My pet theory is that Tsipras is pretty much a communist-lite (Greece is very far to the left politically) and is pivoting to move to state controlled most things/everything under the guise of 'socialism' and 'fighting the evil Germans/Brits/French who steal our money.' I can't see his rhetoric making any sense outside of an extremist power grab. He could be bankrolled by Russian and Chinese interests (both autocracies he looks up to - he has made several secretive visits to Moscow), sell off Greek lands to pay for bills, and pretty much become Cuba. Perhaps even exit NATO as Russia and China pressure him. The funny thing most Greeks would be on board with this.

Or maybe he's crazy like a fox and was courting Russia and China to counter the EU as gambler brinkmanship, but if that was true, there would be a deal by now, not a referendum that will, most likely, remove Greece from the EU.

As a Greek-American I'm always shocked at how extremist the people are there when I visit. They're not like Germans who take something of a middle of the road approach, at least by Euro standards. They're an entirely different beast and I think other EU members are only starting to notice. The EU taking on Greece is like the US making Cuba the 51st state. The culture and governmental divides are huge. It was a bad idea from the start.

I suspect Greece is lost to the EU and somewhat to the West for quite some time. Greeks are prideful people and "OXI" is ingrained into their culture, good or bad.