"The vultures are circling, but Tsipras and Varoufakis tweet on."

This might be my favorite story of the week.

How Tsipras and Varoufakis turned Greek tragedy into Twitter triumph, by Hannah Jane Parkinson (The Guardian)

Politicians aren’t particularly renowned for a strong game on social media. Whether it’s falling for parody accounts, tweeting their own names, or, er, offering free owls for all, it’s not often they get it right.

Enter the Greeks. Never before has a government embroiled in one of the biggest global economic crises been so good at tweeting. We hear President Coolidge, for instance, was always screwing up his mentions.

Not so with Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

New Albany looks to Greece.

Photo credit: Guardian

Sort of a Salvador Allende moment for the EU, wouldn't you say?

Don't miss this comment, also in The Guardian: Greece shows what can happen when the young revolt against corrupt elites (Paul Mason).

The rise of Syriza can’t just be explained by the crisis in the eurozone: a youthful generation of professionals has had enough of tax-evading oligarchs ... From outside, Greece looks like a giant negative: but what lies beneath the rise of the radical left is the emergence of positive new values – among a layer of young people much wider than Syriza’s natural support base. These are the classic values of the networked generation: self-reliance, creativity, the willingness to treat life as a social experiment, a global outlook.

Negotiating the terms of engagement. Imagine that.

Syriza’s historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe, by Ian Traynor and Helena Smith (Guardian)

• Voters reject EU austerity for radical alternative of far-left party
• Upstarts fall two seats short of an overall majority
• ‘Greece has turned a page,’ says 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras

European politics has been plunged into a volatile new era following a historic victory in Greece’s general election by far-left radicals committed to ending years of austerity.

More than five years into the euro crisis that started in Greece in October 2009 and raised questions about the single currency’s survival, Greek voters roundly rejected the savage spending cuts and tax rises imposed by Europe which reduced the country to penury ...

... The clock is already ticking. When the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, French president François Hollande, British prime minister David Cameron et al assemble for an EU summit in Brussels in just over a fortnight, they will be joined at Europe’s top table by (Alexis) Tsipras, probably the only man there not wearing a tie. The symbolism will be enormous. Europe’s anti-mainstream mavericks and populists are no longer just hammering on the doors.

Alexis Tsipras warns Greek crisis is also Europe's

Maybe Henry Miller really did have an inkling about the Greeks. Maybe Americans will come to have an inkling about the Europeans. Maybe I've had too much to drink.

Alexis Tsipras warns Greek crisis is also Europe's; Greece's leftwing leader tells Paris audience that other EU countries will be next if they fail to oppose radical austerity drive, by Kim Willsher (guardian.co.uk)

 ... "We are here to explain to people in Europe that we have nothing against them. We are fighting the battle in Greece not just for the Greek people but for people in France, Germany and all European countries."

"I am not here to blackmail, I am here to mobilise," he said.

"Greece gave humanity democracy and today the Greek people will bring democracy back to Europe."