Our Greek Tragedy

The news from Athens and Brussels is dispiriting. Prime Minister Tsipras is surrendering before the latest ultimatum from the Troika. He is doing so in the teeth of last Sunday’s ultimatum in which more than 60 percent of Greek voters gave a resounding “No” to the demands for a new bout of austerity that amounts to a sentence of debt-servitude for the life of the nation. That is not an opinion but a fact of arithmetic. The absurdity of current policies is evinced by history and confirmed in the judgment of distinguished economists around the word.

The disturbing truth is that Tsipras lacks two essential qualities to meet the challenge thrown at him by the financial powers who rule the global economy. One is a contingency plan for salvaging the Greek economy in the aftermath of an exit from the Eurozone. The other is the courage to brave those turbulent, uncharted waters. Tsipras and the “moderate” members of his Syriza Party are creatures of their times. Educated elites in the Western world live comfortable lives that place few demands on their deep character and emotional strength. Their mettle is untested. To take on the arduous and protracted struggle that exiting promised requires a steely will forged in outrage and adversity. Tsipras, a decent man and skilled politician, is not that man.

So concession was foreseeable. The tip off was Tsipras’s impulsive appeal to the Troika last Tuesday, two days after the

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/our-greek-tragedy_b_7769474.html