Greece stains - by Richard... Saturday, May 07, 2011

Greece stains - by Richard... Saturday, May 07, 2011

While the UK has been mucking about with its fatuous referendum, and the Septics have been frying their credibility, the galloping Greeks have been grasping at straws. With their financial situation worse than Argentina on a bad day during their economic crisis, Spiegel Online is telling us that Athens is considering withdrawing from the eurozone.

To meet this threat, we are told that there have been panic meetings between eurozone finance ministers and representatives of the EU commission in Luxembourg at the Château de Senningen, a site used by the Luxembourg government for official meetings.

In addition to Greece's possible exit from the currency union, a speedy restructuring of the country's debt also featured on the agenda, but the meeting was declared "highly confidential", with only the eurozone finance ministers and senior staff members permitted to attend. The outcome has not been revealed.

Sources have told Spiegel that Germany intends to seek to prevent Greece from leaving the euro zone if at all possible, warning that if Athens ditched the single currency, "It would lead to a considerable devaluation of the new (Greek) domestic currency against the euro."

According to German Finance Ministry estimates, the currency could lose as much as 50 percent of its value, leading to a drastic increase in Greek national debt. Greece's national deficit could rise to 200 percent of gross domestic product after such a devaluation. "A debt restructuring would be inevitable," experts warn. Greece would go bankrupt.

Needless to say, as the news has leaked out, Greece has been quick to deny the Spiegel claims, the rapidity and sharpness of the denials suggesting that there many some truth in what has leaked out.

The story is now getting widespread media coverage, with even The Guardian on the case. Its "take" is that the secret talks have been on debt restructuring. This in turn suggests that the Greeks are using the threat of withdrawal as leverage to get a better financial deal from the "colleagues".

With demonstrations almost a daily even, so numerous that they are barely reported outside Greece any more, the government is looking down the nose of a long, hot summer where things can only get worse. Its politicians are stuck between a rock and a hard place, while Germany is trying to hold the line, in the knowledge that, if Greece quits the euro, others will not be far behind.

Whatever the truth of this, and no one outside a very tight circle will know, we have not seen the last of this drama – by any means. The underlying stresses are unresolved, and the longer the delay the worse it is going to get.

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So that's a no, then? - by Richard... Friday, May 06, 2011

Roughly 68.43 to 31.57 percent voted to stuff Clegg, 12,398,453 voting "no" and a meagre 5,718,680 voting "yes" so far, with 435 out of 440 areas reporting. A total 18.6 million votes have been cast across Great Britain, giving a provisional turnout of 41.8 percent.

Voting was lowest in London, where there were no local elections, delivering 1.86 million votes comprising 35.4 of the total electorate. Scotland, which also ran assembly elections, had the Haggis-eaters out in their droves ... but still only barely tipping the half-way scales. There were 1.98 million voting on a turnout of 50.7 percent, the highest regional vote of the day.

The South East softies turned out 2.79 million to deliver 44.3 percent, the pastie-munchers and cider slurpers of the South West got 1.80 million to turn out, topping the bill in England at 44.6 percent. The turnip-crunchers in the Eastern Region managed 1.84 million inbreds and 43.1 percent turnout. The Blackies of the West Midlands found 1.63 million and 39.8 percent with sufficient intelligence to find their polling stations (it doesn't say how many started out), while the nasal droners of the East Midlands delivered 1.43 million and 42.8 percent.

God's Chosen People in Yorkshire, with the Humberside mob, managed 1.53 million, giving them a 39.9 percent turnout, while the sheep shearers of the North West made 2.05 million and 39.1 percent. The sheep stealers of the North East only got 0.76 million and 38.7 percent. The Taffies delivered 0.95 million, with a 41.7 percent turnout.

The overall turnout might have been that bit higher had there been an opportunity personally to do damage to Clegg, but since he couldn't promise to be everywhere, that depressed the count a few points. Nevertheless, at a cost estimated at £100 million - a complete waste of money - the idea of messing about with the voting system has been parked for a generation. What we do about the politicians is another matter.

NB: Apart from Yorkshire, I think I've managed to offend everyone, but please let me know if I've left anyone out.

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Animal Farm - by Richard...

Does this picture remind you of anything?

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What Obama really saw - by Richard...

Ending the speculation on what President Obama and his top-level team were really watching, we have now obtained this exclusive picture from Anoneumouse. There is absolutely no question that this is a genuine photoshop.

This is quite unlike the latest statement, supposedly from al Qaeda, which supposedly confirmed their leader Osama Bin Laden is dead. They have supposedly vowed to continue attacking the US warning Americans that their "happiness will turn to sadness".

The statement was posted on jihadist internet forums, and The Daily Fail - which also reported Obama watching the live coverage of the raid – reports that the group has "confirmed" that Bin Laden died in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad.

The news is hoped to take the pressure off President Obama to release the photos of the slain terrorist. And although the Fail admits that the statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed, it repeats that it was "posted on websites where the group traditionally puts out its messages".

But until we've seen the photoshop of the death certificate, and Tim Montgomerie has confirmed it on Twitter, how can we believe anything - even if Michelle Malkin is helping to clear up the confusion?

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Protecting the narrative - by Richard...

It is rather appropriate that the Girliegraph should choose as its blog editor Damian Thompson - a journalist (or so he claims) who specialises in religion. Thus his journalistic enterprise is more a matter of faith than substance, and partly explains why he should resort to branding naysayers asconspiracy theorists.

Inevitably, though, the faith-laden Thompson is not alone. Even (or especially) The Guardian lays into the naysayers as well, declaring that the decision not to release photographs of Bin Laden's corpse "has prompted an avalanche of conspiracy theories". But, from the "liberal" left to the "rabid" right of the Wall Street Journal we get the same attack on the conspiracy theorists. And even Littlejohn joins in the clever-dickery.

This commonality of approach, across the ideological divide, stems from the more pressing need to protect, above all else, the prevailing narrative. It does not matter that the media babies are so gullible that they will believe anything they are told. What matters is that they should all believe the same thing, and that dissenters should be marginalised. And while Littlejohn stands slightly apart, he is only performing the role of the jester - the licensed "fool".

Interestingly, it is one on the faith-laden Thompson's commenters who notes that the term "conspiracy theorist" belongs alongside "climate change denier", "anti-semite", "racist", "homophobe", "sexist" and array of other soundbites of meaningless noise. And right on cue, we have al Gore pop up, declaiming climate change sceptics as birthers. It is also so very predictable.

The problem is, of course, the there are plenty of loons and kooks around, so branding anyone who dissents with one or more of these labels is a highly effective technique. But even then, for the protectors of the narrative, this is not enough. They also rely on other techniques.

Bearing in mind that the alternative media is the greatest challenge to the orthodoxy, we see increasingly the use of internet website blocking (see top), which means that different views such as ours find it harder than most to attract an audience. And from the grand scale, to the petty, the clever and sophisticated Tim Montgomerie rigorously excludes us from his blogroll even though, as a Conservative site, he links to Labour List and hard left sites.

The difference is, of course, is that all these sites, across the political divide, uphold the narrative. Thus, with some amusement, we see Cranmer exulting in his 11th position in the Wikio list of top political blogs, whereas we, with more than double the hit rate, do not even appear on the list. But then Wikio, the aggregator, will publicise this, and this but not this.

So, is this all another conspiracy? The answer is: not necessarily. You can start with the premise that all governments are conspiracies against their peoples. But moving from there, you can also argue that the governmental system in any country at any one time represents the status quo. The majority of the people, and especially the "establishment", quite naturally supports that. The support is automatic and unthinking.

Thus, naturally and necessarily, anyone who seriously challenges the status quo will get the treatment. It is as natural as rain and as predictable as the cycle of night and day. Yet, despite all that, slowly but inexorably, EU Referendum traffic increases.