Former Greek prime minister George Papandreou says that when he asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for gentler conditions in 2010, she replied that the aid program had to hurt. "We want to make sure nobody else will want this!" Ms. Merkel told him.
Also read the very detailed and lengthy report on how the austerity plan has failed on the Wall Street Journal.
May 11, 2012
Lessons from the Greek Crisis 3: We Shall Dance...the Day we Get a Chance
"We shall dance, we shall dance
The day we get a chance
To pay off all the violins of the ball
We shall dance, we shall dance
The day we get a chance
To get a dime to buy back our souls
We shall dance, we shall sing
My dear love, O my spring
My love good days will come"
Greek singer Demis Roussos from 1971 sings with his emotional, sweet voice "We Shall Dance" in a rare
recording.
Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child (including later day music stars Vangelis on keyboards and Demis Roussos in vocals) perform "Rain and Tears" in 1969.
"Rain and tears are the same, but in the sun you've got to play the game"
May 4, 2012
When Pre-elections Management Ignores Human Tragedy
The publication of the photographs and private data of the 17 (illegal) prostitutes who were found HIV-positive in Greece the other day and were sent to prison awaiting their trial (accused of spreading an incurable disease to the population) is part of a cunning but unethical political campaign on the part of the governing party, PASOK. This dawns upon anyone discovering the tragic stories of the girls and women (most of whom were also junkies, a couple of whom were brought into the country to prostitute, one of whom was impregnated by a client) who have been heavily exploited by other people, men in the system, in the majority of cases, who are allowed to escape scot-free.
Surely spreading AIDS is bad, but aren't the people who are prostituting these women responsible too? Aren't they responsible for encouraging them to engage in unprotected sex? And aren't the men who actually seek illegal prostitutes (in a country where prostitution is legal -one of very few in Europe as seen from the chart, refer to link for details- and there are regulated brothels where you know the women are routinely checked by a medical team every two weeks!) and engage in unprotected sex with them responsible as well?
Where does the exploitation of human being from human being end? And how far can political games in a ravaged by politicians country go?
Surely spreading AIDS is bad, but aren't the people who are prostituting these women responsible too? Aren't they responsible for encouraging them to engage in unprotected sex? And aren't the men who actually seek illegal prostitutes (in a country where prostitution is legal -one of very few in Europe as seen from the chart, refer to link for details- and there are regulated brothels where you know the women are routinely checked by a medical team every two weeks!) and engage in unprotected sex with them responsible as well?
Where does the exploitation of human being from human being end? And how far can political games in a ravaged by politicians country go?
Apr 22, 2012
Sarkozy: You Flunk on both Geopolotics 101 & Europolitics 101
Nicolas Sarkozy, in great part responsible for the direction of European politics since 2007, has come out with a preposterous suggestion: That France closes its borders to inter-European move from members of other countries of the European Union! After the economic and fiscal solitude that the German plan has suggested (and more or less practially implemented) for the countries of the European Union beginning 1st Jan.2013, mr.Sarkozy proposes exiting Schengen, the "contract" that allows members of all European Union countries to freely travel & work within the confines of the Union. In short, the last noble vision of our times is collapsing, if mr.Sarkozy has his way.
Not only that, but in order to "safeguard" his borders, he emphatically accused "the hole between Greece and Turkey" as the sole responsible party for the illegal immigration problem within Europe. Really??
Well, surely, for one, no one "invades" Europe through Norway, right? It's a matter of sheer geopolitical positioning that makes this very corner of Europe the pivotal point it is in the destiny of the continent. It has always been so, since the Persian advances in 5th century BC. Where's your historical memory, mr.Sarkozy? Were you absent that day in school?
Not to mention that there is no credible way of determining an immigrant's potential, goals, contribution and outlook beforehand!
Newsflash, mr.Sarkozy:
1. Not only does Dublin II (which the administrations of France and Germany have been instrumental in implementing because it suits them and getting Greece to sign under no subtle threats to sovereignity) force us to retain each and every illegal immigrant that enters our country, claiming asylum....(resulting in thousands of illegal immigrants who come in Greece with the hopes of entering the EU and traveling to other countries in the first place to find a decent job!)
2.....but people here in cahoots with your administration (and Germany's) are actually on the payroll making sure that the illegal immigrants in the port of Patras (and elsewhere) NEVER embark the ships to other countries and remain in a state of beggary and deliquency here (where no decent jobs can be found anymore thanks to your brilliant economic plans of the last 3 years!).
An intricate problem has arisen in Greece concerning illegal immigration where no sufficient or fair solution has been given so far.
Bottom line: You're just playing for votes, mr.Sarkozy. Cheap shot, absolutely no concern for people.
You have made us the dumbing block of Europe, the scapegoat for every ill. You deserve to be dumbed by your own people. They're not stupid, you know; it would be a gross mistake to think that they were.
Not only that, but in order to "safeguard" his borders, he emphatically accused "the hole between Greece and Turkey" as the sole responsible party for the illegal immigration problem within Europe. Really??
Well, surely, for one, no one "invades" Europe through Norway, right? It's a matter of sheer geopolitical positioning that makes this very corner of Europe the pivotal point it is in the destiny of the continent. It has always been so, since the Persian advances in 5th century BC. Where's your historical memory, mr.Sarkozy? Were you absent that day in school?
Not to mention that there is no credible way of determining an immigrant's potential, goals, contribution and outlook beforehand!
Newsflash, mr.Sarkozy:
1. Not only does Dublin II (which the administrations of France and Germany have been instrumental in implementing because it suits them and getting Greece to sign under no subtle threats to sovereignity) force us to retain each and every illegal immigrant that enters our country, claiming asylum....(resulting in thousands of illegal immigrants who come in Greece with the hopes of entering the EU and traveling to other countries in the first place to find a decent job!)
2.....but people here in cahoots with your administration (and Germany's) are actually on the payroll making sure that the illegal immigrants in the port of Patras (and elsewhere) NEVER embark the ships to other countries and remain in a state of beggary and deliquency here (where no decent jobs can be found anymore thanks to your brilliant economic plans of the last 3 years!).
An intricate problem has arisen in Greece concerning illegal immigration where no sufficient or fair solution has been given so far.
Bottom line: You're just playing for votes, mr.Sarkozy. Cheap shot, absolutely no concern for people.
You have made us the dumbing block of Europe, the scapegoat for every ill. You deserve to be dumbed by your own people. They're not stupid, you know; it would be a gross mistake to think that they were.
Apr 13, 2012
Oh my sweet spring!
From the documentary by Vasilis Kesisoglou "Oh my sweet Spring" ("Ω Γλυκύ μου Έαρ"), named after the hymn of Good Friday. Ministry of Culture © 1984
Sung by the angelic Flery Dadonaki
Apr 11, 2012
Paying the Price of the Most Idiotic Economic Experiment in Modern History
"A terrible suffering has been unleashed upon the Greek people as a result of the Euro crisis, and the fiscal incompetence and corruption of the previous Greek government. The leaders of the richer, more powerful European nations, especially France and Germany, have imposed a bureaucrat called Lucas Papademos on the broken country, and demanded cuts to public spending, whose human toll Christoulas has now come to symbolise. Pay and pensions have been debauched; taxes have risen very sharply.
Greece is entering its fifth consecutive year of recession. As the journalist Peter Oborne has noted, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Britain's national output dropped around 10 per cent in total.
Since 2008, Greece's output has dropped 13 per cent. Some forecasters think it could drop 10 per cent further this year alone. [...]
What do we owe the Greek people? Sympathy, solidarity, and support – and an apology too, if you campaigned in favour of the euro. Right on our doorstep in Europe, the country that gave birth to the continent is paying the price of the most idiotic economic experiment in modern history."
From an article in the Independent, a propos the suicide of 77 year old pharmacist pensioner Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in Syntagma Square right across Parliament on Wednesday, 4 April 2012 due to incapability of coping with the austerity measures. "I can't look my children in the eye any more" he wrote in his suicide note. The government had made it impossible for him to survive on the pension he had paid into for 35 years. "I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food," further read the note. Christoulas in his suicide note referred to the puppet Tsolakoglou government which annihilated all traces of his survival. For those who didn't know it, Georgios Tsolakoglou was the prime minister of Greece during Germany's Nazi occupation during World War II.
Further reading: The aftermath and the political significance of Christoulas's suicide.
A Greek tragedy. One of many.
Greece is entering its fifth consecutive year of recession. As the journalist Peter Oborne has noted, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Britain's national output dropped around 10 per cent in total.
Since 2008, Greece's output has dropped 13 per cent. Some forecasters think it could drop 10 per cent further this year alone. [...]
What do we owe the Greek people? Sympathy, solidarity, and support – and an apology too, if you campaigned in favour of the euro. Right on our doorstep in Europe, the country that gave birth to the continent is paying the price of the most idiotic economic experiment in modern history."
From an article in the Independent, a propos the suicide of 77 year old pharmacist pensioner Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in Syntagma Square right across Parliament on Wednesday, 4 April 2012 due to incapability of coping with the austerity measures. "I can't look my children in the eye any more" he wrote in his suicide note. The government had made it impossible for him to survive on the pension he had paid into for 35 years. "I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food," further read the note. Christoulas in his suicide note referred to the puppet Tsolakoglou government which annihilated all traces of his survival. For those who didn't know it, Georgios Tsolakoglou was the prime minister of Greece during Germany's Nazi occupation during World War II.
Further reading: The aftermath and the political significance of Christoulas's suicide.
A Greek tragedy. One of many.
Greece Named Best Place to Give Birth In
"8. Best place to give birth: Greece
Greece is the world's safest place to give birth, with a one in 31,800 risk of dying in childbirth. The UK is in 13th position, but the worst place to have a baby is thought to be the world's newest country, South Sudan. There are fewer than 20 midwives in the whole country."
From an article in the Independent.
Greece is the world's safest place to give birth, with a one in 31,800 risk of dying in childbirth. The UK is in 13th position, but the worst place to have a baby is thought to be the world's newest country, South Sudan. There are fewer than 20 midwives in the whole country."
From an article in the Independent.
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