A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
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Greek Reporter exposes fake Greek products abroad
Posted January 27, 2013 by Politis
Saddening news from today’s Greek Reporter. “Shady businessmen and companies produce thousands of fake Greek products in China, the UK and the US causing tremendous financial losses to Greek exporters and domestic economy, reported the Panhellenic Exporters Association Jan. 24, adding that ‘disturbing phenomena of malicious trademark registration of well-known Greek companies have been recorded […]
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Sequestration: it’s the law of the land
Posted March 2, 2013 by Politis
SEQUESTRATION ORDER FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013 PURSUANT TO SECTION 251A OF THE BALANCED BUDGET AND EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL ACT, AS AMENDED By the authority vested in me as President by the laws of the United States of America, and in accordance with section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended […]
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A manifesto from Personal Democracy Media
Posted March 18, 2013 by Politis
Herewith the manifesto from Personal Democracy Media, conceived as a “hub for the conversation already underway between political practitioners and technologists, as well as anyone invigorated by the potential of all this to open up the process and engage more people in all the things that we can and must do together as citizens.” […]
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Art, Aesthetics, and Power
Posted May 18, 2013 by Politis
A very interesting yconference organized at the American College of Thessaloniki by Dr. Maria Kyriakidou. Wednesday, May 22, 11-6. The event is open to the general public. For further information contact Maria Kyriakidou at markyria@act.edu.
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The joys of austerity
Posted June 4, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Graham Hill I live in a 420-square-foot studio. I sleep in a bed that folds down from the wall. I have six dress shirts. I have 10 shallow bowls that I use for salads and main dishes. When people come over for dinner, I pull out my extendable dining room table. I don’t have […]
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Right, left, and Nixonian
Posted May 14, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner “No one,” writes David Hawkings in his blog in today’s Roll Call, “expected Obama would get to a second term and find his legislative agenda suddenly frozen in the face of a bipartisan wave of comparisons to Richard Nixon.” This is precisely what has happened right, left, and center after the revelations […]
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Big changes start with small solutions
Posted March 10, 2013 by RS
By Ruth Sutton Bicycles carrying kilos of fish… rock concerts. the world’s biggest sandwich… art made out of packaged food, NGO network building… 2nd hand designer clothing… online platforms for volunteering solutions… taxis and potatoes… ethical hairdressing salons… professional internships… Youtube playlist? Coffee shop eavesdropping? Twitter madness? No, all of the above and much more […]
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Among the first inhabitants of Thessaloniki
Posted March 1, 2013 by Politis
The remains of one of the earliest inhabitants of the city of Thessaloniki, those of a young woman, roughly twenty-five years of age, adorned with a gold crown, have been uncovered and published in a tomb dating from the third century BC, during excavations coinciding with digging for the Thessaloniki Metro, near the Stathmos Dimocratias. […]
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Public sector reform, US style
Posted March 21, 2013 by Politis
Throughout Europe there has been an emphasis on public sector reform as the counterpart to austerity economics. In most cases, including Greece, little has been achieved. Paul Light of the Wagner School, NYU, makes a compelling case that the time is ripe in the US federal government for reform, now that sequester-imposed austerity has set […]
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Center right, center left: the original
Posted March 24, 2013 by Politis
“The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation, and respectful dialogue. Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, BPC combines politically-balanced policymaking with strong, proactive advocacy and outreach. As the only Washington, DC-based think tank that actively promotes bipartisanship, BPC […]
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Sport and politics
Posted February 1, 2013 by Politis
This bit was posted by a wag yesterday on the BBC web site, relative to the transfer of soccer star Mario Balotelli from Manchester City to AC Milan (the latter owned by Sylvio Berlusconi). “When Inter president Massimo Moratti said yesterday that Silvio Berlusconi would have many uses for Mario Balotelli he was absolutely right. […]
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Women in public life — today!
Posted February 24, 2013 by Politis
Three stories in today’s Guardian show all the contradictions in looking at the roles women play in contemporary public life around the world. First, Yvonne Roberts laments the small number of women in public life in the UK. According to a report entitled Sex and Power, to be published Monday, “women make up only 22.5% […]
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Ageing, but with grace?
Posted January 20, 2013 by DW
The editors of Kathimerini write in today’s online English edition that “The prime minister knows better than anyone else how difficult the job ahead is, and how many problems he has to deal with… he is making a gigantic effort to hold the country together even though he is dealing with a shattered public administration and […]
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Saying of the day: 6/12/13
Posted June 12, 2013 by Politis
“Culture is like marmalade. The closer you get to the bottom of the jar the more you try to spread what’s left.” — Anonymous (Paris, 1968)
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Saying of the day: 4/3/13
Posted April 3, 2013 by Politis
“There are two Rules of Holes in politics. The first rule is well known: ‘When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.’ The second rule is less well known: ‘When you stop digging, you are still in a hole.’” — Roger Simon
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Tax cheat sheet
Posted March 13, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Andy Dabilis After hostile reaction, the Greek government said it would not go ahead with plans to give tax cheats an 80 percent discount on fines they would have to pay for breaking the law, including some 2,062 people with $1.95 billion in secret Swiss bank accounts, the so-called Lagarde List, that has created […]
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What to do about getting the story out and getting the people organized
Posted April 10, 2013 by Politis
By Maria Kalogeroudi Two speakers with a common concern: acting against racial prejudice. The one, a journalist, the other, a community organizer. Meet Damian Mac Con Uladh. Damian is an activist journalist who used to work for Athens News. He explained what an activist journalist is: a journalist for whom the boundaries between personal and […]
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When politics invaded the civil service
Posted April 25, 2012 by PR
By Fotini Kalliri, Kathimerini, Athens Every so often experts talk about the systemic nature of the crisis in the Greek civil service, offering different opinions as to why the state mechanism is in such a shambles and cannot contribute in any positive way to the country’s economy and growth. One thing that they all agree […]
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Revolt of the clowns (the real ones)
Posted March 2, 2013 by Politis
Der Spiegel has a story according to which professional clowns in Germany are up in arms regarding a comment made by the leader of the German opposition, Social Democrat Peer Steinbrück, comparing Italian political figures Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo to clowns. “A circus clown is no fool who can be placed on the same […]
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The injustice of the Greek justice system
Posted April 2, 2013 by Politis
Politis asked EU law expert Anna Maria Konsta for her comments on a recently published review of the Greek justice system compared to other EU member states. Here are her remarks. “Even if these data date back to 2010, they are still indicative of the inefficiency of the Greek judicial system. In Greece, it takes […]