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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Greece, Ukraine, the media and what to Expect

Russian troops near the village of Perevalnoye outside Simferopol.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the possibility of Greece leaving the EU and dropping the Euro. If we pay attention to Alan Greenspan, the Euro is doomed. I do pay attention to people like Greenspan as well as what is being said by the mainstream media in general but not for the information they provide, but for what they want us to believe and the agenda behind it.
This is a very important distinction, and one that you better learn to understand, because it keeps getting worse: The mainstream media is not there to inform you. It’s there to create a specific public opinion by misinforming you. The mainstream media is not there to serve you, the viewer. It’s there to serve its owners and their interests, something that makes complete sense but we often forget.

 
Greece leaving the Eurozone
When we hear that Greece is about to be kicked out of the EU, the intention is to force Greece into agreeing to the IMF and European banks conditions. This is of course not in Greece’s best interest.
What’s most likely to happen? It depends. The two most likely scenarios are Greece staying in the EU, not leaving it. In the first case, and the one I believe is more likely, the newly elected government does as it has promised and fights for a better deal, repaying at a 1 or 2% of the GDP instead of 4%, in a manner that Greece can slowly pay its debt but not bleed to death while doing so, which is often what banks and vulture funds want. Syriza already went from “we’re not paying” to “we’ll pay but under more favorable terms”. So far, they’ve been allowed to get away with it, but I doubt the Greek people will sit while they are thrown under the bus. In the second scenario, the Syriza government is bullied or paid off to continue with the austerity measures they said they would oppose. In this case, Greece stays in the EU but there’s more chances of internal problems within Greece due to the already tough conditions and political betrayal. Finally, and although possible I would say is the least likely outcome, Greece leaves the EU and drops the Euro. Here, Greece would go through a short term period of instability but given the greater power of managing your own currency Greece would be seeing a lot of progress in just a couple years. Still, being out of the EU in a world where you’re either USA, EU, Russia or China, not being part of something bigger does have its disadvantages. This is the least likely scenario most of all because this is the one in which the EU and the Euro are damaged the most, bankers don’t get paid, and therefore I doubt the European bankers will go for it, they would make a much better offer to Greece rather than seeing them go and do such damage to the stability of the EU. Also, given the situation in Ukraine with Russia, the last thing the EU or even the United States needs is Greece in the pocket of Russia.

War in Ukraine
A ceasefire has just been agreed but I don’t think we’ll see any immediate results any time soon. Putin doesn’t joke around and literally as the ceasefire is agreed Putin is sending dozens of tanks and missile launchers across the border into Ukraine. War in Ukraine will persist throughout the year but at the same time I believe that in spite of the very real risk of the conflict extending through Europe, chances are it will stay mostly in Ukraine and maybe just in Eastern Ukraine. The reasons for this are several. First, Europe doesn’t want war. UK is not interested in fighting such a powerful foe, neither is Germany, who also happens to be further east closer to the angry bear’s border. The European elite is happy enough going back to leaving Ukraine alone and not risk it, and Russia is happy enough with Europe stepping down. On the other hand USA needs another war but then again ISIS is going well and promising a good number of those highly needed military contracts. While the military lobby needs an enemy to get those contracts rolling, they much rather spend it fighting ISIS and maybe have to deal with a terrorist attack on US soil every once in a while and a few military personnel casualties, rather than go fight Russia and start throwing nukes at one another.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

7 comments:

Don Williams said...

1) Ferfal's comment re the purpose of the News Media being to deceive us for the benefit
of secret, wealthy agendas is true. But only occasionly --and under great stress- do they do something so clumsy as tell us outright falsehoods that can be disproved by the facts. No, the real propagandists do the functional equivalent of lying to us by loudly and emotionally hyping ideas that support the secret agenda while covering up
and concealing the major facts that disprove their narrative.

2) For example, here is how the major US news organizations and British newspapers like the Financial Times are functionally lying to their fellow countrymen:

a) There has been no mention in the past year of George W Bush pushing strongly for the enlistment of Ukraine into NATO at the 2008 NATO summit --over the objections of France and Germany.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/01/nato.georgia

b) There has been no examination whatsoever of the lethal threat posed to Russia if NATO bases are established in Ukraine -- and the reasons why Russia will go to war
rather than allow those bases.

The US and UK have been working on "broadband stealth" that are invisible across multiple frequencies --hence , can hide from even advanced radars. The reported reason is for surveillance in countries with advanced radars but if a drone like the RQ-180 can carry several hundred pounds of electronic
equipment than it can carry a B61 250 Kt nuke.

Moscow and several Russian ICBM
sites are within 300 miles of the Ukraine border. The drones can travel 1500 miles -- probably twice that on a one way mission. Those that are targeted against fixed sites
would not need a satellite video link to Nevada -- they could just be programmed to go to the site with GPS and detonate at a designated time.

Those targeted at Russia's
mobile ICBMs --which are allegedly invulnerable because their position is constantly
changing -- could be hunted down by drones with video links to human operators and destroyed at the designated time.

Russia's ICBMs have been cut to around 306 via arms control agreements -- a wave of RQ-180s launched from Ukraine at night could destroy those ICBMs in a single, surprise First Strike, leaving Russia defenseless.
(Her nuclear subs are largely tied up at the docks because of the vulnerability to US
attack subs.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-180


Don Williams said...

(cont)

c) As an American, there is no reason for me to particularly care what happens to Russia -- unless Russia decides
she needs to strike first. And this is the second major thing being hidden from Americans--
that Washington is risking the lives of 70% of the US population. Probably more if
starvation from nuclear winter and death from radioactive fallout is included. If just 51 of Russia's ICBMs were launched at 51 of our major cities, it would destroy at least 54% of
our population.

http://bos.sagepub.com/content/70/2/75.full.pdf+html

e) The US and UK news report on Russian TU bombers now flying in international waters up and down the coasts of the USA and UK.

Because that supports their story of Putin being aggressive.

What they do NOT report is that those bombers can deliver nukes
from 1500 miles out using cruise missiles. The older KH-55 might be detected on radar and chased down by jets -- but the US Air Force Strike command reported last year that Russia has deployed the new KH-102 stealth cruise missile, which would likely be undetected until it is too late.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-test-fires-six-new-air-launched-cruise-missiles/

f) Of course, if China via a proxy like Al Qaeda detonated a surprise nuke in a US city while
a Russian bomber was offshore, the US would assume a Russian strike, would retaliate, a
surprised Russia would escalate and China would emerge smiling and supreme from the ashes.

g) The US and UK media are also pushing the idea that Ukraine is just the start of Putin's
move to conquer Europe -- while hiding the FACTS that show how ridiculous that is:

1) Russia GDP: $2.1 Trillion US GDP: $17 Trillion EU GDP: $17 Trillion NATO total: $34 Trillion
2) US military budget: $640 billion Russian military budget: $88 billion
France/UK/Germany/Italy: $200 billion
3) Russia population: 144 million EU population: 507 million US Population: 320 million
4) Distance from Ukraine to Moscow: 300 miles Distance from Ukraine to US: 4500 miles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

Russia's conventional military power is relatively minor -- she is dangerous only if pushed into a suicidal nuclear war in which she would be mostly destroyed but would take out her threats as well.

h) Most of all, the US newspapers hide the people behind the secret agenda -- the Republican Big
Oil billionaires and the Israel Lobby billionaires (both Republican and Democratic)

1) Chevron and Exxon have invested $50 billion in the Caspian Sea on Russia's southern border-- and they want to displace Russia as supplier of natural gas to the EU. The Ukrainian gas pipeline network would save them the cost of building an alternative 1000 mile pipeline through Turkey-Italy or the Balkans to carry gas from Turkmenistan. That would be the Turkmenistan that is next door to those major US bases in Afghanistan that peace-loving Obama just picked up via the Bilateral Security Agreement. We are NOT pulling out of Afghanistan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Caspian_Gas_Pipeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku%E2%80%93Tbilisi%E2%80%93Ceyhan_pipeline

http://tribune.com.pk/story/731317/tapi-pipeline-officials-to-finalise-contract-award-in-ashgabat-next-week/

2) The Israel Lobby billionaires don't think Putin has been sufficiently helpful in destroying
Iran and Syria:

http://reason.com/24-7/2014/03/31/gop-hawks-war-against-rand-paul

Don Williams said...

PS And the primary issue the News Media suppresses is:

What do the American People have to gain from this that justifies the major risks being taken and the tax expenditures? How many Americans really want to sacrifice their sons to defend a Ukraine 4500 miles away. And yet NATO is meaningless without that committment.

Burke said...

The problem in Greece is that it is an entitlement state and not a free country. Defaulting on its debts and printing money is not a solution. It's just more of the same poison that's killing them.

Anonymous said...

The new socialist or communist light Greek government is looking to have their debt forgiven or they will default. Here's the problem with the Greeks they got into this mess because of socialism and their economy is severely sick and vomiting. So what do the Greeks do they install a new socialist government and return to eat the socialist vomit. The unemployment rate is around 26%. At the bottom of the Great Depression in 1933, in the USA the rate was 25%. Greek youth unemployment is 50% and socialist Spain takes the lead at 53%. The Greek government is threatening a mini-default. But it will default on foreigners, not the Greek voters. The Leftists' policies will strangle the profitability of what little remains of the free market in Greece. The welfare state will get much larger. Greece is trapped and their only hope is a free market economic system.

Anonymous said...

The American taxpayer is spending billions of dollars to NATO nations with military subsidies. NATO nations have cut back on their military budgets and shifted their defense to the American military. It's time we disband NATO and bring our soldiers and our money home. In the very near future there will be the Great Default in the USA and Keynesian economics will finally be buried.

Unknown said...

You can still find descent opinions in mainstream media. They are just not the headlines