Diamond is exactly right, and, save for village idiots, every Greek knows it, whatever side they are on, exploiter or exploited.

That is a singular peculiarity of the Greeks, and part of their ancient heritage—they don’t bother lying to one another when it comes to reality.

The exploited vastly outnumber the EU and IMF exploiters, and if you care to look carefully, even some of the police are sympathetic, and just going through the motions.

No Colonels this time.

The revolution has begun.

Come on folks! Let’s face facts. The IMF are the storm troopers of the neo liberals and the Greeks know what they now face. Years of debt, wage cutting and extending of the age they can retire all so they can pay off the debts of politicians and bankers which they themselves did not incur. They have this in common with most of the countries in Africa and the rest of the third world. But, of course, they are part of the EU and thought they had put all that behind them. A lot of these countries are now going to find out how it feels to be under the IMF’s jackboot, paying off debts which will never be paid off. What goes around comes around. The main thing to remember is that the bankers and politicians who created the debt NEVER pay it back and they don’t usually go to jail either because they’ve de-regulated everything and like Goldman Sachs can claim their criminal behaviour was merely unwise and not illegal.

Before the IMF (The International Monetary Fund) changed its spots; prior to WWII it was known as the BIS (Bank for International Settlements); a monolithic monetary mechanism designed for funneling the public’s pilfered loot into private hands. Who wouldn’t wish to flee its clutches?

Not unlike those grand illusionists from Wall Street, epitomized in the great ‘market maker’ from Goldmann Sachs, Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre; while filching the public with a shell-game of ‘structured products’ at the street level, similar ‘structured products’ are presented and sold, in greater quantities, by the IMF at a National level.

In exchange for the ‘structured product’ – a sack of air - the IMF imposes a heavy debt noose, intended to wrench loose publically held properties and enterprises, placing them into capitalist - ‘free market’ hands; think Pinochet and Ronnie Reagan!

***
Brief History - (Trading With the Enemy – 1985 – Charles Higham)

The Bank for International Settlements was a joint
creation in 1930 of the world’s central banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Its existence was inspired by Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, Nazi Minister of Economics and president of the Reichsbank, with powerful connections in Wall Street.

1944, while young Americans were dying on Italian beachheads, Thomas Harrington McKittrick, American president of the Nazi-controlled Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, arrived at his office to preside over fourth annual meeting in time of war. This polished American gentleman sat down with his German, Japanese, Italian, British, and American executive staff to discuss such important matters as the $378 million in gold that had been sent to the Bank by the Nazi government after Pearl Harbor for use by its leaders after the war. This was gold that had been looted from the national banks of Austria, Holland, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia, or melted down from Reichsbank holdings.

Sensing Adolf Hitler’s lust for war and conquest, Schacht, even before Hitler rose to power in the Reichstag, pushed for an institution that would retain channels of communication and collusion between world financial leaders even in the event of an international conflict. It was written into the Bank’s charter, concurred in by the respective governments, that the BIS should be immune from seizure, closure, or censure, whether or not its owners were at war. The owners included the Morgan-affiliated First National Bank of New York (among whose directors were Harold S. Vanderbilt and Wendell Willkie), the Bank of England, the Reichsbank, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of France, and other central banks.

The BIS was completely under Hitler’s control by the outbreak of WW II.

At the International Monetary Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, July 10, 1944, resolutions were introduce calling for the BIS to be dissolved “at the earliest possible moment.” However, pressure was brought to bear to withdraw a second resolution calling for an investigation into the books and records of the BIS during the war. Had such an investigation taken place, the Nazi-American connection would have been exposed.
***

Throughout the war the BIS played a significant role as collaborator in funneling U.S. monetary support into the Nazi war effort, while divvying up much war loot. Towards the end of the war, calls for dissolution of the BIS, prompted U.S.  Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau to blurt out, “the bank should be disbanded because to disband it would be good propaganda for the United States.”

In essence, dissolving the BIS, while having it reemerge as the IMF was simply a psychological slight of hand; propaganda, intended to divert the public mind, and put it to sleep. Sixty-five years later, there’s no telling what other darkness is still buried within Chase Bank vaults, locked away under the guise of national security!

Peace & Hope

These people are rightfully protesting their children’s future to be sold to the IMF criminal organization by their corrupt government. Americans - here is a perfect example for you, watch and learn.

Commune 115 has the right idea—and the Greeks are executing it in the streets.

The revolution has begun.

The “Z” on the sidewalk is immortal.

>>But with poverty growing and the country’s militant Communist party insisting that “the plutocracy pay” for the crisis, Greece could also be headed for a new class warfare the likes of which have never been seen before. Some commentators have not ruled out kidnappings and assassinations as Greek turns against Greek in the months ahead.<<

The author must have slept thru post WW2 European History and the bloody Greek Civil War. It included assassinations and kidnappings and murders, and more. That is, until the Right Wing pseudo-Fascists won, with the overt help of both the Brits and the Yanks. If I remember correctly, anything went, as long as it ensured some dead Commies and the superiority of the Military/Money Consortium.

Now, we read that the current crisis is the result of the Ottoman Turks! You will note, that the article jumps from the German invasion in ‘41, straight to the Military Junta taking charge in 1948 [dates may be off a bit].

I seem to recall the CIA documents aired by the Church Committee came across evidence of the US arranging the assassination of a popular Greek Diplomat/Politician. The book, and movie ‘Z’ are fairly illuminating on what was going on in post-war Greece. There is another movie, whose title I’ve forgotten, that shows the cost of the Civil War for the smaller villages were it was brother against brother, father against son. Is Elena the name of it?

Just as the outcome of our Civil War has never been accepted by the losers; the Spanish Civil War is still being fought in Barcelona; and the Miami Cubans long for Batista; So too does the Greek Civil War reverberate in today’s news.

It is truly frightening how little History is taught and remembered today. We act as if every event exists only in the moment and has no back-story. The Workers and Students, and peasants of Greece want to even the score.

Can’t say that I blame them!

Commune115, May 9 at 9:25 pm,

Greece is poor in natural resources, so piranha nations will have no reason to bring democracy to Greece, so the government may be able to work out their debt problems with the IMF.

The Greek people need to overthrow the system and establish a revolutionary government to set Europe ablaze. This is how the IMF always works, nobody gives a s—t about our neighbors so few people even remember that this already happened in Argentina back in 2000-2001.

***********************

Nice scary peek into america’s future. But it is incredible that
greeks are asking how this happened to them. Well, when the
money runs out, so to speak, that will open eyes that had been
shut for too long. I’m not sure what the greek’s msm is like but if
it is even close to what america’s msm is like, then there is cause
numero unos or second at least.

And it does have something to do with people being elected to
office and then confronting those criminal bribers, the lobbyists,
and they are hard to turn away from without selling one’s soul. So,
yes, cronyism and corruption, just seems to keeping winning the
day and the only antidote is for the people to get out and protest
however they can to stop the absconding effects of ‘elitist’
organization such as the imf, wto or world bank from TAKING a
people’s sovereignty from them.

I’m with Krugman and JOhnson - waiting for the fat lady to step up to the microphone. Greece may not be in the Euro much longer.