Showdown in Athens

But that viewpoint is shockingly naive; after all, the IMF has been in the looting biz for a long time and has a pretty good grasp of the effects of its toxic policies. They know what they're doing, just like they know that austerity is just a refinement of the "shock doctrine" which is the traditional way the elites exploit crises by imposing harsh, economy-demolishing reforms that only benefit themselves and their class. The men who conjure up these thieving schemes aren't likely to be hoodwinked by Varoufakis's vague reforms. They're going to force Varoufakis to jump through all their respective hoops before he gets one dime of their precious money. Here's Varoufakis again:

"There is going to be a great deal of toing and froing between us and the institutions and our partners but what we have established through stubborn refusal to succumb to the notion that elections change nothing over the past couple of months or weeks I should say is the notion that this government deserves to have a degree of room for policy-making that allows us to reform Greece and to carry the great multitude out there with us. This is the government for the first time in Greece that has the people behind it and it would be a terrible waste not just for us but for our partners to allow this wave of support to dissipate through non-action." (CNBC)

Does Varoufakis really think he can pull this off? Does he really think he can out-fox the slimy, authoritarian brigands and leg-breakers who run these extortionist institutions and who will use every means possible to extract the last drop of blood from their victim be he an aspiring, but penniless student at the university or a destitute pensioner huddling homeless and frozen in an abandoned doorway in downtown Athens?

This isn't going to end well. Varoufakis had one card to play -- the threat of leaving the Euro -- and he failed to play it. Now his leverage is gone and the roof is about to cave in. Just wait and see.

The troika isn't going to convene another dreary round of negotiations to rehash the same old nonsense. Those days are over. They're simply going to withhold the money, curtail liquidity assistance, and torpedo the Greek banking system. Kaboom! That's the way this thing is going to go down.

The mood among the EZ finance ministers has soured considerably since the last meeting. They want to put this whole thing behind them. They're sick of it. They want closure. They're not going to quibble over issues they've already gone over and clarified a million times. Varoufakis will either have to get with the program or face the consequences. That's the way it works in Mafia-land; you either pay the piper or you find yourself in the East River in cement booties.

Who knows: maybe this is what Varoufakis wanted from the beginning, a ferocious clash ending in banishment, a Grexit. Well, he won't have to wait long now.