Deportation plan threatens Ankara deal

Turkey rails against Greek designation of it as ‘safe third country’

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Why Varoufakis’ DIEM25 Will Fail to Produce Change in Europe

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has launched a new political movement, DIEM25, a pan-European movement for democracy with the aim of democratizing Europe. The launching of DIEM25 took place yesterday at Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre and featured speeches from Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, British Green MP Caroline Lucas, representatives of Germany’s Blockupy movement, philosopher Slavoj

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GREECE pledges completion of refugee 'hotspots' ahead of EU summit

ATHENS — GREECE'S Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday (Feb. 10) that Athens would meet its obligations and complete the construction ...

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GREECE Is Making Progress in Management of Refugee Crisis

EU A European Commission report focusing on the progress made by GREECE in the handling of the refugee crisis says that some progress has been ...

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“Greece welcomes NATO’s involvement but….”

Athens, February 10, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou EU proposed that “a specific naval force SSNG under the umbrella of NATO should undertake the task to stop the flow of refugees” and the Greek ministry of Defence seems it accepted it “under conditions”. The main problem is the veto of Greece for common […]

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GREEK musical artifacts find a home on Jack White's imprint

Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 10:00 am. GREEK musical artifacts find a home on Jack White's imprint By Dave Cantor The Daily Progress.

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Dartmouth GREEK orgs to be fined for displaying 'insensitive' Indian head

The school's GREEK Leadership Council will begin to fine fraternity and sorority houses that display the Dartmouth Indian head.

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Just 3 Days left for KTG’s Crowdfunding: We need to cover another 9% of our goal

Just 3 days left – 72 hours –  to help Greek News in English and blog KeepTalkingGreece stay in operation also for 2016. Reaching even 50% of the original goal will be a guarantee that KTG will continue to be alive and kicking.  So far, we have reached 41% of […]

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GREECE braces itself as Balkan nations plan to block migration route

GREECE is trying to figure out how it will accommodate record numbers of migrants stranded in the EU's southeastern-most country should countries ...

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EU plan to send asylum seekers back to GREECE

Some 800,000 people arrived in GREECE last year on their way to central Europe, but removals under the Dublin rule have been suspended since ...

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GREEK Life Debates Adding Two Sororities to Campus

Representatives of the two sororities will be on campus next week to meet with the Panhellenic Council, said Parice Bowser, director of GREEK Life.

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Wilbur Ross burned betting on Greek banks

… executed automatically," he said. Greek bank shares are pricing the … decline, the only option for Greek banks is to proactively management … ." Taking into account that Greek business and household deposits amount …

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European Commission threatens GREECE over refugee crisis

(TRUNEWS) European Commission officials have told GREECE it has three months to register and process refugees – or their borders will be sealed.

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Greek PM issues fresh call to angry farmers to discuss social security reform

Athens, February 10, 2016/ Independent Balkan News Agency By Zacharias Petrou Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chaired an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday in which he appeared certain that Athens will reach an agreement with the country’s creditors to conclude the first bailout program review which appears to have stalled. Alexis Tsipras began his address […]

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GREECE'S Ancient Silver-Mining Infrastructure Studied

GHENT, BELGIUM—A team of mining archaeologists has investigated a 5,000-year-old silver mine in Thorikos, GREECE. The cramped mines were ...

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Can FinTech Be an Opportunity for Greece's Troubled Economy?

FinTech is globally considered as one of the hottest sectors in startups right now, with VC fundings having been tripled between 2013 and 2014, topping $ 12.1bn. The potential of technology disruption in the financial and banking services seems to be so strong that even banks and payments facilitators are tapping into FinTech, backing or accelerating such startups. In the meantime, traditional tech companies that had nothing to do with financial services, like Apple, Samsung or Facebook, are building FinTech solutions to incorporate in their tech products. In Greece, the attention towards digital banking and financial services has been turned the last couple of years and it came back in the spotlight last summer, after the impose of capital controls in the banking system that followed a snap referendum call by the greek government. More individuals and more businesses looked into electronic means of banking and payments; even alternative currencies like BitCoin hit mainstream media for the first time. However, the sector appears to be limited in the country, as only few independent companies are growing up. Most important 'player' is currently Viva, a company that became known for its booking services provided for flights and other means of transportation, as well as theatres, cinemas and other spectacles. In 2014, Viva became the first greek company to be granted a Electronic Money Institution license by the European Central Bank, which allows them to offer payments and e-banking services in the 31 countries of the European Economic Area. Viva's flagship product is Viva Wallet, which allows users to connect their bank accounts and pay vendors as well as for bills, utilities and more online. Viva's mobile wallet is also letting users transfer small amounts of money to each other, opening up the market of peer-to-peer payments in Greece. With around € 6mn raised in 2014, Viva is also opening up to the physical channel of commerce, offering POS solutions to vendors. Beyond Viva, we can only see a handful of companies falling under the FinTech definition, with several of them developing e-invoicing and accounting products. Bootstrapped Billit.io and StartTech Ventures-backed Elorus (with € 50k) being the most well-known ones. On the insurance market, Hellas Direct is the first car insurance company in Greece to offer their services exclusively on the Web. Registered in Cyprus, Hellas Direct started up in 2012 from former investment banking executives and in 2015 they raised $ 6mn from Third Point and Endeavor Catalyst. On the same sector, there are several aggregators, with InsuranceMarket.gr being the biggest online aggregator and broker for vehicle, home and private health insurance. Started in 2012, their founders are pushing for the pension market in Greece being reformed, opening up a bigger opportunity for the private market. On the BlockChain technology, Warply's - a mobile marketing company - founder John Doxaras launched recently BlockPoint, a platform that allows users to create mobile wallets, loyalty schemes and other FinTech products through dedicated SDKs on top of BlockChain and BitCoin transactions. Finally, there are a few companies in various sectors; for example trading, where ZuluTrade, founded in 2007 by former AIM-listed InternetQ's co-founder, serial entrepreneur and angel investor Leon Yohai, has topped 120 employees by 2015, and crowdinvesting, where OpenCircle launched in 2015, allowing for companies to post their business plan and request funding from accredited investors. FinTech got the 'flavour of the month' for Greece after the capital controls of July and the interest in electronic payments or alternative currencies like BitCoin, but what it's really interesting with the greek case is that banks themselves, rather than independent startups, are appearing to be driving the introduction of technology into their ballgame, by being active and mobilised about offering digital services. Every major bank in Greece is offering their own e- and m-banking services via branded applications and is building rewarding and loyalty programs to shift their customers to using them. A couple of years ago, they were the ones that introduced mobile and NFC payments in partnership with greek telecommunication companies, while now they're even introducing mobile apps for peer-to-peer micro-payments. So, the opportunity for startups in the FinTech sector in Greece could be traced in: - The wider financial, economic and tax environment under which Greece is operating. It can help companies that revolutionising the 'money sector' grow, as there is always an open agenda about services that will help sectors of the greek economy (and the greek state) to eliminate expenditures, tax evasion and corruption. - Banks in Greece having already recognised the potential of digital services. They have introduced their own solutions, which could lead to synergies and support towards startups innovating in the field. At least four greek banks are running programs that fund or incubate startup companies, while more initiatives particularly targeted at the FinTech sector are expected to be launched soon. - The huge amount of bureaucracy and other structural inefficiencies that greek banks as organisations are consisting of. There is a critical mass of frustrated customers out there willing to become the early adopters of new solutions. - The awareness that has been raised and the attention that has been given after the capital controls and after the rise of Viva as a company that has the potential to become the greek equivalent of the 'PayPal mafia'. - The fact that apart from maybe Viva, there isn't any other big independent player in the market right now. Indicative of the unexploited potential disrupting the financial services in Greece can have is the fact that a couple of international players have opened up their services in the country. In 2014, Helsinki-based Holvi launched their e-banking services for small enterprises and individual professionals in Greece alongside several european markets, while in late 2015 Berlin-based NUMBER26, which is backed by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, started offering their mobile-only banking services in Greece. On the flip side, while FinTech is getting quite some talk about it lately in Greece, there are several negative factors that could prove it harder for the sector to accelerate: - The tax and economic environment again, but the other way around this time, is making more appealing to consumers and vendors to tax evade, rather than use electronic means of transactions. - Although the majority of Greeks are smartphone users, the widespread use of cash and the elderly population make Greeks unfamiliar or unwilling to use digital services for payments and banking. - Physical vendors are neglecting to equip themselves with POS devices, which limits the use of credit/debit cards. - Figures are showing that despite the increase in e-payments right after the capital controls, now that the controls are being loosen up, we in turn see a decline in e-payments. Although 2016 started with mixed signals from the greek government (at one time it was considered that digital transactions would be promoted in an effort to fight tax evasion and at another it was considered that they would be taxed so that the state income could be increased), FinTech is expected to be one of the sectors the greek startup scene is going to be talking about the next months. _This post first appeared on HuffPost Greece._ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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More GREEK businesses folding as economy contracts

Leading trade credit insurance company Euler Hermes, headquartered in Paris, estimates that the GREEK economy contracted by 0.4 percent in 2015 ...

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4 Things To Know About Dabiq, ISIS' Slick Propaganda Magazine

The militant group that calls itself the Islamic State has a far-reaching propaganda apparatus, and to Western audiences, the irregularly published magazine Dabiq might be one of its best-known products. Featuring high-quality production values and art design -- as well as horrific details of various Islamic State operations -- the glossy magazine, available in English and several other languages, tends to make headlines in Western media whenever a new issue appears. Western outlets will sometimes cover Dabiq when an issue purports to reveal legitimate news. One issue confirmed the death of ISIS spokesman Mohammed Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John." Another featured a photo of the device that ISIS claims brought down a Russian passenger jet. In other cases, Dabiq has invited waves of condemnation, such as when its pages promote sexual slavery or showcase the Islamic State's child soldiers. The magazine is partly a way for ISIS to glorify its terror attacks and tout its brutal efforts at state-building in Syria and Iraq, and partly a way for the militant organization to try and recruit new extremists from around the world.  While Dabiq accounts for just a tiny fraction of all ISIS propaganda, it has garnered outsize attention in the West -- which is exactly what the militant group intended.  HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DABIQ.  IT HAS THE LOOK AND FEEL OF A MODERN MAGAZINE. Dabiq is named after a small town in Syria where the group believes the final battle before the end of the world will occur, in accordance with Islamic prophecies. The magazine is created by al Hayat, one of the Islamic State's several media centers, which is based in Syria and Iraq (with a number of smaller media offices under its umbrella) and which is responsible for some of the militant group's most professional-looking propaganda. Through al Hayat, the Islamic State has published more than a dozen issues of Dabiq since July 2014. While the magazine's look has become slightly more sophisticated over time, its contents and tone have stayed the same. Each issue is about 50 to 60 pages long, and is typically filled with religious dictates, profiles of fighters and battlefield reports skewed heavily in favor of ISIS. In some respects, it's not so different from a fan magazine for a sports team -- something that praises different aspects of an organization while promoting a sense of collective identity.  One of Dabiq's hallmarks is its elaborate visuals, from images showing ISIS' black flag superimposed over the Vatican to movie poster-like depictions of the terrorists behind the mass killings in Paris. The magazine also features recurring columns like "To Our Sisters," about the role of women in the Islamic State -- one issue included an article about how to mourn a husband killed in battle -- and "From the Pages of History," which attempts to fit current events into the context of ISIS' warped version of history and its apocalyptic narrative.  Dabiq never misses an opportunity to promote other forms of Islamic State media. It often lists hashtags that readers can use in support of various ISIS initiatives, such as its ill-considered adoption of gold coins as currency. A full page from the 11th issue of Dabiq encourages readers to "catch up" on the previous 10, and the magazine even runs top 10 lists of recent propaganda videos.  IT WANTS TO PROVOKE A RESPONSE. Western media coverage of Dabiq tends to grow more intense whenever the magazine does something especially reprehensible. This was the case when one issue used a picture of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned trying to reach Greece, to attempt to deter refugees from leaving ISIS territory, or when Dabiq created ransom posters of two of its kidnapped foreign hostages. This is part of what Dr. Haroro Ingram, a research fellow at Australian National University who has studied extremist propaganda, describes as ISIS' "baiting strategy," where it attempts to provoke a reaction from the outside world. “In Dabiq magazine you really see that at play -- especially in using extreme violence, knowing full well they’re going to get some kind of response,” Ingram told The WorldPost. But Ingram also pointed out that not everything in Dabiq is calculated to provoke. When the magazine isn't showing horrific images of death and brutality, it's often running photos that supposedly show how wonderful life can be under Islamic State rule. These elements aren't aimed at foreign media, but rather are meant to seduce the mostly young, mostly male Muslims whom analysts say are Dabiq's targets for recruitment. IT'S NOT REALLY A NEW IDEA... Militant groups creating English-language magazines for propaganda purposes is nothing new. In Afghanistan, extremists have published a number of titles since the 1980s, including The Mujahideen monthly and the Taliban's magazine In Fight. The closest analogue to Dabiq is al Qaeda's Inspire magazine, which the group has published since 2010. The two magazines are extremely similar in their design, featuring stylized photos of fighters -- along with artwork that exalts the terrorists' causes or condemns their enemies -- amid pages of text.  Dabiq has even copied some of Inspire's recurring columns, including a section where articles and statements from Western media and politicians are reproduced and framed in such a way as to reflect poorly on the speaker or writer, or else to reflect well on the terrorists. In Dabiq, this feature is called "In the Words of the Enemy," and has included quotes from political figures like former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and publications like The New York Times.  ...BUT ITS STRATEGY IS UNIQUE. Unlike Inspire and other extremist publications, Dabiq is almost entirely free of author bylines.  Apart from a few instances, such as columns purportedly written by the kidnapped English journalist John Cantlie, the editorial voice of Dabiq tends to be monolithic, supposedly coming from the Islamic State group as a brand rather than from individual writers. Aside from security concerns -- Inspire has lost a few of its editors to drone strikes -- ISIS has a strategic reason for keeping the authors of Dabiq anonymous, Ingram says. By not attributing its articles, and by relying heavily on excerpts from Islamic texts, Dabiq is trying to present itself as a legitimate religious authority.  But the biggest difference between Dabiq and its peers, according to Ingram, is that the magazine relies on a unique mix of messages to appeal to its readers. On the one hand, Dabiq offers what it frames as a rational argument for ISIS, claiming that life is simply better in territory controlled by the group, and that Western states and militaries do a poor job of protecting and providing for their citizens. The magazine shows stylized propaganda photos of modern medical facilities and services, for example, and argues that people who live outside of ISIS' purview are slaves to work hours and wages. Simultaneously, Dabiq plays up the importance of identity in trying to persuade young Western Sunni Muslims to support the Islamic State. The magazine encourages readers who can't actually travel to ISIS-controlled territory to instead commit terror attacks in various locations around the world against "apostates" and "crusaders" -- that is, anyone who doesn't subscribe to the group's ideology.  "Dabiq is almost a perfect 50-50 split" between these appeals, Ingram says, and the two sides work in tandem. One emphasizes a struggle and a crisis of identity, while the other promotes the falsehood that ISIS has the answer to those problems. "If you keep increasing people's perception of crisis, they turn away, because 'What hope do I have? I can't be a part of anything,'" Ingram said. "But if you make that perception of crisis increasingly acute and then you provide solutions, it helps to mobilize people."  _ALSO ON THE WORLDPOST:_ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Brussels to restore refugee returns to Greece

The European Commission has increased the pressure on Athens about measures to be taken regarding the living conditions of refugees and their access to the asylum procedure. The EU executive is pressing Greece to improve conditions for asylum seekers to help the EU member states to send back migrants to Greece. In a recommendation presented […]

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Serbia Ready to Follow Suit if Others on Balkan Migrant Route Close Borders

If some countries on the so-called Balkan route close their borders to asylum seekers, Serbia will have to do the same on its border with Macedonia, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has said. "Those people will not be able to be stationed here," Serbian broadcaster b92 quoted Dacic as saying after a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz in Belgrade on Tuesday. Kurz said that Austria had decided to cap at 37,500 the number of asylum seekers it would take in this year and the quota was slowly filling up.  The objective is to stop migrants at the Greek-Macedonian border and it is important to include Serbia in this effort, Kurz said, adding that Austria will send soldiers and police to that border. The so-called Balkan migrant route to Austria and Germany runs from Greece through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. More than 700,000 people passed along the Balkan route on their way to Western Europe last year, according to Serbian government estimates.

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Greece looks to Cyprus for recovery example

… of this year. Bank of Greece Chief Yannis Stournaras has repeatedly … any backtracking entailed risks. Reforming Greece’s ailing pension system is … on confidence,” Stournaras told the Greek parliament’s economic affairs committee …

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Alternate FM Xydakis meets with representatives of the Greek community of Hungary (Budapest, 10 ...

On the third day of his tour of Central European countries, the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, met in Budapest with representatives of the Greek community of Hungary. Members of the delegation he met with included the president of the Minority Self-Government of Greek Hungarians, Mr. Koukoumtzis, and the MP representing the Greek minority in the Hungarian Parliament, Laokratis Koranis.Mr. Xydakis listened closely to the views and questions of the Greek community, and he briefed them in detail on developments in issues such as the refugee crisis, social security reform and the current state of the Greek...

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GREECE benefits from changes in tourism map

“We expect countries such as GREECE, Portugal and Spain to largely benefit from the situation, offering similar weather, competitive prices and security ...

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Christian, Muslim leaders in Cyprus support peace talks

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Christian and Muslim leaders in Cyprus on Wednesday repeated their full support for ongoing talks aimed at reunifying the ethnically-split country, saying their united stand for peace serves as a strong example of cooperation in a region where conflict is often fueled by religion. Nicos Anastasiades, Cyprus' Greek Cypriot president and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have said much progress has been made after nine months of negotiations, but important hurdles remain like how to deal with property abandoned during the war.

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GREEK Cove review: East Norwich restaurant offers well-made classics

The gyro platter made with beef and lamb, served atop lemon potatoes and GREEK salad at GREEK Cove in East Norwich. (Credit: Daniel Brennan).

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GREEK cream cheese stars in Franklin Foods employee recipes

Sherry Pagel's jalapeño dip is a combination of GREEK cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, bacon, jalapeños and other ingredients.

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Greek PM Tsipras Promises a New Era in Country’s Television Landscape

Greece’s television landscape will soon change, with the number of licenses granted for TV channels broadcasting nationally restricted to four, according to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The Syriza-led government has been eager to change the country’s television landscape since it came to power in January 2015, but its stance on the matter has met

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Greece under renewed pressure to help fix migrant crisis

"It is not our intention, I mean the Commission's intention and all the member states' I believe, to put more burden on the shoulders of Greece" As migrants continue to brave winter weather to get to Europe, Athens is coming under renewed pressure to ...

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Greek islanders march against migrant facility

Riot police clash with residents in Pylio outside a military camp, where Greek authorities are preparing to establish a refugee hot spot, in island of Kos, Greece, 06 February 2016. EPA Kos, Greece: Hundreds of people on the Greek island of Kos on ...

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Greek Farmers Respond to the Government

Even though PM Alexis Tsipras invited the Greek farmers to an open dialogue regarding the hot issue of the pension reform plan and the security funds, the farmers appear uncompromising to their stand. According to Tsipras, there is room for improvement ...

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Turkey Coast Guard saves lone Syrian refugee stranded on sinking boat

Turkey’s coastguard said on Feb. 10 it had rescued a Syrian refugee who clung on alone to a sinking boat for his life after it went down while seeking to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece

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GREEK government will not change farmer's pension reform

As the GREEK farmers are getting prepared for Friday's major protest in Athens, the GREEK government expressed its determination to defend its ...

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Greece- Refugee Bottleneck: EU still to deliver 90 Fingerprinting devices, plans 30K reception places

880,000 people arrived in Greece since the beginning of 2015. This is stated in a EU Commission progress report on Greece and the Refugee Crisis. According to the report released today, the country that has received a huge stream of refugees and migrants on its soil has made progress in […]

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Protesting farmers to camp with tractors outside Greek Parliament

Tension is high on the agenda and escalation is highly possible as protesting farmers threaten to camp outside the Greek Parliament together with their tractors. The farmers plan to come to Athens on Friday and raise their voices protest against the planned social security contributions and tax hikes. Despite the […]

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Marco's Mantra Backfires

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The Greeks had a word for it: anaphora, or the repetition of a word or set of words or phrases in a speech to create emphasis. Also known as a mantra, many famous modern orators have employed this technique. Reverend Martin Luther King, in his historic “I Have [...]

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Handmade treasures at the Greek Pie Factory

This series highlights local food establishments that offer authentic cuisine from other countries’ cultures. Enjoy! Joe Kleinschuster had plenty to say about the food at the Greek Pie Factory, which opened at the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and South ...

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US investors getting burned on Greek bank bets

Renowned fund managers who invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the troubled Greek banks are trapped in uncertainty caused by the political developments in Greece and global financial turmoil. John Paulson, Prem Watsa, Wilbur L. Ross and other funds ...

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Best Greece Travel Package for Family Holidays in Greece

Greece is a country of natural beauty and fascinating beaches attracts millions of visitors all over the world. Vacation packages to Greece will offer so much to their visitors that truly leave remarkable memory. It would be a great chance to get ...

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How Rising Trump and Sanders Parallel Rising Populism in Europe

BRISTOL, England -- In Iowa, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump proved themselves to be real contenders. In New Hampshire, they led the field. But the rise of political outsiders is not just an American phenomenon. It mirrors the growth of populist parties on the old continent: Syriza and Golden Dawn in Greece, Podemos in Spain, the Austrian Freedom Party, the Five Star movement in Italy: the list goes on and on. The differences between these people and movements might seem so big that it can hardly make sense to group them together. But all are rightly seen as manifestations of a rising populism. This term needs some clarification, since it has historically meant different things in America and elsewhere. This kind of populism sees mainstream politics as, at best, bankrupt and at worst, corrupt. Political power has been seized by vested interests and elites, robbing the ordinary people of their entitlements. Sanders used exactly the same words to claim that both the Iowa and New Hampshire results "sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment and, by the way, to the media establishment." To this diagnosis, populism proposes a cure: a return to power for the people, by individuals or parties that stand for common sense and justice. Trump and Sanders fit the mold perfectly. They even have their European equivalents. Trump is an American version of an early harbinger of the rising populist tide: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. Both men are derided by anyone vaguely intellectual as rich buffoons. But this misunderstands their appeal. People like the fact that they are not intellectuals because intellectuals are obfuscators who inhabit an unreal, rarified world. What they see are plain-speaking people who may not be saints, but they get things done and don't bow down before the gods of "political correctness." > Trump is an American version of an early harbinger of the rising > populist tide: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. ... Sanders, meanwhile, is > the political twin of Britain's Jeremy Corbyn. Sanders, meanwhile, is the political twin of Britain's Jeremy Corbyn, both proudly unreconstructed socialists who promise to take on big business and return society's abundant wealth to the many, not the few. Like all populists, any amateurism is to their advantage as it just goes to show their honesty and lack of spin. Gaffes that hurt other politicians only help populists, since they emphasize how much more human they are than the old guard of apparatchiks. Berlusconi, for instance, repeatedly made "jokes" that made many of his compatriots wince, such as when he claimed to use his "playboy charms" on Finland's female prime minster, or when he called a German member of the European Parliament a "concentration camp guard." It harmed his ratings as little as Trump's string of outrageous pronouncements has harmed his. The very fact that the serious press and the political establishment are alarmed by the rise of the populists only confirms that they have something to fear. But we do have something to fear. Populism is invariably simplistic, both in its analysis of problems and in its solutions. Trumps plans to build a wall across the Mexican border and kick the so-called Islamic State's ass are dangerously misguided. Sanders's plans are not so reckless, but still, the idea that you can fund huge public spending increases by massively increasing taxes on corporations goes against evidence-based economics, which shows that it is much more difficult to increase the tax yield. If we are to avoid heading down populist cul-de-sacs, we have to start by recognizing that there are good reasons for its appeal. When Sanders talks of a "corrupt campaign finance system" and a "rigged economy," as he did after both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, he has a point. There is a great deal of truth in the idea that mainstream politics has stopped serving the people across the democratic world. > A balancing act needs to be pulled off, acknowledging what populism > identifies correctly as deep problems in our politics while > resisting the often conspiratorial details and simplistic, > unworkable solutions. In pursuing the laudable goal of liberalizing trade and opening markets, Western governments have indeed given too much power to large corporations and rich individuals, including a certain Mr. Trump. In seeking the support of swing voters, they have neglected the interests of everyone else, most notably the worst off. In professionalizing their campaigning, they have lost their grassroots connections and authenticity, instead becoming bland brands. Mainstream parties that offer realistic policies need to respond to the populists, not by stealing their clothes and their policies, but by showing they are not themselves naked. The choice between these two options is being dramatically played out in America right now. On the Republican side, the populist Tea Party movement has effectively shifted the center so that all the leading candidates are in one way or another playing the populist tune. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are essentially competing with Trump on his terms, not so much challenging his populism as claiming to provide a more realistic version of it. So, for example, in the last ABC televised debate, Ted Cruz adopted populist anti-establishment rhetoric saying, "I will always stand with American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington." In Europe too, the most disturbing aspect of populism is not so much its share of the vote, but how it is shifting the center ground its way. Hillary Clinton, however, is trying something quite different, conceding that supporters of Sanders have legitimate grievances but insisting their man doesn't have the answers. After New Hampshire, she acknowledged that "people have every right to be angry" adding an important "but:" "But they're also hungry. They're hungry for solutions," solutions that by implication Sanders doesn't have. She is quietly making the case that grown-up politics isn't as easy as Sanders maintains, but that she too wants many of the same things as her opponent. Hence after the Iowa result, she made a point of claiming "to stand in the long line of American reformers" who believe "that the status quo is not good enough." > This requires making the case that society can only hold together > and make progress if it adopts a more moderate, consensual, boring, > mainstream kind of politics. A balancing act needs to be pulled off, acknowledging what populism identifies correctly as deep problems in our politics while resisting the often conspiratorial details and simplistic, unworkable solutions. This requires neither dismissing the populists out of hand nor granting too much to them. Most of all, it requires making the case that society can only hold together and make progress if it adopts a more moderate, consensual, boring, mainstream kind of politics. The problem in America right now is that the most prominent advocates of this course are so deeply part of the hated establishment that winning trust is almost impossible. The best we can hope for is that the populist surge is held back in 2016 and that by the time of the next presidential election, a new generation of independently minded, sincere mainstream politicians will be able to lead the counter attack. America is not Europe. Whether this is seen as cause for celebration or lament, it is always a warning against those who would generalize about "the West" based on observation on only one continent. Nonetheless, the political parallels between the U.S. and Europe concerning populism are so striking that we must take seriously the idea that something very important is happening in democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. To respond to it wherever we are, we need to look at what's happening far beyond our own borders. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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A Greek Tragedy In A Spanish Setting

As Pedro Sanchez navigates through rough seas while attempting to form a government, he should take, from time to time, a quick look at the travelog of his Greek socialist comrades' unfortunate expedition of a few years ago. PASOK (Greek Socialist party) and PSOE (Spanish Social party) share an astonishingly similar, almost identical history. They both started after democracy was restored as radical parties and managed to secure hegemony on the left, out-winning a strong communist political tradition. They became main opposition parties at the same time, in 1977, and triumphantly rose to power with exactly the same score, 48 percent of the vote, practically at the same time -- 1981 for Papandreou, 1982 for Gonzales. They ruled their countries for 20 out of the next 30 years, both lost power in 2011 and they were both unlucky enough to be in power during the cataclysm of the economic crisis. What happened next? In Greece, Papandreou's government first lost its nerve, confronted by widespread social malaise, and then lost its parliamentary majority in November 2011, after agreeing on a second bail out. PASOK went on to form a six-month transitory government in an unhappy alliance with its arch-rivals, the conservatives of New Democracy. When Greeks returned to the polls, in May 2012, we found out that one of the most powerful and stable two-party political systems in Europe, had collapsed. The two parties that shared 78 percent of the vote in October 2009, managed to secure just 32 percent -- 19 percent for ND and 13 percent for PASOK. PASOK finished third, behind SYRIZA, which vaulted from 4.6 percent in 2009 to 16.8 percent in 2012. It was one of the greatest electoral disasters ever to be recorded. It was made worse by mishandling the electoral results. PASOK could not, or would not, get SYRIZA to agree on a new parliamentary majority. The inevitable new elections in June helped N.D. secure first place but SYRIZA was the most favored party. Its lead over PASOK went from 3.8 percent in May to 15 percent in June. Game over! PASOK shared power with New Democracy for another 30 months, as a junior and almost invisible partner in a government that was implementing a highly unpopular austerity policy under the humiliating guidance of the Troika. When election time arrived again, in January 2015, PASOK had totally lost contact with its traditional electoral audiences. What had been for over 30 years the "natural party in government" scored a modest 4.7 percent of the vote. No one expects them to bounce back to glory. SO WHAT IS TO BE LEARNED FROM THIS MODERN GREEK TRAGEDY? * That it is very risky, in times of crisis, when there is no way for politics to be popular while in power, to give a radical, populist (in the good and in the bad sense of the term) political formation the luxury of irresponsible opposition. N.D. and PASOK thought that by treating SYRIZA as outcasts, negating due respect to a new political player, refusing even to meet Alexis Tsipras, they would de-legitimize him. On the contrary, they helped him secure an electoral win and postponed what SYRIZA's second in command, Dragasakis, called "the process of political maturity" after six disastrous months in power. * That a two-party political system, like the one Greece and Spain had in common for over 40 years, cannot survive the, at times maybe inevitable and at other times even gallant, experience of a partnership in government of the contesting parties. * That the socialists have to reinvent themselves in order to survive. They were successful, under Mitterrand, Gonzalez or Papandreou in the '80s in inventing a new political brand that inspired electorates. They bounced back in the coming decades, under Simitis and Papandreou Jr. in Greece, Zapatero in Spain, as a new, liberal, reformist centre-left guarantor of the social state in times of liberal globalization. The question is: Can they do it again? Or are they going to be taken over by those new political formations that are using their own old trick -- a radical stance when in opposition that turns realist when in power. _This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity._ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Former Greek Finance Minister Launches New Europe-Wide Movement

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has announced the launch of a new grassroots movement to bring together progressive groups and parties with the goal of democratizing Europe. Varoufakis, known for his stance against German-backed austerity in ...

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Macedonia Calls for EU-wide Solution to Migrant Crisis

Macedonia won’t allow to be turned into a refugee camp, the country’s Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki has stated, referring to the influx of asylum seekers transiting the Balkan country from Greece on their way to the EU. “We will provide humane and safe transit for all, we will apply all decisions passed at European level, we will cooperate as before with Greece and other member states, which provide support, such as the Czech Republic,” Poposki told reporters after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek in Skopje on Wednesday, according to MIA. Poposki said that for the Macedonian government it was important to implement agreements reached at EU level; to provide assistance to Turkey for refugees and control of the Turkish border but also in the control of EU’s external border in Greece. “Macedonia wants to cooperate with Greece but without unilateral solutions. We need to work together towards control. Safe and humane treatment of migrants and all those eligible for asylum in some European country,” MIA quoted Popski as saying. The Macedonian authorities have begun building a second layer of the existing metal border fence along the country’s border with Greece to stem the influx of asylum seekers crossing into the country, the AP reported on Tuesday. Only refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have been allowed to cross Macedonia’s border with Greece on their journey to western Europe since November, but migrants from other countries have still tried to get across. Last month, the European Commission pledged to increase security at the Greek-Macedonian frontier, where more than 60 police officers from other countries, including the Czech Republic, are deployed to help control the migrant flow.

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EU issues Athens with ultimatum one month to improve conditions for refugees

EU authorities want to reintroduce Greece to ‘Dublin system’, which lets governments send asylum seekers back to the first country they arrived in European Union authorities have given Athens one month to improve conditions for asylum seekers in the hope of eventually sending more refugees back to Greece. The plan to overhaul Greece’s migration and asylum system is part of the EU’s effort to get to grips with the biggest refugee crisis since the second world war, amid apocalyptic warnings that the union is falling apart. Continue reading...

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Boris Johnson's wife criticises Cameron's EU renegotiation

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs 3.40pm GMT PHILIP HAMMOND, the foreign secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee. I won’t be covering the hearing in full, but I will post any hightlights. SIR BILL CASH, the committee chairman, starts by asking how the EU agreement proposed by Donald Tusk, the European Union president, will be legally binding. 3.11pm GMT If Boris Johnson is looking a reason as to why he should not back David Cameron’s EU renegotiation, he need only ask his wife. MARINA WHEELER has just written a lengthy blog, also published on the Spectator website in a shortened form under the headline: “Why David Cameron’s EU deal is not enough.” Wheeler is a human rights lawyer who has just taken silk (become a QC), and so one would have to be particularly foolish to assume that she lets her husband tell her what to think. Still, the intervention is bound to make people wonder whether there is some Johnson household operation going on. Wheeler is not known for publishing articles criticising government policy. In English courts, however, another ­picture has been emerging. Take the case of ‘NS’, an Afghan asylum seeker who arrived in the UK seven years ago. Given that he had come via Greece, where he had been arrested, the UK sought to return him there under the Dublin Convention. But he argued that the treatment of asylum ­seekers in Greece amounted to ‘degrading’ treatment, contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. He also sought to invoke the Charter of ­ Fundamental Rights — which, according to Messrs Blair, Miliband and Clarke, should have been legally impossible. This was referred to the Court of ­Justice in Luxembourg which ruled (in effect, and after some domestic backsliding) that the British opt-out had no legal force and the Charter of Fundamental Rights applied in the UK in precisely the same way as in any other member state. Since then, the English courts have increasingly been urged to recognise and give effect to new Charter-based rights in areas of law as diverse as employment disputes, immigration and ­asylum claims. Continue reading...

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Song about refugees at Eurovision, controversy in Greece

… - Doubts and controversy regarding Greece's participation to the … the artist or group representing Greece, cancelled the selection this year … Turkish area traditionally inhabited by Greeks until the population exchange of …

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Violence and Protests Amid Rising Anger in Greece Over Refugees & Austerity

…  of Greece. In December 2015, only two out of five Greek hotspots … . There have been demonstrations across Greece expressing anger over Brussels… pension reforms in central Athens, Greece, February 4, 2016. Meanwhile, there …

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Greece given one month to improve refugee conditions

The EU has given Greece one month to improve conditions for asylum seekers in the hope of eventually sending more refugees back to Greece. The plan to overhaul Greece’s migration and asylum system is part of the EU’s effort to get to grips with the ...

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Athens given deadline as EU looks to send more refugees back to GREECE

Refugees arrive at the port of Piraeus following their arrival from the island of Lesbos on Wednesday. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty ...

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GREECE Under Pressure to Better Manage Migrant Influx

BRUSSELS—The European Commission is increasing pressure on GREECE to slow down and better manage the influx of migrants, as the continent ...

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EU agrees Greece border demands, heralding Schengen suspension

[Refugees and migrants are seen inside a terminal, moments after arriving aboard the Tera Jet passenger ship at the port of Piraeus, near Athens]European Union envoys agreed a new set of demands for Greece to fix its handling of irregular migrants on Wednesday, moving forward a process that could see frontier checks in Europe's passport-free Schengen zone extended for up to two years. EU diplomatic sources said a meeting of ambassadors from the 28 member states approved a second set of recommendations to Greece to end serious deficiencies in its control of its part of the Schengen area external border within three months. Should it fail to implement all the measures, which few expect Athens to be able to do, an unprecedented measure under the Schengen treaty would allow states inside the zone to impose checks on their own borders -- as some including Germany have already done in response to movements of migrants from Greece.

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