Editorial Corner



		Greek Fire: With a New Byzantine Twist! By Andrew Leech, January 2008 Certainly the hottest and saddest news for August was that of the fires that devastated over 3000 sq. klm. of our forestland, cost over 60 lives and burnt many houses. . . . I spent part of the summer on the reserve list of the fire-fighting helicopters as an interpreter for the foreign pilots who were helping us out. . . .According to the media there were over 360 fires and the majority are believed to have been arson – for a variety of reasons ranging from clearing local land to making space available for the construction of the new Egnatia Highway down the Peloponnese. In all, a very dirty twisted, Byzantine business that is still very unclear as to the real reasons for the conflagration. Read full text.
The Strange Affair of a Country Called FYROM By Dr. Christos Evangeliou, December 2007 any conscious Greek, in Greece and the Diaspora, for Philhellenes all over the civilized world or for any educated person familiar with the glorious history of ancient Hellas, the behavior of a country called FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is absurd and outrageous. FYROM was a tiny province of former Yugoslavia, situated in a mountainous region that hosts the sources of river Axios or Vardar. Demographically, it was made up of a strange mix of linguistically diverse groups: Albanians, Southern Slavs, Bulgarians, Turks and Gypsies. These peoples are in constant conflict with each other, especially the first two and populous groups. Read full text.		Respect for the Rights of Greeks in Albania is a Myth [Greek] By Neolaia Voreioepiroton Organization, January 2008 http://www.neb.gr Με αφορμή ρεπορτάζ που προβλήθηκε τον προηγούμενο μήνα στο αλβανικό μέσο Shekulli, σχετικά με την κάλυψη του σεμιναρίου που διοργανώθηκε στα Τίρανα από τους αρμόδιους αντιπροσώπους του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης για θέματα προστασίας των δικαιωμάτων των μειονοτήτων και μέσω του οποίου διαδόθηκε εσκεμμένα ψευδώς πως στην Αλβανία είναι σεβαστά όλα τα δικαιώματα της ελληνικής μειονότητας, είμαστε υποχρεωμένοι σαν ‘‘Νεολαία Βορειοηπειρωτών’’ να καταστήσουμε σαφές στη συγκεκριμένη δημοσιογράφο του καναλιού αλλά και προς όλους τους αρμόδιους φορείς ότι: Read entire article
Balkans Expert Cautions Against Repeat of Kossovo Within Greek Borders There are several reasons why Muslims prefer immigrating to Greece. First, in Christian Greece, Muslim refugees are treated better than in either Turkey or Iran. Secondly, Muslim migration into Christian countries increases their numbers (such as in Greece). History has proven that as their numbers swell, such immigration eventually leads first to recognition as an ethnic minority followed by demands for "autonomy," and then finally for "independence" as happened in the Balkans when Muslim Albanians swarmed illegally into Kosovo and turned Kosovo into a pure Muslim state. Read complete letter to the editor. by Stella Jatras, January 2002 & September 2007		Where Did We Go Wrong? by Marcus A Templar, November 30, 2007 Greek-Americans cannot explain what happened to the effective lobby we used to have. Some believe we have lost political influence and others that we have lost effectiveness. One could consider both assumptions as being not viable; nevertheless, it is a fact. The well-known powerful lobby of the old times is not powerful after all. I however, believe we have lost effectiveness, not political influence. We have political influence in the polls, but we are not effective as a group, as power brokers, simply because we are not organized. Read complete op-ed piece.
Associated Press Commentary: the Other Side of the Kossovo Story By Stella Jatras, September 2007 Scant attention is paid to the barbaric acts of atrocities that have been and continue to be committed against the Serbian people by Albanian mobs, repeated hoaxes such as the Trepca mine, the Orahovac massacre, the discredited Racak massacre, Operation Horseshoe whereby a report by a retired German general who claimed that the 1999 reports showing that Belgrade planned the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's entire Albanian population were faked, and other exaggerated reports of alleged Serbian atrocities, continue to take the headlines of influential news agencies such as the Associated Press.Read entire text.		Hellenic Genocide: Was it a "Catastrophe," or a "Devastation?" by Stella Jatras, July 2007 There is an effort by the Greek government to remove the offending word, "Genocide" and referring to the massacre of Greek martyrs in Asia Minor at the hands of Turkish forces during the early part of the last century as a "Catastrophe." Other reports state that the term "Genocide" would also be referred to as a "Devastation." Does the Greek government actually believe that by doing so it will incur the appreciation of the Turkish government? And which is it to be? Is it a "Catastrophe," or is it a "Devastation?" Either way, the fact that Greek Christians also bore the wrath of Muslim Turks and were slaughtered under hideous and barbaric conditions, "Catastrophe" or "Devastation" is merely a slap on the wrist and an insult to the memory of the Greek martyrs. Read complete text.
Greece and the Balkans by Ambassador Alexandros Mallias, July 2006 Greece's involvement in the Balkans is not new. Even before the foundation of the modern Greek state, the idea of a Balkan cooperation existed. The idea of a Balkan Federation, which Greece would lead, was conceived, toward the end of the 18th century, by Rigas Velestinlis, a man inspired by the ideals of freedom and democracy. Rigas visualized a Balkan region where people could move freely from country to country, where trade would be conducted without barriers, a region of prosperity for its peoples. Now, more than 200 years after its conception, this idea, modified to some extent, is to become a reality. The Balkans are now at the doorstep of the European Union. Greece gave a historic boost to the Western Balkans' legitimate European aspirations at the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit, during its EU presidency. Read entire article.		What's in a Name -Macedonia's unresolved title has been an obstacle to Balkan stability By Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, July 2006 On May 8, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) for the first time in its history marked Europe Day. A few weeks earlier, foreign minister Ilinka Mitreva met with ambassadors of NATO countries to emphasize her country’s serious aspirations to become a member of the transatlantic security network. A candidate country for European Union membership since December 2005, and lobbying for a positive signal from the NATO summit in Riga this fall, FYROM is actively preparing to become a full member of the international community. But one crucial precondition of this process is still missing — the country is still referred to by its transitional name, FYROM. Read entire article.
Best Wishes for 2005 to Our U.S. Cousins: But We Still Fear Your Government Policies! By Andrew Leech, January 2005 This article was inspired by Peter Makrias' reply to a greetings Email I sent recently: "It was a pleasure to hear from you after such a long time, with a message full of love and not hatred for the United States." It made me think, and realise, that the prevalent European fear of the current leadership of the USA was being perceived by some US citizens as a blanket attack on them - which, of course, it is not - though we have some difficulty in understanding why you voted Bush in for a second term! The prevalent anti-US feeling in Europe is, generally speaking, confined to those current US government policies which are perceived as anti-social (globally), serving only the interests of US 'big-business', and are to the detriment of other nations sharing this planet. It is certainly not directed against the American people - our cousins - whom we feel are equally threatened by those same policies we, ourselves, fear. Read complete article.		Kosovo--the Turkish Ottoman Empire Revisited? By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, 1999, posted online February 2005 Having just returned [1999] from Athens, Greece, we wanted to share with our American friends some of the beliefs held by many people in Europe concerning the current Balkan conflict. There are many instances indeed of ethnic cleansing and genocide to which we can turn our attention. Our recent trip to Greece only underscored some of these terrible injustices which have gone largely unnoticed by western news media, injustices which now play a crucial role in grasping a fuller appreciation of the current events in the Balkans. Nearly twenty-five thousand demonstrators marched nightly through the streets of Athens from Constitution Square to the American Embassy, loudly protesting the violent actions of NATO in Yugoslavia. While the Greek populace in no way defends the actions of Yugoslavian leader Milosevic, and even joins international criticism of him, it cries foul over the uneven application of American indignant righteousness. Read entire editorial.
A Changing Society, Like It Or Not By John Psaropoulos, Editor of Athens News, March 2005 Economic immigrants to Greece have never received a good press. In the public mind they have been associated with poverty and crime. But the real complaint seems to be economic. Greeks have usually seen foreigners walking over the northern border, or alighting on an Aegean shore, as takers of jobs and public services.Economic immigrants are undeniably in search of their self-interest; but as our survey shows, that self-interest has brought benefits to the economy; moreover, it shows that immigrants bring the greatest benefits when their presence is legally recognized, not merely tolerated. As illegals, immigrants provide cheap manual labour Greeks are unwilling to do affordably. In some cases, they even bring in skills Greeks have lost because these are not formally taught, only handed down. Read entire text.		National Security Expert Says "No" to Islamist Turkey in EU by Frank Gaffney, Jr., October 2005 On Oct. 3 [2005], representatives of the European Union and the Turkish government of Islamist Recep Erdogan will meet to determine if Muslim Turkey will be allowed to seek full membership in the EU. It will be best for Turkey, to say nothing of Europe and the West more generally, if the EU answer under present circumstances is: "Thanks, but no thanks." The reason Europe should politely, but firmly, reject Turkey's bid should be clear: Prime Minister Erdogan is systematically turning his country from a Muslim secular democracy into an Islamofascist state governed by an ideology anathema to European values and freedoms. Evidence of such an ominous transformation is not hard to find. Read complete text.
Interdisciplinary Programs Needed for Greek Studies by Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas, October 2006 In back-to-back issues of The National Herald this past July, Professor Dan Georgakas described a serious developing problem with Modern Greek Studies programs in American higher education. He sounds an alarm distinctly for Modern Greek Studies, noting a series of emerging difficulties for these programs. An alternative approach to Modern Greek studies has been used successfully by the AFGLC organization in South Florida and elsewhere in the country, based on interdisciplinary approaches to Greek studies. Read more.		Needed: An Ultramodern "Peter the Great" for Greece by Michael C. Geokas, M.D., Ph.D. and Christos D. Katsetos, M.D., Ph.D., November 2006 Greece finds herself today at the crossroads of history. Despite EU membership, with all its advantages and achievements, the country appears weak in the international arena and a number of significant problems have been accumulating. What Greece needs is a strong, magnetic leader, and courageous reformer who will galvanize and inspire the Greek people and their Diaspora. In all of history, during the last 1,000 years, one man shines like a giant beacon in this respect, Peter the Great of Russia, the Revolutionary Tsar. Arnold Toynbee called Peter "the archetype of the autocratic westernizing reformer." He has provided a template for the leaders of all developing nations since his day. Read more.
Macedonia Irredenta? Hardly! By John Psaropoulos, Athens News Editor, April 2005 When empires collapse, they unleash a Pandora's box of ethnic tensions and irredentism, as the supranational bindings of imperial federalism are undone. The Macedonia issue has been twice federalised--once by the Ottoman empire, and almost without interruption by Yugoslavia. The unraveling of the federal south slav republic in 1991 finally brought up an independent state calling itself Macedonia on the Greek border. The danger to Greece was never military, however, but cultural. Despite some years of propagandising, . . . Skopje never changed the world's school textbooks. Alexander remains a pivotal figure of Greek history. . . [and] there should be no argument about a Macedonian ethnicity: the slavs who make up the majority of FYROM's population came to the Balkans after 500AD, and have nothing to do with the Macedonian kingdom of almost nine centuries earlier. None of these historical arguments seemt o make a difference in the realpolitik of . . . [today. Neither Europe nor] the US care for Greece's historical arguments [many of which predicted the conflicts which have broken out in the Balkan peninsula during the last few decades]. Read entire editorial.		Bush's Legacy and Turkey and Cyprus By Gene Rossides, President of AHI and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. December 2005 Bush has three years remaining in his second term to turn things around in Iraq and to strengthen his democracy initiative in order to build a record for his legacy. . . Unless President Bush alters his administration's policy on Turkey and Cyprus, his democracy initiative will fail. The administration's undemocratic position on the Cyprus problem and its double standard on the application of the rule of law to Turkey, the appeasement of Turkey and its failure to press for democratic reforms, make a mockery of Bush's democracy initiative. Historians and serious students of history will not overlook the glaring inconsistency in Bush's rhetoric and his policy and actions regarding Turkey and Cyprus regardless of what happens in Iraq. President Bush should apply his democracy initiative to Turkey regarding Cyprus . . .[and he should] adopt the policy for Cyprus that his father stated. . .on July 7, 1988 as Vice President, namely: "We seek for Cyprus a constitutional democracy based on majority rule, the rule of law, and the protection of minority rights. . .I want to see a democratic Cyprus free from the threat of war." Click here to read entire editorial.
A Perspective on Divorces Among Greek Orthodox Couples By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, 2003 During a period of 23 years over which figures were compiled by the Archdiocese, there were 121,587 marriages and 16,981 divorces. Using these figures alone, the divorce rate would be 14% of the total Orthodox marriages, falling far below the US national average of approximately 43%. Adding to the complexity of the issue is an erroneous perception among the general populace in the United States that the overall divorce rate is more than 50%. The disparity between all of these rates naturally invites additional questions and examination, especially as they apply to Orthodox Christians. Read full editorial		Successful Integration of Immigrants in Europe Depends upon Work Opportunities By John Psaropoulos, Athens News Editor, November 2005 Integration into society is not primarily a question of culture but of work, and this is most marked in the first generation of immigrants. Apart from speaking enough Greek to ply their trade, they do not need to convert to Orthodoxy, adopt Greek cuisine or marry a Greek. In fact, they consciously avoid assimilation, preserving islands of their own culture as Greeks did in North America, northern Europe and Australia. The recent riots in France, in which immigrants of African origin played a leading role, have raised the question of whether Europe has the power - or willingness - to integrate its metics. But there is a great psychological difference between the first and second generations of immigrants, and herein lies the French lesson for Greece. It is the second generation, which attends Greek schools, has Greek friends and grows up with Greek television, music and books, that will seek - and become aware of its success or failure in seeking - sameness. Read entire editorial.
Turkey Must Face the Truth The debate over whether to include Turkey in the European Union crystallizes the essence of what it means to be "European." Not surprisingly, the range of answers is broad. But the issue is really about mentality. Specifically, the country has refused to acknowledge the genocide of 1915. The incident has been well documented and includes thousands of eyewitness accounts. Yet Turkey continues to deny it, saying a lot of people died at the time, including Turks (an argument Russia employs in regards to WWII, as Balts are well aware). The country has closed its archives and even banned use of the word genocide. Is this the behavior of someone ready for Europe? Read full editorial The Baltic Times, Riga, Latvia, 15-12-2005		Our Reciprocal Best Wishes in 2005 to Our Greek Cousins: But We Still Harbor Deep Fears, Too! A Reply to Andrew Leech By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, Febrary 2005 Many Americans are disappointed about American foreign policy in the Balkans. Publishers recount unsuccessful past efforts by many to educate public and lobby governmental leaders. Differences still separate us from our European cousins, some of which have made US a haven for oppressed but also a target of terrorists. Fear over terrorism has prompted many uneasy choices on the part of the American voting populace, including granting greater powers to security agencies. Read full editorial
Institutionalized Support for Terrorists By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, 2004 Muslim Extremists Seek the Total Destruction of Christianity and Judaism, Not Just the American Economy After a yearlong public scrutiny of the entire issue of terrorism, several patterns have emerged. And we all need to pay greater attention to them. For the very survival of our own country--the future of our children and grandchildren -- and that of our staunch allies in Israel, depends on it. One of these patterns -- the most important in our opinion -- is institutional support among Muslims and Islamic countries for the goals of fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. The key word here is "institutional." Read full editorial		Are Business Practices in Greece Corrupt? By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, January 2003 A Call for International Business Ethics Standards. With the increasing globalization and interdependency of businesses around the world, multinational corporations must confront diverse cultural practices and business climates. In some instances, the main obstacles are simply a question of foreign language translation. But increasingly, the challenges stem from cultural clashes and, in particular, from unethical business practices. Read full editorial
Can Business Ethics Be Taught? By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, 2003 One false assumption guides the view that business ethics can’t be taught: the belief that one’s ethics are fully formed and immutable by the time one enters college or begins a job. Research in moral psychology has found that this is definitely not the case. Moral judgement develops throughout childhood and young adulthood in a complex process of social interaction with peers, parents and other significant persons. Research, then, supports the argument that ethics can be taught. Given that most people enter professional education programs and corporations during young adulthood, the opportunity to influence their moral reasoning clearly exists. In fact, young adults in their twenties and thirties enrolled in moral development educational programs have been found to advance in moral reasoning even more than younger individuals.Read full editorial in English. Read Greek version.		Has the U.S. State Department Capitulated to Communist Propaganda? By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, Febrary 2005 The U.S. government recently recognized FYROM as the "Republic of Macedonia." It did so unilaterally while negotiations between Greece and FYROM were still ongoing under the auspices of the U.N and just days before an important plebiscite in FYROM. With one swift stroke of the pen, the U.S. State Department managed to bring to fruition the aims of Tito's communists in the Balkans, the establishment of a "Macedonia," a "Macedonia" that communists hoped to unite with lands in neighboring countries. About 100,000 people were killed in the Greek Civil War to combat this communist propaganda, and the U.N. repeatedly demanded the return of over 25,000 Greek children that had been taken out of Greece by the communists. The U.S. had expended enormous sums of money in response to the Civil War because of the Truman Doctrine. Was it all futile? Read full editorial
A Fresh Look at the Cyprus Issue By Orestes Varvitsiotes, 2005 Certain recent political developments (fall 2005) relating to the Cyprus situation caused an angry response on the part of some Greek-American organizations and U.S. legislators. Similar unilateral actions on the part of the U.S. in FYROM--bypassing the rule of law, U.N. negotiations, and so on--demonstrate that the U.S. is part of the problem rather than the solution. The author postulates that U.S. foreign policy toward Cyprus aims to render the legitimate government of the Republic of Cyprus ineffective or to align itself with a break-away, illegitimate state (TRNC) in order to gain use of air bases. Read full opinion piece.		A New Globalization System and the Ancient Olive Tree By Christos and Mary Papoutsy, 2003 Our new international system, globalization, is best exemplified by a single word: the Internet. The new vocabulary of computerization, miniaturization, digitization, satellite communication, and fiber optics form the internal workings of the new globalization system. While the driving idea behind globalization is a world-wide free market, we should all take care to ensure that it is not just made up of microchips and markets, but also of men and women, based as much upon commercial, technological, and moral issues as upon political ones. As technology leads our society farther ahead commercially, many moral issues remain unresolved. Read entire editorial.




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