[geonik]

Greek startup owner here. Our government is trying to recover from a mistake by commiting a bigger one. Our Varoufakis-illusioned prime minister thought that he could force a better deal from Eurozone members by blackmailing with a worldwide economic Lehman Brothers moment. This obviously didn't work, and the referendum theatre was setup to cover up the failure. That in turn, is a huge gamble, putting the country's prospects for generations to come at risk.

[crdoconnor]

>Our Varoufakis-illusioned prime minister thought that he could force a better deal from Eurozone members by blackmailing with a worldwide economic Lehman Brothers moment.

"Better deal" meaning "a deal which doesn't involve breaking promises they made to the electorate".

Clearly such a deal wasn't possible, hence here we are.

The idea that this is somehow blackmail is ludicrous.

[mpyne]

Don't pin everyone on "that's what the people want though!!!"... there's a reason we don't simply setup government so that whatever passing whim the populace manages to latch onto gets adopted and then cast aside once the populace gets bored with it.

[crdoconnor]

Greece has already voted in one government that promised an end to austerity and then reneged upon its promise when threatened by the Eurozone.

I think that if the successive government also reneged upon its promise, that would signal the true end of democracy is Greece.

[computer]

Or it would signal that ending austerity is actually impossible for Greek politicians. If several parties in a row had promised to double the number of moons, they would also have had to renege on that promise.

The main difference is, of course, that it wasn't clear that it would be impossible to end austerity, with some thinking that the Troika would give in. But that doesn't mean the end of democracy.

[crdoconnor]

>Or it would signal that ending austerity is actually impossible

It basically signaled that the Troika will cajole, threaten, blackmail and generally do everything in their power to keep the austerity train going.

Ultimately, though, that's the way to destroy the currency union. An economic policy based upon wage suppression and privatization of monopoly industries is nice for some people, but it isn't sustainable.

[asuffield]

So they promised something they couldn't deliver and now haven't delivered it. This appears to have done nothing to help the situation. "Blackmail" might not be precisely the right word, but you could perhaps argue it's some kind of fraud? It's certainly a failure of their entire platform.

[jacobolus]

If they have a referendum, that gives renewed democratic legitimacy to whichever side wins. Considering how much is at stake, that seems entirely reasonable to me. Democracy is something Europe in general could use a whole lot more of these days.

Right now, Greece is stuck between a rock and a hard place: agreeing to the Troika’s demands for continued austerity and see another 5 years of economic depression with no end in sight in a way that sells out their campaign promises, vs. leave the Eurozone and see possibly immediate even more dramatic economic collapse but with a potential way out of the mess through a currency under Greek control more appropriate exchange rates.

[crdoconnor]

AFAIK they made no promises to stay in the Eurozone. They just said that they would try.

Given the way that the negotiations are going, they were essentially faced with a choice of slashing pensions and wages to the bone (wouldn't have helped with paying the debt back, incidentally) or... plan B.

[ak1394]

What your perception of Varoufakis is? He seems reasonable in his assumption that more austerity will not work, and Greece needs a new approach to solve its economical woes?