John Ward – Geopolitics: Greece, Tsipras, Draghi, Putin, And The Antidollar- 24 January 2015

ND Rally: Samaras in final passion play, sorry, plea

The bandwagon effect taking place in Greece looks set to deliver leftist Party Syriza a victory by 6-7% of the popular vote….but the ECB says the country is an ECB leper. The Slog tries to put things into a wider geopolitical context.

Well, now we know: Greece will be shut out of QE “for at least six months” because of “limits on how much debt the central bank buys from a single issuer”. It must be smashing being a central banker: everything you do is secret and/or the opposite of what the public are told – so you can lie your head off with glorious abandon. I spoke to a contact in Spain today, who had this to say:

“Spanish banks break those limits at least once a week, but the ECB moves the money around the whirlygig so that it never hits the tripwire. If he’d let the Greeks take part [in the easing programme] frankly nobody would’ve noticed it. It’s just more bullshit”.

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Mish / Mike Shedlock – Gaffe? What Gaffe? Greek Polls? All Over The Place – 27 May 2012

I am amused by the Financial Times headline Tsipras shrugs off gaffe about Hollande.

When Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek socialist leader, boarded a 7.30am flight to Paris on Tuesday, only his closest aides knew he was on the way to a hastily arranged meeting with the French president.