Eurozone will collapse...

[rhyds]

Originally Posted by richard s

Just what the Russians are hoping for a broken up European Union. We cannot go back to the old days. Unity is Strength.

NATO does more to scare the Russians than the EU ever did.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by richard s

But what did Greece have to offer in the first place. Greece should not have been allowed into the EU until it had its finances in order.

There are hardly any Eurozone members that have actually stuck to the rules of the Eurozone throughout their membership, and it has expanded to eastern European nations that are, per capita, less wealthy than Greece.

[Osem]

While the EU is still debating umpteen different viewpoints in even more languages, Putin sends troops in and gets his work done. Suits him just fine...

---------- Post added at 16:08 ---------- Previous post was at 16:05 ----------

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Exactly, but the Euro was never about producing wealth for the citizens of the EU and everything about a vanity project of Eurocrats trying to vie with the strength of the Dollar.

The EU were so desperate for members to massage their bloated egos they'd let practically anyone in the club. If the meltdown hadn't intervened they'd probably have admitted more countries who'd fiddled their books and would now be weighing us down...

[Osem]

Greece's finance minister says his country's financial situation is "terribly urgent" and the crisis could come to a head in a couple of weeks.

Yanis Varoufakis gave the warning after eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss the final €7.2bn tranche of Greece's €240bn EU/IMF bailout.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32699355

The midnight oil will be burning in Brussels.

[Ignitionnet]

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...0NW10I20150512

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece tapped emergency reserves in its holding account at the International Monetary Fund to make a crucial 750 million euro ($839 million) debt payment to the Fund on Monday, two government officials said on Tuesday.

With Athens close to running out of cash and a deal with its international creditors still elusive, there had been doubts whether the leftist-led government would pay the IMF or opt to save cash to pay salaries and pensions later this month.

Originally Posted by richard s

But what did Greece have to offer in the first place. .

kebabs

[Osem]

Ask the Eurocrats who signed them up what Greece had to offer.

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...0NW10I20150512

Well, the borrowed money from the Council of Salonika. The mayor there is in the same party as Tsipras.

[Osem]

So Greece has successfully completed its latest €750m (£538m) debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but even that news has a twist in the tail.

Greek officials say most of the money was taken from a buffer account held at the IMF itself - an account that is only meant to be used in cases of emergency.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-eu-32710724

So in other words, they didn't actually pay it. Rather like a stag weekend that rents a holiday cottage and trashes it, then refuses to pay for the damage, the landlord (IMF) has simply dipped into the security deposit to cover the repairs.

---------- Post added at 15:12 ---------- Previous post was at 15:10 ----------

The major creditor states have long since prepared for Grexit, as has Greece and the EU itself. The only thing keeping it in the Euro now, is the lingering, hopeless belief that European integration is, must be, has to be irreversible, coupled with a very, very angry US State Department that really doesn't want to see Greece go running off to uncle Vlad.

[heero_yuy]

I just wish this slow motion train wreck would properly hit the buffers and we can then move on.

The lingering death is very ugly for all concerned.

[Horizon]

Greece may be printing banknotes:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...nt-greek-notes

If this is true, Grexit and a euro collapse cannot be that far off.

I think that's a racing certainty.

[Horizon]

I never say anything is a certainty, but in this case the Greeks have not changed their basic behaviour. They still stuff their town halls with civil servants even in the smallest towns and villages, so thrift is clearly not being learnt by all.

It can't be long before the Germans lose patience or the Greek banks run out of money. Whichever happens first, the result will be the same. Not good for us either way.

[Osem]

No not good for anyone really which is why so many of us detest what the EU has become. It's been an 'accident' waiting to happen but just like a defective political party in denial about its policies, the EU carries on regardless pushing an outdated and unworkable agenda regardless of the reality.

As has been said, Greece's problems might well present an opportunity for Putin to further pursue his agenda and that prospect won't go down well in the west. I think a lot of people forget just how seemingly unconnected events can escalate and combine to create conflict. With what's going on around the world, I have a nasty feeling about the outcome of all this.