"Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad" goes a quote wrongly attributed to Euripides. It seems to describe the current state of affairs with regard to the unfolding Greek imbroglio. It is a Greek tragedy all right: we have the various Eurocrats—elected, unelected, and soon-to-be-unelected—stumbling about the stage spewing forth fanciful nonsense, and we have the choir of the Greek electorate loudly announcing to the world what fanciful nonsense this is by means of a referendum.

As most of you probably know, Greece is saddled with more debt than it can possibly hope to ever repay. Documents recently released by the International Monetary Fund conceded this point. A lot of this bad debt was incurred in order to pay back German and French banks for previous bad debt. The debt was bad to begin with, because it was made based on very faulty projections of Greece's potential for economic growth. The lenders behaved irresponsibly in offering the loans in the first place, and they deserve to lose their money.

However, Greece's creditors refuse to consider declaring all of this bad debt null and void—not because of anything having to do with Greece, which is small enough to be forgiven much of its bad debt without causing major damage, but because of Spain, Italy and others, which, if similarly forgiven, would blow up the finances of the entire European Union. Thus, it is rather obvious that Greece is being punished to keep other countries in line. Collective punishment of a country—in the form of extracting payments for onerous debt incurred under false pretenses—is bad enough; but collective punishment of one country to have it serve as a warning to others is beyond the pale.

One notable consequence of the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing confrontational stand-off between the West and Russia is the dramatic surge in military spending among several European countries.

However, this unprecedented militarisation of economies across Europe portends a disastrous Greek-style future of crippling debt for these same countries. Those most at risk from a future hangover of military overspend in the years ahead include the Baltic states, Poland and the Scandinavian countries.

This outcome may indeed explain why Washington and its closest NATO allies have embarked on what appears to be a reckless geopolitical confrontation with Russia. The tensions being stoked from the alleged Russian threat - mainly by Washington - are in turn leading to lucrative weapons sales for the Pentagon and its military-industrial complex.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently assured that the US-led military alliance "would not get dragged into an arms race with Russia". But that's exactly what appears to be underway, at least for the eastern European and Scandinavian members or partners of NATO.

Banks around the world are no longer the quaint little savings-and-loan depositories of yesterday. Today, most of them are owned or co-opted by giant mega-wealthy criminal conglomerates that charge customers for everything from cash deposits to ATM fees.

One Western country finally figured out that allowing these criminal enterprises to continue operating business as usual was hurting growth and destroying its economy, so its government decided to make some serious reforms.

Instead of bailing out the big criminal banking enterprises, Iceland instead chose to try, convict and jail criminal banksters. And as a result, the country has the fastest recovering economy in all of fiscally moribund Europe.

A Ukrainian politician proposed to ban the use of the words "Russia" and "Rus" in Ukraine to refer to the present territory of the Russian Federation.

Oh pardon, I meant that country in northern Eurasia that takes up over 17,075,400 square km (6,592,800 square miles) currently led by Vladimir Putin.

Oksana Korchinskaya, a member of the Verkhovna Rada from Ukraine's Radical Party, proposed a bill to ban the use of the words "Russia" and "Rus" in Ukraine, because, in her mind, these two words were originally used to refer to the territory of the present day Ukraine [the Kievan Rus].

Therefore, Ukraine must ban these words, since they are "the aggressive reminder to the citizens of Ukraine about a 'temporary' nature of the Ukrainian statehood," Korchinskaya argued. Politicians in Kiev think that the notorious words somehow infringe on the Ukrainian sovereignty.

Ahead of the payment of €462 million by Greece to the IMF on Thursday 9 April, figures released by the Jubilee Debt Campaign show that the IMF has made €2.5 billion of profit out of its loans to Greece since 2010. If Greece does repay the IMF in full this will rise to €4.3 billion by 2024.

The IMF has been charging an effective interest rate of 3.6% on its loans to Greece. This is far more than the interest rate the institution needs to meet all its costs, currently around 0.9%. If this was the actual interest rate Greece had been paying the IMF since 2010, it would have spent €2.5 billion less on payments.

Out of its lending to all countries in debt crisis between 2010 and 2014 the IMF has made a total profit of €8.4 billion, over a quarter of which is effectively from Greece. All of this money has been added to the Fund's reserves, which now total €19 billion. These reserves would be used to meet the costs from a country defaulting on repayments. Greece's total debt to the IMF is currently €24 billion.

Tim Jones, economist at the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said:

"The IMF's loans to Greece have not only bailed out banks which lent recklessly in the first place, they have actively taken even more money out of the country. This usurious interest adds to the unjust debt forced on the people of Greece."

via Jubilee Debt Campaign

With the current world bank system having been established a while ago, time has come for new financial institutions to be developed globally, South Africa's President Zuma told RT. BRICS and its New Development Bank is one of such alternatives, he said.

"We've had these old banks that have been established many years back. The world has moved, it has developed. For a number of years we've been calling for the transformation of financial institutions, globally," President Jacob Zuma said in an interview with RT's Sophie Shevarnadze.


"An important development of representativity" is crucial for the new kind of banks, Zuma added, saying that in such institutions you need to be part of them to be involved in decision-making process.

"We now have bank that is an alternative," Zuma said, referring to the New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral institution operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). He added that its existence should not be a problem for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank: "What I think should happen is that these banks must change the way they do things," the state leader said.

"One of the countries which is [a BRICS member] is world's second biggest economy. How could they say 'we don't want to trade' with such a country? I don't think that could happen," Zuma told RT, saying the new institution should be treated as an equal partner.

"Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then." ― Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly

Once upon a time, there was a nation of people who believed everything they were told by their government.

When terrorists attacked the country, and government officials claimed to have been caught by surprise, the people believed them. And when the government passed massive laws aimed at locking down the nation and opening the door to total government surveillance, the people believed it was done merely to keep them safe. The few who disagreed were labeled traitors.

When the government waged costly preemptive wars on foreign countries, insisting it was necessary to protect the nation, the citizens believed it. And when the government brought the weapons and tactics of war home to use against the populace, claiming it was just a way to recycle old equipment, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were labeled unpatriotic.

When the government spied on its own citizens, claiming they were looking for terrorists hiding among them, the people believed it. And when the government began tracking the citizenry's movements, monitoring their spending, snooping on their social media, and surveying their habits—supposedly in an effort to make their lives more efficient—the people believed that, too. The few who disagreed were labeled paranoid.

When the government let private companies take over the prison industry and agreed to keep the jails full, justifying it as a cost-saving measure, the people believed them. And when the government started arresting and jailing people for minor infractions, claiming the only way to keep communities safe was to be tough on crime, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were labeled soft on crime.

When the government hired crisis actors to take part in disaster drills, never alerting the public to which "disasters" were staged, the people genuinely believed they were under attack. And when the government insisted it needed greater powers to prevent such attacks from happening again, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were told to shut up or leave the country.

Finally, the government started carrying out covert military drills around the country, insisting they were necessary to train the troops for foreign combat, and most of the people believed them. The few who disagreed, warning that perhaps all was not what it seemed, were dismissed as conspiracy theorists and quacks.

By the time the government locked down the nation, using local police and the military to impose martial law, there was no one left in doubt of the government's true motives—total control and domination—but there was also no one left to fight back.

A putsch in Athens to save allied Greece from enemy Russia is in preparation by the US and Germany, with backing from the non-taxpayers of Greece - the Greek oligarchs, Anglo-Greek shipowners, and the Greek Church. At the highest and lowest level of Greek government, and from Thessaloniki to Milvorni, all Greeks understand what is happening. Yesterday they voted overwhelmingly to resist. According to a high political figure in Athens, a 40-year veteran, "what is actually happening is a slow process of regime change."

Until Sunday afternoon it was a close-run thing. The Yes and No votes were equally balanced, and the margin between them razor thin. At the start of the morning, Rupert Murdoch's London Times claimed "Greek security forces have drawn up a secret plan to deploy the army alongside special riot police to contain possible civil unrest after today's referendum on the country's future in Europe. Codenamed Nemesis, it makes provision for troops to patrol large cities if there is widespread and prolonged public disorder. Details of the plan emerged as polls showed the 'yes' and 'no' camps neck and neck." Greek officers don't speak to the Murdoch press; British and US government agents do.

"It was neck to neck until 3 pm," reports the political veteran in Athens, "then the young started voting. "

American health insurance companies are seeking to increase rates by 20 to 40% or more, while federal officials looking to calm outraged customers say they will work to scale back requests for such steep rate hikes.

Many companies are claiming that new customers who enrolled under the Affordable Care Act (AAC) - commonly referred to as "Obamacare" - turned out to be sicker than expected, leading to increased costs to insurers.

Now, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association - which provides insurance to over 100 million Americans - wants to increase its rates by an average of 23% in Illinois, 25% in North Carolina, 31% in Oklahoma, 36% in Tennessee and 54% in Minnesota, the New York Times reported.

In Oregon, insurance commissioner Laura N. Cali approved 2016 rate increases for Moda Health Plan (a 25% increase) and LifeWise (a 33% increase). Moda and LifeWise, which are the largest and second-largest plans in the state, respectively, combine to cover more than 220,000 people.

Jesse Ellis O'Brien, a health advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, told the Times:

"Rate increases will be bigger in 2016 than they have been for years and years and will have a profound effect on consumers here. Some may start wondering if insurance is affordable or if it's worth the money."

Some experts say there was an initial rush for services under Obamacare, and they expect rates to decline over the next few years.

"People are getting services they needed for a very long time," Marinan R. Williams, of the Scott & White Health Plan in Texas, told the Times. "There was a pent-up demand. Over the next three years, I hope, rates will start to stabilize."

ISIS has been increasing its presence in the Caucasus. On June 23, 2015 ISIS announced the creation of a new governorate, called Wilayat Qawqaz in Russia's North Caucasus, after several senior militants in the area pledged allegiance to ISIS. ISIS has been setting up conditions to establish this governorate in support of its regional expansion campaign since at least January 2015. A declaration of Wilayat Qawqaz followed the circulation of a Russian-language audio statement on Twitter on June 21, in which supporters of ISIS in the regions of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay pledged allegiance to ISIS's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. These areas represent four of the six subdivisions that constitute the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus terrorist network. Militants in these four most frequently conducted domestic attacks in support of the IEC's stated goals of establishing a Caucasus emirate under sharia law and waging global jihad. The two IEC subdivisions where supporters have not formally pledged to ISIS are Cherkessia and Nogay steppe.