On May 27 of this year, an article came out in the German Bild, which at the time, got little or no coverage by the rest of the media even though it made a shocking statement that, if true, would have had an epic impact on the political, military and economic future of Europe, in addition to the relations between NATO’s members, possibly rewriting the geopolitics of the entire Mediterranean region. What kind of information did the Bild’s article contain that was so stunning? It referenced an alleged CIA report which stated that a military coup in Greece was possible due to the increase in social unrest which was caused by the economic crises and the hardship imposed by the austerity measures. Two days later, on May 29, 2011, the Turkish news daily “Hurrijet” paraphrased the “Bild” and added that “Greece is under immense pressure owing to public debt that has swollen to 340 billion euros. The EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank are all pressing Greece to step up a privatization program and get all political parties to approve more austerity and reform measures which have sparked violent protests, but emergency talks called by the president on Friday failed to make any headway.” Moreover, according to the Bild, the CIA report stated that “the Greek government could lose control and a military coup would be more likely.”
The Papandreou government took the threat very seriously and decided to sack the military heads. At first the Bild piece was lost in translation. It took a few hours for the CIA report to filter down to the Greek government. The next day when Papandreou was informed of the Bild article, he was surprised by the report and activated the intelligence community to sort out the truth behind the Bild statement. An exchange of phone calls took place between Greece and the USA. It was soon discovered that the Bild report was absolutely baseless and no CIA report ever mentioned the possibility of a military coup in Greece. However just to be on the safe side, the decision was made to replace all the military heads, you can call it a precautionary measure, if you wish. It’s not unusual for the Greek government to replace the military brass on a regular basis. This is done every time there is a change in government, in the name of political party affiliations. The replaced brass was put in place by the conservative government that preceded Papandreou in 2009. It’s a reshuffle that is done by outgoing governments at the end of their legislatures. The rationale behind the replacement of the military brass is to appoint some of their own to the top positions before heading out the door. These rumors of a CIA report only accelerated the changes. Papandreou is particularly sensitive of any mention of a military takeover. Papandreou’s grandfather, a former prime minister, died under military house arrest. The people who put out this baseless claim about a military coup knew Papandreou’s sensitivity regarding this subject. So, the question to be asked, is why were such rumors spread in the first place?
To clear the air of any misunderstandings, there is no trace of a CIA report claiming the possibility of a military coup in Greece. After the decision was made to replace the military brass, the change was put on hold due to the rising tensions in early August between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus’ decision to start exploratory drilling for natural gas and crude oil in the Block 21 area located in the Cypriote territorial waters. So it looks like the Turkish media was eager to create a diversion about a possible military coup in Greece because of the rising tensions between the two nations.
Creating distrust between politicians and military brass often results in confusion and lack of geopolitical uniformity. So if we understand Turkey’s reason for instigating and sustaining the theory of a military coup, which was initiated by the Bild, what was the German interest in starting such a rumor from the beginning? Perhaps it was to pressure Papandreou’s government to implement the changes imposed by the Eurocrats and the IMF by using the threat of a military coup? It’s interesting to note that on the same day the Bild article was published, a Greek leaders meeting in Athens failed to reach an agreement on Papandreou’s new austerity plan. That day conservative leader, Antonis Samaras, rejected the plan stating that such a measure would destroy Greek society and the economy. The momentary setback caused Luxemburg ‘s Prime Minister, Jean –Claude Juncker, to claim that the IMF might stop paying Greece the agreed sum of bailout money, a blackmailing tactic that has been used before by financial and political oligarchs, particularly when things do not go as they planned.
After the German and Turkish report of a possible military coup, the news went almost away, only to resurface exactly four months later in a Forbes article entitled, “The Real Greek Solution: A Military Coup.” The author then changed it to: “The Appalling Greek Solution: A Military Coup.” The author, Tim Worstall, changed the title after receiving criticism, and then felt compelled to clarify that he wasn’t advocating a coup. Why would Forbes magazine bring the coup story back to life? Perhaps for the same reason the Germans did: To pressure Papandreou to make the necessary changes dictated by the banking and Eurocrat lobbies. The Forbes article served as a greater vehicle of exposure for this military coup joke. As a matter of fact, where the first Bild article did not generate enough interest, the second one by Forbes had many of the major European news outlets talking about the possibility of a Greek coup. Some internet blogs went as far as claiming that Obama and NATO were plotting a military takeover of Greece. Not a valid theory by any stretch of imagination. Why wouldn’t Obama, NATO, the Eurocrats and financial oligarchs maneuver to take Greece by military force? It’s because the political prostitutes of Greece, Italy, Spain and other countries might actually wake up, all of a sudden, and smell the stench that has submerged them. They might even find the courage to rebel against this financial slavery system and start to make more sound decisions based only on what is important to their respective countries. So a military coup would serve no use whatsoever for the cause of these financial leeches. Additionally, a military coup carries the danger of an uncontrollable situation. Historically, even some coups that have been maneuvered to serve the interests of higher entities have gone astray from their original purposes? Anyone remember Manuel Noriega?
1967 is a faint memory. The world has changed much since then. In 1967, a CIA Greek-sponsored military coup made, in their mind, sense because of the Greek’s vicinity to the Iron Curtain and the communist threat within Greece itself. That threat is long gone. There is no reason for the real powers to engage in a risky military coup.
After postponing the changes to the top military level, the decision was then taken on November 2nd, during an extraordinary meeting in Athens with the government Council on Foreign Affairs and Defense. This came one day after Papandreou’s announcement of the infamous referendum to ask the Greek people to finally express their opinions about the Euro by exercising a tool made available by the democratic process. Ironically, after the military heads were replaced, Papandreou got replaced as well. And replaced he was by the ex-vice president of the BCE, Lucas Papademus. It’s a demonstration of the little or no influence that military brass and politicians carry today in certain European countries such as Greece and Italy.
So, is a military coup even possible today, especially in places such as Greece or Italy? Not likely, in a time where military chiefs are replaced on the basis of party loyalty, as politicians trade favor in a system of political patronage; many of these military figures, having worked within the NATO system, have on certain occasions shown more allegiance to NATO than to their own countries which, along with foreign military bases, leave these nations in a perpetual state of subjugation and influence to outside forces. Not to mention the pervasive political correctness ideology, that has convinced people that a democratic system is more conducive to “freedom” and “prosperity,” no matter how rotten this democracy has become.
In the meantime, while Forbes and Bild magazines are busy construing a fantasy military coup, a real one took place in Greece and Italy: A coup conducted in the name of democracy by the financial and Eurocrat entities that forced the replacement of the leaders of Greece and Italy with their own disciples, Mario Monti and Lucas Papademus. In the end we see the real reason for starting rumors of a military coup, to distract us from the real ones, a clever way to continually sodomize the sovereignty of nation states and their citizens.