By Nicholas Piston* It was somewhat poetic taking the ferry across the Aegean in the cover of night. I made my way to the outdoor deck, my preferred place to sit whenever taking a ferry in Greece, and stared out to Piraeus, gazing silently at the gates I volunteered briefly at while in Athens (which will have […]
“Greece – like Detroit but without hockey.” — Anonymous
By Livingston Merchant I just read the article entitled “The Greeks aren’t even trying,” in a blog named Testosterone Pit by Wolf Richter. I work as a professor of history and international affairs at Raparin University in Ranya, Kurdistan. It is a very small city in northern Iraq near the Iranian border, with no post […]
“How To Raise Your Child’s IQ” – by Professor William Maxwell, an Inspiration Exchange discussion series event to be held under the auspice of Michael and Kitty Dukakis Centre for Humanitarian and Public Service at the American College of Thessaloniki on Wednesday, May 9, at 5 PM in the Bissell Library. All Revolutions are born […]
By David Wisner The Dukakis Center hosted well-known Greek blogger Kostas Kallergis in April for a talk on lustration as a means of dealing with corruption in Greek politics. Hearkening back to attempts in various countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe in the 1990s to deal with their former communist past, Kallergis concluded that the […]
What is the expression again, “up a creek without a paddle?”
By Krysta Kalachani Have you seen this article on EnetEnglish? It circulated a lot on twitter the other day; you can find more info with the hashtag #skouries. The article is about Police files containing transcripts of interviews between Tolis Papageorgiou, the founder of Hellenic Mining Watch, and 11 newspapers, news agencies, and websites both […]
By David Wisner A few months ago I filed my Greek tax return, as I have every year since 1995; just recently I payed the first installment of my remaining income tax obligation for 2012. This year, like last, I had to submit all the receipts I had amassed over the course of the calendar […]
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 […]
NOW till Monday 1st Apr – The Greek Monsters – The Beetroot Design Group and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art present a three-dimensional sculptures exhibition featuring the Minotaur, the Cyclops, the Stymphalian birds and the rest of the bizarre creatures that haunted heroes’ deeds in ancient Greek mythology. The exhibition consists of installations, sculptures, […]
By Maria Patsarika Did you know about Bitcoin, the virtual currency? I didn’t. I found out this weekend reading the FT magazine. Bitcoin is one of the many entrepreneurial initiatives that feature all too often in the media. It is a monetary storage and distribution digital system, which enables transactions through exchange of codes, rather […]
COULD Adolf Hitler come to power today? Timur Vermes poses this question in his debut novel “He’s Back” (“Er Ist Wieder Da”). Told in the first person, the plot sees Hitler randomly wake up from a 66-year sleep in 2011 Berlin. There is no explanation for how or why this has happened, but that is […]
Ahead of the Thessaloniki European Youth Capital 2014 year, the British Embassy in Athens is organising a debate at Thessaloniki Municipal Council Hall on Wednesday, 13 November 2013 at 4.30, open to the public. Four young speakers from UK and Greece, Natalie Robinson – UK Young Ambassador, Sophie Rodgers – UK Young Ambassador, Ioannis Konstantinidis […]
Helping strengthen civil society in Greece.
Athens (April 8, 2013) — Erroneous press reports have appeared overnight suggesting that the U.S. Consulate General in Thessaloniki is closing. As the Consulate announced on February 15, certain U.S. citizen consular services and notarial services will be provided only on a periodic basis in Thessaloniki from the end of May onwards. Those services will […]
By Simona Ramos As times in Greece are getting worse and new taxes place an additional burden on the backs of millions of Greek citizens there are many things to be said and even more to be done. Ironically, but it seems that Greece have moved directly from its golden age to its age of doom. […]
By David Wisner Growing up my friends and I used to play a small game with our hands. We would start with our hands clasped, thumbs aligned, index fingers erect. “Here is the church/here is the steeple/open the doors/where are the people?” We would then interlock our fingers and perform the same series of steps: […]
By Mark Lowen, BBC News, Athens It is rare for citizens to try to take their government to court, and even more so for a Western European government to be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. But that is what one group based near the Greek capital is now attempting. And […]
Excerpts from the annual international religious freedom report that was published on Monday by the US State Department. Executive Summary The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom with some restrictions. In practice the government generally respected religious freedom, although it imposed restrictions affecting members of non-Greek Orthodox religious groups. The government granted privileges […]
The MPA program at the University of North Carolina has a really useful “Citizen’s Guide to Open Government, E-Government, and Government 2.0.” They conclude that Open Government is here for the long haul. “Engaged citizens want clear, credible information from the government about how it’s carrying on its business. They don’t want to thumb through […]