SYRIZA'S GREEK TRAGICOMEDY

Alexis Tsipras welcoming those who have no wish to stay.

by Daniel Barge

Greece, as is well known, was the birthplace of comedy and tragedy. Recently, with the GREXIT crisis, the “Greferendum” (the vote on whether Alexis Tsipras should prostrate himself to Angela Merkel or simply kow-tow), and all the other absurdities of recent months, we have seen both of these thespian aspects in constant interplay. One simply doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Greece has effectively become a tragicomedy

The main problem all Western countries have is that we now have highly-evolved economic, administrative, and policing systems – coping systems – that can manage most of the problems now deeply embedded in our societies. This sounds great but it isn’t. What it really means is that we seldom have to directly face any of our problems and thus we seldom have to solve them. Our system is essentially maladaptive. Having a gang of idiots like SYRIZA in power, however, changes this dynamic. This is the main value of the Left today.

PODCAST 33: THE GREEK CRISIS & THE CHINESE BUBBLE

With last-minute attempts being made to keep Greece in the Euro and China facing a serious stock market crash, Colin Liddell is joined by Alt-Right's man in the Philippines, Siryako Akda, to discuss the turbulent state of the global economy. Issues raised include the rise of the EU's "invisble empire," the "liquidity killing" tendencies of parsimonious Orientals, and whether global capitalism has finally run out of road. Is the World getting ready for an autarkic Winter, and if so will liberal leftism be the first luxury chucked overboard?

GREECE (AND THE E.U.) CHOOSES RED DUSK RATHER THAN GOLDEN DAWN

SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras: Samson between the pillars of the Greek state.

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

The results of the Greek elections were not really a surprise to any Greek except those hopelessly in love with the previous government. Everyone knew that after five years of austerity, which has been harder on Greece than most wars, a lot of people gave up hope on any chance of a smooth transition to an era of stability, and felt the need to replace their government.

As I have stated in my Vdare article, SYRIZA was effectively pushed into its present position by the supposedly conservative New Democracy Party through the criminalisation of Golden Dawn which was the main opponent of SYRIZA in gathering the votes of those opposed to government policies. The disaffected – and there are many in Greece – were actually funneled by the establishment and the previous government to vote for SYRIZA, since that was the only option seriously opposed to the austerity measures.

THE GLADIATORS

With Europe in the public eye over the next few days thanks to the European Parliamentary Elections, we are re-running some relevant and informative articles on Euro-nationalism, like this one from 11th October, 2012.

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

Two days have passed since Angela Merkel's visit to Greece, a visit that was viewed by the Greek people as an “imperial visit.” It was treated as such, with a large crowd of about 50,000 people demonstrating in front of the parliament.

The pictures of rock throwing youths and clashes with the police were typical of the footage that usually accompanies stories about Greece in the world media. But what is the real situation in Greece nowadays?

One can best describe it as a resurgence of the “extremes.” Only three months after the July election, which wounded the political establishment but did not kill it, it seems that the political feeling in the country is flowing to the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Both SYRIZA (extreme left) and Golden Dawn (nationalists) are gaining in popularity, and are providing the main theses to the opposition. Both are self-branded anti-establishment parties, and both want to see an end the loaning agreement between the EU-IMF-CEB and Greece.

THE UKRAINE — A FAILED "STRESS TEST" FOR OUR MOVEMENT

The "high level" of debate within nationalist circles.

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

In banking jargon, a stress test is an analysis conducted under unfavorable economic scenarios, which is designed to determine whether a bank has enough capital to withstand the impact of adverse developments.

Stress tests focus on a few key risks to banks' financial health in crisis situations – such as credit risk, market risk, and liquidity risk. The results of stress tests depend on the assumptions made in various economic scenarios, which are described by the International Monetary Fund as "unlikely but plausible." Bank stress tests attracted a great deal of attention in 2009, as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression left many banks and financial institutions severely under-capitalized.

Many in our movement (however they decide to call it) detest banks. Anyway this is not a piece about banks, but about the way this movement failed its own first "stress test" in the Ukrainian crisis. This was the first serious problem that our movement faced that had to do with a real world situation, rather than the usual problems of old-style nationalism. The situation in the Ukraine was not a bickering between philosophical approaches. It was not personal stuff being turned into political. It was not colliding dreams. Instead it was a real problem in the real world, which called for us not to take sides but to choose wisely.

GOLDEN DAWN SHEDS LIGHT ON ITSELF

by Dimitrios Papageorgiou

The result of the elections of May 6th in Greece was a stunning defeat of the bipartisan system with the main parties of New Democracy (conservative) and PASOK (socialist) suffering major defeats. New Democracy still managed to come first, with 18.85% of the vote and 108 seats in the parliament (50 bonus seats go to the winner according to a quaint Greek electoral law). This is certainly a Pyrrhic victory compared to its previous showings: 33.47% (2009) and 41.84% (2007). PASOK finished 3rd with a shocking 13.18% and 41 seats, plummeting from 43.92 % (160 seats) in 2009 and 38.10% (102 seats) in 2007.