Defending champions Serbia set up GREECE semi-final at European Water Polo Championships

Defending champions Serbia will meet GREECE in the men's European Water Polo Championships semi-finals, after both countries emerged ...

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Improving Demons take shot at Islanders on GREEK Night Tuesday in Prather

NATCHITOCHES – After nearly getting over the hump at Lamar, the Northwestern State basketball team plays at home for the only time in a six-game ...

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Let's Elect an American President Who Focuses on the Right Things

[big] In a world growing more troubled every day, leadership, and particularly American leadership, is more important than ever. That is why the election of the next U.S. president is such a serious matter. It is why so much of the world is paying close attention to how our political season is unfolding. So, what should the next president focus on to make the U.S. and the world a better place? First of all, let's remember that the American president is a head of state as well as the head of government. Once elected, his or her role is to represent the entire nation, not just the victorious party. The governing mandate is not just to address short-term issues, but also to guide the country into the future by taking into account the long-term consequences of policy. The U.S. is not an island. Though powerful and prosperous, it cannot thrive alone in a world degenerating into disorder. The precondition for peace and prosperity at home is active and constructive engagement with others, even if they are of differing cultures and ideologies, to establish stability and foster growth. Here are some practical suggestions on both the domestic and international fronts: THE DOMESTIC FRONT: [144635413] _Man using hi-tech computer monitor. (YAGI STUDIO/Getty)_ The number one priority on the domestic front is jobs of the future. Technology is reshaping all of our lives, our habits, family and work. Advances are taking place on an exponential scale in areas ranging from biotechnology to digital networks to the "Internet of Things." Without a doubt, the benefits will ultimately accrue to everyone if they are spread fairly. But the transition will be widely disruptive. Imbalances and inequality will surely be exacerbated in the short term. The new president will have to consider how a 21st century safety net and trampoline of opportunity meets this challenge. On fiscal issues, the occupant of the Oval Office must design a simplified and fairer tax system that is progressive, but with lower rates and no special deductions. K-12 education remains the foundation of the nation's future. Standards must be boosted to meet globally competitive levels. We must support "common core" and not let the central tenets of learning be shaped by local politics. The criminal justice system must move beyond punishment and above race to place more focus on prevention and rehabilitation. It is often said that immigration is what made America. I would put it differently. By integrating immigrants as individual citizens and providing them with the means of upward mobility, America has created a dynamic resource that propels our prosperity and enriches our culture. This is what has distinguished us from Europe. Rather than bashing immigrants and raising fearful walls, we should renew the foundations upon which our aspirational culture has been built. THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT: [xi obama] _President Obama shakes hands with President Xi after their joint news conference in the Rose Garden. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)_ The fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Al Qaeda or other jihadi terrorist groups is not going to make or break America. When the West overreacts to their attacks, the jihadis win. We have too often been played by the terrorists, who, like judo fighters, leverage our own strength against us with minimal effort and sustainable capacity. Tragic as it is, the situation in the Middle East is, in the end, a matter for battling local and regional players to settle. Have we not learned from 15 years of war after 9/11, only to see the rise of ISIS, that outside intervention is counterproductive? For the first time since the end of the Cold War, two major world powers with distinctly different cultural and political orientations -- the U.S. and China -- are contending to shape the global order. By lifting itself out of poverty and rising to the top ranks of the world economy, China has enabled other emerging countries to grow and has become an indispensable engine for global prosperity in the decades ahead. The 21st century will only find peace and security if America and China work together and do not become enemies. To avoid that historic blunder, mutual respect and understanding need to be built through a working relationship between the next U.S. president and China's President Xi Jinping. While standing firm on American interests such as cyber defense and opposition to changing borders by force, the next U.S. president must also seek to avert pushing China and Russia into a more formal alliance. Russia, like the U.S. itself, is refurbishing its nuclear arsenal. The worst geopolitical development would be for the world to break up once again into rigid bloc systems fortified by a new nuclear arms race. Even if the ethical calculus is not clean, working with Russia is also essential for global security. In many ways, President Putin just wants respect. And the next U.S. president should grant that respect with no less illusions than during the stable years of détente with the Soviet Union. For the West to remain strong in facing this new competition with the East, the U.S. needs a powerful civilizational ally in Europe. Europe today, however, is no longer functional as a reliable partner. On the contrary, it is paralyzed by every crisis it faces -- from Greek debt to refugees -- and is disintegrating before our eyes. As the de facto leader of the West, the next American president should press for a Europe that, at a minimum, federates fiscal and foreign policies, immigration and energy policies -- in short, a common Europe that is the other pillar of the West. Otherwise America will have to rely on a series of nations, each too small to matter alone, yet each also hobbled by the straightjacket of being part of a dysfunctional European Union. There are positive developments for the next American president to capitalize on: The Paris climate accords; lower oil prices; the chance to bring Iran back into the fold of the world; winds of change in Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba; and the olive branch that Indian Prime Minister Modi has extended to Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif in that volatile part of the world. The next American president will face some of the greatest challenges -- but also the biggest opportunities -- history has to offer. The coming U.S. election could not be more consequential. Responsible voters should make the right choice by choosing a president who will focus on the right things. _EARLIER ON 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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EU Fences of Disunity

[2016-01-16-1452959280-5776565-ScreenShot20160116at9.44.07AM.png] Two months ago the Slovenian government decided to fence Slovenia off from Croatia using many miles of barbed wire. It was done, supposedly, to protect the sovereignty of the Slovenian territory from the mass inflows of refugees from Croatia. Not only did the border fence look ugly, but what is even more important -- the perceived threat of the crowds of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, rushing without control into the beautiful meadows of Slovenia no longer exist. All refugees entering Croatia today are traveling further to Slovenia by trains, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Croatian and Slovenian governments. A good friend of mine and his family live in Slovenia. They own a piece of land next to the refreshing Kupa River that forms the natural border between Slovenia and Croatia. In the summer months, his family would take a swim in the river accessing it directly from their property; a blessing enjoyed by many families who live next to the Kupa on both sides. Last summer was a hot one, and my own family entered several times the refreshing waters of the Kupa River from the Croatian side. We also enjoyed driving on the local road next to the river, seeing people sunbathing and relaxing on both banks of the river. This was a very much idyllic picture of how two countries, both members of the European Union, unselfishly shared their mutual border. Now back to the story of my friend who lives on the Slovenian side of the Kupa River. One month ago the Slovenian army appeared at his property next to the river with plenty of equipment and lots of barbed wire. They worked hard stretching the razor fence across their backyard. The ugly fence meant to keep out the refugees was erected several meters away from the river, inside their property, thus making significant parts of their land and the river inaccessible to them. Moreover, although the fenced off part of their property is still in Slovenian territory, a single action by the Slovenian government made crossing the razor wire potentially a criminal act. The same happened to their neighbors, some of whom actually live at the very border with Croatia. Barbed wire now decorates their backyards. "Surely the Slovenian Government spoke with you before they took the action? Surely someone apologized at least?" I asked my friend. His answer was more than clear: "No one contacted us. No one asked or explained anything to us. Nor did anyone apologize for anything. They just came to our property as if it belonged to the government, police or the military and did whatever they intended to do. You can only imagine what this means to some of our neighbors who live off tourism. Their family businesses are renting canoes and camping facilities to tourists. Their livelihood depends on being able to access the river directly from their properties. It is not the refugees that the Slovenian Government has harmed, but its own people." At the beginning of a new year, one wonders if those ugly metal fences with sharp razors, as if they are meant to secure a high risk prison or a concentration camp, that spread along the Slovenian - Croatian border are only a temporary measure, or a sign that the European Union honeymoon may be over? Several European countries have already fenced themselves off against their neighbors. Hungary offered a brazen example when in September it sealed its border with Serbia and then a month later with Croatia. Slovenia, Macedonia and Greece were quick to follow. Austria announced it would raise a barrier along some of its border with Slovenia. Slovakia promised to fence its border with Hungary, and Romania is talking about fencing off its border with Bulgaria should the refugee corridor move to Romania. Even before many of us knew anything about raising of border fences across Europe, Bulgaria had already erected a long border fence with Turkey. Since most of the European countries that are fencing themselves off from each other, or are seriously contemplating doing so, are EU countries (except Macedonia), one may conclude that in 2016 EU unity may be rattled even further, should the trend continue. Moreover, although the fences placed by the Slovenian Army at the border with Croatia might look like a trivial inconvenience, with no harm for EU prestige, those fences, like the rest of them across Europe, could easily be interpreted as an ominous sign of the growing lack of leadership and authority exercised by the EU's governing institutions. The EU likes to micromanage its countries in all areas of business, economy and trade. In some cases it would literally tell their member states what crops to grow, or what industry not to pursue. However, for some reason it has failed to come even close to any serious management of the most daring crisis that has visited its lands since the end of WWII. Although it has had enough time to put in place strategies and plans that would assist all EU countries in how to fairly share the burden of the refugee inflow, EU leadership has demonstrated sloppiness that has left each of the EU countries to their own devices as to how to treat the refugee question. Is it then surprising at all that some EU member countries are openly hostile to the reception of any refugees into their countries, while others continue to play the number games as if they are completely oblivious about the urgency of the matter? While still others are pretending that the whole refugee crisis has nothing to do with them, and others are allowing a free ride to its right wing, pro-fascist groups to dictate the level and character of welcome, or lack of it to the Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other refugees in their countries? It is within the context of such EU disorderliness, amidst the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe in seventy years, that the barbed fence on the property of my Slovenian friend, next to the Kupa River at the border with Croatia has become a statement and symbol of the EU's fragile strength, unity and authority. Even the Bible asks: "If the kingdom is divided against itself, how shall that kingdom stand?" Mark 3:24. -- 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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On This Day January 18, 1982: Monotonic GREEK Becomes Official

Greece was in the midst of its first Socialist government under prime minister Andreas Papandreou who implemented numerous changes to ...

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Olympiakos 17-game winning streak in the GREEK league ended Monday after being held 1-1 by ...

ATHENS, Greece — Olympiakos 17-game winning streak in the GREEK ... a cross from Fanouris Goundoulakis caught the GREEK champion off-guard.

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Oracle opens new hub in GREECE

Oracle has just opened a new software center in GREECE: Oracle's cloud development hub will develop software applications and tools and provide ...

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