John Ward – Greece : Jubilation Is Premature… Nobody Has Factored In The Reality Of The Morning After – Pasok Still Wants Syriza in Coalition, Or No Deal – 18 June 2012

“Yo! we goin’ ter Hell in a bucket guys!”

Yesterday I posted to advise folks to ignore the Greek election, and focus instead on the imminence of Greek default. I have more for you on this story already.

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John Ward – EU Crisis Needs The ‘Champions’ Solution : Venizelos V Schäuble – 11 May 2012

You always know where you are with Evangelo Venizelos: on the gravy train. The possibility of Greece forming a unity government appears to have grown following talks between PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis on Thursday. The two leaders met after Venizelos took over the mandate to explore the possibility of cooperation between the parties elected on Sunday. Both suggested that they were happy with the direction of their talks.

John Ward – REVEALED – How Paying Double For German Subs Helped To Sink Greece – 12 March 2012

The German type 214 submarine….expensive if you’re Greek

“We paid double for three submarines from Germany,” says an Athenian source who has lodged several incriminating documents with The Slog. Most of this, once again, seems to involve the near-ubiquitous role in German engineering and arms supplies of the multiply corrupt company Ferrostaal. Looking at the numbers, some of this appears to have been German profiteering connected to payoffs: “we give you 3 million euros, you lets us stuff the invoice with another 20 million” and so forth. And always in this farrago of filled pockets lurks the presence of numerous company acronyms MFI, MIE (Marine International), PDM, Zelan etc….all odd joint ventures and often registered in Liberia or Cyprus. All of them have obvious attachments to Greek elite members, and most of them in turn have connections to civil service procurement officers and/or senior politicians.

John Ward – Evangelo Vinezelos, An Overflowing Bank Account, & German Arms Bribery – 11 March 2012

Mathiopoulus (l) with German Foreign Minister Bruno Westerwelle

The good life and bad deeds of the Greek elite, featuring Margarita Mathiopoulus

Large numbers of poverty-stricken Greeks are wondering this weekend why their Finance Minister’s current account with an Athenian bank has in excess of three million euros in it. He is clearly a man with little need to worry about sweating his assets, and with every day the evidence as to why that might be keeps on piling up – thanks to the generosity of Greek contacts fed up of seeing their country rogered by fatties. It seems that no matter where you start in the Greek elite, all roads lead to Evangelo Venizelos. Today we start with Greco-German trougher, Margarita Mathiopoulus.

John Ward – Greek Bailout : Uncertainty Persists As New Sovereign Liabilites Surface – 11 March 2012

“We’re about this far up the beanstalk”

There are signs that Germany, the IMF and Washington retain their doubts about Greek ‘salvation’

Seemingly confident that the worst is behind him, Evangelo Venizelos strode into a PASOK Party conference this morning. A pensioner on crutches hurled a full yoghurt pot at the obese Finance Minister just before he got to the podium. Perhaps this was the old man’s way of trying to add a little culture to the occasion: either way, it was a timely reminder of the deep unpopularity of the austerity measures this shifty and widely hated man has driven through – by fair means and foul.