The Boiling Frog: Bankrupt Greece Buys Tanks

Friday 7 October 2011

Bankrupt Greece Buys Tanks

Via Ironies Too, it's being reported that soon-to-default Greece has bought US tanks, 400 of them, at a cost of €3.2m each. Given that Greece is not under threat of invasion, certainly not from the EU (you and whose army) what does it need tanks for? And where did it find €1.3bn from?

It seems a rather sinister move, given that Greece is getting ripe for a coup d'état. Dark days are ahead.

One thought, if Greece falls to a military dictatorship, will the EU kick it out because it fails the 'democracy test'?

Update, Richard North has in the comments kindly added important information:

The report is based on a miss-translation - the original refers to an upgrade of the existing fleet, purchased by the Greeks in a deal negotiated in 2001.

No prices were mentioned in the original report - just letters of intent. The work has not been done, with the options of basic refurbishment and capability enhancement.

This version of the Abrams, with a fuel-hungry gas turbine, would in any event hardly be suitable for civil disorder/coups ... they would run out of fuel mid-morning, just idling in Independence Square.

5 comments:

Edward Spalton7 October 2011 at 11:12
You have to watch those Turkish chaps though!

Turkey is following an increasingly "forward" diplomatic policy in the Balkans where aims to be regarded as the "motherland" of all Balkan Muslims. There is a thriving Turkish Muslim population in Greek Thrace (as opposed to the Orthodox Greek Community in
the Istanbul area which has been ethnically cleansed to near vanishing point)
Of course, if the EU bungs the Greek general staff enough euros, the tanks may come in handy for keeping and/or restoring order.
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Richard7 October 2011 at 11:51
The report is based on a miss-translation - the original refers to an upgrade of the existing fleet, purchased by the Greeks in a deal negotiated in 2001.

No prices were mentioned in the original report - just letters of intent. The work has not been done, with the options of basic refurbishment and capability enhancement.

This version of the Abrams, with a fuel-hungry gas turbine, would in any event hardly be suitable for civil disorder/coups ... they would run out of fuel mid-morning, just idling in Independence Square.
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Anonymous7 October 2011 at 11:58
I've been saying to my friends the only way the EU can keep Greece on the 'correct' moneytory policy is if they roll out Greek tanks onto the Greek streets. Looks like th EU agrees with me.
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TheBoilingFrog7 October 2011 at 12:09
@Edward Spalton, true about the Turks though Greece is hardly in a situation to repel them with or without 400 tanks

Thanks Richard, have amended my post
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wonkotsane8 October 2011 at 19:48
I read about it on a Dutch news website, they said that Greece was buying 400 tanks at €3.2m each.
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The British Government Knew The Consequences In 1971

Foreign and Commonwealth Office 30/1048 - 1971

...the transfer of major executive responsibilities to the bureaucratic Commission in Brussels will exacerbate popular feeling of alienation from government. To counter this feeling, strengthened local and regional democratic processes within the member states and effective Community regional economic and social policies will be essential.

Parliamentary sovereignty will be affected as we have seen. But the need for Parliament to play an increasing (if perhaps more specialised) role may develop. Firstly, although a European Parliament might in the longest term become an effective, directly elected democratic check upon the bureaucracy, this will not be for a long time, and certainly not in the decade to come. In the interval, to minimise the loss of democratic control it will be important that the British Parliamentarians should play an effective role both through the British membership in the European Parliament and through the processes of the British Parliament itself.

Test

Friday 7 October 2011

Bankrupt Greece Buys Tanks

5 comments:

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