Posted on 08/23/2012 8:49:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
THE PRIME MINISTER of Greece has made a surprise announcement to Le Monde newspaper: that his country is ready to put some of its uninhabited islands up for sale.
According to the French publication today, PM Antonis Samaris makes the admission in a lengthy interview – a synopsis of it can be viewed on Le Monde’s website. In the introduction, the reporter Alain Salles notes that Greece hopes to accelerate the privatisation (of some State assets) and is ready to give up uninhabited islands (underlined in red):
It’s part of Samaras’s plan to try and pull Greece back from the brink of total meltdown as it tried to meet the terms of its bailout agreement.
German MPs told Greece to sell the islands two years ago – this is what they said then:
What is most interesting about this revelation – apart from the speculation about what wealthy individual might be the new owner of a private Mediterranean island or two – is the fact that this idea was mooted to Greece two years ago… by the Germans.
In 2010, two German members of parliament told the German newspaper Bild that “The Greek state must sell stakes in companies and also assets such as, for example, unpopulated islands.”
At the time, George Papandreou was prime minister and in the midst of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about Greece’s dire economic situation. His deputy foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas told German TV station ARD TV at that time that they wouldn’t consider such a suggestion.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Great, so some country can buy them and turn it into a naval base?
Yes; the country who suggested those sales to begin with.
How many years will it be before the USA starts selling some Aleutian and Hawaiian islands to start paying for its massive welfare state?
Are they going to sell their half of Cyprus to Turkey?
Let them go to their Greek island and continue their lecture to the rest of us about how wonderful Socialism is. (sarc)
Right. Socialism is SO wonderful, that sovereign nations on the Socialist/Communist model cannot remain solvent much less sovereign!!!
BTW-Hey Alec... you'll need weapons of some kind because once your location is known, the OWS crowd you love so much will be trying to climb over the wall to claim THEIR share of YOUR stuff :)
Maybe they could do what US sports facilities do, and rent the name of their landmarks. The “Verizon Pathanon”, etc.
Ha...Obambi GAVE an Arctic island in the middle of big oil reserves to Russia earlier in the year.
......I guess early down payment on the second term "flexibility"
North Korea's interested...
Part of Obama’s apparent war against U.S. energy independence includes a foreign-aid program that directly threatens my state’s sovereign territory. Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin.
The seven endangered islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea include one the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The Russians are also to get the tens of thousands of square miles of oil-rich seabeds surrounding the islands. The Department of Interior estimates billions of barrels of oil are at stake.
The State Department has undertaken the giveaway in the guise of a maritime boundary agreement between Alaska and Siberia. Astoundingly, our federal government itself drew the line to put these seven Alaskan islands on the Russian side. But as an executive agreement, it could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by President Obama or Secretary Clinton.
The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy. The state of Alaska was not allowed to participate in the negotiations, nor was the public given any opportunity for comment. This is despite the fact the Alaska Legislature has passed resolutions of opposition – but the State Department doesn’t seem to care.
The imperiled Arctic Ocean islands include Wrangell, Bennett, Jeannette and Henrietta. Wrangell became American in 1881 with the landing of the U.S. Revenue Marine ship Thomas Corwin. The landing party included the famed naturalist John Muir. It is 3,000 square miles in size. Northwest of Wrangell are the DeLong Islands, named for George Washington DeLong, the captain of USS Jeannette. Also in 1881, he discovered and claimed these three islands for the United States. He named them for the voyage co-sponsor, New York City newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. The ship’s crew received a hero’s welcome back in Washington, and Congress awarded them gold medals.
In the Bering Sea at the far west end of the Aleutian chain are Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock and Sea Otter Rock. They were ceded to the U.S. in Seward’s 1867 treaty with Russia.
The State Department’s maritime agreement is a loser – it gives us nothing in return for giving up Alaska’s sovereign territory and invaluable resources. We won the Cold War and should start acting like it.
More treason from Obambi and cohorts.
Well...the mind reels with possibilities.
Most likely china or russia will outbid them.
Darn! And, I just bought that bridge in Brooklyn.
That’s just me I guess...a day late, and a dollar short.
Step 1: Sell islands.
Step 2: Elect new government.
Step 3: New government nationalizes islands. Owners get nothing.
Repeat Steps 1-3 as needed.
The Greek navy isn’t what it once was. I bet a billionaire’s security force could hold them off.
Do they deliver, or do I have to pick them up?
They can try, but Greece is still in the EU and the leaders of the EU ain’t letting their territory go to them.
“How many years will it be before the USA starts selling some Aleutian and Hawaiian islands to start paying for its massive welfare state?”
They need to start by “selling off” all of the land in Western States that they took as bribes to allow statehood a hundred years ago or so. Right now, they “own” more than 80% of Nevada and nearly 50% of California. Really, they should just give the land back to the states though!
Time to go into the evil criminal mastermind business.
Calm down folks. These islands would remain part of Greece. This is just like the US closing a military base, and selling the land to a private developer. It’s still in the US.
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