Posted on 21 January, 2013 by admin
A
strange report prepared by Admiral Maksimov for Prime Minister Putin of
the Russian Northern Fleet indicates that a ‘mysterious magnetic
vortex’ currently centered in the Gulf of Aden has “defied” all the
combined efforts of Russia, U.S. and China to stop it, without being
able to determine its exact origin or reason for being. ”
Gulf
of Aden is one of the busiest waterways in the world located in the Sea
Oman between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and
Somalia in the Horn of Africa, it sees over 21,000 ships sailing in its
waters every year.
If Greece is forced out of the euro zone, other countries will inevitably follow and the currency bloc will collapse, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Sunday, in comments which drew a rebuke from Italy.
Greece's new leftist government is trying to re-negotiate its debt repayments and has begun to roll back austerity policies agreed with its international creditors.
In an interview with Italian state television network RAI, Varoufakis said Greece's debt problems must be solved as part of a rejection of austerity policies for the euro zone as a whole. He called for a massive "new deal" investment programme funded by the European Investment Bank.
"The euro is fragile, it's like building a castle of cards, if you take out the Greek card the others will collapse." Varoufakis said according to an Italian transcript of the interview released by RAI ahead of broadcast.
The euro zone faces a risk of fragmentation and "de-construction" unless it faces up to the fact that Greece, and not only Greece, is unable to pay back its debt under the current terms, Varoufakis said.
"I would warn anyone who is considering strategically amputating Greece from Europe because this is very dangerous," he said. "Who will be next after us? Portugal? What will happen when Italy discovers it is impossible to remain inside the straitjacket of austerity?"
Varoufakis and his Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received friendly words but no support for debt re-negotiation from their Italian counterparts when they visited Rome last week. But Varoufakis said things were different behind the scenes.
Greek govt wins confidence vote in parliament
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has secured a parliamentary confidence vote after pledging not to return to austerity or bailout programs. Lawmakers voted 162-137 for Tsipras and his leftist Syriza party government. The backing of 162 deputies in the 300-seat parliament comes from a coalition with the right-wing, anti-bailout Independent Greeks party. The support vote comes ahead of Thursday's eurozone EU leaders meeting aimed at discussing Greece's future.
Greece Says "No Way Back" In Bid To Rewrite Bailout Deal
| By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS
Posted: 02/10/2015 9:06 pm EST Updated: 41 minutes ago
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's new prime minister struck a defiant tone on the eve of high-stakes negotiations with skeptical European creditors, saying there is "no way back" for his radical left-led government in its quest to rewrite the barely solvent country's bailout commitments.
Alexis Tsipras said late Tuesday that Greece is seeking a new deal with its bailout creditors that would not condemn Greeks battered by five bitter years of income cuts, tax hikes and record job losses "to a lifetime of misery."
Tsipras spoke just before a vote of confidence, which his two week-old government easily won by 162-137 votes. Tsipras' radical left Syriza party was backed by lawmakers from its unlikely coalition partner — a small populist right-wing party that says Greece could turn to Russia, the U.S. or China for help if talks with creditors fail.
On Wednesday, eurozone finance ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Greece, which will be grilled for details on its proposed new deal to replace the frozen bailout agreements.
Athens is under intense pressure to stick to its extant commitments — with potentially softer terms — that enabled it to draw about 240 billion euros in rescue loans since it nearly went bankrupt in 2010. Greece counters that it needs a transitional agreement for continued support, but no new loans, until a final deal can be crafted by the end of the summer.
"How much of the bailout deal do we accept? Zero percent. What percentage of the (cost-cutting) measures do we accept? About 30 percent of that agreement is toxic and we reject it," Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said.
"If you are not willing to even contemplate a rift, then you are not negotiating."
Germany, the main European contributor to Greece's rescue loans and a champion of fiscal discipline, took a tough line Tuesday, tempering market hopes that a compromise was in the works.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that the negotiations would be dead if Athens pulls out of the current bailout program.
He also said there was no chance of reaching a final deal in Brussels on Wednesday.
"The public statements (by Greece) are more confusing than helpful," Schaeuble said, speaking in Istanbul, Turkey, after a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers.
The current bailout program ends after Feb. 28, so both sides are under pressure to reach a deal.
Greece needs money to avoid bankruptcy, which could ultimately push it out of the eurozone and force it to adopt a new currency — a development that would cause massive financial damage for the country, at least in the short term. For the eurozone, an exit from the euro by Greece would bring huge market uncertainty.
Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras, a conservative, warned during Tuesday's debate in parliament that the government will be negotiating in Brussels "from a position of absolute weakness."
"Do you think it's impossible to leave the eurozone?" the former prime minister said. "That's a mistake. There may be no legal provision ... but you can be forced out."
"There is no magic button for the money to start flowing in the streets," Samaras added.
Expectations that Greece could be granted extra time to hold new negotiations buoyed markets Tuesday. Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange shot up nearly 8 percent, while the European Stoxx 50 index was up 1.06 percent.
"There are several reasons to be optimistic, starting with Europe's track record over the past few years of finding a solution to the rolling eurozone crisis, often in the final moments," said Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the London School of Economics.
But EU officials also suggested a final deal would take time and would likely not be reached at this week's meetings.
EU Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said Wednesday's meetings will be a first opportunity for the ministers to hear from the new government. That meeting will be followed by an EU leaders' summit on Thursday.
The finance ministers convene again next Monday in Brussels, hoping to find a breakthrough at that stage.
Greece's New PM Sets Up EU Clash With Bailout Rejection, Austerity Rollback
Reuters
Posted: 02/08/2015 3:44 pm EST Updated: 42 minutes ago
By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras laid out plans on Sunday to dismantle Greece's "cruel" austerity program, ruling out any extension of its international bailout and setting himself on a collision course with his European partners.
In his first major speech to parliament since storming to power last month, Tsipras rattled off a list of moves to reverse reforms imposed by European and International Monetary Fund lenders: from reinstating pension bonuses and canceling a property tax to ending mass layoffs and raising the mininum wage back to pre-crisis levels.
Showing little intent to heed warnings from EU partners to stick to commitments in the 240 billion euro bailout, Tsipras said he intended to fully respect campaign pledges to heal the "wounds" of the austerity that was a condition of the money.
Greece would achieve balanced budgets but would no longer produce unrealistic primary budget surpluses, he said, a reference to requirements to be in the black excluding debt repayments.
"The bailout failed," the 40-year-old leader told parliament to applause. "We want to make clear in every direction what we are not negotiating. We are not negotiating our national sovereignty."
In a symbolic move that appeared to take direct aim at Greece's biggest creditor, Tsipras finished off his speech with a pledge to seek World War II reparations from Germany.
Tsipras ruled out an extending the bailout beyond Feb. 28 when it is due to end, but said he believed a deal with European partners could be struck on a so-called "bridge" agreement within the next 15 days to keep Greece afloat.
"The new government is not justified in asking for an extension," he said. "Because it cannot ask for an extension of mistakes."
Athens -- which is shut out of bond markets and will struggle to finance itself without more aid quickly -- plans to service its debt, Tsipras said.
"The Greek people gave a strong and clear mandate to immediately end austerity and change policies," he said. "Therefore the bailout was first canceled by its very own failure and its destructive results."
"HUMANITARIAN CRISIS"
Tsipras's stance is being closely watched by European Union leaders who to date have shown scant willingness to meet his demands, fearing a wholesale backtracking on the fiscal and economic reforms and a return to the free-spending days of the past that helped Greece rack up over 300 billion euros in debt.
In a bid to show he was serious about avoiding a new upward spiral in public spending, Tsipras announced a series of cuts to make the government leaner by trimming ministerial benefits like cars and selling one of the prime minister's aircraft.
He also outlined plans to crackdown on tax evasion by targeting the rich and pledged public sector contracts would no longer favor oligarchs, a move that is likely to make him popular among the many Greeks fed up of a state they believe serves the wealthy.
Greeks have been severely hit by the austerity imposed on them by the "troika" of European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Commission lenders. The country is only just coming out of years of economic depression, but roughly one in four Greeks are unemployed.
"The first priority of this government ... is tackling the big wounds of the bailout, tackling the humanitarian crisis just as we promised to do before the elections," Tsipras said.
PLAN FOR CHANGE
Over the past week, Greek officials have laid out what they see as a transitional plan to keep finances flowing over the next few months while they renegotiate their debt agreement.
Instead of the next tranche of bailout funds -- 7.2 billion euros due, pending a suspended review -- Greece's new government wants the right to issue more short-term debt beyond a current 15 billion euro threshold. It also wants 1.9 billion euros in profits from Greek bonds held by the European Central Bank and other euro zone authorities.
With that as a bridge, Greek officials would then try to renegotiate payment of Greek sovereign bond debt, perhaps by extending payments, only paying interest and getting some respite on the budget surplus it is expected to run.
One government official suggested that not everything had to happen at once.
"The pace of the implementation of our promises is 'within four years'," the official said.
Tsipras gave no indication of that during his speech, but voiced optimism that a deal with Europe could happen quickly.
"Many ask: Is this possible to happen in the next days? The contacts I had with the institutional partners of the European Union convinced me that it is feasible," he said.
"Of course there may be many issues which are likely to require time to negotiate, such as the debt issue. But we are fully ready to agree now on most issues as part of a full program." (Additional reporting by Costas Pitas Writing by Jeremy Gaunt and Deepa Babington; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Lefteris Papadimas and Jan Strupczewski
ATHENS/BRUSSELS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Greece's new leftist-led government, isolated in the euro zone and under pressure from the European Central Bank, said on Friday it wanted no more bailout money with strings attached from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Instead, a government official said, it wanted authority from the euro zone to issue more short-term debt, and to receive profits that the European Central Bank and other central banks have gained from holding Greek bonds.
The official said Greece was in effect asking for a "bridge agreement" to keep state finances running until Athens can present a new debt and reform program, "not a new bailout, with terms, inspection visits, etc.".
"It is ... necessary that Greece is given the possibility to issue T-bills, beyond the (current) 15 billion euro threshold, in order to cover any extra needs," said the official, asking not be named.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis returned empty-handed from a tour of European capitals in which even left-leaning governments in France and Italy insisted Greece must stick to commitments made to the European Union and International Monetary Fund and rejected any debt write-off.
The Athens official made clear that the new government, which came to power on a wave of anti-austerity anger in elections last month, now wanted to forego remaining bailout money that had austerity strings attached:
"Greece is not asking for the remaining tranches of the current bailout program - except the 1.9 billion euros that the ECB and the EU member states' central banks must return."
Euro zone finance ministers will discuss how to proceed with financial support for Athens at a special session next Wednesday ahead of the first summit of EU leaders with the new Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, the following day.
NO PROGRESS SO FAR
Participants said no progress was made at a preparatory meeting of senior finance officials in Brussels on Thursday because Greece and its euro zone partners were so far apart.
"It was Greece against all others, basically one versus 18," one official said.
Athens' partners broadly lined up in support of a hardline German document rejecting any roll-back of reforms or commitments made by previous Greek governments.
Tsipras and his ministers promised in their first days in office to raise the minimum wage, re-hire some sacked government employees and stop some privatizations.
This clashed with conditions set by the International Monetary Fund and euro zone countries, which have lent Athens a total of 240 billion euros ($270 billion).
The ECB raised the stakes this week by deciding to bar Greek banks from using Greek government bonds as collateral to borrow from the central bank as long as there is no prospect of an agreed bailout program.
That makes lenders dependent on more costly emergency liquidity from the Greek central bank, which the ECB can stop at any time.
Greek bank shares fell further on Friday at the end of a week of wild swings, as brokers cut their forecasts on worries over dwindling deposits and brinkmanship between Athens and its creditors.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's added to Greece's discomfort by cutting its long-term sovereign debt to 'B minus' from 'B', citing liquidity constraints weighing on Greece's banks.
Portugal, which emerged from its own EU/IMF bailout last year, joined the chorus of countries insisting that Greece must stick to the austerity medicine as Lisbon had done, pay its debts, and respect past agreements with EU partners.
NOT THE EASIEST ROUTE
Economy Minister Antonio Pires de Lima told the Reuters Euro Zone Summit that Lisbon had chosen a route "which was not the easiest one" to recover credibility and return to growth, and "that is also our attitude to the situation in other countries."
Varoufakis was expecting tough treatment from his partners at next Wednesday's meeting, including a demand that he extend the existing bailout program, which expires at the end of February.
"It's expected, obviously there is pressure as part of a dynamic situation, we are in a negotiation. But we believe that we will reach a mutually beneficial solution soon," said a separate official, from the prime minister's office.
Before then, Tsipras will deliver a policy speech to parliament on Sunday and seek a vote of confidence on Tuesday, which he is likely to win easily.
Euro zone officials say Greece is free to design its own reforms in line with Syriza's campaign promises, as long as the result is in line with commitments to stronger public finances, debt repayment and reforms.
Time to reach a deal is short. Some analysts say Greece could run out of cash as early as March without further euro zone help.
"Greece's financing needs over the next five years may amount to 30-35 billion euros," Italy's Unicredit bank said in a research note.
"However, if we set the primary surplus at 1-1.5 percent of GDP and assume that privatizations will stop, as requested by the Greek government, overall financing needs would rise to 60 billion euros," Unicredit said.
Both Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank said their base case was that Greece would remain in the euro zone, but a rise in deposit outflows had raised the risk of a crisis. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Gaunt and Costas Pitas in Athens and Lionel Laurent in London; Writing by Paul Taylor and Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by Giles Elgood and Kevin Liffey)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/greece-bailout_n_6632622.html
