This is an article I wrote that was originally published on November 27 at The Press Project–International Edition.
Guided by an apparent desire to oppose the ruling coalition at all costs, Greece΄s main opposition party is attempting to block legislation that would bring down generic drug prices by utilizing alarmist anti-science rhetoric. Continue reading
I originally posted this on my Storify account on November 7.
Per EnetEnglish.gr:
Fraud squad launches investigation after wife of former Pasok minister Yiannos Papantoniou appeared on the infamous Lagarde List which identified around 2,000 Greeks with deposits at a Geneva branch of HSBC. Stavroula Kourakou was found to have allegedly deposited about €1.3m
…
Former defence and finance minister Yiannos Papantoniou and his wife, Stavroula Kourakou, could be forced to face trial on charges of alleged tax evasion of €3m between 2000 and 2010
This is the same Yiannos Papantoniou who in 2010 said that “Greece lacks a built-in culture of stability and discipline” in an appearance on Al Jazeera English as the Greek sovereign debt crisis was unfolding.
The complete Greek “Lagarde List” which includes Papantoniou’s wife Stavroula Kourakou can be found here.
Halki seminary. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adalar_6954.jpg
I will cop to being a relative newcomer to the world of Greek international relations. It is something that interests me, and seeing as how I reside in Washington, DC I do try to be in the loop regarding the activities of the Greek-American community. However, I will readily acknowledge I am still learning some of the ins and outs.
I think it’s fair to say that one of the key issues of interest to the Greek-American community is that of the rights of the Christian minority in Turkey. The re-opening of the Orthodox Halki seminary in Turkey in particular is of great importance. The framing of this issue as one of international religious freedom is something I absolutely agree with Endy Zemenides on-though this position is apparently widely held within the Greek-American community. Turkey ought to allow Halki to re-open, in accordance with international norms as well as its own secular constitution. Not doing so amounts to effective interference in the right to religious freedom of the local Orthodox minority. This minority is largely comprised of ethnic Greeks, and it makes perfect sense that the Greek government would seek to protect their interests. However, I will agree with the Greek side that this should not be a part of any Greek/Turkish Quid pro quo as Turkish PM Erdogan has apparently recently suggested when he said “While we return something, we have the right to expect the return of other things”. Continue reading
Milwaukee Bucks no. 15 NBA draft pick Giannis Antetokounmpo
In an appearance on Greek television yesterday, Golden Dawn leader MP Nikos Mihaloliakos compared Milwaukee Bucks Greek 18 year old no. 15 NBA draft pick Giannis Antetokounmpo to a chimpanzee. When asked to comment on Antetokounmpo becoming an exemplar for Greeks abroad, he remarked: “in the zoo if you give a chimpanzee a banana and a flag he’ll be ‘Greek’ too”. Continue reading
Minas Papageorgiou
The content of this article is adapted from a facebook post by Sasha Chaitow. A Greek version is also available at Minas Papageorgiou’s blog here.
Sadly there is a curious but pernicious variety of ecclesiastic censorship that persists in Greece, which is one of the primary reasons for which, despite the wealth of material of interest to esoteric scholars, folklorists and religious studies scholars, there is little to no knowledge of this beyond Greek borders. My friend and colleague, investigative journalist Minas Papageorgiou recently published his new book with Εκδόσεις Δαιδάλεος (Daidaleos Publications), an independent publishing house that specializes in quality research publications on a variety of topics including philosophy, religion, folklore, history, psychology, and culture.
Continue reading
Antonis Samaras (left) with Failos Kranidiotis (right)
What follows is a translation of an article in Greek written by lawyer Failos Kranidiotis, a long time close adviser to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras that was published on June 9 to coincide with the Athens Gay Pride parade. To my knowledge, no one from the Samaras administration has made any statements in objection.
h/t @Vlattas_C
This is my op-ed that appears in the print edition of the April/May 2013 issue of Free Inquiry magazine.
Nowhere is the European crisis that followed the Wall Street crash of 2008—and especially the subsequent effort to combat it—felt more sharply than in Greece. The country is suffering an economic depression after five years of rapidly declining output with no end in sight as it fails to meet the demands of the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who are since a 2010 bailout its largest creditors. Greece is also one of the largest entry points for immigrants into the EU—many of them asylum seekers—with the result that an estimated 10 percent of the population are not citizens and are widely portrayed in the local media as dangerous criminals.
While the Corpus Christi and “Elder Pastitsios” pending blasphemy cases have grabbed most of the headlines, this is a case I was not aware of. Given the timing with Greek Orthodox Easter this weekend, this is a very timely and interesting case, which thankfully ended in an acquittal.
Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis has published a detailed account of an alleged criminal ring’s plans murder him. In addition, the ring was allegedly responsible for defamatory anonymous blog posts and blackmailing of journalists as well as a candidate for political office in the last elections, among a slew of illegal activities. His report is published in full in the April 18 issue of Vaxevanis’ magazine HOT DOC.
According to Vaxevanis, the criminal ring is composed of current and former members of the Greek National Intelligence Service (NIS), journalists, and some of their spouses. In the article, the members are almost all identified only by their initials and some redacted photos of members are also included. Funding for the team is provided by a banker who is also not named, and they were employing the services of a spy from neighboring fYROM. Vaxevanis alleges that the group is behind both a failed attempt on his life in September 2012 as well as a defamatory blog post on the site Fimotro in an apparent effort to discredit him. A similar defamatory post on the same site succeeded in causing the electoral defeat of Vasilis Hitos, a candidate in last year’s elections with the Independent Greeks political party. Journalist Tasos Telloglou was also threatened by the banker. Also uncovered was an apparent plot to falsely incriminate a former female bank manager by planting drugs in a restaurant she owned. The bank manager had been fired ostensibly for embezzlement but allegedly it is actually because she possesses damning evidence about the banker’s family’s activities. By orchestrating a very public arrest of her on charges of distributing drugs, her credibility as a witness was to be damaged in case her allegations against the bank came to light. *
Video description (length 10:23)
On the 23rd of November 2012, Amnesty International screened this video at the “Role of Women in the Arab Spring” event, which took place at the Cervantes Institute in Athens, in a greater scheme of the organization’s efforts for the rights of women in the Middle East and North Africa.
From the beginning of the revolution and protests in the area, Amnesty International has called on all authorities to respect human rights and shall continue to do so. At the same time the organization is closely monitoring developments, sending out regular investigative missions, and publishing recorded content on human rights abuses.
With this event, Amnesty International acknowledged the equal contribution and struggle for this highly desired change, in all citizens. Additionally it aimed at pointing out the specific role of women’s activity in the Arab Spring, and due to their position and gender the discrimination and extremely serious violations they had inflicted upon them.
