Will Ireland knock over a domino?

When systems become fragile, any unexpected event can set off a chain reaction.

Far wiser heads than mine have not yet rung the alarm bells over Ireland’s billowing political chaos, but the coming week may be rather a surprising one.

The euro has been staggering for a year, and the ‘solution’ cooked up by the banker and political elites in the EU for the European version of the credit bubble cannot succeed unless the much abused workers, students and pensioners remain totally passive. I suspect this will not happen.

Ireland could provide the match in the gunpowder room. The Irish Green Party, headed by one John Gormley [above], has just quit the discredited coalition there, throwing everything into doubt. The government may not survive long enough to sign off on the mass beggaring of the Irish people forced on the country by the European Central Bank.

This careful deal could unravel in a matter of hours, queering the attempt to extend and pretend on Irish and other European debt. Euro bankers then would have to find another way to saddle the populace with the wreckage of their casino financing and insouciant building of massive fortunes for themselves.

Yum, yum, can’t wait.