“Obama is very possibly a world-historical political figure, and until those who oppose him come to grips with this fact, they will get him wrong every time.” — John Podhoretz
By Andy Dabilis “The severity of Greece’s crushing economic crisis and austerity measures demanded by international lenders has drastically cut the incomes of more than 90 percent of Greek households, with an average drop of 38 percent. The startling numbers that illustrated how bad the crisis is for most Greeks, apart from politicians, the rich […]
On the TV news a few days ago Greek journalist Pavlos Tsimas suggested that the Greek government and several other EU member states, especially Germany, were engaged in a war of words. The next day Bloomberg said what Tsimas could not, or would not, alluding to a “Greek alternative reality,” a “twilight zone.” No less […]
By Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas* Globalization has us readily accepting goods from other lands into our homes. But can countries absorb imported citizens just as easily? Whenever I join the crowd to criticize a line-jumper in a queue in Greece, someone inevitably tries to muzzle me with the classic insider-outsider putdown: “You’re not Greek.” Apparently, only locals […]
By Maria Patsarika Beware Boris with your Barclays bikes; beware Copenhagen and Amsterdam: Thessbike is here! This was missing from our city, no doubt. A bike-renting service is now available in Thessaloniki at various hotspots downtown. For Thessabike to partake some of its predecessors’ success, however, cyclists need accessibility, safety and peaceful co-existence with pedestrians […]
Findings from a recently published report by the Pew Research Center on digital politics in the 2012 US general election. Should we look for signs that this is the future face of European electoral politics too? 1. Digital Politics:Pew Research findings on technology and campaign 2012 Aaron Smith Research Associate Pew Research Center @pewinternet, #SMWdigitalpolitics […]
“If history tells us anything, the fight against NSA secrecy is a winnable.” — Gregory Ferenstein, TechCrunch
By Politis This past week the Municipality of Thessaloniki has hosted a unique Franco-German initiative, in collaboration with the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, a Dutch-registered NGO based in Thessaloniki with outreach throughout the Balkans. Academics, journalists, practitioners, and above all university students have gathered in Thessaloniki to continue their ongoing series […]
Google and YouTube claim they can help teachers turn teenagers into better citizens. Watch the clip below to find out how.
Two very symptomatic editorials featured in the Sunday news, both tending to focus blame for Greece’s woes on specific elements in Greek society. In the first, an editorial in the New York Times by Kostas Vaxevanis, the editor who published a version of the so-called Lagrarde list with names of Greek citizens having large deposits […]
By Krysta Kalachani A quick search online relative to the elections that took place in Italy earlier this week will return to even the most inexperienced internet user hits that include words and phrases like “paralysis,” “European crawl,” “markets down,” “Moody’s on the crisis to come back,” etc., in other words a disaster coming up […]
Thousands of runners who never finished the Boston Marathon last month, along with bombing victims and spectators, gathered in the rain on May 25 to run the OneRun, a one-mile road race that spanned the last mile of the Boston Marathon. The race started at Kenmore and ending at the finish line in Copley Square. […]
“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
From the AP in Davos. “Three women angry over sexism and male domination of the world economy ripped off their shirts and tried to force their way into a gathering of corporate elites in a Swiss resort. Predictably, they failed. The ubiquitous and huge security force policing the World Economic Forum in Davos carried the […]
By Andy Dabilis Following a report from Greece’s creditors that shows tax collections are far off course despite big tax hikes, the International Monetary Fund has warned that unless revenues rise and tax cheats are caught that the government will be forced to impose more austerity measures. That has included previous big tax hikes, including […]
According to a poll published in Roll Call, 95% of members of the US House of Representatives say they get a sense of personal accomplishment from their work as legislators. 89% claim that they are performing an important public service. The sample was small, however: 194 House members were selected randomly, but only 25 responded. […]
A review by Krysta Kalachani of Alain Badiou, “Greek anti-fascism protests put the left’s impotence on display,” The Guardian, October 3, 2013. Here are my first thoughts but one has more to say. This is no ordinary article: one must read it carefully. There are some interesting views there, while one can find counter arguments […]
By Krysta Kalachani A couple recent articles, the one in Proto Thema, the other in To Vima, relate to an older (2011) news story about a big fraud that was taking place at the Kallithea office of IKA. One of the employees exposed a case of fraud where some employees had found ways to collect […]
Politis has invited Krysta Kalachani and guest contributor Sakis Ioannides, of Parallaxi, to comment on Παναγιώτης Μένεγος, “Δημοσιογράφος, ο μεγάλος χαμένος (και) της κρίσης,” popaganda.gr, January 28, 2014. SI Let me summarize “Journalist, the crisis’ big loser,” an article by Panagiotis Menegos, one of the staff writers at popaganda.gr (a multimedia electronic magazine). Menegos wrote […]