Greece's legitimacy crisis
Editor's Note: Thomas Meaney is a doctoral candidate in history at Columbia University and an editor of The Utopian. Harris Mylonas is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University and an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Thomas Meaney and Harris Mylonas.
By Thomas Meaney and Harris Mylonas – Special to CNN
In the past 48 hours, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has succeeded in one thing: Stirring up the anger of nearly everyone around him. The European Union, his own party PASOK, the opposition party New Democracy and the Greek electorate are all pitted against Papandreou. The Greeks have a word for this special brand of rage - they call it “thymos”. This refers to the simmering resentment that arises when one's views are not recognized.
It’s little wonder Papandreou has had to back down from his initial call for a national referendum on the 50% haircut deal decided by the European Union heads of state on October 27.
First off, he failed to get the opposition to agree to the referendum. They called it blackmail, denounced Papandreou as an opportunist and asked for a grand coalition government or immediate elections. Main opposition leader Antonis Samaras’ consensus on Thursday was short-lived and with many conditions.
Meanwhile, the European leaders - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel - called Papandreou’s bluff. 'Go ahead and make our day,' they told him. “Imagine what would happen if we called a referendum on the bailout in our countries?' The International Monetary Fund, for its part, threatened to freeze all of its loans to Greece.
Finally, for Papandreou’s party PASOK the situation is even more dire. Instead of shoring up support from his own party members, the referendum only emboldened cries for his resignation — including from his own Ministers and PASOK Parliamentarians.
Papandreou has recalled his decision for a referendum because he failed in all fronts and it’s become clear that he can no longer be part of the solution.
There are three possible ways the crisis will play out. First, Papandreou could refuse to resign and possibly win the no-confidence vote Friday. This is unlikely since his overall support has reached its all-time low. The second, more likely scenario is that Papandreou loses the vote tomorrow and the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, turns to the other political party leaders to determine if the existing Parliament could form a government. The final scenario, if these efforts fail to build a government, would be new elections, as called for by the Greek Constitution. But it is most likely that a one-party government will not emerge from these elections.
The only way out of these three scenarios is to form a Grand Coalition government. What is a Grand Coalition government? In multi-party parliamentary systems, sometimes one-party governments cannot form. In such instances, coalition governments are often formed including more than one party in order to secure a Parliamentary majority, manage to form a government and pass legislation.
Greece’s history with such governments in the late 1980s does not exactly inspire faith, and the global stakes were smaller then. A grand coalition would entail the cooperation of all the political parties that are in favor of a European future for Greece. They would be ready to support the austerity measures needed to balance the Greek budget and overcome the solvency problem, but most importantly they would be the the parties that can agree on the composition of such a government. This last feature of a Grand Coalition is particularly valuable at a time when consensus-building in the Greek parliament has become nearly impossible.
What remains left out of this discussion is the Greek people. They voted two years ago for a party running on an anti-austerity platform and this is not what they received. Perhaps the current political system is afraid to hear their message. "Thymos" may not be the best state of mind to make choices.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of Thomas Meaney and Harris Mylonas.
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Aristotle had always warned against "thymos", especially when it was expressed en masse. Hence the power of the people wouldn't be democracy but tyranny.
With a 50% haircut, the Greeks are still better off than their peers in Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
Not at all-they would be on the road to slavery which is based on debt .The EU is becoming more like the former Soviet Union trying to create a new Euroman with no religion, no national culture, globalistic viewpoint with the Politburo in Brussells in charge. Greeks need to get out of EU , default and move their economy in a different direction. I believe it will happen or blood will flow in Athens.
PAPANDREAOU IS A MASSIVE LIAR AND THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ON THIS PLANET AND NEEDS TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY! THE GREEK PEOPLE WILL SOON REVOLT EN MASSE IF HE CONTINUES ON HIS BROKEN PATH.
Paul Johnston, PhD Economics, Athens
The true villains in this epic are the Greek people who have failed to pay taxes yet squeezed every cent out of the counrty and the European Union. Germany technically owns Greece now; however, it is a property I would send to the consignment store. Who would want to invest anything in a country with no respect for debts or finanical obligations.
What cerial box did you get your PHD from ? Fool.
every greek well lets say 75% of them who own a store have 2 tills the cash register and the other one their pocket,2-3 years ago you might get a receipt at 2 out of 4-5 stores the outdoor vegetable markets forget about a receipt there, when soneone works for 25-30 years then pulls a big pension for another 25 years how does that work most greeks blame the system but they forget that they do not fully support the system
Did the authors of this article ever heard of DEMOCRACY and Prime Ministers actually representing their people ? It looks to me as if the authors were paid to write nonsense to smear Papandreou -scholars of dubious morality.
For a real analysis of the Greek situation see CNN article of Nov. 3 rd "Greek tragedy has echoes of Argentina" by Hans-Joachim Voth – a smart man.It also applies to the U.S. and when I started reading I had the impression that he was writing about the U.S. Strangely ,it had only 47 comments and I guess no more could be added – we do not want people to know the truth , you know. or think that someone is popular writing facts.
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Do you remember the blockbuster hit film The Matrix that was released in 1999? You may not know this, but it has deep spiritual implications concerning the times we are living in and Bible prophecy.
It tells a story of how these "agents" are trying to turn us into machines. We are closer then ever before for this to become a reality when they cause us to receive an implantable microchip in our body during a time when physical money will be no more.
You may have seen on NBC news concerning the implantable RFID microchip that some people are getting put in their hand to make purchases, but did you know this microchip matches perfectly with prophecy in the Bible?
"He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name...
You also may have heard of the legendary number "666" that people have been speculating for possibly thousands of years on what it actually means. This article shares something I haven't seen before, and I don't think there could be any better explanation for what it means to calculate 666. This is no hoax. Very fascinating stuff!
...Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666" (Revelation 13:16-18 NKJV).
To see all the details showing why the Bible foretold of all these things, check out this article!
Article: https://biblewoke.com/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed
GOD is sending out His end time warning:
"Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name'" (Revelation 14:9-11).
In the Islamic religion they have man called the Mahdi who is known as their messiah of whom they are waiting to take the stage. There are many testimonies from people online who believe this man will be Barack Obama who is to be the biblical Antichrist based off dreams they have received. I myself have had strange dreams about him like no other person. So much so that I decided to share this information.
He came on stage claiming to be a Christian with no affiliation to the Muslim faith...
"In our lives, Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith. But there have been times where my faith has been questioned - by people who don't know me - or they've said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing," – Barack Obama
...but was later revealed by his own family members that he indeed is a devout Muslim.
So what's in the name? The meaning of someones name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface...
"And He (Jesus) said to them (His disciples), 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'" (Luke 10:18).
In the Hebrew language we can uncover the meaning behind the name Barack Obama.
Barack, also transliterated as Baraq, in Hebrew is: lightning
baraq – Biblical definition:
From Strongs H1299; lightning; by analogy a gleam; concretely a flashing sword: – bright, glitter (-ing, sword), lightning. (Strongs Hebrew word H1300 baraq baw-rawk')
Barak 'O'bamah, The use of bamah is used to refer to the "heights" of Heaven.
bamah – Biblical definition:
From an unused root (meaning to be high); an elevation: – height, high place, wave. (Strongs Hebrew word H1116 bamah baw-maw')
The day following the election of Barack Obama (11/04/08), the winning pick 3 lotto numbers in Illinois (Obama's home state) for 11/5/08 were 666.
Obama was a U.S. senator for Illinois, and his zip code was 60606.
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