Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Athens”
As European governments move to seal their external borders, tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to Europe are trapped in Greece, leading to a rapidly escalating humanitarian catastrophe. Each day hundreds of refugees risk the dangerous journey from their war-torn countries in the Middle East via Turkey and the Mediterranean to Greece. Most of them are trying to get to …
* The EU is considering the exclusion of gene-edited plants and animals from GM regulations, write Janet Cotter and Ricarda Steinbrecher. However gene-edited organisms clearly fall within the definition of GMOs in both European and international law. They also present real risks to the environment and human health – and must be regulated like any other GMOs. There has been …
Prof. John Mutter holds two professorships at Columbia University in NYC. One in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and another in the department of International and Public Affairs, where he is the Associate Director of the doctoral program in Sustainable Development. His scientific research has focused on ocean geography and marine seismology, and more recently on science based sustainable solutions for developing countries. He is a former deputy director of the Earth Institute and works with the International Council on Human Rights Policy which deals with the challenges of climate change and human rights. Prof. Mutter has also been awarded a fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received degrees from the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, and a doctorate in Marine Geophysics from Columbia University. He has authored over 70 scientific articles and many popular essays. His most recent book is “The Disaster Profiteers: How Natural Disasters Make the Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer” and his website is JohnCMutter.wordpress.com
Why does this matter? First because it makes no sense to sell off valuable assets in the middle of Europe’s worst depression in 70 years. I’ve just had sight of the latest privatisation plan for Greece. It’s been issued by something called the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund – the vehicle supervised by the European institutions, which has been tasked with …
The legitimacy of a given social order rests on the legitimacy of its debts. Even in ancient times this was so. In traditional cultures, debt in a broad sense—gifts to be reciprocated, memories of help rendered, obligations not yet fulfilled—was a glue that held society together. Everybody at one time or another owed something to someone else. Repayment of debt …
For a moment this summer, it appeared that Greece had cornered its creditors. In a hotly contested vote in which their European neighbors openly intervened, Greeks overwhelmingly voted to reject more austerity. In a controversial turnaround, however, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras then submitted to the demands of eurozone leaders for more austerity measures in return for a bailout loan …
SAINT-JEROME, Quebec –— Modern Greek tragedy is at play, and so are illusions. The big myth is that Greece overspent and the Greek government was reckless with its budgets, ultimately indebting Athens. It is true that Greek officials tried to gain influence and political support through spending. It’s also true that they signed lucrative contracts with local businesses. Athens, however, …
Debt: The Creation of A Global Crisis
The forced, politically engineered bankruptcy of the City of Detroit has been an ongoing discussion on Leid Stories for almost two years. Its historic bankruptcy court filing, to discharge $18 billion in debts, still wreaks havoc with Detroiters, who now must live under the yoke of blistering austerity.
Detroit, however, was a template for almost 60 U.S. cities said to be on the brink of bankruptcy because of debt, as Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, grapples with an onerous debt of $73 billion.
But debt is a geopolitical contrivance, says Yanis Varoufakis, who on July 6 quit as finance minister in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government of Greece, opposing European Union, International Monetary Fund and bankers’ demands for drastic cutbacks to service the country’s debt obligations.
In a wide-ranging talk in Seattle three years ago, when he was an economics professor, Varoufakis deconstructs the myth of a global debt crisis.
What do you call a country that has grown 4.6 per cent – in total – since it joined the euro 16 years ago? Well, probably the one most likely to leave the common currency. Or Italy, for short. It’s hard to say what went wrong with Italy, because nothing ever went right. It grew 4 per cent its first year …
In 2010 the Greek state lost the capacity to service its debt. Put simply, it became insolvent and thus lost access to capital markets. To prevent a default on fragile French and German banks that had irresponsibly lent billions to irresponsible Greek governments, Europe decided to grant Greece the biggest loan in world history on condition of the largest ever …
