There was something charmingly fatalistic about watching Greece’s various statist factions vie for control over the country — but before we get to that, a brief summary from Spyros Economides:
As had been widely predicted, the left-wing party Syriza has secured a victory in the Greek election. Having finished with just short of enough seats in parliament for a majority, leader Alexis Tsipras has agreed to form an anti-austerity coalition with the right-wing party Greek Independents.
Throughout the short campaign, it appeared the relative newcomer to Greek politics, led by the charismatic Tsipras, would win. Now it appears he has done so by a significant margin.
Speaking in the wake of the victory, Tsipras said the vote would end years of “destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism” and that his country could now leave behind the “humiliation” it has suffered.
Greece’s humiliations have just begun. It doesn’t matter who is in power, because the end game for Greece has always been the same: Exit from the euro, followed by default on the euro-denominated debt for which there will never be enough drachma to repay, followed by further chaos.
Or is there another end game I’m not seeing?
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