Varoufakis still holds important cards

YANIS Varoufakis, the game theorist-turned-finance minister of Greece, seems outnumbered and outmanoeuvred in his 18-against-1 fight with other European governments over the country's future in the euro bloc.

Yet he still has some powerful cards to play in the brinkmanship he is enacting over the terms for an extension of Greece's bailout package from the European Union.

One of them concerns the possible use of capital controls, which could be introduced to protect money seeping abroad if Greek banks face further deposit withdrawals as a result of speculation that the country will leave (or be ejected from) the 19-member euro area.