Cartoons Show Players At Heart Of Grexit Crisis

European leaders are in tense talks over Greece's possible exit from the eurozone if it fails to repay IMF debt payments this month.

:: Angela Merkel

Of all the characters in this drama, Angela Merkel is the single most important. Partly because Germany has all the money. But also because this crisis isn't just about Greece. In a sense, it's also about Germany's role in Europe.

Is it going to sacrifice its money and its people's welfare to keep Europe and the euro together? It will have to bear the cost either way.

The question is whether she wants to put discipline - and hard lessons for Greece - ahead of European solidarity. All eyes are on Berlin just as much as on Athens.

:: Alexis Tsipras

Then again, Alexis Tsipras is facing a major dilemma of his own. He became the Greek prime minister by promising to end austerity - to cancel all those nasty bailout tax rises and spending cuts - and to do that while staying in the euro.

Now (NYSE: DNOW - news) , election promises are always far easier to make than to keep - but never more so than here.

The lenders, including Mrs Merkel, insist that if Greece is to get more bailout cash - which it desperately needs to pay its bills - it will have to continue with at least some of those cuts. Mr Tsipras refuses.

That's where we were in January, when his party, Syriza, won the election. And it's still where we are today, six months later.

:: Yanis Varoufakis

And it's fair to say things haven't exactly been improved by Greece's finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis.

Perhaps the most unconventional man ever to have occupied a role like this, Varoufakis is a leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-riding financial rockstar.

He's also an expert in game theory - the economics of negotiations. But his negotiating tactics haven't been successful so far.

In a series of meetings with his European counterparts he has torn up their suggestions, rejected any compromises and even suggested that Greece would sooner default than compromise. It's alienated those he's been negotiating with.

:: Christine Lagarde

And no-one more so than Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund.

After the latest finance ministers meeting, she said that the next time there were discussions on Greece, there needed to be "adults in the room" - a not-so-subtle dig at the Greek finance minister.

For their part, the IMF are in a bit of a fix. They've lent an unprecedented amount to Greece and have never lost money lending to a developed economy. If Greece defaults, that record could well come to an end.

:: David Cameron

So what does all of this mean for the UK? Well, of course any financial disruption will be worrying for David Cameron.

The 2011 economic slowdown in the UK was largely down to European weakness. However, there is a silver lining. If Greece defaults and leaves the euro, then there might have to be a change to the European treaties - particularly if they want to shore up the existing members of the single currency.

And treaty change is just what Mr Cameron wants to give him a decent chance to win the EU referendum.