Could Greece become the European Venezuela?

Last Tuesday, as the Greek government finally went into default with the IMF, it also got a message of "solidarity" from Mr Chavez's replacement, Nicolas Maduro, on his weekly TV show. “Fear not, Greek sisters and brothers," he said. "The path forward is to break the chains of international financial capital and the IMF." The fear among Syriza opponents is that Greece is now about to do exactly that, thumbing its nose at its creditors, crashing out the Eurozone and taking the country into an economic wilderness. Stuck on its own in an increasing unstable neighbourhood – Greece is bearing much of the migrant flux from nearby Syria – the likes of Venezuela and Russia could end up being its only friends. More…