With much of the world in a dither over hourly developments around Greece, Lyndon LaRouche today cut through to the heart of the matter:
“Let’s get real. The Greeks will never pay their illegitimate debt. They have no reason to pay, and they can’t afford to pay. And it is the entire trans-Atlantic financial system which is bankrupt, not Greece.”
LaRouche stated that this includes the United States, which is entirely bankrupt. Wall Street is totally bankrupt; it represents no wealth, it has no real funds, and deserves zero support. The collapse of the Euro system is underway, and is having chain-reaction effects across the trans-Atlantic region—only some part of South America may make it.
The United States dollar is now in jeopardy, LaRouche warned. We have to recognize that the increase in worthless financial assets, including all of Wall Street’s debts, cannot be covered. If that is tried, a chain-reaction collapse is assured. The argument is to pretend that there is no such systemic problem, that it is all a matter of Greece refusing to pay.
The issue is, how are we going to keep the United States alive with the entire trans-Atlantic system crumbling right now? It is certainly not going to be on the basis of the Republican party, and de facto Republican President Barack Obama, who has to be removed from office immediately, if the U.S. is to survive the financial crash as well as the British Empire’s intent to launch thermonuclear warfare against Russia and China.
We need a Glass-Steagall deal for the United States right now, LaRouche said, in order to save what’s left of our crumbling physical economy. The Wall Street banks, and the entire British Empire, are filled with filth, financial and otherwise, and have to be held accountable for their crimes. “We cannot bail these bastards out,” LaRouche stated.
Germany is the other critical nation at this juncture, LaRouche stated. If Germany dumps Obama’s insane sanctions policy against Russia, and gets into business again with Russia, this could serve as a block against the severity of the trans-Atlantic collapse. It is in Germany’s national interest to do so; and it is also the best option for Europe as a whole—the advantages and implications would be tremendous.
The problem is German Chancellor Murky Merkel, along with her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. But the pressure is growing in Germany to escape from the trap of the European collapse, and Merkel and Schäuble’s departure from government could open the way to that path.
The time to act is now, LaRouche stated. The entire trans-Atlantic system is going down; but its replacement is at hand with a Glass-Steagall reorganization in the United States and internationally, and joining with the half of humanity represented by the BRICS process, in reconstructing Man’s commitment to science and a global physical-economic renaissance.
Prime Minister Tsipras: ‘A People, A Country Doesn’t Go Bankrupt, Banks Go Bankrupt’
Prime Minister Tsipras gave an interview on Greece’s public TV network on Sunday night, making clear that Greece will survive as a sovereign state. He stated, as a point of principle, “A people, a country doesn’t go bankrupt; banks go bankrupt.” This stands out, as, during the ensuing hours, EU figures and agencies acted to cut off Greece from liquidity, and issue ultimata and insult in the process.
The sequence: At midnight Sunday night, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker issued another proposal which the Greeks considered entirely insufficient. Yesterday morning, Prime Minister Tsipras issued a counter-proposal of measures in a letter to the Eurogroup. The proposals included calling for debt “reprofiling” and restructuring, and calling for liquidity arrangements to be continued through the European Stability Mechanism for two years.
Then last night, the Eurogroup of euro area finance ministers held a 90-minute tele-conference, and decreed rejection of the Tsipras offer. The European Stability Mechanism announced that as of yesterday, Greece is no longer in the ESM program at all. This means, among other things, cancellation of the terms under which ECB liquidity could come into the Greek banks.
In his interview Sunday night, Tsipras made clear that Greece will stand on its feet and survive as a sovereign state. He said of the creditors,
“They don’t want a collapse of the Eurozone, they want the collapse of hope; they want to reduce the political capital of a government that promised to change things…
“The Greek government does not want an exit or the breakup of the Eurozone, but we will do whatever we can to ensure the survival of the Greek people. A people, a country doesn’t go bankrupt, banks go bankrupt….
“We’ll survive, we’ll stand on our feet, we’ll be alive and we’ll choose in a sovereign way what our future will be like,”
Tsipras said during the interview.
According to ANA-MPA, when asked what he will do if Greek voters choose “Yes” in the referendum to accept the EU/IMF conditions, he clarified that he is “an all-weather” prime minister. “I didn’t assume this position because I love power. I’m in this seat because it was the choice of the people. As long as the people support this decision, I will be present, I will respect the people’s verdict, we’ll initiate procedures so that what people voted will become a law of the state.”
Rejecting claims that the EU would push Greece out of the Eurozone, he said, “They won’t do it, because the cost will be too big.”
When asked to comment on the IMF loan payment due on June 30th, Tsipras responded, “Let them give us a deal in the evening so that we may pay it.” He slammed the ECB for cutting off liquidity to Greek banks, which in turn forced the introduction of capital controls and stressed that “other interventions” may occur by Sunday, July 5. He commented that the banks would reopen for business as soon as the European Central Bank restores liquidity.
“We Greeks Will Say ‘No’ in Our Vote & ‘Yes’ to a New, Progressive Greece”
Tens of thousands demonstrators took to Syntagma Square in Athens June 29, as well as in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, in a show of support for the government and protest against “the blackmailers of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.” The Athens rally included supporters from both Syriza and the leftist ANDARSYA and EPAM parties, trade unions, other political groups, and many others. They held banners and chanted slogans to favor “Dignity, Democracy and Life,” “No to New Memorandums”; “No to Austerity”; “Debt Write-Down”; “Our Lives Belong to Us.”
Commenting on the rally on Twitter, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, en route to an interview on the national broadcaster ERT, wrote: “On my way to ERT, the people’s grand rally on Syntagma square, for the proud ‘No’ gives us strength.”
Earlier, Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, who participated in the rally, told Athens-Macedonia News that the “crowd of the ‘No’ majority will be at the referendum on Sunday… [July 5th]…The Greek people will say a big ‘No;’ and a big ‘Yes’ to a new, progressive Greece,” he continued, adding that the people don’t accept “agreement-robberies” and ultimatums.
The Greek ‘Oxi’—No!—Is an Act of Resistance against Fascism!
The Greek people are being asked by the Tsipras government to vote No, or Oxi (pronounced “okhi”) in Greek, in the upcoming, July 5th referendum vote. That one word OXI has profound significance for the Greek people, and every Oct. 28th is celebrated as OXI Day. Why?
At 3 a.m. on the morning of October 28th, 1940, Emanuele Grazzi, the Italian ambassador to Greece, delivered an ultimatum from Benito Mussolini to Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas. Il Duce demanded that Metaxas allow the Italian armies free passage to enter and occupy strategic sites in Greece unopposed.
Faced with this demand, Metaxas delivered an unequivocal one word response: “Oxi!”
Shortly thereafter, the Italian army poured over the Greek-Albanian border into the mountainous region of Northern Greece and the war began. Mussolini’s advisors had assured him that the invasion of Greece would take no more than two weeks, but the Italians met fierce and unexpected resistance from the Greek army and volunteer fighters. Within six months, Mussolini would be humiliated, and Hitler was forced to delay the German invasion of Russia in order to subdue the Greeks.
Despite Greece’s ultimate fall to Axis powers, Metaxas’s “Oxi!” resulted in a fatal diversion and delay for the German army, extending their campaign against USSR for several months, into the brutal Russian winter and contributing greatly to their ultimate defeat.
Though never acknowledged officially, “OXI!” has been the symbol for Greek resistance ever since. OXI became the rallying cry of the resistance during the so-called Greek Civil War, the five years of fascist occupation under the British after WWII ended (1945-1949). Again, under the British/US directed dictatorship, known as the Colonels Coup (1969-1974), OXI appeared on the signs of anti-government demonstrations, and thousands and thousands of OXI’s appeared painted on walls, fences and sides of rock cliffs.
When they go to the polls on July 5th to vote “OXI!” against the Euro/British dictatorship, the Greek people will know it is an act of resistance against fascism, just like Oct. 28th, 1940.
Posted By: Rhea Razon
