Germany's Violent Backlash Against Third-World Asylum Seekers

Well, about the existential European migration crisis.

At the New York Times, "Violent Backlash Against Migrants in Germany as Asylum-Seekers Pour In":

FREITAL, Germany — Even as Germany has been trying to accommodate a swelling stream of newcomers, the most anywhere in Europe, it is also experiencing a persistent pattern of violence against migrants, raising concerns about escalating far-right opposition.

Rights activists who monitor the treatment of refugees say while they are seeing an increase in hate crimes across Europe, particularly targeting Roma or asylum-seekers from Europe’s poorest countries, nowhere have they seen mass demonstrations or attacks on housing for refugees like those in Germany.

“We’ve seen many bad news stories from Germany, but not that many from other countries — not in the sense of calling it a growing trend,” said Thorfinnur Omarsson, a spokesman for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, based in Brussels.

In the first half of this year alone, more than 179,000 people applied for asylum in Germany, a country of about 80 million. That is an increase of 132 percent over the same period in 2014, with Syrians the largest group, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said.

During the same period, the Interior Ministry recorded 202 attacks on housing for asylum-seekers, including attempts to render shelters uninhabitable through arson, attacks with stones or other vandalism. In addition, a group called Courage Against the Right cites 48 attacks on individuals, based on local police records.

Some of the episodes, such as the arson attacks in the Bavarian town of Vorra and in the eastern town of Tröglitz, have received widespread attention. But there have been many others, including one in Lunzenau in Saxony on July 29, when vandals broke into and deliberately flooded an empty shelter for 50 asylum-seekers by opening the taps in the bathrooms.

That same night, in nearby Dresden, a group of 50 people staged a demonstration against a tent city, hastily set up by the state to temporarily shelter hundreds of asylum-seekers. The Courage Against the Right group has counted 89 such demonstrations this year, many organized by local groups with names like Freital Defends Itself that have sprung up in cities and towns where empty office buildings and hotels have been converted into hostels for new arrivals.

Germany has also witnessed record numbers of people volunteering their time, clothing and money to help the newcomers, and the German government, both nationally and on the state level, has strongly denounced the attacks.

Still, the persistence of such attacks has human rights groups and security officials worried about the wider implications...

The "wider implications"? Well, one implication is that it's not just the "right wing" that's fomenting a backlash against the migrants. European economies across the board are struggling to absorb the refugees, and the Communists in Greece are putting migrants in concentration camps.

The fact is the crisis doesn't break down into neat "right-left" stereotypes. The Nazis are banned in Germany. Until European governments decide to control their borders, national residents all across the political spectrum will see increasing costs and threats to their security. It's out of control.

And previously, "Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)," and "Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean."

Migrant Crisis Raises Existential Questions for Europe

Well, Europe has a lot of existential questions, but yeah, this migrant thing is out of control and very dangerous.

From Timothy Spangler, at the O.C. Register, "Migrant surge raises existential questions for Europe":

This week saw further waves of migrants arriving illegally on European shores. On the Greek island of Kos, more than 2,000 Syrians and Afghans were rounded up from makeshift camps and relocated to a sports stadium, where questions about their treatment were soon raised by aid workers.

In a single day, the Italian coast guard rescued approximately 1,500 migrants from unseaworthy boats attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa, and many others were still lost at sea. Meanwhile, angry migrants in the Spanish seaside town of Salou clashed with police after a Senegalese man jumped to his death as officers raided his apartment.

With each new illegal arrival on European soil, awkward questions are raised about the ability of European politicians to address the migration crisis fully and effectively.

Despite the cataclysmic Greek financial crisis, the near-bankrupt country still makes an appealing destination for thousands of migrants. As police on Kos this week collected individuals from several camps strewn across the island into a stadium for processing, complaints of maltreatment were raised due to the excessive heat and lack of adequate food and water.

Kos sits just off the coast from Turkey, making it a prime target for illegal crossings. Since the beginning of the year, more than 120,000 migrants have illegally entered Greece. Approximately 1.6 million Syrians who fled their civil war are now in Turkey, with many of them eyeing Kos as the easiest point of entry into Europe. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has candidly admitted that, while battling the financial crisis, his country lacks the financial resources to do more to address the migration crisis.

Further west, the Mediterranean remains a deadly front line between European authorities and waves of migrants in North Africa. More than 2,000 migrants have died this year attempting the sea crossing. Human traffickers in Libya have profited from smuggling approximately 100,000 men, women and children across the Mediterranean during the same period.

Members of the Italian military have worked diligently to rescue as many migrants as possible. Despite the widely reported casualty numbers, boats crammed to bursting continue to attempt the high-risk voyage.

Even when migrants make landfall in Europe, countries such as Spain, alongside Italy and Greece, must cope with undocumented migrants unable to work legally who must support themselves through illegal activities. In Salou this week, police targeted the homes of several people believed to be associated with the selling of fake luxury goods to tourists in the resort town south of Barcelona. When officers entered the apartment of a Senegalese suspect, he immediately jumped to his death to avoid arrest.

Protests soon broke out on the streets of Salou, with 100 migrants clashing with officers, leading to injuries on both sides. With the tourist season along the Catalan coast in full swing, at least one tourist was also injured in these clashes.

Unfortunately, despite the mounting human costs of illegal migration into Europe, many European politicians, as well as countless learned observers in the mainstream media, continue to dismiss the crisis as scaremongering by far-right politicians with ulterior motives...

Yeah. "Scaremongering." That's all they've got, despicable leftists. Meanwhile, people are dying. And all left-wing governments can do is lock them up in containment (concentration) camps? Not good. Not good at all.

Still more.

And ICYMI, "Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)," and "Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean."

Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean

They're coming from everywhere. Afganistan refugees even made it Greece this week.

At Der Spiegel, "Mediterranean Desperation: Saving Lives at the World's Most Dangerous Border":

Doctors Without Borders is the only major humanitarian organization actively rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean. So far, it has saved more than 10,000 people. But in the world's biggest crisis region, timing is everything.

The call comes in at 10:15 a.m. on the fourth day at sea, just as the ship's captain says it looks like it'll be a quiet day. A refugee boat has been spotted at 33 degrees 05 minutes north latitude and 12 degrees 27 minutes east longitude, 17 nautical miles off the coast of Sabratha, Libya. It could be a rubber dinghy, with space for around 100 people. Or it might be a wooden boat, with up to 800 people on board. The captain hits the throttle, pushing the MY Phoenix to full speed.

It's the law of the sea: With every passing hour, the children on board the refugee boat get weaker, more women faint, the men below decks inhale more toxic gasoline fumes, the inflatable dinghies lose air and the wooden boats take on more water. Every hour increases the danger of the boats springing a leak or simply sinking.
And the rescue workers won't reach the troubled vessel for another three hours.

On board the MY Phoenix, preparations begin. There's Regina Catrambone, an Italian woman who founded the "Migrant Offshore Aid Station," or MOAS for short. There's also the emergency relief coordinator Will Turner from Great Britain and the American nurse Mary Jo Frawley, both of whom work for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. These three people are the heart of the mission, but of course they are not alone. With them are a captain from Spain, a drone pilot from Austria and a rescue specialist from Malta. Altogether, there are 18 of them, patrollingg the waters between Sicily, Malta and Libya -- an area almost the size of Germany. They wait, sometimes for a call from Rome, other times for a dot to appear on the horizon.

The 40-meter-long MY Phoenix was a fishing trawler before it was retro-fitted as a research vessel. Now, in its third life, it sails on behalf of humanity with one simple goal: to save lives where no one else does. It is a floating refugee camp, equipped with an infirmary full of pain medication alongside drugs to combat seasickness and scabies. It also has an ample supply of baby food and oxygen, a cooler with vaccines and 50 body bags in two sizes: one for adults and one for children.

The Mediterranean has become a crisis region, one where more than 2,000 people have died this year already -- more than have lost their lives in attacks in Afghanistan. But of course that figure is misleading. It reflects only the number of recorded deaths. Who knows how many people have drowned without a trace?

Nevertheless, no aid agencies are active in the region. They all wait on shore for the survivors to arrive. The business of saving lives is left to those who are the least prepared: navies and merchant vessels. Meanwhile, more and more refugees are embarking on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean -- 188,000 so far this year.

It's hard to believe that a crisis area of this magnitude is empty of aid workers -- unthinkable, Doctors Without Borders thought, or, as their founders call them, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF. It is the biggest, best organized medical relief organization in the world. An army of survival. They are professionals for natural catastrophes and civil wars, and they are engaged in the fight against HIV, Ebola and measles. With a budget of €1.066 billion ($1.16 billion) in 2014, MSF's 2,769 international employees and 31,000 local helpers undertook some 8.3 million treatments...

More.

Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)

Man, people will risk everything to get to Europe.

They should come to the U.S. It's not like we don't let everyone in anyways.

At the BBC, "European migrant crisis: Italy navy rescues 50 from dinghy."



And on Greece, at London's Daily Mail, "'There will be bloodshed': Stark warning from Greek mayor after Kos police use batons and fire extinguishers to break up 1,500 strong refugee protest at football stadium."

Not so welcoming over there, I guess.

More, at the Express UK, "PICTURED: Syrian migrants pose for SELFIE after landing on Greek island of Kos."

Greece Passes Austerity Measures

At WSJ, "Greece’s Parliament Passes Austerity Measures Required for Bailout":

Greece’s Parliament passed austerity measures needed to secure a fresh bailout, but a rebellion within the ruling Syriza party is testing whether Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras can hold his government together as he seeks to complete the deal.

The measures, which include steep spending cuts and tax increases, were approved early Thursday by 229 lawmakers in the country’s 300-seat Parliament, many of them opposition lawmakers. Among the 149 lawmakers in Mr. Tsipras’s left-wing Syriza party, 32 voted against the deal—including former finance chief Yanis Varoufakis—and six abstained.

To counter the rebellion within his party, the Greek premier is expected to announce a cabinet shake-up on Thursday, according to government officials. But it remains uncertain how long Mr. Tsipras can continue in office without calling new elections.

The vote “is a serious division in Syriza’s parliamentary group,” said a government spokesman. “The basic priority of the prime minister and the government is the successful completion of the agreement in the coming period.”

The vote came hours after the European Commission proposed a fix to Mr. Tsipras’s other immediate challenge: how to pay a €4.2 billion ($4.6 billion) payment due to the European Central Bank on Monday. To cover that and Greece’s other most pressing bills, the commission called for giving Athens a €7 billion bridge loan from a European Union bailout fund.

In Athens, Mr. Tsipras is expected to replace several ministers—including three who voted against the austerity measures—with people more likely to help him implement the measures required as part of the rescue agreement, officials say.

The Greek premier could also expel lawmakers who vote against the government. That would leave them with a choice of resigning their seat, in line with Syriza’s code of conduct, or carrying on as independents. The former outcome would allow Mr. Tsipras to replace them, while the latter scenario would weaken his power.

Shortly before the vote, he appealed for unity in support of the austerity measures being put to a vote. Parliamentary approval of the austerity measures was a prerequisite demanded in exchange for as much as €86 billion in bailout loans over the next three years from the eurozone and International Monetary Fund.

“I don’t believe the measures will benefit the economy, but we are forced to adopt them,” Mr. Tsipras told lawmakers.

The premier also referred to comments made by IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who on Wednesday urged the eurozone to provide Greece with debt relief. “This is a positive outcome and the only hope of getting out of the crisis,” he said.

Fresh cracks in Mr. Tsipras’s government appeared on Wednesday before the vote, with the resignation of deputy finance minister Nantia Valavani over the bailout, though she last week backed Mr. Tsipras’s decision to seek the new rescue agreement.

“It is one thing to face an exceptionally difficult reality and catastrophe with hope and a future of dignity and independence,” she said in a letter sent to the Greek premier. “It is another issue to handle a catastrophe that will be completed with whatever national income is left heading abroad for the repayment of debt that cannot be repaid in centuries.”

Ahead of the vote, about 13,000 took to the streets to protest against the new bailout, while public sector workers walked off their jobs in a 24-hour strike.

Later on Wednesday, a small group of demonstrators clashed with police, throwing Molotov cocktails. More than 30 protesters were detained, according to police officials.

Nobody knows how long the 40-year-old prime minister can maintain the backing of his own Syriza party, and its right-wing coalition partner Independent Greeks. Completing the bailout agreement is likely to take several weeks. Selling the tough austerity policies attached to it has been Mr. Tsipras’s biggest political test at home since he swept to victory in an election in January on an antiausterity ticket.

The rebellion threatens to leave Mr. Tsipras’s coalition short of a majority in the Parliament. Some Syriza lawmakers have spoken of “threatening” developments for their party if it reneged on its key electoral promise of opposing austerity. Others said they recognized the urgency of Greece’s financial situation as the country faces bankruptcy and a probable exit from the eurozone unless it complete the steps needed to clinch rescue financing...

More.

Also at Euronews, "Greek parliament approves tough reforms demanded by Brussels," and "Greek PM relies on opposition support to pass reforms."

Little Faith in Ugly Greece Bailout

It's gonna be extremely harsh.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Third Time’s the Charm? Little Optimism Over New Greece Bailout":

ATHENS — Greece’s new bailout is still in the making, but many economists already doubt it will work better than the last two.

The prospective program, involving as much as €86 billion ($96 billion) in further financing for Greece, could take several weeks to draft, European officials have indicated. Much can go wrong before then and a Greek exit from the euro—which came closer in the past week than ever before—remains a risk.

But the outlines are already clear after Monday’s summit of eurozone leaders.

The plan repeats the central features of the previous bailouts in 2010 and 2012. In return for loans, Greece’s creditors—other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund—want to see stringent fiscal retrenchment as well as market-oriented overhauls of Greece’s economy.

Greece’s overall debt is supposed to fall over time thanks to fiscal austerity, a return to economic growth, and hefty privatization proceeds.

The emphasis remains on fiscal austerity, because creditors view tough budget targets as the key to getting their money back and Greece back to funding itself on bond markets.

European Union and Greek officials claimed last year that the bailout was finally working when Greece briefly sold bonds again and its economy grew for part of the year, albeit from a deeply depressed base.

The good news proved ephemeral. Investors soon abandoned Greek debt as Athens again struggled to implement Europe’s bailout terms and political uncertainty returned, pushing the economy back into recession last winter.

Although heavy austerity greatly reduced Greece’s budget deficit, the economic collapse meant that its ratio of debt to gross domestic product—an indicator of solvency—rose even higher.

And Greece’s collapsing GDP and employment rate during its bailout years have eroded public support for the kind of market-friendly reforms that most economists believe are necessary if Greece is ever to prosper inside the euro.

Critics including many economists and some policy makers have leveled a string of criticisms at Greece’s earlier bailouts. Among the most common charges: The scale and pace of fiscal austerity proved to be an overdose that Greece’s sclerotic economy and unstable political system couldn’t cope with. Forecasts for growth, tax revenues and privatization revenues were overly optimistic. Broader economic overhauls took second place to fiscal cuts. And measures such as labor-market deregulation, inspired by international economic orthodoxy, failed to address Greece’s idiosyncratic problems, such as weak public administration and a sluggish legal system.

Defenders of the programs, including many European policy makers and IMF officials, retort that the main problem lay with Greek governments, which failed to take ownership of and responsibility for the programs.

The new program looks set to suffer from all of those problems, economists say.

“It’s just a continuation of failed policy packages, and if anything it’s worse,” says Charles Wyplosz, professor of economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva. “It hasn’t worked, it won’t work.”

One of the biggest problems, analysts say, is that Europe has given up even trying to persuade Greece that its prescriptions are good for the country—something that few Greeks believe any longer. Instead of much-vaunted “ownership” of the program by Greek leaders, Europe is instead counting on duress.

Eurozone leaders and finance ministers in recent days made it clear to Athens that only full compliance will avert Greece’s expulsion from the euro...

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Ugly Heart of the European Project," and "'Toxic' Deal Will Plunge Greece Into Turmoil After Tsipras 'Crucified' by EU Leaders at Summit, Say Analysts."

The Ugly Heart of the European Project

From Edward Harrison, at Foreign Policy, "Over the past week, European institutions have shown no qualms about bullying, arm-twisting, and humiliating a sovereign nation and its people":

Going into this past weekend, it looked as if the Grexit crisis that had occupied the world’s attention for weeks was finally heading into the final stretch.

Under pressure to comply with creditor demands, on Thursday Greece tabled a proposal that contained harsher austerity measures than the proposal that the Greek people had overwhelmingly rejected by referendum just one week prior. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras then quickly garnered parliamentary approval for his proposal, to avoid the country’s economic collapse, returning to the negotiating table this weekend. Under pressure to make labor reforms, liberalize markets, and accelerate privatization in the face of threats to exclude Greece from the eurozone from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, Greece had caved. It was total and complete capitulation — the white flag, if you will.It was total and complete capitulation — the white flag, if you will. Surely, it seemed by Friday morning, an agreement was close at hand.

But once Greece was at the table, something strange happened. The creditors upped the ante, looking for Greece to sign up to even more draconian and harsh terms. After hours of bickering, the negotiations ended with no conclusion and yet another ultimatum backed by Germany and its allies in the Netherlands, Austria, and the former eastern Bloc: either Greece accept the Eurogroup’s latest, more austere proposal for a bailout, ratify this series of reforms through Parliament by Wednesday or leave the eurozone “temporarily.” The demands included spending cuts, accelerated privatization, resolution of non-performing loans in the Greek banking system, and many other measures, all to be accomplished under the watchful eye of the Troika to ensure compliance. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saw these harsh terms as an attempt to humiliate Greece — as did many others commenting via Twitter.

Last Monday, I wrote on how the Greek referendum wouldn’t, and couldn’t, have changed the country’s reality. And that reality — the one that remains in place today — is that Greece faces one of only two possible outcomes: either harsh austerity and continued economic suffocation or exclusion from the eurozone, the so-called Grexit. The latter being a move that would precipitate a collapse in the banking system and economic turmoil.

Some may have believed that the overwhelming “no” vote of the referendum might have strengthened Greece’s hand, by creating an ugly dynamic in which the creditors appear to be overriding the democratically expressed wishes of a sovereign nation. After this weekend, those hopes have been dashed. The Greek government remains a supplicant, asking for mercy from its creditors, with little to no bargaining power.The Greek government remains a supplicant, asking for mercy from its creditors, with little to no bargaining power. And the institutions, known as the Troika, have shown no qualms about trampling over delicate sovereignty issues. What transpired this past weekend and the days leading up to it was pure power politics...

Like I said. That's harsh.

See also, "'Toxic' Deal Will Plunge Greece Into Turmoil After Tsipras 'Crucified' by EU Leaders at Summit, Say Analysts."

'Toxic' Deal Will Plunge Greece Into Turmoil After Tsipras 'Crucified' by EU Leaders at Summit, Say Analysts

Well, I was right about this, that Greece wouldn't leave the EU, or the Euro itself, although this is sounding pretty harsh.

At the Telegraph UK, "Prime minister Tsipras forced to concede to toughest measures ever imposed on eurozone economy in return for opening talks on a new rescue package worth €86bn."

Greece Crisis: Cracks Appear In Franco-German Axis as European Leaders Remain Divided Over Country's Fate

Oh boy.

And here I thought they had a breakthrough at the end of last week.

Looks like Merkel's standing firm against no easy Greek bailout.

Guten Tag!

At the Telegraph UK, "French president Francois Hollande dismisses idea of temporary Greek exit as Slovakia and Finland say little chance of a deal today after EU leaders summit is cancelled."



Also at Euronews, "Eurozone leaders are telling Greece it has to restore trust by enacting key reforms before talks can open on a new financial rescue package to keep it in the single currency."

Lessons of China's Crash

At WSJ, "Attempts to put a floor under prices are adding to the market panic":

Beijing is learning the hard way that intervention can make a stock panic worse. In the past two weeks the Chinese government has rolled out measures to support share prices, even forcing state-run entities to buy. Yet the indexes have continued to fall, and each failure is making it more difficult for the market to find its natural bottom.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell a further 5.9% on Wednesday, 32% below its June 12 peak. Almost one-half of listed companies have suspended trading in their shares, and the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets are in danger of freezing due to too few buyers. On Wednesday the lack of confidence spread to Chinese bonds and the yuan as investors began to worry about the overall economy.

That’s some reckoning from even a few weeks ago. Many investors believed they couldn’t lose money in Chinese stocks because government officials cheered on the bull run. When the People’s Daily, the Party’s mouthpiece, encouraged citizens to buy stocks, many investors piled into the market because they know Beijing still controls the commanding heights of the economy.

Small investors are now questioning their faith in the Communist Party’s ability to manipulate the markets, which is the beginning of wisdom. More troubling is that the debacle has damaged the credibility of the government’s economic policy makers. It is a useful reminder that the Party’s authoritarian control is incompatible with free markets and continues to restrain China’s development.

The irony is that the Politburo under Xi Jinping pursued a new strategy to boost the stock market last year as a way to increase the role of market forces. State-owned enterprises were supposed to become more responsive and consolidate industries with overcapacity. Small entrepreneurs would be able to offer shares to the public, a privilege that was previously restricted.

The strategy started out well enough. By the end of last year, the initial rally had provided some momentum for reforms. And with stock prices depressed since the collapse of the last stock-buying mania in 2007, they were arguably still good value.

But Chinese officials confused a rising market with a healthy one. Promotion of the market’s role quickly became promotion of an ever-rising market. This reflects a Communist Party culture that tries to tightly manage outcomes because they reflect on those who push the policy.

This is the underlying reason that irrational exuberance took hold this year. The bull market sucked in tens of thousands of small investors who had never bought stocks. Margin lending expanded five-fold to $323 billion last month. Having mounted a tiger, government officials found they had no safe way to get off as it ran faster and faster.

So far the Xi administration remains in a state of denial and officials are doubling down on failed policies that are compounding the political and economic damage...

Still more.

Plus, "China Stock Gains Gather Pace."

BONUS: At Instapundit, "DANIEL DREZNER ON CHINA’S STOCK MARKET COLLAPSE."

Twilight of the Euro Welfare State?

Well, as I was saying a little while ago.

From Holman Jenkins, at the Wall Street Journal, "Twilight of the Euro Welfare State?":

Journalists have strained to apply their good guy-bad guy conventions to the Greek crisis. But are the bad guys the greedy, wastrel Greeks? Or are the bad guys the imperious, demanding Germans?

In fact, this narrative is a poor construction. What we’re seeing is less a story of good guy-bad guy than a terminal falling out among Europe’s club of welfare states over the inevitable problem that eventually other people’s money (in Margaret Thatcher’s phrase) runs out.

The Greek combination of welfarism-plus-cronyism, with a large helping of outright corruption, has long relied on other people’s money from abroad to make ends meet. But if the terms imposed by fellow Europeans for fresh loans-cum-aid have lately seemed intolerable to Greek voters, they still took the availability of fresh loans for granted. This week they are learning their right to their neighbors’ money is not automatic after all—and yet, for reasons we’ll get to, don’t be surprised if there’s an 11th-hour bailout.

Let us not kid ourselves, the way many Europeans are kidding themselves, that Greece is entirely unique. Portugal, Italy and Spain—“core” European welfare states—already have made the same transition to dependence on external “other people’s money” to uphold their welfare systems.

Their version of other people’s money is Mario Draghi’s implicit promise to tax all Europeans with future inflation (a promise that remains implicit at this point) to keep their welfare states afloat. If not for the European Central Bank’s promise, these governments likely would already be in the same position as Greece—unable to finance their deficits.

As long as Mario Draghi is on the job, there should have been no dramatic, visible “contagion” from the Greek crisis. And there hasn’t been, for the same reason there was none from the Cyprus crisis two years earlier. There is no “surprise” involved: The markets had already fully internalized that Greece and Cyprus were outside the circle of Mario’s magic guarantee, so there is no reason their default need be seen as heralding other defaults.

But the fundamental long-term problem still remains: How will France and Italy especially (the key too-big-to-fail economies) find their way back to reliance on internal taxation plus voluntary, market-based lending to keep their welfare states up and running? Is this even possible in a democratic political system with large, calcified interest groups? Then again, if European states are already maximizing their option to avoid reform, might not the feared triumph of populist parties in future elections actually be a good thing, producing a crisis that forces action?

Well, Germany has a robust, export-led industrial economy that generates enough wealth to support its welfare state (for now, at least). France, not so much.

But keep reading, in any case.

Far-Left Scholars Slam Angela Merkel in 'Open Letter' on Greece: 'Austerity Has Failed'

Actually, the socialist welfare state has failed, with Greece being Exhibit A.

But when you've got folks like Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin propping up Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, you know the left sees an opening to bring down the leading capitalist oppressors in the Western camp.

From Thomas Piketty , Jeffrey Sachs , Heiner Flassbeck, Dani Rodrik, and Simon Wren-Lewis, at the Nation, "Austerity Has Failed: An Open Letter From Thomas Piketty to Angela Merkel":

As most of the world knew it would, the financial demands made by Europe have crushed the Greek economy, led to mass unemployment, a collapse of the banking system, made the external debt crisis far worse, with the debt problem escalating to an unpayable 175 percent of GDP. The economy now lies broken with tax receipts nose-diving, output and employment depressed, and businesses starved of capital.

The humanitarian impact has been colossal—40 percent of children now live in poverty, infant mortality is sky-rocketing and youth unemployment is close to 50 percent. Corruption, tax evasion and bad accounting by previous Greek governments helped create the debt problem. The Greeks have complied with much of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call for austerity—cut salaries, cut government spending, slashed pensions, privatized and deregulated, and raised taxes. But in recent years the series of so-called adjustment programs inflicted on the likes of Greece has served only to make a Great Depression the likes of which have been unseen in Europe since 1929-1933. The medicine prescribed by the German Finance Ministry and Brussels has bled the patient, not cured the disease.

Together we urge Chancellor Merkel and the Troika to consider a course correction, to avoid further disaster and enable Greece to remain in the eurozone. Right now, the Greek government is being asked to put a gun to its head and pull the trigger. Sadly, the bullet will not only kill off Greece’s future in Europe. The collateral damage will kill the Eurozone as a beacon of hope, democracy and prosperity, and could lead to far-reaching economic consequences across the world.

In the 1950s, Europe was founded on the forgiveness of past debts, notably Germany’s, which generated a massive contribution to post-war economic growth and peace. Today we need to restructure and reduce Greek debt, give the economy breathing room to recover, and allow Greece to pay off a reduced burden of debt over a long period of time. Now is the time for a humane rethink of the punitive and failed program of austerity of recent years and to agree to a major reduction of Greece’s debts in conjunction with much needed reforms in Greece.

To Chancellor Merkel our message is clear; we urge you to take this vital action of leadership for Greece and Germany, and also for the world. History will remember you for your actions this week. We expect and count on you to provide the bold and generous steps towards Greece that will serve Europe for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Heiner Flassbeck, former State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance

Thomas Piketty, Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School

Simon Wren-Lewis, Professor of Economic Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

Interesting, but it's not all Germany's fault.

The world historical ideological battles over this are pretty entertaining, though.

Remember, beyond Greece the entire postwar project of European unification is at risk. Maybe Germany doesn't like that so much either.

See my earlier entry, "Germany's Power Polarizes Europe."

China Markets Fall Sharply Despite Fresh Help From Beijing

Now this is interesting.

At WSJ, "Fears about faltering Chinese demand rattles commodities markets":

Chinese markets fell sharply Wednesday, even as officials scrambled to arrest a three-week stock selloff. The widespread selling has spilled into global markets and is deepening doubts about Beijing’s limits to halt it.

China introduced fresh measures to restore investor confidence Wednesday seemingly to little avail. Stocks and Chinese bonds traded offshore, even high-quality corporate bonds issued by top state-owned companies, are getting dumped. China’s offshore yuan, which trades freely, hit a four-month low against the U.S. dollar amid a dimming outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.

The Shanghai Composite fell 5.9% at 3507.19, after losses of as much as 8.2% earlier Wednesday. The index has lost 32.1% since its peak in mid-June. The smaller Shenzhen Composite fell 2.5% at 1884.45, down 40% from its high last month.

The ChiNext board, which measures startups, ended up 0.5% at 2364.05 after regulators committed to buying small-cap stocks. The index remains down 40.6% since its June peak.

In Hong Kong, which has until recently fared better than the Chinese mainland, the benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 5.8%, wiping out all of its gains for the year. A gauge of Chinese companies with Hong Kong listings, known as H-shares, plunged 6.1%.

A spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Deng Ge said in a statement that “irrational selloffs” had increased, and described the current market mood as “panic sentiment.”

Hundreds of Chinese stocks were frozen from trading Wednesday, with 1,287 companies halted. That represents 45.6% of the constituent stocks of the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite and $2.5 trillion of market capitalization, according to data from FactSet.

China has put an arsenal of measures to work in recent days to stem the selloff that has wiped out roughly $2.4 trillion in value from China’s equities. On Wednesday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced that the China Securities Finance Corp., a commission unit that provides financing for margin trading, will increase purchases of small-cap stocks. The move follows an earlier pledge by the company to buy blue-chip shares to stabilize the market. China’s central bank said it would help ensure the unit has ample liquidity to stabilize the market.

Also on Wednesday, regulators said they would ease rules for insurers to buy blue chips and said state-owned firms shouldn’t sell their holdings in publicly listed arms.

Beijing’s attempts are undoing liberalization efforts that the country had pursued during the past year, said Gan Ai Mee, an investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, which has $490.8 billion in assets under management, and less exposure to Chinese stocks relative to other markets in its portfolio .

“It doesn’t bode so well for investor confidence,” she said. “It’s a step backwards in terms of financial reforms they’re trying to put through.”

Keep reading.

Between Greece, Europe, and China, U.S. treasuries are pretty much the only safe bet on international currency markets right not.

I've been saying this for years, but all the talk of American decline --- you know, about how this was supposed to be the Chinese century --- is a bunch of bull. Frankly, the world economy is crashing all around us and we'll likely see a global recession before too long, heh.

Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Speaks to European Parliament

At Telegraph UK, "Tspiras demands that Greece 'be given a way out of debt crisis' as Greek PM torn apart by EU":

The Greek PM is up.

He says he has now been given a mandate from his people to "redouble our effforts to get a socially just and economically sustainable solution to the Greek problem without repeating the mistakes of the past, which condemend the Greek economy."

He his government came to power five a half months ago and "I fully assume this responsibility for what has happened in the course of these give and a half months. But if we are being sincere, we must recognise that the basic responsibility for the impasse of the Greek economy...don't just concern the past five and a half months, but five and a half years."

*****

Mr Tsipras says the majority of the Greek people "have no other choice but to "demand that they be given a way out."

"We demand an agreement with our neighbours but one that gives us a sign that we are exiting from the crisis and there is light at the end of the tunnel. An agreement which will bring about credible and neccessary reforms."

Reforms have been more "than ordinary citizens can stand."

*****

Debt relief is not a means to take money off European taxpayers, says Mr Tsipras.

He says the bail-out money never trickled down to the Greek people, but to save European banks. That generates a round of applause from MEP's.

*****

Europe is at "a crucial juncture". Mr Tsipras says his country's crisis is just a manifestation of Europe's inability to solve its debt crisis.

"What we now need is a European solution to a European problem."

And with that, Mr Tsipras's address ends.

*****

Marine Le Pen speaks.

Some odd bed fellows for the Leftist Mr Tsipras. France's Marine Le Pen is next to deliver a rousing defence of his country against euro diktats.

Like Mr Farage, she is advocating an exit from the "steel jaws" of the euro.

Check back for updates.

Readers' Questions on Greece Crisis

Very informative.

At the Financial Times, "Greece debt crisis: Readers’ questions answered."

Five Days to Save Greece From the Abyss Warns Europe

At the Telegraph UK, "'This is the most critical moment in our history' - five days to save Greece from the abyss warn European leaders":

Creditor powers ready plans to deal with humanitarian crisis and a banking collapse in Greece as agreement remains perilously out of reach.

The European Union faces "the most critical" moment in its 64-year history, after leaders warned they had five days to prevent Greece from careering out of the euro and into a full blown humanitarian crisis.

"Our inability to find agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system", said Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, after talks between Greece and its partners ended without agreement on Tuesday night...

More at Euronews, "New deadline for Greek debt deal: Eurozone leaders have given Greece until Thursday to present a comprehensive reform package to the Eurogroup finance ministers."

Greece Clings to Hope as Alexis Tsipras Battles Banking Collapse

At the Guardian UK, "Prime minister pleads with sceptical leaders to provide two-pronged financial assistance with Angela Merkel saying it is ‘matter of days’ until time runs out":

Greece continued to cling to hopes of remaining within the eurozone as it pleaded with its sceptical European partners on Tuesday to agree fresh financial assistance that would prevent the collapse of its banks within the next few days.

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, submitted proposals for a third bailout to a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels, making clear that his country would also need immediate support to stop a banking collapse that would force a return to the drachma.

Greece’s new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, prompted optimism of a breakthrough when he said there was “political will” in Brussels to keep the eurozone intact.

Government sources in Greece said Tsipras has proposed a two-pronged approach. The prime minister asked for three to four months of bridging finance that would keep the banks open and allow Athens to pay their pressing debts to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. That would be followed by a third bailout package lasting two years, which would include debt relief.

Despite his favoured no vote winning Sunday’s referendum by a large majority, Tsipras is aware that both emergency finance and a longer-term deal under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would come with significant strings attached.

In the hope that Washington would lean on Brussels to agree a deal, Tsipras spoke to Barack Obama before the summit. The US president then spoke to Angela Merkel, putting pressure on the German chancellor to keep Greece in the eurozone. The White House is keen to avoid Greece leaving the euro, fearful that it could increase Russia’s influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Brussels has made it clear that Greece’s fate will be decided quickly. Refusal by eurozone leaders – many of whom have lost patience with Tsipras – would lead to Greece’s departure from the single currency being confirmed at the impending summit of all 28 European Union countries, which has been tentatively planned for Sunday...

Keep reading.

Greece Given 24-Hour Deadline

Never a dull moment over there.

At the Guardian UK, "Eurozone struggles to find joint response to Greek referendum":

GUARDIAN: Greece given 24 hour deadline #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/xpENuhvFnL

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 6, 2015

Heads of governments at odds as Germany and European commission let Greece stew while France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal.

Germany and France scrambled to avoid a major split over Greece on Monday evening as the eurozone delivered a damning verdict on Alexis Tsipras’s landslide referendum victory on Sunday and Angela Merkel demanded that the Greek prime minister put down new proposals to break the deadlock.

As concerns mount that Greek banks will run out of cash, and about the damage being inflicted on the country’s economy, hopes for a breakthrough faded. EU leaders voiced despair and descended into recrimination over how to respond to Sunday’s overwhelming rejection of eurozone austerity terms as the price for keeping Greece in the currency.

Tsipras, meanwhile, moved to insure himself against purported eurozone plots to topple him and force regime change by engineering a national consensus of the country’s five mainstream parties behind his negotiating strategy, focused on securing debt relief. Tsipras also sacrificed his controversial finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, in what was seen as a conciliatory signal towards Greece’s creditors.

In Paris, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande tried to plot a common strategy after Greeks returned a resounding no to five years of eurozone-scripted austerity. The two leaders were trying to find a joint approach to the growing crisis ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Tuesday to deal with the fallout.

But Merkel said there was no current basis for negotiating with the Greek side and called on Tsipras to make the next move.

As eurozone leaders prepared for today’s emergency summit in Brussels, the heads of government were at odds. France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal while Germany, the European commission and northern Europe seem content to let Greece stew and allow the euphoria following Sunday’s vote to give way to the sobering realities of bank closures, cash shortages and isolation.

Greek banks are to remain closed until Thursday at the earliest, it was announced, with ATM withdrawals rationed to €60 daily.

“The prospects of a happy resolution of this crisis are rapidly diminishing,” said the British chancellor, George Osborne, after speaking to some of the key policymakers. “If there is no signal from these meetings that Greece and the eurozone are ready to get around the table again, we can expect the financial situation in Greece to deteriorate rapidly.”

The commission had nothing positive at all to say about Sunday’s Greek referendum, while Germany’s increasingly hardline social democratic leader, Sigmar Gabriel, warned that Greece was on the brink of insolvency.

He accused Tsipras, the radical leftist prime minister who outmanoeuvred the rest of the eurozone with his plebiscite, of ruthlessly pursuing the Greek national interest at everyone else’s expense. His message suggested a Grexit was now inevitable as he stressed the need for EU humanitarian programmes to forestall social implosion in Greece.

Utterly amazing.

Still more.

Germany's Power Polarizes Europe

Yeah, which explains all the Angela Merkel Hitler paraphernalia.

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Continent’s most powerful country is grappling with its leadership role—and other nations are, too":

BERLIN—Under the glass Reichstag dome in Germany’s parliament last week, left-wing opposition leader Gregor Gysi lit into Chancellor Angela Merkel for saddling Greece with a staggering unemployment rate, devastating wage cuts, and “soup kitchens upon soup kitchens.”

The chancellor, sitting a few steps away with a blank expression on her face, scrolled through her smartphone.

Ms. Merkel’s power after a decade in office has become seemingly untouchable, both within Germany and across Europe. But with the “no” vote in Sunday’s Greek referendum on bailout terms posing the biggest challenge yet to decades of European integration, risks to the European project resulting from Germany’s rise as the Continent’s most powerful country are becoming clear.

On Friday, Spanish antiausterity leader Pablo Iglesias urged his countrymen: “We don’t want to be a German colony.” On Sunday, after Greece’s result became clear, Italian populist Beppe Grillo said, “Now Merkel and bankers will have food for thought.” On Monday, Ms. Merkel flew to Paris for crisis talks amid signs the French government was resisting Berlin’s hard line on Greece.

“What is happening now is a defeat for Germany, especially, far more than for any other country,” said Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research, a leading Berlin think tank. “Germany has, at the end of the day, helped determine most of the European decisions of the last five years.”

Senior German officials, in private moments, marvel at the fact that their country, despite its weak military and inward-looking public, now has a greater impact on most European policy debates than Britain or France, and appears to wield more global influence that at any other time since World War II.

Berlin think-tank elites, diplomats and mainstream politicians generally see the rise of German power as a good thing. They describe the stability, patience and rules-based discipline of today’s German governance as what Europe needs in these turbulent times. Germany—with its export-dependent economy and history-stained national identity—has the most to lose from an unraveling of European integration and is focused on keeping the union strong, they say.

Ms. Merkel’s popularity at home has remained strong through the Greek crisis, holding about steady at 67% in a poll at the end of June. She now must weigh whether to offer additional carrots to Greece to keep the country in the euro and preserve the irreversibility of membership in the common currency—at the risk of political backlash at home and the ire of German fiscal hawks. Only 10% of Germans supported further concessions for Greece in another poll last week.

U.S. officials generally see German leadership as crucial geopolitically, praising Ms. Merkel’s push last year to get all 28 European Union countries to adopt sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. But across Europe, Germany’s power is also straining unity in the EU, an alliance forged as a partnership of equals that now is struggling to accommodate the swelling dominance of one member.

With every crisis in which Ms. Merkel acts as the Continent’s go-to problem solver, the message to many other Europeans is that for all the lip service about the common “European project,” it is the Germans and faceless bureaucrats in Brussels who run the show...

Power is the ultima ratio.

Still more.

Holly Williams Reports: Anxiety in Greece After 'No' Vote

More excellent coverage from Holly Williams in Athens, for CBS News, "Celebrations, anxiety after "no" vote in Greece."