Joseph Stiglitz seems to be the only person in the world who knows what question exactly will be asked on Sunday, let alone all the consequences.

Another important point: the current crisis is not about existing debtors (who, according to most authors, have written off their money long ago), but about potential future lenders and investors, or rather the lack thereof. If it were chiefly a left/right issue, leftists would be happy to lend money to the Greek government - they are not. In fact the government's rhetorics are not left-wing at all, but unashamedly nationalistic. The right-wing coalition partner fits perfectly.

To be sure, many people in many countries are to blame for the crisis. I am not defending the Troika's politics, but one of the problems is that their task is not to tell Greeks what exactly to do internally.

What would be needed world-wide is institutions analogous to the UN Blue Berets, as neutral as possible, who could organize national elections, democratic constitutions, and good governance, when so entrusted by the locals. (Such institutions already exist, but they are not yet "robust" enough.)

For example, we often read that the loser of an election accuses the winner of manipulation, leading to a new civil war. This need not be. As for national pride and dignity: proud football teams rarely protest against the existence of an external referee.