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Europe Will Splinter Regardless of Greeks: “France Has At Most 3 Months Before Markets Make Their Mark” says German Official

Mish with some analysis about the socialists in France getting ready to go full Greek:

If socialists take control of both houses in French parliament as expected, president François Hollande would have free rein to carry out his stated policies such as hire more public workers, raise taxes on the rich, and Wreck France With Economically Insane Proposal: “Make Layoffs So Expensive For Companies That It’s Not Worth It”

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Greeks And Why They’re Voting For The Syriza Party

In a Europe where the outcome of most elections is predicted weeks before votes are cast, the triumph of left-wing Syriza in May’s Greek elections was one of the few shocks of recent years.

The party often described as near-Communist in its rhetoric is neck-and-neck with right-wing New Democracy in the polls ahead of Sunday. Talking to people in Athens, it’s not difficult to see why foreign analysts and officials are afraid that Syriza will win most of the votes this weekend.

“What are the old parties doing? They’ve had their chance and look where we are,” Angelis, a waiter in a café opposite Greece’s parliament building, told CNBC. He’s planning to vote for Syriza on Sunday.

Syriza’s very newness is one of its advantages. The Greek people are increasingly fed up with corruption, which is one of many drags on their economy, and the older parties have all had their corruption scandals over the years.

They also have the advantage of never having backed the bailout – or the “memorandum” as it is known in Greece – which is the focus of much discontent in the country.

Measures which have been enacted by the technocratic government to try and meet the terms of the bailout often appear to have created more problems than they have solved. For example, electricity bills were raised by a controversial new property tax, but consumers were allowed to put off paying those bills.

Now, an estimated 500,000 households haven’t paid their electricity bills for more than three months and the state-run energy company needs to pay $657.2 million which it doesn’t have to its banks by June 22.

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Greek Bank Deposit Outflows, AKA BANK RUNS, Said To Rise Before Elections

“Greek deposit outflows have accelerated before this weekend’s elections, two bankers familiar with the situation said, on concern the nation may move closer to abandoning the euro.

Daily withdrawals have increased to the upper end of a 100 million-euro ($125 million) to 500 million-euro range this month, one banker said, asking not to be identified because the figures aren’t public. A second banker said the drawdown may have exceeded 700 million euros yesterday. An official for the Bank of Greece (TELL), the Athens-based central bank, declined to comment.”

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Syrian Scum: Assad’s Women and Baby Killers Are Steroid Addled Idiots

Vanishing with the remains of their slaughtered victims, President al-Assad’s pumped up monsters are roaming Syria committing atrocities.

The death squads known as the Ghosts have swooped on villages and massacred women and children – slitting their throats or shooting them at point-blank range.

They disappear with the hacked remains in an effort to cover up their brutality. But experts say there is no mistaking the sickening work of these bearded paramilitary freaks.

Dressed in their unofficial uniform of combat trousers and black T-shirts the muscle-bound thugs are the butchers of Assad’s regime.

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Bank Holiday Under Discussion for EU Nations

“BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission has been providing legal advice to others who are considering possible scenarios should Greece leave the euro, a European Union spokesman said.

Olivier Bailly said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it’s necessary to protect public order or public security — but not on economic grounds.

“Some people are working on scenarios,” he said, but refused to confirm or identify which organizations and people were working on them.”

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Oh Sweet, US Has Probably Been Arming Syria’s Assad

A Republican senator challenged the Pentagon on Monday over its contract with a Russian export firm that is “arming the Assad regime” in Syria, calling for an audit of the contract amid fresh warnings about a new wave of Syrian violence.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, expressed “grave concerns” about the contract in a letter Monday to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He was referring to an Army contract with Russian firm Rosoboronexport for Mi-17 helicopters to equip the Afghan military.

Cornyn wrote that the Defense Department awarded a no-bid contract to the company last June, though he was told months later by the Pentagon that the firm “continues to supply weapons and ammunition” to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“I remain deeply troubled that the (Defense Department) would knowingly do business with a firm that has enabled mass atrocities in Syria,” Cornyn wrote, suggesting sanctions against Rosoboronexport would be more appropriate than a contract.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, though, defended the contract.

Spokeswoman Tara Rigler said in an email to FoxNews.com that it is “the only legal method to purchase the military version of the Mi-17 and to provide an appropriate measure of flight safety and airworthiness.”

“As we have noted before, these aircraft remain crucial to the development of Afghanistan’s Air Force capability and therefore important to our mission of ensuring that Afghan forces can ultimately defend their own sovereignty,” Rigler said.

She said Panetta has received Cornyn’s letter and would respond to the senator “promptly” about his concerns.

On Monday, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also defended his country’s arms sales to Syria.

“Under no circumstances can the arms supplied to Syria be used against the civilian population,” Rogozin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

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Bond Trading Indicates Italy is the Next Country to Worry Over in a Never Ending Debt Nightmare

“The 100 billion-euro ($126 billion) rescue for Spain’s banks moved Italy to the frontline of Europe’s debt crisis as an initial rally in the country’s bonds fizzled on concern it may be the next to succumb.

Italy’s 10-year bonds reversed early gains today in the first trading after the Spanish bailout and declined for a fourth day, sending the yield up 7 basis points to 5.84 percent.”

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Iran Economy On Ice As Oil Revenues Plummet

Anticipate more unsubstantiated threats as the clerics flail desperately in an attempt to get oil prices back up.

LONDON (Reuters) – Iran’s state finances have come under unprecedented pressure and the resilience of ordinary people is being tested by soaring inflation as oil income plummets due to tightening Western sanctions and sharply falling oil prices.

Tough financial measures imposed by Washington and Brussels have made it ever more difficult to pay for and ship oil from Iran. Its oil output has sunk to the lowest in 20 years, cutting revenue that is vital to fund a sprawling state apparatus.

Already down by more than a quarter, or about 600,000 barrels per day, from rates of 2.2 million bpd last year, shipments of crude oil from Iran are expected to drop further when a European Union oil embargo takes effect on July 1.

Tehran is already estimated to have lost more than $10 billion in oil revenues this year.

Causing even more pain, oil prices fell below $100 a barrel last week to a 16-month low amid a darkening outlook for economies in Europe, the United States and China.

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China’s Slowing Inflation, Output Growth Add Easing Pressure

China’s consumer prices rose the least in two years in May and industrial output and retail sales trailed estimates, adding pressure for more loosening after this week’s interest-rate cut.

Inflation slowed to 3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, compared with the 3.2 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Production increased 9.6 percent, lower than a projected 9.8 percent gain, and retail sales increased 13.8 percent, the Beijing-based bureau said in separate statements.”

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A Game of Euro Chicken: Playing Until the Germans Lose Their Nerve

For Germany, being part of the European Union has always included an element of blackmail. France has been playing this card from the beginning, but now the Spanish and the Greeks have mastered the game. They’re banking on Berlin losing its nerve.

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Spain Warns the Euro Will Unravel If Europe Does Not Pool Responsibility for Failing Banks

“Spain is warning that Europe‘s single currency will unravel unless its leaders decide within weeks to centralise budget and tax policies in the eurozone and agree on a strategy to pool responsibility for failing banks.

As Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, came under mounting international pressure to accept the eurozone’s fourth national bailout in two years, the government in Madrid angrily rejected the demands, insisting that it did not need rescuing. With fears of a euro meltdown having rapidly shifted from Greece to Spain, Rajoy is pleading for a direct eurozone rescue of his country’s banks, to avoid the humiliation attached to requesting a national bailout.”

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