Athens asks Germany for 279bn euros for Nazi occupation

bbc.com

21 points·happyscrappy··4 comments

Whow- I hope they won't get through with that. If they are going to get through with that- where does it end? It will set an example for all the other struggling economies in the EU to extort money out of what appears to be the only performing economy in the EU at the moment.

It isn't that foolish as it may seems: the Greek National Bank was forced to make a loan to Germany, but they never got their money back. In the '60s Germany payed some marks as a compensation for the victims, but the bigger monetary issue was still to settle.

Also, I find somewhat loathsome the situation that:

* German industries corrupted Greek high-ranking officials, in order to have juicy (and not so useful for the Greeks) contracts

* Germany takes money on the market at low interest rates and loans it to Greece at much higher interest rates

The picture is bigger, but these details really do bother me.

Edit

About the link request:

Here is an article (FR) about corruption in Greece and German corporations. http://www.okeanews.fr/20150208-contrats-de-defense-nouveau-...

Here is a Tsipras address to the Parliament (FR), in which he details the facts (forced loan, 1953 treaty, 1960 treaty, 1990 treaty): http://www.okeanews.fr/20150312-discours-de-tsipras-sur-les-...

About the interest rates, you just have to look at the spread between German bonds and Greek bonds on the market: the difference is Germany's gain (if the loans is payed back, of course).

Ah, I didn't know all that. Do you have some links regarding this? Very interesting.

Hey Iran, you hear that? If you're short on cash, sue Greece for that whole Alexander thing.

I find it very hard to find sympathy for Greece at the moment. This is literally the fable of the grasshopper and the ant.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com