Sunday, March 3, 2013

Arms local stores and loan peddlers took down Greece



This post is from The Tyee, The designation-Winning online source for news and ideas based in calgary. There has been much finger wagging from Germany about the demand for Greek fiscal restraint and discipline, But what role have the German arms industry and fraudulent European banks played in creating this crisis?

During the last decade, Greece has been the largest importer of conventional military hardware in europe. Greek military spending as a portion of GDP is more than any other EU member and tops even nations such as Pakistan, Which is engaged in different ongoing conflicts.

Greece now has a lot greater than 1,200 stop tanks, 1,700 armoured office team carriers, 300 jet killer jets (In particular 156 F-16s), Eight submarines and most 40 frigates, Gunboats and various missile carriers. The bloated Greek government now has an air force similar in size to Germany a front-Line member of NATO with an economy 10 times larger than Greece and eight times as lots.

And what country is so threatening to Greece that may perhaps justify this level of spending by such a dangerously indebted country? Clearly their NATO partner, Chicken. Richer still is speculation from the CIA that the greatest peril to the Greek government is not a conflict with Turkey, But a domestic military coup How To Attract, Seduce And Satisfy Women Even If You’re Uglier Than A Goat! Online Tutorial With Videos! Partners Earn Huge 60% Payout With Little Work As My Website Does The Selling For You. Make Big Bucks With Romance And Relationship! Ugly Mans Guide To Getting Laid! stemming from draconian cuts to the Greek public service and the foreseen civic unrest that has ensued.

So severe are Greek austerity measures that the not has warned that basic human rights of Greek citizens are being violated. The Greek suicide rate has doubled as being the bank-Imposed austerity processes. Being out of work is over 16 per cent. Cutting more or faster without threatening revolution would probably be impossible since the Greek population has been pushed to the limits of human tolerance.

It is no small irony that military having to pay out, On the face aimed at making the world a safer place, Could well trigger a banking contagion that might unhinge the world economy. Corporations Greek military equipment was also manufactured in Germany, This particular language, Britain and the nation, Creating a helpful conflict of interest.

While the EU has very often criticized Greece for its lack of fiscal restraint, Certain loudest voices, Which includes Germany and France, Have profited massively by loading up the sagging Greek economy with quantities of dollars in their military exports. These purchases by Greece fully landed 15 per cent of German arms sales between 2006 and 2010.

Troubling questions are also raised by loan guarantees offered by banks operating in the EU. The risk to European banks and arms organizations in providing reckless loans to Greece has been very low since these loans are guaranteed by the European Financial Stability Facility. For the forseeable future, Bankers might even reap windfall profits from the initial collapse of the Greek economy as costs on Greek bonds balloon to the stratosphere. Definitely, Unless the entire home of cards comes crashing down.

Banks everywhere, Around the, Seem unable to restrain their group greed, Even as it unravels her own industry. The IMF warned that the EU debt conditions has cost their banking sector almost $275 billion since 2009, Likely another global credit crisis.

In the meantime, The enthusiastic German arms industry is further showing its fixation on profits over principles by selling 200 Leopard battle tanks to the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis helped crush a popular uprising types of art this year in neighbouring Bahrain as the Arab Spring spread all through the Middle East.

We should also which Greece was saddled with massive debt earlier this decade, Partially due to exorbitant spending dictated by the crucial Olympic Committee (IOC) A business ranked as the least accountable on the planet.

The narrative just about everyone has been told of the lazy, Reckless Greeks threatening global stability ignores some obvious facts. American banks, The arms industry and even the IOC have profited handsomely from creating this mess.

Make certain history does not continue to repeat itself, In Greece or everywhere else, We need to change the role of the banking industry. This sector has morphed from a useful part of the economy providing important financial services into a grotesque global oligarchy that is a danger to everyone, Contains itself.

Challenging such powerful interests first requires correcting the public narrative of reckless creditors, Too lazy to, In place of bankers racking up reckless private debt that becomes the taxpayers burden when things go south.

It will also require a large number of political will. Happily, Governments everywhere are getting some long overdue heat from their beleaguered populations. The protests in Athens and the growing Occupy Wall Street movement in North America resonate with similar collective rage, And a cure for a better world