Monday, June 11, 2012

Greece In"Grexit" Mode and Spain In"Spanic" Mode ... J. D. Longstreet



Greece In"Grexit" Mode and Spain In"Spanic" Mode Russia In "Pounce" Mode, Europe Faces Disaster!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I seem to recall that a number of years ago, the mainstream media in the US decided to shrink it's news gathering operations overseas to save money.  Granted that has been a decade, or even two decades, ago.  In any event, with today's world wide economic collapse a looming possibility, I find it aggravating that I have to depend upon foreign news sources to learn what, exactly, is going on in Europe.

OK, so you've heard that Europe is in a mess, economically, right?  But did you know one LARGE country in Europe is NOT in economic trouble and stands ready to bail Europe out?  Would you be interested if I told you that country is no friend to the United States and has a history of expansionism and hegemony?  Care to take a guess as to the identity of that would-be benefactor country?
OK.  So, if you guessed RUSSIA, well, you'd be right!

Yes, the Russian bear is loose in the woods again.  "Tsar" Putin is at the helm in the old fort we all recognize as The Kremlin -- and he's looking to enlarge his, uh,  "csardom."

Europe is looking more and more, each day, as easy pickings for Russia and they have no intention of allowing this opportunity to pass them by without taking advantage of it.

"Already last year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that Russia is ready to lend money and expertise to solve the eurocrisis. He offered "to both advise and also to contribute to the stability with our own financial reserves." Last January, Dvorkovich said that "The survival of the euro is a pre-eminent concern for Russia;" last month he stated that Russia wants "Greece to stay in the eurozone."
SOURCE:
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3093/eurocrisis-russia
   

It is looking more and more as if Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and very likely France, as well, will soon collapse.  Portugal, well, Portugal is looking a bit shaky, too.  So, basically, we are looking at the possible collapse of southern Europe.

Winston Churchill once said that Germany is either at your knees or at your throat.  Not so today.  Germany has it's own problems but it seems to be managing.  Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Germans are not interested in lending their hard earned money to the southern European "socialist" states to be poured down a socialist rat hole never to be seen again. No thank you!  And, as you would expect, they are catching holy heck for not "redistributing their wealth" to their southern, socialist, (now) pauper neighbors.

It hasn't been long, historically, that those same pauper states were begging the world to save them from the Germans.  Now, they are begging the Germans to save them from themselves.  There is something disturbingly wrong with this picture.   

So now, we have Barry's friend, (with whom Barry plans to be, uh, more flexible) Vlad, in Moscow, rubbing his hands together and licking his chops at the wonderful opportunities opening up for him to the south.  There are all sorts of warm water ports and all sorts of petroleum resources down there, especially around Cyprus.

"Last December, Russia already gave Cyprus a bilateral loan of €3 billion. Russia is definitely capable of bailing Cyprus out. The Russians, however, are likely to want something in return. If Russia steps in, the strategic situation in the entire Eastern Mediterranean could change. Given the large gas supplies in the waters around Cyprus... " SOURCE: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3093/eurocrisis-russia

That article at Gate Stone Institute also notes that Israel's former friend/current enemy, Turkey, is also interested in getting in on any Cyprus deal.  That, of course, might present some problems for the Israelis.

Its not JUST an economic collapse of southern Europe causing the people who worry about such things to worry.  They are worried about REVOLUTIONS. We're talking overthrown governments, riots in the streets, killings, and -- ultimately -- some sort of civil war(s) quite possibly in more than one country at a time sharing common borders.  See what a mess is possible?  See how it just invites mischief from an outsider nation with plenty of money, the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and nothing much to lose?

Now, you are beginning to see the bigger picture that we Americans are NOT getting from our mainstream media outlets.

I am a born isolationist.  But I am also a pragmatist and a realist at the same time.  (Yes, I probably need a shrink!)  As much as I would like to build a wall completely around the US and bid everyone else to just go away, it ain't gonna happen.  If Europe collapses, the US will be hit -- and hit hard.  If Europe burns, the US will most certainly, at the very least, be badly scorched -- at the worst, the US will be dragged into their self-made cesspool -- kicking and screaming, to be sure -- but dragged in just the same.  It cannot be avoided.

But, hey, the Fed seems about ready to have more US dollars printed and poured into the economy to build up American confidence in the weeks and months before the November election.  Sure, it will be a false sense of well-being, but what the heck, it will help Vlad's friend, Barry, get reelected to his second term as President so he can finish the job of taking the US down -- you've got it -- just like southern Europe.

See how nicely everything fits together -- when you have all the pieces?
Russia is no friend to the United States and Russia is no friend to Europe.  Russia is for Russia -- period.
Tsar Vlad Putin
The problem is -- desperate people do desperate things and the southern Europeans have a long history of doing desperate things that come back to bite them fairly soon.  

The countries of Southern Europe need to understand that Russia is not about to simply hand them trainloads of money for nothing.  NO!  They, the Russians, want something in return.  It may not be clear to the collapsing countries what Russia wants, but you can be 100% certain The Kremlin knows exactly what it wants and how it expects to get it.

Those of us who have cracked a history book, or two, are alarmed at just how close the world is today to replicating the world-wide economic conditions prevailing just prior to the out break of World War Two.  It is truly frightening.   It is horrific to understand that at any given moment the people of earth are just a few bucks short of tearing each others throats out.

We haven't been a barter society in centuries.  Everything, including world peace,  depends on MONEY.  When we run out, or we don't have any, or the money we DO have turns out to be worthless, what follows?  WAR.

The western nations of the world are toeing a very fine line today, extremely fine and extremely narrow.  We have toyed around with socialism (some to a lesser degree than others) fooling ourselves that even though it failed every other nation trying it, somehow, we are smarter and WE can MAKE it work until we are in stage four nearing termination.  Socialism always  I repeat, ALWAYS,  works thusly.

The nations of southern Europe have had their dance.  Now, it is time to pay the piper.  Ah, but just up the hill,  there comes a man wearing a bear skin coat with his pockets stuffed with money.  Maybe the dance can continue.  Maybe so.  But who will be calling the tune?

J. D. Longstreet            

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