And the weak suffer what they must

At last I have the time to finish reading the well promised book of one of my favorite authors. Things though can get a little tense since politics is involved, but as a democratic person I welcome criticism, in fact I encourage it, as long as it’s not slander. Can I be objective? – Most certainly not. I have read all books by Yanis Varoufakis, including the academic ones. I have actually met him when I arrived here at Austin, a little bit before his return to Greece. Let me tell you this, no matter what all the media is claiming about arrogance and narcissism, I absolutely didn’t witness any of that. He was much kinder and compassionate than many of my own professors and he did’t even know me, apart from one or two emails that I sent. Is he however controversial? I would describe him more as unconventional. He certainly doesn’t follow the most standard route in explaining his subject,  that makes him in turn more unique than contentious to my eyes. Remember that I judge him as a writer not as a politician. His political life as a finance minister has ended excactly a year ago right after Greece’s referendum. Of course you can find more details about that era and beyond on his personal wordpress site. As final disclaimer, I don’t get anything in return to post this article if that serves any purpose or concern. This is my perspective and it has been that long before the majority of people really knew about his person.

For the book now, it is the some kind of sequel from the Global Minotaur. The previous one focuses on the American crisis and this one deals with the European case. Starting form the prologue, the red blanket, the story is captivating and reveals an emotional side in this endeavor . I was too eager to write about it that I didn’t even completed the book before sharing my thoughts. In short, the “plot” is about the three distinct events that played a dramatic role on the Europe’s history in which undoubtedly the US had a paramount contribution: the expulsion of dollar zone, the institution of EU’s monetary system and the 2008 economic collapse. We can agree or disagree whether his arguments are true or valid, one thing is nevertheless for sure: something is rotten is the state of Europe. Take the never ending recession of the South and Greece in particular, take the rise of far right and racism in the North and in Greece in particular,take the recent decision of the UK to quit the EU and not Greece in particular. The signs of disintegration are painfully present and the whole ideal of bringing societies together is crumbling. It is not merely disappointing but also detrimental for the whole world. I honestly hope that this book, or any for that matter, makes us realize that the crisis is not over and is crushing the weak first, as Thucydides pointed out more than 2000 years ago.

Α.Δ.