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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Professor Varoufakis Might Be Right about the European Crisis but not Without a Number of Asterisks

By Con George-Kotzabasis

I was not referring as to whether Varoufakis’s arguments about the crisis were right or wrong. They might be right, after a steep climb on the learning curve. As I believe that from 2007 to 2009 he was an advisor to the former prime minister George Papandreou, whose policies totally failed Greece in the last two critical years (and which the conservative leader of the Opposition, Antonis Samaras, predicted they would), and thus he too might have learned from his own mistakes during his advisory role. I was specifically referring to his severe criticism of both Mario Monti and Lucas Papademos for their presumed mistakes during their service as technocrats to the EU, and their purported inability and political and moral strength to correct them, if such mistakes were made, and therefore, according to Professor Varoufakis, these past errors disqualifies both of them to start a new course for their countries.

If I have been mistaken and Professor Varoufakis is not a barren pessimist but an optimistic pessimist, then I would nimbly correct my error and be the first to applaud him by removing all hovering asterisks in my mind.      

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Cheney Addington and Bolton Panoramic Figures in American History

By Con George-Kotzabasis

“Scariest stories ever written about contemporary America” is the story that makes some of the political toddlers of The Washington Note to run and cover themselves under their bed sheets. Sans political wisdom, sans political and historical insight, and hence, sans cognitive and intellectual legitimacy they attempt to analyse the world shaking event of 9/11 and the Administration’s protagonists response to the crescent shaped bolt that appeared over the blue sky of America with their childish fears. And for fear to be effective it must have its bogey apparitions. So we have Cheney, Addington, and Bolton wrapped up with white sheets in the middle of the night scaring the bejeesus out of the liberal intelligentsia with their nefarious schemes of “a massive expansion of presidential power” starting an “illegitimate war,” creating “a system for spying on American citizens...sanctioned torture”, and “pushed official secrecy to unprecedented levels.” The critics of Cheney, Addington, and Bolton never learning the abc and never reaching the omega of statecraft are shocked to see and it’s beyond their comprehension that in moments of national crises the expansion and concentration of presidential power is the sine qua non of strong political leadership and a necessary but temporary measure to protect a nation from malicious lethal enemies, both external and internal.


All the above measures that Steve Clemons highlights were instigated by the Vice President solely for the protection of America. It was an unenviable task and it could only be performed by the strong. One must not forget that in hard times only the hard men/women prevail. And Cheney, Addington, and Bolton will be panoramic figures in American history for their political and strategic insight, strength of character, and their indefatigable efforts to shield the United States and the West from the fanatical irreconcilable enemies of Islam.