“It is our consistent position that the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations form the cornerstone of current international relations and provide safeguards for world peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the 68th General Assembly high-level debate.

Respecting national sovereignty and opposing interference in internal affairs, safeguarding peace and opposing aggression, and promoting equality and opposing power politics must be observed, he added.

Underscoring the country’s stance as the second biggest economy and a permanent, veto-carrying member of the Security Council, Mr. Wang stressed that China “will firmly fulfil its due international responsibilities and obligations.”

He also called for greater representation and voice of developing countries in the global governance system to make the international order “fairer and more equitable.”

Turning to the wider global scene, the Foreign Minister said that China plans to play a “more proactive and constructive role” in addressing international and regional hotspots.

In reference to the situation in Syria, Mr. Wang called for an immediate end to hostilities and violence to create necessary conditions for the verification and destruction of chemical weapons.

“China seeks no self gains in Syria and does not take side on the Syrian issue,” he stated, but said the Government is following with “great concern” the humanitarian situation in the country and its impact on the neighbouring States.

China has supported efforts of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in Syria, as well as Jordan and Lebanon.

The Foreign Minister also noted China’s diplomatic role in the Iranian nuclear issue, the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East peace efforts.

Wang is among the leaders speaking at the annual General Assembly session at which heads of State and Government and other high-level officials present issues of individual national and international relevance. The General Debate continues through 1 October.

What does this mean? For those who subscribe to the relevant American-fed scenario, adopted by Wall Street Journal and other systemic global media, the next big thing could be the rebellion of the technocrats, the upheaval of common sense against obsolete mentalities and inefficient party politics.

As a friend of mine -a proponent of this view- says, “it’s going to be you and me hitting the streets, because we cannot take it anymore.” How this becomes popular? How allegedly advanced people could use simplicity to change things? Could an “intellectual indignados” rebellion be the solution for Greece?

Probably, this question will be left unanswered until we see it in practice. But, perhaps what remains important is that people of various professional and intellectual backgrounds are appearing having radical voices amongst their Facebook peers and in summer gatherings. More and more ‘commentators of life’ are turning themselves into Soc Nets columnists with an increasing number of followers who are willing to pick up a debate and comment on current affairs.

This up-scale, low voice indignant appetite seems to run horizontally in Greek society, having ‘common sense’ as its front running banner. So, why in Greece, change continues to come in the form of an obligatory process, instead of being part of an effort to move the country forward?

Having intellectuals, academics, people of the mind rallying -and probably being engaged in innovative activism- is an attractive thought. But who are these people and how far are they willing to go? What could be the logistics of this ‘revolution’? Would it include clashes of demonstrating suited technocrats and bearded scientists against SYRIZA’s leftish crowd and PAME’s rally soldiers? Well, despite its graphicness, this couldn’t possibly end well. And if it did, the question would be: for whom? What’s the end game? How this could turn into actual and -most importantly- enlightened governance?

Another question: “Who benefits?” an old –probably lefty- professor of mine in London used to ask, when we were discussing the deregulation of British Telecom and the energy grid. The answer is key, in order to think about it wisely and of course, to frame the perspective within current Greek situation.

In the case of Greece, coming up with an answer is not an easy task, almost impossible, if we stop considering, for instance privatisations as something more than a state revenue boost. Of course, a privatisation state chief flying on private planes, owned by a state property buyer is not something that assists towards the justification of the process.

Although not necessarily the best-case scenario, I think the way out of the Greek crisis will be once again political, even canonical. It will not emerge out of illuminated technocrats, who will rally, expressing a higher level of discontent towards inefficiency and old partisanship. This agenda alone, although could suffice to overthrow a government in the minds of people – and providing it does not constitute a post-modern coup d’ etat-, it does not offer a viable alternative solution for three reasons: first, it would lack popular support, especially amongst the unemployed and those who were severely hit by austerity, second, it would need to outsource its political organisation to questionable centres of power and third, it would cause a bold juxtaposition with the representatives of the old status quo who are trying to save what is left from their glorious past.

As long as mainstream politics is not up to it, the Greek problem will not meet its solution. My view is that Greeks have lived for too long under state protectionism; this makes them less flexible to organise the restart, grasp the opportunity of the crisis and change their lives in a country that offers everything in flux, not to say anything about changing the country through revolt.

Nevertheless, although solution will have to come from the mainstream, improvements of the presiding model are strongly required; perhaps by allowing some responsible technocrats and realism-strong intellectuals pushing their way into the mainstream.

However, to manage that, the ruling political cast should stop behaving as old dogs refusing to learn new tricks. Or if they continue to do so, they could just simply crawl away to die.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Founder-Editor of alyunaniya.com

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis will have to clear things as regards a much-delayed downsizing of the civil service, on lagging tax collection and on the planned merger of National Bank and Eurobank, Kathimerini informs. The talks, which broke off last month amid a disagreement on the civil service overhaul, are to determine whether or not Greece receives the next tranche of rescue funding from its international creditors, worth EUR 2.8 billion.

According to AMNA, the prime minister’s intention is that all the outstanding matters should be dealt with and that solutions will have been found to the two thorny issues of the mobility programme in the public sector and the collection of the real estate surtax.

Kathimerini identifies three problems that need to be addressed: first, the objections from the two coalition partners as regards the government’s stance towards the troika as well as disagreement as regards the property tax to continue to be levied via electricity bills. Second, the worsening climate in the eurozone following the tense negotiations on the Cyprus bailout which has fuelled speculation about a tax on bank deposits being imposed in other member states if deemed necessary. Third, an estimated fiscal shortfall of EUR 2.7 billion; it is considered unlikely that troika officials will seek new austerity measures to cover this gap, as such a move would doubtlessly fuel social tensions, but they are unlikely to show much flexibility on the need for enforcing measures already pledged to creditors such as the downsizing of the civil service.

Meanwhile, controversial public sector layoffs and the unpopular property tax topped the agenda of working meetings between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Labour Minister Yannis Vroutsis last week in an effort to prepare for the return of the troika, enet.gr writes.

Samaras has reportedly told his ministers that all issues with the troika need to be resolved by this week and in time for the next scheduled Eurogroup meeting in Dublin on April 12.

Specifically, Samaras and his ministers reportedly discussed a EUR-2-billion hole in the budget (though Stournaras told reporters on Friday that there is no hole) and a steep drop in income tax revenue this year. They also discussed alternative ways to levy this year’s property tax.

According to protothema.gr, there are two estimations as regards the next round of talks with the troika. According to the optimistic one, troika will be conciliatory so as not to exacerbate the political climate after the lack of solution to the Cyprus problem and to avoid causing further social unrest. The most optimistic say the next visit could even end within 1 to 2 days. The pessimistic estimation predicts that troika will be strict, wanting to show that no easing in the politics of austerity will be tolerated. Moreover, Germany will want to confirm with Greece the message it sent to all direction in Cyprus’ case.

As soon as his vision is restored, Antonis Samaras should start seeing clearly what lies ahead. In a previous post, I argued that due to the fear tactics, Greeks felt relieved and offered the new scheme a -previously non existent- grace period. This is over now.

There is no time to waste. Here are 10+1 tips to initiate change or at least start being specific about it.

1) Build a West Wing at Maximos Mansion that could initiate policy; stay in charge of the government agenda. Once upon a time, Andreas Papandreou used to prepare draft laws, which were sent to ministers for signature. Disagreement was not an option. Four years ago, Costas Karamanlis’ aloof notion of delegation led a government to its demise. Samaras could walk in the middle; maintain balance and be effective at the same time.

2) Explore new forms of communication. Use digital persuasion. Be active. Half a week later after Samaras’ sworn in ceremony, the website of the Prime Minister had two different names of PMs visible and none of them was his. This is not a good sign in terms of digital policy or other.

3) Talk to citizens on a regular basis; on the web and offline. They really need it. Explain policies; give implementation timelines and keep them. Be specific, give the reasons behind each decision, present the alternatives, and calculate the costs. Associate hope and prospects with your decision-making.

4) Use software to assess ministers’ actions in terms of implementation as well as initiatives. Evaluate the competence of party personnel who were assigned cabinet positions. Do not hesitate for a second to get rid of anyone who steps out of line, especially in terms of ethics. No one should be allowed to use a public position for personal gain. Not anymore.

5) Cut a series of benefits associated with public figures. During crisis, all Greeks are equal. Change ministers’ responsibility law immediately. Explain what’s changed. Create specialists’ task forces within the ministries to discuss structural changes and put their talks online. Maintain transparency of expenses online. Not everything George Papandreou did was wrong after all.

6) Greek population remains concentrated in Attica area; however, the country’s wealth is out there. So, put regional policy first. Integrate information coming from the periphery and local government authorities; activate online dialogue; explore local potential in full. Use local case studies to give incentives to people to think and act in a productive way.

7) Merge public universities and create peripheral clusters of excellence and R&D. Thousands of Greek scientists would be willing to come back to offer their expertise to their country. Use 2% of privatisation revenues to fund such activities.

8) Assign two executives from the private sector -preferably competitors- next to your ministers, as a reality-check mechanism; their companies could pay salaries as a CSR gesture to the country. Campaign towards the private sector with a simple message: “your country needs you”.

9) Initiate full digitisation of ministry activities; Implement the law regarding absenteeism, subordination and evaluation in public service. Deal seriously with human resource issues. Allocate young public servants to fill empty posts in borderline areas or island regions; those who deny the post should become redundant.

10) Invite investors to thematic discussions at seaside or mainland hotels, next to potential areas of interest. Summon locals and explain the potential. Communicate results and use the cases to mobilise others. Boost local investment spirit as well.

11) Boost social economy enterprises to fill the gap between state and private economy. Focus on social services and organise action towards those in need. This field seems more useful than ever.

As Britons would say, Greece is drinking in the last chance saloon. Let’s make it a toast to the future – not a loser’s lament of the past.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

1. It will be the first time in Greek modern history that a party of Left origin enters the Parliament with the winner’s walk.

2. The centre-right voters will be totally freaked out, due to the above, but also, because they cannot picture the future of the country under a Government of the Left, as Tsipras fancies to call a potential administration under his command.

3. Old leaders will have to realize that they should go; if they avoid doing so, they will be dragged out of office in an ugly way.

4. Eurozone people will hold their breath, waiting for the first words coming from Alexis Tsipras; this agony will last up until the programmatic speech of the new government.

5. The political system will start looking for the new Tsiprases. I would be pleased to observe an old personal wish come true; that is bypassing the next generation of politicians, just because they learned the job next to corrupted mentors.

6. After the initial shock, Europe will start arguing/theorizing about the neo-Leftism of Greeks that came out of anger and stubbornness but now is evolving into a new political trend.

7. Tsipras and friends will have an excellent opportunity to redefine politics, plant a few new seeds of 21st century ideology and focus on the humanistic economy, sustainable growth and compassionate capitalism, with a Leftish touch. This causes little concern since most Greeks (even the Left) can easily become true capitalists, providing they believe in ownership, self-employment and accumulation of personal wealth.

If SYRIZA finishes first in Sunday’s run-off poll, what will not happen (in a reverse order) is:

1. Tsipras will not prove so brave to mess with his factions and will save the true exploration of 21st century Greek well-being paradigm for the future; maybe somewhere around the middle of the election cycle. Big mistake. All previous Prime Ministers did the same thing and look what happened.

2. European debate and intellectual approaches will not begin in Greece; the country will remain politically polarised, under the realm of mediocre politicians and miserable academics who will continue looking for answers away from civic society.

3. New leaders will not appear in the case of ND and PASOK; at least for the next decade or so. The reason is simple: after the SYRIZA charge towards the political system, the dominance of ND and PASOK was moved higher up in the age pyramid and essentially away from the economically active population, turning pensioners as key target groups for these parties. Older people do not want Tsiprases.

4. To keep the peace amongst SYRIZA factions, Tsipras will be obliged to spin some straight anti-MoU moves with the Troika representatives, who will appear adamant as regards previous agreements; the latter know very well that if they give room to fresh debates, Greeks could get out of hand.

5. Old leaders will not step down easily, especially in the centre-right, since they know that political reality can easily change, especially as a result of a close race; polarization has already caused the re-emergence of the two-party system (ND-SYRIZA accumulative could surpass 60% of the vote). So, chances are any new coalition to assume responsibility of governance walking on thin ice.

Despite all, 6 and 7 points of the first bunch suggest that change is possible, [especially] even if radical SYRIZA finishes first. Then Tsipras would have to conclude the imitation process of Andreas Papandreou of the 1980s, who, as soon as he took over government, he scrapped radical factions and hushed disagreement offering the world to his political friends.

That is how SYRIZA could become a government. It also requires something else. Alexis to continue turning towards the right… Until he meets his liberal self…

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

This is an argument Alexis voiced with the easiness of someone who is planning to keep a distance from any government scheme that would assume the responsibility to manage the agreements Greece has signed with its lenders. SYRIZA’s alternatives are alien to this approach. Party cadres have already talked about economic measures that sound not only obsolete but also irrational.

SYRIZA leader knows his crew cannot serve the needs of the country in its fifth year of recession. The 38-year old politician chooses to ride the wave of the punishment vote, trying to sustain dissatisfied voters that jumped the fence from PASOK, or travelled a really long way from ND to join the ranks of the European Left; 37% and 13% of the SYRIZA vote respectively. Yesterday he announced the ‘rebirth’ of SYRIZA into a new ‘democratic left coalition’, in a move that reminded of Andreas Papandreou in the beginning of the 1980s.

On the other hand, ND and PASOK are trying to delegate responsibility, since they are fully aware that although torched by the cruelty of voters, the latter seem to want them to stay in charge and, at the same time, start improving fast in order to fit the likes and dislikes of citizens. These days, more than 70% of Greek voters appear supportive of the country’s staying in the Eurozone; at the same time, a great majority has voted for parties that preach against this target. This oxymoron clearly makes things easier for pro-European parties, as Greece will approach decision time over the next ballot poll.

However, do we really need a re-election? Does Greece really need another month of uncertainty just to rearrange scores of MPs amongst political parties? Obviously the May 6 mandate by Greek voters to the political system as a whole was to cooperate, hence the simplicity of the solution: Greek pro-Europe politicians should decide to put the country first and form a government with a clear mandate for the next 2-year period; also give a promise that no election will be held before this deadline.

Will they be just ND-PASOK-DIMAR, or more centre-right forces (Drasi, Democratic Alliance) could come to the rescue, offering new blood and fresh ideas to govern the country? Could even some MPs from Independent Greeks declare some short of availability to support the coalition in rough times? This would definitely armor the scheme even more.

These moves require politicians who are willing to fall in the battlefield to save their country. However, if they win, they will be rewarded by people who already expect them to do just that.

It is common ground that Greece needs a government as soon as possible. We should add that Greece needs a government that should be willing to die (politically) for its country. Greece needs a government that hopefully will be able to deliver the last set of harsh measures, but also productively manage the positive results immediately after; to negotiate with our lenders on a fruitful ground that could make things easier for households; to utilise all available scientific expertise politicians could command, turning it into a growth plan for the future.

But most of all, what Greece really needs, is its politicians to be brave. Admit their mistakes, assume responsibility, set aside partisan interests, clean their backyards and decide to govern, no matter what; fight for fiscal streamlining, structural changes and growth planning; approach the problems in a holistic way that puts people first, employ common sense in public management and ignite the growth engines of the country.

This is the brave thing to do… actually this would be the “Greek thing to do”, to restart the country and inspire Greeks in and out of the country.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.