Yes, and you guessed it these austerity measures, designed to force the people into a debt servicing equilibrium condition, so their governments enforce interest for the financial elite and tax for the political elite. Will place them at the top of a quality of life country index. If Russia can get on the bottom of this list I will be so happy. Western lists, like their naval equivalents, lobsided and bound to capsize! Sometimes safer to sit on the bottom!

The only way the austerity measures will get put in the place they rightfully belong, the banks, hedge funds, and high risk trading, is if entire populations down tools, and say "enough", refusing to return to work, until the people who created the mess, pay for it, with their assets. Not much chance of that happening when the criminals responsible are sitting it out on the other side of the atlantic, counting their dollars and cents, and dreaming up new ways to fleece people, and governments. When will people learn to say no?

I will likely have to work into my 70s before I can afford to retire, all the time, paying taxes so that lazy public sector workers can retire early. The German government used my taxes to bail out Greece where teachers retire at 55. The French want to retire at 60, having worked a 35 hour week with long annual holidays all their lives. It simply is not realistic for one half of the population to be carrying the other half but it is no surprise that the parasites are complaining as their free lunch is brought to an end.

People are tools that elites always have and will manipulate at will. The only difference is, the quality of the elite. All elites seek power. All elites know that without holding the reigns of power, you cannot achieve anything. But, some elites are more greedy then others. And some elites are actually so greedy, that they merely pretend they have a country. They will gladly destroy their own country for the sake of themselves and their global fellow elites getting richer and more powerfull. Look at the former Spanish head of State, Aznar. Currently, he is travelling the globe promoting the global politics and global elites. The cause itself is of no importance. Today's object of their fervent activity can be easily replaced by another one tomorrow. So, hope is that the new elites will be somewhat indebted to the people for their ascendance. Mindless protesting and rioting is not sufficient to insure elite's good behaviour. On the contrary, it will encourage them to ride the crest of discontent, and come up with oppressive means of control. In this climate, when people who are suffering have ZERO political clout, and nearly ZERO organization, chances are they will be taken advantage of. Spanish unions are perfect example. They are less likely to come up with OBJECTIVES and press their cause, and more likely to lazily indulge in protests. The outcome is, venal Aznar and his cronies are likely to come back to power. Look even Monarchy is joining protests! How cute! Should they get what they want, they will know for sure to tell masses how to shut up. Just as the Spanish Monarch did to Hugo Chavez. Lowly people like ;native Latin American Chavez, never had the right to address the his royal snootiness. And today, the royals are joining in with the suffering people of Spain in --- protest! Vultures are circling.

Well done, RT. This is your fourth criticism of Estonia over the course of just as few weeks in connection with its economic and fiscal success in meeting the criteria to join the Euro zone. Your first three efforts involved a whole article each -- not bad going for a country whose total population is just one eighth of Moscow. This current article limits its criticism to just one paragraph, so I suppose it is an improvement. Just why is Russia, and its state-owned media, so viscerally anti-Estonian? Isn't there anything positive to ever report about that country, and is there nothing positive at all to acknowledge about its accomplishments, but only criticism? Given the disparity in size, power and influence between Russia and Estonia, Russia's obsession with endlessly dumping on Estonia is ridiculous.

The " Greed is good" mentality is somewhat forgotten when it comes to common origins of the European austerities. We've been encouraged to borrow excessively and the banks were only willing to lend easily. A tiny corner shop owner was 'competing' with big tycoons for his enrichment entitlements by building up his own property portfolio. To invest in mortar and bricks considered prudent, profitable and on trend. An ordinary family, inspired by the TV's series about their favourite celebrities' cribs and lifestyle, was competing 'on credit' against its neighbours in a desirable post code. There was almost nothing to stop us feeling good about getting more in our bank accounts at a low interest rate. The burst of "dot com" bubble didn't teach anything, the property bubble burst was meddled with the Lehman Brother's collapse and global financial crisis. The "ghost towns" in Ireland and the unsold millionaires islands in Dubai have something in common. We can expect a well mixed crowd to protest.

'Despite all this, other countries are still striving to join the euro zone. Estonia is the latest recruit. It will join in January, throwing its economic fortunes in with countries struggling to avoid collapse." is a very accurate statement: Estonia will throw in its economic fortune with others that are struggling to avoid collapse. Every euro country is in on it as well. You're really just grasping for straws here. It's neither positive nor negative regarding Estonia. The previous articles dedicated entirely to Estonia aside, this one's pretty dicey. Let's compare those three articles to the dozens set against the US. Or how about Georgia. Or how about Israel. Or how about the EU in general. Or I could go on. Estonia's pretty low on the article count, when you look at RT new coverage in general. Funny how context changes things.