Old player Varoufakis stages a comeback

He has been admired and criticized, even ridiculed, like few other public figures in Greece; he returned to Greece from various academic posts abroad to become an economic advisor to then- Prime Minister George Papandreou at the beginning of the Greek financial crisis in 2004; yet he eventually turned into a harsh critic of his policies.

A professor of economic theories with an interest in game theory, this flamboyant figure with an affluent background, who calls himself a "libertarian Marxist," became something of a celebrity during the public protests against the austerity measures imposed by the various governments in Greece during the years until the election of the leftist Syriza in January 2015. A prolific blogger and online analyst, he managed to build a sizeable follower base that became convinced that the solution to the country's economic collapse was simple: just say "no" to its creditors. 

The victory of Syriza in January 2015 came as a natural outcome of a new hope created by a concept of defiance and resistance toward the stiff attitude of Greece's creditors - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank and the European Union - and Yanis Varoufakis was appointed as the new Finance Minister and took on the onerous task to negotiate a new economic package for Greece.

Eventually, the whole operation ended in disaster as Greece's lenders refused to re-negotiate; they eventually counter-offered a new reform and funding formula in June 2015, to which Varoufakis disagreed. Tsipras, retaining a high post-election popularity, chose to take the country to a referendum on whether the new formula should be accepted. The result was an overwhelming "no" with 61.5 percent, but Varoufakis resigned from his post claiming that his...