> Why did it buy four new submarines? Because it was/is forced too. Geopolitically speaking it's very convenient (and maybe reasonable) to act as if every stat

> Why did it buy four new submarines? Because it was/is forced too. Geopolitically speaking it's very convenient (and maybe reasonable) to act as if every state is a "sovereign state", but it's not[0]. The submarine (along with a long series of obscure deals involving bribery, etc.) were strongly supported (almost imposed) by Germans as a bargain. > It also seems like there's a lot of corruption and irresponsible financial policy. That's true. There's no beating around the bush, since 1990 spending has been reckless. Basically the EUR gave a free-card access to credit. The entire pension system should be re-structured but at the same time the base salary should be brought up and not down. Young people can not find jobs and they absolutely can not sustain families. The current system is extremely twisted: Usually the elderly of the family receive (well used to receive, before the crisis) boosted pensions with which they support the younger members of the family who are unemployed or underpaid. The fact that the young population has "access" to elderly's money is the only reason you don't see riots around though. The problem is that the reforms already made, slashed a huge chunk of the household's income while not giving anything back (not even hope!) in return. That's why in the end of the day, the majority which suffered from this cuts, is not likely to accept any more reforms. According to the "Financial Times": "main pensions have been slashed 44 to 48 percent since 2010, reducing the average pension to 700 euros a month … About 45 percent of Greek pensioners receive less than 665 euros monthly — below the official poverty threshold." > All of these facts together give the impression that Greece isn't committed to doing the right thing. The problem (for Greeks) is that every single reform imposed by the Troika (or institutions or whatever) are always for the worse and never for the better. After 7 years of implementing reforms dictated from the Troika, I think we can rest assured that they're reform schedule was a failure which drove the public upwards incredibly AND creating a humanitarian crisis. Greece needs a "New Deal"[1] or a "Marshal Plan". But there's no Roosevelt or G. Marshall around, unfortunately. Again, you're taking for granted that the Troika wanted to "help" Greece, but that's far and away from the feeling I have looking at the facts at hand. They'd rather "discuss" with the parties that made all the mistakes you say, instead of a new non-so-corrupted party. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal [0] http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/15/germany-is-bluffing-on-greece/ http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/15/germany-is-bluffing-o...