How Greece Got Outmaneuvered
By John Cassidy at the New Yorker
Excerpt:
To the surprise of nobody except a few alarmists, the finance ministers of the European Union reached a deal with Greece on Friday, extending the country’s existing bailout until the early summer. Greece’s new left-wing Syriza government had been telling everyone for weeks that it wouldn’t agree to extend the bailout, and that it wanted a new loan agreement that freed its hands, which marks the deal as a capitulation by Syriza and a victory for Germany and the rest of the E.U. establishment.
[…]
In retrospect, it is clear that Tsipras and Varoufakis overplayed their hand. Their early bluster riled up the Germans and alienated other players that they needed to win over, such as the E.C.B. and the European Commission. Since Varoufakis is an academic game theorist, this is a bit surprising, but perhaps not entirely so. Having been swept into office practically out of nowhere, Syriza’s leaders were understandably giddy, and understandably eager to meet the demands of the popular protest movement that was responsible for their rise.
Full article: How Greece Got Outmaneuvered – The New Yorker.
Cartoon and articles shared by Josh Brown of the Reformed Broker: What Greece Won
- Scoreboard: Here's What Each Side Got in the Greece Negotiations (Bloomberg)
- Greece saved from disaster – for two days (BBC)
- How Greece Got Outmaneuvered (New Yorker)
