GREEK STUDIES (EN)

Dr. George Vardangalos
(Electrical and Computer Engineer, Independent IT &
Business Consultant)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

...Political chaos is also on the horizon with the latest voted measures rupturing the ruling Pasok party as never before...

...One way or another, the present political system is going to collapse in the following months, though it seems the corrupted political ruling elite won’t be affected so much.[1]

Τhe Greek elections of May 6 confirmed, with no doubt, the above predictions written some months ago.  The election results were already “known”, more or less [2], by Europeans and other players that participate in this case study/experiment against Greece started on May 2010. The only thing that was less probable for them was the extent of collapse, regarding the two political ruling parties during the last 4 decades. For a very few votes, some thousands ones, the coalition government wasn’t formed, as they had planned. But the part of financial elite, which wanted Greece out of the Euro-zone since March 2009 [3], is not “prepared” to risk forcing Greece to exit the Euro-zone before the US elections in autumn. The plan was this exit to be an “alternative” to take place in 2013-2014, after the seizure of the largest valuable part of Greece’s public wealth. In any case, the main conclusion of these elections is the “transformation” of Troika’s last version MOU into a worthless paper.

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

I confess. I was and I remain “anti-memorandum” (antimneoniakos in Greek).

For those who may not be familiar with the term, “anti-memorandum” describes a person who opposes Greece’s “bailout” by the “troika” -- the IMF, the EU, and the ECB -- under the genocidal terms imposed by our “partners” in order to satisfy various Western European urges and evangelical moralizing, not to mention making Greece a live laboratory animal on which to practice alternative “therapies” designed to kill the animal but provide maximum satisfaction to lenders. That’s why I shuddered yet again (but I was not surprised) when I read this article in today’s New York Times.

Daniel Little
(RIEAS Senior Advisor)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Much of the worldwide political and economic discussions entering 2012 focused on the reconciliation of economies, public budget deficits and how it affected standards of living.  For a number of reasons Greece serves as the bellwether for what other European countries wish to avoid; in essence the stark reality posed by austerity.  While Greek history defines our earliest understanding of democracy and citizenship, the more poignant lessons of Greece’s current situation lies further beneath the surface; namely the symbiotic relationships between government, economics and the cloak of security that envelopes them both.  No one in their respective capitals speak openly over the tear gas rolling across Athen’s Syntagma Square because this equally mirrors home just as much as the television news.  While the discourse over who is at fault and who should pay is played out for journalists, something far more symptomatic is at work.  The issue is what I identify as ‘counter-intuitive nationalism.’  In other words, this is not an exclusive Greek example.  Instead all countries are guilty of it to some degree and it is what they intend to do about it that ultimately determines the direction of an economy, a government’s leadership during unpopularity and a country’s overall security.  Greece only happens to be one of the first countries to undergo this catharsis.

Mr. Daniel Pipes
(President of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University)

Copyright: www.DanielPipes.org

PS. Mr. Daniel Pipes is a Member of RIEAS International Advisory Board.

Remember the name Kastelorizo; you heard it here first. It is the far-flung, easternmost island of Greece, 80 miles from Rhodes, 170 miles west of Cyprus, but just 1 mile off the coast of Turkey. Kastelorizo (in Greek, Καστελόριζο; or officially Megisti, Μεγίστη) is tiny, comprising just 5 square miles, plus some yet smaller, uninhabited islands. .....  Read more

Dr. George Vardangalos
(Electrical and Computer Engineer, IT Consultant, EPIS Ltd)

During the last weeks, we are witnesses of a “new” global financial crisis that was triggered by the S&P’s downgrade of US credit rating. The real causes were the global sovereign debt crisis, the slowdown of growth in Europe and the US, the possibility for many western countries to enter again in a recession and of course the end of the QE2 program in the US. This crisis has lately signs of a “Lehman-like” borrowing crunch in the EU among its banks.... Read more

Nikolas Stylianou
(RIEAS Research Associate & Security Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr 

On Thursday the 24th February Cypriot political parties – except from the ruling party of AKEL – voted for the affiliation of the Republic of Cyprus with the Partnership for Peace Programme. In response to the above, the President of the Republic of Cyprus exercised –for the first time since the Republic’s declaration of independence – his right to veto legislature’s decision. President Christofia’s veto against the decision of the House of Representatives caused intense reaction from the opposition (Democratic Rally, Social-Democrats, European Party and the Green Party), as well the centre-right co-governing, Democratic Party. This article seeks to underline that the affiliation of the Republic of Cyprus with the Partnership for Peace (PfP), is a de facto necessity and must top the strategic agenda of the Cypriot government.