ATHENS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- One in five small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Greece is facing the threat of closure this year, despite ...
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How the world sees Greece
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
One in five SMEs in Greece on brink of closure by 2015: survey
Netflix Already Has the Rights to Gotham
Netflix has secured the exclusive streaming rights to Fox's Batman drama Gotham ahead of its premiere, ... email · print. By TV Guide. Greece Post.
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Exclusive: Check Out The Middle's New Poster
The Hecks are in The Middle of nowhere — at least they are on their new poster.... email · print. By TV Guide. Greece Post. By TV Guide. Posted Sep.
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Report Published: "Sewage Infrastructure Construction in Greece to 2018: Market Databook"
'Sewage Infrastructure Construction in Greece to 2018: Market Databook' provides a top-level overview and detailed insight into the operating ...
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Sneak Peek: PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK GODS by Rick Riordan
My introduction to Geek mythology was the beautiful oversized D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. There, the classic stories of Zeus, Hermes, Athena, ...
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Tribute to Kazantzakis in French Festival
The festival was essentially dedicated to the Greek islands. It included the presentation of a documentary series about Ikaria, Lesvos, Makronissos, ...
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Sneak Peek: PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK GODS by Rick Riordan
My introduction to Geek mythology was the beautiful oversized D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. There, the classic stories of Zeus, Hermes, Athena, ...
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Contracts Assistant
Contracting Assistant - London - Greek or Russian Speaking A Fantastic opportunity has arisen to work for a leading Travel Organisation in their ...
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Cranston, RI Greek Festival Brings Food, Music and More September 5
CRANSTON, RI – Rhode Island residents are looking forward to the return of the Cranston Greek Festival this weekend. The three day festival is in its 29th year, and many people – Greek or not – will be enjoying the live music, dancing, and family time together at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. […] The post Cranston, RI Greek Festival Brings Food, Music and More September 5 appeared first on The National Herald.
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Greek market rebounds
Yesterday the negotiations between the Greek govt and troika delegates focused on the budget, with the Greek FinMin emphasizing this is “absolutely ...
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Russia’s 2018 World Cup Still On
Already through to the second round of the 2014 World Basketball Cup, Greece squares off against tough Croatia END .article-big-block ...
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Greek Law Firm Grows Rapidly
melbourne According to the Australian Lawyer Review, law firm Moray & Agnew, owned by Greek Community of Melbourne President Vasilis ...
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Greek Mayor Wins Plaudits For Open Protest of Golden Dawn Win
The Jewish community of Greece has heartily praised the mayor of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki for purposely wearing a yellow Star of David ...
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Moody’s: Greece in Debt Doldrums
Greece is only one of several countries whose shaky finances leave them on the brink of being unable to repay their obligations. Moody’s currently rates 10 other countries’ debt as equally or even more risky than that of Argentina. These span the globe, from nearby Venezuela and Ecuador to Pakistan. The table shows the countries around the world judged as most likely to default on their sovereign debt, according Moody’s. Countries rated Caa1, like Greece and Egypt, are judged as risky as Argentina, while those rated Caa2 or Caa3 are even more speculative. Other countries further up the junk bond spectrum still cause concern, like Ghana, whose credit rating was downgraded in June and has announced it might tap the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan as soon as next month.
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Greek lenders in the line of fire
The European Central Bank’s landmark review of eurozone banks will have to ask lenders to raise an additional 51 billion euros to be credible with markets, a Goldman Sachs survey of large institutional investors has found.
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Special Meeting Between Papoulias and Samaras
President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias had a special meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras after the oath of the new Education Minister Giorgos Stylios. Samaras informed Papoulias on the government’s discussions with the Troika in Paris, as well as on the upcoming NATO summit in Wales. The meeting addressed various issues, one of which was the election of a new President of the Hellenic Republic. According to information, the Prime Minister believes that it is too soon to choose the person that will eventually replace Papoulias in the highest political office. The meeting lasted 40 minutes and ended at 2pm. It took place one day before the NATO summit between the 28 country leaders of the Atlantic Alliance, where it is customary for the President of the Hellenic Republic and the Prime Minister to have a discussion in order to review the situation in regards to national issues. It is possible that several Alliance members will attempt to raise the issue of Skopje’s integration into NATO, as well as the course of Greek-Turkish relations.
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This Hideous Chart Shows Draghi's Deflation Nightmare Is Coming True In Europe
This is the chart that eurozone policymakers are most afraid of. It shows Euro Area inflation is falling precipitously over the past three years leaving the region perilously close to falling into deflation — an outcome they are desperate to avoid. Why is this important? Inflation is normally a dirty word. But a little bit of inflation is good for economic growth because it encourages people to spend today rather than save for later. Economic growth across large chunks of Europe is declining toward 0%. It's teetering on the brink, essentially. The ECB actually needs some inflation, for once, to get things rolling again. The European Central Bank (ECB), which has a mandate to achieve an average 2% inflation rate, is meeting tomorrow to set interest rates for the Euro Area. Yet with interest rates already right down against the zero lower bound, and the deposit rate (the interest rates the central bank pays on its own savings accounts) having dropped into negative territory (-0.1%) in June, there are few options open to the central bank to stimulate economic activity and try to push up inflation by lowering interest rates. The rates can't go any lower. Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB, has promised to do "whatever it takes" to resolve the region's problems and is now openly discussing the potential of launching a European asset purchase programme similar to the quantitative easing programmes in the U.S. and U.K. But the question for many is whether he has promised too much and will now struggle to deliver. The problem facing Draghi is that, while countries like Greece and Italy are in great need of increased spending to help restart their sluggish economies. But one of the key the mechanisms by which central bank policy is transmitted to the real economy — bank lending — is broken. The chart below, from a recent paper by the German Institute for Economic Research, shows the percentage change in lending to non-financial companies: Lending is collapsing all over the place, basically. What it suggests is that even if the ECB does act tomorrow, central bank action alone will struggle to alleviate the problems in the areas where they are most apparent. His lack of firepower may well be the reason why Draghi used his speech at Kansas City Fed’s annual conference at Jackson Hole to raise the prospect of loosening the "overall stance of [fiscal] policy" — that is, to pull back on some of the budget tightening measures European Union leaders have been pushing for over recent years. There's just one problem: The Germans. There is little sign that Europe's largest economy is listening. Germany wants balanced budgets above everything. Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble even implied Draghi's speech was all just a misunderstanding that had been "overinterpreted." Few believe that, but convincing the Germans of the need to reverse spending cuts is a big ask — and it may be a necessary one.SEE ALSO: The Stunningly Grim Economic Picture Mario Draghi Will Have To Address On Thursday Join the conversation about this story »
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Hot Alert: Nokia (NYSE:NOK), National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE:NBG), Galena Biopharma, Inc ...
National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE:NBG) said that it has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently ...
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The Changing Landscape of Property Ownership in Greece
ATHENS, GREECE--In previous articles, we introduced two newly enforced legal certificates and how they affect those that continue to hold property in ...
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News Buzz
National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) declined -1.46% and closed at $3.38 in the last trading session with the total traded volume of 3.24 ...
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Australian Government: We Have Jobs, Come!
australia In some countries, such as Greece, the deep recession lead to unemployment, while in others there is not enough manpower to staff ...
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Greek-Australians Honor Asia Minor Catastrophe
Although many Greek-Australians who live in the country were born in Australia, as did their parents and grandparents, they always have their real homeland in their hearts, which they can’t forget. Every year, the descendants of Greeks from Asia Minor ...
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Bill on criminalization of denial of Armenian Genocide to be discussed at Greek parliament at the ...
The bill forbids denial of the genocides recognized by the Greek parliament. Greek Minister of Justice Atanasiu Haralambos stated in his speech that ...
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Greek president impressed by Kuwaiti trip dedicated to mentally disabled
KUWAIT, Sept 3 (KUNA) -- Greek President Carlos Papoulias said on Wednesday that he greatly admires the idea of "Journey of Hope", which has ...
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OECD Report: Greek Unemployment Will Remain at 27%
According to the latest OECD report, Greece’s unemployment rate will remain around 27% through the end of 2015. Long-tern unemployment is a contributing factor to structural unemployment as a result of skill depreciation and lack of motivation in finding a job. Despite moderate signs of recovery across many OECD countries in 2014, the unemployment rate in Greece remains stuck at close to its highest level since the start of the economic crisis. According to OECD data, debt-hit Greece shows one of the highest shares of long-term unemployment among OECD economies, with the figure soaring from 49% to 71% between Q4 2007 and Q1 2014. Greece – particularly the private sector – saw one of the biggest drops in real wages across OECD countries, more than 5% per year on average since the first quarter or 2009. “While the sharp decline of wages contributed to partially reverse the gap in unit labor costs with Germany and restore external competitiveness, hourly labor productivity growth has remained stubbornly negative since the start of the crisis,” the report said. On labor market security and quality of working environment in Greece, the report said the country ranked near the bottom (31st place) of the OECD table. “Greek workers face excessive job demands with insufficient resources to meet their work requirements. This situation not only hinders productivity but can have strong negative effects on workers’ health,” the report added.
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Despite higher joblessness, Europe surpasses US in keeping prime-age adults in the workforce
by Associated Press Europe's job market has strengths the US doesn't by PAUL WISEMAN and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, Associated Press - 3 September 2014 12:21-04:00 WASHINGTON (AP) — Compare unemployment rates, and America's job market looks much stronger than Europe's. The U.S. rate for August, being released Friday, is expected to be a near-normal 6.1 percent. In the 18 countries that use the euro currency, by contrast, it's a collective 11.5 percent. Yet by some measures, Europe is doing better. It's been more successful in keeping people working, letting the disabled stay on the job and boosting the proportion of women in the workforce. And Europeans in their prime working years — ages 25 to 54 — are more likely to be employed than Americans are. Fewer than 77 percent of prime-age Americans have jobs, compared with 80 percent in Belgium, 81 percent in France and 82 percent in the Netherlands, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. If Americans ages 25 to 54 were as likely to be working as Germans the same age, 8.3 million more Americans would have jobs. "Where we used to talk about the U.S. having a high-powered labor market in the late 1990s, Germany has that now," says Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It's true, of course, that the unemployed have a much harder time finding a job in, say, Spain or Greece than the United States. Spain's unemployment rate is nearly 25 percent. For people under 25, the rate tops 50 percent. Though the eurozone's overall unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, individual countries include low-rate nations like Germany and Austria (4.9 percent) as well as some with much higher unemployment than the United States: Portugal (14 percent), Italy (12.6 percent), France (10.3 percent), Belgium (8.5 percent). Yet Josh Bivens, research director at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, says America's relatively low "headline unemployment rate is painting too rosy a picture of how the U.S. labor market is doing." The fall in the U.S. unemployment rate has been exaggerated by rising numbers of adults neither working nor looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they're looking for a job. When many stop looking, the unemployment rate can fall even if few people are hired. The share of Americans ages 16 to 64 either working or seeking work has fallen to 72.7 percent from 75.3 percent at the end of 2007, when the Great Recession began. In the 28 countries in the European Union, the figure has risen to 72.3 percent from 70.5 percent in late 2007. The United States and Europe calculate their employment rates in broadly similar ways. No single reason explains why prime-age employment and workforce participation trends are weaker in the United States. But among the factors: AMERICAN WORKERS GET LAID OFF Europe better protects prime-age workers. "There's nowhere in Europe where you can just fire a worker," says Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. By contrast, "it's very easy for companies to fire workers in the U.S.," Kirkegaard said. Judith Carney, 50, of Morgan Hill, California, lost her job at a defense manufacturer in January. She's been looking for work since. "I am very scared that I won't find a job and that I will lose my town house," Carney said. By contrast, Frederic Furman, 28, who manages an Indonesian restaurant in Paris, says job security is ingrained in French culture. "It's not something I think about," he said at his restaurant near the bustling Grands Boulevards. Full-time job contracts make it difficult and expensive for employers to shed staff. Those job protections can have a downside, though: Companies are less likely to hire workers if they know they can never get rid of them. DISABLED EUROPEANS STILL WORK The U.S. disability program forces many ailing Americans to choose between working and collecting disability. The number receiving disability payments from Social Security has gone from 7.1 million at the end of 2007 to 8.9 million. European countries make it easier for people to strike a balance between work and time away. "The U.S. system has a strong bias that insists (on) looking at disability as a static or permanent condition," says Ilene Zeitzer, a former Social Security Administration official. "Either the person is so disabled (he or she) cannot work or they are not that disabled and thus they are denied benefits." In European countries such as Sweden, by contrast, workers can take sick leave and then transfer if necessary to temporary disability. OLDER EUROPEAN WOMEN ARE WORKING MORE Though American and European women are similarly likely to be working or seeking work, in Europe the percentage is climbing. In the United States, it's falling. Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have found the trend pronounced among European women 45 and older: The percentage working or looking for work has risen 2 percentage points in four years. For American women, that percentage has dropped. Kirkegaard says one reason could be the need to care for aging parents. That need "is a lot less prevalent in Europe" because such services are more likely to be paid for by government programs, he says. Such generous social programs are supported by Europe's higher tax rates. EUROPE REFORMS BRING PART-TIMERS AND TEMPS Spain, France, Germany and Italy have eased rules that had made it hard for companies to hire part-time and temporary workers. The loosened rules have enabled more Europeans to find work. Beginning in 2003, Germany cut the duration of unemployment benefits, raised the retirement age and eased restrictions on temporary staffing agencies. It also required the unemployed to actively seek work to receive benefits. Likewise, Spain cut unemployment benefits and made it easier for companies to hire part-timers and temps. And in 2012, Italy made it easier to hire workers on short-term contracts. ___ Associated Press Writer Greg Keller contributed to this report from Paris. News Topics: Business, General news, Losing a job, Government pensions and social security, Employment figures, Labor economy, Job hunting, Government programs, Staffing services, Economic policy, Careers, Government business and finance, Government and politics, Economy, Leading economic indicators, Professional services, Industries, Government policy People, Places and Companies: Dean Baker, Europe, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, United States, Western Europe, North America Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Int'l lenders pressure Greece on slow reforms
Greece is hoping that the international lenders will ease up on interest rates and repayment schedules for its Euros 344 billion (USD 464 billion) in ...
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Lady Gaga Says Hello to Her Greek Fans
American star Lady Gaga will be stopping by the Olympic Stadium in Athens on September 19 as part of her world tour entitled “Lady Gaga’s artRAVE: the Artpop Ball.” With over 4 million tickets to her credit, the Lady Gaga live machine is coming to Athens for the first time, as announced today by Live Nation Entertainment president Arthur Fogel. The company has revolutionized the ever more popular pop concert venue, buying the rights of international stars such as Madonna, U2, Jay-Z and Shakira. The world tour is set to support Lady Gaga’s multiplatinum “Artpop” album, which reached the top of the Billboard charts in the first week of its release. During the live show, she will be performing both the album’s big hits and a retrospective of her older songs. Lady Gaga released a video saying hello to her Greek fans and expressing her excitement to visit Athens.
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Greece Plans 7-Year Bond Sale as Portugal Raises $4.6 Billion
Greece is planning a sale of seven- year notes, a further sign of thawing in euro-area debt markets, after Portugal tapped investors for 15-year securities and Spain created 50-year bonds for the first time.
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Investors expect banks to raise $67.02 billion after ECB tests: survey
Perceptions of Greek, central and eastern European and Austrian banks have deteriorated most since October, the survey said, while investors' views ...
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Jan Hus the Eastern Christian: Greek Missionaries and Common Language
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is, of course, high on this list. Particularly when my now husband was being baptized in the Orthodox Church, hilarious ...
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Clean Plate: Greek Salsa
Our first few weeks of parenthood left not only our hearts full, but our fridge and pantry stocked, as well. Joey's many visitors brought everything from ...
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My Private Soul: Why You Should Have Secrets
... No Brain (But Lots of Time to Exist) · Technology? Let's Ask the Story Tellers · Oxford and Creativity. By Sarah Greek Pray September 3, 2014 ...
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Rhodes Honors Greek-American Scientist
Theodora Hatziioannou, a Greek-American professor at Rockefeller University in New York was honored on Tuesday by the mayor of the island of Rhodes Fotis Chatzidiakos, for her research on AIDS treatment. The awarding of the world-famous scientist was held in the building of the Municipality of Rhodes. Hatziioannou, along with her husband and two children are enjoying their summer holidays in her homeland. The professor visits the Greek island often, as her relatives and friends live there. Despite living abroad for many years, she loves Greece and her children study in a Greek school in New York. Hatziioannou is leading a research group operating in the US. After 25 years of research, she managed to infect monkeys with the HIV virus, facilitating the work of scientists, who have now intensified their experiments for the discovery of the vaccine that will cure AIDS. HIV was transmitted to humans from apes, however it has adapted to the human body and doesn’t infect small animals, such as monkeys. Hatziioannou studied at the University of Bristol in Britain and did a postgraduate degree at London’s Imperial College. She got her PhD in 1999 from the University Claude Bernard in Lyon-France and did postdoctoral research at Columbia and Rockefeller University (Aaron Diamond Research Center for AIDS). She continued to work as an assistant professor at the latter since 2006 and in 2012 she was promoted to associate professor.
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Greece Reports 3.2 bln Euros Primary Surplus in Jan-July
The Greek government on Wednesday reported a primary surplus of 3.2 billion euros or 1.8% of GDP, in the January-July period this year, from a primary surplus of 1.8 billion or 1.0% of GDP in the corresponding period of 2013. According to official figures, the state’s overdue debt to the private sector decreased to 3.91 billion euros at the end of July, from 4.58 billion euros a month earlier, dropping from the 4.0 billion level for the first time this year. Including tax returns, the state’s overdue debt to the private sector fell to 4.655 billion euros from 5.254 billion euros in June. Overdue debt by pension funds dropped by approximately 700 million euros to 2.293 billion euros, while overdue debt by local authorities dropped to 357 million euros in July, from 388 million in June. On the other hand, overdue debt by state hospitals increased to 819 million euros in July, from 790 million euros in June. Commenting on the figures, Finance Alternate Minister Christos Staikouras said that Greece continues moving within a fiscal framework of an economic program for the second successive year, thanks to the sacrifices made by households and enterprises. The creation of primary surplus offered the necessary basis for economic growth and social justice and cohesion. (source: ana-mpa)
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Making Greece a ‘Film Studio’
Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni and Minister of Culture and Sports Kostas Tasoulas have decided on several joint actions between the two Ministries. The two Ministers reached their decision after a meeting today, September 3, at the Ministry of Culture. Their goal is to promote Greek tourism and the country’s cultural heritage. Furthermore, the two Ministers agreed to co-organize several actions with the goal of attracting international film and television producers in Greece. They also spoke about implementing economic incentives and simplify the bureaucratic process for filming, through a single point of contact, aiming at the multiple benefits of attracting international productions in the country. It was also agreed to jointly create mobile phone applications that will enable visitors explore Greece’s cultural and archaeological sites, as well as monuments. As the two Ministers stressed, the aim of their cooperation is to fully utilize Greece’s comparative advantages in the tourism and cultural sectors.
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What Homer's Iliad Tells Us About the Islamic State
America's military castes love to call themselves warriors. Moreover, national security keyboard artists have found their true rhetorical love comparing ancient Greek hoplites to our own "warrior" panoplies of war, as though we share the same battle-mettle -- and the same frames of strategic choice and action -- Would war with China be like the Iliad? Or would it be like the Peloponnesian War? This tendency is a mistake, for two reasons. The first is that we do not resemble ancient Greeks (and that should be cause for celebration). The second is that there are men today who do, completely ... ... and they are our sworn enemies, the enemies of civilization itself. The beheading of James Foley is our warning that we face the forces of Homer -- real warriors from a heroic age -- and that is bad news. But the worse news will come if we persist in denying it. No one will deny that we are the remote posterity of Bronze Age fighters. But it then took us 3000 years to rediscover writing, create philosophy and science and history, and also democracy. We still burned girls as witches 300 years ago, and 150 years ago millions of Americans were still no more than high-value chattel property. We have emerged as better humans only very recently. Civilization is at last becoming a world where we all belong to each other, like our ancestral DNA shows. But Homer's world was very different. It is a world defined by human difference. This is the world humans built for themselves for hundreds of thousands of years -- years in which humanity was all about the celebration of difference. In this world all meaning flowed from being among "your own" (kinship) and those who might claim partial kinship (even as a guest) -- as opposed to those who were dangerously different, alien, and other -- and how we assigned varying status points to differentiation, all the way to where difference required bloody sanction. Sanctioning difference became our sacred ritual: The very foundation of how we enshrined our own identity by killing the other. War itself became our ultimate ritual -- where togetherness could be made perfect and whole by collectively enshrining the ritual death of the other. Killing is our celebration of identity. Homer caught this song and its irresistible chant in the Iliad. His poem is the oldest testament of celebratory killing. We call Homer's world The Heroic Age. We profess to love heroes, but ancient Greek ideal was very different from our cartoon banner of the Marvel Comic superhero. Theirs in contrast was sculpted into iron portraits of transcendent, sacred killers -- where the greatest was always, always Achilles. Muslim warriors today unconsciously still strive to replicate the achievement of Achilles. They operate unashamedly in the reality-space of ancient concepts of kinship and the other, in which the hero serves as the instrument of shared identity celebrated and realized in battle. Yet Muslims have a bigger identity too -- also rooted in classical antiquity -- the Universalist vision of Islam itself. Moreover Muslim warriors embrace what they believe is a pure vision of Islam because it is authentically original, meaning, unsullied by all corruption since the moment of origination. We must never forget that Islam was the very last act of classical antiquity, and that as the canonical child of Homer -- 1500 years downstream -- Islam too hearkens back to the passionate currents of the Iliad. Islam is thus the last great Greco-Roman story from antiquity. It is both the last take on the Iliad just as much as it is the last testament of the Christian and Jewish Bibles. This is an apparent paradox until we understand two things. First, as John Lendon tells us, Greco-Roman thought and belief was always in the end about the Iliad: [The] congruence of Homeric and later Greek ethics ensured that the heroes were not only old, but also admirable, and so the past of the Greeks was not inert, but to be imitated by the men of the present. The heroes of epic always sat invisible upon the shoulders of the Greeks, whispering their counsel ... epic made the Greek past irreducibly past, and so rather than envisaging the past as the present, they tended rather to understand the present by means of the past. Islam never fully escaped the iron vision and vise of Greco-Roman reality -- always looking back to be the heroes of origination. 1400 years after, Muslims still yearn to renew Islam as though they were riding with Muhammad and his band of brothers -- like Emperors Trajan or Julian desperately reaching for the brass ring of Achilles. Moreover, we can say that what goes for classical antiquity not only goes for Islam, but that Islam in its deepest currents passionately follows its Greek fathers. Like it or not, Islam grew up within, and then grew out from, the greater heart of the Roman Empire in the 7th century -- and Islam's inner heart remained "Byzantine," in its deeper framing of narrative, virtue, and piety, until the fall of the Ottomans. So we are dealing with the last living remnants of classical antiquity, still hearkening backwards to Homer's "Age of Heroes." Latter-day Brothers of Muhammad (al Ansar) are literally -- and literarily -- living the dream -- as Alastair Crooke describes so eloquently. Yet their highly stylized behavior, quite unconsciously, hews to archaic Iliadic archtypes. These Achilles wannabes evoke five tropes central to the Iliad. Think of these as five anchors to life defining their heroic identity -- not consciously, but deeply. - Heroic death. The warrior's death is central to all heroic societies, but why does one seek to die on the battlefield? Some heroic modes celebrate self-sacrifice for the community, like Beowulf. In Takfiri Islam it is martyrdom for God. But Achilles stands out by reminding us that the ultimate fulfillment in heroic society is killing -- and his abiding song of wrath spells this out how if there is joy in delivering death, there must also be joy in at last embracing it. - Blood sacrifice (Dennis Hughes, Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece). In one of the most chilling passages of Homer's heroic, Achilles slits the throats of twelve noble Trojan boys, to honor the burial pyre of Patroclus. Plato was so distressed at this passage that he simply denied Achilles' act. What if Homer created a dispensation for human sacrifice after battle through antiquity and its Muslim inheritors? Blood sacrifice of prisoners is hallowed in Muslim lore. - Supplication (Gordon Kelley, Battlefield Supplication in the Iliad). The ritual death of James Foley has perhaps its most moving counterpart in the Iliad, in Achilles' killing of Lykaon. James Foley made only indirect supplication, but his "I wish I had more time to see my family" still fit heroic age poetic venues in which the plea of the person to be executed can be dismissed in the context of the greater wrong and rage that the killer must exorcize. Lykaon might so easily, like Foley, be spared, yet he is complicit in deeper ways: So, friend, you die also. Why all this clamor about it? Patroklos also is dead, who was better by far than you are. Do you not see what a man I am, how huge, how splendid and born of a great father, and the mother who bore me immortal? Execution thus demonstrates how the enemy is all one, to be destroyed (no exceptions), but also that each ritual slaying enhances dominance (today, of Islam) over the apostates and unbelievers. Yet, like ancient Greeks, we are buying into the atavistic frames of heroic age society: Witness Shirley Sotloff. - Compensation (Donna Wilson, Ransom and Revenge in Heroic Identity) Private monetary compensation for wrong and ransom is just as embedded in the Muslim world today as it was in the Heroic Age. The key dynamic in the Iliad is that Achilles rejects former norms of reciprocity -- indeed all forms of compensation -- after the death of Patroklos. The wrong is too great to be assuaged by money. We see this counterpointed in the $130 million ransom demanded for James Foley -- itself an enunciation of how the wrongs done Islam are too great for America ever to pay off. - Mourning and funerary rites (Robin Norris, Mourning Rites: Beowulf, the Iliad, and the War in Iraq). Elaborate funeral rites and extended lamentation mark the passing of the hero -- Patroklos, Beowulf, or the pious Muslim warrior today. Yet with remembrance, not all the dead of battle share the hero's fate. Essential to Achilles' killing of say, Lykaon, or Da'ish's ritual beheadings is a desire to tell us that such men did not die as heroes but as sacrificial animals: After flinging Lykaon's body by the foot into the River Skamandros, Achilleus bids the fish to feed upon it. The image that Achilleus evokes -- of fish nibbling on the "shining fat" of the corpse -- also deny the possibility of funeral rites for Lykaon's body (Kelley). So the Islamic State would take from us the chance to mourn our own: Just as we have -- perhaps unwittingly -- stripped honorable grief from them. "In the world of the Iliad, funeral interruption is the ultimate insult to one's enemy." How about a Mk. 81 JDAM Predator "interruption"? What do Muslim warriors of this new Heroic Age seek to achieve against us? Just this: Dominance. We, progeny of civilization, have no idea what that word really means. As reified a commentator as Robert Kaplan -- once-anointed of the Imperial Palace -- can only come up with this little nugget to imagine the enemy describing themselves: "We will triumph because we observe absolutely no constraints." How Kaplan showcases our foolish ways. When the Islamic state executes and takes a head, its message is really this: You are weak. You are no more than women. With your drones, you are worse than women. You will fall before us. You will beseech our mercy and then prostrate yourselves before the truth of God, before you die. The wrath of the Islamic State, like Achilles, is fueled by the pain of loss -- a century of shame and degradation -- but just as fully by the social need to create rites that overturn this impossible iron vise. The humiliation of Arab Sunni Islam is today one of the most compelling dynamics of all human history. We are fools to be surprised by this, or by the brutal truth that so many have turned on us. Nor should it surprise us that the still living grand community of Islam has turned instinctively at last to rites of resistance and deliverance; nor that, forced to pursue of what such rites offer, that old rules, especially rules we imposed, are literally to be thrown away. How did the magisterial world of Islam -- like the heavenly Alhambra, a last holdout in Western romance -- become lost? How have Achilles' "Heroic Age" rules come to demand payment now only through our own blood, shame, and humiliation? The truth is that we created them. Stripping people of Modernity through prolonged tyranny will force them on passages to original constructs of identity -- even before civilization. These past decades the United States has unconsciously helped reposition Muslim Sunni Arab identity, both through our unthinking support of corrupt Saudi Takfiri missionary enterprises, but also through our brutalization -- both subtle and head slamming -- of their world. As we talked democracy we also simultaneously withheld it. We gave no way out save the way they have taken now. Hence only blood can cleanse and purify Islam now: And for all Muslims -- more of them than you could ever imagine -- such cleansing must be our blood. This is the bad news: This is what it means to face a consciousness from before civilization. Today we confront the consequences of a century of casual cruelty. So poetry and heroes we once cherished emerge as if from ancient prism, to kill us all. I have one word: Do not fight them on their terms. They are our Achilles-Nemesis. They seek the arena of single combat, of mano-a-mano, of sacrifice and supplication. Do not let them dictate to us their passionate Homeric battlefield, for these reasons: We will lose that battle, in the act of losing ourselves. We are civilization, which is a precious creation only ours to lose. Let us not go into battle against Achilles then, as "Hector slayer of men" -- but rather as the true sons and daughters of Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.
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Businessman rehomes tiger from Greek zoo to new home at US big cat sanctuary
A Rutland businessman will fulfil a labour of love by re-homing a tiger from a Greek zoo to a sanctuary for big cats in the US. Phevos, a 15-year-old, ...
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2014 Salt Lake City Greek Festival
Not only does the 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con come to town tomorrow — but the 39th yearly installment of the Salt Lake Greek Festival also kicks off on ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theutahreview.com |
Global Competitiveness Report: Greece Advances 10 Spots
Following the economic recovery that started last year, Greece advances 10 spots to reach 81st place, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015. The Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 assesses the competitiveness landscape of 144 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. The Report series remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide. “Improvements in the functioning of its goods market with enhanced levels of competition and more flexible labor markets (although they remain rather rigid), along with a better macroeconomic performance with a sharp reduction in the budget deficit, have resulted in this more positive outlook despite its very high levels of government debt,” the report says. All this suggests that the implemented reforms are starting to pay off. Not withstanding this better performance, Greece continues to face important challenges that need to be addressed in order to continue improving its competitiveness. More precisely, the functioning of its institutions remains weak and achieves a poor evaluation for government efficiency, its financial market has not yet recovered from the recent crisis, there are concerns about the soundness of its banks and access to financing remains the most problematic factor for doing business in the country, the report adds. Moreover, in order to support a structural change of the Greek economy so it can move toward more productive, knowledge-based activities, it will need to boost its innovation capacity. That will require improvements in the quality of its education system as well as bigger investments in knowledge-generating activities, such as Research & Development.
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One in Three Greek Houses is Vacant
According to figures by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), residences in Greece exceed 6.3 million, however only 65.7% of them are used. Figures from the 2011 census show that residences in Greece amount to 6,384,353. Out of these, 6,371,901 are conventional residences that can be used (99.8%) while 12,452 (0.2%) are non-residential constructions (shacks, sheds, boats etc.) ELSTAT reveals that 65.7% of residences are used and 34.3% are vacant. Among vacant houses, 729,964 (11.5%) are vacation homes, 621,881 (9.8%) are secondary residences, 453,901 (7.1%) are offered for rent, 355,071 (5.6%) are vacant for other reasons and 88,996 (1.4%) are offered for sale. The majority of houses are located in the regions of Attica, Central Macedonia and the Peloponnese. A large portion of the residences (22.6%) were constructed between 1971 and 1980, while 44.7% are apartment buildings. Furthermore, most residences are between 60 and 79 square meters (1,573,911 homes) and 80 and 99 square meters (1,494,508). Most residences (2,429,591) have three rooms, 60% have autonomous central heating and 17.5% non autonomous central heating. Among European countries, Portugal (31.9 %), Malta (31.8%), Bulgaria (31.4%) and Cyprus (31.1%) also record high rates in vacant houses, while Poland (2.5%), the UK (3.6%) and Luxembourg (7.2%) record the lowest percentages.
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Theodosis Stamatellos appointed Marine Area Manager for Greece, East Mediterranean & Adriatic
Theodosis Stamatellos appointed Marine Area Manager for Greece, East Mediterranean & Adriatic (GEMA). Regional Manager Apostolos ...
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Greece Hopes to Gain Approval for Tax Relief Measures
PARIS—Greece's government held its first full day of talks with a troika of international creditors in the French capital on Wednesday, hoping to gain ...
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Greece Special PD begins recruitment effort
Greece, N.Y. - The Greece Special Police Department has started its 2014 recruitment drive, the department announced Tuesday. The Greece Special ...
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EOPPY Bills Deemed Suspicious
An audit of Greece's health care system EOPYY has found 25% of expenses submitted by private health clinics may be bogus. The post EOPPY Bills Deemed Suspicious appeared first on The National Herald.
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Greece unemployment to remain near 27 pct through 2015, OECD predicts
Greece's unemployment rate will remain around 27 percent through to the end of 2015, according to OECD estimates made public on Wednesday.
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Stocks Watch List – Schlumberger, (NYSE:SLB), National Bank of Greece, (NYSE:NBG), Yum ...
National Bank of Greece, (NYSE:NBG), together with its subsidiaries, offers diversified financial services primarily in Greece. The company is involved ...
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LGBT: Greece, women from all over the world flock on Lesvos
The annual International Eressos Women's Festival in Greece is an opportunity for women from all over the world to join in social & creative activities, ...
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GREECE: Paris talks mark start of most crucial Troika review
The first round of the new review of Greece's Economic Adjustment ProgramME (EAP) kickED off in Paris on Tuesday and will last until Thursday.
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Greek mayor sworn in wearing yellow star
The mayor of the Greek city of Thessaloniki began his second term in office wearing a yellow Star of David, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported ...
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