my god, europe with africa-like conditions...time to do something

While Russia offers Greece some hope, the EU-ECB-IMF Troika is demanding more blood from the Greek people. 


One only has to compare the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Greece's New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras in Moscow this week with the latest demands of the EU-ECB-IMF Troika.


Commenting on his meeting with Putin, Samaras is quoted in the {Athens News}, commenting, "My meeting with the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, took place in a very good climate and was exhaustive on all issues. He showed particular interest in and a willingness to assist our country. We also spoke of the problems in Greek-Russian relations and we examined ways to overcome them."


Topics of the talks included energy cooperation and Russian interest in Greek privatization, particularly in major infrastructure projects, such as ports, airports, and possibly railways. Putin placed particular emphasis on construction of the southern portion of the South Stream natural gas pipeline, whose construction is being accelerated and will start before the end of 2012.


It was also revealed that Gazprom's chief executive, Alexey Miller, expressed interest to Samaras in investing in Greece's Public Gas Corporation and its distribution operator, as well as the Public Power Corporation. 


Russia would be interested in building power stations in western Greece that could be fueled by the proposed South Stream gas pipeline. Samaras also met with other Russian leaders.


On the same day that Samaras was in Moscow, the Troika presented its new demands to Greek puppet Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. 


The demands included, among others, 150,000 layoffs in the public sector by 2015, across-the-board pay-structure cuts for civil servants, cuts in defense and health spending, and the closure of state bodies. 


The austerity measures include cuts to auxiliary pensions and the merging of these pension funds into one, an increase of 25% in the objective, or taxable, property values and EU2.2 billion in spending cuts this year. 


The Troika is demanding other actions, including two or three major privatizations in the second quarter of this year, the cancellation of any discounts or favorable payment terms for money owed to the state, and the reduction of social security contributions by 5%.


The Greek media have been presenting one horror story after another on the growing impoverishment of the Greek population. {Athens News} reported this week on a report by the Mayor of Athens Yiorgos Kaminis, the Archdiocese of Athens, and the Ministry of Health, presented to the Parliament on the dramatic increase in what is being called the "new homeless, who are middle class people, including entire families who have being thrown on to the streets. 


Most of the people looking for temporary housing at the 52 locations across the city were unable to pay their taxes! Others because of loss of jobs and income have been unable to pay the social security funds resulting in a total inability to access health care."


Even more criminal, Greeks are even giving up their children in desperation. The charity, SOS Children, which runs homes for abandoned and abused children, reports that it has received 700-800 requests from families asking for help since the beginning of 2011, according to its website. 


Prior to the financial crisis, the most common reason for families and local authorities referring children to their care was child abuse; in the past year, nearly 100% of new referrals resulted from a financial crisis in the family. The organizers expect the situation to become even more difficult over the coming months.


Andrew Cates, the chief executive of SOS Children U.K., said that while it is common in impoverished regions in Africa and other parts of the world for parents to abandon their children because of poverty, it is very unusual to see desperate families unable to continue caring for their children in parts of Europe, but now it is happening.