Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
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Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#2Frankly, I would think it irresponsible if the Greek government did not have a Plan B in place - be it parallel payments or a return to the Drachma. If (when?) it becomes necessary to do so, such a plan would need to be implemented with haste - they won't have the luxury of telling the markets "we'll be doing this in 3 months, once we work out the details".
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#3I can't see how that's in any way treasonous. Treason is going against your country. Investigating an alternative monetary system -- at the request of the prime minister -- hardly seems like treason. Especially if you're the finance minister. Keeping it a secret doesn't make it treason either.
Treason would be to defect from Greece to the IMF or ECB or Germany with information to sink Greece and eliminate any kind of negotiating power that they might have.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#4I can't see how that's in any way treasonous. Treason is going against your country. Investigating an alternative monetary system -- at the request of the prime minister -- hardly seems like treason. Especially if you're the finance minister. Keeping it a secret doesn't make it treason either. Treason would be to defect from Greece to the IMF or ECB or Germany with information to sink Greece and eliminate any kind of…
No? Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament and preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification sounds fine to you?
It would have been the ultimate power grab by Syriza, going against all laws and democracy.
Just because Syriza got a majority in the elections doesn't mean the rule of law has been suspended.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#5I can't see how that's in any way treasonous. Treason is going against your country. Investigating an alternative monetary system -- at the request of the prime minister -- hardly seems like treason. Especially if you're the finance minister. Keeping it a secret doesn't make it treason either. Treason would be to defect from Greece to the IMF or ECB or Germany with information to sink Greece and eliminate any kind of…
No? Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament and preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification sounds fine to you? It would have been the ultimate power grab by Syriza, going against all laws and democracy. Just because Syriza got a majority in the elections doesn't mean the rule of law has been suspended.
> preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification
Where did you see that? I didn't see that talked about anywhere. I literally did a ctrl-f in the article for "arrest" and it didn't show up anywhere.
> Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament
Yeah that might be weirder. Was Varoufakis supposed to turn the prime minister in the second he suggested it? Start proceedings to impeach him?
I get that there are lawful orders and unlawful orders. How do you tell which is which? Especially given that Greece's creditors are talking about some serious financial consequences.
If the US had only UK owned banks, and the UK government was pressuring the banks to all be closed so as to choke the US via the banking system there's an argument to be made that the US government has not only the right but the duty to take things over.
I'm not saying it would be popular, and it might not be strictly legal. But I'm not sure that the UN authorizes financial terrorism either. The whole thing is pretty crazy to think about. It shouldn't be surprising that people were contemplating crazy solutions to crazy problems.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#6I can't see how that's in any way treasonous. Treason is going against your country. Investigating an alternative monetary system -- at the request of the prime minister -- hardly seems like treason. Especially if you're the finance minister. Keeping it a secret doesn't make it treason either. Treason would be to defect from Greece to the IMF or ECB or Germany with information to sink Greece and eliminate any kind of…
No? Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament and preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification sounds fine to you? It would have been the ultimate power grab by Syriza, going against all laws and democracy. Just because Syriza got a majority in the elections doesn't mean the rule of law has been suspended.
None of that's in the linked article.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
No? Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament and preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification sounds fine to you? It would have been the ultimate power grab by Syriza, going against all laws and democracy. Just because Syriza got a majority in the elections doesn't mean the rule of law has been suspended.
None of that's in the linked article.
It's been in all the other papers' reports, including the original reporting in Kathimerini. You're right, the telegraph story doesn't mention it.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
No? Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament and preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification sounds fine to you? It would have been the ultimate power grab by Syriza, going against all laws and democracy. Just because Syriza got a majority in the elections doesn't mean the rule of law has been suspended.
> preparing to arrest its chief without any legal justification Where did you see that? I didn't see that talked about anywhere. I literally did a ctrl-f in the article for "arrest" and it didn't show up anywhere. > Grabbing your central bank's reserves without any involvement of parliament Yeah that might be weirder. Was Varoufakis supposed to turn the prime minister in the second he suggested it? Start proceedings…
"Financial terrorism"... I guess there's nothing more to discuss.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#9A currency-independent parallel banking system that uses smartphone apps sounds like a very cool thing, actually. It almost makes me wish that we had a chance to see it implemented.
Re: Varoufakis reveals cloak and dagger 'Plan B' for Greece, awaits treason charges
#10I can't see how that's in any way treasonous. Treason is going against your country. Investigating an alternative monetary system -- at the request of the prime minister -- hardly seems like treason. Especially if you're the finance minister. Keeping it a secret doesn't make it treason either. Treason would be to defect from Greece to the IMF or ECB or Germany with information to sink Greece and eliminate any kind of…
Even though he was finance minister he was/wouldn't have beeen not authorized performing some of the actions done (e.g. "A secret cell at the Greek finance ministry hacked into the government computers") or planned. Even the prime minister has not the authority for such decicsions. As in other democracies the parliament has to vote. Calling it treason depends on the point of view. We'll never know wether it would have been for the country's advantage. I highly doubt it. However, Varoufakis actions were illegal and dictatorial. They were an act against democracy and therefore I guess, yes, they were treasonous.