Greece: debt, creditors, austerity measures, Syriza, Varoufakis, Troika

Niall said:
spyraal said:
On a funny note, I think even if they appointed me as minister of economy for just a single month, I could think of dozens of ways to inflict more "pain" to the system that Varoufakis ever did in five.

Well, you know what they say; many a true word is spoken in jest.

Have you thought about going into politics?

Good point. Frankly speaking: I have a really hard time to believe that Varoufakis, with his sheer amount of knowledge and direct experience of how the the system works, economically and politically, can not be aware to some extend about the humongous fight Putin and staff have put up against the status quo so far.

I think Varoufakis is far away from giving up the fight against the system as well. In one of the videos he explains that for him to come back in politics in greece, wouldn't change a thing, since the problem must be tackled at the root of europe; brussels, germany and france. There is no other chance.

That's why he started the "Democracy in Europe Movement":
https://diem25.org/

So politically speaking, he has not given up, but realized that he needs to go another route in order to have even the slightest chance to change things in greece and the rest of europe.
 
Hesper said:
I really just can't get enough of Varoufakis and his ability to describe exactly how the science of political economy works. Thanks for posting.

Another video of a speech given to techs at Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Zpkz7lK-s

At point 1:01:23 in the talk Varoufakis describes the split that grew between himself and Tsipiras, and how that led to the acceptance of the draconian loan agreement and Varoufakis' resignation. Very interesting stuff there:

"What Merkel had said to him was, look, ditch Varoufakis and I'll give you a deal. And the reason they needed to ditch me was that I would not sign a bail out loan unless I could see that the numbers added up. And so, make my day. Shoot me. So they knew that they had to get rid of me.... So they drove this wedge between us."

The way he describes it 'they' got Tsipiras. Too bad for the Greek people.
 
bjorn said:
[quote author= Pashalis]Unfortunately he seems to believe the propaganda about Putin and russia:

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/05/06/exp-gps-varoufakis-eu-putin.cnn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQHLtbN6DxE

After all he understand about the system, he is actually buying the Anti-Russian propaganda. Just how is that even possible ?! :huh:

Russia is the only true ally they can ever get in a world ruled by wolves. Maybe he should look at how the Eurasian Union operates in contrast of the EU. It's completely the opposite.
[/quote]

No, he isn't. He explains his position in the interview with the Russian TV channel. He says that the western anti-Russian propaganda is "pathetically wrong".

He's leftist. He says he doesn't believe in strong leaders. He believes in strong democracies where each citizen has exactly the same say. Fair enough. He says Putin is a totalitarian leader. Well, in a sense he is. But there is a good reason for that. Yanis also explains why Greece "didn't want" help from Russia. I think he's being diplomatic.

I think we need to keep in mind that Varoufakis has chosen his aim. He picks his battles carefully. He has to present himself to the world in a way that would facilitate him moving forward. Even though he seems to be very straightforward, we shouldn't expect him to talk openly about everything. His position doesn't allowed him to. He cannot afford to be alienated if he wants to achieve something as big as changing the mindset and passiveness of the European population and perhaps in effect also the EU structure even if a little bit.

Finally, Yanis is a human. Don't expect him to be perfect. :)
 
I think Varoufakis is far away from giving up the fight against the system as well. In one of the videos he explains that for him to come back in politics in greece, wouldn't change a thing, since the problem must be tackled at the root of europe; brussels, germany and france. There is no other chance.

Looking in that direction then it has to be tackled in US if it want s to be tackled in Europe, and you end up running in circles.
 
Possibility of Being said:
[...]
I think we need to keep in mind that Varoufakis has chosen his aim. He picks his battles carefully. He has to present himself to the world in a way that would facilitate him moving forward. Even though he seems to be very straightforward, we shouldn't expect him to talk openly about everything. His position doesn't allowed him to. He cannot afford to be alienated if he wants to achieve something as big as changing the mindset and passiveness of the European population and perhaps in effect also the EU structure even if a little bit.

Finally, Yanis is a human. Don't expect him to be perfect. :)

Exactly. If you listen closely to his statements about the happenings in the ancient past for example and how there were also forces similar to NATO, you get a glimpse on how he must view the situation in regards to NATO now...

Listening to Varoufakis is highly educational, to say the least...
 
Pashalis said:
Possibility of Being said:
[...]
I think we need to keep in mind that Varoufakis has chosen his aim. He picks his battles carefully. He has to present himself to the world in a way that would facilitate him moving forward. Even though he seems to be very straightforward, we shouldn't expect him to talk openly about everything. His position doesn't allowed him to. He cannot afford to be alienated if he wants to achieve something as big as changing the mindset and passiveness of the European population and perhaps in effect also the EU structure even if a little bit.

Finally, Yanis is a human. Don't expect him to be perfect. :)

Exactly. If you listen closely to his statements about the happenings in the ancient past for example and how there were also forces similar to NATO, you get a glimpse on how he must view the situation in regards to NATO now...

Listening to Varoufakis is highly educational, to say the least...

Indeed, and I like Possibility of Being's point about him being human. From what I gathered so far is that he had a master plan during the Greek crisis, a gun on the table indeed, which he intended to use against the Eurogroup as leverage. This would have basically crashed the Euro and led to a Europe-wide crisis as far as I understand. The problem was that the Eurocrats saw this coming and played Tsipiras and his vice prime minister against him, and so he couldn't "push the button" (start his master plan), as he says, and the Eurogroup knew it. Game over. I think in the end, he thought he might have a shot and gave it a try, but realized that it's a fight he cannot win.

Spyraal, I think we shouldn't think too much in "conspiracies" and such, rather we should try to understand where different humans are coming from, how history played out in detail, how the various bureaucratic entities and political processes work exactly. For example, you say that he "wouldn't be allowed" to speak at conferences and so on if he were genuine. That is black-and-white thinking and far from the reality I think. There are no "censors" per se in cultural institutions. And there are many opportunities for critical people to speak publicly, even at corporate-funded cultural institutions like the museum in New York or Google's conference program. True, there are certain taboo topics, and you won't get invited if you cross a certain line of "acceptable thinking". But a left-wing ex-minister who is a very interesting personality and has plenty of interesting things to say? He can speak almost everywhere! Of course, the politicians don't listen, but that's a different story...

Of course he seems to have some blind spots, like everyone - he doesn't understand ponerology it seems for example, and he seems to be a bit in love with his own theories, which I think makes him ignore some important things. However, because of his experience and intelligence, he sheds some fascinating light on many very specific manifestations of our evil system, how it operates, how it came to be and so on. I think this is very valuable, and to me brings home the point that we are not governed by some shady conspiracy (although various people and factions in power do make plans of course), but it's rather by psychological deviants dominating thinking and managing perception, manipulating other "players" who really do want to achieve something good etc.

Reading his book now and having watched some videos, I also thought about history in general and how all this mess developed, and what I found interesting is that it's not always "bad people conspiring", often things are set in motion with good intentions, but later get re-used to further a destructive/psychopathic agenda. Take the Bretton Woods conference that established the IMF and World Bank: there were some problems in international finance that needed to be solved and some capable people worked on this, but the mechanisms were corrupted more and more over time (such as with the Nixon Shock in 1971) to create all the banking mess we are in now.

It almost seems that the real "conspiracy" can only be explained in hyperdimensional terms, from a "bird perspective" - at critical junctures, history tends to move in specific directions, and they all add up to the horror that is today's world. But looking at these junctures in isolation, many could be explained by "errors", some good people having not had enough foresight, some unfortunate clash of interest... It's human dynamics playing out in myriad ways, with various degrees of pathological thinking and various degrees of strength and awareness. The fight is through us, and always was!
 
[quote author= Pashalis]Finally, Yanis is a human. Don't expect him to be perfect[/quote]

Yes human but I don’t understand. Russia deserves so much praise with their Eurasian Union that is about mutual beneficence and respecting sovereignty. US/EU is only about domination. There is already an alternative ready to go.

I only hope he could have given Putin the praise he deserved. Because Putin can be the solution for many countries attempting to free themselves.

He can only spead awareness and we can be only thankfull for that. But Putin is a real force that can set things in motion.
 
bjorn said:
[quote author= Pashalis]Finally, Yanis is a human. Don't expect him to be perfect

Yes human but I don’t understand. Russia deserves so much praise with their Eurasian Union that is about mutual beneficence and respecting sovereignty. US/EU is only about domination. There is already an alternative ready to go.

I only hope he could have given Putin the praise he deserved. Because Putin can be the solution for many countries attempting to free themselves.

He can only spead awareness and we can be only thankfull for that. But Putin is a real force that can set things in motion.
[/quote]

He acts and thinks like an intelligent politician with a working conscience and when it is true that he wants to fundamentally change things in the EU, he needs to play along to a certain extend, since the scare against russia and putin has become part of the political game in the EU, especially in higher circles.

Somebody in his position, with ambitions like that, needs to play the game very strategically and sometimes that means to play along with the beast.

It is a really hard and tough situation for anybody with a conscience.
 
So play dumb like a fox regarding your true allies until the right climate arrives? Well, if he doesn't has a chose I somewhat understand.

Leaders like Nelson Mandela always recognized his allies and treated them at such. He made no secrets about his friendship with Qaddafi, Arafat and Fidel Castro. Even when global public opinion hated them.

But it didn't harm his position and it worked wonderfully and made people more aware about the struggle of Palestine and more.


[quote author= Pashalis]since the scare against Russia and Putin has become part of the political game in the EU, especially in higher circles.[/quote]

Most higher circles are corrupt anyhow. Better to focus on the average global population? Otherwise you limit yourself enormously at what you can say and don't. As I see it, revolution can only happen with enough conscious people and 99.99% of them will never be found in position of power.

If you want leverage in this political game. Get the active support of the people. There is only so much you can do alone as Yanis Varoufakis must know.
 
bjorn said:
So play dumb like a fox regarding your true allies until the right climate arrives? Well, if he doesn't has a chose I somewhat understand.

Leaders like Nelson Mandela always recognized his allies and treated them at such. He made no secrets about his friendship with Qaddafi, Arafat and Fidel Castro. Even when global public opinion hated them.

But it didn't harm his position and it worked wonderfully and made people more aware about the struggle of Palestine and more.

Leaders like Mandela were state leaders and had an army to support them. That's totally different discipline. Varoufakis is most of all an academic who becomes an activist. That involves different goals, different strategies and different means.

I think he's been honest in saying he's not a member of Putin's fan club and why. But in the interview, he did give Putin some credits wherever he could. I still think it's fair enough. Varoufakis in Putin's club would be pretty useless. Varoufakis as a new movement leader has a good chance to achieve something. The world needs some diversity, not everyone is cut for the same role. Like in a body that needs the brain, organs, arms, legs and every single cell to live a good life.

In my personal opinion, believing in democracy and people power in this world and times is a bit idealistic (for lack of a better word), but without such fighters the world would probably be even more bleak than it is. And as far as we know, the future is open. :)
 
[quote author= POB]Leaders like Mandela were state leaders and had an army to support them.
[/quote]
He supported them before he became president and yes the ANC is also armed but what I meant with support of the people is that the population needs to become conscious of US hybrid war and color-revolution. The Russian people understand this now the world needs to catch on. If the Greek people did understand this I think that Varoufakis had a lot more room to maneuver from. In other words, they need to know their enemy. Otherwise nothing real can ever happen. OSIT


[quote author= POB]In my personal opinion, believing in democracy and people power in this world and times is a bit idealistic (for lack of a better word)[/quote]

I think so, true democracy only works when people are united in spirit through a community bases society.

Democracy will never work where people simply don't care enough about there world and each other. They all want a say in something they simply don't care about or understand. That's why we don't have true democracies. Only charades.



I hope Varoufakis has a plan. He is surely not done yet and I know he can think far ahead. But I fear he can't do it alone. That's why I hope that he know his allies. If he can't support Putin totally openly. I hope at least that they will support each other covertly.

Ultimately even good willing people who are not in a network of doing 'The Work' can say a lot of good things. But they usually have major blind spots. I am not saying that I don't have them, but we have each other to point that out.
 
luc said:
Spyraal, I think we shouldn't think too much in "conspiracies" and such, rather we should try to understand where different humans are coming from, how history played out in detail, how the various bureaucratic entities and political processes work exactly.

Let us do exactly that, just to see if "conspiracies" can be so easily excluded or not. As can be verified by his available biography, Varoufakis spend the greatest part of his adult life between England, the US and Australia. He first landed in cold-war England to study in 1978. By the year 2000, when he returned to live in Greece, he had made it to a college professor in Sydney and an Australian citizen among other things. This is how far most people go concerning his background.

Yet, let's dive a little in the rabbit hole: Varoufakis father has for decades been the personal assistant to the owners of “Halyvourgiki”, Greece’s biggest steel producer, a huge company by any country's standards. It is owned by one of the most powerful and influential Greek oligarch families, that of Aggelopoulos. The Aggelopoulos family has survived decades of political turmoil in Greece unscathed (including a fascist dictatorship), only growing stronger and bigger.

The “head” and most senior member of the Aggelopoulos family was assassinated in the 80's by the group called “November 17th”. A terrorist group that defined themselves as marxist (like Yanis claims to be) and anti-imperialist, and hit mainly symbolic high-profile targets with certain background, like the CIA Station Chief (COS) in Athens, named Richard Welch in 1975, or the British military attache Steven Saunders in 2000. One can guess quite a lot about the Aggelopoulos family since their name made it into such "exclusive" and narrow assassination hit-lists.

The Aggelopoulos family is closely connected to the huge scandals that came with the Athens Olympic games in 2004. They also promoted and openly supported the coming of the "leftist" SYRIZA party into power in 2015. Historically (and with some irony) they were notorious for their anti-communist views, their anti-worker policies and their suppression of trade unions.

Varoufakis' father has not only been for decades the trustee of the oligarch Aggelopoulos family, he is the Chairman of Halyvourgiki's Board of Directors even now. Varoufakis, shortly after returning to Greece, (and while the Aggelopoulos family was active and powerful as ever, managing the whole project of the 2004 Olympic Games from the back stage of politics), he was appointed for 2 years as an economic adviser to the prime minister George Papandreou, a child of the mighty and corrupt Papandreou family dynasty and the party called PASOK.

I mean, George Panandreou's father, named Andreas, has also been Prime Minister. And so did his grand-father. It appears it was actually Andreas Papandreou (the father) that provided Yanis Varoufakis with the needed recommendation for him to go to the university of Essex in the first place, by virtue of being a professor himself. Andreas Papandreou has been (according to declassified documents) on the CIA's payroll while he studied in USA, preparing to return to Greek politics later as he did. Andreas Papandreou made it to become prime minister for the greatest part of the 80's and it was he who signed the final agreement to put Greece into European Union in 1981. So the person that put Varoufakis at university also put Greece into the European Union...

In 2009, George Papandreou (remember, son of Andreas and Varoufakis' former boss in the period 2002-4) was the one to orchestrate and sign Greece to the supervision of the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF), the event that kick-started the vicious-circle of debt and austerity that has been growing for 6 years now and has claimed more than 10.000 lives from suicides alone so far.

So it could be said that Varoufakis is far for from being "just another guy with brains". All these details about his personal and family background constitute of too much of "coincidental" evidence to just put aside. In theory he has more than enough reasons to have a vested interest in maintaining the Western status quo.

His adult character was nurtured in Western academic institutions during the heat of the cold-war. His academic career started on the recommendation letter of a powerful dynasty of politicians who were probably on the CIA's payroll. His father is a highly-connected close trustee of one of the most powerful Greek oligarch families. A family that openly helped SYRIZA into power despite their long term historical aversion to communism and any leftist ideas. And Yanis was then given one of the most important positions in SYRIZA's cabinet, the Ministry of Economy.

These are some established facts about Varoufakis and each can do his/her own dot-connecting. At the end, the point of course is not to decide if Yanis is a devil or an angel, for he is neither. He is a human being as it was correctly stated. The point is for people to be on alert and searching for the devil in the details, so as not to fall prey to the system's endless supply of intellectualized demagogs and damage control agents, like Varoufakis is in my own humble opinion.

Thank you all for your input.
 
Spyraal said:
So it could be said that Varoufakis is far for from being "just another guy with brains". All these details about his personal and family background constitute of too much of "coincidental" evidence to just put aside. In theory he has more than enough reasons to have a vested interest in maintaining the Western status quo.

His adult character was nurtured in Western academic institutions during the heat of the cold-war. His academic career started on the recommendation letter of a powerful dynasty of politicians who were probably on the CIA's payroll. His father is a highly-connected close trustee of one of the most powerful Greek oligarch families. A family that openly helped SYRIZA into power despite their long term historical aversion to communism and any leftist ideas. And Yanis was then given one of the most important positions in SYRIZA's cabinet, the Ministry of Economy.

I agree with you Spyraal that we should always be alert and aware of deceptions. But this shouldn't lead us to see conspiracies everywhere I think. We should give people, even "outstanding" people like Yanis, the benefit of the doubt. We are all human, we all have our blind spots, and we are all subject to various forces, internal and external.

So far, the facts you presented (which I haven't verified) just tell the story of a man born into a semi-important family, getting a good education abroad as is common in that milieu, and ending up in politics. I have listened to some of his speeches and am reading his book, and I found his ideas highly creative, very intelligent, very pragmatic. His thinking seems very nuanced to me, something rare indeed in today's world. It's really a pleasure and stimulating to listen to him.

There's a different angle to his personal story: his father was labeled a communist and thrown into prison for 5 years or so. His family fought against the military dictatorship (installed by the US). So Yanis grew up in a tradition of resistance, even if his family became influential later. He became a Marxist, like many at the time, studied abroad and became a professor and critic of neoliberal economic theory and policies. He then went into politics and got elected only because the situation was so terrible in Greece.

And I think the events that transpired in Greece when he was finance minister, both when looked at from the outside and even more so if we believe Yanis' account, speak a clear language: a government was voted in that the ruling Eurocrats absolutely hated and wanted to crush - a process we have witnessed again and again: total defamation in the media, a refusal to discuss his ideas, misquoting him, threaten him etc. I think applying some "double-reverse-psychology" here or something is not warranted.

Yanis realized he had no chance and that his allies didn't support him anymore, so he resigned. He could have betrayed his people, entering the "inside club" of politicians who follow along, and used his popularity and brilliance to make a great career. Instead, he became an activist/whistleblower/public speaker. Good for him! It's actually quite similar to what happened to Oscar Lafontaine in Germany when he was finance minister for a brief period.

Again, there's nothing wrong with being suspicious, but it's true that it's easy to create "grand conspiracies" by connecting dots that can be easily explained otherwise - like that Yanis studied abroad or that some family members had good business connections.
 
luc said:
[...] I have listened to some of his speeches and am reading his book, and I found his ideas highly creative, very intelligent, very pragmatic. His thinking seems very nuanced to me, something rare indeed in today's world. It's really a pleasure and stimulating to listen to him.[...]

You can say that again! I've just started to read his works. The book is called "Time for Change: Wie ich meiner Tochter die Wirtschaft erkläre" and is actually the first book of his, that I've started to read so far.

It is very unfortunate that it is only available in greek and german, as far as I can see. The title translated into english is "Time for Change: How I explain my doughter how economy works". I've just started it and it is so good that I really need to open a separate thread about it, in the not to distant future.

He basically explains in quite simple terms (still a bit complicated for me though!) how and why the whole sick system we are globally living now, has emerged from the beginning and is now in the end stage of sickness so to say. On the way he explains the whole workings of the economy and all that it entails (money, dept, the global market economy, disparity, profit etc.), in simple terms.

The reason why I think it is so important, is that the economic system that was thus created (as he thinks as well, I think) is the major cause of the misery we can see in every part of that global society now, and I mean every part.

He makes it very clear that the root cause, to how we got here, is the invention of agriculture. From then on things went down hill drastically and it accelerated even more with the age of industrialization. We have now come to place in which this system has become so huge and all powerful, that it is just unbelievable.

The real power of "666" as the C's have alluded, is taking over globally now. That becomes pretty clear when you read it. That is why I think (which Varoufakis makes clear in his works as well) the real power of evil, does not lie in politics anymore put in financial/economic global power structures that have politics in their grips. If one combines his research, with all we know from other areas, a higher hand that has humanity in their grips for thousands of years, almost screams at you. It is a very old and long plan that plays out pretty well for them so far.

Varoufakis is a professor in economy, a field that I start to realize is crucial to understand in order to understand how we got to the point today and the system we live in.

I'll certainly read his other books as well. Highly educational and very interesting!
 
luc said:
I agree with you Spyraal that we should always be alert and aware of deceptions. But this shouldn't lead us to see conspiracies everywhere I think. We should give people, even "outstanding" people like Yanis, the benefit of the doubt. We are all human, we all have our blind spots, and we are all subject to various forces, internal and external.

So far, the facts you presented (which I haven't verified) just tell the story of a man born into a semi-important family, getting a good education abroad as is common in that milieu, and ending up in politics. I have listened to some of his speeches and am reading his book, and I found his ideas highly creative, very intelligent, very pragmatic. His thinking seems very nuanced to me, something rare indeed in today's world. It's really a pleasure and stimulating to listen to him.

....

Again, there's nothing wrong with being suspicious, but it's true that it's easy to create "grand conspiracies" by connecting dots that can be easily explained otherwise - like that Yanis studied abroad or that some family members had good business connections.

I am coming back on this subject not out of stubbornness, nor to impose my view on others by any way, but only hoping to provide a service to this network by adding some information for those who can use it. No one is expected to be an expert on modern Greek political history. I am not either. I have also been a supporter of Yanis until the contradiction between his words and deeds convinced me that some is very wrong with this picture, and more research is need.

Since what I said so far about Varoufakis, his family and their dirty connections may sound far fetched to some as it seems, I feel I will have to elaborate more. So, sorry in advance for the long post that is coming, but I see that more substantiation in needed, so whoever is interesting on the subject can follow on.

So,
1). Is Varoufakis' father is some "semi-important" employee of "just another business family"? Far from it. He has been for decades the trustee and personal secretary of the head of the Aggelopoulos oligarch family. From this exclusive insider's position it is safe to assume he knows all their doings. Since 2003 he is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors at their giant steel company, together with an Assistant Professor at the University of Athens and a honorary president of the Greek Standardization Organization.

assets_LARGE_t_420_54494302.JPG


His profile on LinkedIn: _https://gr.linkedin.com/in/varoufakis-george-7838b2a5

2). Next, why is it such a bad thing to be a loyal servant and trustee of the Angelopoulos family? Let's hear what the Greek historian Demosthenes Koukounas (an author of 25 books who specializes in the study of Greek WW2 history) has to say about the Angelopoulos family during the Nazi occupation in his book "The history of [Nazi] Occupation" where the oligarch family has it's own chapter (translated by me):

According to the historical documents about partners of Germans, the Angelopoulos brothers' build a series of fortifications for the benefit of the German occupation army and among other things, they also manufactured with their iron and steel the barb-wire for Greek prisoners gathered in the detention and execution camps.

"All these are not necessarily black marketeers. But all of them are those who did not hesitate to transact with the occupation authorities, undertaking supplying or constructions on their behalf, "writes historian D. Koukounas in the "hot chapter” [of his book] that includes the list of nazi collaborators. He continues: "While other of their colleagues were hungry and suffering to the degree that they literally could not feed their family since they did not manage to keep [ownership of] their businesses, or on reasons of principle they did not accept to practice their profession in such circumstances, other people [like Angelopoulos family] rushed with great willingness to serve the occupiers. They profited from the misery of our people at that critical time. Basically they are not the "smart" ones who managed to stay afloat. They were dishonest and immoral since in a time of extreme misery not only they were indifferent to their neighbors who were looking in the trash for a bite, but they took away from them every drop of blood that had remained in their weakened bodies.

This is not some verbal exaggeration: We must realize that in that period of destruction and dissolution, the occupier assigned to some of their chosen ones to provide the supplies needed, construct fortifications and other projects deemed necessary. When talking about supplies, we mean the whole spectrum of production, because the occupier (even citing and international law) had to feed and nourish from the conquered land. The logistics authority of the Occupation Authorities approved the invoices of suppliers (usually overpriced) and signed in order to present them for payment to the Bank of Greece. So inflation swelled and money to lost even more value" the historian says.

Link: _http://www.newsbomb.gr/ellada/apokalypseis/story/327178/oikonomikoi-dosilogoi-oikogeneia-aggelopoyloi

3). So the Angelopoulos family are NOT just another business family by any means. They are for example the single largest private shareholder of the largest Swiss bank, UBS [Union Bank of Switzerland].

Greek billionaire emerges as largest shareholder in UBS

Theodoros Angelopoulos, a Greek steel and shipping billionaire, is understood to hold a stake in Swiss bank UBS of between 6% and 9%, which is worth as much as Sfr5bn (£2.5bn), according to a Swiss newspaper.

link: _http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2008-04-17/greek-billionaire-emerges-as-largest-shareholder-in-ubs

The private property of just one of the Angelopoulos brothers (Theodoros) is estimated around 10 billion euros. That is nearly twice the wealth of Donald Trump to set an analogy. They also very big players in shipping and oil business. Their investments in steel companies in other countries include: "Geselschaft" in Switzerland, "Alpha Steel" in Cardiff of Wales, "Beta Steel" in Indiana of USA, with a central mother-company called "Credite Industriale Societe Anonyme".

4). The Angelopoulos family is friends and partners with the... Clinton family, and they run together for many years now the "Anglelopoulos-Clinton GIU Fellowship".

logo.png


This is their website: _https://www.angelopouloscgiu.org/index.html
And this one from the Clinton's webside: _https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/leadership-matters

Leadership Matters

In 2011, Ambassador Gianna Angelopoulos and the Angelopoulos Foundation committed to establish the Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Program (the Program) at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. This initiative, designed for highly-respected elected leaders transitioning out of public office, will provide participants with the skills, expertise, support, and connections necessary to develop their own initiatives, projects, and foundations as continuations of their service to the public. As these global leaders move from idea to action, their own initiatives, projects, and foundations will be individually developed as Clinton Global Initiative Commitments to Action.

Bill Clinton and the strong lady of the Angelopoulou family, Gianna.
gianna-aggelopoulou-bill-clinton-570.jpg


So the Clintons with the help of the billionaire Angelopoulou family are in the business of starting up "foundations" for their own selected politicians after they leave office, and then they support them with money, connections etc. to further promote their "ideals" for the world. I guess being the biggest private share-holder in the biggest Swiss bank might be very useful to the oligarch family for moving around money for their "charities". But nothing to see here, they are "just another business family".

5). Even before coming into power and earning his publicity as "leftist" minister, some have been calling Yanis Varoufakis the "Trojan Horse" of the system. Let's take a small look at their arguments:

“[Although] the vast majority of his [Tsipras'] new Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) government have good left-wing and pro-labor credentials, the same cannot be necessarily said of the man Tsipras chose to be Greece’s new finance minister. Yanis Varoufakisis a citizen of Australia who was educated in Britain and worked as a professor at the University of Texas. Europe has witnessed such dual nationals with conflicting loyalties take power in countries in Eastern Europe, most notably in Ukraine, where American Natalie Jaresko became finance minister in order to deliver International MonetaryFund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB) austerity «poison pills» to Ukraine. “

Today, the nations of eastern and central Europe are populated with globalists, overt types and those of the «crypto» variety, with many of them, like Varoufakis, citizens or past legal residents of other nations. Romania’s finance minister, Ioana Petrescu, is a Wellesley and Harvard graduate and former fellow for the U.S. Republican Party’s National Republican Institute at the neo-conservative and anti-Russian American Enterprise Institute (AEI). She is also a past professor at the University of Maryland. Although Petrescu’s right-wing connections to Washington appear at odds with Varoufakis’s ties to the neo-liberal Brookings Institution, in the world of «make believe» political differences, Petrescu and Varoufakis are two sides of the same coin. When one follows the money that helped create these two finance ministers, as well as Jaresko, all roads lead back to Washington and entities that suckle from the teat of the Central Intelligence Agency and its myriad of front entities.

Varoufakis’s curriculum vitae, like that of Jaresko’s, reeks of George Soros-intertwined globalist links. For a finance minister who is to -- if we believe the dire warnings from the corporate press -- challenge the austerity measures dictated to Greece’s previous failed conservative and social democratic governments by the «Troika» of the IMF, ECB, and European Commission, Varoufakis has had a past close relationship with the global entities with which he is expected to battle.

Varoufakis also served as «economist-in-residence» for the Valve Corporation, a video game spinoff of the always-suspect Microsoft Corporation of extreme globalist Bill Gates. The warning signs that Varoufakis is a «Trojan horse» for the global bankers are abundant. First, Varoufakis served as an economic adviser to the failed PASOK social democratic government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, the man who first put Greece on the road to draconian austerity measures. Varoufakis now claims that he was ardently opposed to Papandreou’s deal with the «Troika» but no one will ever know how much the now-anti austerity finance minister agreed to while he was advising Papadreou on the proper course of action to settle Greece’s enormous debt problem.
_http://m.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/01/29/a-soros-trojan-horse-inside-the-new-greek-government.html

Also from another source:

George Soros, whose main mission is to infiltrate the progressive left movement and neutralize its anti-capitalist underpinnings, has struck again through one of his Trojan horses Yiannis Varoufakis. In a typical Hegelian fashion, the leader of this new group, which bills itself as anti-austerity, anti-bankers, and anti-bureaucratic, is none other than the former SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis.

Interestingly enough, there is a deep connection between the Papandreou government and Tsirpas government. First, Varoufakis is a close friend of American economist and fellow University of Texas professor James K. Galbraith, the son of the late éminence grise of American economists, John Kenneth Galbraith. Varoufakis and James Galbraith co-authored together. Galbraith’s ties to the global banking elite are exemplified by his guest scholar position at the elitist Brookings Institution in Washington. Varoufakis’ second and most important connection is Jeffrey Sachs.

Sachs is well-known from his economic reforms in developing or fragile economies. Through the late summer and fall of 1991, as the Soviet Union fell apart, Jeffrey Sachs and other Western economists participated in meetings at a dacha outside Moscow where young, pro-Yeltsin reformers planned Russia’s economic and political future. Sachs teamed up with Yegor Gaidar, Yeltsin’s first architect of economic reform, to promote a plan of “shock therapy” to swiftly eliminate most of the price controls and subsidies that had underpinned life for Soviet citizens for decades. Shock therapy produced more shock – not least, hyperinflation that hit 2,500 percent – than therapy.

Many years later, in Greece, Sachs, Varoufakis and Galbraith all became George Papandreou’s and Alexis Tsipras’ ad hoc advisers. Nevertheless, Varoufakis became the Finance Minister in Tsipras’ first cabinet despite its goal of renegotiating the bailout – agreed to by Papandreou for whom Varoufakis served as an adviser. There is much evidence to the claim that Varoufakis was a Soros implant within the "leftist" government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras - a claim supported by multiple different sources.[iii] Varoufakis's first move was to cut deals with the very same European bankers against whom the Greek electorate rebelled by electing SYRIZA. Rather than cancelling Greece's usurious debt arranegements with the bankers, Varoufakis began to negotiate with them in order to keep Greece within the disastrous "eurozone."
_https://gianalytics.org/500-yannis-varoufakis-the-trojan-horse#_edn3

6). But how Yanis Varoufakis would answer to such accusations of being a Soros' man? Would an "erratic Marxist" openly denounce the psychopath market criminal we all know George Soros to be? Well, he actually did have a chance to answer when asked by a Greek reporter about these rumored connections of his with George Soros. Let's here it from the Greek article (translation by me):

Yanis Varoufakis: Soros and me

...
But so as not to think that I try to distance myself from Mr. Soros, let me say something that will certainly serve to feed those who want to practice their talent at fantastic stories and libel: I consider him an important personality and, for this I was really glad when I met him, and that our positions regarding the euro crisis have come very close.

Soros is one the people that, normally, I should not like. To begin with, he is an avid supporter of Karl Popper (who has been his teacher at LSE). And although I hold nothing against Popper (I consider him an important intellectual) I cannot hide that feels strange when someone is a loyal fan of anything. Apart from that, Soros has spend his whole life betting on the markets – and with them [markets] I have an aesthetic and ideological “difference”. [quotes present in the original]

….

I write all these in the wake of all these rumors about me, because all these tell us something important as to the depth of the crisis that Europe suffers. I do not know, and I do not want to know, what Soros does, or any and each Soros, in the capital markets I dislike. What I can tell you, and I think that is important, is that since the crisis erupted in 2008, Soros has been constantly putting forward proposals to resolve it, which if accepted, would help our country (and of course all over Europe ). And at the same time [Soros' proposals] will eliminate the immense profits that he would make if he just was keeping his mouth shut, and simply kept "playing" with the markets.”

So Varoufakis thinks Soros is... trying to resolve the crisis and help Greece and all of Europe! He doesn't know and does not want to know what Soros does! What do you know... Soros is not the psychopathic and manipulative opportunist of global markets we all know him to be. Very interesting Yanis.

7). Did the Angelopoulou oligarch family actively supported SYRIZA's coming into power? And maybe with that, the son of their family's most trusted man and Chief of Directors in their companies, Yanis, to also become Minister of Economy? Let's see:

If you follow HellasFrappe then you might recall that we have charged Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki of supporting the radical left SYRIZA party in more than one report. Well no second guessing is needed any longer because she not only recently admitted that she supports the Greek main opposition party, but she also left it to be understood that she is going to do everything in her power to get into the Greek political scene!

Just ten years after her controversial triumph as head of the committee for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greek business woman Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki seems as hungry as ever for a slice of public life, states an article in the ProtoThema newspaper. The article notes that Angelopoulos doesn’t chew on her words when it comes to sharing her political viewpoints, and even finger-points in specific directions when asked to elaborate. All this of course while drinking the finest Chardonnay, and jetting off to one of her many homes around the world.

She said that if SYRIZA took over the leadership of the country it wouldn't be so bad. Apparently Gianna is convinced that SYRIZA represents the new political force in Greece.
Link: _http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/07/busted-gianna-angelopoulos-daskalaki.html

Bellow a picture of Gianna Angelopoulou's official meeting with Tsipras in November 2014, just a few months before SYRIZA was to become government.
giantsiprass2.jpg


8. Then who was Andreas Papandreou, the politician who gave Varoufakis his personal recommendation to enter the university of Essex (and remember also "by chance" happens to be the one who signed Greece into membership to the EU)? And what was his relationship with Yanis? Yanis has claimed to admire Andreas Papandreou in more than one occasions:

10 things you did not know about Varoufakis:
...
2. Andreas Papandreou was his mentor. As a teenager, Yanis was charmed by the political speaking and style of Andreas Papandreou and was eager to follow the advice of the president of the PASOK party after a short meeting that they had, a meeting that forever changed his views on what he should study. Andreas Papandreou convinced him to turn his scientific interests into action, and combine Mathematics with Politics.

This is the same Andreas Papandreou, whose policies are greatly responsible for the current situation in Greece. Andreas Papandreou came into power as a "socialist" supposedly with an anti-EU and anti-NATO agenda, tapping on anti-American sentiment after a ruthless 7-year long American-inspired military junta from 1968 to 1975. He increased wages and salaries for both public and private sector while keeping the taxation high. This made things very hard for small and middle sized business and industries in terms of having a survivable profit, and within a decade of his government and policies, only selected "big fish" Greek industrialists (like the Angelopoulou family) were able not only to survive but thrive on the artificial vacuum Papandreou created for them. And the country's debt had exploded.

So, Andreas Papandreou (the one Varoufakis call his mentor) was, as I said in my previous post, suspect of being selected, trained, "armed" with academic titles, and then released back into Greek politics as an agent of US interests in Greece. His deeds matched this profile to the letter. The following image is what seems like a declassified 1974 document that clarifies the terms under which Papandreou had to agree in order to be given 100 million dollars from various banks to start his party called PASOK. At the bottom is his signature. Even if taken with a grain of salt, it still fits perfectly with what happened in the years to come, as Papandreou did become Prime Minister in 1981. Notice point no.5 where it states:

5. Phrasal "fights" against NATO and EEC [how EU was called at the time] not really "war". Connector between USA and Greek Government will resume to "keep calm" the NATO's officials.

chase-manhattan-papandreou.jpg


So we see that phrasal "fights" (like Yanis often has against EU, IMF etc.) are sometimes just for show, agreed in secret never to be followed by any actions (like Yanis did nothing while a minister of economy). Or at least, that is what Yanis' mentor was instructed to do, according to this declassified document.

And for last, some nice and meaningful pictures:

From left to right: Theodoros Angelopoulos, George Panandreou (son of Andreas, and also former Yanis' boss), Bill Clinton and Gianna Angelopoulou.
papandreou-giorgos-aggelopoulou-gianna-clinton-bill-660.jpg




The opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The president of the Olympic Committee walks in the stadium with... Gianna Angelopoulou. Not the Greek prime minister, the highest elected official, but the oligarch Gianna. Just a subtle clue of who is really in power.
gianna-angelopoulos.jpg




This is the Theodoros Angelopoulos (Gianna's husband) family house in Athens. It is 5000 square meters. In a 2012 scandal, it was found out that in order to pay less in electricity they had this super-vila declared to the power company as... a shopping mall! Professional rates are lower in price than domestic, so as a "shopping mall" it was estimated they were saving around 30.000 euros per year. Cheap bastards, they own 10 billion euros and yet they dare steal even from the electricity bill! Talking about hubris...

(link in Greek: _http://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/229843/pos-baftisan-to-palati-biotexnia-gia-pio-fthhno-reyma-kai-xamhlo-xaratsi/)
131012141617_7768.jpg


And bellow the rest of the house, because it cannot easily fit in one single picture.
filothei3.jpg


So, I am sorry for the really long post, but I think that this information should at least be available for consideration to this forum's members for the sake of truth and objectivity. There is even more, but I think these selected bits can prove the point that Varoufakis is much more than he claims to be, and caution is well advised in my humble opinion.

So I ask, how could ever Varoufakis have had a true "gun on table" during the negotiations last year, when a potential Grexit would actually undo the signature of his own mentor to enter the EU, his benefactor for entering university? When a Grexit would seriously hurt the Greek oligarchs like the Aggelopoulou family who have been employing his father for decades as their trustee and personal secretary? What would Varoufakis' father tell to the Angelopoulou family if his son Yanis have helped to change the status quo of Greece being an EU member they so much depend upon?

This guy is textbook candidate for some serious conflict of interests, and a split loyalty between his preached ideas and ideals on the one hand, and on the other his privileged family that enjoys the trust, protection and benefits that come with serving a really powerful and corrupt oligarch family, a family whose history reaches from collaborating with Nazis to cooperating in high-profile political subversion together with the Clinton family, and even more.

Thank you,
Spyros
 
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