The situation in Greece is a lot worse than it looks

 Reuters

Paul Taylor, Reuters

ATHENS (Reuters) - After a tumultuous year of two elections, a referendum, a default, a bank shutdown, capital controls and a tidal wave of migrants, it's amazing that Greece is still standing, like the Parthenon towering over Athens.

Yet the visitor's first impression is not of a country in deep depression in the eighth year of a recession that has shriveled economic output by more than 25 percent and put one in four people out of work.

Shortage of trust threatens Greece's comeback

Sun Dec 6, 2015 4:15am EST Related: WORLD, GREECE

ATHENS | BY PAUL TAYLOR

After a tumultuous year of two elections, a referendum, a default, a bank shutdown, capital controls and a tidal wave of migrants, it's amazing that Greece is still standing, like the Parthenon towering over Athens.

Yet the visitor's first impression is not of a country in deep depression in the eighth year of a recession that has shriveled economic output by more than 25 percent and put one in four people out of work.

For sure, there are more beggars in the streets, public health is declining and many Greeks have stories of hardship in their family. But the bars and restaurants are full, Christmas lights glitter and there is plenty of money being spent in the stores in central Athens.

In Greece, Shift From Cash to Plastic Could Undercut Shadow Economy

By SUZANNE DALEYDEC. 4, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — In the central market here recently, hanging above the trays of cod and the slabs of pink meat, was evidence that Greece’s near bankruptcy last summer was having an unexpected impact — shiny new placards advertising that, at least in some stalls, customers could now pay with debit and credit cards.

“If I like it or not, people are asking for it,” said Christos Papoutsis, 57, a butcher here who finally yielded to plastic money only last month. “If I don’t accept the cards, I will lose sales.”

Το καραβάνι τρέχει μες στη σκόνη

ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ 12:44

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

Εφημερίδα Καθημερινή

Ο συνεργάτης του Μπιλ Κλίντον, και πρώην εκπρόσωπος Τύπου του Λευκού Οίκου, Τζορτζ Στεφανόπουλος έδωσε μια καλή συμβουλή στον διάδοχό του: «Αν όλα πάνε στραβά, ρίξε το φταίξιμο στο Τύπο». Ο ελληνικός λαός θα το έλεγε καλύτερα: «ο πνιγμένος από τα Μέσα πιάνεται». Και η κυβέρνηση πνίγεται στην ανικανότητά της, στις παλινωδίες της, στα γινάτια, στα ρουσφέτια, στην αγραμματοσύνη, στο γενικώς «άλλα λέω κι άλλα κάνω», με αποτέλεσμα τώρα να της φταίνε τα Μέσα Ενημέρωσης. Ετσι, ανάμεσα στα σκυλιά που ουρλιάζουν και στα καραβάνια που τάχα προχωρούν, ο πρωθυπουργός είπε στην κοινοβουλευτική ομάδα του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ για «ένα μιντιακό σύστημα που ξεψυχά και βρυχάται» (1.12.2015).

Greece Agrees to More EU Help With Migrants

EU members were pressuring Greece to better monitor the bloc’s external border

The Wall Street Journal

By VALENTINA POP

Updated Dec. 3, 2015 5:03 p.m. ET

1 COMMENTS

BRUSSELS—Greece appeared to succumb to pressure from other governments as it agreed to accept more European Union help to control migrant flows.

Under pressure from EU governments, including a veiled suggestion that it could be suspended from the Schengen passport-free zone, Greece agreed to three steps to better handle incoming migrants, including assistance from the EU Border Agency, the European Commission said.

Greeks Strike to Protest Latest Austerity Measures

By NIKI KITSANTONIS

DEC. 3, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Workers across Greece walked off their jobs on Thursday, heeding a call by labor unions to join the second general strike in three weeks to protest a new round of austerity measures.

The 24-hour walkout shut down public services, disrupted public transportation, left ferries moored in ports, closed schools and forced hospitals to function with reduced staffs.

Russia and Turkey Hurl Insults as Feud Deepens

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
DEC. 3, 2015

The New York Times

MOSCOW — The leaders of Turkey and Russia flung insults at each other on Thursday in their deepening feud over the shooting down of a Russian warplane, with President Vladimir V. Putin warning that Moscow would do more than merely ban tomatoes and construction projects to penalize Ankara.

The Kremlin also said that the long-delayed transfer of the S-300 air defense system to Iran had started, a move that strengthens one of Turkey’s regional rivals while raising concerns in Israel.

EU presses Greece over migrants, weighs Schengen threat

Wed Dec 2, 2015 6:37pm EST Related: WORLD, GREECE, MIGRANT CRISIS

ATHENS/BRUSSELS | BY PAUL TAYLOR AND ALASTAIR MACDONALD

Greece hit back on Wednesday at threats from some EU states to suspend it from the Schengen zone of open border travel because of its failure to control large numbers of migrants entering Europe.

Some central European officials, most prominently Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, have suggested excluding Greece from Schengen. Diplomats and European Union officials say some governments have raised the possibility informally but it would be a largely symbolic move, with little impact on migration.

"It is not said officially, but there is pressure," Greek Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas told reporters, denying a Financial Times report on Wednesday that Athens had, among other things, refused an EU offer of devices designed to share the identity data of incoming migrants around the bloc.

Greece aims for debt relief deal in Feb 2016 after reforms done

Mon Nov 30, 2015 12:11pm EST

ATHENS | BY LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS AND PAUL TAYLOR

Reuters

Greece wants a deal on debt relief with its euro zone creditors in February to remove financial uncertainty and spur economic recovery, its finance minister said, but euro zone officials said that timetable was very ambitious and likely to slip.

Addressing a conference of investors, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Monday that making the ailing euro zone country's debt sustainable was the key to liberating the economy and restoring confidence among depositors and companies.

Euro to Bear Brunt of Yuan's Inclusion in Reserve-Currency Club

 Netty Idayu Ismail

 Lillian Chen

Bloombgerg

The euro’s worst year in a decade is looking even grimmer after the Chinese yuan’s inclusion in the International Monetary Fund’s basket of reserve currencies.

The 19-nation currency’s weighting in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket will drop to 30.93 percent, from 37.4 percent, the organization said Monday. The yuan will join the dollar, euro, pound and yen in the SDR allocation from Oct. 1, 2016, at a 10.92 percent weighting.

The euro has tumbled 13 percent against the dollar this year, the most in a decade, and central banks have reduced the proportion of the currency in their reserves to the lowest since 2002. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled on Oct. 22 that policy makers are open to boosting stimulus, after embarking on a 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion) asset-purchase program in March.

An Expat’s Eye on Greece

By Rena Silverman Nov. 30, 2015

The New York Times

Dimitri Melios believes that people put reality into boxes. Most, he says, have a stereotypical conception of different parts of the world. When they think of India, they think of the Taj Mahal. And when they think of his native Greece, they think of sunny Mediterranean beaches.

“Most people go to Greece from this country or elsewhere,” he said from his home in Manhattan. “They just go to a couple of specific destinations. Everybody goes to Mykonos or Santorini, and that’s the kind of image people associate with the country.”

Greece Faces Two-Week Reform Deadline to Unlock $1.1 Billion Eurozone Aid

A list of 13 so-called milestone reform demands signed off by eurozone officials

The Wall Street Journal

By VIKTORIA DENDRINOU

Nov. 27, 2015 4:27 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS—Greece has two weeks to implement 13 pieces of economic reform, including changes to its banking sector and the design of a privatization fund, to receive €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in financial aid, according to an agreement struck by eurozone finance ministries.

Completing these reforms would allow Athens to receive fresh loans from its international creditors, and bring Athens one step closer to starting negotiations on debt relief.

Memo to Putin: Syria Is Turkey's Ukraine

49 NOV 27, 2015 2:00 AM EST

By Marc Champion

Bloomberg

Russian leaders have evidently been shocked by Turkey's deliberate decision to shoot down one of their planes, which they say was motivated by Turkey's alleged support for Islamic State and greed for the proceeds of smuggled terrorist oil. A simpler explanation is that Russia would have done the same.

Here is the hypothetical: What would President Vladimir Putin do if civil war broke out in a neighboring country, which had been part of the Russian empire for centuries before breaking away under circumstances, and with borders, that Russians still found difficult to accept? What would he do if, in that war, some of the rebels were ethnic Russians at risk of being brutally crushed by the armed forces of the neighboring state?

Actually, that's not so hypothetical; it pretty much describes eastern Ukraine. And we know what Russia did -- it became heavily involved in a poorly concealed invasion.

Russia to Target Syria Jihadists as Hollande Seeks Diplomacy

 Andrey Biryukov  Helene Fouquet  Henry Meyer

November 26, 2015 — 10:48 PM EET Updated on November 27, 2015 — 9:02 AM EET

Bloomberg

France and Russia agreed to coordinate strikes in Syria to increase the focus on jihadist militants, as French President Francois Hollande seeks to rally support against Islamic State before hosting world leaders in Paris next week.

China Unveils Biggest Army Overhaul in Decades to Project Power

By  Bloomberg News

November 26, 2015 — 12:56 PM EET Updated on November 27, 2015 — 3:40 AM EET

President Xi Jinping announced a major overhaul of China’s military to make the world’s largest army more combat ready and better equipped to project force beyond the country’s borders.

Under the reorganization, all branches of the armed forces would come under a joint military command, Xi told a meeting of military officials in Beijing Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Bloomberg in September reported details of the plan, which may also seek to consolidate the country’s seven military regions to as few as four.

Russia Plans Sanctions After Turkey Downs Warplane

Nataliya Vasilyeva, James Ellingworth / Associated Press  Updated: Nov. 26, 2015 12:36 PM

ΤΙΜΕ

It's further retaliation against Turkey after its airforce shot down a Russian jet

(MOSCOW) — Russia plans to retaliate against Turkey for the downing of a warplane by imposing sanctions, cutting economic ties and scrapping major investment projects.

Since the plane was shot down Tuesday on the Syria-Turkey border, Russia has already restricted tourism, left Turkish trucks stranded at the border and confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports.

Range of Frustrations Reached Boil as Turkey Shot Down Russian Jet

By KEITH BRADSHERNOV. 25, 2015

The New York Times

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and Russia promised on Wednesday not to go to war over the downing of a Russian military jet, leaving Turkey’s still-nervous NATO allies and just about everyone else wondering why the country decided to risk such a serious confrontation.

The reply from the Turkish government so far has been consistent: Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Though minor airspace violations are fairly common and usually tolerated, Turkey had repeatedly called in Russia’s ambassador to complain about aircraft intrusions and about bombing raids in Syria near the border. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday evening — and a Pentagon spokesman later confirmed — that before a Turkish F-16 shot down the Russian Su-24 jet, Turkish forces had warned the Russian plane 10 times in five minutes to steer away.

Συναγερμός από τους εισαγγελείς

ΠΡΟΚΟΠΗΣ ΧΑΤΖΗΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΥ

Εφημερίδα Καθημερινή

15-11-2015

Κενός λόγος αποδεικνύεται η πάταξη της διαφθοράς και της φοροδιαφυγής στην Ελλάδα, σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία που αποκαλύπτει η «Κ», από τα οποία προκύπτει ότι ελάχιστα έχουν γίνει, κυρίως εξαιτίας της παρατηρούμενης αδράνειας, ενδεχομένως και της αδιαφορίας. Από τον περασμένο Μάιο ο πρωθυπουργός, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, έχει στα χέρια του μακροσκελή επιστολή του οικονομικού εισαγγελέα κ. Παν. Αθανασίου που περιγράφει με λεπτομέρειες τόσο τα δυνητικά οφέλη από τον έλεγχο των λιστών όσο και το πρόβλημα της υποστελέχωσης των υπηρεσιών, που, αν δεν αντιμετωπιστεί, μοιραία θα οδηγήσει στην παραγραφή των υποθέσεων αλλά και στην απώλεια εκατοντάδων εκατομμυρίων ευρώ που θα μπορούσαν να χρησιμοποιηθούν ως ισοδύναμα.

Finland’s Problem Isn’t the Euro

Despite modest debt and a competitive economy, the Nordic country is on course for a fourth year of recession, but don’t blame the common currency

The Wall Street Journal

By SIMON NIXON

Nov. 25, 2015 5:30 p.m. ET

8 COMMENTS

Which has been the worst performing economy in Europe this year, excluding Greece? The surprising answer is Finland. In the third quarter of this year, Finland’s economy contracted by 0.6%, putting it on course for a possible fourth consecutive year of recession. Since 2008, its output has shrunk by 6%, faring only slightly better than Italy’s roughly 8% decline over the same period.

How the Migrant Crisis Could Accelerate a Grexit

Geopolitical Diary NOVEMBER 24, 2015 | 01:54 GMT

STRATFOR

Stratfor laid out on Nov. 11 the potential dangers of Slovenia closing its borders to migrants, establishing a barrier across the heavily transited Balkan migration corridor. Two days later, a terrorist attack in Paris led to a hardening of attitudes across the Continent. In response, the Slovenian government announced Nov. 19 that it would no longer allow economic migrants — those who are not from war zones such as Syria and Afghanistan — to enter its territory. The announcement caused a chain reaction back along the migration route as Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, anticipating a backlog forming in their territories, swiftly closed their own borders. This has left many migrants stranded along the route, powerless to move forward and now unable to backtrack.