"What is so shockingly evident as you walk around Athens are the awful parallels between the war-time era and today. The soup kitchens, the beggars, the pensioners picking up discarded vegetables after street markets close, the homeless scavenging for food in bins … "
"There are so many similarities between these periods", says researcher Eleni Nikolaidou. "Of course, it was the Germans then, and once again the Germans are the dominant figures in our crisis now".
Greeks, we are then told by Mail writer Ian Birrell, "seem torn between outrage at their venal politicians, anxiety over the future and the fierce anger they direct at Germany for demanding tough measures as the price of a European Union bailout to allow their country to continue to function".
The imposition of the latest package of conditions by the German-dominated EU and International Monetary Fund, we are informed, provoked riots last weekend, while newspapers made ugly references to the Nazis, and politicians talked of living under a "German jackboot" as Europe's festering wounds burst open.
Shocked you are supposed to be, especially at the litany of hardships which the people of Greece are suffering. But, hang on a minute! Terrible though they might be, isn't this situation exactly whatthe Mail wanted (see above)?
"We earnestly hope EU leaders will find a solution that saves the euro from disorderly collapse", the paper said at the end of October last year. "Inevitably", it then noted, "we believe, this will mean re-writing the EU constitution yet again, to bring the countries of the Eurozone under a single economic government, with more uniform tax and spending policies — almost certainly to be dictated by Germany".
However, there is an alternative - for Greece to quit the euro. But that is precisely what The Maildoesn't want. It would sooner Greece remained in the euro, as indeed it is keen to see Britainremain in the EU. But then we are invited to decry the effects of the very policies that the paper endorses, while at the same time marking Germany down as the villain – the very country that wants Greece out of the euro.
Is it any wonder that people are confused?
COMMENT: "HAIL THE MSM" THREAD
With Germanophobia never far from the surface in European politics, Greek politicians and their media have been shamelessly playing the "Nazi" card, to the applause of commentators throughout the world. Too many people – many of whom should know better - have been only too happy to believe the narrative of a the German "steamroller" pitched against the hapless Greek people.
Bizarrely, even though it has emerged that the German solution to the current crisis is for Greece to leave the euro, and many of those self-same commentators argue for exactly the same outcome, Merkel gets a swastika armband and now finance minister Schäuble is dressed in an SS uniform.
It is, of course, not part of the media narrative to cast events in any other way, the net effect being to play to the propaganda of the EU commission and their Greek puppets, reinforcing the pressure on Germany to finance the bailout, and keep the euro intact.
At last though, it does seem as if the Germans have finally had enough, today's Bild running a story headlined: "Throw the Greeks finally out of the euro", complaining that, "We pay and they insult us" (pictured above).
But, indicating just how far the adrift is the Nazi rhetoric – playing into the hands of the EU - the paper goes on to note that all Greek politicians want to stay in the euro, to which effect they are forcing the pace on harsh austerity measures. It is the German politicians who are saying that the "stubborn Greeks" have no future with the euro.
Thus in a cross-party alliance, we see Klaus-Peter Willsch of the CDU saying: "We must stop the tragedy. Greece in the Euro zone is no prospect of economic recovery", with Frank Schaeffler (FDP) warning that the protests might trigger a civil war.
It is then Veronika Bellmann (CDU) who says that everything the critics have predicted has occurred. She adds: "the ailing administration, the corrupt tax system and an unfit and unwilling political class are not a basis for structural reforms". And now, she warns, this is beginning even "to shake the democratic nature of the country".
What thus comes over is the very opposite of the legend we are being offered, with German politicians genuinely concerned at the fate of Greece, saying exactly the same things that British eurosceptics have been urging. Nor is this a question of throwing Greece to the wolves. CSU General Secretary Alexander Dobrindt, warns that: "We must prepare ourselves for the event that Greece does not implement the promised reforms".
But, far from being the heartless "Nazi invader" intent on dominating the country, he says that there must be a "contingency plan" for when Greece "escapes" from the euro, with the preparation of "an EU-Marshall Plan for the redevelopment of Greece".
All of this points to one inescapable conclusion: the Germans are the best friends the Greek people have right now. The people are being sold down the river by their own corrupt politicians, with the support (and instruction) of the EU commission and their "troika", whose only concern is the integrity of the euro, irrespective of the pain it causes.
When we look at the media at large, therefore, we have to say that never in the field of euro-reporting have so many got it so plain wrong. But then we see how useless they have become, and cannot be at all surprised.
COMMENT: "HAIL THE MSM" THREAD
All those resources, the gifted staff, the fact-checkers and the budget of millions, and this is the best they can do? I don't know whether to weep or laugh.
Yes dears, you who are so wedded to the soap opera. There is a schism … between Greece, the commission and France on the one side and, on the other, Germany, with Finland and Holland – plus other as yet undisclosed backers.
Angela Merkel, Mario Monti and Lucas Papademos are "confident" of a deal on Monday? Yeah, right! According to Mr Monti's office in Rome, as copied off the press release by the agencies and then rehashed by The Guardian "man-on-the-spot" … in Brussels. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how news is made.
And there are "concerns growing behind the scenes"? You don't say! I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you! What on earth would we do without our wonderful media to keep us informed?
It tells us that, in Berlin officials "rebutted" widespread reports of a growing rift between Merkel, who backs Greece staying a member of the euro, and Schäuble … unsurprising, because the only report of a "rift" is the Financial Times relying an unnamed "Eurozone official".
Then they then go to another part of the opposition, Francois Fillon, French premier. He "effectively confirmed divisions within Berlin". But he urged France's allies "not to play with" a Greek default and strongly backed Athens: "The Greeks have promised very important reforms. The Europeans now have to keep their commitments", he is cited as saying.
Seriously, this is actually how news reports are cobbled together. This is what thousands of people will be reading at their breakfast tables this morning and, worst still, believing it. Perhaps it is just as well we don't have to rely on the media for any serious news.
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