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On Wednesday the European Central Bank announced it would no longer accept Greek government bonds and government-guaranteed debt as collateral. But Syriza's leadership are playing it smart. They responded to the ECB's assault without animosity or denunciations. They want the world to know who is the aggressor here and who is being reasonable.
Every day brings more headlines in the European debt drama: "Greece elects anti-austerity government." "Greek Finance Minister says he won't negotiate with the 'Troika.'" "Anti-austerity movements gain ground across Europe." What's behind these stories? What does the future hold? Are there any implications for the U.S.? Here's an overview of the situation as it currently stands.
These past two weeks mark a new start for Greece. The country is now, for the first time since joining the Eurozone, beginning to negotiate a new debt agreement as it rolls back austerity measures.
These eight hotels -- whether perched on the rocking outcroppings of the Italian coast or hidden away amidst the rice fields of northern Thailand -- are some of the most romantic in the world and are the perfect places for a romantic rendezvous... with a little international flair.
Greece has been suffering from high levels of unemployment, and the standard of living has dropped precipitously, as a direct result of the cuts in government programs mandated by the EU and the IMF. The EU should have predicted this result: This was the great unlearned lesson from the experience of East-Central Europe over the last 25 years.
In claiming a huge victory for his radical left-wing Syriza party on January 25th, Alexis Tsipras was able to provoke a stunning response from the Greek electorate to his country's economic collapse that continued unabated through five long years of austerity.
Does anyone in their right mind think that any country would willingly put itself through what Greece has gone through, just to get a free ride from its creditors? If there is a moral hazard, it is on the part of the lenders -- especially in the private sector -- who have been bailed out repeatedly.
Unless the political and economic integration catches up, a sufficiently big crisis will inevitably rip up the Euro zone.
ATHENS -- Syriza's new geopolitics have won it many friends in Moscow. Moscow reciprocated to the Greek government's statements opposing the embargo by praising Greece for its "democratic attitude," while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov immediately invited his Greek counterpart to Moscow.
If there is one thing that has poisoned the European economy after the 2008 crisis, it is the German idea that a purge comes before a recovery.
BERLIN -- Not long ago, German politicians and journalists confidently declared that the euro crisis was over; Germany and the European Union, they believed, had weathered the storm. Today, we know that this was just another mistake in an ongoing crisis that has been full of them. The latest error, as with most of the earlier ones, stemmed from wishful thinking -- and, once again, it is Greece that has broken the reverie.
The people of Greece rebelled last week against the perverse notion that they should continue to endure biting austerity in a vain attempt to cure a condition that they are not solely responsible for creating. Sounds familiar, right?
Scapegoating the EU for not pardoning or easing terms on debt, accusing minorities of tax fraud and ramping up government expenses are surely not part of the road to resolution.
Yannis Varoufakis is not a household name in North America or Western Europe. But in the coming days people who pay attention to the press and other mass media will hear more about him.
The country that brought to the world modern democracy has shown the refreshing meaning of giving people the right to say who rules them. Let us hope that our region will benefit politically from the new elections and also absorb the liberating power of democracy.
In the following interview, Mario Seccareccia, a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa, talks about why what happened to Greece was entirely predictable, why the Greeks were right to reject austerity in the recent election, and what challenges the country faces in forging a sustainable path forward with the left-wing Syriza party at the helm.
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