– Russia’s Modest Proposal To Greece: “Exit Europe And We Will Lift The Food Import Ban” (ZeroHedge, Jan 17, 2015):
It has not been a good week for Greece: first we learned that its treasury has run dry as Greece have stop paying all taxes ahead of the elections (and likely after), making further reforms virtually impossible as the government simply does not have the cash to promote economic changes; then we found out that first two then all four of the largest Greek banks have submitted Emergency Liquidity Assistance requests to the ECB to preserve liquidity in light of a deposit run that is picking up pace. And yesterday, adding insult to injury, Spiegel leaked that while seeking preapproval from Merkel for his QE program to be announced next week, Draghi told the Germans that Greek bonds won’t be among the securities monetized by the ECB.
It almost makes the Greeks wonder what’s the point of staying in the Eurozone and keeping the Euro if all it leads to is 50% youth unemployment, 25% total unemployment, and unprecedented pain and suffering as a result of the internal devaluation that will continue indefinitely since Greece, courtesy of the Euro, is unable to engage in an external one.
Of course, the Greek population will be able to voice its opinion next Sunday when it holds general elections, which will almost surely be won by Tsipras who has threatened on numerous occasions to renegotiate the Greek bailout, something Germany has made quite clear is not a topic for debate, and that a Grexit is assured if Greece thinks it can hold Europe hostage with threats of Eurozone collapse.
And just to make things interesting, overnight Russia told a beleaguered Greece, and specifically its hurting farmers, that it “may lift its ban on food imports from Greece in the event it quits the European Union” according to Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov who spoke in Berlin on Friday.
“If Greece has to leave the European Union, we will build our own relations with it, the food ban will not be applicable to it,” Fyodorov said as reported by Tass.
In other words, Russia has casually thrown out feelers to Greece (and any other peripheral European country) and given it the option of joining the greater Russian sphere of influence (because the USSR 2.0 and satellites is still not trademarked), should it decide that 5 years after the first Greek “bailout” things for the country caught in an endless depression are as good as they will get with a bunch of Goldman bankers in charge.
Fyodorov also said that European Union countries, which felt discomfort from the slump in proceeds from exports of foods to Russia, were asking Russia to cushion the impacts of the Russian food import ban by expanding other types of imports. “We are looking at such possibility,” he said, adding that these countries offer new formats of cooperation in those areas that are not covered by the Russian food sanctions.
One such format apparently is the “hint” that should the European Union finally implode after years of kicking the can, then Russia will be more than happy to pick up the pieces.
Insanity? Perhaps, but just 48 hours ago crazier things happened, when a central bank which until Monday telegraphed the rock solid determination of its monetary policy not to mention the Swiss Franc’s floor, shocked the world when it became the first western bank to admit defeat in currency wars which have cost it a balance sheet the size of its GDP.
The ball is now in Greece’s court.
The economic web BRICS is tightening around the EU is getting tighter, engineered by Putin. Food is essential, people will do anything for it. Hunger in America is over 20% and growing, and there are many here in the states who will understand if Greece makes the move. The US is in a dreadful drought, the worst in 80 years, and they cannot provide food to Greece…….the nation has a drought level of over 75%. There was a time the US could make a difference, but no longer. Our own people are going hungry, and greedy guts have been raising wheat to create fuel, not food. (I hope those bastards lose their shirts now that oil is under $50.) Safe food and water, as I have been saying for a while is quickly becoming a real issue. We are entering year five of an endless drought in CA, producer of food for 48 other states……we won’t be able to provide it.
We have lived in a Golden Era of affluent food and drink for many years, food shortages are something we created to keep people engaged in WW2, we provided ration stamps for gas, sugar, coffee, ETC. My grandfather was a lawmaker in those days, and he told how the fish were fed a feast at the end of each week to keep shortages going, and people patriotic. Today, there is no such affluence. The mid-west is in Dust Bowl climate, and food is becoming a huge problem.
The fools who listen to US media don’t hear this, they are told who said what about whom, and that passes for news in the US. But, go to the grocery stores, and the story is quite clear. We still have plenty on the shelves, but the prices are skyrocketing. And, that is here, not debt mired Greece.
How ironic the political conventions for both corrupt parties were careful to screen food and drink for radioactive content…….something unheard of in the past, thanks to Japan and the ongoing Fukushima disaster that has killed the Pacific Ocean (it provided 50% of the world’s oxygen, dead, it provides none). One need only see the deep sea creatures in our bays struggling for food and oxygen to realize how dire the situation is, but US corporate media fires anyone who mentions it.
I saw my first political bumper sticker yesterday, Warren for President. A rigged election is planned to keep Americans ignorant of what is going on in the world, but this isn’t 2008, and the games have changed radically…….it won’t work this time. There are too many homeless, too many hungry, too many unemployed and too many too angry…..they have figured it out, and it is all comprised of lies. As Abe Lincoln famously said “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” And, the US has reached the latter point.
Once BRICS starts chipping away at the membership of the EU, the economic power remaining with them will erode to nothing. This is what I have been saying for months, and now, the squeeze is on. Lack of food will make people do anything, as history teaches.
I don’t give the EU much more time. The US relies on it completely to keep the dollar afloat……don’t be fooled by the stock market and the so-called strong dollar they claim we are enjoying, the opposite is true. Just compare the dollar with the Swiss Franc or Australian Dollar for example.
The US has a debt level of 100.6% to GDP.
Some of the EU nations are even worse off:
UK has debt of 470.4% to GDP
France has 270.3% to GDP
Germany (so called strong man of Euro) 224.6% to GDP
Ireland 1066.9% debt to GDP
Italy has 179.1% debt to GDP
Portugal has 294% debt to GDP
Spain has 241% debt to GDP
Greece has 296% debt to GDP
Now, look at some of the BRICS members:
Russia, debt to GDP 33.3%
Brazil, has 25.9% debt to GDP
India has 25.3% debt to GDP
China claims less than 8%, but they lie, so who knows?
There are others, but it is pretty obvious who is in the driver’s seat, and it isn’t the Euro or the US dollar. Greece, Cyprus, and other deeply suffering nations are finding less reason to stay in the Euro, they literally cannot find the money to buy the food they need. And, along comes Putin with 70% of the world economies behind him. Who would you choose.
As it currently stands, and this isn’t a complete list, but one from my memory. Brazil, and much of South and Central America now have joined BRICS open basket of currencies, leaving the dollar out completely. All the emerging nations in Africa and South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Japan, China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, most middle east nations, and OPEC is right behind them……the US has kept the petrodollar going by providing troops to keep the Kings on their thrones. Russia and China can both provide the same service, and the days of US domination of the middle east are about over. The US is so deeply hated and despised, there is no way they will do a thing that profits the US one cent. Add in Canada, Switzerland, and many other nations I cannot recall.
In January of 2010, 100% of the world economies completed international deals with the dollar. Today, it is less than 30%.
Food and water are essentials, and greedy guts seem to have forgotten this simple rule. When Greece exits the Euro, others will follow. They will try to spin it as a good thing, but it isn’t……..not for greedy guts, and they rule in America.
One other point. The west is led by gaggles of fools, Russia has a brilliant leader with all the say…….A demigod awaits in the wings.
But, your last sentence filled me with dread…………”the ball is in Greece’s court.”
What a terrifying prospect for the Euro.
The corn is subsidized for fuel. A 1 cent per bbl price would change nothing.
The lobby groups got the subsidy. The real evil is there. Money to politicians for favors.
BTW, Just love your graphics. The chess player vs. the idiots……..
Paul, you are correct, of course corn is used for fuel, not wheat. But, greedy gut oil producers were allowing wheat to rot in the fields so hungry they were to get into the fracking and grabbing of all fuels……..they paid the oil workers more than wheat harvesters, so you need not wonder who won out. I write too fast sometimes…….that is what I meant.
Thanks for the reminder, I need those, too.
Best,
Marilyn
Czar Putin has already robbed his own people blind. As a sputtering kleptocrat, he needs the Greeks more than they need him. I hope they think twice before throwing a future in Europe away for short-term gain.
And “Marilyn,” if that is your real name, chess is a long game that requires patience–one thing Putin doesn’t seem to have much of.