THE GREEK OUTLOOK: April 2012

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.

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 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.

Apr 6, 2012

Tonia Sotiropoulou: The next Bond Girl is Greek

Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou has signed on to join the cast of ‘Skyfall‘, the 23rd film in the long-running Bond series, as the next Bond girl, according to James Bond news site MI-6 HQ. According to the report, Sotiropoulou, 24, who currently lives in London, will make her first appearance in 'Skyfall' as Bond’s new love interest during the opening scenes. The scene, which is being filmed and set in Istanbul, sees 007 being smuggled to a new location after he is assumed to be dead.