Greek eurosceptics could take power in early elections next month

Greek MPs have voted to reject the presidential candidate put forward by prime minister Antonis Samaras, causing fresh elections in January.

Stavros Dimas needed the support of 180 Greek MPs but only managed 168. Samaras was hoping to get the support of the Independent Greeks and Democratic Left for Dimas but failed.

The eurosceptic Syriza party is currently leading in the opinion polls and with other eurosceptic parties make up over 50% of the indicated vote. Greece is the second most eurosceptic country in the EU after the UK and the punishing austerity imposed on the country means that there is a very good chance that Greece could end up beating the UK to be the first country since Greenland in 1985 to leave the EU.

Athens is rioting again

While Angela Merkel is in London telling us we shouldn't leave the EU and cooking up the latest plan for avoiding a referendum whilst giving away as much power as possible to the EU, the Greeks are rioting once again.

The usual Syntagma Square webcam on a hotel has been taken down but there is a low quality video feed available that looks like it's being streamed off a mobile phone.

Greeks are protesting against EU-imposed austerity measures again with a vote being taken now in the Greek parliament on new crippling austerity measures which will further decimate the Greek economy and drive them further into depression.

The europhile Greek president, Antonis Samaras, says that the vote is to ensure Greece stays in the €urozone and that the alternative is to "return to the drachma and isolation".  Returning to the drachma is exactly what Greece needs - ditch the €uro for the drachma and devalue to drive up exports and domestic production.

Update:
The Greek parliament has passed the austerity bill by 153 votes to 147.

Greek PM begs EU for permission to ease collective punishment

The sight of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras begging for permission to give some relief to the Greek people from the EU's punishing - and ultimately doomed to failure - austerity measures should be setting off alarm bells all over Europe.

Merk-heil, Merk-heil ...

In his speech to the Greek Parliament he set out plans for reducing Greek debt, accelerating the privatisation of state-owned utilities and services and the accelerated sale of state-owned property.  Tax and spend in Greece is controlled by a group of unelected economists answerable to the EU Commission, EU Central Bank and IMF so Samaras is effectively just reading from a script with the possible exception of the begging to be allowed to scale back some of the collective punishment being meted out at the Greek people.

I say possible exception because it's quite likely that the EU/ECB/IMF appointed bureaucrats just can't balance the books with the EU-imposed austerity measures they're forced to work with and with Samaras being nothing more than a sock puppet, have used him to ask their bosses for a bit of relief.

The elected leader of an EU member state having to beg the EU for permission to help out his citizens should worry other leaders of EU member states more than a little and their people even more so.  The EU staged a coup d'état in Greece (and Italy) in the guise of a friendly bailout and so far they've got away with it.  History has shown that allowing aggressive regimes to get away with taking over weaker neighbours - even with a vichy government helping them - rarely ends well.