Saturday, October 14th., 2017
I hear enthusiastic rumors about a new University Dept. on Movies/Cinema/Directing and other relative subjects to be established in a small Greek Island, as per Mr. G.Pyatt's wise counselling!
I am totally thrilled by the immense impact of such a memorable investment and flummoxed by the bling and glitter crafts of the Washington Corporation Mediterranean Economic Development Concepts!(Including Crete's total grabbing possibly, too!)
So much more so because I have not yet recovered myself from the shock of the tonnes of shiny, glitzy beads, baubles and trinkets deposited here, at Acropolis foot, by Mr. B.Obama....!!!
So much more so because I have not yet recovered myself from the shock of the tonnes of shiny, glitzy beads, baubles and trinkets deposited here, at Acropolis foot, by Mr. B.Obama....!!!
Maria L. Pelekanaki
13.10.2017
A Greek Recovery That Cannot Come in This Climate of Chaos
Here in Greece the people on the street
are fed up with politicians, all of them. A land with as much potential
for growth as any, is hard pressed to maintain its dignity, culture, and
sense of worth. And waiting in the wings, the same sharks that bit into
Greece before the economic downturn circle for the kill. Greece is in
peril, and the danger has nothing to do with unpaid bills.
Greek Reporter’s Philip Chrysopoulos reflected
recently this same frustration in questioning Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras’ lack of continuity in getting and keeping direct foreign
investment. In his scathing report, Chrysopoulos criticized the
bureaucratic flip-flops over controversial mining operations being
carried out by Canadian company Hellas Gold. The company employs more
than 2000 Greeks, and has been operating in Chalkidiki for over a
decade. But the Tsipras administration has hog tied the company lately
requiring permit after permit. In a game of pretend environmentalism
that obscures the typical Greek wheeling and dealing, Greece’s
government is like a rudderless ship these days, and everyone on the
street here in Heraklion, Crete knows it.
Here on Crete families struggle to
maintain in a paradise of unimaginable diversity. The older generations
watch sorrowfully as their children are forced to leave paradise to
serve masters elsewhere in the “better off” Central and Northern Europe.
A colleague of mine in the tourism industry commented just the other
day on the situation. When mentioned the free thinking generosity of the
Cretans to my friend last week, his words broke like glass on my
perceptions:
“Phil, we’re afraid that sooner or later
the pressure will change us. We maintain still, but things are
beginning to break down. The Greece the world once knew may not exist in
10 years.”
I withhold my friend’s name because his
is not the business of geo-politics, but his fears are echoed everywhere
here. A beautiful girl with a masters degree works in a mattress shop
down the street. A school director’s daughters, both honors graduates of
the university here, they’re headed to Holland or Germany to seek work.
A man who owned several thousand olive trees and an oil production
business, he’s now giving tours of the countryside. And while almost
everyone is in what Americans would call “dire straits”, every girl and
lady has perfect hair and nails, perfectly tailored clothes anybody can
tell are a few years old. When I look at the marble sidewalks with
cracks, and at the Venetian architecture peeling away under the Cretan
sun, I can only think “How prosperous were these people once.” And the
betrayal is not JUST by their own kind.
As someone who’s covered crisis the last
few years, few names resonate with a sour note like that of former US
Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt. Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, Victoria
Nuland, he’s now stationed in Athens for God knows what mission. A
holdover from the Obama administration, Pyatt is bad news for anybody
who’s studied his past roles in crisis ridden countries. For a window
into his mission, just reading headlines about his activities since
arriving in Greece offer clues. Focusing on Greek Reporter again, a
story entitled “U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey R. Pyatt Promotes
Greek Recovery to American Investors” tells us where Tsirpas’ orders
emanate from.
June 27th Pyatt parrots the narrative of
attracting investment at the 6th Greek Investment Road Show, On June 30
Tsipras pleaded with investors already burned by Greece
entrepreneurship to put up more cash. The Greek people are fed up, like I
said, with promises, promises, promises from their leaders and the
world’s shark pit as well. Tsipras’ opposition is now refuting the PM’s
claims foreign investment is on the way. The Liberal-conservative party New Democracy is now hot on the heels of Tsipras’ Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza),
which seems a lot less radical and a lot more like a US hegemony “yes”
party. On the street the people reflect less caring for party names, and
big concerns over the fate of their beloved country. New Democracy’s
2015 platform promised a plan to exit the bailout and return to
growth by further privatizations, along with a corporate tax rate
reduction to 15 percent. From my perspective talking to people here,
even the hardworking cab driver in Heraklion sees wisdom in lower taxes
and a new strategy. Greeks, particularly the Crete people, they are
ready for some success in policy. Returning to Geoffrey Pyatt and the
“American” plans, there’s US interests only where Greece or any nation
is concerned.
The skinny on Pyatt and his mission is
not really so hard to ascertain. I’ve studied the guy and the way the US
State Department operates in social and other media streams as much as
any analyst. The “wording” or the “narrative” betrays the real interests
of these people clearly. The veteran beurocrat speaks openly in this
Greek Reporter interview about bilateral relations, and about America’s
“interests” where Greece is concerned. This is where the Greek people
need to pay close attention. Teasing Greeks interested in US foreign
investment, the wily Pyatt dangled the carrot of American interests, but
then he also betrayed the real reason Greece suffered so badly from the
downturn. Wall Street essentially created a “takeover” economy for the
Greeks. When the market crumbled in 2008, all Greek assets became a
target. Now Pyatt tells Greek Reporter that two US investors interested
in buying Syros’ shipyard. The man Nuland told “Fuck the EU” when
Ukraine got set up for fleecing, called this shipyard deal:
“A strategically important asset that we would like to see remain in the hands of investors from a NATO country“.
Pyatt also dives into the Russophobe
arena talking about Russian investments in the region. Again, one of my
country’s absolute spookiest hegemony henchmen throws down on
“anti-Americanism, US and Europe energy interests, and especially the
Trans Adriatic Pipeline deal. Make no mistake here, Geoffrey Pyatt has
no interest whatsoever in helping Greeks. His mission is to stem the
flow of capital and new ideas that might free Greece from the yoke. At
least this is my greatest fear and my honest assessment. The Trans Adriatic
Pipeline project is a business and geostrategic move to compete with
Russian energy and growth. Pyatt, with his arrogant and simplistic talk
to Greeks gives away the reality of all the wars and crises in the
region.
Meanwhile, I visited an archaeological
site in southern Crete the other day where the treasures of the ages are
washing way because of lack of funding. Every day I look in the faces
of proud, productive, and generous people pushed to the edge by the same
banksters who’ve always pressed us. I am amazed by these people to be
honest. If America underwent such a fleecing the streets would have
already run red. I only hope some Greek politician comes along with the
courage and backing to call a halt to the highway robbery taking place
in the cradle of Western Civilization. The world is on the brink of
losing a fabulous treasure, the Greece that once was.
Phil Butler, is a policy
investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern
Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
https://journal-neo.org/2017/10/13/a-greek-recovery-that-cannot-come-in-this-climate-of-chaos/
https://journal-neo.org/2017/10/13/a-greek-recovery-that-cannot-come-in-this-climate-of-chaos/