances with the currencies that are actually backed by something other than the "full faith and credit" of Nothing!
Anyway by May this conversation will be irrelevant! Guess that is what it means to do business in America these days.
What a tragic pathetic sorry waste of the worst kind of loser we've truly become!
no more Euro in Greece?
.
peanut butter and jelly are #1
The stupid things you do when you're a Zionist controlled bitch that's a loser!
Acts of desperation visible everywhere!!!
Assuming Greece is a "veto", a lot of European countries are breathing a sigh of relief. Probably a majority. If not all. Nice way to save face, huh.
You cant fake everyone at the same time. Fuck Christine "777" lagarde.
Everyone should watch the incredible 1969 film "Z" to see how this story may play out:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/
How soon before alCIAda kidnapps Tsipras and demands that Greece sanction Russia and bow to German austerity?
For Islam, of course. alCIAda is all about doing it for Islam!
""EU sanctions require unanimity to be implemented, so a Greek veto could block any further measures."
It's funny that when this requirement was determined, they probalby assumed that it would look very democratic but compliance could always be manufactured in back rooms. I guess they didn't fortell that their vast knowledge could possible ever leave them in this position where a single bankrupt nation could hold them hostage. It just shows that when the money runs out, out come the knives and to hell with the union.
Vicious Vicky Nudelman gets "greeked".
ewww
not with my dick
Amazing unanimity in the valuations of this item. 65 votes, all 5's. Now if we could only get the Greeks to pay their taxes....
Silver and Gold being taken behind the woodshed.
sensitive much? Gold didn't even move $50. That's not the wood shed. That's a paper cut.
Bullish for Berlin real estate!
The level of amateurism in this article and comments is quite humorous.
http://original.antiwar.com/Chris_Ernesto/2015/01/28/us-announces-suppor...
Tusk is a real pain. His grandfather fought in the Wehrmacht. Another Pole trying to use the EU as a battering ram for Poland paranoia......Britain saw what that can cost
"The biggest losers: all the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels who at this moment are scratching their heads how to bring the bad news that there is no longer unanimity on Russian sanctions"
Actually, some Eurocrats are winners. It's a good bet that many of them wanted to get rid of sanctions even if they can't publicly say so.
Europe's peoples are not furious, but those unelected EU-politicians.
Why not pivot?
Things are so ugly in Ukraine, the failure of the EU is apparent, and the tide is turning.
I might have to move to Greece if this keeps up. Fuck the disgusting Amerisrael.
Tsipras ends up buried at sea
Tsipras ends up in Egyptian safehouse with rubber hose.
To say Russia, or BRICS, or Iran is really to say those against the Western "One Bank" and "Single Control" ANTI-democracy and ANTI-global cooperation. To refer to this group, is to refer to Rothschild et al, and the "Royals" et al -- which seem to be the same "groupings". To refer to this "groupings" seems to more times than not be rfering to this ocultish Talmudic, Babalonian ,Judaic, Masonic group of OBVIOUS psychopaths. Greece is just the latest example of what is much less an economicwar -- rather, the world at large participating in a fervant effort to rid itself from pure Evil. I am not a religious man at all, but we are living in quite interesting times. It really appears to be "Good vs. Evil".
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!
Jim Willie: US dollar will not survive 2015:
http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-us-dollar-will-not-survive-2015/
When will other EU countries follow the example of Greece in demanding more hand out in exchange for not vetoing.
It is so bad that Business New Europe went so far as to ask if the New Greek Government is "Russia's Trojan horse inside the EU?"???????
the whole EU is a trojan horse of CIA-NATO-USA.
The Trojan Horse was actually a Greek Horse full of Greeks. And it snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Good article, Tyler, thanks but I would have cut this out:
I'm sorry to say this but oil will go back to $100 when a loaf of bread goes to $20.
I assume Moscow is sending S-400s to Athens as we speak and that Tsipras has total protection from the FSB now.
It's funny alot of people (in the world) don't understand. Russia is trending towards the U.S., and the U.S. is trending towards the U.S.S.R./Nazi Germany.
Greece aligned with the U.S. and now it's doing so again, except the one promoting US policies is RUSSIA!!!!
Basically the American way of economy is being developed in China and Russia. Obviously it's not a carbon copy, but the big stuff, the overreaching principles and programs are ENTIRELY U.S. IDEOLOGY.
America must join the BRICS, as then it would be like joining with itself. Russia is literally right where we've wanted them for decades. They are in perfect position to do deals and long term agreements with. Our leaders are so insane it's crazy to realize that when they rail against Russia, they are literally railing against the U.S., the Constitution, and everything America is supposed to stand for.
Of course Russia and China have many problems and methods that aren't American inspired, but literally I bet Reagan or JFK would of given their left nut for Russia and Putin to be what they are today when they were President.
So to bring it back to Greece.... OF COURSE they are going to align with Russia. Russia wants to prosper. The west wants to kill everyone off with Carbon taxes and Wall Street fraud. Greece, once again is looking around and choosing the side that isn't batshit crazy, and the west should take notice that it isn't them, because the west IS batshit crazy.
Glass-Steagall