Some links about Greece

In the preceding post, I presented a political speculation about the future of Greece. In doing so, I leapt right over the economic details, the current negotiations, etc., which I have just not studied - too complicated, too fast-moving.

But even though I haven't looked for that information, it has come my way anyway. Here, links whose content I do not exactly endorse, but which would be useful in developing a comprehensive assessment of the situation.

A brief prediction of Greek doom, from Germany.

An angry statement that the Greeks are freeloaders who should simply pay back all they owe, and get used to being poorer. Especially see the exchanges in the comments, between Lubos and G. Saprokos.

Via Mike Shedlock: a Greek political committee calls the debts odious and default-worthy; the Greek central bank says default and exit would be bad but could happen; and Mish estimates how much money Greece's creditors are going to lose.

Greece approaching default

This blog exists to discuss "defaultonomics", so with Greece on the brink, I have to say something. But the truth is, I have little to say, and I'm not even sure if this is very important.

There is so much happening in the world; even if we focus just on Europe, Greece appears to be just one of many crises for the EU, alongside Libya, Iran, and Ukraine... and the long-run meaning of what happens to Greece, may be inseparable from what becomes of that broader gestalt.

I don't do broad political speculation here, but, what the hell, let's spin a scenario... Russia is pressing against NATO and EU from the east. Russia's dream would be to see Europe, especially Germany, kick out America, and form a partnership with Russia, from Dublin to Vladivostok. In the short term, Russia will settle for working with any dissatisfied force in Europe, from Hungary's Orban to France's Le Pen.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Islamist Turkey dreams of reestablishing its Ottoman influence, from the Balkans to the Sunni Arab world. Russia's struggle with pro-American Europe already intersected with Turkey's power, when EU regulators tried to restrict Russian control of the planned South Stream pipeline, and Russia responded by cancelling it, and initiating a substitute project with Turkey...

If Greece crashes out of the eurozone, we might see it become another intersection of Russian and Turkish deal-making: Greece becoming another disorderly Balkan state in Turkey's neo-Ottoman sphere of influence, and an ally of Russia's attempt to bring the EU to heel.

Links

A local radio program will have an episode on the subject of debt tomorrow. They are soliciting listener contributions, and I might tell them about this blog. Or I might not. But meanwhile, I can list a few links I've been sitting on:

In the end it's not enough simply to have wakened to the existence of the debt pyramid that is today's world economy; one should also have some notion of a better alternative. A conservative answer is a good, conservative place to start in addressing that question.

Deliberate debt default as a strategy for America. "This satire will hopefully inspire some new thinking on debt and survival."

Mass defaults as inevitable, given the magnitude and ubiquity of the world's debts.