Would you dare believe that a Finance Minister who applies neo-liberal IMF policies would cite a phrase attributed to Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin?
Oh yes! In this surreal country called “Greece” everything is possible. Even that. Apparently because the ‘modern neo-liberals’ used to be ‘leftist’ or ‘communists’ when they were students and cannot easily forget the indoctrination courses they attended.
Therefore Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras described as “useful idiots” those who mistrust the Greek program and seek the country’s exit from the euro.
“Those who want the destruction of the country, those speculators who short bet on the euro failure are -to use a phrase of Lenin – are the useful idiots”
Speaking at the Parliament on Thursday, Stournaras demonstrated also a tremendous faith, stressing that faith can bring the fiscal adjustment program to success.
“I believe deep in my heart that the bill will come true. You must have hope! The bill will come true as long as we believe this. We have made tremendous efforts to balance the economy.
The healthy powers of the world want us to be saved and that’s why there is this huge rescue program. Not with appalling conditions but with low interest rates and we make efforts to further alleviate the conditions.” (protothema, newsit)
Lenin’s useful idiots
In political jargon, useful idiot is a pejorative term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they do not understand, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause.
“The term has been used to refer to Soviet sympathizers in Western countries. The implication was that, although the people in question naïvely thought of themselves as an ally of the Soviet Union, they were actually held in contempt and were being cynically used. The use of the term in political discourse has since been extended to other propagandists, especially those who are seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause which they naïvely believe to be a force for good. (more here)
Questions to KTG readers:
Why don’t you believe in Greece’s success? Are you a neo-liberal communist? Are you a communist believing in God? Do you bet on the failure of my country? Why do you read my blog?
PS I hope Stournaras does not suffer from any side effects of some kind of medicine or so…
