Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The Greek crisis five years on: What Yanis Varoufakis did and didn't do and whether there was an alternative. Are there lessons to be learnt? Who is paying the cost of capitulation? Eric Toussaint's scathing critique of the former finance minister of Greece. Capitulating to Adults

The myth of a progressive EU

Four interlocking crises highlight the limits of the market

Greece A very short summary: Capital and a pro-capital oligarchic party presided over a crisis. A leftist party capitalised on that, but capitulated before the power of capital then implemented what it was imposed on Greece by the institutions of capital. Now the old pro-capital party is back in town. You cannot get a full and more beautiful citcle than that. "Greece is a small and weak capitalist economy; it cannot succeed without success in the rest of Europe; and that applies to a socialist Greece too.  But at least the Greek people would be in control of their own capital assets and labour allocation." What decides "success" within global capitalism is productivity. Greece can never be France or Germany unless its economic productivity matches the French or German one. And it is not about working long hours; it is about what technology and machines employed. Completing the vicious circle

"Varoufakis explains how he gradually convinced Tsipras, Pappas, and Dragasakis not to follow the orientation adopted by Syriza in 2012, then in 2014. He explains that along with them, he worked out a new orientation that was not discussed within Syriza and was different from the one Syriza ran on during the January 2015 campaign. And that orientation was to lead, at best, to failure, and at worst to capitulation." Varoufakis Account of the Greek Crisis: A Self-Incrimination

The Wolf Report:Nonconfidential analysis for the anti-investor