Thursday, October 1, 2015

Alexis Tsipras Promises More Of The Same!

I still have not gotten over the poor performance which PM Tsipras pulled off at the Clinton Global Initiative. The first SYRIZA/ANEL government had been criticized for acting like inexperienced amateurs without being prepared for anything. Somehow, the impression had meanwhile come across that they - particularly Tsipras himself - had learned a lot during this experience and that they were now ready to move the country towards greener pastures.

Well, if Tsipras' performance at the CGI serves as an example, that's a dream!

No one expects the 41-year old Tsipras to come across as the most competent Prime Minister in the world. For all intents and purposes, it is sufficient if he can act as a leader; if he can mobilize the spirits of the citizens; if he can project a better future to his compatriots. That Tsipras does better than many other political leaders.

However, ever since Alexander the Great, the key ingredient for success, be it as a general or as an entrepreneur, has been defined as: "Surround yourself with good people!" Tsipras is not expected to know how to make a sales pitch for foreign investments in his county in front of an American audience, particularly in English. But Tsipras IS expected to surround himself with professionals, with advisors who can orchestrate events like that in a manner so that Tsipras only has to fulfill his role as the 'Chief Salesman', as the 'Chief Representative' of Greece.

That obviously has not happened in the case of the CGI. And I remember reading analyses that Tsipras has not included in his new government the sort of competent 'movers & shakers' who might really turn Greece around. If the new government is nothing but 'more of the same', Greece won't remain the same very long.

In short, I am not expecting any new sense of urgency to reform Greece for the benefit of Greece (instead of the creditors). On the contrary, I am afraid Tsipras will act in the future as he acted during the CGI interview: strong and convincing deep voice when it comes to general statements; twisting and squirming when it comes to specifics and obviously hoping that someone will come to his rescue.

7 comments:

  1. Yanis Varoufakis a expliqué : « Fin avril début mai, j’ai vu qu’Alexis fléchissait sous la pression. Il accordait des concessions qu’il n’aurait pas dû faire. Une fois qu’on fait des concessions alors que le camp adverse n’en fait pas, on commence à baisser les bras et à rendre les armes. Le deuxième moment important de déception a eu lieu après le référendum. J’espérais que le résultat du référendum le dynamiserait, moi-même j’étais dynamisé !

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  2. Mr. Kastner,

    I myself am also upset with the non action. I was listening to Skai this morning and they reported that IMF stated that only 1/3 of the measures needed for Oct have been implemented. The government has stated the rest need to be "lawed in" but even this they are delaying. Why?

    Well the reporter informed that the 2/3 requirement measures of laws that need to be written are already ready. Those specific law have been written from the previous or two governments ago, and have been fine tuned already. Why are they muddling? Because they want to rescript the laws in a way that the direct governement, or persons of Syriza / Anel, are not held legally accountably responsible for there action in the future. Meaning they don't want to be put on trial for their actions in the future.

    V

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  3. This is good. Points 4,8,9 is what Tsimpy should have said.

    https://aristosd.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/ten-tips-about-greece/

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    1. Very interesting tips.

      I've added a reference in my blog
      https://erikdesonville.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/ten-tips-about-greece/

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    2. Eric have you taken a look at Yanis latest venture by doing politics via the world of art? Or his contribution he put up recently: http://6th.moscowbiennale.ru/

      Maybe we should all stop being "polite" since that is what military officers have been over the decades while also committing mass murder?

      In the words of Clemant Greenberg's famous phrase: art is "connected with an umbilical cord to wealth", will his wife make it into a prominent Russian collection or museum?

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  4. "Artists should be feared by the powerful – Keynote closing the 6th Moscow Biennale, 1st October 2015 (audio)"

    I am pretty appalled by this attempt to shift his narrative into the field of arts via the Moscow Bianale of Contemporary Art. Not that his war narrative escaped me, which surfaces on the start of his lecture. The "polite" military and economical forces versus the impolite, or the artists and its larger aims.

    But should I really be surprised that by now "the French hate the Germans"? as a says in the end, since they like him understand that in a misused of Charlemagne, the Euro was ultimately conceived of in 1942 in Germany. Something I suppose traces that already Helmut Schmidt tried to erase? I no doubt had my own troubles with him at the time in verbal fights with my father, but ...

    But, by now I got it, he considers France essential in his fight against Germany. Or the good use "Charlemagne" versus the obviously bad one misused by us Germans via "Karl der Grosse". From 800 to eternity?

    By the way, I love the Cathedral in Aachen. It's pretty unique in its synthesis of church building over the centuries. No doubt due to Charlemagne? But I guess that escaped the attention of the lover of art as a political weapon. Or art disconnected from it's "umbilical cord with wealth", besides I can thing of many Swiss artists.

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    1. sorry, for the bad proofreading. Apparently he never fails to raise my blood pressure or emotions. That's pretty rare really at this time and this age.

      But I am fascinated by how he weaves his basic story into whatever context no matter if topical or a real place in Europe ...

      I had to stop several times. Wondering, if this did not deserve more attention than anything else, I have listened to so far. Not least since for most of my life my attention was on the arts minus politics. ... But then I may have missed the train were it can be exploited in that direction beyond the cold war. How long would it take to transcribe the whole speech? Yes, that France surfaces prominently does not surprise me. After all, France will be the next "we" supposedly will force into surrender as Greece.

      But yes, during the last one and a half decades my attention was distracted by foreign policy (& the ME ...) and much more recently following YV, economics. Good luck, Russia. You may need it.

      This latter interest, may trigger the question, who exactly invited Yanis, and for what reason? Clarification about the economical weapons, the sticks versus the carrots to press some into surrender? No empathy for Russia? No where to be found ... from the self-declared Marxist? ...

      How exactly did he use "neoliberal", a term whose dimension as used in economics, I haven't really grasped so far. He did use it at one point. Didn't he?

      The wife, I mentioned above, was of course a lame joke. Please forgive. ;) And ultimately it wasn't, he told us, about economics but then it wasn't about war either, was it? Maybe I got into something I really hate as far as emotions are concerned: useless tit for tat responses.

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