Same as the Old Boss – Alexis Tsipras 178


Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Alexis Tsipras, and we do get fooled again. If you will forgive me I should like to crow a little about the accuracy of my predictions on Greece in the last week or so. Now comes the bit where they stay in the Euro there is another fudge, the bankers get hold of more cash and more state assets, and nothing much changes.

We have to find what enjoyment we can in life, and I was writing yesterday about stuffing a duck. I give you another evocative little snippet from Sikunder Burnes which I rather enjoyed writing.

The next morning Burnes slept in late, hungover. Argoud woke up, and passed Percival Lord, who was sitting in the hall performing taxidermy on a duck. Argoud, still not sober, then crashed into Burnes’ room:

“That officer was not yet dressed, on which M. Argoud called out: “Why sare, the battle of Wagram was fought before this hour, and you are still in deshabille? Will you take wine with me?” “No,” said Captain Burnes, “I never take wine before breakfast.” “Then sare,” said Argoud, “You insult me and I demand satisfaction.” He ran out and soon reappeared with his small sword and asked Burnes to send for his rapier.”


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178 thoughts on “Same as the Old Boss – Alexis Tsipras

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  • Ba'al Zevul

    So I’m not talking about the run of the mill banker…

    Neither am I.

    Jewish power is integral to this inner circle. To deny this is plain silly.

    All I deny is ‘inner circle’. Rich interests have more leverage than less-rich interests, but there is no boundary between them. It’s a continuum. As to Jewish power being integral, sure. So’s everyone else’s power. Including the Sultan of Brunei, the Middle Eastern royal families and their agents, our royal family, even – you name it. And even Goldman Sachs isn’t fussy about hiring its movers and shakers from outside the diaspora. G-S it was who structured Greece’s application to the EU, incidentally. Effectively, it lied with the full knowledge of all concerned. It wasn’t the ‘inner circle’ that let that through. It was the entire financial industry. For which short-term profit trumps* all other considerations. Which is the real problem.

    * Donald’s a Presbyterian. He married a Stornoway MacLeod.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Re. That Link, btw. Hamm’s ‘paper’ isn’t attributed to a peer-reviewed journal – correct me if I’m wrong. And his references are heavily reliant on sources like…Information Clearing House, newspaper articles and the like, with a conspicuous disregard of academic sources, particularly anything solid he can dispute. Which would be fine on CM, but is not, I feel, appropriate to an emeritus professor purporting to apply his expertise. This is a polemic. No attempt is made at an argument or the valid defence of his hypothesis. It’s pure assertion, and whatever Hamm’s lasting accomplishments in sociology, if any, this is not one of them. It should not be received with reverence as falling from the keyboard of an unchallengable master.

  • Daniel

    Ba’al Zevul, I agree with you. All I’m saying is that Jewish power is disproportionate and needs to be acknowledged without fear or favour. The fact that there are historical reasons for this truism ought not to be controversial and yet it is. What really concerns me is the impact Jewish power has on freedom of expression, namely the smearing of individuals – many of whom are Jews – with the epithet ‘antisemite’ which often leads to their social exclusion and even excommunication within organisations like BDS and JVP.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    All I’m saying is that Jewish power is disproportionate and needs to be acknowledged without fear or favour.

    Disproportionate to what? The proportion of Jews on the planet, I suppose. You think the acquisition of power is a democratic process? Sure, it ought to be, but it never has been and probably never will be. A good wannabe will always be able to lie, cheat, steal, borrow, backstab and arselick to the top of the heap, with the willing assistance of anyone who sees a profit in getting him there. What matters far more than his ethnicity is what he does with his power. And that can be addressed democratically.

    I’m wondering what your position would be if every Jew in possession of a billion or so suddenly converted (sincerely) to Christianity or atheism or Siberian squirrel worship.

    Same people: how would you distinguish them then?

  • Dave Lawton

    @RD

    “Of course this is the same Dave Lawson who defended Putin’s self proclaimed increase and improvement in nuclear weapons as just being a replacement of existing weapons – so I daresay he does think that Putin is a saint.”

    I`m sure you are not that stupid RD or maybe you are.The US and Russia are upgrading their Nukes.
    Have you ever heard of radioactive decay? It turns them it dud`s.

  • Dave Hansell

    “Rubbish.”

    Once again it is indeed gratifying to see the principles of The Enlightenment, in which empirical and hard evidence is used to substantiate a conclusion, being utilised. So often these days we see conclusions being put forward on the basis that this is so simply because the writer says or wishes it is so.

    It is indeed a long time since I was privileged to witness someone repudiating their own words and meaning and genuinely believing it. We used have and chap with this condition and a place I worked at years ago. I will not use his real name, but he used to be known as Billy two heads, although in reality there were at least three different personalities in there sharing the same cranial space.

    It would perhaps be helpful if Craig could devise some method of numbering and /or labelling scheme to the postings which would give us a reasonable clue as to which personality happens to be posting under the name of Fred at any one time.

    Failing that perhaps Muscleguy could recommend some appropriate medication for this site’s answer to Altogether Andrews.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    Daniel

    “All I’m saying is that Jewish power is disproportionate and needs to be acknowledged without fear or favour.”
    _________________

    That’s what you’re saying now after Ba’al demolished you. You didn’t start out by saying that.You’re a twister (I suppose that comes as standard issue kit for the unreconstructed Marxist).

  • Daniel

    Ba’al Zevul,

    I think it’s a concern that one elite ethnicity who share the same sociopolitical, philosophical and cultural outlook have a disproportionate control on the reins of global power whose reach even extends to augmenting a culture of controlled opposition within liberal anti-Zionist groups like JVP and BDS. That ought to be worrying to anybody who supports the Palestinian people.

  • Daniel

    “That’s what you’re saying now after Ba’al demolished you.”

    Nope, that’s what I said from the outset.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    …That ought to be worrying to anybody who supports the Palestinian people.
    Your global power elite shares the same goals, regardless of its members’ ethnicity, culture, whatever. Cash in the (offshore) bank. They must be so bored, poor things. If you’re looking to get me riled-up about Palestine, try the line that the Israeli Zionists cite the holocaust on every possible occasion as justification for inflicting terror on a largely unarmed population. That might work. But even then I’d have to acknowledge that an awful lot of diaspora Jews are wholly and actively against this perversion of the Jewish dream. Including rich ones.

  • Daniel

    “But even then I’d have to acknowledge that an awful lot of diaspora Jews are wholly and actively against this perversion of the Jewish dream. Including rich ones.”

    An awful lot is nevertheless a minority:

    An exclusive poll for the JC revealed that two thirds of British Jews who have a view on the Israeli election would vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Asked who they would support if they could vote in next week’s ballot, 67 per cent of those with an opinion said they would choose Mr. Netanyahu’s centre-right Likud:

    http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2015/3/14/israeli-election-diaspora-jews-vs-israelis#

    The Jewish State is no different. Netanyahu was re-elected on a mandate that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch – a corrective to the succession of Israeli statesmen that have hitherto lied and mislead the world:

    http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.648122

    The UK Jewish diaspora is Israel, Israel is Bibi and Bibi is Israel.

    Meanwhile:

    A disproportionately higher amount of the Jewish population compared to the population in general (67%) voted for the Conservative Party in the last election. Could the reason have been that a higher amount of Conservatives MPs (80%) are CFI members (Conservative Friends of the Jewish state who re-elected into power a leader elected on a mandate of open anti-Palestinian hostility? Just a thought.

    Jewish-Israeli support for Netanyahu is consistent with the overwhelming Israeli-Jewish support for Operation Protective Edge:

    http://ukmediawatch.org/2015/07/07/the-independent-obfuscates-overwhelming-israeli-support-for-operation-protective-edge/

    Interestingly, in Febuary the BBC published a poll that measured British Muslims’ attitude towards Britain. Unlike the majority of Jews who expressed their will to leave Europe, 95% of the Muslims here are “loyal to Britain.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31293196

    In spite of Britain’s waging countless wars against Muslim countries for decades, despite Britain’s blind support for Israel and despite the ongoing discrimination against Muslims in Britain, nineteen out of twenty Muslims remain loyal to this Kingdom. Contrast this with at least half the of Jews who, although they enjoy prominence in this country and whose Israeli Lobby has enjoyed remarkable success, appear willing to leave this country behind.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    There is so much I could take issue with there, Daniel, but you rightly assume I can’t be arsed. You are either an antisemite (sensu strictu) or pretending to be one. You are therefore serving the Israeli cause either way.

  • lwtc247

    I agree with what Daniel is pointing out. Suggesting anti-Semitism is frankly dafy akin to saying someone who hates this ISIL is an Islamophobe. Besides, in I’m yet to see someone who has a default hatred for Shem and his descendants, I question such a perceptions very existence.

  • lysias

    Adopt the ancient Athenian system of choosing legislators and officials by lot, and by the laws of statistics every segment of the population will be represented proportionally to their share of the population.

  • Daniel

    “Suggesting anti-Semitism is frankly dafy akin to saying someone who hates this ISIL is an Islamophobe”

    Very astute – a point I hadn’t considered before.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    Chris Moore (above) refers us to a website called “The autoamatic earth2 and to an article written by one Raul Ilari Meijer.

    If Craig does respond to your invitation to comment, perhaps he wil start by commenting on whether the following prophecy,, which appears very early on in the article, has been fulfilled:

    “Tsipras, first through holding a referendum, and then through delivering a proposal that at first sight looked worse than what the Troika provided before the referendum, has managed a number of things.

    First, his domestic support base has solidified. That’s what the referendum confirmed once more. Second, he’s given the Troika members, plus the various nations that think they represent them, something that was sure from the moment he sent it to them: a way to divide and rule and conquer the lot.”

    ++++++++++++++++

    Conclusion: “Raul Ilari Meijer” should change his name to “Raul Hilarious Meijer” and should immediately start commenting on here, where he would feel very much at home.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    SYRIZA in turmoil following the Brussels deal, Tsipras’s (Parliamentary) support base very much liquified.

  • lwtc247

    Sadly, it does indeed appear Tsipras has given in too much than he should have. (which IMHO should have been a rejection of all interest on any loans and a schedule for paying the capital amounts in a time frame of Greece’s choosing; f the EU chooses to have a currency which deflates over time that is Europe’s problem. Screw the bloody Euro.

    Tsipras spent too much time with them, He should have surrounded himself with a reasonable Greek delegation and have hosted the talks in Greece. I wonder, just wonder, if any of these usurious immoral banker types employed mind bending techniques? I’d be fascinated to know of any psychological NLP ‘schemes’ that may (or may not) have been sneakily employed in the “talks”. If billions of interest were up for grabs, wouldn’t you petter the Greeks with subconscious mind games?

  • lwtc247

    Here’s Yanis Varoufakis’ opinion on the Greek/EU post-“agreement”
    in conversation with Phillip Adams on ABC radio.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZeY5xkPc9U
    Interesting, Yanis reveals he and Tsipras seem to have diverged, but realises Tsipras really had an impossible (by conventional thinking!) choice. Varoufakis is a lot more uncompromising than Tsipras.

  • lwtc247

    So, given what looks like Tsipras’ “shift too far”,
    If the Greek parliament passes it, then I acknowledge the Tspiras’ critics here.

    [there is still the chance that Tsipras is playing a game for time, not in fact privately advocating the parliament approves the ‘agreement’. Varoufakis seems to have suggested that]

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    Of course the Greek parliament will pass the package (tonight or perhaps early tomorrow) and that is because New Democracy, Pasok and To Potami will vote with the govt.

    The same will apply, in principle, to the further, more detailed legislation but there surprises are not to be entirely ruled out. As other developments are not either.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    “Tsipras spent too much time with them, He should have surrounded himself with a reasonable Greek delegation and have hosted the talks in Greece.”

    _____________________

    Wake up. The Greek delegation which accompanied Tsipras was numerous and included Tsakalotos. High reps from New Democracy and Pasok were also present in Brussels. And you should know that all formal meetings of the Eurogroup (Finance Ministers) and Eurozone Heads take pace in Brussels.

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