Many analysts and European political leaders are just now digesting the ramifications of Thursday’s move by Switzerland to de-peg their currency from the Euro, and what it means going forward for the rest of Europe that has now seen one central bank refusing to go lock-step with the ECB in their desire for a program of Quantitative Easing.
But while nations like Germany, Britain, and France take a long hard look at being forced to endure an environment of massive money printing, over in Russia they are seeing this turmoil as a chance to use this financial crisis to put a crack in the EU coalition as on Jan. 16 the Eurasian power offered the beleaguered nation of Greece a way out of their own financial straits if they voluntarily leave the EU and sign on with the new Eurasian Economic Union.
Greece, along with several other European countries known in the financial world as the PIIGS (Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, Greece, and Spain), have been at the heart of the financial problems that have plagued the European Union since the credit crisis of 2008. And even after a number of bailouts by the ECB and IMF over the past five years, Greece still remains in trouble with a debt to GDP ratio of around 200%.
Russia may lift its ban on food imports from Greece in the event it quits the European Union, Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov told a news conference in Berlin on Friday.
Fyodorov is leading an official Russian delegation to the International Green Week public exhibition for the food, agriculture, and gardening industry.
“If Greece has to leave the European Union, we will build our own relations with it, the food ban will not be applicable to it,” he said.
He said that European Union countries, which felt discomfort from the slump in proceeds from exports of foods to Russia, were asking Russia to cushion the impacts of the Russian food import ban by expanding other types of imports. “We are looking at such possibility,” he said, adding that these countries offer new formats of cooperation in those areas that are not covered by the Russian food sanctions. – Itar-Tass
Interestingly enough, what makes this offer incredibly enticing for Greece is due to a closed meeting that took place on Friday between the head of the European Central Bank and leaders in Germany where discussion on a quantitative easing and bond buying program by the ECB would not include bonds or toxic assets from Greece. This of course would leave the Southern European nation unchanged, and with financial problems that are now leading citizens to engage in numerous bank runs over the past several days.
Economic sanctions by the U.S. against Russia have created a huge amount of collateral damage in Europe, with layoffs and shutdowns occurring in industries like agriculture. Additionally, Germany’s powerful business union has put immense pressure upon Chancellor Angela Merkel to deal with the ongoing sanctions since between 3000 and 5000 German businesses have been strongly affected by Russia’s retaliatory actions directed at European imports.
As the Swiss central bank proved on Thursday, nations are quickly dissolving to the point where it is every country for itself, with this crack in what was once a solid unity providing opportunities for a country like Russia to add fuel to the fire and potentially accelerate the breakup of the EU coalition. And if Greece on the off chance finds this offer by Russia amenable, then a full breakup of the EU is now in play, and could also lead to detrimental effects against America as the breakup of NATO and the dollar too become real and viable options.
source:examiner.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 