Michael Ignatiu
olympia
Well known journalist Micheal Ignatiu caused a stir on Thursday when he published an article that was featured in "Epikaira" sending George Papandreou straight to the Special Court for planning and scheming to deliver Greece to the IMF.
Ignatiu says that the recent "war" of statements, that were made between former Prime Minister George Papandreou and his former minister Andreas Loverdos reveal the hidden agenda behind PASOK's victory in October 2009. According to him, it was this agenda that led Greece to the IMF and later to adopt the harsh austerity measures that eventually brought on economic misery to our whole nation.
Ignatiu says that the complaints by Loverdos, which he notes are shared by many people who knew what Papandreou's secret agenda was, only confirm what some already knew who were fortunate enough to be in Washington at the time preceding Greece's application to the IMF.
The information that states that Papandreou prepared the groundwork to deliver Greece to the IMF is all true, according to Ignatiu.
He also says that Papandreou, as well as his close circle of associates realized a tad too late -or around March 2010 - that because of Greece's participation in the Eurozone, the issue of the IMF was almost prohibitive.
"Therefore, those who speak, and/or argue that the Europeans, especially the Germans, were the ones who forced Papandreou to seek help from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, are simply throwing dust in the eyes of unsuspecting citizens (who obviously do not know a thing about secret diplomacy like Papandreou does)." By doing this, adds Ignatiu, all these voices are simply "raping" the truth.
Besides, adds Ignatiu, Papandreou made no secret that he wanted to deliberately lead the country to the Fund. In one of his statements to Loverdos Papandreou said: "In a period when our policies are being vindicated from PASOK's political opponents, Andreas Loverdos now remembered to renounce our struggle. A struggle in which he too participated as a minister with all his forces." The "struggle, clarifies Igantiu, is the orderly and patterned road to the IMF.
Ignatiu believes that one of the reasons Papandreou is lashing out at one of his former ministers is so that he can incriminate the members of his then Cabinet, and to a larger extent all the members of PASOK as well. Unfortunately, he adds, not many in PASOK have stamina to stand up to Papandreou since he was elected to lead Greece with 44 percent.
The difference is, people voted him into power to apparently change everything, but Papandreou rather chose to change everything through foreign mechanisms and through foreign lenders because he couldn't soak up the political cost and make the changes demanded by the Europeans in the Greek public sector! Some readers may not be aware of this, but immediately after the elections in October 2009, the EU and the IMF warned the Greek government to adopt austerity measures immediately because the Greek economy had just begun experiencing an "unstoppable downward spiral."
This too was confirmed by Ignatiu in his report.
The Washington based reporter, who was the only voice Greece had at the IMF, and who used to be a leading correspondent on MEGA channel on IMF and US affairs, says that Papandreou's claims that say he delivered Greece to the IMF in order to save the country are provocative and nothing more than a lie. The truth, according to him, is that Papandreou dragged Greece "barefoot on a bed of thorns," to the IMF because he lost eight months in trying to seek ways and means to "tie" Greece to the mechanism even more.
Ignatiu insists that if Papandreou had taken measures right after he was elected in office, Greece would not be in the position it is in today because those measures would have been more tolerable, (and probably even more humane).
In his statement Ignatiu also slams Papandreou for saying that he, along with PASOK, was fighting hard not to end up signing on with the IMF, and that the decision to result to the IMF was the best choice for Greece and the "patriotic option under the then prevailing circumstances." This too, according to Ignatiu is a downright LIE. And the Washington based reporter explains: The option that Papandreou speaks of was his original decision to deliver Greece to the IMF, the approach, on the other, was conducted in such a way so that Greece did not have many other choices ...
Unlike other times, Ignatiu's article did not go mainstream, which is kind of odd, and has only been featured on the Greek blog sphere as well as most web-based news sites. Ignatiu's article does not come as a shock to us here at HellasFrappe because we knew from DAY ONE that this was Papandreou's agenda. Of course back then, when we spoke about this people said we were talking conspiracies, but as the weeks and months rolled by we were vindicated. We are nonetheless bothered -and downright frustrated- why people such as Papandreou are still free to wonder about. Over three thousand people have committed suicide because of Papandreou's doings, tens of thousands are sleeping on the streets, hundreds of thousands of children are going to school hungry and have to suffer from no heat, thousands of families are living without electricity and one third of the population lives under the poverty line and waits on soup kitchens for their next meals. Why is this man still free? Loverdos is no angel... but he should have said more! When you do the crime, you pay the time, and it is high time for Papandreou to begin feeling the repercussions of all his decisions and actions against our country.
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