Behold, what courtly statecraft!

by: Compound F

Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 15:25:01 PST

Greece: "Oh, yeah?  What happened to our WWII reparations, Nazi gold thieves?"

Germany: "Fuck you, Greek deceivers, swindlers, beguilers, double-dealers, fraudsters, scammers, dupers, impostors, peculators, embezzlers, cheats."

Thus, by first gently and graciously grooming one another's perceived character flaws, without excessively slavish preening, the negotiations can grind directly into the brass tacks.

It's called finesse.

Update 2: I'd be remiss in leaving out interesting alternative backstories:

While this back and forth between Greece and Germany looks a little too toxic to be a ruse to mask other issues, it can at the same time be possible that Germany and Greece benefit from a devaluation of the Euro relative to the US dollar, by dragging out this feather fluffling, thus increasing their ability to export goods.  The Euro has dropped about 20 cents since December, and George Soros is betting against the euro.  I'll let Ilargi describe the terrain or tunnels in this alternate rabbit hole of trade wars and the beggaring of nations for profit.  I like the sound of it, because betting against things (people, currency, nations, other bets) seems to be the craze that rocked the nation.  Bet against them, then help destroy them!  Yay, humanity!

Who does George Soros bet against?  You?