tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30137385140135292392024-03-13T06:44:43.223+02:00Island newsGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.comBlogger2373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-55676451444503682452014-03-30T21:28:00.001+03:002014-03-30T21:28:04.383+03:0030 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess Their Best Kept Secrets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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These questions were
asked on Reddit. My mind has officially been blown. I travel a lot, so
some of this is pretty scary if you ask me. Maybe I’ll start taking the
train…</div>
<blockquote>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
1. The true story behind those oxygen masks.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-oxygen-masks/" rel="attachment wp-att-1103"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="294" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-oxygen-masks.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="448" /></a></div>
That if the oxygen masks drop down, you only have about 15 minutes of
oxygen from the point of pulling them down. However, that is more than
enough time for the pilot to take us to a lower altitude where you can
breathe normally.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
More important – at altitude, you have 15-20 seconds
before you pass out. Put yours on first, then do your kids. Passing out
for a few seconds won’t harm the kids.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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2. The water in the lavatories is very dirty too.</h3>
Whatever you do, do not drink the water in the lav. It is bad enough
to “wash” your hands in it. We sanitize the water tank at selected
maintenance intervals, however parasites build tolerances to these
cleaners.<br />
Check the outside of the aircraft when walking in. If the paint is
crappy shape, the plane is in crappy shape. Skydrol (hydraulic fluid) is
a nasty fluid and will dissolve everything. So if the paint is missing,
it’s probably from a skydrol leak. No one wants a hydraulic leak at
35,000 ft in the air. As you can’t just pull over and top the reservoir
off.<br />
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3. The REAL reason the lights on the airplane dim when landing.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-interior/" rel="attachment wp-att-1104"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="295" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-interior.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="442" /></a></div>
When a plane is landing at night, they dim the interior lights in
case you need to evacuate upon landing… your eyes are already adjusted
to the darkness so you’ll be able to see better once outside the plane.<br />
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4. Lightning and the power of a pilot.</h3>
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<a href="http://viralscape.com/secrets-about-flying/airplane-struck-by-lightning/" rel="attachment wp-att-1093"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="252" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-struck-by-lightning.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="504" /></a></h3>
My dad’s been an airline pilot for almost 20 years, and apparently
planes get struck by lightning all the time. Also if a passenger is
causing a scene in the jetway he can refuse to let them on and take off
without them.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The captain has almost limitless authority when the doors
are closed. He is allowed to arrest people, write fines and even take
the will of a dying passenger<br />
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5. Those lavatories unlock from the outside.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-lavatory/" rel="attachment wp-att-1102"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="410" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-lavatory.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
You are able to unlock airplane lavatories from the outside. There is
usually a lock mechanism concealed behind the no smoking badge on the
door. Just lift the flap up and slide the bolt to unlock.<br />
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6. A true story of a bomb threat.</h3>
I have a friend who’s a commercial pilot. Around five years ago he
was doing a flight from LA to Tokyo when an anonymous caller phoned in a
bomb threat while they were over the middle of the Pacific. Apparently
they have procedures for this kind of thing, but there was nothing
anyone could do in this situation except stay calm and not alert the
passengers (obviously). He said for the rest of the flight every bump of
turbulence made his adrenaline spike. They took this case especially
seriously because there was a group of foreign dignitaries sitting in
the first class cabin.<br />
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7. Regarding food on the plane.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/secrets-about-flying/airplane-food-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-1117"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="410" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-food1.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
My dad works for a large airline, he told me a few little things<br />
<ul>
<li>2 pilots are served different meals and cannot share, this is done in case of food poisoning.</li>
<li>Stealing food, even if they are going to throw it out can get you
fired instantly. You can ask your supervisor, but you cannot take food.
They don’t want people messing with it.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
8. The truth about flying with pets.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/animal-victims-of-katrina-are-evacuated-from-mississippi/" rel="attachment wp-att-1095"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="600" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dog-carriers-in-airplane.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="1200" /></a></div>
I am an aircraft fueler.<br />
One thing I cannot stress enough is how your pets are treated. While
your airline will take the best possible actions, some things cannot be
avoided, like the noise on the ramp. I cannot stand out there without
ear protection, and imagine your pet sitting out there on the ramp
waiting to be loaded onto the plane being exposed to the same amount of
noise I am.<br />
Please people, think twice before flying your pets.<br />
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9. What flight attendants really do after telling the plane to turn off their electronics.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/naughty-flight-attendant/" rel="attachment wp-att-1107"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="720" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Naughty-flight-attendant.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="960" /></a></div>
My sister is a flight attendant, she says after she tells everyone to
turn off all electronics, she goes to the back and pulls out her phone
and starts texting.<br />
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10. A trick for making more space for yourself.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-seats/" rel="attachment wp-att-1092"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="321" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-seats.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="480" /></a></div>
Arm rests – aisle and window seat: Run your hand along the underside
of the armrest, just shy of the joint you’ll feel a button. Push it, and
it will lift up. Adds a ton of room to the window seat and makes
getting out of the aisle a helluva lot easier.<br />
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11. Don’t drink water on a plane that didn’t come from a bottle.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/back-camera/" rel="attachment wp-att-1108"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="697" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/In-flight-drinks.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="933" /></a></div>
Former Lufthansa cargo agent here.<br />
Do not EVER drink water on an aircraft that did not come from a
bottle. Don’t even TOUCH IT. The reason being the ports to purge
lavatory shit and refill the aircraft with potable water are within feet
from each other and sometimes serviced all at once by the same guy. Not
always, but if you’re not on the ramp watching, you’ll never know.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
12. On the importance of locking your bags.</h3>
Lock your bags, carry-on bags included.<br />
Look online or in a travel store for TSA-approved locks. The TSA has
keys to open those locks in case they need to further inspect them (and
hopefully not steal from them). And most people don’t think to lock
their carry-on, but especially now with load factors very high, more and
more people are having to gate check bags. Once you drop your bag at
the end of the jetway for gate-checking, anyone from a fellow passenger,
to a gate agent, to a ramp agent has access to your bag.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
13. How a pilot approaches landing.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-landing/" rel="attachment wp-att-1101"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="368" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-landing.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
When you experience a hard landing in bad weather it wasn’t because
of a lack of pilot skills but it is in fact intentional. If the runway
is covered in water the airplane has to touch down hard in order to
puncture the water layer and prevent aqua planing.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Landings are nothing more than controlled crashes.” Pilot friend quote.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
14. Tipping could go a long way.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/emirates-first-class/" rel="attachment wp-att-1106"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="384" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Emirates-First-Class.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="576" /></a></div>
My girlfriend is a flight attendant. NO ONE tips flight attendants.
If you give your FA a fiver with your first drink you’ll probably drink
for free the rest of the flight.<br />
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15. Pilots are sleeping most of the time.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/secrets-about-flying/pilot-in-airplane-cockpit/" rel="attachment wp-att-1096"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="378" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pilot-in-airplane-cockpit.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="576" /></a></div>
1/2 of pilots sleep while flying and 1/3 of the time they wake up to find their partner asleep.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
16. Just because you’re flying with a big airline, doesn’t mean the pilots are experienced.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/cockpit/" rel="attachment wp-att-1110"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" height="409" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Cockpit.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
Regional airline pilot here. You may have bought a ticket on Delta,
United, or American, but chances are you’ll be flying on a
subcontractor. That means the pilots have a fraction of the experience,
training, and pay of the big mainline carrier. Also, I don’t get paid
enough to care if you make your connection. Most of the time we fly
slower than normal to make more money. The only time we fly fast is if
ATC tells us to or if it’s the go home leg.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
17. The truth behind turning off electronics.</h3>
Pilot here. Having to turn off electronics on a plane is totally useless.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Mobile electronic devices won’t really bring an airplane
down but they can be really annoying to pilots. Just imagine sitting in
the flightdeck descending to your destination and hearing the
interference of a 100+ cellphones picking up a signal. I have missed a
clearance or 2 that way.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
18. Sky Mall is one big rip-off.</h3>
Secret: All of the stuff in Sky Mall can be purchased on the internet for much less money.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
19. How your checked bags are really treated.</h3>
If it says “fragile,” it’s getting thrown harder. If it’s says this
side up, it’s going to be upside down. We have to fit freight and 100+
bags in a cargo pit. It has to fit how it’s going to fit…I will tell you
that when we see “I heart baggage handlers” bag tags…We take special
care of your shit.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
20. A flight attendant reveals just how dirty everything truly is.</h3>
I worked for Southwest as a flight attendant. Those blankets and
pillows? Yeah, those just get refolded and stuffed back in the bins
between flights. Only fresh ones I ever saw were on an originating first
flight in the morning in a provisioning city. Also, if you have ever
spread your peanuts on your tray and eaten, or really just touched your
tray at all, you have more than likely ingested baby poo. I saw more
dirty diapers laid out on those trays than food. And those trays, yeah,
never saw them cleaned or sanitized once.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
21. A loophole so you never have to pay baggage fees.</h3>
You can almost always gate check baggage (unless it’s abnormally
large) take two large carry-ons and ask then to gate check one. It’s
free and I never pay fees.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
22. Most flights are also carrying human organs.</h3>
The majority of domestic flights have human remains or organs on
them. I work below wing as a baggage handler. Watch out the window for
long boxes that say, “Head” at one end… Oh, and I can fit 150 bags in
bin 3 of a Boeing 737-300.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
23. Airports haven’t covered all of their security bases yet.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airport-security/" rel="attachment wp-att-1094"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="351" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airport-security.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="420" /></a></div>
There are actually legitimate security loopholes that, if widely
known, would let average citizens get right next to airliners, runways,
and taxiways. Like any system, if you know how it works, you know where
the cracks are.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
24. Planes without engines can still glide for a really long time.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/airplane-flying/" rel="attachment wp-att-1100"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="487" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-flying.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
A pilot told me if both engines fail, a plane can glide 6 nautical
miles for every 5000 feet. So at 35,000 feet, a plane can glide about 42
miles without power. Its why most accidents happen landing or taking
off.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
25. The drinking water used for coffee and tea is FILTHY.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/secrets-about-flying/airplane-coffee-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-1118"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="432" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Airplane-coffee1.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="576" /></a></div>
The drinking water, that used for making coffee, tea, etc., should
NEVER be consumed. The holding tanks in these sometimes 60 year old
planes are never cleaned. They have accumulated so much greenish grime
on the walls that in some places it can be inches thick.<br />
This one is very known by all airline employees.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
27. Why it’s always easier to just take the batteries out.</h3>
Women: if you pack a toy in your bag, take the batteries out. Because
if I’m loading your bag, and I hear it vibrating I have to tell my
lead. Then my lead has to come pull you off the aircraft and you have to
open your bag and turn off your toy in front of a bunch of giggling
grown ass men.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
27. Planes have a hard time flying on hot days.</h3>
I worked the ramp in Phoenix. On especially hot days, we had to
offload cargo because planes struggled to take off in the thin air.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
28. Even the headphones that come wrapped up aren’t new.</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://viralscape.com/best-kept-secrets-about-flying/in-flight-headphones/" rel="attachment wp-att-1109"><img alt="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" class="alignright" height="410" src="http://cdn.viralscape.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/In-flight-headphones.jpg" title="30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets You Dont Know About Flying" width="614" /></a></div>
I used to work for warehouse that supplied a certain airline with
items. The headsets that are given to you are not new, despite being
wrapped up. They are taken off the flight, “cleaned”, and then packaged
again.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
29. How to tell from the ground if a plane is being hijacked.</h3>
If the plane is being hijacked when the pilot lands they will leave
the wing flaps up that slow the plane down, this is to signal the
airport that there is something happening in the plane.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
30. The real reason there are still ashtrays in the lavatories.</h3>
Here’s one: ashtrays in the lavatories are mandatory equipment even
though the FAA banned smoking on flights years ago. The reasoning is
that if people do decide to smoke, they want them to have a place other
than the trash can to throw the butt.</blockquote>
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Who want’s to take a trip? Not me! I wish I can rewind 10 minutes ago and chosen not to read this. Eh, whatever!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://viralquake.com/2014/03/24/30-pilots-and-flight-attendants-confess-the-best-kept-secrets-you-dont-know-about-flying/">http://viralquake.com/2014/03/24/30-pilots-and-flight-attendants-confess-the-best-kept-secrets-you-dont-know-about-flying/</a></div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-20696170406586630582014-03-28T23:19:00.002+02:002014-03-30T21:58:52.844+03:00John Pilger - Stealing A Nation 2004 (MUST WATCH)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-65496901330060699692014-03-28T21:35:00.000+02:002014-03-28T21:35:25.981+02:00Corfu Nightscapes - A Company of Stars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-79822201142812604362014-03-27T23:51:00.000+02:002014-03-27T23:51:00.565+02:00BREAKING: GREECE TO GET NEW €8.5bn EURO AID TRANCHE TO AVOID MAY DEFAULT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a class="entry-author" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/author/hat4uk/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="View all posts by John Ward"><img class="irc_mut" id="irc_mi" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02330/greece_2330713b.jpg" style="margin-top: 3px;" />By John Ward</a>
<a class="permalink" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/breaking-greece-to-get-new-e8-5bn-euro-aid-tranche-to-avoid-may-default/" rel="bookmark" title="7:02 pm"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-03-27T19:02:06+00:00" pubdate="">March 27, 2014</time></a>
<span class="tag-links"><a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/tag/antonis-samaras-full-of-shit/" rel="tag">Antonis Samaras full of shit</a> <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/tag/e8-8-5bn-tranche-to-avoid-greek-default/" rel="tag">€8-8.5bn tranche to avoid Greek default</a> <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/tag/merkel-lied-to-german-people/" rel="tag">Merkel lied to German people</a> <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/tag/new-eu-relief-for-greece-granted/" rel="tag">New EU relief for Greece granted</a></span>
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<strong>US Embassy sources in Athens confirmed to The Slog tonight that a new sum around </strong><strong>€8-8.5bn</strong> will be handed over to the Greek Government in the next five weeks to enable it to avoid the May 21st default <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/breaking-greek-default-official-without-further-loans-greece-will-default-20-21st-may-2014/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><em>exclusively predicted here</em></span></span></a> on January 17th this year.<br />
I have no more detail beyond this, and so will stick to these four pertinent observations:<br />
1. Cyprus was raped by the EC last year because of a debt sum just €3.5bn larger than this one.<br />
2. Cyprus got into that situation by showing loyalty to its Greek compatriots being financially repressed by the Troika.<br />
3. The news comes just two months after Antonis Samaras told the
Greek people that Greece would “be freed from the EU aid program and
begin its recovery in 2014″.<br />
4. As I predicted, Angela Merkel lied to the German People about future bailouts.<br />
If there is anyone out there who still has faith in the eurozoners, europhiles and collaborators, I have but one question:<br />
<a href="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/why_.png"><img alt="why_" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26838" src="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/why_.png?w=812" /></a><br />
<h3 class="sd-title">
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/breaking-greece-to-get-new-e8-5bn-euro-aid-tranche-to-avoid-may-default/">http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/breaking-greece-to-get-new-e8-5bn-euro-aid-tranche-to-avoid-may-default/</a></h3>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-16271228855390475452014-03-25T00:04:00.001+02:002014-03-25T00:04:04.501+02:00Sneak peek: The Rock becomes Hercules<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<section class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module" id="module-position-NEUdXO5OIIA"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/staff/2104/bryan-alexander"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name">
Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY </span></a></div>
</section><div class="story-asset story-leadin-asset" id="module-position-NEUdXPIP1lg">
<h2 class="lead-in">
"I was born to play this role," says the 6-foot-5 action star.</h2>
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<img alt="3SneakPeek_HERCULES-MOV-jy-3497-" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/f69de91a78e9798b89417129a7cf26e53cdf6814/c=805-0-2580-1333&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/03/23//1395604309001-3SneakPeek-HERCULES-MOV-jy-3497-.JPG" /><span class="toggle"></span></div>
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<span class="credit">(Photo: Kerry Brown, Paramount Pictures)</span></div>
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Sometimes special moments strike like Zeus' thunderbolts on a movie set.<br />
For Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a massive jolt came on the set of <i>Hercules </i>(out July 25) during a scene when his Greek hero was chained to stone pillars.<br />
"It's
when Hercules breaks through the chains and becomes the demi-god he was
born to be," says Johnson. "I was actually yelling with all the power I
could muster, 'I am Hercules!' I gave it my all and made myself pass
out every time we did it. But I honestly felt in that moment that I was
born to play this role."<br />
From the looks of it, he might be right.<br />
Even
as a child, Johnson, 41, idolized the Herculean legend — "He was the
first superhero." But with his 6-foot-5 frame and his famously heroic
stature, Johnson is one of the few actors who could legitimately portray
his hero onscreen.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The effort has taken a decade, and came into focus when director Brett Ratner
came onboard four years ago. Johnson took eight months to sculpt his
body to demi-god status and maintained it during the taxing shoot in Hungary.<br />
"It's
incredible, he's up every morning at 3:45 right on the treadmill, then
it was right to the gym for hours," says producer Beau Flynn. "And then
it was to the makeup chair, then shooting all day in the heat. And
repeat that for 90 days."<br />
<div class="story-asset image-asset" id="module-position-NEUdXPI7YRE">
<aside class="wide single-photo" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><img alt="2SneakPeek_HERCULES-MOV-jy-3498-" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/e8f8559c4561cf42fa805c7777182f1d1d98e06d/c=0-49-3072-2359&r=x383&c=540x380/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/03/23//1395604309000-2SneakPeek-HERCULES-MOV-jy-3498-.JPG" width="540" />Dwayne Johnson in the title role in a scene from the motion picture "Hercules."<span class="credit">(Photo: David James, Paramount Pictures)</span></aside></div>
Johnson's
first transformation into his character took 41/2 hours after being
adorned with a wig, beard, makeup and wardrobe. "It looked incredible,
we had succeeded," says Johnson. "But it was like, how the hell can we
cut the time down?"<br />
Eventually they whittled the daily process to 3
1/2 hours, though the lush yak-beard ("Yes, real yak hair," says
Johnson) alone took 2 1/2 hours of application.<br />
"The No. 1 goal is to make the definitive version of <i>Hercules</i>," says Johnson. "We know we're going to be under a microscope."<br />
A competing <i>The Legend of Hercules,</i> starring Kellan Lutz
as the hero, bombed at the January box office and caused some initial
"confusion," says Johnson. But he's confident moviegoers will accept his
"passion-driven" project based on the graphic novel <i>Hercules: The Thracian Wars.</i><br />
The story finds Hercules after he has endured his famous 12 Labors
(which included slaying a nine-headed hydra and the fearsome Nemean
lion), punishment bestowed on him after killing his family in a fit of
insanity.<br />
Hercules is still in a dark place mentally, with scars
from his many battles. But now he is traveling with a group of
mercenaries and cashing in on his famous name until he's hired to train
an army for an epic battle.<br />
The setting allowed Johnson, wearing
Hercules' Nemean lion headpiece and wielding a massive oak club (with
the lion's claws), to lead war scenes featuring more than 1,000
soldiers.<br />
"Green screen and effects can be fantastic. But when you
have real men, real sweat and even real blood, it's very gratifying,"
says Johnson. "You feel the substance."<br />
After he was done with some serious clubbing, Johnson would recover in modern Hercules style.<br />
"I
had the club of Hercules and the Nemean lion's head in my room," says
Johnson. "I'd come home to that and catch something on the BBC with a
glass of tequila."<br />
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/03/23/hercules-rock-dwayne-johnson/6086699/?AID=10709313&PID=4003003&SID=pfxdni9mmttz">http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/03/23/hercules-rock-dwayne-johnson/6086699/?AID=10709313&PID=4003003&SID=pfxdni9mmttz</a> </div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-87792258743918033172014-03-24T23:48:00.000+02:002014-03-24T23:48:21.972+02:00Independence Day and the Feast of the Annunciation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2>
A dual holiday enriches the March travel season</h2>
<div id="by">
By <a href="http://gogreece.about.com/bio/deTraci-Regula-2006.htm" rel="author">deTraci Regula</a></div>
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<q style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Greek Independence Day Parade" class="photo" height="260" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/gogreece/1/G/C/n/GreekIndependenceDayParadeAntiparosCR2.jpg" width="320" /></q></div>
Traveling in Greece this <a href="http://gogreece.about.com/od/greeceyearyound/a/greecemarch.htm">March</a>?
Independence Day on March 25th will fill the streets with parades and
celebrations, both secular and sacred. In Athens, military parades for
Independence Day will vie with Feast of the Annunciation church
celebrations and anti-war demonstrations, keeping the streets both busy
and sometimes blocked.
<br />
<h3>
History of Greek Independence Day</h3>
In 1821, Greeks vigorously rose up against the oppressive Ottoman Empire
which had occupied Greece for nearly four hundred years, embarking on
the ultimately successful war of independence. Bishop Germanos of Patras
boldly raised the <a href="http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekflag/a/greekflag.htm">Greek flag</a>
at the monastery of Agia Lavras, inciting the Peloponnese to rise
against the oppressors. While the exact date probably was not March
25th, it did occur in late March and it was gradually associated with
the religious feast of the Annunciation.
<br />
<h3>
The Feast of the Annunciation</h3>
On this day in the Greek Orthodox calendar, the archangel Gabriel
appeared to the maiden Mary and announced the news: she was pregnant
with the divine child. Bishop Germanos chose this day to deliver a
different but not unrelated message: a new spirit was about to be born
in Greece. The churches celebrate the Festival of the Annunciation
with pomp, ceremony, and joy. The spectacle is especially vivid on the
islands of <a href="http://gogreece.about.com/od/tinos1/a/Tinos.htm">Tinos</a> and <a href="http://gogreece.about.com/cs/greekislands/a/hydragreekislan.htm">Idra (Hydra)</a>.
Hydra, a maritime merchant power with a swift, well-maintained fleet,
was a determined and effective supporter of the War for Independence,
doubling the celebration there. You can also expect colorful religious
ceremonies wherever the local monastery or church is named
"Evangelisimos" or "Evangelistria", such as Panagia Evangelistria on
Tinos.<br />
<br />
<h3>
More on Greek Independence Day & the Festival of the Annunciation</h3>
Travelers who don't throw themselves into the spirit of the day may be
frustrated with delays, unexpected site closures, and a general lack of
attentiveness by the Greeks, who are busy with the dual holiday.
<h3>
Greek Independence Day Abroad</h3>
Greek Independence Day is also celebrated by many of the Greeks of the
diaspora, and large parades are becoming more common in United States
cities where Greeks have made their homes, including Boston and New York
City. Each year, the U.S. President marks Greek Independence Day with a
proclamation reminding citizens of the contributions of Greece to
democracy, and of the ongoing contributions of expatriate Greeks in
their new communities throughout the world.<br />
<a href="http://gogreece.about.com/cs/folkloreevents/a/greeceindepend.htm">http://gogreece.about.com/cs/folkloreevents/a/greeceindepend.htm</a> </div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-59550157187269840812014-03-24T23:34:00.002+02:002014-03-24T23:34:24.449+02:00Hope: Cancer patient Panoulis, 4.5, to finally receive treatment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="panel_left">
<a class="thumbnail" href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/23/hope-cancer-patient-panoulis-4-5-to-finally-receive-treatment/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Hope: Cancer patient Panoulis, 4.5, to finally receive treatment"><img alt="Hope: Cancer patient Panoulis, 4.5, to finally receive treatment" src="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/23/hope-cancer-patient-panoulis-4-5-to-finally-receive-treatment/tcache/src=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/panoulis1.jpg&h=160&w=160&zc=1%27%29;" /></a> </div>
<div class="post_details">
Posted by <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/author/keeptalkinggreece/" rel="author" title="Posts by keeptalkinggreece">keeptalkinggreece</a> in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/3-society/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in Society">Society</a></div>
It needed two months of ‘promises and mockery’, the
mobilization of a whole island and the public outcry until 4.5-year-old
“Panoulis” -as his friends and supporters call him -could safely step
into the path of his therapy. Greek Health Ministry finally approved to
cover part of the money needed for the treatment of Panoulis at the
Memorial Hospital in New York.<br />
Panagiotis Georgotas has been suffering from neuroblastoma, an
aggressive form of cancer, quite common during infancy. Therapy in
Greece was not possible, the child needed to be treated in USA where
doctors gave him extreme high chances to beat the cancer. Apparently
Panoulis had 0% chances to be healed in Greece and Europe, but 70%-80%
in the USA even though the therapy is still at experimental stage.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://cdn7.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/panoulis.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="panoulis" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29328" height="158" src="http://cdn5.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/panoulis-300x158.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
But the money needed was immense, the family could not afford to
bring it together. The local community in the island of Corfu, the home
of Georgotas family, was mobilized and got together to raise funds. A
live-fundraising event was launched by private STAR TV and word was
spread through the newspapers, websites, blogs and social media. A
Facebook page was created to keep informed Panoulis’ supporters.<br />
The mobilization was concluded with success, money was raised and
Panoulis when on board of the plane to New York together with his
parents, end of February.<br />
Unfortunately the news at the Memorial Hospital were not good. Tests
showed that the problem was bigger than originally thought, Panoulis
ought to do separate treatments, the total cost skyrocketed: the
original cost of $ 265 000 swelled to $390,000.<br />
A relevant application by Georgotas family to the Greek Health
Ministry to cover the difference was rejected end of week with the
argument that “the therapy was at experimental stage” – even though it
seems that it has been applied for some years.<br />
Then a public outcry against the Health Ministry’s decision spread
like a wild fire through the Greek internet and users condemning the
minister.<br />
On Friday, the good news was posted on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/511458078974630/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>
by Panoulis father: Greek Health Ministry and National Health Care
system (EOPYY) had approved to come up for the additional cost, cover
the trip and the hospitals expenses for two months. After this period of
time, an extension will be given for the treatment cost.<br />
The real battle for Panoulis starts now.<br />
PS yes, it needs the mobilization of a whole society so that those in charge do ‘the obvious’…<br />
<a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/23/hope-cancer-patient-panoulis-4-5-to-finally-receive-treatment/">http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/23/hope-cancer-patient-panoulis-4-5-to-finally-receive-treatment/</a> </div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-87659120992262340292014-03-16T22:53:00.001+02:002014-03-16T22:53:33.571+02:00Five things 300: Rise of an Empire gets wrong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="headspace post-info">
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<img src="https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pop-up/9780199747320" title="After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars" />
</div>
</div>
<span class="shareThisBox"><strong></strong> <span class="st_facebook"></span><span class="st_twitter"></span><span class="st_plusone"></span><span class="st_email"></span><span class="st_sharethis"></span> </span>
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<h4>
By Paul Cartledge</h4>
<strong></strong><br />
Let’s be clear of one thing right from the word go: this is not in any
useful sense a historical movie. It references a couple of major
historical events but is not interested in ‘getting them right’. It uses
historical characters but abuses them for its own dramatic, largely
techno-visual ends. It wilfully commits the grossest historical
blunders. This is in fact a historical fantasy-fiction movie and should
be viewed and judged only as such. But in case any classroom teachers of
Classical civilization or Classical history should be tempted to use it
as a teaching aid: <em>caveant magistri</em> — let the teachers beware! Here are just five ways in which the movie is at best un-historical, at worst anti-historical.<br />
<strong>(1)</strong> Error sets in with the very title: the ’300′ bit
is a nod to Zack Snyder’s infinitely more successful 2006 movie to
which this is a kind of sequel, and there is not just allusion to but
bodily lifting of a couple of scenes from the predecessor. But which
Empire is supposed to be on the rise here? I suppose that it’s meant to
be, distantly, the ‘Athenian Empire’, but that didn’t even begin to rise
until at least two years after the events the movie focuses on: the
sea-battles of Artemisium and Salamis that both took place in 480 BCE.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<img alt="300_Facebook_fight" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62608" height="259.11" src="http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/300_Facebook_fight.jpg" width="700" /><br />
<strong>(2)</strong> The movie gets underway with a wondrously
unhistorical javelin-throw — cast by Athenian hero Themistokles (note
the pseudo-authentic spelling of his name with a Greek ‘k’) on the
battlefield of Marathon near Athens in 490 BCE, a cast which kills none
other than Persian Great King Darius I, next to whom is standing his son
and future successor Xerxes. Actually, though Darius had indeed
launched the Persian expedition that came to grief at Marathon, he was
not himself present there, nor was Xerxes. <br />
Themistocles, on the other hand, was indeed present, but rather than
carrying and throwing a javelin he was fighting in a dense phalanx
formation and wielding a long, heavy pike armed with a fearsome iron tip
made for thrusting into the Persian enemy hand-to-hand.<br />
<strong>(3)</strong> From the Persians’ Marathon defeat, which
(historically) accounts for their return revenge expedition under
Xerxes, the scene shifts to the Persians’ fleet — in fact, a whole
decade later. Connoisseurs of <em>300</em> will have been prepared for
the digitally-enhanced, multiply-pierced and bangled Rodrigo Santo
reprising his role of ‘god-king’ Xerxes. (Actually Persian king-emperors
were not regarded or worshipped as gods.) Even they, though, will not
necessarily have expected the Persian fleet to be under the command of a
woman, and a Greek woman at that: Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus
(modern Bodrum), who is represented (in the exceedingly fetching person
of Eva Green) as the equal if not superior of Xerxes himself, with her
own court of fawning and thuggish male attendants, all hunks of
beefcake.<br />
Here the filmmakers are indeed drawing on a properly historical well
of evidence: Artemisia — so we learn from Herodotus, her contemporary,
fellow-countryman, and historian of the Graeco-Persian Wars — was indeed
a Greek queen, who did fight for Xerxes and the Persians at Salamis.
She did allegedly earn high praise from Xerxes as well as from Herodotus
for the ‘manly’ quality of her personal bravery and her sage tactical
and strategic advice. <br />
But she was far from being admiral-in-chief of the entire Persian
navy. She contributed a mere handful of warships out of the total of 600
or so, and those ships of hers could have made no decisive difference
to the outcome of Salamis one way or the other.<br />
<strong>(4)</strong> For some reason — perhaps because they were
conscious of the extreme sameness of most of their material, a
relentless succession of ultra-gory, stylised slayings, to the
accompaniment of equally relentless drum’n'bass background thrummings —
the filmmakers of this movie, unlike of <em>300</em>, have felt the
desire or even the need to include one rather prolonged and really quite
explicit heterosexual sex-encounter. Understandably, perhaps, this is
not between say Themistokles and his wife (or a slave-girl), or between
Xerxes and a member of his (in historical fact, extensive) harem. <br />
But — utterly and completely fantastically — it is between
Themistokles and Artemisia in the interim between the battles of
Artemisium (presented as a Greek defeat; actually it was a draw) and
Salamis. Cue the baring of Eva Green’s considerable pectoral assets, cue
some exceptionally violent and degrading verbal sparring, and cue
virtual rape — encouraged by Artemisia at the time but later thrown back
by her in Themistocles’s face as having been inadequate on the virility
front.<br />
<img alt="300_Facebook_artemisia_2" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-62618" height="259.11" src="http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/300_Facebook_artemisia_2.jpg" width="700" /><br />
<strong>(5)</strong> The crowning, climactic historical absurdity,
however, is not the deeply unpleasant coupling between Themistokles and
Artemisia, but the notion that in order for Themistocles and his
Athenians to defeat the Persian fleet at Salamis they absolutely
required the critical assistance of the massive Spartan navy which —
echoes here of the US cavalry in countless westerns — turned up just in
the nick of time, commanded by another Greek woman and indeed queen,
Gorgo (widow of Leonidas, the hero of <em>300</em>), again played by Lena Headey. <br />
Actually, Sparta contributed a mere 16 warships to the united Greek
fleet of some 400 ships at Salamis, and like Artemisia’s they made
absolutely no difference to the outcome, which was resoundingly and
incontestably an Athenian victory. The truly Spartan contribution to the
overall defeat of the Persian invasion was made in very different
circumstances, on land and by the heavy-infantry Spartan hoplites, at
the battle of Plataea in the following summer of 479. But that is quite
another story, one in which the un- or anti-historical filmmakers show
not even a particle or scintilla of interest.<br />
<blockquote>
Paul Cartledge is the A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge and the author of <a href="http://global.oup.com/academic/product/after-thermopylae-9780199747320" target="_blank">After Thermopylae: the Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian War</a>s
(OUP, 2013). He hastens to make clear that he was not in any way a
consultant on ’300: Rise of an Empire’, as he had been, in a minor way,
on ’300′.</blockquote>
<a href="http://blog.oup.com/2014/03/five-things-300-rise-of-an-empire-gets-wrong/">http://blog.oup.com/2014/03/five-things-300-rise-of-an-empire-gets-wrong/</a><br />
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-65825247222519374172014-03-16T22:50:00.000+02:002014-03-16T22:50:16.216+02:00Bankers kill each other as Greek default looms, Carney & Osborne engage in light fisticuffs, Crimean War restarts without Florence Nightingale, Malaysian plane hijacked to five places at once, and Osborne prepares for Alamo remake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="entry-title">
</h1>
<div class="entry-meta">
<a class="entry-author" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/author/hat4uk/" title="View all posts by John Ward">By John Ward</a> <span class="tag-links"></span>
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/borischairptnet.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="borischairptnet" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-26668" src="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/borischairptnet.png?w=812" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: teal;"><em>Slog visual of the Month</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong>Events have been fast and furious over the last six weeks, and far too often devoid of humour. In re</strong><strong>cognition
of this, The Slog offers below a digest with links for all those
starved of time and chuckles. The latest score from the Big Match stands
at Dragons 9 Slog 0. I had a goal disallowed for offside when it was
1-0. It could’ve changed the entire face of the game. But as they used
to say in New Labour, forward not back.</strong><br />
<div>
February began in triumph with the <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/greece-slogs-default-prediction-officially-confirmed/" target="_blank">Slog’s prediction of Greek default</a> confirmed by the Wall Street Journal. There was no tickertape parade, and life in denial continued as normal.</div>
<div>
Two days later, I offered the <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/wind-power-german-data-shows-what-the-dutch-found-out-years-ago/" target="_blank">907th debunking of wind power</a>
(courtesy of the German Government) but the de facto acceptance of all
things Green carried on, with the evidence presented remaining in loco
parentis.</div>
<div>
The somewhat murky past of David SonoJim Prior in private health skullduggery was <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/revealed-the-shady-past-of-nhs-gun-dog-david-prior/" target="_blank">Slogged soon afterwards</a>
(he’d been chosen as head of an NHS enquiry, in much the same way that
Jeremy Hunt was chosen to ease through, sorry, monitor, the BSkyB bid).
The news was ignored in favour of Wayne’s loverat caper with 3-in-a-bed
call girls, and so we must regard Prior’s blatantly political
appointment as still in parentheses. <a name='more'></a><br /> There followed a vaguely satirical look at 35 years of Elm House <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/the-paedofile-elm-house-why-boris-johnson-is-a-very-happy-man/" target="_blank">paedophile enquiries,</a>
and Boris Johnson’s happiness that things were still going nowhere. The
post got massive hits, but Leon Brittan remains in cognito.</div>
<div>
The same day, it looked for a time as if bankers <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/wiping-out-the-whistleblowers-four-jumpers-a-missing-person-spell-panic-in-the-establishment/" target="_blank">might be killing themselves</a>
– or, even more hopefully, each other. But the death toll wasn’t
maintained. However, the reports did, I think, preface a broadening
theme from then on: that the self-styled elites had finally decided the
game was up. Top-end property and arable land sales around the world
soared, and the gold price began to creep up….all signs of the BSDs
looking for ways to convert cash into assets. Former Home Sec Ken Clarke
bought 20,000 acres in Canada, citing the need for somewhere large
enough to bury his ego and, in time, his tummy.</div>
<div class="SjzDGrjeush" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; height: 110px; margin: 10px auto; width: 100%; z-index: 0;">
<div>
<span></span>There was uncontained joy when former serial <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/bill-roache-the-bigger-picture-behind-a-pawn-in-the-game/" target="_blank">Coronation Street shagger Bill Roache</a>
was cleared of all under-age (these days meaning ‘paedophile’) sex
charges against him. I pointed out that his accuser appeared to have
lied, my reward for which was an irate comment asserting what a serious
accusation I was making. Accusing an innocent man of psychotically
illegal sexual behaviour is not exactly a parking offence either, but
when the Wimmin get going, the sane go away and hide. It is impossible
to catch a feminist in flagrante.</div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/the-saturday-essay-why-population-growth-water-wars-and-neoliberal-claptrap-are-inseparable/" target="_blank">Neoliberal claptrap</a>
about population growth and water resources became the next target, and
the usual comments bunfight between deniers and believers ensued.
Sadly, the homo sapiens birth explosion is not as yet in retentis.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
And so came the floods, with the two aligned sports of
blamestorming and sh*tavoidance on full display in all the sizes and all
the colours. <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/south-west-flooding-noah-farage-races-to-the-scene/" target="_blank">Noah Farage</a> mouthed off, but hadn’t bothered to vote in the EU debate about it. <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/somerset-floods-why-isnt-farage-owning-up-to-the-eus-role-in-this-disaster/" target="_blank">Ed Miliband</a> tried to look sympathetic, but he was of course the madman who agreed to EU policy on Somerset levels. And<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/exposed-why-ukip-coalition-ignoring-slog-taunts-on-somerset-tories-voted-against-flood-defences-farage-didnt-turn-up/" target="_blank"> David Cameron’s </a>nearest
thing to looking rural was a sheepish expression when asked how Tory
MEPs had voted about river-dredging. They had voted against. Highlight
of the saga was Draper Osborne announcing the correlation between rain
and floods, while remaining incapable of seeing the link between EU
membership and totalitarian insolvency. The<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/six-questions-the-somerset-flood-directive-dissemblers-cant-answer/" target="_blank"> full truth remained</a>, as ever, in absentia…most notably in the mainstream press.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I had already retailed scurrilous gossip from old Threadneedles
about Mark Carney’s view of the Chancellor as “a wideboy”, but it was
February 11th before the new Governor <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/carneys-housing-bubble-bank-stress-test-a-sure-sign-that-the-governor-is-very-much-his-own-man/" target="_blank">began opening the closet door</a>.
On that day, he announced a UK banks stress test to see what would
happen when, sorry if, a housing bubble emerges from George’s Help to
Buy bribe. Later, Mr Carney took things further emerging (between the
lines) as a <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/mark-carney-is-a-recovery-denier-with-good-reason/" target="_blank">convert to recovery denial</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="SjzDGrjeush" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; height: 110px; margin: 10px auto; width: 100%; z-index: 0;">
<div>
In the light of the second celeb acquittal (this time of <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/dlt-verdict-mets-bbc-vendetta-falling-apart-3-cheers-for-justice/" target="_blank">Dave Lee Travis</a>) The Slog began a long-overdue campaign of ridicule against Cop reject and all round twerp <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/williams-thomas-called-in-as-bbc-depraved-dj-in-new-dicksplay-shocker/" target="_blank">Mark Williams-Thomas</a>,
the self-appointed Paedofinder general whose legal expertise is so
encyclopaedic, he struggles with the difference between libel and
slander. MW-T left the Surrey police under unexplained circumstances
following a brief career as something or other as yet unknown. Surrey
police have vehemently denied that Mark was the force’s golf caddy,
although my own view remains he may well have been the Station
tea-caddy. Others allege he was trained as a sniffer dog (failed).
Anyway, the onslaught continues <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/a-correction-england-hockey-mark-williams-thomas-and-steve-mcnab/" target="_blank">between litigious scuffles</a>
and illiterate emails from the Lord Protector of Children. None of it
had any effect on the CPS, which vindictively decided to have another
crack at DLT. But not Leon Brittan. Plod’s obvious agenda thus remained
in actu.</div>
</div>
<div>
Later in the month, a Saturday essay revealed (again) how power mania is <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/the-saturday-essay-how-the-power-mania-of-a-whoring-political-class-is-killing-common-sense/" target="_blank">murdering common sense</a> with a mixture of stupidity and cunning. Later still, I decided that it was also <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/the-saturday-essay-goading-trolling-erasing-monitoring-and-other-animals-designed-to-murder-the-truth-forever/">murdering Truth</a>. Both essays got enormous hits,</div>
<div>
but at this point all eyes were averted in the direction of
Ukraine. The Slog’s opening suggestion that EU meddling in Ukrainian
affairs <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/ukraine-four-reasons-why-its-going-to-end-in-tears/" target="_blank">would end in tears</a> proved sadly prescient: there followed swiftly an analysis of some <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/analysis-if-ukrainian-dislocation-kills-resource-speculation-we-are-all-in-big-trouble/" target="_blank">unpleasant econo-fiscal backwash</a>, and then the dangers of<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/ukraines-financial-meltdown-the-danger-of-hungarian-contagion/" target="_blank"> multiple contagion via Hungary</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Attention then swivelled back to a 40-year-old hot scoop from the Daily Mail about <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/laboratory-paedophilia-part-two-why-the-opposition-has-nothing-much-to-say-on-the-subject/" target="_blank">Harman, Dromey and PIE</a>
– the infamous paedophile pressure group they were happy to have
affiliated to the Civil Liberties Council. The Mail was clearly under
orders to distract and embarrass with this aged reference to youthful
idiocy, chiefly because <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/dlt-retrial-why-is-a-bbc-dj-more-important-as-a-cps-sex-crime-target-than-a-former-home-secretary/" target="_blank">Elm House</a>
was still going nowhere and the Conservative-driven CPS felt rather
vulnerable over the new DLT charges. The Tory Party itself was also keen
to distract attention from its own <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/the-laboratory-strikes-again-westminster-adopts-jeremy-hunt-approach-on-paedophile-connections/" target="_blank">less than spotless record </a>on sociopathic perversion.</div>
<div>
I saw the phrase Harman, Dromey & Pie so much during that week,
it seemed to me that it might be the name of a firm of airbrushing
specialists in Bournemouth. But the only censorship in that fine coastal
town turned out to be at the local library, which has declared The Slog
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/gchq-to-get-247-access-to-youtube-but-library-visitors-to-get-no-access-to-the-slog/" target="_blank">unfit for human consumption</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Since then, there have been three stories dominating the media, of
which one – the missing Malaysian Aeroplane – I left well alone on the
grounds of its irrelevance to almost everything, and truly astonishing
level of complication and incompetence. The two real stories from here
on (until further notice) are the coming econo-fiscal collapse, and the
likely resumption of the Crimean War.</div>
<div class="SjzDGrjeush" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; height: 110px; margin: 10px auto; width: 100%; z-index: 0;">
<div>
<span></span>I’m all for some Victorian nostalgia now and then, but sending our gallant lads <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/ukraine-analyse-it-objectively-and-you-will-smell-the-fomenting-of-false-flags/" target="_blank">back to the Crimea</a>
170 years after the event strikes me as a tad extreme. Not in any way
being an extreme sort of fellow, David Cameron announced that Britain
would take a firm but pacifist approach to Russia’s decision to stop the
EU generally taking the piss. The Prime Minister has that principled
commitment to pacifism of all those who have unwisely abolished the
armed forces, but it has to be said that Vlad Shirtov-Putin has so far
run circles around all-comers on the Ukraine issue. The lamentable lack
of historical insight or consequential foresight in our Western
political class remains the greatest (and most dangerous) global
inequality we face. Significantly, a <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/the-saturday-essay-the-poverty-of-the-ruling-class-is-the-most-dangerous-inequality-in-the-world/" target="_blank">Saturday Essay </a>on
that subject attracted the highest comment response of the period…and a
record 46 5-star reviews. We must all hope that Ukraine is not in
articulo mortis…even if the geopolitical brains are.</div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
QE having been tapered – and the emerging economies suitably terrified – signs of <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/the-stock-markets-mixed-metaphors-and-jumbled-acronyms-but-the-signals-are-clear-enough/" target="_blank">a topping stock market</a> were there for all to see towards the end of February. Two days later I predicted that<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/crash2-why-its-going-to-be-a-bloodbath-on-four-fronts/" target="_blank"> the markets bloodbath</a>
was now almost upon us, but then the denouement of this crawling death
epic has been a long time coming. The difference this time is that the
signs are so much clearer, and the lack of available tools so obvious.
Thus, the <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/exclusive-rbs-gave-widespread-rises-as-well-as-bonuses/" target="_blank">catastrophic RBS results</a>,
the Chinese export slaughter, the plummeting price of copper, and the
Dow top-out signals couldn’t be ignored any longer. Except by The
Chancellor of the Exchequer.</div>
<div>
George Flashman-Nobsore is about to deliver yet more triumphalist
nonsense this coming week, and so the Telegraph dutifully trotted out <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/economic-recovery-revealed-the-key-point-the-media-left-out-of-todays-evidence-of-growth/" target="_blank">some optimism drivel last Monday</a>.
In response to this, The Slog delivered a comprehensive 5-0 thrashing
of the recovery myth over the ensuing days, culminating in an analysis
of the<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/uk-trade-deficit-the-osborne-economy-scam-isnt-unravelling-its-imploding/" target="_blank"> appalling export figures. </a>The
response was somewhat homoaeopathic in nature, primarily as a result of
the news breaking that the missing Malaysian plane had flown on in four
different directions at once, none of which included any sea – where
everyone was looking at the time. Joking apart, I have a nasty feeling
that this story will be a case of in caudo venenum. We shall see.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="SjzDGrjeush" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; height: 110px; margin: 10px auto; width: 100%; z-index: 0;">
<div>
<span></span>So
there we have it. The world is full of trouble spots, and I have been
travelling to virtually all of them. Over the last six weeks, in fact, I
have been at one time or another in Locoparentis, Retentis, Absentia,
Parentheses, Actu, and Caudovenenum. Thankfully, I have not been
noticeably Articulomortis, or spotted in Flagrante. While this is a
great relief, it is as nothing to that of remaining outside the UK, in
that place as yet undiscovered by the plebaeians, the quiet southern
Italian resort of Cognito.</div>
</div>
The motor home has arrived, and its instruction manual baffles me. So
too have the builders, who are busily engaged in discovering the
unexpected. When things become unfit for human habitation, I shall
repair to Vinoveritas.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/bankers-kill-each-other-as-greek-default-looms-carney-osborne-engage-in-light-fisticuffs-crimean-war-restarts-without-florence-nightingale-malaysian-plane-hijacked-to-five-places-at-once-and/"> http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/bankers-kill-each-other-as-greek-default-looms-carney-osborne-engage-in-light-fisticuffs-crimean-war-restarts-without-florence-nightingale-malaysian-plane-hijacked-to-five-places-at-once-and/</a></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-45476167788112463832014-03-07T23:36:00.001+02:002014-03-07T23:36:21.592+02:00Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a class="thumbnail" href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office"><img alt="Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office" src="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/tcache/src=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/alzheimers-patient-arrested.jpg&h=160&w=160&zc=1%27%29;" /></a> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Posted by <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/author/keeptalkinggreece/" title="Posts by keeptalkinggreece"><span style="color: blue;">keeptalkinggreece</span></a>
in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/3-society/" title="View all posts in Society"><span style="color: blue;">Society</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An Alzheimer’s patient had to
experience an incredible and cruel adventure, the moment she stepped out the
door. The 90-year-old woman left her home on a February night and started
wandering in her neighborhood. When policemen found her they took her to police
station. In a search apparently to find her relatives and some home address,
the computer spitted the information that the woman was owing 5,000 euro to the
tax office. According to the latest laws, debtors owing more than 5,000 euro to
the state have to be detained and prosecuted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead of bringing the Alzheimer’s
patient to the safe environment back home, the police had to apply the law and
detain her.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Next morning, the woman’s relatives
were informed about her detention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The relatives and the caretaker
found the woman in a stage of panic attack in a detention cell of the police
station and more than this… they found out that they were not allowed to take
her home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The woman had to appear before the
prosecutor according to ‘caught in act’ law that provides that a “criminal” has
to appear before the court within 48-hours after detention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Due to work overload of the
prosecutor, we were told that she could not appear to court that morning and
that she would have to stay longer in detention,” the woman’s niece told
private Mega TV on Sunday, adding that the woman had fell from the bed in the
cell and that she was injured.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">video: niece speaking to Mega TV</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">embedded by <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/embedded-video-with-link/" title="plugin page"><i><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Embedded
Video</span></i></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ky54Dg83c" title="YouTube"><span style="color: blue;">YouTube Direkt</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the relatives insisted of her
illness, the prosecutor ordered her transfer to a public psychiatric facility
where she stayed for ten days under police guardianship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The public hospital confirmed her
illness and the woman was sent home. The prosecutor set the trail date a month
and a half later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, strictly applying the laws to
the <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/02/28/shame-on-greece-elderly-dumped-on-the-streets-of-a-collapsed-social-state/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">elderly and vulnerable</span></a> will
certainly save Greece from the huge debts and combat tax evasion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A fine of 100 euro would most probably
be imposed too, if the Alzheimer’s patient will not open an e-mail account and
declare it to the tax office within the next 60 days. That’s a new law issued
by the Greek Finance Ministry, according to which all taxpayers have to have an
e-mail account.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No, there are no laws in this
country full of troubled citizens to protect the rights of Alzheimer’s
patients.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">- See more at:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/#sthash.Brnq8ZAt.dpuf</span></div>
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<a class="thumbnail" href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/" title="Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office"><img alt="Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office" src="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/tcache/src=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/alzheimers-patient-arrested.jpg&h=160&w=160&zc=1%27%29;" /></a> tagged: <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/alzheimers/" rel="tag">Alzheimer's</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/arrested/" rel="tag">arrested</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/athens/" rel="tag">Athens</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/featured/" rel="tag">featured</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/greece/" rel="tag">Greece</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/patient/" rel="tag">patient</a>, <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/tag/tax-evasion/" rel="tag">tax evasion</a><br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/" rel="bookmark" title="Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office">Athens: Police arrests Alzheimer’s patient, 90, for €5,000 debt to the tax office</a></h2>
<div class="post_details">
Posted by <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/author/keeptalkinggreece/" rel="author" title="Posts by keeptalkinggreece">keeptalkinggreece</a> in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/3-society/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in Society">Society</a></div>
An
Alzheimer’s patient had to experience an incredible and cruel
adventure, the moment she stepped out the door. The 90-year-old woman
left her home on a February night and started wandering in her
neighborhood. When policemen found her they took her to police station.
In a search apparently to find her relatives and some home address, the
computer spitted the information that the woman was owing 5,000 euro to
the tax office. According to the latest laws, debtors owing more than
5,000 euro to the state have to be detained and prosecuted.<br />
Instead of bringing the Alzheimer’s patient to the safe environment back home, the police had to apply the law and detain her.<br />
Next morning, the woman’s relatives were informed about her detention.<br />
The
relatives and the caretaker found the woman in a stage of panic attack
in a detention cell of the police station and more than this… they found
out that they were not allowed to take her home.<br />
The woman had to
appear before the prosecutor according to ‘caught in act’ law that
provides that a “criminal” has to appear before the court within
48-hours after detention.<br />
“Due to work overload of the prosecutor,
we were told that she could not appear to court that morning and that
she would have to stay longer in detention,” the woman’s niece told
private Mega TV on Sunday, adding that the woman had fell from the bed
in the cell and that she was injured.<br />
video: niece speaking to Mega TV<br />
<small>embedded by <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/embedded-video-with-link/" title="plugin page"><em>Embedded Video</em></a></small><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ky54Dg83c" title="YouTube">YouTube Direkt</a><br />
As
the relatives insisted of her illness, the prosecutor ordered her
transfer to a public psychiatric facility where she stayed for ten days
under police guardianship.<br />
The public hospital confirmed her
illness and the woman was sent home. The prosecutor set the trail date a
month and a half later.<br />
Yes, strictly applying the laws to the <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/02/28/shame-on-greece-elderly-dumped-on-the-streets-of-a-collapsed-social-state/" target="_blank">elderly and vulnerable</a> will certainly save Greece from the huge debts and combat tax evasion.<br />
A
fine of 100 euro would most probably be imposed too, if the Alzheimer’s
patient will not open an e-mail account and declare it to the tax
office within the next 60 days. That’s a new law issued by the Greek
Finance Ministry, according to which all taxpayers have to have an
e-mail account.<br />
No, there are no laws in this country full of troubled citizens to protect the rights of Alzheimer’s patients.<br />
- See more at:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2014/03/02/athens-police-arrests-alzheimers-patient-90-for-e5000-debt-to-the-tax-office/#sthash.Brnq8ZAt.dpuf</div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-8737867283044573782013-12-02T16:57:00.004+02:002013-12-02T16:57:45.155+02:00Golden Dawn supporters rally for imprisoned leader's release<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div id="article-header">
</div>
<ul class="article-attributes trackable-component b4" data-component="Article:byline">
<li class="byline">
<div class="contributor-full">
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"><a class="contributor" href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/helenasmith" itemprop="url" rel="author">Helena Smith</a></span></span> in Athens </div>
</li>
<li class="publication">
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/" itemprop="publisher">theguardian.com</a>,
<time datetime="2013-12-01T17:54GMT" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="">Sunday 1 December 2013 17.54 GMT</time>
</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Golden Dawn supporters held a massive protest in front of the Greek parliament." data-pin-description="Golden Dawn supporters held a massive protest in front of the the Greek parliament. Photograph: Nicolas Koutsokostas/Demotix/Corbis" height="276" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/12/1/1385919269004/Golden-Dawn-supporters-he-009.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="460" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Golden Dawn supporters
held a massive protest in front of the the Greek parliament.
Photograph: Nicolas Koutsokostas/Demotix/Corbis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Thousands of supporters of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/greece" title="More from the Guardian on Greece">Greece</a>'s
neo-fascist Golden Dawn gathered in front of the country's parliament
this weekend to demand the release of their imprisoned leader Nikos
Michaloliakos, in the party's first high-profile rally in months.<br />
Holding
burning torches and blue and white Greek flags, black-clad sympathisers
converged on Syntagma Square in Athens on Saturday night almost two
months after revelations emerged of the extremists' criminal activities.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
"Our
day will come," demonstrators chanted in an atmosphere thick with
smoke, anger and revenge. "Leader, you have ridiculed the system once
again."<br />
Michaloliakos has been in pre-trial custody since the September <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/18/greece-murder-golden-dawn" title="">murder of leftwing rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a self-confessed party member</a>. The killing prompted a government crackdown that unmasked the group as a violent paramilitary organisation.<br />
Thirteen
Golden Dawn MPs are either in detention, face charges, or have had
their parliamentary immunity lifted as prosecutors build a case that its
leadership was involved in attacks against opponents and immigrants.<br />
From
his cell in Athens' high security Koyrdallos prison, Michaloliakos has
vehemently denied the charges and argued he is a political prisoner.<br />
Police
estimated that Saturday's demonstration drew around 5,000 far-rightists
although the extremists put the number at 50,000, saying it was a
wake-up call to the "so-called democratic establishment".<br />
Successive
surveys have shown that while the group took a drubbing in the
aftermath of the assassination it has rebounded sharply and remains
crisis-hit Greece's third biggest political force.<br />
The drive-by
shootings of two Golden Dawn members outside the offices of a local
Athens branch reanimated support with one polling firm, Metron Analysis,
recently finding that 10.5% of voters would back the party. "The
nightmare of Golden Dawn is returning," wrote the Sunday Ethnos, which
commissioned the report last week. "It is regaining its strength before
the blood of Pavlos Fyssas even dries." A poll conducted for this
weekend's Sunday Vima showed 7.9% of Greeks would vote for Golden Dawn
if elections were held next week.<br />
"Their operational base may have
been hit by the revelations," said Dimitris Psarras, the country's
leading authority on the far-rightists. "The attacks by hit squads may
have stopped but all the reasons why people voted for Golden Dawn still
exist," he said. "The party has clearly not lost support among those
badly hit by the country's economic crisis."<br />
Officials in the
two-party coalition led by prime minister Antonis Samaras privately
admit that secret polls conducted on behalf of the governing New
Democrats and Pasok Socialists reveal even higher approval ratings. "One
poll showed them getting 17%," said a well-placed insider. "They may
have become socially less acceptable but it would be naive to think that
Golden Dawn is over."<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/greece-golden-dawn-supporters-rally-release-nikos-michaloliakos">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/greece-golden-dawn-supporters-rally-release-nikos-michaloliakos</a><br />
</div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-16513398920090733802013-11-29T18:35:00.005+02:002013-11-29T18:35:56.321+02:00EUROBLOWN BREAKING…..Writing on the wall as Troika, ECB split on Greece, and Spanish bank lending collapses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="entry-title">
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<a class="entry-author" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/author/hat4uk/" title="View all posts by John Ward">By John Ward</a>
<a class="permalink" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/euroblown-breaking-writing-on-the-wall-as-troika-ecb-split-on-greece-and-spanish-bank-lending-collapses/" rel="bookmark" title="7:13 am"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2013-11-29T07:13:25+00:00" pubdate="">November 29, 2013</time></a> <span class="tag-links"></span>
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<a href="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/cards2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cards2" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-25219" src="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/cards2.jpg?w=812" /></a></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;"><strong>BUSTED FLUSH IN THE HOUSE OF CARDS</strong></span></h2>
For some time now, The Slog has been pointing out the inevitability
of Greek default next Spring unless there is a change in the stony-faced
attitude of Brussels-am-Berlin. A week ago, a<a href="http://sharedmedia.ml.com/media/45418.pdf"> Merrill Lynch note</a>
at last started debating the ‘inconvenient truth about Greece’. Now it
transpires that secret negotiations between Athens and the Troika are
under way about the promised then unpromised debt relief, and whether a
further bailout of banks will be possible.<br />
Nobody as yet wants to acknowledge the stream of urine bursting forth
from the elephant to drown everyone in this room: that the ‘recovery’
hype is exactly that, and under the terms of Bailout2 the Greek debt
just keeps getting bigger. <br />
<a name='more'></a>But that consideration becomes irrelevant
once the inevitable repayment failure occurs. And despite the pressing
nature of inevitability, frankly the eurozone powers are all over the
place about what to do: the divisions are deeper than ever.<br />
New data from the ECB shows that the ezone money-supply and general
liquidity dropped catastrophically during October. The overall figure
for loans to non-financial companies shrank by 3.7% overall, but it is
the country by country ClubMed figures that spell disaster: Societe
Generale says the total lending fall was 5.7% in Italy, 6.6% in
Portugal, and a horrific 19.3% in Spain. I told you a year ago that the
Spanish banks were empty, and guess what – they are.<br />
Another recurrent Slog question has been “what about the capital
flight data?” that was hidden by Mario Draghi’s ample bum for several
months. But in reality, poor bank lending figures are just one symptom
of that – plummeting economic activity being another.The circle is now
so vicious, it’s getting hard to tell cause, disease and symptom apart.<br />
The hawkish gung-ho faction on the ECB Board now wants all-out Zirp
and QE to get things moving again. Even that would be far too little far
too late – and anyway, I retain all of my original doubts about the
strategy per se. But to make the lack of new ideas worse, Berlin’s ECB
contingent remains implacably opposed to further compromising of the
single currency.<br />
Somebody now needs to sit Germany’s Grand Coalition down and say,
“Time to get off the pot, guys: are you in for a cent, in for a
euro….and if not, what exactly <em>are</em> you up for?” It could well
be they’ll get an answer sooner than they think. Merkel and Schäuble
lied on an industrial scale to get the German people behind the euro
project in the recent General Election; but sitting now as they do –
secure at the top of a Germany united behind the EU as never before –
the shilly-shally nonsense will soon stop.<br />
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/euroblown-join-up-the-dots-and-germanys-banking-union-game-plan-becomes-clearer/">Two weeks ago</a>,
I noted: ‘this time [the decision] certainly isn’t going to be
“nothing”: because Mario Draghi may have the ECB votes, but a strident
Germany has far less cash at risk than before.’ At that time, ECB
executive board member Peter Praet told the media, “<em>“<strong>The balance-sheet capacity of the central bank can also be used. This includes outright purchases that any central bank can do.”</strong></em><br />
Well, now the hawks want to press ahead with it. The Germans have
more than halved their exposure to Target2 money….and I predict they
will now start the process of making no mean no, prior to a
German-dominated banking union that will leave Draghi neutered.<br />
Over at the IMF, meanwhile, Lagarde is distancing herself further
still from Troika colleagues. There are hints in public, but in private
Chrissy is pressing very hard for major-league debt relief for the
Greeks. It’s not hard to see why: this would limit the scale of IMF
losses more than any other single thing.<br />
But Wolfie and Geli don’t give a monkey’s about the IMF: their
mission remains the same – to fast-track banking union under German
control, and let ClubMed suffer the consequences.<br />
The Germans are about to light one of many fuses leading towards the
global gunpowder barrel. If nothing else, they should look more closely
at the state of Greek banks: despite the recapitalisation, large parts
of the balance sheets in key institutions are as smelly as ever. You’d
have thought the drop in Spanish bank lending would be more than enough
for Berlin to rethink its position. But it hasn’t, and it won’t. We are
all about to get yet another dose of the recurrent German disease:
intransigence in the face of hard facts. Cue <em>Triumph of the Will</em> remake. Cue Götterdammerung.<br />
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/euroblown-breaking-writing-on-the-wall-as-troika-ecb-split-on-greece-and-spanish-bank-lending-collapses/">http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/euroblown-breaking-writing-on-the-wall-as-troika-ecb-split-on-greece-and-spanish-bank-lending-collapses/</a> </div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-53576686235693787492013-11-29T18:32:00.000+02:002013-11-29T18:32:41.407+02:00Athens Tech Demo Siggraph 2013 from WHISKYTREE on Vimeo <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1dNU27tiJlo?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-71461457487249645292013-11-26T23:46:00.002+02:002013-11-27T00:00:03.763+02:00Reena Patel Checks Into The Westin Resort Costa Navarino<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="luxuriousmagazine" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-27132" height="430" src="http://sin.stb.s-msn.com/i/A9/41B2398FF850B1BCB6A4614BC189.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="luxuriousmagazine" width="624" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A colossal luxury development bursting with five star resort flair and authentic Mediterranean flavour.</i></td></tr>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red;">A
wondrous realm lies in the sun-drenched and rich historical region of
Messinia in the southwest Peloponnese of Greece – Costa Navarino.</span></h3>
Navarino Dunes, the first area, is home to two totally geared up hotels: The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort and The <i>Westin Resort, Costa Navarino</i>.
Inspired by old Messinian mansions and traditional rural houses,
clusters of low-rise villas set within lush landscapes vividly conjure
up a suitably appropriate Mediterranean village vibe. The entire plot
also faces an unspoiled sandy beach, the shade of light muscavado sugar,
overlooking the sparkling Ionian Sea.<br />
I got to stay in one of the
more classically luxurious rooms at The Westin. Heavenly bed: check,
Wi-Fi access: check and most impressively, an outdoor patio with large
infinity pool to take a private dip: check and check.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Couples and
honeymooners should stay at The Romanos for its contemporary chic and
romantic look and feel. Although, that said, staying at The Westin
wouldn’t disappoint. Those ready to seriously splurge, or who want to
live it up a la ‘ultra-VIP’, will lap up all that the largest suite, the
Royal Villa Methoni, has to offer: personal butler service, a spa
treatment suite with steam room, media room, private gym and dedicated
outdoor dining area with barbeque.<br />
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<img alt="luxuriousmagazine" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-27133" height="280" src="http://sin.stb.s-msn.com/i/37/5462BFE9490E03F571AA52B2836F9.jpg" title="luxuriousmagazine" width="624" /></div>
</div>
If
you’re a poolside bunny, you’ll be pleased to hear there are a fair few
to plunge or paddle around in (there are five in total within the
resort, two of which feature swim-up bars).<br />
<br />
The Anazoe Spa is also
a must. ‘Anazoe’ is derived from the Greek word for rejuvenation and
the belief is to heal both body and spirit in accordance with the
ancient Greek maxim, ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. I blissfully
floated around like a feather in the three large thalassotherapy pools,
before indulging in a massage treatment that cleverly draws on ancient
Greek medicine, inspired by the wisdom of one of the greatest
philosophers, Hippocrates. The spa also has multiple steam rooms and
mist chambers, herbal saunas and an ice-grotto.<br />
Food here is
varied, fresh (the resort has it’s own herb garden) and fantastic. Feta
salad is a firm Greek staple but it’s never bland or boring. Top it up
with kritamo – a wild, briny Grecian seaside herb, similar to samphire.
Instead of halloumi, we tasted talagani – a sheep’s milk cheese from
Messinia that’s much softer, creamier and superior. For lunch, the
seafront Barbouni Beach Bar is the spot for fresh seafood, grilled meats
and light snacks.<br />
<a href="http://www.luxuriousmagazine.com/2013/11/the-westin-resort-costa-navarino/">http://www.luxuriousmagazine.com/2013/11/the-westin-resort-costa-navarino/</a></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-21063436798152533572013-11-26T23:33:00.001+02:002013-11-26T23:33:20.544+02:00Why non-Christians and even non-believers should fight to preserve Hagia Sophia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="pipe"></span> <a href="http://hellenicleaders.com/author/georgia/" rel="author" title="Posts by Georgia Logothetis">Georgia Logothetis</a> </div>
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<strong><em>Help us send a strong message that Hagia Sophia
should not be converted into a mosque. We’ll deliver this petition
directly to UNESCO and other interested parties to make clear that the
world needs Hagia Sophia to continue to be accessible and appreciated by
all. </em></strong> <strong><em><a href="http://hellenicleaders.com/HagiaSophia">http://hellenicleaders.com/HagiaSophia</a></em></strong><br />
On <a href="http://www.aina.org/news/20131124214706.htm">November 24, 1934</a>,
the Turkish Council of Ministers decreed that Hagia Sophia, formerly a
Christian church and at that time a mosque, would thereafter operate as a
museum for all. Nearly 79 years to the day of that proclamation, there
is a serious movement in Turkey to undue that decree. When the decree
was made, the decision to shed Hagia Sophia’s mosque status and convert
it into a museum was rooted in an appreciation for the building’s
history and architecture. As the Turkish Council of Ministers declared
at that time:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<blockquote>
“[D]ue to its historical significance, the conversion of
the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art
located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world
and its conversion into a museum will cause humanity to gain a new
institution of knowledge.” [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hagia-Sophia-1850-1950-Wisdom-Monument/dp/0226571718">source</a>]</blockquote>
Since then, millions have visited Hagia Sophia, basking in the
glorious Byzantine architecture and honoring the site’s history. What
most across the world view as a bustling hub of historical appreciation,
some in Turkey view as an affront to the building itself. A <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-nationalist-party-seeks-prayers-in-the-hagia-sophia.aspx?PageID=238&NID=57632&NewsCatID=338">bill was introduced earlier this month</a>
in Turkish parliament to convert Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. Lest
there be any doubt that this is just some fringe move, Turkey’s own
deputy prime minister had <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-deputy-pm-expresses-hope-to-see-hagia-sophia-as-mosque.aspx?pageID=238&nID=57998&NewsCatID=338">this</a> to say a few weeks later:<br />
<blockquote>
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has expressed his hope
to see Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum be used as a mosque, while
already calling it the “Hagia Sophia Mosque” while speaking to
reporters. “We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque … we are
looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we will see it smiling
again soon,” Arınç said in a speech during the opening ceremony of a new
Carpet Museum, located adjacent to the ancient Hagia Sophia complex. He
cited two other complexes with the same name in Turkey that have
recently been converted into mosques.</blockquote>
What does a potential mosque conversion mean for Hagia Sophia, and
why should everyone care? Christians obviously have a deep interest in
preserving the history of their faith, but even non-Christians and
non-believers should be appalled the attempts to cast off Hagia Sophia’s
museum status.<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_6054" style="width: 610px;">
<a href="http://hellenicleaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/image.jpeg"><img alt="Restoration of mosaics at Hagia Sophia." class="size-large wp-image-6054" height="422" src="http://hellenicleaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/image-600x422.jpeg" width="600" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Restoration of mosaics at Hagia Sophia.</div>
</div>
History has well-documented what happened the first time Turkey
turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque: many of the icons and mosaics were
whitewashed or plastered over over the years. The painstaking
restoration of Hagia Sophia by experts over decades has revealed
awe-inspiring works of craftsmanship and faith. Indeed, the work to
undue the covering of Hagia’s Sophia’s Christian symbols continues to
this day. Just two years ago, the world <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherhowse/8026330/Sacred-Mysteries-An-appointment-with-an-angel-at-Hagia-Sophia.html">caught a glimpse of a long-covered Seraphim</a>.<br />
Hagia Sophia’s museum status has allowed millions of visitors across
faiths and demographics to enter and appreciate the masterpiece mosaics,
iconography and architecture. It’s history is a history that belongs to
the entire world, not just to Christians. The magnificent building
stands as a testament to man’s ability to channel faith into art, to
create from ordinary, human hands, something so extraordinary as to be
considered by some to be divinely inspired. It’s a work of art that
should inspire awe across faiths and demographics.<br />
In 563, <a href="http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ma/htm/or/ma_or_gloss_essay_paul.htm">Paul the Silentiary</a> described the awesome nature of the building:<br />
<blockquote>
Thus, as you direct your gaze towards the eastern arches,
you behold a never-ceasing wonder. And upon all of them, above this
covering of many curves, there rises, as it were, another arch borne on
air, spreading out its swelling fold, and it rises to the top, to that
high rim upon whose back is planted the base of the divine head-piece of
the center of the church. Thus the deep-bosomed conch springs up into
the air: at the summit it rises single, while underneath it rests on
triple folds; and through fivefold openings pierced in its back it
provides sources of light, sheathed in thin glass, through which,
brilliantly gleaming, enters rosy-ankled Dawn.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/procop-deaed1.asp">Procopious</a> would describe the building this way:<br />
<blockquote>
[The Church] is distinguished by indescribable beauty,
excelling both in its size, and in the harmony of its measures, having
no part excessive and none deficient; being more magnificent than
ordinary buildings, and much more elegant than those which are not of so
just a proportion. The church is singularly full of light and sunshine;
you would declare that the place is not lighted by the sun from
without, but that the rays are produced within itself, such an abundance
of light is poured into this church….</blockquote>
Hagia Sophia is a treasure that should continue to be accessible to
people of all faiths. For those who believe that the threats against
Hagia Sophia’s status are benign, learn about what happened last year to
the church-turned-museum of Hagia Sophia of Iznik. That Hagia Sophia
was of great historical significance to Christians around the world —
it’s where the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed">Nicene Creed</a>
was developed. Despite the tourist dollars that flowed into the local
town by virtue of its status as a museum, the Turkish government has
converted it into a mosque. And as for the 13th-century Church of Hagia
Sophia in Trabzon, one of the most complete sites of Byzantine
architecture? <a href="http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Mosque-conversion-raises-alarm/29200">It too recently met the same fate</a>.<br />
<strong style="font-size: 13px;"><em>Help us send a strong message
that Hagia Sophia should not be converted into a mosque. We’ll deliver
this petition directly to UNESCO and other interested parties to make
clear that the world needs Hagia Sophia to continue to be accessible and
appreciated by all. </em></strong><br />
<a href="http://hellenicleaders.com/HagiaSophia"><strong><em>http://hellenicleaders.com/HagiaSophia</em></strong></a></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-29348037299152690102013-11-21T22:59:00.002+02:002013-11-21T22:59:13.395+02:00Tomorrow's cities: The Venus Project <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-39888951938363987802013-11-18T22:29:00.001+02:002013-11-18T22:29:38.318+02:00The World's Rudest Nations For Travelers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Congratulations, my fellow Americans! We’re not the rudest nation on the planet. We’re not even in the top 5. USA! USA!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The travel search site <a href="http://www.skyscanner.com/">Skyscanner.com</a>
surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are
particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest
locals was…</div>
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Wait for it…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
France (<em>f</em><em><span>é</span>licitations,</em> <em>mes amis!</em>),
followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65
percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America
and Australia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the UK, Germany and “Other” (those Others are the <em>worst</em>, don’t you think?). The US placed 7th, behind China.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the perceived rudeness may be attributable
to cultural differences rather than anything intentional. For example,
says Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager, “the Russian
language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate
directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English
speaker even if they don’t mean it to.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
“We were surprised to
see Russians come in second place,” says Skyscanner’s Travel Editor, Sam
Baldwin. He attributes this in part to the “familiarity breeds
contempt” phenomenon. Although Russia doesn’t compare with the
Mediterranean as a tourist destination, as visa regulations have
relaxed, Russian holidaymakers are increasingly flocking to the
Mediterranean and coming into contact with people from other countries.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
The same principle may apply to the French: “As our closest
neighbors, there has long been a familiar rivalry between the UK and
France,” Baldwin says, and the preponderance of responses from the
British Isles may have contributed to this result. Still, Baldwin says,
“Even the French acknowledge that the way they are perceived is not
entirely without basis.” (In France’s defense, I’ve always found
Parisians to be just as rude to each other as they are to foreigners.
Outside of Paris – and even within the city – people can be as gracious
as anywhere.)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The British, for their part, voted themselves “world’s worst tourists” in a previous Skyscanner survey.</div>
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The countries rated as having the least rude locals were Brazil, the Caribbean and the Philippines.</div>
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Skyscanner claims to be Europe’s leading travel
search site, operating in over 25 languages with over 25 million visits
and over 11 million unique visitors per month. It has offices in
Edinburgh, Scotland and Singapore.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the complete list of responses:</div>
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<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97"><strong>Nationality</strong></td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64"><strong>Percentage of votes</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">French</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">19.29</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Russian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">16.56</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">British</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">10.43</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">German</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">9.93</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Other</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">6.37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Chinese</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">4.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">American</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">3.39</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Spanish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">3.15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Italian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">2.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Polish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">2.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Turkish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">2.15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Indian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Swiss</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Greek</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.74</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Croatian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.57</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Austrian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.41</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Cypriot</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Egyptian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Korean</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">1.24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Norwegian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.99</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Australian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.91</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Dutch</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.83</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Irish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.83</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Swedish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.83</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Japanese</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Danish</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Canadian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.41</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">New Zealander</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.41</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Indonesian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.41</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Portuguese</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Thai</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Filipino</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.17</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Caribbean</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.08</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="bottom" width="97">Brazilian</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="64">0.08</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="mcePaste" style="height: 1px; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The travel search site Skyscanner.com asked where
locals never smile and where people are particularly unfriendly, and the
world’s rudest nation came up as…wait for it…France (<em>f</em><em><span>é</span>licitations,</em> <em>mes amis!</em>),
followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65
percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America
and Australia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rounding out the top five rudest countries were
the UK, Germany and “Other” (I find those Others just awful. Don’t
you?). The US placed 7th, behind China.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the perceived rudeness may be attributable
to cultural differences rather than anything intentional. For example,
says Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager, “the Russian
language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate
directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English
speaker even if they don’t mean it to.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
“We were surprised
to see Russians come in second place,” says Baldwin. He attributes this
in part to the “familiarity breeds contempt” phenomenon: as visa
regulations have relaxed, more Russian holidaymakers flock to
Mediterranean resorts, where they come into contact with other
holidaymakers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another illustration of the principle: “As our
closest neighbors, there has long been a familiar rivalry between the UK
and France,” Baldwin says. “Even the French acknowledge that the way
they are perceived is not entirely without basis.” And the British voted
themselves “world’s worst tourists” in a previous Skyscanner survey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Conversely, perhaps absence makes the heart grow
fonder. The expensive Euro may be keeping Americans from traveling,
explaining why, at least in this survey, “American” is not preceded by
“ugly.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The politest travelers in the survey came from Brazil, the Caribbean and the Philippines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Skyscanner claims to be Europe’s leading travel
search site, operating in over 25 languages with over 25 million visits
and over 11 million unique visitors per month. It has offices in
Edinburgh, Scotland and Singapore.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the complete list of responses:</div>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie">
<img alt="" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=1a7d856a-182e-4b99-a73c-a65f64bedade" /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2012/04/03/the-worlds-rudest-nations-for-travelers/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2012/04/03/the-worlds-rudest-nations-for-travelers/</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-19472588151703927242013-11-18T22:12:00.006+02:002013-11-18T22:12:53.587+02:00Glafkos Clerides, Greek Cypriot Leader Who Sought Unification, Is Dead at 94<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="439" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/clerides-obit-2/clerides-obit-2-articleLarge-v2.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/clerides-obit-2/clerides-obit-2-articleLarge-v2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="600" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/clerides-obit-2/clerides-obit-2-articleLarge-v2.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">Cypriot president Glafcos
Clerides, left, greets Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash at the
United Nations as Richard Holbrooke, center, looks on. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="articleSpanImage">
<span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/clerides-obit-2/clerides-obit-2-articleLarge-v2.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
<div class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
Marwan Naamani/Agence France-Presse</div>
<div class="caption" itemprop="description">
<br /></div>
</span>
</div>
By
<span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_d_jr_mcfadden/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_d_jr_mcfadden/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by ROBERT D. McFADDEN"><span itemprop="name">ROBERT D. McFADDEN</span></a></span><div class="articleBody">
<span itemid="http://www.nytimes.com" itemprop="copyrightHolder provider sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
</span>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Glafkos Clerides, the president of Cyprus from 1993 to 2003, who as
leader of his nation’s Greek Cypriot majority was a frustrated
peacemaker in futile talks with Turkish Cypriots to reunify their
long-divided Mediterranean island, died on Friday in Nicosia, the
capital. He was 94. </div>
</div>
<div class="articleInline runaroundLeft">
<span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/obit-clerides/obit-clerides-articleInline-v2.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
</span><div class="inlineImage module">
<div class="caption">
Glafkos Clerides, former president of Cyprus, was regarded as a fair and skillful negotiator. </div>
</div>
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
His death was confirmed by Yianna Shiatou, the press attaché at the Cyprus Consulate in New York. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In a land torn by ethnic, religious and cultural rivalries, tugged by Turkey to the north and <a class="meta-loc" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/greece/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Greece.">Greece</a>
to the west, Mr. Clerides (pronounced cleh-REE-dess) was a national
leader for more than four decades after independence from Britain in
1960. World statesmen and both sides in the Cypriot tinderbox regarded
him as a fair, skillful negotiator, seeking compromises for the elusive
goal of reunification. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Mr. Clerides had been a <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/world_war_ii_/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Wold War II.">World War II</a>
hero, a lawyer and fighter in the anti-British resistance, and an ally
of Archbishop Makarios, primate of the Cypriot Orthodox Church and first
president of the Republic of Cyprus. He also headed a Greek Cypriot
delegation that helped write a new Constitution, was the leader of
Parliament for 16 years and won two terms as president. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
As Cyprus faced a succession of crises — a Greek-inspired coup, an
invasion by Turkey, a 1974 partition into unequal zones, years of
intercommunal fighting — Mr. Clerides negotiated cease-fires, accepted
international peacekeeping buffers and sought to pacify militants with
concessions, offering to cede territory and even to rewrite the
Constitution in search of peaceful solutions. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/obit-clerides/obit-clerides-articleInline-v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="285" itemprop="url" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/obituaries/obit-clerides/obit-clerides-articleInline-v2.jpg" width="190" /></a>
In talks with Rauf Denktash, a Turkish Cypriot leader who had been his
friend since childhood and his negotiating opponent for 25 years, Mr.
Clerides — a voice of calm in a nation known for volcanic orators — won
some tactical agreements, and came close to a breakthrough in their last
reunification talks, in 2002. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But he was ultimately stymied by forces beyond his control: by allies
and foes fearful of giving away too much, by governments in Athens and
Ankara with their own agendas, and by walls of distrust between Greek
and Turkish Cypriots that had taken generations to erect. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
After losing his 2003 re-election bid, Mr. Clerides supported a plan by
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, to reunify Cyprus and
allow hundreds of thousands who had been displaced by partition to
return to their homes. Turkish Cypriots, hoping to end their isolation,
supported the plan overwhelmingly in a 2004 referendum. But Greek
Cypriots, the vast majority of the population, soundly defeated it.
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
While reunification eluded Mr. Clerides, as it has all Cypriot leaders,
he was credited as president with easing sectarian tensions, presiding
over a prospering economy and leading Cyprus to the threshold of <a href="http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/cyprus/" title="About Cyprus in the E.U.">European Union membership</a>, a process that he began in 1998 and that was achieved in 2004. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Mr. Clerides was the author of a four-volume memoir, “My Deposition”
(1988-91), which he called “the anatomy of a national tragedy.” Mr.
Denktash, his fraternal negotiating rival, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/world/europe/rauf-denktash-who-led-turkish-cypriots-dies-at-87.html?_r=0" title="Times obituary">who died in 2012</a>, often quoted from it, saying it was a scrupulous record of events. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Glafkos John Clerides was born in Nicosia on April 24, 1919, the son of
John and Elli Clerides. His father was a teacher who became a London
lawyer. Glafkos grew up under British colonialism. Cyprus, settled by
Greeks and conquered by Alexander, the Persians and the Ottoman Empire,
had been placed under British rule in 1878, annexed in 1914 and made a
colony in 1925. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Glafkos, like his father, went to London to study law. But when World
War II began in 1939, he joined the Royal Air Force and flew bombing
missions as a tail gunner. His plane was shot down in a 1942 raid on
Hamburg, and he was captured by the Germans. He escaped three times from
prison camps, but was recaptured each time. After the war, he was cited
for distinguished service. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In 1945 he married Lilla Erulkar, an actress born in what was then
Bombay who took the name Lilla Irene Clerides. She died in 2007. The
couple had a daughter, Katherine, who survives him. She became a member
of Parliament and a leader of his Democratic Rally Party. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Mr. Clerides resumed law studies at King’s College London, graduated in
1948 and returned to Cyprus to practice. As Britain rejected postwar
calls for self-determination, Greek and Turkish Cypriots in 1955 formed
separate resistance groups with divergent goals and plunged into four
years of guerrilla war against the British and each other, aiming less
at independence than at unions with their motherlands. </div>
Mr. Clerides joined the Greek EOKA resistance, defending its fighters in
courts by day and planning strikes with them by night, using the nom de
guerre Ypereides, after an ancient Athenian orator. He accompanied
Archbishop Makarios to London in 1959 for talks that led to a cease-fire
and independence, and became minister of justice in the transition.
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In 1960 he was elected speaker of the House of Representatives and
became Nicosia’s chief negotiator in the conflict between Greek
Christians, who with 80 percent of the island’s 750,000 people occupied
the southern two-thirds of Cyprus, and the mainly Muslim Turks in the
north, protected by Turkey 50 miles offshore. Intercommunal fighting in
1963 led to military intervention by the United Nations. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In 1974 Athens briefly deposed Archbishop Makarios, Turkey invaded
Cyprus and United Nations peacekeepers partitioned the island. About
230,000 people were resettled. In the turmoil of shattered communities
and threatened civil war, Mr. Clerides became acting president for five
months until Archbishop Makarios returned. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
It was only a bitter taste of the office he would occupy two decades
later. He lost presidential races in 1983 and 1988, then narrowly won in
1993. (He was also a candidate in the 1978 election, but when his
rival’s son was kidnapped, Mr. Clerides withdrew in a gesture of
sympathy.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
His rapport with Mr. Denktash raised hopes that he might succeed where
his predecessors had failed to unite Cyprus, but their 1996 talks
crumbled. He was re-elected in 1998, but his last hope for reunification
during his term faltered in the 2002 talks. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
After losing the 2003 election, Mr. Clerides retired to Larnaca, on the
southeast coast. His life and the history of modern Cyprus were
re-examined in “Glafkos Clerides: The Path of a Country” (2008), by
Niyazi Kizilyurek, a Turkish Cypriot professor. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Cyprus is still divided. The Turkish side favors a two-nation state in
loose federation, while the Greek Cypriot government wants a unified
state that grants fair distribution of social and political rights to
both communities. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/europe/glafkos-clerides-greek-cypriot-leader-who-sought-unification-is-dead-at-94.html?pagewanted=2">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/europe/glafkos-clerides-greek-cypriot-leader-who-sought-unification-is-dead-at-94.html?pagewanted=2</a> </div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-17583572599915659502013-11-18T22:07:00.002+02:002013-11-18T22:07:31.259+02:00THIS IS NO GREEK MYTH: New poll confirms Golden Dawn supremacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="entry-title">
</h1>
<div class="entry-meta">
<a class="entry-author" href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/author/hat4uk/" title="View all posts by John Ward">By John Ward</a> <span class="tag-links"></span>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/venimasstitle.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="venimasstitle" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-25085" src="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/venimasstitle.jpg?w=812" /></a><span style="color: blue;">Crunch time for Alexis Tsipras</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>The latest opinion poll from Greece
has a more robust sample than the last, but confirms its findings….and
establishes as clear fact that Golden Dawn is now the largest Party by
voting intentions in the Hellenic Republic.</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The results combine the findings of two
online polls conducted by electronic newspaper Zougla.gr over the last
two weeks.Golden Dawn has consolidated its lead with 22.6%, followed by
SYRIZA with 19.2% and New Democracy (effectively the ruling Party) third
with just 16.7%. Independent Greeks and KKE are on 4.9% each, with
junior Venizelos-led Coalition Party PASOK near-insignificant at 4.5%.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Assuming some horse-trading on Right and
Left, we are still looking at a stand-off in the next election. All
told, what we have here is Right 35% and Left 25%. But even though one
could produce a Government with neither Syriza or GD in it, this would
be a suicidal thing (socially) for any Establishment to attempt:
disenfranchising 3 voters in 5 isn’t a very clever strategy.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
There are however some astonishing new signs
on the “where votes were gained and lost” dimension. For example, 16%
of SYRIZA defecters went to Golden Dawn….suggesting that some Greeks
care nothing for political ideology, they will just back anyone who
stands up to the Troika and Brussels. The new GD support is also heavily
biased towards middle class, fully-educated respondents. A psephology
source in Athens observes, “The impetus behind to Golden Dawn among well
educated people from all over Greece shows that Greeks are looking for a
National leader with clear Patriotic, national priority and not
political messages. It also states very clearly that Greeks will turn
their back on Europe if it continues this ridiculous saga. As long as
European and Greek government politicians do not undertand this, the
numbers of GD and other nationalism parties will rise [because they] put
their country first and on top of everything and everybody. This is to
do with the values of a nation, of the family, of the culture.”</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Support will grow further for Golden Dawn
once voters wake up to the reality that debt relief has been cancelled,
and default some time in the Spring of 2014 is now inevitable.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Last April I<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/crisis-athens-the-price-of-everything-and-the-value-of-nothing/"> posted from Athens</a> about the Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
‘I suspect the truth is that Tsipras is
already leaking support further down the social scale as he backs away
from EU and geopolitical confrontation…’</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In September <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/greece-analysis-time-for-the-left-to-combine-and-fight-its-real-enemies-not-golden-dawn/">I posted from Kalamata</a>:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<em></em>‘Greece’s Leftist rainbow from
disgruntled Pasokists via Syriza to the KKE needs to wake up fast…The
same Patriotic Liberal/Left Front is required as that created before and
during the ejection of the Colonels’ Junta. This time however, it must
eject over time three things from Greece: Establishment corruption, the
euro, and rule from Brussels.’</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Tsipras has failed to take note of this. So the baton is passing to Golden Dawn.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is a crucial moment for the Syriza
leader. Either he bites the bullet, becomes more inclusive and rejects
foreign rule by madmen, or he will increasingly be seen as just another
collaborator. And he does not have a lot of time to decide.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/this-is-no-greek-myth-new-poll-confirms-golden-dawn-supremacy/">http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/this-is-no-greek-myth-new-poll-confirms-golden-dawn-supremacy/</a> </div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-58068189888405618112013-11-14T23:23:00.003+02:002013-11-14T23:23:43.377+02:00Greeks collapse but MPs keep their salaries at existing levels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a class="thumbnail" href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/11/14/greeks-collapse-but-mps-keep-their-salaries-at-existing-levels/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Greeks collapse but MPs keep their salaries at existing levels"><img alt="Greeks collapse but MPs keep their salaries at existing levels" src="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/themes/Caulk/timthumb/timthumb.php?src=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Greek-Parliament3.jpg&h=160&w=160&zc=1%27%29;" /></a> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Posted by
<a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/author/keeptalkinggreece/" title="Posts by keeptalkinggreece"><span style="color: blue;">keeptalkinggreece</span></a>
in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/2-politics/" title="View all posts in Politics"><span style="color: blue;">Politics</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Greek
lawmakers are about to vote to keep their salaries and expenses at the existing
levels. A draft bill will be voted in the Parliament next Monday. I write “it
will be voted” because nobody would dare believe that any MP whether from the
coalition government nor form the opposition would vote against.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Average
salary for MPs in 2014 will be €5,805 per month net.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Average
extra per month €437.5 for participation in committees and parliament sessions
in summer + €1,799 allowance for office expenses + €50 family
allowance + 379 travel expenses</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">= € 2,665</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Average
income is €8,200 with net income €6,000-€6,500.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Due to
the complicate system of salary and allowances, 70% of their income is tax
free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
country’s 300 MPs are to be asked to vote to keep their salaries at the same
level when the draft budget to run the house is put to a vote on Monday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“Specifically,
the 2014 budget foresees €20.9m to pay MPs their basic salaries, which works
out on average at €69,666 per deputy per year or €5,805 per month.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
budget also foresees spending €1.5m for MPs to attend committee sittings, €6.4m
for them to rent and run their constituency offices and €1.36m for travel
expenses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Overall,
parliament is expected to cost almost €141,898,000 to run in 2014, €6.8m less
than this year, according to the proposed budget.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Not so
lucky are the 1,393 parliamentary staff, who will see their overall salary bill
cut by €2m, to €20.3m, if the MPs vote for the budget.”(source <a href="http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.politics&id=1613" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">enetenglish/ana</span></a>) (other sources <a href="http://www.protothema.gr/politics/article/328322/meiomenos-kata-68-ekat-euro-o-proupologismos-tis-voulis/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">protothema</span></a>, <a href="http://www.zougla.gr/politiki/article/70-ligoteros-foros-gia-tous-vouleftes-815108" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">zougla.gr</span></a> (70% tax free)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But wait!
No all elected politicians earn so much. Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis
tweetted recently that he -as Minister – earn less than an MP. He probably does
this ‘half- pro bono’ duty for the shake of the country and for his own glory
and triumph</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="http://www.tovima.gr/society/article/?aid=539306" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Adonis Georgiadis</span></a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“I won’t
let Thomsen [IMF] steal from me the glory of sacking public sector doctors.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">PS we are
a crazy nation ruled by insane politicians. I have no other logical explanation
for what’s happening here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- See
more at: http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/11/14/greeks-collapse-but-mps-keep-their-salaries-at-existing-levels/#sthash.1w04ESEk.dpuf</span></div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-62984726899259347322013-11-14T23:18:00.004+02:002013-11-14T23:18:51.352+02:00350K Greek households without electricity thanks to property tax<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a class="thumbnail" href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/11/13/350k-greek-households-without-electricity-thanks-to-property-tax/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="350K Greek households without electricity thanks to property tax"><img alt="350K Greek households without electricity thanks to property tax" src="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/themes/Caulk/timthumb/timthumb.php?src=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DEH3.jpg&h=160&w=160&zc=1%27%29;" /></a> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Posted by
<a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/author/keeptalkinggreece/" title="Posts by keeptalkinggreece"><span style="color: blue;">keeptalkinggreece</span></a>
in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/3-society/" title="View all posts in Society"><span style="color: blue;">Society</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Living
without electricity in Greece has reached enormous proportions as thousands of
households are unable to pay their electricity bills that skyrocket due to
several additional energy charges, municipality fees and the so-called
“emergency property tax”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">More than
350,000 property owners and tenants cannot pay in time the amount on the
electricity bills with the effect that Public Power Company (DEH) cuts off
their electricity supply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">About 10%
of these households (35,000) forced to live in the dark seeks the aid of
‘activists’ who illegally reconnect the power, despite the risk to face
prosecution and criminal charges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It is
only 6:10 households (210,000) that pay the bill and reconnect power, while the
rest remains also weeks in the dark.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Indicative
of the tragic situation is the the power outage increased in the last two
years, since the “emergency property tax” was included in the electricity
bills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Electricity
bill* for a 110 sqm apartment for 3 months:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Electricity consumption € 70 (ca 800kWh)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Value Added Tax 13% € 9 <span style="color: red;"> <b> = € 79</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Fees (emissions,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
power transport etc <b>€ </b>42
=</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Municipality Fees</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
& property tax
€ 41</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Public Broadcaster
€ 9</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Emergency
property tax €130 (installment) = <b><span style="color: red;">€ 222</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <b><span style="color: red;"> Total: €310</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> considering
the unemployment rates of 27% this is a nice batch of money</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> * the example is just
indicative</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">While the
number of power cuts was 300,000 in 2012, it recorded a 15% increase in 2013
reaching 350,000 and before the year expired, according to data provided by
Giorgos Kollias, president and CEO of DEDDHE, a subsidiary of Greek PPC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Since
Greece sought the aid of International Monetary Fund, the electricity outages
almost doubled (80%), reaching 241,000 in 2010. The power disconnections
referred mostly to main residence and summer house, while 30%-40% affected
businesses that closed down due to economic crisis.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Regarding
the outstanding debts in electricity bills, they now exceed 1.3 billion euro,
while 700,000 payment settlements were arranged in 2012.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Exclusive
report published in daily <a href="http://www.efsyn.gr/?p=148172" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Efimerida twn syntaktwn</span></a> via
<a href="http://www.zougla.gr/greece/article/sto-skotadi-350000-nikokiria" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">zougla.gr</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- See
more at:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/11/13/350k-greek-households-without-electricity-thanks-to-property-tax/#sthash.GFo4CXSl.dpuf</span></div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-66948897612822249012013-11-12T22:08:00.001+02:002013-11-12T22:08:17.596+02:00Taxes and more taxes swallow Greek employees’ wages<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Posted by
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in <a href="http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/category/1-news/3-society/" title="View all posts in Society"><span style="color: blue;">Society</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I am so
glad that somebody sat down and summarized what KTG has been reporting about
for the last three years. Τhat is all the reporting about taxes and more taxes,
and regular and emergency taxes that become permanent taxes. Not to forget the
social security contributions and the income taxation based on fictitious
income the finance ministry calculates but the taxpayer does not have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In the
article below, journalist Thanos Tsirou calculates how much an employee
gets in his pocket after taxes and social security contributions are subtracted
from his salary. Furthermore, the journalist of daily <a href="http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_kathremote_1_11/11/2013_527207" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Kathimerini</span></b><span style="color: blue;"> </span></a>adds utility expenses and comes down to
the shocking amount of 500 euro, an employee has in month to cover other
personal needs like food and clothing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Tsirou
takes as example the ideal -and almost utopic – Greek employee of the private
sector, who has a very well-paid job with 1,500 euro gross per month and gets
his salary in time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">How one
salary perishes</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In the
following example of a well-paid employee of 1.500 € gross, taxes and social
security contributions reach 880 euro!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With
gross monthly salary of 1,500 euros , the protagonist of the story is
considered lucky if he has a job and the employer pays on time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I would
never have guessed that from these earnings – very “juicy” for the current
circumstances -, about 60 % land in one way or another in the state treasury.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Income
tax , social security contributions, solidarity levy , property ownership tax ,
road tax , special consumption taxes for basic items and Value Added Tax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Of
course, everyone in Europe is exposed to these kind of taxes. However Greeks
pay almost the highest rate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
benefits and services we receive by the state in return of high taxes are …
well… not worth mentioning…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We suffer
the higher deductions from our salary , we have the third highest VAT in Europe
and the largest tax on heating oil , paying special consumption tax for
electricity and mobile phones, while a special ‘possession’ tax has been
imposed on vehicles and properties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
result is according to what the hero of our example says, one of the
hundreds of thousands of representatives of the so-called “middle class” .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
monthly salary of 1,500 euros exists only on paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
example is very descriptive:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
employer automatically withholds 248 euros for the social insurance
contribution from the side of employee. Also withheld are 126 euros for income
tax and 13 euros for solidarity levy , which was introduced as a temporary
measure , but it will become permanent. Net earnings come down to 1,116 euros.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Gross
€1,500 – €248 social insurance – €126 income tax – €13 solidarity levy =
€1,116 net</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
employee, resident of a middle class suburb in Athens (Chalandri), lives in a
120 sqm apartment, built five years ago. For every square meter he pays 6.5
euro ‘ownership tax’ or <b>‘emergency property tax</b>‘ that was introduced in
2011 as temporary tax but became permanent. The employee pays 780 euro annually
for this tax, which is 65 euro per month.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">€
1,116 – € 65 = € 1,051</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The man
has a <b>1600cc vehicle</b> for which he pays 265 euro annually as road tax.
That is 22 euro per month. he travels 15,000km per year, for which he consumes
1,200 liters of gasoline. The tax per liter reaches about one euro (
consumption tax and VAT), meaning that the fuel tax is charged 100 euros per
month.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">€
1,051 – €22 – €70 = € 952</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Heating</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> for 3 winter months: For the
120-sqm-apartment, the employee needs approximately 1,200 liter of heating oil.
With purchase price at 1.28 euro per liter (0.57 euro tax), he pays 1,500 euro
to the heating oil supplier at the beginning of the heating season, in
November. €684 is tax (57 euro per month in tax). For 3-4 months of
heating, the cost for the heating oil spread over the year is 125 euro per
month.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">€
952 – €125 = € 827</span></b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Electricity</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> consumption is some 1,200 KWh
per quarter. The pure electricity consumption cost is 115 euro for 3 months,
but it jumps up to 300 due to municipality fees and taxes, emergency property
tax installment, VAT, consumption taxes and various charges for electricity
transmission, utility services and gas emissions. The sum of taxe sin
electricity bill is some 185 euro per quarter and 46 euro per month. Monthly
bill is therefore 100 euro.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">€
827 - €100 = € 727</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
little extra in life: One package of <b>cigarettes</b> per day makes an
expenditure of 114 euro per month (of which 92 euro are taxes), the use of <b>mobile
phone</b> deducts further 40 euro form the wage (11.33 euro tax and VAT).</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">€
727 – €114 – €40 = <u>€ 573</u></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">After
decucting all the above, the employee has <b>573 euro</b> available to cover
his needs in <b>food, clothing, footwear, other utilities like water and for
apartment building fees, tutorials for kids, cleaning material, entertainment.</b>
all these extra needs are subject to 13% and 23% VAT, which means the Tax
Office receives about 100 euro per month in extra tax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A family
of four would need at least <b>80-100 euro per week for food</b> and other
daily life needs. A single household could come up with minimum 50 euro for
food only.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What is
left from the 1,500 euro gross salary at the end of the month? A nice nothing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But the
state has cashed <b>€532 in taxes</b> – the social insurance amount excluded.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">(full
article with more details in Greek <a href="http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_kathremote_1_11/11/2013_527207" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here)</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What does
the taxpaying employee received for all these taxes he has paid to the state? A
demolished health care system, an education with lots of holes and standing
line up to 3 hours for public services, just to mention a few.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">You can
very well imagine the other case of an employee earning below 1,000 euro per
month, in the average 500-700 euro for new hiring, and in addition has to
anticipate for several months to get paid, while the monthly expenses slide
through his fingers.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Correction:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">KTG had
earlier written by mistake “a family of four would need at least <b>80-100 euro
per month for food</b> and other daily life needs”. Of course, I don’t know any
super super market feeding a family with 80-100 euro per month. Correct is : “<b>a
family of four would need at least 80-100 euro per week for food…”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Apologies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- See
more at: http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/11/11/taxes-and-more-taxes-swallow-greek-employees-wages/#sthash.gFGct3dg.dpuf</span></div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-46021460116044446292013-11-12T22:02:00.004+02:002013-11-12T22:02:39.114+02:00Erdogan: There is no country called Cyprus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="name">Dimitris Kyprianou</span><span class="time">11/11/2013</span><span class="time">22:06</span></div>
<a href="http://i1.prth.gr/images/B2CC1A96C383FA3716073938A861E03E.jpg" rel="mainphotos"><img alt="" src="http://i1.prth.gr/images/A67DA2D159AB1010E98E5E331A3B639F.jpg" /></a><ins style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline-table; height: 50px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 440px;"><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 440px;"></ins></ins><div class="article-content">
<h3>
Speaking at a conference in Poland he said that Cyprus is a Greek
Cypriot administration and its accession to the EU was not harmonized
with EU laws, but a political choice</h3>
Speaking at a conference in
Poland the Turkish premier claimed that there is no country called
Cyprus and the "Greek Cypriot administration" as he called the Republic
of Cyprus was accepted into the EU for political reasons and not because
it was harmonized with the European laws.<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
"Pay attention. It was not accepted as southern Cyprus but as Cyprus.
There is no country called Cyprus but a local government of southern
Cyprus. Because there is North Cyprus there is a green line between them
with UN security teams. Absolutely no country within the EU should be
facing security problems. This place has such an internal problem. The
EU could not admit it but the decision was entirely political."<br />
<br />
These statements by the Turkish premier have caused reactions even inside Turkey.<br />
<br />
A Turkish journalist wrote that “the prime minister knows very well that
there is a country called Cyprus. What are 40,000 soldiers of yours
doing in a country called Cyprus? Why is his flag waving in every
corner? Who do you think you are that when the Varosha issue is on the
daily agenda, and feeling that you own the land, you say that you would
not give an inch of land in Cyprus even for a full accession?”</div>
<div class="article-content">
<a href="http://www.protothema.gr/news-in-english/article/327424/erdogan-there-is-no-country-called-cyprus/">http://www.protothema.gr/news-in-english/article/327424/erdogan-there-is-no-country-called-cyprus/</a> </div>
</div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-38824146351277217042013-11-12T21:57:00.001+02:002013-11-12T21:57:16.797+02:00Greek government survives confidence vote, kicks out one deputy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Lefteris Papadimas</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Supporters of the leftist main opposition Syriza party take part in an anti-government rally in front of the parliament in Athens November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis" border="0" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131110&t=2&i=810709946&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9A91UE100" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supporters of the leftist main opposition
Syriza party take part in an anti-government rally in front of the
parliament in Athens November 10, 2013.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Credit: Reuters/Yorgos Karahalis</div>
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(Reuters) - Greece's conservative-led coalition defeated, as expected,
an opposition-sponsored motion to topple the government on Monday, but
lost one lawmaker who was expelled after backing the opposition.<br />
</span><span id="midArticle_1"></span>A total 153 out of the
parliament's 300 lawmakers rejected the opposition's censure motion.
But Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's coalition expelled one Socialist
lawmaker who voted with the opposition, reducing the coalition's
majority to four.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span id="midArticle_2"></span>The
confidence vote was put forth by the main opposition Syriza party, which
aims to overturn the austerity policies that the Greek government is
implementing as a condition of its EU/IMF bailout.<br />
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<span id="midArticle_3"></span>The
debate took place during a crucial inspection visit of representatives
of the so-called "troika" of lenders, who are in Athens to check its
progress in meeting bailout targets before they approve the release of
up to 5.9 billion euros in lifeline loans.<br />
<span id="midArticle_4"></span>"Thousands
of people are looking in the rubbish for food," Syriza leader Alexis
Tsipras told lawmakers, asking them to back the censure motion.<br />
<span id="midArticle_5"></span>About
3,500 Syriza supporters gathered outside parliament during the debate,
holding banners and shouting: "Take your bailout and get out of here".<br />
<span id="midArticle_6"></span>Syriza
filed the censure motion after riot police stormed the headquarters of
former state broadcaster ERT on Thursday to end a protracted sit-in of
journalists who were fired five months ago.<br />
<span id="midArticle_7"></span>The dismissals were part of a bailout-imposed plan to get rid of 4,000 state workers by the end of the year.<br />
<span id="midArticle_8"></span>"You
chose the wrong moment to play parliamentary theatrics, in a time when
the government is in crucial negotiations with the troika," Samaras said
in response to Tsipras.<br />
<span id="midArticle_9"></span>Samaras's
government and the troika are still at loggerheads over how many
additional savings Athens needs to hit its 2014 budget targets.<br />
<span id="midArticle_10"></span>Under
the terms of its 240-billion euro bailout, Athens must achieve a
primary budget surplus, before interest payments, of 2.75 billion euros
next year, or 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).<br />
<span id="midArticle_11"></span>The troika currently estimates that <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/greece" title="Full coverage of Greece">Greece</a>
will fall about 2 billion euros short of that target and is forcing
Samaras to come up with new budget measures to fill that "fiscal gap".<br />
<span id="midArticle_12"></span>But
the austerity-weary government has ruled out any fresh wage cuts,
pension reductions or tax increases, hoping instead that "targeted"
cuts, an economic rebound and a crackdown on tax evasion will help it
reach its targets.<br />
<span id="midArticle_13"></span>"Make
no mistake, there will be no new fiscal measures, no wage and pension
cuts," Evangelos Venizelos, Samaras's junior coalition partner and chief
of the Socialist PASOK party, said on Sunday.<br />
<span id="midArticle_14"></span>Troika
heads and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras did not reach agreement on
how to close the fiscal gap in a meeting on Sunday. They will resume
talks on Tuesday. (Writing by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Paul Simao)<br />
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/us-greece-vote-bailout-idUSBRE9A90KH20131110">http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/us-greece-vote-bailout-idUSBRE9A90KH20131110</a> </span></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3013738514013529239.post-69856806977863800842013-11-07T21:22:00.000+02:002013-11-07T21:22:09.646+02:00Greece's 'Robin Hood' journalists raided by riot police after working months for free<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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John Kolesidis / Reuters</div>
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Protesters scuffle with policemen as they try to approach ERT's headquarters in Athens on Thursday.</div>
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By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor</div>
Riot
police stormed the headquarters of Greece’s former state broadcaster
early Thursday and evicted dozens of journalists who have been working
for free since the station was closed by the government almost five
months ago.<br />
The country’s coalition shuttered the state-run
broadcaster ERT in June because it said it cost too much to run during
Greece’s economic crisis.<br />
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Dozens of staff have continued to
broadcast online since then, with one journalist comparing their
operation to "Robin Hood" and claiming "we are the voice of the people."<br />
Government
spokesman Simos Kedikoglou, who is a former ERT employee, told Reuters
the station was "under illegal occupation," and that police had raided
the building to "apply the law and restore legality."<br />
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John Kolesidis / Reuters</div>
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Former ERT staff comfort each other outside the broadcaster's headquarters on Thursday.</div>
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At around 4 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET on Wednesday), police fired
teargas into a crowd of pro-ERT protestors gathered outside the
headquarters in Athens, Reuters reported.<br />
They evicted dozens of
journalists from the building, some of whom refused to leave the yard,
and several people were briefly detained.<br />
Officers, in the presence of a prosecutor, checked to see if equipment had been damaged.<br />
One journalist, Nikos Kourovilos, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24847278" target="_blank">told the BBC</a> he had evaded the police and was hiding in the building.<br />
"They
are in the building, they have control, they put everyone out,” he said
live on the BBC’s Today radio program. "The good thing is they forgot
about me, because I told them I had to take my stuff and I will go."<br />
Kourovilos said he hoped to continue broadcasting independently "because it's for democracy."<br />
He added: "We feel like we are Robin Hood… We are the voice of the people."<br />
The
raid came as inspectors from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
European Union were in Athens reviewing the country's progress in
meeting the targets of two multi-billion euro bailouts it has received
over the past three years.<br />
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Journalists
in Greece continued a broadcast streamed on the internet after the
government shut down state television and radio operations in the
country's efforts to save money. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.</div>
The
decision to pull the plug on ERT and fire its 2,600 employees in June
prompted the Democratic Left party to quit Greece's coalition government
in protest.<br />
The government subsequently launched a new state television channel called Public TV.<br />
On
being evicted from the building on Thursday, former ERT employee
Adrianna Bili told Reuters: "This is how fascism works, slyly and in
darkness. I feel like they have raped me, like they have violated my
home, they have violated my life, democracy. They have destroyed
everything."<br />
Zoe Konstantopoulou, a senior lawmaker from the
leftist opposition Syriza party, added: "The government has reached such
a point of delirium that it is staging a coup against itself. Some
people will be held accountable before history and future generations."<br />
More protests at the station's headquarters were planned for later on Thursday.<br />
<em>Reuters contributed to this report.</em><br />
<em><a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21347849-greeces-robin-hood-journalists-raided-by-riot-police-after-working-months-for-free">http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21347849-greeces-robin-hood-journalists-raided-by-riot-police-after-working-months-for-free</a> </em></div>
Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07341994979930748711noreply@blogger.com1