WASHINGTON POST: … Alexis Tsipras comes from a grand tradition in Greece’s boisterous democracy, a strident left-winger who cut his teeth in student politics and, like his predecessors in the 1970s who helped overthrow a military junta, is rattling the establishment. His student movement was called “The Earthquake,” and that’s what many worry will be felt if he becomes prime minister in a Sunday election that could determine whether Greece remains in the euro zone – or one of Europe’s central projects begins to unravel.
Tsipras has pledged to discard the austerity program the Greek government agreed to in return for international loans. Syriza party leaders say he will effectively nationalize the country’s banks. He insists that the leverage is on Greece’s side — that in the end the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde will cave and give the recession-plagued country more time and more money rather than risk a euro exit…
With Tsipras, the essential puzzle is whether to fully trust a man whose gravity-defying platform would have Greece tear up the IMF’s advice, put government officials in charge of bank lending, quickly collect the taxes no one else has been able to collect and all the while remain within the euro and restore the faith of global investors… (more)
EDITOR: Even Germany and France understand that their austerity proposals were mis-advised and need to be modified so that growth can occur.
