Greek Elections announced for the 25th of January

[Crandar]

Is that still a thing in Greece? I'm a bit surprised.

In Laconia, yes it is. In the 1974 Referendum, only 30% were pro-King Constantine II, in Laconia and Messenia (from where the prime-minister and the leader of the Golden Dawn are, surprise surprise) it was 70%.
Then, the king's popularity started to gradually decline, mainly because democracy seemed to be working and the Nazi collaborators (in Greece, they were honoured, not punished, due to the Civil War. In fact, the British were the first to arm them, in order to "save" the capital from the Communist partisans) were also gradually relieving us from their presence.
The younger generations were simply too clueless to care about stuff like that, but even before the crisis, he made a popularity come back, frequently being praised by royalists.
The only good thing is that, like his father, Paul I, he's too dumb to be considered a threat. If it wasn't for Paul's wife, Frederica of Hannover, the grandchildren of the last Kaizer, the monarchy would have fallen after the death of George II the Cunning, who was restored to the throne thanks to the British.

[Fragony]

Well this looks bad for Merkel's fourth reich. Good news for the Greeks though,

[Husar]

Yes, let's hope Greece will leave the Eurozone and the EU(, NATO, the UN and so on) as well, they will be so much better off on their own.

[rickinator9]

Yes, let them leave. They will still have to pay everything back though...

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yes, let's hope Greece will leave the Eurozone and the EU(, NATO, the UN and so on) as well, they will be so much better off on their own.

All Germans are Nazis, and support the Holy Roman Empire.

Can we be done with eh sillyness now?

Greece should leave the Euro, their economy can't compete within the Euro, with the Drachma they can devalue, that will put a rocket into their tourism industry this summer. Lots of Germans will exchange their Euros for Drachma and spend Greece out of the hole it's in.

Of course, it would have been better if this had been done ion 2008/9.

[Husar]

All Germans are Nazis, and support the Holy Roman Empire.

Can we be done with eh sillyness now?

I was replying to Fragony, you're probably right about Greece leaving the Euro, after all they shouldn't have joined the Eurozone in the first place.

[Crandar]

I was replying to Fragony, you're probably right about Greece leaving the Euro, after all they shouldn't have joined the Eurozone in the first place.

You are right, but here, if you dare to claim that drachmas will be more beneficial for the economy than the euros, you'l; be stigmatized as a national traitor. CPG is the only party that spoke against euro, even since 2001.

The results:

CORAL is the first party, as expected, having taken 9% more votes than the second New Democracy.
The fascist eggheads are in the 3rd place (not surprised) followed by the River and its autistic leader, Theodoraces.

Next is the CPG, the only party (and CORAL, of course) that came out stronger, followed by PASM nd the Independent Greeks. The party of the ex-prime minister George Papandreou (Democratic Socialist Movement) didn't make it to the Parliament.

Democratic Left, in coalition with the Greens, was crushed, but two... picturesque parties, Point and Union of Centrists got 1.8%. Point was created by a male sex symbol and a couple of popular singers, while the Union of Centrists is a rather old party, whose leader is famous for being crazy.

According to the rumours, CORAL (with 149/300 deputees) is planning to form a coalition with the Independent Greeks. Colour me surprised.

[Fragony]

Yes, let them leave. They will still have to pay everything back though...

Nah, let them have it so they can build things up again. Banks and investers should just take their loss, but not at the expense of the ordinary Greek.

Feel free to mug the politicians who throwed away money though.

[rory_20_uk]

Nah, let them have it so they can build things up again. Banks and investers should just take their loss, but not at the expense of the ordinary Greek.

Feel free to mug the politicians who throwed away money though.

The banks are mainly the ECB... which is a bank backed by the countries in the Euro and hence by the people in the countries with the Euro.

If you were in Spain / italy and there was a way of massively reducing one's debt on to others why not take it?

[InsaneApache]

Talking of Greek debt the new government has got it's work cut out.

http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/greece

[Brenus]

Can I remind here that a lot a debts were NOT paid by States. When the USA took Cuba from Spain, they refused to pay Cuba's debts because "they had been 'imposed upon the people of Cuba".

Germany didn't pay the WW1 reparations (invested in tanks) nor the war's reparation to... Greece, for the amount that Greece had to pay for the Nazi Occupation forces during WW2.

And don't tell it is the past, Putin's Russia paid (not much) the debts of Nicolas II.

By the same token Iraq’s debts were just delete after the fall of Saddam Hussein: The Bush cancelled Iraq's $4.1 billion debt to the United States. Zip. One signature and done. Ooops, 18 Apr 2007: 52 countries, including the Paris Club of creditor nations, have cancelled between 80 percent and 100 percent of Iraq's debts. No world collapsed.

In 1953, a huge part of German debt was cancelled, and in 1990, completely erase due to the cost of the reunification.

See, not difficult...

[Crandar]

The ex-prime minister Anthony Samaras was the first prime-minister of the Greek history that didn't participate in the official ceremy, where the new government replaces the old one.
Succh a mature gentleman.

[Fragony]

The banks are mainly the ECB... which is a bank backed by the countries in the Euro and hence by the people in the countries with the Euro.

If you were in Spain / italy and there was a way of massively reducing one's debt on to others why not take it?

Anything that is bad for the EU is good for us, no matter what it is. As long as it's bad for the EU I am ok with eveything.

[Kralizec]

Can I remind here that a lot a debts were NOT paid by States. When the USA took Cuba from Spain, they refused to pay Cuba's debts because "they had been 'imposed upon the people of Cuba".

Not the best example, probably. The USA also refused to pay back loans to France after the French Revolution, under the reasoning that they had borrowed it from the French monarchy. It was an opportunistic move then, and nowadays would be totally bogus since the 'successor state' concept is generally accepted.

If your point is that countries have defaulted on debts before (or that they have been forgiven under extreme circumstances) without global catastrophe, you're right. There are also examples of defaulting countries ending up in deep trouble because of it.

[Brenus]

Yes, that was my point.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

So what will the new Greek government do?

a) pay the debts

b) ask for reductions but structure payments of the remainder

c) drop the Euro, inflate the drachma and Weimar their way out

d) repudiate the debt and expect everyone to cope

What say you?

[Brenus]

Easy: Neutralisation of the Debt: Pay on let's say, 60 years, or E.B.C. buy the debts back (as USA model) or "burn" it. Remember that Greek debt is negligible comparing the EU GDP.

If this is not accepted, as there is no mechanism to expel Greek from the Euro/EU, Greece can just create a Bank of Investment to which the EBC can't refuse (loan at 0.5 %), and do the "burning" of the Debt.

If fact, after few research, it is amazing how many solutions are possible. Of course, that means to stop paying interest to the financial vultures, Pension Funds, Germany and France.

[a completely inoffensive name]

They will fuck it up, I am calling it now.

[Fisherking]

Well, the PM said he will not default but wants to negotiate.

Also what he wants:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31003070

[Husar]

Very good, now we just have to elect the left in Germany and then we can begin to talk about Russian EU membership.

[Crandar]

Very good, now we just have to elect the left in Germany and then we can begin to talk about Russian EU membership.

Die Linke ist less moderate than CORAL. Just before the elections, they informed the Greek party that they are worried about the recent stance of CORAL of abandoning basic leftist ideals.

[Fragony]

Very good, now we just have to elect the left in Germany and then we can begin to talk about Russian EU membership.

Dream on, the hardest hits have yet to come for europhiles. UKIP is probably going to br the biggest party in the UK, the FN in France, and the PVV in the Netherlands. A lot of people are fed up with the EU, also in Germany.

[Sir Moody]

Dream on, the hardest hits have yet to come for europhiles. UKIP is probably going to br the biggest party in the UK, the FN in France, and the PVV in the Netherlands. A lot of people are fed up with the EU, also in Germany.

Sometimes I wonder if you are disconnected to reality...

UKIP have NO chance of getting a majority in the UK - our first past the post system effectively insures that Labour and the Conservatives will always be no1 and no2 - the threat of UKIP is they will edge out the Conservative vote reducing the Conservative majority - at absolute best they will pick up about the same number of seats as the Liberal Democrats currently hold (57) and more likely they will take around 20 (which is also where the Liberals will likely end up)

[Furunculus]

i doubt more than five, and probably just two.

[Fragony]

Sometimes I wonder if you are disconnected to reality...

UKIP have NO chance of getting a majority in the UK - our first past the post system effectively insures that Labour and the Conservatives will always be no1 and no2 - the threat of UKIP is they will edge out the Conservative vote reducing the Conservative majority - at absolute best they will pick up about the same number of seats as the Liberal Democrats currently hold (57) and more likely they will take around 20 (which is also where the Liberals will likely end up)

oh just scratch them of my wishlist than, just because they exist they will influence policy anyway. Here in the Neds nobody is going to form a government with the PVV, but that doesn't they will have no influence because it's always stupid to neglect popular support. Same with the FN in France, not that I like them, but anything that is against eurocrats, I like anyway. Patience is a great virtue, and eurocrats need a miracle. Eurosceptics only patience.