Greece followup
As I thought likely, the Germans followed the path they took with Yugoslavia in 1941 and crushed them, and Tsipras caved.
However, his coalition is coming apart over this betrayal, and it remains that the debt cannot be repaid, and therefore won't be. And the greater significance is this: the whole business has made it clear that the European Union and the single currency are not about the ideals of a united Europe for the benefit of its people; it's a wealth pump from the poorer south to the north, notably Germany, and a design to makes sure that the banks are cared for at the expense of people.
It turns out that through the Euro, Germany has largely established Hitler's dream of the New Order, Europe dominated by Germany and economically integrated with German industry - without war and without killing people, which does, incidentally, remind us that war is often not the smart way to get what you want.
However, Germany's victory in this matter, by exposing the nature of its regime, has undermined its legitimacy. Once that happens to you, you don't last. Mark Kurlansky, writing 35 years later in August 2003, persuasively traced the collapse of the Soviet empire to the revelation of its nature in its invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. It deserves a careful rereading today:
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug/18/opinion/oe-kurlansky18
Written in August 2003, five months after the US had invaded Iraq in the same manner, and with the same lying excuses with which Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the piece predicted that this disgraceful act would have a similar effect on the US empire. And so it is proving to be, especially because, unlike the Soviet Union at the time, the US has doubled down on its folly, doing all it can since its Iraq adventure to make clear to the world that the US is indeed a rogue state.
The crushing of the Greek government's resistance, as Germany did to Yugoslavia in 1941, has already led to the beginning of the breakup of the Syriza coalition. Whoever comes out on top will somehow have to follow through as Tsipras failed to do, because reality cannot be repealed. The plunder of the Greek economy to pay the banks just isn't sustainable, because the resulting collapse of the economy precludes the economic activity and resulting tax revenue required to pay. The debt, which is largely odious anyway, must be repudiated. That's arithmetic, not a policy question.
We've already seen here the fulfillment of the proverb, "The borrower is the lender's slave." We'll soon be reminded that it is written again, "The cruel man troubles his own flesh." It would be a very different world if rulers paid any attention to the counsel of the Bible!
However, his coalition is coming apart over this betrayal, and it remains that the debt cannot be repaid, and therefore won't be. And the greater significance is this: the whole business has made it clear that the European Union and the single currency are not about the ideals of a united Europe for the benefit of its people; it's a wealth pump from the poorer south to the north, notably Germany, and a design to makes sure that the banks are cared for at the expense of people.
It turns out that through the Euro, Germany has largely established Hitler's dream of the New Order, Europe dominated by Germany and economically integrated with German industry - without war and without killing people, which does, incidentally, remind us that war is often not the smart way to get what you want.
However, Germany's victory in this matter, by exposing the nature of its regime, has undermined its legitimacy. Once that happens to you, you don't last. Mark Kurlansky, writing 35 years later in August 2003, persuasively traced the collapse of the Soviet empire to the revelation of its nature in its invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. It deserves a careful rereading today:
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug/18/opinion/oe-kurlansky18
Written in August 2003, five months after the US had invaded Iraq in the same manner, and with the same lying excuses with which Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the piece predicted that this disgraceful act would have a similar effect on the US empire. And so it is proving to be, especially because, unlike the Soviet Union at the time, the US has doubled down on its folly, doing all it can since its Iraq adventure to make clear to the world that the US is indeed a rogue state.
The crushing of the Greek government's resistance, as Germany did to Yugoslavia in 1941, has already led to the beginning of the breakup of the Syriza coalition. Whoever comes out on top will somehow have to follow through as Tsipras failed to do, because reality cannot be repealed. The plunder of the Greek economy to pay the banks just isn't sustainable, because the resulting collapse of the economy precludes the economic activity and resulting tax revenue required to pay. The debt, which is largely odious anyway, must be repudiated. That's arithmetic, not a policy question.
We've already seen here the fulfillment of the proverb, "The borrower is the lender's slave." We'll soon be reminded that it is written again, "The cruel man troubles his own flesh." It would be a very different world if rulers paid any attention to the counsel of the Bible!
posted by Peter Attwood at 8/16/2015 03:26:00 PM
6 Comments:
And if the Counsel of Karl Marx and Thomas Paine and the Buddha and the Bible all happen to coincide and leaders do not follow it they must really be trying to pull something over on the rest of us.
Today, If you will indulge me I would like to compare the concept of beubg saved with the ooncept of becomminmg enlightened. Being saved in THE bottom line, or the advertising motto if you will, of the false American Christian idolatry. It is an ideology grounded in shelfishness that unsurprisingly bears yellow bitter selfish fruit. The very essence of the religion is to avoid suffering. The number one rule of this religous movement is to do what ever it takes to please the boss. If you please the boss you will be spared an eternity of really really horrible suffering.
This suffering is so horrible so brutal and so with out end that only an insane person would take even the slightest risk of suffering such a fate. The followers of this movement have convinced themselves that they have discovered the key to avoiding this risk in the Bible. The way that I understand the way that they understand it is that the Bible proclaims that God has offered us a gift. If we accept this gift then we will be saved but if we reject this gift then our future looks very very bleak indeed. To confirm to God that we have accepted his gift we only have to accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior.
The leaders of this movement and their followers clearly do not accept the idea that if they want to call themselves a Christian the implication would be that they accept Jesus Christ as their personnal role model. NO! NO! to accept Jesus Christ as ones personal role model is out of the question because mere humans could never hope to even come close to the example set be Jesus Christ. It is explicitly taught by the leaders of this movement that we can never hope to be saved by our works because by the time you stack all of our sins on one side of the scales of justice and all of our works on the other the scale with our sins will always be heavier.
The only way that one can be saved is through the GRACE of GOD.
I on the other hand think that this idea that humans can not exceed the example of Jesus Christ is foolish nonsense. The example of Jesus Chist has been exceeded by millions of human beings. The example of Jesus Christ is being exceeded this very moment by huge numbers of people both known and unknown. Jeus suffered on the cross for a mere 3 hours before he was taken down. He spent three days taking a quick tour of hell with Dante as his guide. A vast part of humanity has suffered far a far worse fate than that.
Then there is babble about Jesus have never committed a sin. Big deal, he was a God for christs sake. When you are a God capable of miracles it certainly would not take much effort to avoid the temptation of avoiding a sin. Jesus was not a normal human and therefore to give him any credit what so ever for what ever he did nor did not do is unjustified.
Whether or not Jesus is an applicable role model is not even the crucial point of the falseness of American Neo Christianity. It is false because it is all about saving oneself not about how do I interact with these other beings around in a manner that is fair and just for everyone involved.
So I guess next comes a few thoughts on enlightenment.
Curt
Ok the goal of eastern religions is not to be saved but to become elightened.
My understasnding of the definition of enlightenment is an understanding of reality that is so complete that one can escape from the cycle of suffering and to be able to teach others how to acheive an understanding of reality so complete that they can escape from the cycle of suffering.
The self proclaimed Christian fools who seek to be saved not only seek to escape the cycle of suffering but they want to be certian that they have. They grasp for certianity. The eastern religions teach that grasping for anything is a pretty good way not to get it. Sadly the self proclaimed Christians can not be certian until they are standing before the pearly gates and that is much to lates to find out that you have been a fool. So they passionately believe in a magic formula to avoid the fate of living a whole life with the fear of uncertianity.
Enlightenment on the other hand is a really really difficult thing to measure. It is very subject until one reaches the point that they could pass out of the sycle of suffering in to Nirvana. Since no one on this earth, that I know of, has demonstarted such an ability to me, Enlightenment can only be understood in degrees and not as an either you have or you don't proposition. The ability is reach Nirvana is a mythical or legendary degree of enlightenment.
So I suppose that a person who can recite the Bible or the Quran from memory could become a quite enlightened person but the modern eastern view on this matter makes sense to me. That is that monothiests can become quite enlightened but these paths are strewn with many boulders while the paths of the east have been cleared of these bolders and the path of Thomas Paine is not only cleared of bolders it covers the most scenic terrain of any path to enlightenment.
Curt
A Bisschen mehr on the subject of Grace. It is claimed that Grace is neccessary to achieve salvation. I do not work in terms of salvation. It does make sense to me to say that Grace is neccessary to achieve enlightenemnt. It certainly seems plausible to me that only those people who have been blessed by the General Organizational Directorate can understand that the gift that Jesus left for mankind was not everlasting life through dieing on the cross. No, it was the Sermon on the Mount.
There is an unanswered question though as to who gets this blessing and why. Does the G.O.D. bless (or curse) those who are needed to do something that the G.O.D. wants to get done? Or, can anyone who recieve this blessing (or curse) based om some kind of merit? People have been foundering over this question for mellenium.
What ever the answer is the implication of that answer is that it is not your job to try to please the or even pray to the G.O.D. it is the job of the G.O.D. to serve you. Of course as Peter has said, if what you want is bad for you it is the job of the G.O.D. to make sure that you do not get it. Get it?
Curt
> Germans followed the path they took with Yugoslavia in 1941 and crushed them
unless they didn't:
"Death to fascism, freedom to the people!"
"Death to fascism, power for the people!"
It is not a good idea to give either freedom or power to those who can not handle it.
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