[Peace-discuss] [sf-core] a deal has been reached - Syriza

[C. G. Estabrook]

Doug Henwood: What Greece got especially out of this deal was a measure of fiscal sanity. Now it sounds a little crazy, but the terms of negotiations over Greece's future — and how much austerity is required — has become largely detached from the country's concerns about paying its debts. The interest rates on what it owes are already very low and the loans don't have to be fully paid back for a very long time. So even though its debt is 180 percent of gross domestic product, its debt payments are only 2.6 percent of GDP (which is essentially where France is). Not only that, but the worst kept secret in Europe is that Greece is never going to pay back everything it owes. So there's no reason Europe wouldn't lower those interest rates and lengthen those maturities even more until, someday, they're zero and forever. In other words, until that debt was no longer debt.


On Feb 21, 2015, at 6:00 AM, 'David Johnson' davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net [sf-core] <sf-core-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> 
> I see that a deal has been reached. While not an abject surrender, it seems to be a step in that direction. As far as I can understand it, it seems to postpone a real day of reckoning for a month or so. The key statement, in my opinion, is the following: 
> Mr Varoufakis portrayed the deal as a “mutually beneficial agreement between us and our European partners”, adding that it allowed Greece “degrees of freedom” that it has not had during the previous five years of its bailout.
> 
>  
> 
> Words have an impact, and this is not the first time Varoufakis or Tsipras has called the governments of the rest of the EU their "partners". In a way, this is more significant that the specifics of the deal itself. Although nowhere as severe as in Greece, even the German government has been making cuts in recent years. Yet this government is the "partner" of the Greek government.
> 
>  
> 
> According to Paul Mason "Syriza’s left will criticise this – and they will criticise the conduct of Varoufakis and his team who seemed to have very few bullets left in the clip by this evening. But because Varoufakis can sell this as “better than it could have been” I would expect there to be relief, and the anger focused on Germany, on the Greek streets this holiday weekend."
> 
>  
> 
> I suspect Mason is right that there will be a feeling of relief in Greece. But just as the German corporate media has probably whipped up sentiment against "lazy" Greeks who are trying to milk "Germany", so I would suspect in Greece there will be sentiment against "Germany." In other words, true internationalism in deeds and on a generalized scale will be that much harder to organize.
> 
>  
> 
> That is the real point.
> 
>  
> 
> In a strike, sometimes you might be forced to end up signing a contract that is a real setback. That's not the issue. The issue is if you do that without really fighting, without at least trying to mobilize your forces and your potential allies.
> 
>  
> 
> John Reimann
> 
> Oakland Ca.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> __._,_.___
> Posted by: "David Johnson" <davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net>
> Reply via web post	•	Reply to sender	•	Reply to group	•	Start a New Topic	•	Messages in this topic (1)
> VISIT YOUR GROUP
> • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
> 
> .
>  
> 
> __,_._,___