Bananas

Thanks to everyone that participated in the vote. The results :- NO - 11 votes. YES - 4 votes. Abstain - 3 votes.

Come on people. Don't forget to cast your vote. After all, the Greeks invented democracy!!

Come on people. Don't forget to cast your vote. After all, the Greeks invented democracy!!

Fully agree with you and I've mentioned many times in posts how much contempt I have for our politicians. But given the choices we have of Syriza and ND, I could never bring myself to vote for Samaras. You know he is part of the old establishment and it would just be more of the same. So, I can understand why Syriza won the election. If they fail, well, their stay in government will be short and that will be that. In the meantime, let's wait and see how the next couple of months play out. If Tsipras can't deliver and deliver very soon, he is in trouble.

I'm Spartacus!

The last thing the EU want is to have Greece stop using the Euro. Of course, this is just my opinion, as no one can look into a crystal ball and know how the future will play out, but I've always thought Greece leaving the EZ (as opposed to the EU) is their biggest fear. For, if Greece did go back to the drachma and it eventually worked out ok, others will surely follow. We can't know if this would happen, but the EU doesn't want to take the risk. When Papandreou proposed a referendum that was the EU's opportunity to have Greece leave the EZ. Were they happy with his decision ? Instead, he went into a meeting and walked out ashen faced (oh to be a fly on the wall) and the referendum was no more. Again, they could "kick" Greece out now ... but it's not that simple. Legally, it's a minefield as well. I believe Tsipras and Varoufakis know the dread the EU have of Greece going to another currency, and have played the game accordingly. Risky. Very risky! But calculated none the less.

Great to see you back tantra. Missed your posts. Now we just need to get pao2gre back.

@ grkjet, the EU aren't really a big fan of democracy, and if unleashing hell in Greece will serve their purpose, they will do so. It is a monstrous organisation. But I have to agree with you, I am afraid the Greek population will go for the devil they know.

Thanks for the updates all. Will be interesting to see how Tzandaris does at Olympiakos, and if he's part of the main squad or loaned out.

Great news! I must say I am surprised, but I'm not complaining. Given what's happening in Greece I thought this could put some potential players off.

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/01/why-we-recommend-a-no-in-the-referendum-in-6-short-bullet-points/#comments Why we recommend a NO in the referendum ? in 6 short bullet points Posted on July 1, 2015 by yanisv 21 Negotiations have stalled because Greece?s creditors (a) refused to reduce our un-payable public debt and (b) insisted that it should be repaid ?parametrically? by the weakest members of our society, their children and their grandchildren The IMF, the United States? government, many other governments around the globe, and most independent economists believe ? along with us ? that the debt must be restructured. The Eurogroup had previously (November 2012) conceded that the debt ought to be restructured but is refusing to commit to a debt restructure Since the announcement of the referendum, official Europe has sent signals that they are ready to discuss debt restructuring. These signals show that official Europe too would vote NO on its own ?final? offer. Greece will stay in the euro. Deposits in Greece?s banks are safe. Creditors have chosen the strategy of blackmail based on bank closures. The current impasse is due to this choice by the creditors and not by the Greek government discontinuing the negotiations or any Greek thoughts of Grexit and devaluation. Greece?s place in the Eurozone and in the European Union is non-negotiable. The future demands a proud Greece within the Eurozone and at the heart of Europe. This future demands that Greeks say a big NO on Sunday, that we stay in the Euro Area, and that, with the power vested upon us by that NO, we renegotiate Greece?s public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves and the have nots.

It's not my fault he can't post without offending people. His style of posting is reminiscent of a posse who used to post frequently on gs.com but were eventually banned from the site ... Shock therapy ... more like troll therapy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But you are right, I maybe took it a bit far calling him a possible Skopian or Turk. I should as you said ... pause, and only post facts that are true. And I can't be certain he's a Skopian or Turk poster who's trolling the site. I do find it difficult to accept his pleasure at the suffering of Greeks. Keep choking 'em! Yeah! And since you're so careful about only posting facts, there must in fact be a war on the ground. More hyperbole and melodrama.

Easy on the hyperbole. Gyros hasn't "attacked" anyone. He stated his opinions, as have I. The guy gets off on the conditions in Greece. As for the Junta, I would vote for them in a heart beat if they had as a policy replacing the Euro with a new currency. Heck, I'd even vote Golden Dawn if that was their policy. That's how badly I feel about Greece's predicament.

- You should have kept reading, you missed the best part ;) - Gyros and I are very different. Take my word for it. - "Greece is a leftist country by Western standards". No s%$#! sherlock. - Were one of your grand parents communists ?

He's waiting for the outcome of the referendum to see if he'll be paid in Euro's or not ;) Seriously, I'd be surprised if any players are signed in the next 10 days or so.

Glykos is fine if you're content with getting 3rd or 4th place in the league. If we want better (and apparently we do), I agree he's not quite there. Good as a backup though, if he's content to play that role.

Akritis, well said. I have added a 3rd option to the vote for those who feel the same way.

You're flailing about all over the place. I have been to Greece but that is besides the point. I do live in a "centrist" country, and again, that is besides the point, but if I don't answer your points, other posters might think you know what you're talking about. As athinaios said in post #413, there is very little difference between the main stream parties in Greece. To me they are the same and had essentially the same policies whether it was PASOK or ND in charge. But when you talk about what is wrong with Greece and how it got that way, you always blame "the left". Always. At least that's the way I perceive your posts. Maybe if you tried being a bit more neutral ...

I agree, I think it's probably 5% on either side that are "hard" core.

C'mon boys and girls, let's have our own referendum. Hopefully a whole heap of new posters with 2 posts to their name don't skew the results.

Bizarre. There is something very very Greek about blaming all the ills of the nation on "the left". Has "the right" never done anything wrong ? Greece was never an advanced first world economy, but it was never a third world economy either. It was always somewhere in between, and this was reflected in its GDP and general standard of living. Not as good as say the US, UK or Germany but not like an Albania, Bulgaira or Yugoslavia either. And it would probably stay that way for the foreseeable future. It takes decades to really lift living standards in any nation. But, the EU has managed to slash Greece's GDP by 25% in less than 7 years. Quite an achievement. Vote yes for more! Don't even get me started on how they've belittled us (of no real relevance in realpolitik) and their stupid immigration rules (highly relevant).

The question is, not what the pension will become now, but what it will be in 10 years from now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but was the back flip a back flip ? Didn't Tsipras just present the same terms as before ? The sticking point last week was that the EU wanted to increase the VAT and have a decrease on pensions. Just a second ... *boom* ... there was a commie bastard scum at the door. One less now.

Scum, commie, choke. Great to see you get such a kick out of the suffering. And this isn't the first time you've used colorful language like this. You are special. You should ask your therapist for a refund. You remind me of Nurse Ratched, especially since you used the "choke" description. Great scene. Are you even Greek ? I'm beginning to think you're a Skopian or Turk that just comes onto these forums to troll.

To me, a yes vote is a vote for fear of the unknown ... which is fair enough. It is scary. It is also a vote for the preservation of existing asset values and debt values. If Greece introduces a new currency, effectively anyone that has assets in Greece will see their value probably halved, so this is definitely a big hit. But the biggest thing about a yes vote, is that it's effectively a vote to condemn the youth of Greece to high unemployment indefinitely. This is the worst aspect of the austerity, and one the EU has shown they are not too bothered about. The vote from my perspective is, do I worry about my pocket now, or worry about what sort of a country my children will inherit. A bit melodramatic I know, but that's what this is about. What will give Greece the better outcome in the long run.