Weisbrot, M. (2015) “Who’s Extorting Whom? It’s All About Coercion“, The Huffington Post, 17 February.
The Economist‘s Feb. 6 cover displayed the Venus de Milo statue pointing a revolver, with the headline “Go ahead, Angela, make my day.” In the editors’ upside-down world, Greece is threatening Europe, or at least Germany. Really?
On Monday, Feb. 16, European officials “handed Athens an ultimatum: Agree by Friday to continue with a bailout program or risk the funding that the country needs to avoid a default,” The New York Times reported.
Then there is Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister and die-hard supporter of the failed austerity policies that brought Greece six years of depression. On Feb. 11, according to the Financial Times, he “hinted darkly that a Greek plan to leave the bailout at the end of the month could draw a harsh reaction from financial markets.”
“I wouldn’t know how financial markets will handle it, without a programme — but maybe [Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras] knows better.”
[…]Relevant posts:
- Weisbrot, M. (2015) “Greece: ECB Kicks Syriza in the Face; Syriza Turns the Other Cheek“, The Huffington Post, 05 February.
- Wright, Τ. (2015) “Will Syriza’s Victory in Greece Mean Easing Austerity?“, Newsweek, 29 January.
- Aldermanjan, L. (2015) “Tsipras’s Debt Plan Sends Athens Stock Market Sliding“, The New York Times – International Business, 28 January.