What, does yer man think Putin is going to start shoveling a pile of money to Athens? He can barely pay his own bills now, between the price of oil tanking and the economic sanctions on the Russian economy.

If this means Keanu Reeves is my messiah, I'll stay a battery, thank you.

Mr. Mudede, your commentary regarding capitalism ultimately eating itself because people can't be totally commodified but must be free to be exploited reminds me of Alan Watts' lecture on the impossible demand of parents that their children love them, but do it of their own free will. Apparently capitalism demands the same impossible Catch-22 of free yet required love and devotion that our families and religions do: We must love the parents who begot us and love the gods we've created, especially the money god we're all forced to worship.

That is...actually not the dumbest interpretation of The Matrix that I've ever seen.

The story 20th century Greece is the story of violent swings between left and right, sometimes at the hands of the exact same agents. Seems little has changed, except perhaps the violence is less.

Whatever its "official" economic platform, the Greek economy is fundamentally built on top of graft, corruption, patronage, and nepotism, the same factors that have prevented so many 3rd world countries from enjoying the benefits of a functional and (at least somewhat) fair economy.

Whether or not it can admit it, Greece would stand to benefit from the modernization of its economy according to EU standards far more than the EU would benefit from Greece's membership.

It seems like the finance minister believes, with some cause, that The Matrix is a metaphor for capitalism. A documentary would be a different type of movie, one which I suspect you're actually already familiar with. Fire your headline writer, etc.

But they can't be forced into it any more than African nations could be forced into a beneficial union.

#8 Greece was not forced into this union (the Eurozone), it gleefully accepted membership. The EU makes a simple proposition to prospective members…if you modernize your economy, and pay your bills on time, you can have the full backing of the partners to finance many wonderful things in your homelands. A very oversimplification, I know, but generally true.

Greece said "sign me up!" and went from 1940s infrastructure to the 21st century in a matter of years. If you've been to Greece before and after, the transformation is pretty amazing…great freeways, trains, subways, airports, seaports out of what was not much more advanced than quaint, but ineffective, dirt paths. Equally important was that your average working class stiff in Athens could afford (or finance) a life not too different than his/her equivalent in Berlin, something that would have seemed impossible a generation before.

Basically, Greece took the deal, and the money, but didn't hold up their end of the bargain. I love Greece, it's a beautiful country, with a very important cultural heritage, and if you have a Greek friend, they would probably sacrifice their life for you. However, their economy has been based on lots of magical thinking, and I don't think Germany should be made out the villain for not wanting to throw money into the toilet. Since the euros to pay for a Greek bailout come from the taxes paid by the voting public in Germany (and elsewhere in the EU), I don't think anyone should be surprised that domestic politicians respond to their concerns.

The Greeks are not being punished, they just aren't getting a blank check (which, I guess, is a type of punishment in this case). The Greek public should not be made to suffer, and a non destructive solution should be found, but they only have themselves to blame for the Crisis. Maybe the banks should not have loaned the money, but I'm not sure that a EU member could have (at the time) been denied that way.

I actually think this new government is incredibly interesting, with realistic, smart people who might be creative enough to get out of this mess. I sure hope so.

Some local thinkers don't think Syriza will actually help. But maybe they're too radical for this rag.
Regardless, this next year will certainly be interesting to watch.

@12

"CrimethInc. is an anonymous network of anarchists and insurgents, a desperate measure against quantification and computation, a flaming hearse for the for the hierarchies of our age."

All of that try-hard verbosity and Freshman Poli Sci student idealism, it's very Mudede-esque.

Because nobody has ever used The Matrix as an allegory for capitalism.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busine…

The Greeks don't want to pay their taxes. Isn't that the opposite of socialism? You can't have a socialist state if you don't share the wealth.