News from the American think tank Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) this week reads like a positive, but Greeks should beware. Citing opportunities to come from the COVID-19 situation, my American countrymen are poised to get their hands on what’s left of Greece’s heritage and the people’s legacy.
The news film National Herald tells of “American investors are seen eager to jump into Greece again after a lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of the virus is lifted.” Which, I suppose, is supposed to sound like a life preserver thrown into the Aegean Sea to save deconstructed Greek business. BCIU, with cheerleading from U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt and Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Fragogiannis, paints New Democracy and the powers that be a bit too positively.
Mr. Fragogiannis told the audience of major American companies and investors (coronavirus vultures in my book) that the New Democracy government which been courting them was handling COVID-19 well. And though I was not there, I can see the hands wringing as pirates anticipate scarfing up energy, property, tourism, and financial services contracts that will profit everyone BUT the Greek people.
As was the case after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the Athens leadership has the same narrative that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will save Greece. The rhetoric that with crisis comes opportunity is welded into a marketing mantra that includes digital economy, renewable energy sources, and services. But, the privatization are where the real focus will be for carving up Greece into profit chunks for outsiders. Ambassador Pyatt, the man made famous by the “Fuck the EU” leak when Ukraine went under, tweeted:
“Excellent US-Greece trade and commercial cooperation and the many opportunities for growing two-way investment in key sectors. As Greece emerges from the immediate COVID-19 crisis, economic ties are at the forefront of our agenda.”
Privatizing Greece’s most profitable public holdings, selling more arms to a country already spending more per capita than any NATO nation, and getting coronavirus vultures’ paws on national treasures of European heritage, this is what the game is about. And Greeks should be wary of what is to come in my view.
These U.S. investors are eyeballing the same treasure trove companies like Fraport snapped up in the past. Pyatt is on record supporting the Greeks selling off ports and other assets to American money men. The career diplomat even brought up the highly controversial Eldorado Gold potential in a recent report. According to some experts, mining gold in Skouries and Olympiad will end up in an environmental catastrophe Greece does not need. Pyatt and his handlers put out the “diversification” propaganda so needy Greeks will jump at such the coronavirus vultures’ opportunities, but anybody knows there would be no talk if there were not a huge win for investors taking advantage of Greece.
To better understand what is going on here, you must look underneath the names and organizations in the news to find the profit strategies that lie beneath every government, non-profit, or humanitarian effort. Underneath BCIU, for instance, you find Boeing, Exxon Mobile, Chevron, and basically nothing but huge corporations in need of growth prospects. Dig deep enough and you find Clinton, Obama, Biden political advisor Nelson Cunningham, and under him Greece’s old friend Dr. Henry Kesssinger, who approved the Turkish invasion of Cyprus back in the time of the Colonels.
As I said, my Greek brothers need to eye with extreme scrutiny and deals that come out of this pandemic circus. Washington lobbyists, vulture elite business wheelers and dealers, and anyone who can profit from the Greek people losing out, that’s who you can expect to turn up first once the dust of the coronavirus pandemic settles. Just be vigilant Greece.