The folly of human beings is on full display in Cyprus. The government there is in the process of seizing compulsorily up to 40 percent of deposits in the banks. Generally, Cypriot lawmakers and officials able to speak English appear on television and mournfully pretend that this robbery is reasonable, or if not reasonable then inevitable. Deposits had been guaranteed. The men and women in the street understand perfectly well that raids on their deposits mean that the Cypriot government is no longer bound by the rule of law. They also understand that this raiding is the price demanded by Germany for bailing them out. Quite simply, the Cypriot government is an accomplice, a tool of those more powerful who are imposing their will.
Quite simply again, this is the updated version of the bargain that the Bolsheviks once struck. They seized everyone’s deposits and in return offered benefits in housing, education and so on. So long as one stayed clear of politics and stifled all opinion, one could most likely accept the bargain. Just as hatred of Bolshevism spread so hatred of Germany is spreading. The loss of your money at the orders of unaccountable foreigners whose names may even be unknown is too unfair to be borne.
The matter cannot possibly stop there. Who now will ever invest in Cyprus? Who could be rash enough to start a business there? Think of the future level of unemployment. And now that Germany has revealed that it can protect its interests so harshly, who will keep deposits in Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, even French banks? Fear is driving money out of the Mediterranean countries. Think of the runs on the banks and the currency controls to come. Big depositors are Russian and Arabs. Unfortunate Syrians have found a refuge that isn’t a refuge at all, only more distraint. What is the fitting word for politicians who think that it is quite all right to dispense with law and to make enemies certain to take them on by whatever legal means or subterfuges they can? What if Russia freezes or extorts foreign deposits?The worst outcome would be that people in these Mediterranean countries accept the descent into neo-Bolshevism, poverty, and control. The best outcome is liberation from the European Union that generates its steady features of blind injustice and cruelty.