Jun 302015
 
 June 30, 2015  Posted by at 9:01 pm Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,


Unknown Soldier group, Federal Army 1865

I have plenty to say on the topic of this essay. But the most important thing I think is that I know the EU is blowing up itself by trying to exert far too much influence on the very member nations that made its existence possible. Brussels is a blind city. To see it blowing itself to smithereens makes me very happy.

The flipside is that it will take a lot of pain, and probably even the very wars the EU was originally founded to prevent, to figuratively burn it to the ground. But that, if you’ll alow me, is for another day:

Loads of good words published today on EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and the Greeks, and the crop gets creamier, there’s fake Nobles winners and all joining in, but this is not a new issue, guys, and the lot of you are quite late to the game.

Moreover, y’all Krugmans and Stiglitzes fully missed something that happened while Juncker was ‘speaking’ yesterday: Jean-Claude changed the entire game in one brilliant move. The Greeks I was with, including in Syntagma Square, didn’t notice it either.

What changed is that after Juncker’s speech, the discussion is no longer about data or numbers or facts anymore (but who understands that?), because he never mentioned them.

It’s instead now about fear and fight and flight and various other base instincts, you name them. And that’s not a coincidence. The reason he, and the EU as a whole, resort to this ‘message’ (and no, these guys’ spin teams are not stupid) is to a substantial extent that it’s simply all they have left.

Whatever they had to present in the way of numbers, data etc. has already been rejected by the Greek government 100 times. Since their data have since the start been diametrically opposed to what Syriza stands for and was elected on, which they knew, that should be no surprise, and indeed never was for the Troika.

If you saw Juncker yesterday, and it doesn’t even matter whether he was inebriated or not (does he perhaps wake up drunk, like Yeltsin?), accusing Tsipras of lying -for which he offered no proof- while telling big fat obvious lies himself (“we never asked for pension cuts”) -for which ample proof to the contrary is available-, y’all should realize that a bit more scrutiny of the man is obviously warranted.

I’ve written this story a hundred different times before already: the EU is an organization led by people with, let’s define this subtly and carefully, sociopathic traits (Antisocial Personality Disorder), simply because the EU structure self-selects for such people. As do all other supra-national organizations, and quite a few national ones too, but let’s stick with Brussels for now.

That such people are selected is due in great part to the less than transparent democratic acts and procedures in Brussels. Which allow for ever larger numbers of the same ‘sort’ of people to accumulate. No coincidence there either.

Many of you will say that you can’t say that kind of thing, you can’t call Juncker a sociopath. But the fact is, I can. Who can not say it are Tsipras and Varoufakis, not in public. But I wouldn’t even want to guess at the number of times they’ve done so in private. And it’s high time we lift the veil on this. We are being governed by sociopaths, and that’s by no means just a European thing.

And besides, in general it’s not something that we should refrain from talking about. The reason we do is, I bet you, is because we don’t know how to recognize the traits and characteristics. But in fact, that’s not hard. Just plucked this off the interwebs in 2 seconds flat:


Profile of the Sociopath
• Glibness and Superficial Charm.
• Manipulative and Conning.
• Never recognize rights of others, see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. …
• Grandiose Sense of Self. …
• Pathological Lying. …
• Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt. …
• Shallow Emotions. …
• Incapacity for Love, Compassion
• Need for Stimulation.

Anyone want to tell me that does not describe Juncker? Still, the big problem with sociopaths -and do note how I subtly steer away from the term psychopath- is that you can not have an effective negotiation with them. Because once you’ve reached a conclusion -which’ll be hard fought and take forever-, they’ll just renege on it and come back with additional conditions. And then claim you are the one who did that.

Check Juncker. Check the 5 month history of Greece negotiations with the Troika. And note that that’s exactly what they accuse Syriza of. They claim Tsipras suffers from the very disorder they do. That too is typical. It’s a pattern, an MO, it’s how these minds function.

The main one for me is the lack on empathy, compassion. That got 1000s killed in Ukraine, and in the Mediterranean, and now in Greece. All deathly dramas Brussels could have prevented, and chose not to. In Brussels and Berlin, it’s more important that countries toe the line than that their citizens actually survive.

Europe has moved, at a very rapid clip, from a union of 28 different sovereign states, each with their own governments and political views and directions, to one where a top heavy bureaucratic structure, hand-puppeted on by a mere handful member states and systemic banks, dictate what each member state, both its politicians and its citizens, may do or not do. Or think. Electing a left wing government, for instance, equals asking for trouble.

There is no democracy left in Europe, people have no direct say anymore, there’s just a two-pronged dictatorship: there’s Merkel and Hollande, who in the Greek crisis have proven themselves to be mere tools to vested interests, and I’m being extremely kind now, and there’s Juncker and Tusk and Dieselflower, who are really just inconsequential sociopathic wankers that could at any moment be replaced by other hammers and screwdrivers.

In that light, it can only be a fitting irony that it was Juncker in his speech yesterday who said:

“Playing off one democracy against 18 others is not an attitude which is fitting for the great Greek nation.”.

He could have easily followed up with:

Because that’s what we in Brussels have a monopoly on.”

The EU is a club led by people with mental disorders, that panders to special interests. It’s not a union of sovereign nations that hold meetings on how to find common ground. That common ground is now supposedly a given, and no matter what any nation thinks about that matters one bit anymore. Unless it’s Germany or France, and even then. The EU has superseded the nations that formed it. And that can never have been the idea of the people of these nations. As I started writing a few hours earlier today:

It won’t be a surprise anymore that I am not a fan of the European Union. That is to say, I like the idea but not the execution of it, and certainly not the clowns who execute it. However, what happened yesterday is something that even I couldn’t foresee. The Troika volunteered to self-immolate, though the three-headed beast is undoubtedly too full of hubris to understand what it did. Good.

Still, I’m looking at this, thinking: really guys? You really think deliberately sparking chaos in an EU member state on the eve of a democratic referendum is something that will help your case in the long term? Have you thought this through at all? I’m guessing the overriding notion is that threatening and bullying as a model has worked for Brussels so far; but I’m also guessing that the approach has its limits.

Like with many things, there may well be a gaping hole between what can be considered legally justified and what morally justified. But be that as it may, you can’t rule over 28 different sovereign nations with no morals whatsoever. That’s coming back to bite you in the face.

For the ECB to freeze ELA for Greek banks is the biggest blunder it has ever made, and arguably the biggest one it is capable of making in its present mandate. For one thing, it’s a purely political move, and the ECB has no place in politics, or politics inside the ECB.

That the Eurogroup added to the insult a refusal to grant Greece a one-week extension so preparations for the referendum could be executed in peace, tells us loud and clear what it thinks about democracy: it’s a mere afterthought.

Bullying sovereign nations gets old, fast. What you guys are at the moment doing to Greece, you won’t be able to repeat against Italy or Spain. They’ll have you for breakfast.

The EU, which is made up of 28 democratic and sovereign nations, is being run like some absolute kingdom, ostensibly led by a 24/7 drunk. How long do you think that can last?

The very minimum the ECB should have done thi week is to issue an explicit guarantee for all Greek bank deposits up to and including the July 5th referendum. To make sure there would be no bank runs and line ups at ATMs leading up to the vote, which merely represents the purest form of democracy. That is hasn’t speaks volumes. And it can’t possibly have been a monetary deliberation; what happens now is far more costly for the bank, and for European taxpayers, than such a guarantee.

I love that the EU does this, and the Troika with it, because they ensure their own demise. What I don’t like is the people who will fall victim in the interim, starting with the ones here in Greece. If this is the best the EU can do on a human scale, it has no reason to exist. And everyone better get out while they can.

Europe can form a great union, peaceful and prosperous and happy. It has many many wise and smart people who can make that work. But those people are not in Brusssels, where the decisions are being taken. And there’s a reason for that.

Home Forums Europe’s Controlled Demolition

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  • #21983

    Unknown Soldier group, Federal Army 1865 I have plenty to say on the topic of this essay. But the most important thing I think is that I know the EU i
    [See the full post at: Europe’s Controlled Demolition]

    #21985
    zander.c
    Participant

    Bravo Ilargi, a wonderful piece of writing and observation.
    Add to that list the SNP in Scotland whose leader is busy blow-jobbing almost every sociopath you mentioned there, while European diktat has stranded Calmac Ferries and the SNP single eye in the forehead inbreeds are selling of every inch of the country to their ‘special interest’ (aka Development) buddies under the guise of ‘freeing’ Scotland – in reality – a one party state/corporate dictatorship with no boundaries….. the people here just don’t realise it yet, much like the people of Europe who blindly sing the praises of their “union”
    It’s laughable.

    Z.

    #21989
    Nicole Foss
    Moderator

    It really is about fear and fight/flight. It always is about either that or irrational exuberance, depending on which direction things are going. We only tend to notice at the extremes where the degree of emotional contagion is both larger and more widespread. The tug of war between collective emotional states, at all degrees of trend simultaneously, is the engine of history.

    #21991
    Hotrod
    Participant

    Wonderful to read your words again Nicole!

    The history of the world is the continual battle, both physical and financial, between the predator class and everybody else. Why that lesson has to continually be re-learned, over and over, generation upon generation, escapes me. It must be a human weakness among normal people.

    #21992
    Raleigh
    Participant

    I feel for the Greek people. When nothing else works, when they don’t get their way, threats are the last resort, and they do tend to work, especially when there is not much time to think (July 5th is coming up fast). Threats freeze you; you can’t see beyond them. As Maslow said, safety is of paramount importance.

    Tsipras had better get in front of the Greek people, on their TV’s, and spell out exactly what has happened, correct all lies, and tell the Greek people what the ramifications will be regarding a “yes” or “no” vote, and he had better give a stellar performance – because fear is a great motivating factor.

    I agree totally what you said re sociopaths. These are the very people who rise to the top, and they are dangerous people. Lies flow out of their mouths, and you are always behind the curve trying to correct them. You are always coming behind them, which makes sense because they set the agenda. They hatch the plans, lie, obfuscate, confuse and complicate issues, accuse you of not being a team player, and then threaten you when you don’t go along. They do not like light (the truth) as they live in a dark, sinister world where only they are allowed to win. You cannot win with these people unless you know exactly who you are dealing with and realize that they are out to pulverize you, would kill you if they could.

    Tsipras must give the speech of his life. He must spell out in clear terms what the troika have done, what will happen if Greece stays or goes. He must get out ahead of these psychopaths.

    #21993
    danielm
    Participant

    I tend to agree with the sociopath and fear and fight/flight and would like to add one more- projection. Hoping this doesn’t get too tedious, here is a very simple definition: seeing something positive (e.g., Obama is the best president ever) or negative (that person is evil, a liar,a terrorist) in an Other without true knowledge of the Other. There is usually a fair degree of affect/emotion towards that Other (think Juncker’s speech about the Greeks). The difficult aspect of a projection is that the projector believes deeply that he/she is right ironically because she/he is seeing the truth about something deep inside herself/himself but in the other person. Scary stuff. Individuals, groups and nations (e.g., Nazis) can project. To learn that one is projecting requires an ability to be introspective and feel shame, guilt etc., Sociopaths typically can only learn a bit about themselves so they will never see their own natures except in others. A very difficult problem. There is going to be a lot of suffering before they are brought down.

    #21994
    Raleigh
    Participant

    danielm – good post. You are correct that sociopaths do not see themselves, except on a very shallow level, not introspective or reflective people. But they do watch others and, surprisingly, know exactly what makes others tick. In most cases, they know you better than you know yourself.

    If they want something from you, if they want to win something, they will size you up. They are extremely good at seeing right through you. If you are a moral person, someone who tells the truth about events, they will hone in on this and set out to discredit you (something a truthful person would hate), create chaos, lie, try to confuse others about what really went on, try to change history, all in order to get you to back off. They’re not above lying, but they know you are. They hate it when their manipulation, scheming and lies are brought out into the open for all to see. This is when they can get very dangerous because now you are exposing them. Setting everything out on the table for all to see is what makes them retreat.

    I see them as possessing a lot more evil than you, Daniel, perhaps because I’ve had dealings with one. It’s one thing to project, but it’s another to lie (“we never asked for pension cuts”) and know you’re doing it, and then say it with a straight face. These guys have a plan, and they’re being thwarted, and out come the lies. You come up with solutions, and they say you haven’t come up with anything. No, they know exactly what they’re doing. They want what they want, and will do whatever it takes to get it.

    #21996
    seychelles
    Participant

    The people calling the shots for the ECB, IMF and EU are ideologic sociopaths with strong S/M overtones. They view themselves as evolving godheads. They regard the great mass of humanity as subhuman. Morality is viewed by them as weakness and truth is always “situational”. Any last-minute acommodative behavior would be a cynical ploy to buy time. Most likely they will try to engineer some sort of demoralizing socio-military event in an attempt to “shock”/ “terrorize”/”soften up” the Greek voters before the referendum.

    #21997
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    There was once a time when it was proudly proclaimed that people fleeing East Germany were “voting with their feet”; an idea which may become vogue again reference EU/EMU in its present incarnation. The original EU/EMU incarnation will never repeat, been there, done that, got the shreds of a t-shirt to show for the experience; will not fall for bait and switch again. Those who’s interests were against the original formation of the EU and its institutionalised control of economic factors have surreptitiously displaced those who held that heritage in trust. It is useless to rail against straw-men of sociopath or psychopath for that is merely the ability to avoid emotional hindrance to the decision making process, a quality that has, in general, led to the benefits the complexity of civilisation being enjoyed today. At one time an attempt to genetically breed such qualities was widespread in a class called aristocrats. But do whatever turns your pancakes.

    #22012
    polistra
    Participant

    I think you’re misdiagnosing the problem. Successful leaders need to be part psychopath because a successful nation needs to harm OTHER NATIONS sometimes.

    The problem with modern organizations is not that their leaders are psychopaths, it’s the feedback loop that gives the p-path his motivation.

    In an old-fashioned business, profit is the feedback. The p-path maximizes his power by maximizing the profit, which means he has to satisfy both customers and employees.

    In a modern business, share value is the feedback. The p-path maximizes his power by all sorts of manipulations, which means he doesn’t need customers or employees at all.

    In a functional nation, prosperity and security are the feedback flows. The p-path leader maximizes his power by doing whatever it takes to make his PEOPLE safe from internal and external threats, and to make them contented with his leadership.

    In a modern nation like USA, the people do not exist. The leader responds to a few plutocrats who hold blackmail power over him. He maximizes his power by satisfying these plutocrats.

    Finally, in an international monster like EU or IMF or FIFA, pure power for the leader himself is the only thing that counts. These monsters don’t have customers or employees or people, so prosperity and contentment are irrelevant. They only have a bureaucracy that seeks to maximize its own size and power. This obviously helps to select the most severe and abnormal psychopaths as leaders, but it’s only a matter of degree.

    #22022
    Nicole Foss
    Moderator

    Polistra, exactly. Things have scaled up to the point where people and other small scale factors are irrelevant to the large scale power game being played. Of course as things break down, they will become relevant again, probably in a ‘V For Vendetta’ sort of way, at least in some places.

    #22041
    carolsiriusb
    Participant

    This is such an important observation. There are upwards of 6% of the population that are born Essential Psychopathic. That’s a lot of people. Worse, though, is that this condition (the term anti-social personality disorder has morphed into psychopathy recently – very little difference in the traits of a sociopath and a psychopath) is the ONLY pathological condition where the essential psychopath can influence normal humans into thinking the way they do. The process is called ponerization (poneros is a Greek word for evil). http://www.ponerology.com has a lot of info on this. The seminal work on this is available online as a free .pdf https://www.quantumfuture.net/store/sanity_1.PdF – The Mask of Sanity, written in the early 1940’s.
    The process can be seen in the lead-up to WW II, in Germany especially. Now you can clearly see it in the U.S. The cheerleaders for pathological thinking coerce or persuade or con normal thinking humans into adopting their thinking patterns as required to do well in the society. The ponerized are not psychopathic by birth but will look like it from their actions/thinking.
    The bottom-line description of a psychopath is lack of CONSCIENCE. All the other behaviors devolve from that fact. Brain scans show a lack of connection between the amygdala and the frontal cortex. There is no cure and no treatment for these people. They are essentially human predators and they feed off of the negative emotions they stir up. It gives them pleasure to sense the power they have over others. The book Political Ponerology details the process http://www.ponerology.com – it was written by (underground) Polish psychiatrists during Stalins rule.
    A most recent text is Without Conscience by Robert Hare – the list Ilargi posted of traits is taken from this book and research.
    This IS what we are seeing… the rule of psychopaths – pathocracy. People need to wake up to this phenomena as a p-path cannot be reasoned with or appealed to in any normal way. They are incapable of ‘feeling your pain’ or applying common sense or empathy. They are not just in positions of power but are represented world-wide in your cohort of friends, neighbors and family members. They can feign interest in you but it is a MASK.

    #22051
    Raleigh
    Participant

    polistra and carol – great posts!

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