Controversy corner: An ominous precedent

A statue of Eleftherios Venizelos in Thessaloniki (cc) flickr user macropoulos

Controversy corner includes opinions, analysis and commentary “out of the Athens News covers”.

THERE IS only one precedent in the history of modern Greece when a prime minister allegedly called an ‘unscheduled’ election for the purpose of losing it. And that was Eleftherios Venizelos, arguably the country’s greatest statesman; the man whose unrivalled diplomatic and political acumen had single-handedly doubled Greece’s sovereign territories in less than ten years (1912-1919).

Why can’t we just flush it?

www.unnecessaryquotes.com/2009/07/big-problem.html

Athens News was recently asked the question below, though not in so many words. This, you could say, is our own interpretation:

Why, in the birthplace of democracy and the land of ancient marvels, am I forced to endure the indignity (not to mention the smell) of having to toss the tissue I used to wipe my bum into tiny garbage pails filled with other people’s sodden, stinky scraps?

That is a very good question, and Athens News has the answer.

Larco plant accidents claim another life

Click the logo to go to Larco's Web site: www.larco.gr

Two accidents in one month at the Larco plant in Larymna have now killed three employees of the metallurgical company and injured at least two others.

A capital caper

Parts of the Parthenon were not pinched, but it does have colossal capitals. Apologies for the alliteration. Photo by Erinn Unger.

A thief made off with a capital from the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia, according to the AP.

The capital, which was part of a 6th century Byzantine church on the site, was discovered to be missing right before midnight on Saturday, the ministry of culture says. Authorities don’t know how someone could have managed to leave the site with a large chunk of column without being detected.

The local head of antiquities has been suspended without pay pending an investigation into the pilfering of the portion of the pillar.

Snap elections called: A primer on the parties

Photo from last December via papapapa.pblogs.gr

After months of speculation and political calculus, Greece will have its general election on October 4.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis - of reigning but faltering New Democracy -announced the snap polls in a nationwide television address 8pm Wednesday night.

PASOK rejoiced at the news. The opposition has held a slim but clear lead in the polls throughout 2009. This could be the moment George Papandreou truly assumes the mantle of his father, Andreas. His party had already announced a 35th anniversary celebration for tonight in Thissio via Twitter.

If this June’s Europarliament elections were any indication ND and Pasok are not the only players in these polls. Stalwart KKE, upstart Laos and sputtering Syriza may all complicate the parliamentary map.

Here’s a look at each major party (and their web offerings) a month before the polls.

Citylife: Come back August taxi drivers

Photo courtesy of Flickr user smith120bh (cc)

Elaine Green is Business Editor of the Athens News. Her Citylife column on the blog is a lighter look at life away from her usual business beat.

Now that September is upon us, the roads are beginning to clog up with traffic and fumes. August was blissful in the city centre – empty roads, clean air (prior to the fires at least) and best of all, polite taxi drivers. Was it the empty streets that suddenly turned that most rude of beasts, the Greek taxi driver into charming and entertaining chauffeurs?

New F-16s arrive

From wikipedia, an F-16 Fighting Falcon performs during the 2009 Paris Air Show.

Three of the 30 warplanes Greece ordered from the US arrived on Monday. Greece received ten planes earlier this year and will receive 17 more in the coming months.

Greece also holds the option of purchasing ten more planes bringing the possible total cost to about 2.2 billion euros.

Hunger Strike Ends

 

A Greek anarchist poster calling for Solidarity with Iliopoulos

Thodoros Iliopoulos’s hunger strike didn’t make it to a 50th day. He was released from “temporary” custody soon after we posted our last update on August 27.

Ekathimerini reported on Friday that he was in “extremely fragile but stable condition.” The Greek version of Ekathimerini included that Iliopoulos was freed by the Council of Misdemeanors and that he will have to visit a police station twice a month. He also cannot leave the country.

VIDEO: After the fires

Athens News reporters spent two days (August 24-25) observing the damage wrought by the Attica Fires. In this 2:30 minute video we’ve summed up the scene after the conflagration and honed in on a community of Iraqi-Kurds trying to find a way forward. 

For more coverage, pick up a copy of Athens News. 

Irony in the Aftermath

Friday’s edition of Athens News features an eyewitness account from yours truly and Anastasia Georgakopoulos based on our travels through Northeastern Attica on Monday and Tuesday.

Everywhere we went we saw the bitter irony of what got burned and what didn’t.

This roadside shrine somehow survived the blazes that blackened all the foliage behind it.

This one about 100m away did not. Another tragedy for the family that marked a loved one’s death on this road.

Failure to yield. This road sign was run over by the flames.

This sign says “Protect the green”

“Pay attention to the fires.” The foliage in the area seems to have taken notice.

This sign advertises the trees replanted after the 2007 fires. Those trees are the black marks in the background.

This sign outside a house in Rodopoli advertises a “cutter of tall trees”. The trees behind it are scorched.

This park called Kardia, “Heart” in the core of Mt. Pendeli was still smouldering on Tuesday. All the foliage burned but this wooden table survived.

Flames swept through this park in Rodopoli, reducing the bench on the left to a cinder but barely melting the paint off the other two.

A sideview of the bench that burned and those that didn’t.

Water spigot burned in the Rodopoli neighbourhood park.

This other spigot was left relatively untouched.

So far one Greek has died due to the fire. Many more animals, like this turtle crouched by a hose, likely perished due to the conflation.

It took a fire spanning Attica to take this vintage bug-eyed automobile off the road.

These couches are untouched even though the lot behind the concrete wall is thoroughly charred.