It looks like Cyprus has decided not to take my advice to drop out of the Bundesbank; sorry the Eurozone and follow the example of Iceland and go for broke. Only time will tell, I still think that they are only putting off the inevitable.
What a precedent! Germany is presiding over a heist of billions of pounds from private savers’ Cyprus Bank Accounts in order to save the Euro. If democratically elected governments are willing to impose outright confiscation of up to 40% of the balance of deposits in Cyprus, why not a similar hit tomorrow in Spain, Italy or plausibly Greece?
Months ago the Germans made it clear that they baulked at providing cash to Russian gangsters who have tried to take over Cyprus with a nod of approval from the Kremlin. But hundreds of thousands of decent citizens who also had money in the island’s banks are now collateral damage. If Germany saw Cyprus as a rackety semi-gangster society, why ever did they allow them to join the Eurozone? Perhaps it saw a profitable trading zone for its overpriced German goods.
Talking of gangsters, it appears that there is a strong possibility of Silvio Berlusconi being able to form a new coalition government even though through a string of court verdicts found him to be a major criminal with a repulsive record of sexual behaviour. How can the rest of Europe do business with such a country that wilfully chooses to be led by such a man? Oh of course – Birds of a Feather!
They have taken on the Russian Mafia! I wonder how they fancy taking on the real Mafia. They could make Frau Merkel an offer she couldn’t refuse. I know that if I had any cash in a bank in Italy, Greece, Spain or Portugal I would be removing it forthwith to a safer place. That would not be a bank anywhere within the Eurozone
