Tag Archives: greece

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Conspiracy to Privatize: Too Big to Fail European Banks get huge cheap loans as Greece is hung out to dry

While European and IMF officials continue to string Greece along, regarding bailout loans, Europe’s too big to fail banks get billions in easy money!

The European Central Bank (ECB) has just issued the equivalent of U.S. $712.4 billion in cheap loans!  ECB officials said it is to help improve liquidity in the markets.  But the same would happen if Greece was given bailout loans!

This is the second time the ECB has issued cheap loans to too big to fail banks!  In December 2011, the ECB issued U.S. $657.9 billion at 1% interest.  Again, this while the ECB and the U.S. based IMF strung Greece along.

Many Greeks now believe what’s happening to their country is a conspiracy to force total privatization upon them.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? S&P’s declares Greece in default of debt! Proof that re-negotiating your debt won’t save you!

February 27, 2012, Standard & Poor’s declares Greece to be in default!  S&P’s blamed it on the debt restructuring deal currently being negotiated.

Greek officials say they were expecting it. Other credit rating agencies are expected to do the same thing.  This makes Greece the first European Union member to default.

S&P’s explained that loan contracts state that loan restructuring is condition for default status: “As we have previously stated, we may view an issuer’s unilateral change of the original terms and conditions of an obligation as a de facto restructuring and thus a default by Standard & Poor’s published definition.”

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery: G20 says no more money for the IMF, until Greece makes even more draconian cuts! Wants U.S. to end Volcker Rules!

27 February 2012

The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, meeting in Mexico, said they will not provide the International Monetary Fund anymore money until Europe, specifically Greece, makes more even drastic government cuts.

This follows reports that the World Bank will issue a report warning China to privatize its remaning government held businesses.  Many analysts believe what the G20 really wants is total privatization of governments.

Yesterday I speculated that the problems of Greece are actually related to its lack of participation in the developing of the Leviathan gas and oil fields. Greece is also being pushed to privatize many government services.

The G20 also demanded that the United States back off of its Volcker banking rule, which was created to tighten the regulation of runaway too big to fail banks!  The Volcker rule is supposed to stop banks from using customer deposits to make investments strictly for the banks own profit! G20 officials claim the Volcker rule are interfering with international banking!

The Volcker rule doesn’t even go into effect until July, 2012!

 

 

International

Red Horse, Leviathan & World War 3: It’s about the Oil & Gas, huge reserves found off the coast of Cyprus, Gaza, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Turkey & Syria. The real reason for War with Iran!

“…its gas resources are bigger than anything we have assessed in the United States!”-Brenda Pierce, U.S. Geological Survey, statement about the Levant Basin Province (aka Leviathan)

The discovery of huge natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea is the true cause of warmongering between the United States, Europe, Cyprus (which is divided into Greek and Turkish halves), Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iran and Palestinian Gaza Strip.

In 2009, Texas U.S.A. based Noble Energy (formerly known as Noble Affiliates, and not to be confused with Nobel Energy Management) discovered a huge gas field while under hire by Israel.  It was the biggest gas field discovery of 2009, called Tamar.

Image via Noble Energy.

In October 2010, Noble Energy discovered an even bigger gas field. Israel declared the area an Exclusive Economic Zone.  It’s part of an even bigger area known as the Leviathan Gas Field. The problem is that Lebanon says the field extends into its territory and on August 2010, almost two months before the second discovery by Noble Energy, petitioned the United Nations to protect their rights.

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, said Israel is “…ignoring the fact that according to the maps the deposit extends into Lebanese waters.”

Lebanon is justified, as Israel (along with the United States) never ratified the 1982 UN Convention on Law of the Sea.  Under that law Lebanon has a right to the gas, in the field called Tamar.

Israeli officials responded with threats of war: “We will not hesitate to use our force and strength to protect not only the rule of law but the international maritime law.”-Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructure of Israel

Note how Israeli officials always make claims of enforcing international laws, yet they have refused to sign onto most of those laws!

In fact Israel periodically sends military aircraft into Lebanon’s air space, and even drops a few bombs now and again.

But, the Leviathan Gas Field doesn’t involve just Israel and Lebanon. In December 2011, NATO-Turkish warships began firing on an area of the Mediterranean where Cyprus had just discovered an extension of the Leviathan Gas Field.  Cyprus declared the area an Exclusive Economic Zone, it is also known as Block-12 of the Leviathan Gas Field.

Greek Cypriot officials issued not only words of war, but threats of Ethnic Cleansing: “If Turkey does not change its gunboat diplomacy and stop playing the part of regional police officer, there will be consequences which, for sure, will not be good, either for the whole region or the Turkish people and first and foremost for Turkish Cypriots.”-Dimitris Christofias, Greek President of Cyprus

For some reason the Western media has not reported much of anything about the disputes over the Leviathan Gas Field.

2011 was also the year that NATO-Turkey went from being Israel’s only ally in the region, to becoming an enemy.  Turkey officially blamed it on Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid ships to Gaza, but it looks like it’s really about the gas.  By the end of 2011, Israel canceled a $90-million military contract with Turkey, because Israeli officials felt Turkey was after their portion of the gas field.

Israel has allied itself with Greek Cyprus, when it comes to extracting the natural gas.  While Noble Energy is officially a Houston, Texas, company, most of the company stocks are actually held by petroleum companies of Greek Cyprus (Cypriot national energy company) and Israel (Delek Drilling LP & Avner Oil Exploration LLP).

Noble Energy claims there is 33-trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Leviathan fields, enough to provide Israel with 100 years worth!  In fact, the United States government is so interested that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was sent in to confirm its size.

You might remember that, in 2011, for a short time it looked like Israeli-U.S. relations were deteriorating. Again, the Western media failed to report that U.S. officials told Lebanese officials that the U.S. supported their claim to the Tamar gas  fields!

The U.S. mended their relations with Israel, by taking a stand against Turkey’s desire to control a portion of Leviathan.  U.S. officials did this by supporting Israel’s new ally Greek Cyprus.

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, told the Greek Cyprus Foreign Minister, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, to go full bore on drilling their gas field.     Kozakou-Marcoullis told a crowd at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that Turkey was “the neighborhood bully”, and that the United States was fully supporting Greek Cyprus (thus, in a round-a-bout way Israel) in their gas field operations.

February 16, 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a historic first time visit to Greek Cyprus.  He called the new alliance a “natural relationship”, and added:  “I came here to develop our bilateral ties, our economic ties and ties in the field of energy.”

Oh, but wait, Turkey now looks to be Israel’s ally again. In fact Turkey has switched from supporting Syria to supporting military action against Syria!   What happened?

Turkey has realized that by connecting a relatively short pipeline to Leviathan, they could potentially become self sufficient in natural gas, and maybe even oil.  This would end their current dependence on petroleum from the Black Sea (Russia, Romania), and make it no longer a necessity to connect to the planned pipeline coming from Iran.

What about NATO-Greece? Ever notice how this economic disaster just keeps dragging on? It could be because Greece is a transit rout for oil and gas pipelines coming from the Caspian Sea, and Middle East (namely Iran).  These so called bail out negotiations are more likely efforts to get Greece to join Leviathan.

The problem for Greece is that it would need a very long expensive pipeline to connect to the known gas/oil reserves of Leviathan, meaning it’s still cheaper to get their petroleum from the Middle East!  It’s also still cheaper to continue getting their petroleum from the Middle East, than to buy it from those countries (Israel, Cyprus, etc) that are planning to mine Leviathan for everything it’s got.

This is the real reason Greece is being run into the ground.

By the way, want to know what the USGS found when they explored the Eastern Mediterranean?  Potentially, 345-trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 3.4-billion barrels of oil!!!

This sheds new light on the real reasons for the 2011 overthrow of the Egyptian and Libyan governments in North Africa!  The people of those countries were justified, but look what it’s got them; increasing instability in Libya, and a pro-U.S.-Israel military government in Egypt.

And what about the almost daily Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip, for the past two years, that the Western-NATO news-media is not reporting!?  The latest attack, on February 26, saw Israeli planes bomb a cement factory.  The week prior saw Israeli forces cut off electrical power to Gaza.  On and on.  Yet barely any mention in Western mainstream news-media.

What countries surround the Eastern Mediterranean?  Cyprus, Gaza, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Turkey and Syria!!!

And what about this urgent need to go to war with Iran? It’s not about anything nuclear!  Lebanon & Syria (Eastern Mediterranean countries) and Iraq & Iran are a few years away from completing the largest natural gas pipeline in the Middle East.  It would rival anything that could be immediately extracted from Leviathan.

“A trilateral agreement between the three countries on the transit of gas has been reached….The first official contract is ready to be signed soon…We plan to transit gas from the South Pars field through Iraq, Syria and then Lebanon to the Mediterranean area and Europe.”-Javad Oji, National Iranian Gas Company

The pipeline from Iran could carry 110-million cubic meters of natural gas per day, for the next 80 years (Iran has the world’s second largest reserves of natural gas)!  If this was completed, then it would make developing the Leviathan (new drilling rigs, pipelines, etc) a waste of money.  And, the money made off the Iranian dominated pipeline would not be going to the West (ie no benefit to the U.S./U.K./Saudi Arabian U.S. PetroDollar monopoly)!

It would also destroy Israel’s hopes of finally joining the petroleum club.

The other factor, that has most of the European Union in favor of Leviathan (except Greece, by the way some NATO-German officials are now saying Greece needs to get out of the EU), is the fact that current eastern European pipeline projects are turning out to be more expensive than first thought.  So much so that some reports (including reports by British Petroleum [BP]) say it would be cheaper to dump those projects in favor of developing Leviathan.  But of course, that’s only if Leviathan didn’t have to compete with the huge pipeline coming from Iran.

In fact, as of February 26, Leviathan now has to compete with several gas lines coming from Iran. Iranian gas officials announced they are now building secondary pipelines to Iraq, Syria and on to Europe!

Because the Western media does not report what’s really going on regarding the recently discovered Eastern Mediterranean oil and gas fields, and only reports propagandist lies meant to rally people in support of unjust wars for the benefit of the oil industry,  it shows that the Western news media is a tool of deceit for the Red Horseman.

“Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.”-Revelation 6:4

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Germany straight up tells Greece to get out of the European Union

“Outside the European monetary union, Greece’s chances of regenerating itself and becoming competitive are definitely bigger than if it remained inside the eurozone.”-Hans-Peter Friedrich, Interior Minister of Germany

Germany’s Interior Minister told Der Spiegel that while the EU should not kick out Greece, it should give Greece incentives to leave “that they cannot turn down.”

However, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, says she is opposed to Greece leaving the eurozone.  This shows going divisions among Germany’s government, regarding Greece’s financial problems.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Greeks right about sinister plots against them, yet again the latest Bail Out is put on hold!

How many times is this gonna happen: World finance leaders announce a done deal for a Greek bail out loan, only to retract it not even 24 hours later.

Yet again European Union leaders, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are using excuses to hold back the latest 130 billion Euro loan.

“Greece has obviously made significant efforts, and now we need to continue the work and that the entirety of the elements, particularly furnished by the other parties, are also put into place.”–Christine Lagarde, IMF

The IMF’s Christine Lagarde said, February 21, 2012, that the new loan deal is now going to be scrutinized by the IMF, and a decision to approve, or not, will be made by the second week of March!

Many Greeks believe their country is deliberately being destroyed economically.

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? EU approves yet another bail out loan for Greece! Yet again it’s too little to do any good

Early morning February 21, 2012, European Union finance ministers approved a 130 billion Euro bail out loan for Greece.

However, on February 20, EU finance minister Johan van Overtveldt, said it would take at least 200 billion Euros!  Obviously this latest loan is not going to be enough, yet again!

Many Greeks are convinced they are being hit by a sinister plot to turn their country into a Third World nation.

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Bail out delays; Greece needs loans equal to its total GDP! Greece warned of Third World status. Greeks believe the World is against them, sinister plots

February 20, 2012, European Union finance minister, Johan van Overtveldt, said one of the reasons bail out loans keep getting put on hold is because everyday new problems are revealed.

He says Greece now needs loans at least equal to its GDP, in order to get through the next few years: “So we are talking now about a package that in reality is about 200 billion euros, which happens to be exactly the amount equal to Greek gross domestic product.”

Overtveldt also said what many independent, and traditional economists have been saying; that cuts to Greek government spending will only make things worse: “The negative spiral in which the Greek economy and Greek society have been imprisoned for almost two years will only get worse. The austerity program that is imposed on the country will worsen the recession, which in its turn will worsen the budget outlook.”

He added that it was probably a good thing for Greece to leave the European Union: “It will lead, of course, to a devaluation of the new drachma but that is exactly what is needed to get the economy growing again through international trade.”

In fact many Greeks have been wanting their government to leave the EU, because they think it’s all part of a sinister plot.

Greek author, politician and songwriter, Mikis Theodorakis, says there is a conspiracy to destroy his country: “Germans, for instance, as well as the French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war materials, to the detriment of our national wealth….Siemens, for instance, maintained a special department for buying off the influential Greeks in order to sell its products in the Greece market.”

Theodorakis might be right about his beloved Greece being destroyed.  Economist Harlan Green, said the Mediterranean country is on its way to Third World status, and implied that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was behind it: “Greece is sliding very quickly into being a third world country, and the IMF knows how to deal with third world countries.”

As far as sinister plots go; don’t forget that the new unelected Prime Minister of Greece is a member of the Trilateral Commission!

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Iranian media reports suggest that Iran is about to cut off oil to 6 European countries, lack of Human Rights in Europe being blamed

February 15, 2012, confusing reports in the Iranian media.  Unofficial sources (like PressTV, it is not an official Iranian media source) are saying that Iran has blocked oil shipments to six European countries.

However, official sources (like Islamic Republic News Agency [IRNA]) say only that ambassadors from six European countries have been summed to the Iranian government, to discuss “issues”.

The six countries are Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, and Netherlands.

The IRNA is quoting Iran’s Director General of West Europe Affaires at Foreign Ministry, Hassan Tajik: “Our response is that sanctions cannot affect Iranians’ will, rather, it will have an adverse impact on European people. Europe is in a difficult economic condition and is facing a harsh winter. Iran cannot remain indifferent towards EU oil ban. We do not have any problem in terms of finding customers for our oil and selling it to other countries. However, based on humanitarian policies and given the conditions of European countries, we have decided to send a serious message to the Europeans which are parties to oil contracts. We can instantly replace oil customers.”

In other words it seems like Iran has identified which European countries it would cut off, and has given them warning, but they have not actually cut off the oil at this point.

It’s interesting that Iran is implying that violation of human rights within Europe is a main factor in their decision to possibly cut off the oil.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Bailout deal for Greece taking so long because Germany doesn’t think it will be paid back. Germany preparing for Greece to leave the EU

“We are ready to help. But once again: we have and want only to help if there is something in return from the Greek side.”-Philipp Roesler, German Economy Minister

Early morning February 13, the Greek Parliament approved the latest round of social cuts, despite members of Parliament threatening to quit. The move comes after German Economy Minister, Philipp Roesler, gave a TV interview in which he said it’s all about Greece being able to convince the rest of Europe that they can pay back future bailout loans.

Roesler also implied that Germany and France have been working to position the EU, so if Greece was to exit the European Union (and default) it would not have an adverse affect on the EU.  He said such a move is now “less and less scary”.