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Tsipras: Hellas Imprisoned?

Alexis Tspiras, being re-elected to the position of prime minister may be the only hope for European leaders in delivering “pragmatism and stability” in a seemingly unstable Europe according to CNBC, with many Greeks not so surprised in the turn of events occurring post referendum. Prior to taking the PM seat Tspiras campaigned on a strong leftist platform claiming he would not be forced into an unfair deal with the Troika. However, this was not the case.
The American urban vernacular would term him the “Teflon Don” based on polls showing Tsipras having high favorability ratings just days after announcing he was stepping down as PM. He seems, even now, to have a resilient nature despite growing discontent about his varying policy decisions. Too leftist for the conservative right, and far too disappointingly moderate for even those in his own SYRIZA party (that are jumping off ship by the dozens), it would seem Tspiras had nowhere else to turn but be resigned to resignation.
Branded as Greece’s great hope for change, Tsipras raised his white flag but is still considered a patron of the cause by many Greeks as he is still the favorite to win in the upcoming snap elections. Nevertheless, questions still arise: Was he too young? Too inexperienced? Was this his game plan from the beginning? Is he a young Judas leading the Greeks to economic slaughter.  It would seem defectors from his own party think so; 50+ members have defected, about 25 members formed the Popular Unity party having a vision to hedge all bets on exiting the Eurozone and returning Greece to the drachma.
The people of Hellas feel imprisoned by a third deal, an austerity choice in the weight of 86 billion euro (96 billion dollars). They are also imprisoned by factions believing that a swift exit from the Eurozone is a better plan. What choice do they have left? Maybe the New Democracy party that was one of the main creators of the crisis has the answer, at least Evangelos Meimarakis, who looks like the ubiquitous Dr. Phil, seems to think so. Meimarakis and his party have a program and a governing proposal that they will choose to unveil in the future. Possibly, at the scheduled debate between him and Tspiras, or at least, hopefully.
Fortunately, Tsipras does not currently have to face all the SYRIZA dissidents that created problems for his leadership and did not allow him to try to lead Greece out of its economic turmoil. Yanis Varoufakis once former loyal finance minister,  is one of the most vocal of defectors. A once prized asset for the SYRIZA party and seemingly Tspiras’ right hand man, has gone on a press frenzy that would not only lend to decreased support of Tspiras, but decreased support of himself and his newly formulated political plans of anti-austerity as well. Varoufoukis has been noted to have said as recently as the other day to Australian ABC broadcaster, “The party that I served and the leader that I served has decided to change course completely and to espouse an economic policy that makes absolutely no sense”. What then makes sense? Return to the drachma is clearly unwanted by most Greeks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, among others, have no qualms about showing Greece mercy in these third round of austerity measures. It seems Greece is stuck in attempting to make the best decision with the worst choices.
Tsipras attempted after 5 years of foretelling to change the course of Greece’s economic downfall and he still can if he sticks to one plan till the end. However, he has a lot on his plate; refugee numbers are increasing and there is no clear plan with other European nations to remedy the problem, increased numbers of Greek youth are making their Grexit based on high levels of unemployment, and an increased pension class is unable to support themselves with dwindling pensions. It seems the hope that came in January has waned and become the imprisoned course Hellas cannot escape from.

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