It was the best of deals; it was the worst of deals. Now it is Germany waving a piece of paper declaring peace in our time. Now it is Germany taking the burden of what Angela Merkel, its leader, calls "the worst crisis since the second world war". Greece has defaulted by 50% on its debt. The afflicted banks are to be aided, and the wider eurozone is to be underpinned by a trillion-euro credit line, as yet obscure in origin. The euro, and with it the ramshackle, backfiring, gold-plated jalopy of European union, is back on the road, albeit without driver or map.
The Greek default was necessary from the moment the euro was invented.
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