He has a strong speech and holds sway over literature. He also expresses economic issues very well.

Thats the eternal war of reason against interest . People like Varoufakis should have been kept like a rare human resource in European politics ...Instead the lobbies tosh him out. Of curse you can not escape truth ...You can only postpone it.

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

They didn't toss him out he left.

@mcbrave15

8 жыл бұрын

A beautifull paradox: "They" did toss him out and, at the same time, "He" did left.

The corporate media wins again in its self-serving portrayal of reality...Or did they? It does take time....but self-serving construals of the dominant media aside -- naturally expressed in both the language of right and left -- reality does have a way of biting back. Thank you Yanis for assisting the exposure process for anyone who still has eyes to see and working ears to hear...

It is clear that the EU is not interested in getting Greece to pay the debt (why would they disband the tax-avoidance investigation unit?), but to keep Greece and other countries into a kind of debt bondage such that its policies are dictated by a non-elected commission in Brussels.

This man is brilliant

I'll never forget that Day. Honest Man. ✊

i'm impressed the CFR would even have this guy on. Pretty much the belly of the beast, they are.

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

That's not what should surprise you. Yanis believes in a federalized EU and the CFR also believes in a United States of Europe. The CFR are as infected with neoliberalism as other institutions so what fascinates me is the that Yanis actually believes this institution would see reason. Yanis is ever hopeful, ever optimistic which is why he thought the TROIKA would see reason, why he believes the EU can be democratized, which gets into why he believes no one should leave the EU. What should surprise you is why Yanis believes the CFR would take what he says and use it for good. In many respects he's naively optimistic, a dreamer.

@meisam14

8 жыл бұрын

+joanofarc33 I concur. He has the right intentions and solutions, but he doesn't recognise the hidden conspiracy.

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

Polymath I realized that recently when he was interviewed by Max Keiser in London. Max does see the conspiracy and every time he approached that Yanis would dismiss it and say "No, I don't think there is an underlying agenda". That's when I realized he doesn't recognize that the destruction of Greece is by design and not an unfortunate accident because the EU doesn't have mechanisms to deal with it. If the goal were any different the EU would create workable mechanisms to deal with it and implement a different program. Yanis is an idealist who believes he is dealing with honest brokers, honest negotiators. He thinks they don't want to admit there is a flaw in the EU but I don't believe all of these technocrat elitist neolibrals are that innocent or naive.

@meisam14

8 жыл бұрын

+joanofarc33 We think very much alike. This is why I support a Grexit; I don't entirely understand why Yanis deems it impossible. He claims that once inside the EU it is "irreversible." Why?

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

I don't think he thinks it impossible, I think he worries about the economic devastation that would grip the country. For sure it would be a tumultuous time and would need a very very strong government with a leader as reliable as Churchill to get the people through. I think Varoufakis fears Greece turning to Golden Dawn under the stress. He claim its irreversible because any country, like the UK, who wants to continue trading with EU countries would have to still succumb to EU guidelines but I don't think this should be a deterrent. Doesn't Switzerland succumb to these guidelines while remaining sovereign? I have a suspicion, which means I don't have any real evidence for this, that he fears a large economically strong country like the EU would destabilize the EU and it would have negative impact on Greece which cannot afford any further negative impacts. And I also think he really really wants the EU to stay intact. He believes in the United States of Europe and shows a strange disdain for 'national interests' and the nation state. I still can't wrap my head around the latter.

Varoufakis is a brilliant person, & I wish he had far more influence than he does (though it’s been cool to see him get more attention in, at least alternative, media lately)… But it’s kind of tragic- I feel like he so badly wants to find actual “adults in the room-“ to find some ruling class, powerful, politically connected audiences (that he’ll go speak in a venue like the CFR, one of the centers of ruling class imperialist foreign policy planning of the last, what, half century?), hoping that someone who holds the real power to actually change the things his small government could not (as imposition on them by the Eurogroup, by the troika, by the private banks, etc., rendered any efforts or desired programs on his part mostly futile)… But I fear that in the CFR, he’s probably speaking to an audience full of people who are more interested in learning what his strategies for breaking out of debt prison, breaking out of hegemonic domination by Germany/Brussels & by private finance capital, & trying to move towards actual democracy & an economic program that would actually benefit the working class majority of Greece & anywhere else it would be applied… Not because they might sympathize & implement his ideas, but precisely so that the next time an entire country (like Greece or other victims of the IMF & World Bank & so on) tries to find a way out of being economically destroyed on the altar of short-term profit & cynical corporate/imperial power-seeking (whether by negotiation/diplomacy or any other means), their oppressors will be that much more efficient in crushing them. I’m not optimistic that a lot of them are going to go “Oh, you know, he’s actually making a lot of sense,” & then completely change their ideology & also start working towards higher goals, but ones that go against their perceived interests or the class interests of their ultra-wealthy capitalist/corporate benefactors… Let’s not forget, this is the same organization that gave us Zbignieu Brzezinski & his entire psychotic global imperialist project, not much different from that of the Project For the New American Century neocons of the Bush administration for that matter… People who are literally interested in unipolar world domination, whether they dress it up in liberal language about “spreading free markets” & their profoundly anti-democratic conception of “democracy,” or “humanitarian intervention” or whatever else. Btw, no blowback from having the CIA work with him to train bin Laden & the rest of the Mujahideen, & doing everything they could to destroy the Soviet Union only to create Putin’s plutocratic right-wing nationalist state btw. Their plans have all worked out greeeat. 😔 Definirelu not on the brink of world war/nuclear conflict because of NATO expansionism encircling in a tightening noose around Russia & the U.S. encircling China in the South China Sea (on the far side of the Pacific, whereas China has never sent their Navy off the coast of California)… Bankrupting us to maintain hundreds of military bases around the world… But yeah… I love Yanis- he’s taught me a tremendous amount- but I do think it may have been an error in judgement to “tell all” to these imperial planners who have helped lobby for the same kind of systematic crushing/co-opting of independent governments like his, & devastation of hundreds of millions of working class people, all over the world, over decades. They may wear suits & speak in academic language & seem very civil when they want something out of you, but these are exactly the kinds of institutions that make it possible for America to kill MILLIONS of civilians in a country just to forcibly open its markets to exploration by our multinational corporations, or to impose austerity or sanctions & cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children because it’ll be more profitable for corporations if they privatize people’s basic needs, or if our favored strongman rules in their interests… It’s perverse. Anybody who is still involved with these kinds of organizations after everything that has been done by them & the empire they are effectively lobbying/advising has had a LOT of time & opportunity to see the error of their ways & move to the side of the actual working class majority of the people, & they’ve doubled & tripled down, so I highly doubt that this is the first time they’ll have realized that the hyper-austerity policies they have historically imposed on countries whose governments & economies they want to crush/destabilize/bring to heel (“economic hitman” style) do indeed have catastrophic consequences for many millions of people. Whether it’s because their own self-interest & class interests outweigh that suffering in their minds, or because they’ve deluded themselves into believing that SOMEHOW, despite all evidence, they’re actually serving a greater good despite all of that (maybe just nationalist dogmatism- that as long as it’s better for OUR ruling class then it doesn’t matter how many millions of people elsewhere suffer for it)… Whatever the case may be, they’re still there, doing the same things.

I am still shaking my head over that shit

This feels more like a carnival freak show: it's like they had him on to observe him like an animal lmfao.

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

EXACTLY!

@meisam14

8 жыл бұрын

What gave you this odd impression?

THE GREAT EURO COLLAPSE HAS STARTED,,,,REST IN PEACE EUROPE,,,OPA,OPA

I have no idea lol I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself? I'm just like wtf?

27:50 Greece does NOT has borders with Macedonia, because Macedonia is a region of Greece.

Always thought that first meeting between Varoufakis and Laguarde was about making friends. She's smart, dressed in leather.

En Français svp !!!

Although I have the greatest respect for Prof. Varoufakis and his service to Greece, I most strenuously disagree with his desire for Greece to stay within the toxic EU and attempt to bring democracy to the Brussels Cartel. History has shown us that only with war does a regime change. Democratically voted governments can make fundamental changes for the benefit of the people voting for it. But, the Brussels Cartel and especially Germany, will never change their stance..why..?....BECAUSE THEY BENEFIT THE MOST FROM IT..BENEFIT MEANING PROFITING...Greece under the Tsipras Syriza government has been a catastrophic failure. I say this with a sense of guilt, as I voted for them the first time..but never again after Tsipras' betrayal of the referendum. My belief is that too many Greeks have died and sacrificed for our country to become free..too many are starving today for the privilege to stay in the EU Zone. The criminality of the Brussels Cartel is astonishing..95 % of the first bailout went back to the Cartel (Troika), 100% of the second and third will go back to the Cartel. These facts were first brought forth by the ESMT (European School of Management and Technology's President Jorg Rocholl)....www.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-study/a-19234391... For the next half century, Greeks will be servants in their own country-or at least they will think they still have a country. For the sake of my countrymen, I hope they wake up and understand that it is better to take three steps back, than to be on our knees to the Brussels Cartel and Germany. I hope the people of the U.K. are listening and watching...the only possible way to break up the Toxic EU Zone is to leave it..now...not to try and Democratize it within 20 years..what of a generation of Greeks that will be sacrificed..?..for what..?..the privilege of being "European"..?..I don't want a " Union"..I want my "Country"..with it's own money and power over it's governance. It was a massive mistake that brought Greece in the EU Zone. It will be the greatest benefit when we leave.

@jamesderoc6717

8 жыл бұрын

+Athan Paris he was threatened, if you leave the euro we will make you suffer for a very long time . .

@athanparis2507

8 жыл бұрын

Yes, I believe that, Varoufakis had the answers, and was well prepared. Tsipras on the other hand is a spineless coward, even while he was screaming for the people of Greece to vote "NO"..secretly he and his core group were hoping the people would vote "YES" in the referendum. For me this is the ultimate betrayal. History has shown the Greeks to be defiant people..in 1940 against the fascists, in 1821 against the Turks....sadly the current Greeks are no match for their ancestors...In the diaspora there are thousands like me that think we need to leave, we know the Brussels Cartel will make life miserable for us...but so what?...we've gone through much..much..worse. We will be a better "Country", and a better "People" if we leave.

@conscious_being

8 жыл бұрын

+Athan Paris "Varoufakis had the answers, and was well prepared. Tsipras on the other hand is a spineless coward," Aleksis was neither a traitor to the cause nor a coward. He has taken the longer route to what Yanis suggested. The 3rd MoU is dead because the IMF will NOT sign on it. The MoU is NOT legally valid without the IMF's signature. IMF will not sign without significant debt relief and the EZ nations cannot agree to debt relief, acceptable to the IMF, for Greece. When the MoU is pronounced dead, Greece can receive no more funds from the ESM and will be forced to default on the external debts when they come due. Once it defaults on its debts, it will again be in the same situation as it was on the 1st of July 2015 i.e. ECB liquidity to Greek banks cut off and banks having to shutdown, only this time on a relatively permanent basis. Except everyone can see it months in advance (before the announcement, Greece will receive enough ESM loans to meet debt repayments for a few months). Greece will be offered the Schäuble plan i.e. Greece debts to be written down should Greece choose to exit the EU (there is no way to exit the euro without exiting the EU) and readmitted into the EU in a few years' time. Aleksis will call fresh elections, request Yanis to lead the team to implement his plan, this time with no lenders to negotiate with, promising to keep Greece in the EU and keep the banks open and economy running even without access to ECB liquidity. I have no doubt Greeks will return Aleksis, Yanis and Syriza to power. Yanis gets the chance to implement his plan (not that part about restructuring Greek debt held by the ECB, which option probably doesn't exist any longer) without any external entities constraining him. He will pull Greece out of the depression and provide a model to follow for other trade-deficit EZ countries in trouble. All of this is a certainty because Aleksis has the blessings of Chancellor Merkel for it. Chancellor Merkel's insistence on IMF participation was to ensure the MoU won't go to its completion, force the EZ finance ministers to acknowledge they have no workable plan for Greece within EU and THEN let Yanis implement his plan. Wait for a few more months and Yanis will be back as Greece's finance minister.

@athanparis2507

8 жыл бұрын

Conscious Being ...Really far, far fetched.Let me repeat, Tsipras is the biggest spineless coward in our modern history. When I voted for him the first time, it was with a belief that he would not relive the nightmare of the right wing and the failure to stand firm to the Toxic TroiKa's Ponzi Scheme. When the referendum was called, Tsipras and Varoufakis were front and centre in voicing their wish for a "OXI" vote..NO to the Austerity, while the Predatory Capitalists in the Brussels Cartel and the right wing owned Media was screaming Armageddon and Grexit if we voted NO...The biggest mistake Syriza made was not putting Grexit on the table...a huge, huge error. As we now know, Tsipras had no intention of accepting the "OXI" vote, he and his close circle had already decided and were relatively sure the Greeks would vote "YES" to new austerity. The brilliant people of Greece on that night showed courage and bravery, realizing the propaganda from the media and the right wingers was all garbage-they historically voted "OXI"..I have never been prouder as a Greek from the province of Macedonia. Of the course the actions following that historic night will go down in Greek History as the worst action from a Greek Leader that led to our loss of Sovereignty...Tsipras never had a job in his life, and I would bet my last penny he regrets with all his heart his actions that night and the ensuing days..where he actually accepted MORE austerity. No one in the Economic community can explain the actions of Tsipras and how he accepted the poison pill for all Greeks. If I am to believe your assumption that all the time wasted by the IMF and the Brussels Cartel on a game of Russian Roulette-with the outcome being Greece will leave the EU Zone..what of the privatizations forced on Greece?, what of the rental of the Islands? what of those people that starved and are eating from dumpsters? what of the Syriza trash that is willing to give our culture and name and history to the Skopjans? (Varoufakis included-he recently described the border area as Macedonia and Greek borders-I lost a lot of respect for him right there). To say that all of this has been some cruel joke white washing toxic money on the Greeks for return of legitimate money is criminal-yet the world won't stop them, and neither will Varoufakis' grand dream of Democracy in Europe in 2025. The best that Greece can do now is to have elections get rid of Tsipras and Syriza, and GET OUT OF EU ZONE!!!...BRING BACK THE DRACHMA!!!..I want my country..not a freaking poison union!!

@conscious_being

8 жыл бұрын

Athan Paris I understand your frustration, but all is not lost yet. "Grexit" would never have been a threat. Dr. Schäuble explicitly told Yanis that he intends to push Greece out of the EU. How do you threaten someone with the exact outcome they want? "No one in the Economic community can explain the actions of Tsipras and how he accepted the poison pill for all Greeks." I can and did. He surrendered to ensure Greece cannot be blamed for not implementing the recommendations. No one in the Eurogroup believes their prescriptions will make things better for Greece or the creditors. But they have been trying to blame it on Greece and the election of Syriza gave them that excuse. Aleksis surrendered to remove that excuse off the table. Now they will be forced to admit they have no way of resolving the problems that Greece has. If the programme runs its course, Greece will be in a worse position than it is today and they will have no way to blame the Greek government for it. Another bailout after this MoU runs out is not possible (it won't be legally possible, even if they wanted to extend it further). Which means they have to admit THEY failed. They are not prepared to do that. So the current MOU will be torn apart by the creditors themselves when the IMF walks out. That way they can blame the IMF. " If I am to believe your assumption that all the time wasted by the IMF and the Brussels Cartel on a game of Russian Roulette-with the outcome being Greece will leave the EU Zone." The creditors wanted Greece to leave the EU and get the blame for it. Aleksis called their bluff by surrendering. Now they have to blame internal disagreements between the EZ creditors and IMF. There is no way in the world Aleksis will accept an "offer" to leave the EU. The choice will be still up to he Greek voters, since there will be elections soon after the "offer". No one other than Yanis has any credibility to claim that they can keep Greece in the EU/EZ, default on debts (which is guaranteed once no more bailout money is coming) which will cause the ECB to shut off liquidity to Greek banks (the ECB has no choice if Greece defaults) AND still have a functioning economy. I am betting Greeks will go with Yanis. If you don't trust he can do that, you are free to vote against Aleksis/Yanis/Syriza in the next election that will be called in a few months' time. I have a strong suspicion you will be in an extremely small minority. As for the Republic of Macedonia, Greeks who think they can deny other countries their names are living in some fantasy land. You don't get to decide what others call themselves, the others do. Those who come out of such fantasies stop looking stupid to the rest of the world.

Maybe they should ask the people of Glasgow if they want them first.

A great (and entertaining professor), but an awkward politician. He does not understand that in politics, it's not about what's right or what's true, the sort of things that you can never get due to conflicts of interests, but rather, about what you can trade for, that has the best chance to LOOK like right or true at the moment. That's the only way to get anything going in politics. Idealists need not apply.

@conscious_being

8 жыл бұрын

+Comments Yanis proposed a scheme that would benefit EVERYONE in appearance AND in reality. If the others and those who side with them are too stupid to know what is good for them, not much Yanis can do about it.

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

I agree with your assessment of him. He always believes the one he's reasoning with is acting on good faith.

@Eusantdac

8 жыл бұрын

You are right that politics is not about right and wrong but that is precisely the reason we are where we are in the world: bailing-out banksters, corrupt politicians, crumbling economies, wealth gap growing exponentially. So, maybe it's time we change how things are done: get rid of corruption and greed - introduce complete transparency, democracy and accountability (with severe punishments for going corruption and the like).

@joanofarc33

8 жыл бұрын

How do you get rid of greed? Corruption you can control more or less and even then you cannot rid any society or government of this practice but greed? The rest of the agenda is all fine and good but it doesn't address how we get there. The problem with bringing such an agenda within the EU is there are no democratic levers by which you can get that from the system. The system ignores votes, it ignores public will (just look at Greece). So what's the leverage? The only leverage is the threat of dissolving the EU but Varoufakis is against such a solution. We all have to realize that protesting in the streets is no longer enough to threaten a neoliberal system, they simply allow it and ignore it. Varoufakis once said that someone from the TROIKA once told him, before he resigned, that he could serve the system or he could leave the system but he couldn't change the system, so he left. Its difficult enough to get democratic change from within a nation state, never mind something as remote as the 'EU'

@Eusantdac

8 жыл бұрын

"How do You get rid of greed" is indeed not an easy question to answer, nor is it entirely possible to fully eliminate greed. Yet, we can put limits on it: taxation is one way, limit on politician's terms is another so, we do not end-up with career politicians and incentivize the idea of regular people to join-in the political arena. We can also decrease the amount of money politicians make and take-out money from politics: that way greedy people will not find it the idea of joining politics entertaining. After all, politicians should be "public servants" and not flamboyant aristocrats. In my opinion, Mr. Varoufakis is just raising awareness of how corrupt and detrimental the structure of the EU is right now. You mentioned that protests do nothing - how about general strikes? Shutting down countries, not a country but countries. We can mobilize much better now than decades ago - people are more informed and also disgruntled enough to get-out on the street. We need unity though. I wish everyone the best of luck! "Together United We'll Never Be Defeated!"