EVENTS up to the Demise of the Caliphate and the Sultanate
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The AKP has a moral responsibility to avoid appealing
where it is reported to be behind. What value does an
appeal have in Turkey and what credibility could an
appeal process possibly have in Turkey, where the
President himself, in cooperation with his own Party
in Government, have dismantled and reassembled the
Judiciary twice over under cover of darkness and under
patently false pretenses?


And a new era dawning on the State of the Rising Sun.



Encouraging news from Turkey. Mustafa Kemal and his
dream are not dead after all. Just a small hiatus, as often
happens, in the inevitable road to Democracy, Secularism,
Forward Thinking and Modernization. BRAVO, TURKEY!


Let's, also, not forget Slovakia. A new page for the State.
Fresh genuine and unpredictable elections for various
offices in various States of our World. A very exciting
and suspenseful period, full of hope and a chance for
introspection and deliberation. Only Africa and the
old Soviet block have been repeatedly disappointing us,
where pseudo-``leaders", abject dictators, with deleterious
and catastrophic influence, are staying in power for
decades on end and suffocating their States, and
whenever elections are called are only for show,
shameful travesties of Democracy and totally bogus
and illegitimate affairs.


One hopes that Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir will all
go to the opposition, but, as the morph says, we'll
have to wait and see...


In Ukraine, the fresh and woefully inexperienced, the old,
stale and failed and the political cadaver are fighting it
out for leading the State, a tortured State with a powerful,
ruthless and politically gangrenous neighbor, heavens only
know how and where. Is it even possible to resist and deflect
foreign interference when the Geopolitical position is so,
but so, important and when one side does not hesitate to
interfere in overt and ``covert" ways in places close, far
and further away, such as Ukraine itself, Syria and even
Venezuela? And which model could be used to achieve
those goals? Many have tried and failed, such as the
Castros and the Free Officers in Egypt and, perhaps,
the only decent States that have succeeded in preserving
fundamentally Democratic Principles without having
invited unwanted, unpleasant and destructive interference
from the outside in their own Political Affairs by behemoths
have been India and Finland. But how could Ukraine use
the Finnish model (the Paasikivi Doctrine) under current
circumstances in a Sesquipolar World? And is it even
feasible? And what kind of intelligence, will and power
would be needed? And what kind of Dexterous Diplomacy
would be called for to attain and preserve a delicate balance?


I would be very happy if someone could explain to me
in a reasonable and understandable way why it is OK
in the eyes of some British MPs to vote over and over
again over practically the same proposition until it
passes in Parliament, but they consider it detrimental
to Democratic Principles to resubmit the proposition
of Brexit to a Public Vote, especially in light of the
misinformation and the lies that permeated the original
campaign.


I support George Clooney's call to boycott a State who
is pondering over imposition of the death sentence for
People's individual and private preferences and
characteristics. No one should be equivocal in totally
condemning actions that remind one of intentional
vilification, marginalization and discrimination of
specific groups of our fellow Human Beings. In the
second decade of the 21st century, such moves and
such propositions should be unthinkable, unacceptable
and vigorously and persistently opposed, until the
perpetrators and actors involved leave brutishness
and incivility behind and conform to modern standards.


It is hypocritical for the State of Israel and for many
business people and conglomerates to decry the use
of images of the Holocaust by Germans, supposedly
because it is used for political or for commercial and
promotional goals, when one may argue, with ample
justification, that it has been used repeatedly and not
so rarely by them previously for purposes other than
educational... Before you criticize and condemn, put
your money where your mouth is.


People that are mono-cultural (or, frankly, uneducated,
in the proper sense of the word) and short-sighted have
a very hard time discerning the tremendous advantages
that a society a big part of whose members are bilingual
has and the potential power, political, economic and
social, that could be mustered and exploited in connection
with such advantages to understand, relate, connect
and cooperate with other States and other Cultures.
If in a State, like ours, with a significant Spanish
speaking minority, we could work to find smart ways
(such as having an interviewee use both languages
instead of using a translator, or sending overseas
Ambassadors and Missions that can take advantage
of this precious knowledge) to use such versatility and
expertise, we could gather a lot of good will and many
benefits in both Domestic Affairs and in Foreign Policy.
Our mentality has to change with regards to both
multiculturalism and multilingualism and officials
like the warp-headed ``commissioner" (whatever that
means and whatever his job might me), should not get
reelected, since their view is very narrow, detrimental
and antiquated and does harm rather than benefit our
United States' Public Affairs.


How have we gotten to this point? ``Justice" is a total
travesty in this State of ours. Smollett was let go for
a very serious crime with hardly any punishment,
despite strenuous and unjustifiable efforts by the
people responsible to convince us otherwise, and
there are rumors that George Papadopoulos is
agitating to get a pardon for his lying to the FBI.
What are we going to see next? Are they going to
get up straight in our faces and tell us that, if you
are fortunate, can afford it and are well connected,
in particular lie and embezzle on behalf or in
association with someone important and powerful,
that is not counted as a crime any more and beware
only if you are at the lower end of the ``biopolitical"
hierarchy? SHAME ON (IN)JUSTICE AND ALL
SHAM INSTITUTIONS RELATED TO (NON-
EXISTENT) JUSTICE IN THE UNITED STATES.


This is terrible and appalling. No one is a big fan of
lawyers and extreme litigation, but no one likes to
let criminal outfits and mafia like syndicates, that
use the ``health" sector to strut and sell their wares,
off with a slight slap on the wrist (or some would
say, comparing with their profits, with a slap on the
back). With a very moderate and subpar estimate
of 10,000 deaths, this settlement of $270M would be
able to reward each deceased person's family a mere
$27,000 for the whole damage that this unscrupulous
merchants of death have delivered. This simply does
not square up. Shame on those Attorney Generals'
offices that let such grave crimes go practically
unpunished and not pursuing the largest sentences
and awards possible under Law.


I echo Tim Berners-Lee in urging caution in this.
I question the urgency of the European Parliament
in passing this (especially since it is a notoriously
slow moving body in matters of much greater
urgency) and I urge the Member State Governments
to scrap it and store it where it belongs. There is a
need for greater regulation of the internet, but it
should concern primarily and foremost illegal
activities that result into great harm and not
focusing on those that infringe on copyrights
and on recovering money for the ultra-wealthy.
Regulation of the internet should be exercised
with great discretion, should not interfere in any
way and under no pretense with the freedom of
expression and the freedom to freely exchange
information and opinion and should only curtail
activities that are punishable by comparable
and proportional sentences in the real (non
virtual) world.


I do have a very hard time and feel outraged and
disgusted when, some of us, People of the Balkans,
with a History of constant war, conflict, destructive
pseudo-nationalism and discrimination, whose States,
whose Region and whose fellow countrymen have
suffered, but could have prospered and done
extremely well, had they chosen Fraternity, Unity
and Cooperation, still treat some of our fellow Human
Beings of other Races and Ethnic Backgrounds worse
than animals and taunt them and abuse them in the
worst possible way, short of attacking them and
causing bodily harm. SHAME ON MONTENEGRIN
``FANS" and shame on all in football that damage and
destroy the Joy and Fraternity that the Most Beautiful
Sport on Earth is meant to invoke and nurture.


Someone so clueless as to probably not even know
where the Golan Heights are and what their History
is, does not have the legitimate power, based simply
on his election based on a minority of the popular
vote in a State with a dysfunctional ``Democracy",
to recognize a different status for a territory than
that dictated by Principles of International Law.
So this proclamation emanating by a confused and
ignorant White House is deemed null and void by
the American Citizens.


Ο καθένας τα δικά του, ό,τι έχει μάθει από μικρός
και ό,τι θυμάται. Και η Πολιτική Ελλάδα μία μεγάλη,
και ως επί το πλείστον ανούσια, φαρσοκωμωδία.


I do not remember having ever seen before such
a concentration of density and absurdity in United
States Foreign Policy. Devastating and damaging.


The United States was the State that pioneered the
Law of the Charter after World War II and for a
good reason. Now, an a**, a clueless and totally
disoriented ``leader", is proposing violating the
Charter, ignoring its Precepts and its Principles,
encouraging others to do the same and returning
the World to the pre-World War II rule of the
jungle, where the powerful grab, keep and annex
without repercussions. SHAME ON THE MORPH
AND HIS COMPLETE IGNORANCE.


Abject pettiness and repulsive insensitivity... and not
directed at anybody, but towards the Memory of a
Man, a Veteran and a Politician of Wisdom and
Courage, and his family. If I were the morph and
I had some intelligence, I would have wished to be
half as much of a Man, half as Heroic and half as
Courageous and Wise as John McCain. But he is
ignorant, uneducated, base and repulsive. Not to
mention choosing deliberately demagogy, anger
and hatred, simply because it suits political interests,
boosts his egomania and appeases the terrible and
deplorable crowds at certain of his stops.


Ειλικρινά, αντί να αλλάξω νόμο ώστε να
τακτοποιήσω ανάγκες της στγμής, αν ήμουν
πρωθυπουργός και χρειαζόμουν την υποστήριξη
Δανέλλη και Κουντουρά, δε θα τους έβαζα, λόγω
του ασυμβίβαστου, στο Ευρωψηφοδέλτιο.
Αυτά τα πράγματα, να αλλάζουν νόμοι για τους
οποίους υπάρχουν λόγοι που έχουν ψηφιστεί,
ευκαιριακά, είναι ανάρμοστα.
Αλλά να πω και του στραβού τσέλιγκα το δίκιο,
ο Μειμαράκης είναι παλιομοδίτης και δεν έχει
πολλά να προσφέρει (να'ουμ) στην Ευρωπαϊκή
Ένωση, τουκάχιστον όσον αφορά την επιζητούμενη
ανανέωσή της με νέες ιδέες και περοσσότερο
Δημοκρατικούς θεσμούς. Ας απέφευγε ο Κυριάκος
αυτήν την επιλογή από τα βαθειά χρονοντούλαπα
της Ιστορίας, γεμάτα μούχλα και έντονη μπόχα.


Elegant appearance, manipulative gimmicks,
but very little substance. What a disappointment...


I appreciate what he is saying about immigration
and the value of immigrants to our societies and,
also, the positive tone that he is adding to this, in
my view, questionable and, oftentimes, absurd
and incomprehensible debate, especially for a
country of immigrants. On the other hand, this
does not absolve him of some of the worst moves
in United States Foreign and Defense Policy, which,
alas, have critically contributed to the current
climate and that we are still paying for , both in
terms of human cost and in terms of resource
wastefulness, as well as in the form of lost clout
and prestige in the International Arena, where
many Nations started doubting and questioning,
justifiably, our Values, our Sincerity and our
True Motives and Objectives.


With regards to the Prespes Agreement:
First, Bravo to Russia for recognizing the Republic of
North Macedonia with the name that it agreed upon.
I wish the same non-interference attitude had been
taken with regards to all its other Neighbors earlier
and that International Law and the Inviolability of
International Borders, as well as the Sovereignty of
a Foreign State, had not been gravely violated.
Second, I am very skeptical about Simitis' position
on the Prespes' Agreement. He supports a solution,
but he does not support The Agreement based on
procedural issues. I am wondering what he thinks
would have been agreed upon more advantageously.
Without a constructive position, the negative attitude
of a former Prime Minister lacks clarity and shows
an unsuitably vague and irresponsible approach to
a very important issue and raises many questions.
 

The Sultan is our enemy, the enemy of Democracy, and
with his rhetoric and his propaganda, has become the
enemy of Europe and disliked by his neighbors, whom
he is constantly vilifying for personal political gain. But
the Turkish People are our Brothers and our Sisters
and the Turkish People and the Muslim People, who
have Peaceful and Fraternal Feelings towards All
Other Nations are also smart people and can discern
what is news, what is fake news and propaganda and
who their enemies are. And they are not the Europeans
or the Peaceful, Fraternal and Democratic aspirations
of Westerners, that match their own, but those few
criminal and terrorist elements that espouse dangerous
ideologies of discrimination, racism and hatred, and
those are not foreign to the Muslim World either,
and the Sultan knows that very well also. At some
point in time, Erdogan used to be a leader. Now he
is a petty propagandist and whiner that is trying
desperately to twist facts and truth to cling to power,
because he knows that his time is limited, almost up.


And to think that they were poor and needed money,
but they were simply greedy, insatiable wealthy pigs
that did not give a rat's behind for the damage caused
to hordes of honest, hard-working kids by their actions.
Not to mention the damage to the credibility of the
process and the erosion of trust in these tests and
these admission procedures in general. A disaster.


Ο Τζώρτζ Παπάντριου χαρακτηρίζει τον Τσίπρα
χαρισματικό. Φαντάζομαι μέρος του χαρακτηρισμού
αφείλεται στο ότι έχει καταρρίψει το ρεκόρ του Άντριου
Παπάντριου στο ψεύδεσθαι και επίσης συναγωνίζεται
τον Άντριου Παπάντριου, εξ'αποστάσεως, για το βραβείο
δημαγωγίας και λαοπλάνης. Επίσης, Ο Τζώρτζ Παπάντριου
εύχεται ο Τσίπρας να είχε πλησιάσει την κεντροαριστερά,
αναφερόμενος ευγενικά, αλλά όχι τόσο διακριτικά, εις
εαυτόν, αντί του παχύδερμου αρχιψεύταρου. Βασικά
ο Τζώρτζ Παπάντριου φαίνεται ότι δεν διακρίνεται
για την εξυπνάδα του. Γεκινά η Κεντροαριστερά,
προφανώς του εν λόγω εξαιρουμένου, σκέφτεται, ενώ
ο Τσίπρας ήθελε ζώα στο μαντρί, έτοιμους ψήφους από
έτοιμους ανέντιμους βολευτές, που, όπως και απεδείχθει
από τις πράξεις ενός σημαντικού αριθμού αυτών, ήταν
πανέτοιμοι να θυσιάσουν εξαγγελίες, ιδεολογίες και
υποσχέσεις για μία βόλεψη σε μία υπουργική καρέκλα
και μία θέση σε ένα ψηφοδέλτιο με πιθανότητα λήψης
άνω του 1% των ψήφων...


Despicable and repulsive ``ideologies",
unfathomable hatred towards Fellow
Human Beings, based exclusively on
racial, ethnic and religious differences,
and unimaginable carnage and sorrow.
We all stand firmly with New Zealand
and with its Muslim Community, and
are truly grieving and in sympathy with
them, since similar atrocious acts have
occurred multiple times, albeit in a
smaller scale, to our own countrymen
of various faiths here at home.
We have this Fight, a Universal Fight,
for Peace, Fraternity and close
Cooperation among Al People, All
Nations and All Faiths, and, despite
what to some of us looks natural
enough for Humanity, sharing so
much and being under so many
common perils, it is, sadly, a difficult
and upward fight, because many
among us are determined to emphasize
differences and petty grievances over
Common Destiny and Brotherhood.


By filing this law suit, he is inflicting more self
damage than the damage he already did by
holding his face in front of this elder in that
notorious event. I hope the Judges in charge
not only dismiss this money grabbing and
totally absurd move, but, in addition, force
him and his family to pay expenses incurred
by CNN in the process. Sorry, but be reasonable.
 

For heaven's sake, this is not only an issue of
garbage and energy, but an issue of imminent
danger to human health. Scientists are finding
consistently quantities of plastic particles in
every conceivable human food source and,
very very likely, plastic will be proven to have
unwanted and detrimental consequences for
human well-being. The companies that use
plastic to such grand scale, including all those
companies that sell drinks and refreshments,
should realize (if human health is of zero
concern to them) that the law suits that will
come and the damages they will have to sustain
as a result will dwarf those imposed on tobacco
and those imposed on energy for cataclysmic
events, such as the gulf tragedy. If you do not
act swiftly and decisive now, be prepared!


I am wondering whether delaying Brexit will
result to the U.K. participating in the European
Elections this coming May. If this happens, will
the implication be that its Parliamentarians
will have to exhaust their terms, and, if yes,
will then the delay be for such an extended
period of time? If the EMP's do not have to
exhaust their terms, would it not be unfair
for the remaining States of the Union to have
to yield to British MPs participation in their
affairs' decision making when the duration of
their participation might be in limbo and when
they may be forced to drop out from one day
to the next depending of the whims and the
caprices of a clique of desperate, unprepared,
irresponsible and unstable MP's in London?


What a whizz kid and a genius! Entrance exam
tests A+; ethical standing and moral code F-.
Not to mention subzero empathy and complete
insensitivity for those honest kids that had the
same aspirations, but instead of scheming on
how to cheat the system and instead of paying
crooks, tried to study hard and attain their goals
based on their own worth and their own efforts,
but, as is the case on many occasions, were left
out in the cold, wondering what happened...


First, let me say that I appreciate the progress
that Greece has made in terms of reigning on
the financial insolvency and the financial
irresponsibility of the State and of the private
sectors and that, in particular, I wholeheartedly
support the efforts that Euclid (a.k.a. the Great
Geometer) has made in the Ministry of Finance
to govern with a steady hand and an unwavering
resolution, looking forward and, without
hesitation and without being bothered and
sidetracked by, on many occasions justified
and on many unjustified, criticism. On the other
hand this report from the IMF, I find factual
and hardly a cause for celebration. In a nutshell,
how could a State that has hit bottom and whose
financial institutions had practically collapsed
and which had to be rescued not performed better,
since worse or steady could have only meant
total bankruptcy and a complete sell off? So,
yes, Greece is doing better, but when one is at the
bottom, the only way is up, as they say, or, at
least, lacking realization and good guidance
and good governance, being stuck at the bottom.


BRAVO, ITALY!! At last, a very sensible move.
We are so spoiled, politically and otherwise, that
we tend to ignore the best practices science and
medicine have to offer for both safety and comfort.
As individuals living and sharing risks, comforts,
privileges and responsibilities with our fellow
Human Beings in organized societies, we have
the utmost responsibility to avoid unnecessary
risks for both our own children, who at their age
do not have much of a choice, and their fellow
playmates and classmates, who are also, in a
sense, our own children. Stubbornness in
opposition to seek and/or allow vaccinations
that can prevent serious illnesses is unacceptable.
BRAVO, ITALY!!


Really, BBC? Inequality in our United States?
Where everything shines from transparency,
clarity and equality under the Law? It's news
to us! Unequal sentencing under the Law, when
every fraudulent banker, every dishonest politician
and every killer cop of black fellow Citizens of
ours has been incarcerated for racism and murder
proportionally to our minority fellow Citizens,
who smoke marijuana or who show insubordination
to authority or who resist arrest and flee and are
shot worse than game in the back? Come on,
BBC, WAKE UP AND SEE THE SUN SHINING FAIR
AND BRIGHT ON THIS AMERICA, FULL AND
PROUD OF ITS EQUAL TREATMENT FOR ALL!


Rest assured, pigs of that caliber and shamelessness
exist in all States of our World. But in our United
States we have the unique distinction of paying
them millions of dollars and promoting their shows
and assigning them to positions of power and
influence so that they can advocate and sell their
crap and promote their lack of education and their
subculture, shamefully amassing fortunes.


Iranian State and Iranian ``clerics" (in quotes because
instead of administering to spiritual needs, you have
become political actors and seekers of earthly privileges
and fortune, like all other ``pastors", ``clerics" and
``rabbis" everywhere on our pretentious and tortured
by lies and indecency planet), why are you not toning
down this fixation that you have with nonsense about
alleged Islamic ethics and code of ``propriety"? One
can clearly tell from this picture of a very decent and
very well-meaning and, seemingly, very polite couple
that their public proposal was not only not indecent, as
you allege (for no reason whatsoever), but in fact caused
happiness and joy to all those surrounding them and not
a single shocked face is to be found. If, as you allege, for
political, I am sure, reasons, had been the case and their
behavior had been incompatible with local customs and
their actions crossed the line of decency, then, surely,
some of the people present would have been embarrassed
and displeased, but that is clearly not the case.
So try to change your ways and to accept some of the
habits of modernity and adjust to the wishes and the
well-intentioned and well-meaning open-heartedness
of our and your youth.
Iran will be made a more open, a more joys and a less
pretentious and oppressive society for it and, if for no
other reason, you at least owe that much to IRAN's
formidable HISTORY and CULTURE!


It is ironic and verging on the hilarious that the
House is condemning ``hateful expressions of
intolerance" in a State where the President has
openly stirred bigotry, racism, misogyny and,
many people also believe, despite his indignant
denials, white supremacy and antisemitism.
But we all guess why it is happening at this
stage and directed against this person, which,
I guess, with sadness and a sense of despair,
makes it even more ironic and tragicomic.
SHAME ON THE HOUSE FOR THEIR
BIAS AND THEIR OWN BIGOTRY.


Racism, discrimination and harassment run deep,
are embedded in the soul of America. And because
those in power hate to see their power and their
privileges eroded, nothing - absolutely nothing - is
actively being done about it. Only successful law
suits - few and far between - and only extreme
agitation and mass activism bordering on rebellion
in those cities and areas where these incidents get
out of control and where Citizens resolve that they
can suffer injustice, injury and insult no more can
help this United States of ours approach, even
remotely, the standards of Equality, Tolerance
and Equal Justice for All that we are so loudly
touting, but exist only, and perhaps even then
in an embryonic and dormant state, in paper.
 

Ο Μίκης μας δεν είναι καλά.
Εισήχθη και πάλι στο νοσοκομείο.


If you think that your role is, instead of listening to
your constituents' legitimate fears and concerns and
weighing and deciding on your options to address
them, mocking and ridiculing them for being brave
enough to express them and voice their dissatisfaction
and disappointment with your inaction, then you are
definitely unworthy and undeserving of the office
that you hold. I hope that the voters of New
Hampshire send you home and elect alternatives
that will do Justice to the State and will not use the
Public Purse to show condescension and derision to
Public sensitivities.


Διαβάζω αυτό το άρθρο που χαρακτηρίζει ``απαράδεκτη"
την αντίδραση των γονέων στην προγραμματισμένη ένταξη
προσφυγόπουλων σε ειδικές δομές στο νηπιαγωγείο και το
Δημοτικό σχολείο στη Σάμο. Οι γονείς έχουν δίκιο για πολλά
από τα αιτήματά τους και δικαιολογημένα έχουν απηυδήσει
από την αδιαφορία που δείχνει το υπουργείο σε διάφορα
ζητήματα που έχουν θέσει. Επίσης οι γονείς δε δείχνουν
κανένα μίσος ή έλλειψη σεβασμού στα προσφυγόπουλα,
ούτε αναισθησία και έλλειψη κατανόησης για την προσφυγιά
και τα παράγωγα προβλήματά της. Θεωρώ λοιπόν άδικο το
ότι ο συντάκτης χαρακτηρίζει ``απαράδεκτη" τη στάση τους.
Όμως θα ήθελα να συμπληρώσω ότι δεν είναι σωστό να
στερεί κανείς την εκπαίδευση από παιδιά προκειμένου
να διαπραγματευτεί καλύτερους όρους διαμονής,
εκπαίδευσης και υγιεινής και για κείνα και για τα δικά
του παιδιά. Κανένα παιδί στον κόσμο δεν είναι υπεύθυνο
για τα δεινά τα οποία οι πράξεις των ενηλίκων του έχουν
επιφέρει και κανένα παιδί στον κόσμο δεν πρέπει να
χρησιμοποιείται κατά οιονδήποτε τρόπο σαν αντικείμενο
διαπραγμάτευσης, ούτε είναι σωστό να καθυστερεί κανείς
την εκπαίδευσή του όποτε είναι δυνατό να πάει στο σχολείο.
Αν οι Σαμιώτες γονείς βρίσκονταν στο εξωτερικό, θα ήθελαν,
είμαι σίγουρος, παρά τα όποια προβλήματα, να πάνε τα
παιδιά τους αμέσως σχολείο και να προσπαθήσουν να
επιλύσουν τα προβλήματα μεταξύ ενηλίκων καθ'οδόν.
Κάνετε λοιπόν το ίδιο και για τα προσφυγόπουλα.
Όλα τα παιδιά είναι δικά μας παιδιά. Και τα παιδιά
δεν ξεχωρίζουν; κάποια απ' αυτά μπορεί να γίνουν
οι καλύτεροι φίλοι των δικών σας παιδιών. Μην τους
στερείτε αυτή τη λιγοστή χαρά και αυτήν την ελπίδα.


Όταν υπάρχει καλή θέληση και αμοιβαιότητα
τα πάντα γίνονται. Δεν έχουμε να χωρίσουμε
τίποτα. Οι Έλληνες αισθανόμαστε και είμαστε
φίλοι με όλους. Όπως δείξαμε και όπως είμαστε
έτοιμοι να ξαναδείξουμε, ό,τι είναι δυνατόν το
κάνουμε, ό,τι μπορούμε το προσφέρουμε. Μόνο,
κι εμείς επιθυμούμε, όπως όλοι οι άνθρωποι,
και πιστεύουμε και όλοι οι γείτονές μας, να
ζήσουμε ειρηνικά και σε κλίμα αδερφικότητας,
φιλίας, αμοιβαιότητας και συνεργασίας με όλους.
Αυτό επιτάσσει η ηθική και το συμφέρον όλων.


Of course widening eligibility will be disagreeable
to the old boys' Hollywood networks with the few
ultra-rich producers and the few ultra-rich houses
that are used to and love controlling productions
and pulling all the strings (not to mention asking
favors of all kinds in return, because I am sure they
will not like that truth, in particular, either). I, for
my part, am happy that they are losing some control
and hope and wish that they eventually lose almost
all and that the industry become much more open
and much more egalitarian and get converted
from a money making and restricting choice,
enterprise of the few to an open arena for those,
especially those independent and low budget,
filmmakers who love films and not the making of
money out of crap and the despicable marketing
of abject nonsense and of low quality subculture
made for one and one goal only.


I read on comparisons between the Greco-North
Macedonian differences and their resolution, based
on the Prespes Agreement, and the Greco-Turkish
differences. People that make such comparisons
should keep in mind that concerning the naming of
a State and its irredentist interpretations of its
History, there are no set Rules in International
Law which would give definite answers. On the
other hand, for every conceivable difference existing
between Greece and Turkey, there are areas and/or
articles of International Law addressing those
disputes and Greece (and, in my view Turkey also)
should insist that all those differences be settled
by arbitration and/or recourse to International
Tribunals. In such disputes, there is no room
for bilateral agreements, since the Law is well
settled for most (I think all) of those issues and
can provide definite answers.


I read here that there are global citizens that
are disturbed and embarrassed by the nudity
in this Photograph by Yannis Behrakis and I
am ashamed and embarrassed in turn on their
behalf. Nobody should be disturbed by nudity
here, when the heart is torn apart, not in two,
but in countless fragments by this evidence
of the lack of Humanity and total insufficiency
of mechanisms of response to catastrophes
and of total inability and ineffectiveness in
coping with disasters and in supporting the
wrenched and helpless victims of our inhumane
actions in our uncivilized world. Yannis touched
us all in this way through his photographs and
made us, perhaps and hopefully, a little more
aware, a little more contemplative, a little
uneasier and a little more Human after all.
Our Humanity will miss you, Yannis...


What I wrote below for Joe Biden applies equally
well and is also appropriate for Bernie Sanders,
who is now 77. You are both Persons who are held
in high esteem and have contributed a lot to the
Democratic Party and its Ideals. It is, however,
time to embrace someone from the younger
generation and lend them your support. A gift of
a talented and forward looking politician is to also
know when the time has come and to be able to
discern, among a competing - and, unfortunately,
mostly self-serving, self-important, and pompous -
younger crowd those that have the talent and the
promise to offer something new and refreshing
and who are there for the People and not for
themselves and their own interests and their
own future.


Yannis Behrakis is with us no more...


In the United States there is never Justice for crimes
involving ``police" brutality and the aggressive and
murderous predisposition of ``police" against black
fellow Citizens of ours. The tragic and ironic thing
is that, despite all proclamations to the contrary and
despite all movements that try to sensitize the
population to this truth, we observe again and again
racist prosecutors and attorneys, who exonerate
killer cops without even getting them through trial,
consistently reveal and holding against black victims
their past indiscretions and misfortunes when all of
us know really really well that, had the same past
being on the back of a white, blue eyed, blond
haired, fortune laden and connection afforded
victim, they would have been hushed and their
murderers prosecuted under public pressure and
under those same family connections and influence
without a second thought. WHEN WILL YOU AT
LAST REALIZE THAT JUSTICE MUST BE
BLIND AND IT IS NOT ONLY A CONVENIENT
INCONVENIENCE AND A RHETORICAL PHRASE
TO MUMBLE WHEN IT SUITS OUR ``IDEALS"
AND MAKES US LOOK BETTER FOR REELECTION?
WHEN ARE YOU AT LAST GOING TO REALIZE
THAT WHAT WE ARE DOING IS AKIN, IN
PRINCIPLE, TO TALKING ABOUT LIBERTY
AND EQUALITY ON THE ONE HAND AND
OWNING AND BARTERING IN SLAVES ON
THE OTHER? WHEN IS AMERICA GOING TO
CHANGE AND TREAT ALL ITS CITIZENS, ALL
OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AS EQUAL UNDER
THE LAW AND AFFORD THEM EQUAL CHANCES
AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE & EQUAL
TREATMENT AND EQUAL RESPECT IN DEATH?


Στην Ελλάδα έχουμε μπόλικα άχριστα αφοδεύματα,
υπερφίαλους αγροίκους που ψηλοπιάνονται και σα
βλάκες τους θεωρούμε προσωπικότητες άξιες προσοχής.


Mr. Biden, you are already 76. May you live still for
a long long time. But you should not run for President.
The younger class already served you and honored
you and it is now your time to serve them and do
Right by them by stepping aside and letting the
new generation, which has the biggest stake, to
manage this country and steer this Nation forward.
Pick a younger, Progressive, Forward Looking,
Refreshing and Bold and Daring Person whom
you think would keep his/her promises and make
difficult, ground breaking decisions and move
forward with determination and back them up.
We will be following you and listening to your
opinions and can use your wisdom in an advising
role, but the People who can best serve this Nation
in an executive capacity are not the People that
have already been successful and have amassed
fame and fortune, but the ones that want to see
this State move in a direction that will help the
young and give chances to those who are still
struggling to make it and  who are working hard
because their lives and the lives of those that
they are caring for depend on it and will depend
on it for a long long time to come.


Nothing in North Korea happens without Kim, or
someone who can inform him immediately and
ask for his permission, knowing. Rest assured that,
if someone in the security apparatus had tortured
a young American, used as a political pawn, on
their own initiative and on their own volition,
without explicit orders or explicit permission
from the top, that someone would have been
executed by the ``state machine" within hours
of the ``unwanted" incident.


This despicable family has brought shame upon Virginia
and has brought our United States decades behind in
terms of thinking and of insistence for tolerance and
acceptability of the hideous and the unacceptable.
It does pain me deeply to watch a state of affairs in
a State of our United States, painfully aware of its
darkest past and painfully aware of the need for a
change of course and of restitution, where, when a
politician is uneducated, insensitive and of thick skin
and is not aware of basic responsibilities and does not
understand basic obligations, there is no way to swiftly,
and without too much ado about nothing and without
meaningless discussion and hesitation, to remove him
or her from office and to restore decency and trust.
 

I do not have a hard time believing these claims by
the North Koreans because they sound to me to be
very consistent with what transpired with Iran. The
morph seems to think of ``negotiating" as a game of
demanding and taking almost all and conceding
practically nothing and this is not what negotiating
means either according to the dictionary or according
to anyone else that I know of, at least those who are
pragmatists and not utopian dreamers or totally
inexperienced in politics and foreign relations.


Οι μαγκιόροι; Λείπει μόνο το τάβλι και τα μπεγλέρια...
Α! Συγγνώμη! Ξέχασα το ούζο και τα μεζεδάκια.


He was raised in a corrupt system, in which money
and favors talk, and there is no doubt in my mind
that he is continuing, instead of trying to change,
those practices and instead of trying to fix the
system, because the system being rigged is what
maintains the same old class in power and the same
old  boy's network in command and they, of course,
like both wealth and the attached privileges and
they are ruthless and at the ready to use whatever
means to try to maintain them.


I believe that much of what Cohen says about the
morph is true and accurate. On the other hand,
I thought that a convicted liar is, by definition,
someone who does nor take any oath seriously
and who has perjured himself in spite of oaths.
So it is funny that they have this person take an
oath, since obviously, taking an oath means nothing
to him. They could have had him as well and with
the same, if not a more striking, effect  spit into
a spittoon.


Ms. May, no MP has any duty to vote for stupidity
and place him/herself on the wrong side of History.
YOU HAVE A DUTY TO RESIGN and let People
with Fraternal Feelings and EuroCentrist Attitudes
lead Great Britain to a second referendum where
the dilemma would be Brotherhood or Isolationism,
Money to Brussels for Peace, Security, Common
Decision Making and Close Cooperation for the
Prosperity of All or Less Money, without a single
extra pound for Health or Education, since no extra
funds are ``devoured" by Brussels, as the unscrupulous
demagogues wanted the Public to believe. Internal
problems and internal shortcomings cannot be
buried by finding extraterrestrial scapegoats to
burden with excessive and undeserved blame.


We can only hope. It is in the interest of both States
and of their People. And it is definitely in the interest
of the entire World to see two ardent and sworn enemies
become warm and friendly, especially so when they
both possess unimaginably destructive power. Our
President in this instance is absolutely correct, since
the United States and its People are ready to talk
and to compromise with whoever is ready to accept
our Peaceful and Fraternal Offerings. I am hoping
that this summit goes well and produces concrete
results and that the President sees the same utility
in extending the same Peaceful and Fraternal
Offerings to Iran, starting with reentering the
Nuclear Agreement and continuing by engaging
Iran and Israel and All Other Non-Rogue and Non
Gangrenous and Non-Murderous States in that
Region, on an equal footing, in Fraternal, Warm
Relations with our United States and in close
Cooperation on serious regional and global issues.


Καβαλοκαλαμωτός. Απαράδεχτη ``προσωπικότητα".
Έχει βλάψει περισσότερο απ' ό,τι έχει ωφελήσει την
Ένωση και για πολλές από τις απογοητεύσεις των
Πολιτών για την ανευθυνότητα, την έλλειψη ευθιξίας
και την παντελή ανυπαρξία του υπόλογου οφείλονται
απ' ευθείας στους δικούς του χειρισμούς και στις δικές
του στάσεις και προθέσεις. Οι εκλεγμένοι ηγέτες των
28, πρωτίστως Γερμανοί, Γάλλοι, Άγγλοι και, έπειτα,
Ιταλοί, Ισπανοί και Πολωνοί, θα έπρεπε να τον είχαν
στείλει προ πολλού σπίτι του.


President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif
have changed the political reputation and the
political climate and the International standing
of Iran and the esteem it enjoys tremendously,
by leaps and bounds. When the current Iranian
Government was elected, the People or Iran and
the International Community had high expectations
and they were not completely disappointed, which
is something that cannot be said earnestly for many
other Governments, including most in the Middle
East. However, both in the Domestic (social and
economic sphere) as well as in the International
domain, Iran's Government has a lot of work to
do to advance the aspirations of the Iranian
People and the Fraternal Feelings of both the
Iranians and of the International Community
towards one another. If Mr. Zarif's resignation
comes to pass, which would be regrettable, but
not disastrous (many remarkable and organized
people have to release power after their time is
up), President Rouhani has to look deep and
carefully into Iranian politics and Iranian
Diplomacy to find a person (man or woman)
that has the Right Credentials and enjoys the
Right International Standing to help Iran and
further advance the Iranian Drive and take
more steps to bring Iran in the Path of Peace,
Friendship and Cooperation will All Nations.


Stop exploiting hatred and pseudo-nationalism
and sacrificing Human Lives for political gain
and political survival on both sides. Meed RIGHT
NOW and agree to mediation and/or arbitration,
with a binding outcome under U.N. Auspices, for
the border delineation in Kashmir, and, when
this is concluded sign a comprehensive Peace
Treaty. People All Around the World are sick
and tired of problems that are lingering for
ages for no other reason than prompting
needy Governments, insatiable machines
of war and greedy militarists and ill-suited
politicians that have no business governing
because their will and their wishes go against
fundamental wishes of the People that are only
swayed to vote for them either because of
limited choices or because of demagogy and
false promises and then are sorry to face the
consequences for which Democracy makes
them partly responsible for.


I think all sides know by now that it is going to
be either a no-deal Brexit or no Brexit at all.
I hope and pray for the second, but I consider
the first almost a certainty. On the other hand,
I am almost certain that, given the chance and
the time, the Scots and the Northern Irish
would, in the not so far distant future, choose
to rejoin the Union and leave the English and
Welsh alone out of it. Such a mess and such a
totally disorganized attempt to carry out such
a significant and important decision revealed
deeply rooted systemic problems in British
politics and brought to light the weight that
politicians in the U.K. are placing in personal
benefits, personal aspirations and personal
aggrandizement over the National Interests
and the Good of Great Britain.


She is a member of a family, which, under any
regime emphasizing Individual Freedoms and
Individual Rights in our United States and
supporting the Bill of Rights more than the
Second Amendment, would have been declared
family non grata and would have been forbidden
entry and its assets seized when they are found,
regardless of where they are located.


Nigeria has voted and votes are being tallied.
Unfortunately, there have been irregularities,
but, hopefully, not widespread enough for the
outcome to be altered and the situation to get
out of hand.


Senegal is electing a new President.


An improvement over the previous choice since
she has some experience. Overall, however, in line
and in keeping with the spirit of favoritism, a suck
up, with questionable morphic positions on several
issues and master of the despicable trade of giving
and receiving favors and of trading ingratiation
and donations for positions. Our Representation
to the United Nations deserves better, even though
in the Bush years we have attested to the fact that
even a highly esteemed person may actually prove
a charlatan and cause shame and disgrace to our
United States if (s)he does not stand for Right and
Decency and (s)he is not ready to step down when
cornered and pushed to act disrespectfully and
recklessly.


Sudanese, as the dictator is crumbling, strategically
wait for him with police and Judicial escorts outside
the presidential palace and with a plane ready on
the tarmac and, as a new caretaker Government
is sworn in to carry out Free and Fair Elections, fly
hm in a civilized way out of Khartoum to the Hague
to face long awaited Justice and to pay for the pain
and the suffering that he has caused to the People
of the Sudans. Do not harbor or agree to privileges
or grant immunity to a beast that is alleged to have
committed serious crimes against Humanity.


To the Royals, the ultra-rich and the huge spenders,
with social, environmental and other sensitivities and
with basic sensibilities, I would give the following
advice: When you catch yourselves wanting to spend
$10,000 for a pair of shoes, buy one with $500 and
give $9,500 to a good cause (even if you have already
given other amounts).  If you catch yourselves wanting
to spend 7 nights in New York at $60,000 a night,
invite your friends to Buckingham at no additional
cost to the already extravagantly paying taxpayer
(who is sensitive about the money spent on a Noble
and Fraternal project to Brussels, but has no issues
about these expenses), and donate the $400,000 that
you were tempted to spend to a good cause. Be aware
that the money you spend for what is for you a simple
and ordinary ``pleasure" could be a matter of life and
death for many fellow humans, or even for entire
communities and habitats, around the planet.
THINK BEFORE YOU OVERSPEND AND BE
SENSIBLE ENOUGH TO NOT OVERSPEND!


The new Russian Revolution is expected to break out
from one moment to the next. The Russian Duma has
passed the unbearably oppressive measure of separating
18 year olds from their smart phones for more that a few
seconds at a time!


I wish this bank did not only have reduction
in profits but actual losses. HSBC in Europe
and Wells Fargo, together with Citi, in the
United States are the most unscrupulous
and inhumane banking corporations with
very little regard for the Law or for the
convenience and fairness towards their
customers. They have repeatedly given
reason to investigators to examine their
financial methods and their (un)ethical
standing and they have settled cases in
which the settlements have only been a
small fraction of the illegal proceeds that
were acquired through questionable and
reprehensible practices. Their only reason
for surviving is that in our societies, when
the rich err, they are excused or have the
resources to buy lawyers to convert severe
penalties to slaps on the wrist, whereas the
poor and less fortunate get the rough end
of the stick in their behinds even for
negligible, in comparison, offenses and
misdemeanors.


Η αλήθεια είναι ότι ο αισχατόμαγκας έκρυβε
εισοδήματα κατά δική του ομολογία (από
μικρό κι από κουζουλόμαγκα μαθαίνεις την
αλήθεια) και ότι πήρε δάνειο χαριστικό με
μέσο από μία τράπεζα γεμάτη βρώμα και
δυσωδία. Όλα τ' άλλα, οι φτηνοπαλληκαρισμοί,
οι απειλές για μηνύσεις και ο καθωσπρεπισμός
του τύπου (που έχει, φυσικά, κι αυτός λερωμένη τη
φωλιά του από όμοιες αμαρτίες του παρελθόντος),
καθώς και η ανικανότητα, η αδράνεια και
η καθυστέρηση των δικαστηρίων (μέχρι να
κουνήσουν το ένα ποδάρι βρωμάει τ' άλλο)
έχουν φέρει τη χώρα σ' αυτή την κατάντια,
όπου κρατικοί ``λειτουργοί" και ``προύχοντες"
κάνουν ό,τι γουστάρουν με το αζημίωτο και
το ατιμώρητο. Όσο για τον ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, εντός-
εντός και επί τα αυτά, καμία ευθιξία και
καμία αλλαγή, ίδιες μάσες από διαφορετικές
μασέλες και με συμπεριφορές αγροίκων κατά
ιδία, ξεδιάντροπη ομολογία και αλαζονεία
να χτυπάει κόκκινο. Και ο Τσίπρας νήσσα...


In the World we live in, needless loss of life, like these
casualties in skirmishes in Kashmir, and needless
spats among Friendly and allied Nations, such as
the mindless dispute between Israel and Poland,
are shameful and should be avoided. In Kashmir,
the two sides, Neighbors with a long common
History and shared traditions, should negotiate
a Lasting Solution and Lasting Peace and restart
on a friendly footing to the advantage of all. If
common ground cannot be found, recourse to
International Mediation and Arbitration under
the Auspices of the Secretary General of our
United Nations is always a phone call away.
The only things lacking are decisiveness and
determination. CEASE THE MOMENT AND
APPLY YOURSELVES IN FINDING A SOLUTION!
Jews and Polish also share a Common History and
have many things that unite them and some justifiable
grievances. Poland should admit its past mistakes,
acknowledge dark chapters of its History and make
every effort to refrain from revisionist approaches
to History and to teach its Children the lessons
learned from History and how these lessons
could make Poland proud, instead of ashamed,
should similar circumstances arise in the future.
And Israel has to understand some of the delicacies
and the sensitivities of those issues and allow the
Polish some leeway in dealing with the past and
in coping with painful issues. Canceling visits
and exchanging insults leads nowhere, helps no
side, advances no issues and does not contribute in
Fraternal and Cordial Relationships, which every
Nation wishes to have with its Friends and Allies.


Only in Banana Republics is every chieftain and every
regional governor and petty official able to ignore official
positions and obligations issued from International
Agreements and International Treaties, because of his
personal beliefs and based on his personal caprices
and whims, and do whatever he likes with Road Signs
and other Signs in contravention of International
Law. I hope that the Government in Athens deals
with a severe and heavy hand with those that break
the Law. Disagreements and discussions are welcome
and a sine qua non in a Democratic and Well Governed
State, but when a position has been adopted and the
Law has been established, no Citizen and, a fortiori,
no government official has any right to do as he wishes.


New York's young Congresslady lifts the cover
and reveals the scandalous and provocative nudity
of our Polity that allows and encourages greed and
unscrupulousness in our Nation's Political Doings.


Israelis are People too and they want to live in
Peace, Security and Prosperity with other
Nations and with their Neighbors, exactly like
Iranians do. Declaring that Iran wants to
establish Amicable Relations with All Other
States in the Middle East, while excluding
Israel from the mix, is counterproductive
and, in my view, the wrong point of view
on President Rouhani's side. It may be
that Netanyahu is unreasonable and a very
dangerous person to lead a Nation, but he
is involved in numerous scandals and, even
without those, Netanyahu has an expiration
date and Iran should carefully and deliberately
prepare the ground for a Rapprochement
and Cooperation with Israel, if and when
a new Government, willing to accept Iran's
Hand of Friendship, succeeds in Jerusalem.
There are numerous issues of mutual interest
that Iran and Israel could be working and
cooperating on and mutually benefiting
from, let alone the instantaneous decisive
step towards Peace and Stability in a volatile
Region that such a Cooperation would produce
and the immeasurable advantages, social,
economic, political and military, that such
a cooperation would offer for both Nations
involved, but also for the entire Region.
PRESIDENT ROUHANI, WORK ON THIS
AND LET ISRAELIS KNOW THROUGH
DIPLOMATIC CHANNELS OF IRAN'S
GOOD WILL AND FRIENDLY INTENTIONS.


These girls went to join IS on their own volition
and became wives and mothers for outlaw fighters,
with cruel intentions and an inimical and brutal
agenda both towards their own countrymen and
the West. Now that the going became tough and
that they became nostalgic of the comforts and
the privileges they enjoyed in the West, they
are asking to be ``repatriated", suddenly
remembering their ``patria" and where they
owe allegiance. I do not think that the World
should work this way, nor do I think that the
Western allies should admit any of those that
joined cruel enemies deliberately and in an
informed way, except to put them on trial and
to keep them in jail. In matters so serious as with
which Parties to side in a conflict, and especially
one in which one of the two sides consists of
illegal fighters and outlaw brutes intending
to cause havoc and restrict and crash freedoms
and subjugate vast swaths of populations of an
entire region of our World, people that perilously
choose brutishness, cruelty and inhumanity
should not be given the chance or afforded
the choice of an easy and painless ``repentance".


This is the true ``axis of evil" in the World (and I am
referring to Governments, Armies and Paramilitary
and Secret Services and not to the People, who, like
All Other Nations, have much more uniting them with
than dividing them from the rest of Humanity). And
the Big, One Billion Dollar Question is why have
United States Governments persistently, obsessively
and consistently bankrolled and allied with such
regimes, which have caused the American People the
worst treacheries, the most casualties and the deepest
heartaches, and have hidden (or, at least, tried to
conceal) from the Citizens of this Country the
fact that, if there exist true enemies of our United
States in this World, no other Nations deserve such
a title more and qualify more in practice than those
two corrupt, despicable and venomous States.


Africa at its best! Disorganization, rampant corruption,
incompetence and complete and utter condescension and
disregard from the State and its apparatus towards
the Rights, the Feelings and the Comfort of the Public
and of Domestic Public and International Opinion.
SHAME ON NIGERIA! There is a reason that,
regardless of wealth, some States are called developed,
some developing and some incorrigibly undevelopable.


Μολις ειδα αυτό στο in.gr (από το twitter) για c.v.
υπουργού. Είναι αληθές ή fake news;


The ``Elgin marbles" are Athenian Treasures and there
is no reason, after the building of the Acropolis Museum
and besides remnants of colonial arrogance and cultural
barbarism, why they should be, or why they should have
remained for so long, or why they are still, in London.


This family of weirdos and vain psychopaths set out to
destroy a dream just because, based on the circumstances
and the political climate, they thought they could. Too
bad that the British public was swayed to take one of
the most damaging and regrettable decisions in Europe's
political History by such cons and such scum.


New York did the Right Thing. If you are one of the
richest corporations in America, you should be proud
enough to build a new campus without subsidies and
you should be proud enough to avoid evading taxes so
that you contribute your fair share towards the well
being and the welfare of your new community and
your new neighbors. Could we even fathom or imagine
what an uproar a company would create if, in return
for its profits, it decided, instead of contributing to
the local work force and the local community, to
demand that it be paid a tithe and given free pass on
services that much less wealthy and less fortunate
neighbors have to pay for and maintain?


Not only should the United States refrain from influencing
our Allies towards quitting the Iran Nuclear Deal, not only
should the United States rethink its own position and return
as a Party to the Agreement, but, also, and most importantly,
in a World so interconnected that bilateral and multilateral
relationships should only get modified towards more cordial
attitudes and towards strengthened ties and cooperation, the
United States should place every effort in a rapprochement
with Iran and in doing All in Its Power to motivate and to
convince Iran and Israel to sign a Lasting Peace Treaty to
the benefit of Both that would reshape the Middle East into
a vast region of Peace, Fraternity and Cooperation between
All Its Nations and All Its Inhabitants. We hear a lot about
the ``talents" and the ``capabilities" of overvalued and
over-touted and over-bragging simpletons and morons in
``deal making", but none has made it to emulate the
Great Jimmy Carter in doing something substantial for
Peace, Security and Stability in that Region by decisively
and clinically leveraging the vast United States Powers,
Resources and Diplomatic Acumen and Dexterity to the
fullest extent possible towards this Noblest of Causes.


Δεν έχουμε στην Ελλάδα πια πρόσωπα που να
έχουν επιδείξει αυταπάρνηση σε κρίσιμες
Ιστορικά στιγμές και που να μην έχουν κατά
κανένα τρόπο (είτε ευθέως, είτε ως προϊστάμενοι,
είτε ως υπουργοί) αναμιχθεί σε σκάνδαλα; Μου
έρχεται στο μυαλό, για παράδειγμα, ο Μανώλης
Γλέζος, ο οποίος, βέβαια, είναι τώρα λίγο
προχωρημένης ηλικίας και όχι ίσως πλέον
κατάλληλος για να επιλεγεί, αλλά πρόσωπα Κύρους
και ύπεράνω πάσης υποψίας, σαν τον Μανώλη,
θα έπρεπε να επιλεγούν από μία Κυβέρνηση
Θαρραλέα και Προοδευτική για να εκπροσωπούν
την Έλλάδα στο Ύπατο Αξίωμα. Παυλόπουλοι,
Σημίτες και Βενιζέλοι (χωρίς να τους υποτιμώ)
δεν πληρούν αυτά τα κριτήρια.


Goodbye, A380! You brought Europe's strongest
closer together, even though you did not make
them a monetary profit. But that has already
been a great enough gift! A majestic project!


Jorge Bergoglio will not say no to mediating and
facilitating negotiations between the two sparring
sides in the Venezuelan conflict because he is deeply
cognizant that on his positive - versus his negative -
response may very well depend the sparing of many
innocent lives. On the other hand, the Pontiff
is also a smart man and he is not going to place
Vatican's reputation on the line if he is smelling,
and is afraid, that the ``Holy See" is going to be
used as a pretext for crashing the opposition
and for denying the Democratic and Reformist
Aspirations of the Venezuelan People, who are
demanding and deserve new, open, free and fair
elections, both presidential and parliamentary.


The BBC calls it a gaffe. They wish. The reality is
that a certain type of people in certain latitudes in
our United States have a problem openly reckoning
with a terrible and injurious History; they have a
problem and are apprehensive in admitting that
their forefathers bought and sold people as barter
and that they made fortunes on the backs and by
exploiting the forced and free labor of unwilling
and mentally and psychologically tortured slaves.
Consequence of this reluctance, fear and cowardice
to admit the obvious are this ambivalence and the
concerted effort to rewrite History or to retell it from
the point of view of those that were defeated by their
own ideals and by the Natural Flows of History.
It is high time that the southern States and all of
us face head-on this past, admit, without hesitation
and without equivocation, the damage caused as if it
had been caused (as it was) to our own. That is
THE ONLY WAY TO HEAL AND TO OVERCOME
AND TO PROGRESS AND TO RECONCILE.
The voices of those who say that to heal, we have to
ignore, or hide, or revamp, or forget or to keep
in silence about the truth are simply misguiding
and misleading through purpose or ignorance. That
is also the main reason why those that are caught
in still trying to conceal facts and, when caught,
to refrain from dealing with their racism and
their revisionism, especially those in high offices,
have no more right to represent the People of this
Land and the People of THIS ONE NATION!


In Virginia, we have a whole corrupt, entitled and
racist political hierarchy that should be forced to
abandon politics, since they themselves seem so
insensitive and so totally unable to comprehend
the substance, the implications and the serious
and detestable repercussions of their thoughtless,
bigoted, self-destructing and damaging actions.
It is a pity and a shame that a State that needed
so much work to overcome some of the debilitating
deficiencies of a tumultuous past has fallen, instead
of in the hands of gifted, wise and forward looking
individuals, in the hands of racists, bigots, morons
and plain abusers and criminals.


If someone is a major representative of an industry
or a sport and their actions place that industry or
that sport in serious jeopardy and disrepute, as did
the actions of Weinstein and of Nassar in the movie
industry and in USA Gymnastics, respectively, that
person should not only be punished severely (which
has not happened yet with Weinstein), but they should,
definitely and without hesitation and/or equivocation,
be banned for life from any future engagement in the
same industry (since they had their chance and have
utterly betrayed the standards and the trust involved).
On this position there should be no discussion, nor
any disputes, from those at least who feel a minimal
empathy with the victims of their demented acts
and their disturbed personalities. I am not sure
what is Madame Binoche trying to tell us by trying
to show unwarranted and undue lenience towards
monstrous and inexcusable behaviors...


Βγήκε το πόρισμα και μάθαμε επί τέλους τί κάνει
νιάου-νιάου στα κεραμίδια. Αγύρτες, πότε επί
τέλους θα βάλετε χειροπέδες στο μουσάτο και
θα τον κλέισετε μέσα διά βίου για τη στυγερή,
απροκάλυπτη και ψυχρότατη πολιτική δολοφονία;


FRANCE AND ITALY THESE MOVES ARE
COMPLETELY ABSURD AND YOU SHOULD
BE AVOIDING THEM AT ALL COST! First,
every European Government has the right (one
may even say the responsibility) to meet Citizens
of Europe (its own or of other States) when it
deems appropriate. So France has no grounds
of discontent or of outrage with Italy. On the
other hand, even if it had been provocative
for the Italian Government to host the ``Yellow
Vests", it is a disproportionate reaction on the
part of France to recall diplomatic staff and
envoys from Rome. All European Nations are
Fraternal Nations. Recalling or expelling
ambassadorial staff is like attempting to
harm or punish your own. The problems and
the issues we face are Continental and the
demonstrations and complaints and the
discussions that should take place for their
solution are supra-national and oftentimes
cross boundaries and require more global
and more universal thinking. Get used to it
from both sides (from All Sides) and act and
behave accordingly.


Venezuelans, do not make the situation in your State
catastrophic and the position of foreign States difficult.
The solution is simple and nothing would be fairer
and more advantageous for Venezuela and its People.
Proclaim and organize FREE AND FAIR PRESIDENTIAL
AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS AS SOON AS IT
IS HUMANELY POSSIBLE and decide anew, without
suspicion and disputes, the Future of Venezuela. Do not
procrastinate and allow outside actors to decide the future
of your own State. At the end, you will end up being the
losers and subjugated to foreign whims and wills.
Do not let that happen to YOUR Venezuela.


No one that has not been elected to a specific Office by the
People of his State should be recognized by outside powers
as a legitimate representative of that Office. Venezuelans
have never elected Juan Guaido as their President and it
is not the business of, allegedly,  Democratic Governments
to supplant the Will of the People of Venezuela. What all
Democratic Governments should demand in the case of
substantial suspicions of a fraudulent, rigged and/or
substandardly executed election process is that new
elections be held within a reasonable amount of time
with International, United Nations, observers present,
under conditions that would allow them to guarantee
the legitimacy of the process and the validity of the
tallying and to certify the result with reasonable
confidence, so that the State be Governed according
to the Will and the Free and Unobstructed Decision
of Its Citizens. Shame to the European Union for
not insisting on the correct thing to do and for not
putting pressure to see it to fruition rather than totally
prematurely taking sides and supporting an unelected
to that office ``leader".


The deserts of Egypt keep revealing to us unfathomable
Treasures offered by this Amazing Civilization long gone,
but never forgotten or short of admirers, and always full
of astonishing surprises.



``Governor", the issue here is not whether you can
``govern" effectively or whether you have lost the
``trust" of the People of Virginia (which you never
had, since something acquired under fraud and
false pretexts is considered null and void), but
that you are unwanted and a disgrace in a Party
that prides itself as ALL INCLUSIVE AND ALL
EMBRACING and a Party that RESPECTS ALL
AMERICANS EQUALLY, REGARDLESS OF SEX,
RACE, RELIGION, ETHNIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC
BACKGROUND AND ALL OTHER PERSONAL
PREFERENCES AND CHARACTERISTICS.
Remove yourself effective immediately or you
are leaving no choice to the Party, if they want
to continue having our political support, but
to remove you as soon as legally possible. It simply
comes down to that; no double standards for one
or the other side; Democratic Ideals are, on these
paramount issues, non-negotiable and behaviors
to the opposite, non-excusable.


In my view, the European Union, on ethical grounds
and in a strong show of support for Good Governance
and of zero tolerance for political impropriety, should
have agreed collectively to refuse residence to such
an abhorrent being and should have declared him
continental persona non-grata, regardless of the
outcome of the ICC trial and regardless of criminal
culpability, provable beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Ms. Mogherini and the Foreign Affairs apparatus
failed the conscience of Europeans and such relaxed
attitudes should be reconsidered and never adopted
again. Pending appeals, he should have remained in
the Hague and after final exoneration sent packing.


I understand the sensitivity surrounding these issues
since the tragedies and the pain and the guilt are, in
Historical scale, very recent. On the other hand, as
reluctant as we are to admit it, in many locations and
in many cities in Europe, many more than could be,
or would be practicable to be, preserved, Nazi directed
or Nazi ordered or Nazi encouraged or Nazi inspired
atrocities and crimes occurred and the violation of
the dignity, the livelihood and the property of Human
Beings was of unacceptable and incomprehensible
proportions. The essential thing is not to try to
preserve all those sites or to label anyone that tries
to use them for something unrelated to the tragedies
as a ``Nazi sympathizer" or a ``Nazi pig", but to
make sure that those sites where the gravest organized
State assaults and State-sponsored slaughtering occurred
are preserved and maintained, and, most importantly,
to acknowledge and remember the events and
to try to empathize with the unimaginable loss,
the unimaginable pain, the unimaginable sorrow
and the unimaginable harm that was perpetrated
and to TEACH IT objectively, without hesitation,
equivocation, embellishments and/or revisionist
attitudes, TO ALL OUR CHILDREN so as to make
sure that the terrible mistakes and the terrible
events of the past do not get repeated and that
Brothers and Sisters and Friends and Neighbors
are educated and fortified enough to resist turning
as perpetrators and/or accomplices against Brothers
and Sisters and Friends and Neighbors when the
next deluded demagogue or the next delusional
``leader" stirs discontent, racism, xenophobia
and displeasure in the midst of our societies and
tries to exploit Human weaknesses and anxieties.


If you have any understanding, even the shallowest,
of the History of ``your" State, utterly shameful,
reprehensible and tortuous, then there is absolutely
no excuse (NO EXCUSE) for staying even for one
additional second in office. LEAVE NOW and
APOLOGIZE TO THOSE YOU BETRAYED
(either for personal advantage and personal
gains, by hiding your true feelings, as happened
with Barack, or by asking for their votes while
concealing your real personality and all your
unbearable past, full of baggage and garbage).



Αναρωτιέμαι αν υπάρχει κάποια πολιτική δύναμη
στην Ελλάδα που διαφωνεί με το να δοθεί δικαίωμα
ψήφου στους Έλληνες του Εξωτερικού και, αν όχι,
γιατί ξοδεύουμε τόση φαιά ουσία να συζητάμε το
πότε, πώς και γιατί, αντί να λάβουμε τα μέτρα
που απαιτούνται για να πραγματοποιηθεί το
αυτονόητο. Μπορούμε, αντί να ταλαιπωρούμε
τον κόσμο και να τον στέλνουμε σε πρεσβείες
και προξενεία, να κάνουμε ό,τι κάνει εδώ και
καιρό ο πολιτισμένος, δημοκρατικός κόσμος,
δηλαδή να δώσουμε δικαίωμα αποστολής ψήφου
μέσω ταχυδρομείου αφού ο ενδιαφερόμενος αναφέρει
το λόγο απουσίας του και υπογράψει, ώστε να
μπορεί να ταυτοποιηθεί σε περίπτωση αμφιβολιών.


BRAVO, BBC! Throughout the E.U. there are Fraternal
Feelings and great Friendship and Respect for the Japanese.
I do not understand at all why a ``divide and conquer"
strategy between friends, neighbors and sisterly nations
would improve bilateral relations more than simply
working as a group to enhance and strengthen multi-
lateral (or bilateral between the bloc and Japan and/or
the bloc and others) relations and cooperation. That is,
at least from what I perceive, the position of both the
morph and May and it really puzzles and stupefies me.
Strange, ill-conceived and incomprehensible, indeed.
The U.K. could push for some of its positions and
some of the cooperation agreements that it supports
and it is aspiring to as a member of the Union to be
embraced and adopted by all Members. It is a pity
that, under questionable leadership, it has been
misled into a path of a doubtful belief that it can
accomplish more alone without than as a Member
within and in coordination and cooperation with 
its Partners and close Allies and Friends.


They are not only enriching the dark State in Mexico
and indirectly supporting a corrupt, drug-infested and
drug-associated ``government", but they are also
exporting death and sabotaging the well-being and
the productivity and prosperity of a neighboring
State. Border Patrol do your job and inspect more
thoroughly commercial interests at established
ports of entry and stop harassing innocent travelers
and individuals and stop demanding large sums of
money to build insensible ``walls" that would do
close to nothing other than enriching at one go
the shareholders of big steel and the contractors
that, one may, with justification, suspect, would be
in one way or another associated with the morph
and his business interests around the country and
would be ready to return favor once he is out of
office for wealth accumulated through contracts
and grants whose policies push for and whose
government supports and authorizes.


The U.K. finds itself in a terrible political quagmire.
Even to authorize renegotiation with a rather vague
and not definitely predictable outcome, the U.K.'s
current Government can only muster the slimmest
majority. It seems like most MPs have a very very
clear view, either favoring No Deal Brexit or a new
Referendum for Staying. I would urge the Queen's
Government to not just hear Parliament, but to listen
and decipher carefully what their votes and what their
hesitancy and equivocation about renegotiation mean.
DO THE RIGHT THING AND ASK AGAIN
BRITISH VOTERS TO DECIDE THE FUTURE
OF THEIR STATE THROUGH A REFERENDUM
(absolutely justified after the facts, the truth and
the political, social, economic and foreign affairs
repercussions of a yet undecided Brexit ``decision"
have become blatantly, gapingly obvious).


Τα πολιτικά των πολιτικών και τα παπαδαριά των
παπαδαριών. Το σωστό να λέγεται.


They urgently called in some sisters and wives, who were
brushing their garments and preparing tea in the kitchen,
for the photo op to make the awards seem legit and more
palatable to social media for the sake of PR, when, in
reality, it was all male BS...


Heartbreaking... What can anyone say?...


Frankly, I would have expected something like this from
the morph or from an uneducated person in rural America
(even though, to be fair, even in the remotest places of our
Midwest, I have not been met but with Courtesy and Respect
and being told Stories and Stories about Ancestors arriving
from Foreign Lands and Toiling and Sweating to make it as
Citizens of a New Homeland), but I would never have expected
this to come from official lips of a, supposedly, ``educated"
person at a ``distinguished" University of the Nation.
When I was in Graduate School, we had many Chinese (and
other Foreign) Colleagues and it was to be expected that,
when they held conversations among themselves, they
would communicate in Chinese. People, for those that
have not noticed (like the prof at Duke), tend, naturally,
to revert to the tongue that they speak most comfortably
and fluently between themselves. Why something as
natural and as uncontroversial as this becomes an issue,
in our State of all others (where fathers and mothers,
grandparents and great grandparents spoke Chinese
and Japanese and Russian and Arabic and Yiddish
and Greek and Italian and German and Spanish and
Diné (Navajo) and Cree and Ojibwa and Sioux and...
and...), is the most puzzling and the most upsetting
thing to me and, I would hope, that it would also be
disconcerting, if not upsetting, to all my fellow Citizens.
We All learn languages to be able to communicate in the
easiest and most comfortable way possible as Humans!
LET US NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE BASICS.


The United States and our Government, especially
the State and Defense Departments and Diplomatic
Services abroad, are warned by OUR CITIZENS:
We are on the side of Democracy, Transparency,
Fairness and Good Governance and we should
be vocal about those Principles and to support,
in International Affairs, those that stand for them
(but not only in words) and to oppose those that
persistently and unashamedly violate them, like
Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. On the other hand,
US, THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES,
COGNIZANT OF OUR SHAMEFUL HISTORY,
ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO LATIN
AMERICA, OPPOSE ANY KIND OF MILITARY
ACTION AGAINST THE SOVEREIGNTY OF, OR
POLITICAL INTERVENTION IN THE INTERNAL
AFFAIRS OF, FOREIGN STATES, ACCORDING
TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND CUSTOM,
PRIMARILY AND FOREMOST, ACCORDING
TO THE CHARTER OF OUR UNITED NATIONS,
WHICH OUR CITIZENS RECOGNIZE AS OF
THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE IN OUR FOREIGN
RELATIONS AND FOR OUR FOREIGN POLICY
AND A SINE QUA NON FOR INTERNATIONAL
PEACE, SECURITY & COOPERATION.


A very friendly message of Zaev to Prime Minister
Tsipras. But Zoran seems to forget that he and his
diplomats have agreed to rename his State as
North Macedonia and has implemented changes
to its constitution to that effect. So call your State
by the new name that you agreed to call it by,
since, as you are saying, each side gave something
and no side took all. You seem to be saying this
in words, but meaning to imply that you would
like the dog fed and the pie intact and agreements
and true friendship do not work that way... So
change your ways and be sincere before it is too
late, because there are means by which Agreements
that are not implemented faithfully in Good Faith
may be disputed and contested in the Spirit of
International Law and in accordance with States'
Obligations as ensuing from the Law of Treaties.


International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019.
Statement of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
``We Honor and are committed, in the Memory of
   those that perished and on behalf of the survivors,
   that WE WILL NEVER FORGET."


I strongly stand by and applaud the response of the
Greek Minister of Culture to the reprehensible and
utterly disgraceful and unacceptable positions that
a supposed ``servant" of (sub)culture, the ``director"
of the British Museum, expressed in his recent interview.
After the building of the Acropolis Museum in Athens,
which now houses the Parthenon Marbles in their
Natural Surroundings and under proper control and
clinical technical ministration by the State and the
People who care about them the most and who care
about preserving them in the name and for the sake
of Humanity the most, the British have lost their
only plausible argument and are now in need and
desperate to come up with non existent reasonable
alternatives and, as a result, they resort to nonsense
and to blatant violations of International Standards
and of International Code. I would advise the British
Museum, if it is to retain some of its Dignity
in the eyes of Humanity and of Civilization, to
FIRE THIS DESPICABLE DIRECTOR EFFECTIVE
IMMEDIATELY and to engage in negotiations for the
soonest possible return of the Marbles to the Place
where they belong and where they are supposed to
be exhibited as Part of this Integral, Magnificent
Wondrous Whole, a Jewel of the Heritage of Humanity.


Devastation in the State of Minas Gerais in Brasil.
I hope that many of our Brothers and Sisters missing
will be found alive and rescued. Human tragedy and
catastrophe of humongous proportions and we all
hope for the best and send our best wishes and our
deepest sympathies to Brasil and the families of
those affected


This group consists of Distinguished Greeks and
my hope is that, having read their statement and
thought carefully about their position and their
explanations, my Fellow Greeks, regardless of
personal opinions and personal convictions on
the wisdom and on the acceptability of the Prespes
Accord, would refrain from labeling and/or calling
the opposing side as traitors and from believing
that somehow those that are for the Agreement
are pushed or influenced to that position by dark
and/or external interests and Foreign Powers.
It is clear, in my view, that it is an Issue of
Supreme National Interest and National Import
and, like on All Others, there are genuinely
divergent positions and divergent views and
All Citizens are to be respected for their opinion
and their willingness and courage to express it,
even if, in the end, it is not the predominant or
the chosen approach.


Venezuelans, it is not worth destroying your State
and sacrificing Human Life when it is preventable.
Maduro and Parliament, form a transitional
Caretaker Government of National Unity with
the exclusive mandate to bring orderly the State
to National Elections, invite outside observers
from the United Nations - those that both sides
can trust and that are known for their Integrity
and their Credibility - and promise that, no matter
what the outcome, both sides will abide by the
Will of the Electorate, the losing side will peacefully
relinquish power and the winning side will form
a Government that will work humbly for all
Venezuelans without recriminations and a
predisposition for revenge, despite old grudges.
Put Venezuela above ideologies, political expediency
and personal ambition! It is time you restore
Credibility and exploit the Riches of Venezuela
to improve the Fortunes of its People and of its
Region and the World.


In the effort to ratify the Prespes Agreement, we hear
tons of lies and inaccuracies and, I am afraid, many
of these intentional and from people that should have
known better. Katrougalos says the Greek Government
got 110% of what had been Greece's long-term settled
demands, a blatant lie (if it had been true, there would
not have been so much controversy and debate
surrounding the Agreement and the issue). Nimitz,
who is, in essence, a failed diplomat (20 years of
stagnation should have pushed any decent individual
to resignation), but is glimpsing now a window of
opportunity for some self-gratifying pat in the back,
is warning of dire consequences, albeit calling
it slyly a ``scenario" he could foresee (nothing
dangerous will happen and the only consequence
is that issue will stagnate and the status quo will
prevail). And the clueless scion of the name of the
``ethnarch" is preparing for a grand statement,
which I am sure will also be extremely biased on
the opposite side, underplaying the advantages of
the Agreement for both sides and for our Region
and Europe.
 

I strongly applaud France's and Germany's
initiative and I understand that there is value
in having this agreement between the two most
powerful Nations in the Heart of Europe and,
also, the flexibility and the expediency of having
a bilateral (as opposed to a multilateral) agreement,
BUT I would have been much happier and much
more at ease for political and ideological reasons
if this agreement was entered into by all Nations
in the Union, including the U.K., which should
have been at the Heart of It. On the other hand,
I strongly oppose detracting moves, with
nationalistic and pseudo-patriotic undertones,
like the meeting of the Interior Ministers of Italy
and Poland. Those two and some other Nations
 should try to open their Hearths and their Minds
to both their Partners and to Humanity and to
recognize that the powerful and the proud of
today may become the humble and the needy of
tomorrow and it is in that Spirit that Fraternity
and Cooperation creates conditions of Peace,
Stability, Solidarity and Prosperity among
Neighbors and among All Nations.
BRAVO, FRANCE!! BRAVO, GERMANY!!


Terrible, unconscientious individuals, who, while
wandering from Palace to Palace and from Palazzo
to Palazzo and living the high and expensive lives,
full of extras and perks and luxuries, on the backs
of taxpayers, are showing zero sympathy and are
willing to exploit the plight of the poor and less
fortunate, seeking a better life and risking almost
everything, for their own self-interests and for
their own political spats in the altar of Nationalism
and reprehensible and despicable populism and
divisiveness. I am sorry for the French because,
unfortunately, they were let down once more,
and I am sorry for Italy whose Citizens, despite
hard and tortuous Historical lessons, keep again
and again and again making the wrong choices.


Zimbabwe should not be supported unless and until
its own Government does the Right Thing. And for
a Start, how would you expect your economic, social
and political life to normalize and for confidence in
the Government and the political system to return
when you find it ordinary and appropriate, when
politically expedient and politically convenient, to
stifle free thought and free speech and cut off access
to the internet? The smartness and and the seriousness
and the dedication to Freedom and Democracy of a
modern Government can be measured by how often
it tampers with the Internet, how often it restricts
access to outside observers, curtails NGO's activities
and gags and jails journalists (and other similar
activities) and how often it violently, dangerously
and/or fatally represses demonstrations and other
expressions of Public Displeasure and Discontent
(including using torture and otherwise treating
inhumanely opposition figures and activists).
I would not think that Zimbabwe would be ranked
very highly using either of these three criteria.


The butcher's days are numbered and, I hope, one of
these days some courageous Government would take
the Right Step and extradite him to the ICC to stand
trial and account for the blood of all the Sudanese he
has ruthlessly spilled with the ultimate goal staying
in power and pilfering the resources of his State.


You cannot let a 97 year old drive and pose a danger to
Public Safety, be it a King or a Queen, and especially
if they are so well taken care of on the Public Purse
that they could have multiple drivers to haul them
around. Seize Philip's license, first as a warning and
a lesson to the Public that they should not be allowed
to drive beyond capacity, second as a sign of Equal
Treatment and Equality Under the Law for All and,
finally, to prevent serious injuries. Better safe than
sorry; is the Palace listening?


The other day, I expressed my view about conservative,
backward and close-minded private education. One may
have thought I might have been a little harsh. And here
comes today this incident, soul tearing and heartbreaking
and gut wrenching. A ``jean premier, beau" teenager
standing utterly disrespectfully and shamelessly and
taunting an elder (Native) American. If that is the type
of ethics and Humanity, the type of culture, the type
of attitude and tolerance, the type of behavior that
schools like the one Ms. Pence has chosen to teach in,
and for which her husband was indignant about the
criticism elicited, are teaching, then, students and
parents should indeed attend them, if they so choose,
at their own cognizance, at their own risk and at their
own peril. (I hope the kids, who, luckily and fortunately,
are still very young, learn a severe life lesson of Respect
and Politeness from this incident. This is the best possible
gift anyone could have offered them from this trip to
OUR (OF ALL OF US) NATION's CAPITAL.)


5B for the portion of the steel wall they want to
build is a lot of money, even though it is a tiny
fraction of what the economy is bleeding by the
shutdown. In any case, I do not want to sound
unpatriotic, but it seems like a very large
percentage of the cost will become profit for
steel companies and contractors. The morph
should either lower the cost, by renegotiating
the price (as a ``good negotiator" that he always
claims he is but as yet remains unproven) or
decide to outsource the building to Chinese
and Mexican companies that I am sure would
be able to do the work at a fraction of that
(and not only by, as we often like to say,
underpaying workers, but also by allowing
much more reasonable margins of profit in
their operations). You do not have to become
a multi-million dollar boss and don by one
job; work hard in multiple ones before
accumulating some wealth. But our economy
only works like that for the rank and file,
toiling for an entire life to get by. The top,
the ``leaders", want to make a lot right here,
right now, grab what they can and fly.
In any case, GIVE US, THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE, TRANSPARENT DETAILS OF
THE ACCOUNTS, who they are, how much
and for which job each company and each
individual involved, the ``cash patriots",
would be making. how much is the real cost
and how much is the profit of  this exercise
in ``morphic patriotism".


Politicians in Greece are showing real courage and
boldness in voting for the Prespes Agreement, as
was the case also in our Northern Neighbor. It is
not easy to strike a compromise; every one is getting
some things and is giving away some others. The
easiest thing to do is stick to your guns and cry
foul and accuse all the others, who are negotiating
in Good Faith and with Good Will, for selling one's
State and for violating the National interests of one's
own country. We are fortunate in both States that
the majority of politicians are willing to leave old
enmities and disagreements behind and usher in
a new era of Peace, Fraternity and Cooperation,
based on Mutual Respect, Compromises and on
the cornerstone, sine qua non Principles of the
Inviolability of Borders and of Strict Adherence
to the Tenets and Norms of International Law.


As long as they do not try to impose their views on
anyone else and as long as they respect the Rights
of Every Citizen to Choose their Identity, including
their sexual orientation, they are entitled to have
their own views. If the colleges they teach at
choose to be backward and conservative, they are
doing harm and a disservice to their own students
and do not contribute to their open-mindedness
and tolerance, which is a cornerstone of modern
education. They and their parents are and should
be, however, free to attend them, if they so choose,
at their own cognizance and at their own risk and
at their own peril.


BRAVO, GERMANY! At last, in an open letter
to the U.K. Public and the U.K. politicians, some
distinguished Germans expressed the feelings of
us all, very eloquently, right to the point.
U.K., STAY! WE WANT YOU IN THE FAMILY!


Αντίο, γιαγιά Μαρίτσα! Αγάπησες τον Άνθρωπο, και
ιδιαίτερα τους μικρούς και τους ταλαίπωρους, και
η Αγάπη, η Αλληλεγγύη και ο Ανθρωπισμός σου
ενέπνευσαν όλη την Οικουμένη.


Lindsey Graham's position on this issue is absolutely
correct. The morph and Pelosi are sputtering like two
immature and spoiled children. Not to mention that
they never let us know of their totally inappropriate
expenses in traveling to their golf courses and their
resorts every other weekend and of all the other personal
extravagant perks that they enjoy on the backs of
taxpayers, but they always are more than eager to
exploit each other's burdening of the public purse
to score political points. SHAME! UTTER SHAME!
GROW UP and let us have a mature Government
for a change.


This had been from the start a totally inappropriate
appointment. It was clearly an attempt not to correct
ill-lying things and fix cultural deficiencies and sooth the
heartache ensuing from total failure of oversight and
from a culture of protectionism and cover up at MSU,
but rather a blatant and well-orchestrated attempt
to manage, through a well-known and well-connected,
but ill-qualified and ill-equipped, appointee, the legal
and financial consequences and protect the school
against the victims of this terrible, unjustifiable and,
many think preventable, tragedy.


Organized, FIFA- and UEFA-corrupt to the bone
football KILLS. Shame on the ``federations",
which are really criminal outfits and gangs that
want to operate with immunity, impunity and
without any kind of oversight to continue stashing
loot and valuables in bank accounts in Switzerland
on the backs of football fans and the tax paying
Citizens of all Nations. I hold all ``associations"
morally responsible and strongly believe that the
``examples" and the ``standards" that their
CEO's, CF**kO's and others at the top have
set, have directly contributed to the killing
of this courageous investigative reporter and
journalist and I hope that his sacrifice would
set an example for others to follow so that all
suspicious ``football"-connected bank accounts
and vaults in Switzerland and elsewhere are
opened, full transparency reigns and all those
``footballing" superstructures and governing
bodies are imploded by their members. There
is absolutely no need for dons, parasites and
middlemen in football. CLEANSE THE
SPORT NOW!


No one can believe a President of Mexico, no matter
who he is. The Mexican (failed) State is in the hands
and in the pockets of the drug cartels and takes
immediate commands from the drug lords, and it
is very believable and, I am afraid, might prove also
very credible, that hundreds of millions in hard
currency are forwarded from the provinces through
money mules to the Palace in Mexico City.
This being the case, the World should cease to expect
any changes or reforms or the resurrection of this failed
State, unless and until a grassroots revolution occurs,
which would require painful sacrifices and would cost
additional substantial losses of Human life before it
settles, and, unfortunately, it may not even settle on
anything fundamentally different.


They never formally left; so strictly speaking we cannot
say ``WELCOME BACK!". But they had embarked on
a long journey and, we might add, misled and wayward
and miserable, led by demented and paranoid leaders,
like the proverbial prodigal son. And in that sense, we
would be very very happy to welcome our brothers and
our sisters of the U.K. back. WELCOME BACK!,
then, if you so decide, if you do, at last, take the only
reasonable, the only forward looking, the only Brotherly
and beneficial decision for You, for Europe and the World.


Κατά την γνώμη μου, ο Κυριάκος έχει δίκιο. Ανεξαρτήτως
των πολιτικών φρονημάτων του Ναυάρχου Αποστολάκη
ήταν ατόπημα του Τσίπρα να διορίσει της στρατιωτικής
ηγεσίας ως πολιτικό άρχοντα στο Αμύνης και ήταν ακόμα
μεγαλύτερο ατόπημα, δεδομένων, απ' ό,τι λέγεται, των
δημοκρατικών του φρονημάτων, από πλευράς του Ναυάρχου
να αποδεχθεί αυτό το διορισμό. Ναύαρχε Αποστολάκη,
δεν ξεχνάμε τις Δημοκρατικές Ευαισθησίες ενός Λαού
και ενός Πολιτεύματος μόνο και μόνο επειδή διοριζόμαστε
εμείς... Φανταστείτε να διόριζαν κάποιον άλλο στρατιωτικό,
για του οποίου τα φρονήματα είχατε ερωτηματικά και
αμφιβολίες, πώς θα νοιώθατε ως άνθρωπος και ως
στρατιωτικός δημοκρατικών προσανατολισμών. Ας το
αποφεύγατε λοιπόν αυτό ώστε να μη δίνονται αφορμές
και να μην δημιουργούνται δυσάρεστα προηγούμενα.


Vote NO! and delegate the Deal to the dustbin of History,
where it belongs, and let Great Britain remain in the
European Union as a Necessary, Integral Member of
the European Family, where It belongs.
May's argument has some merits; going against the
will of the People is grave and dangerous in a Democracy.
But, in a Transparent and Functional Democracy, it is
equally grave to put forward in referenda plans that
either are misleading, unrealistic and have not been
carefully thought out (not unlike both Brexit in the
U.K. and the notorious Tsipras pseudo-referendum
about the aid package in Greece) or that are argued
with misleading arguments and false promises (like
the Brexit referendum) and, then, refusing to give
the People, who were misled, after the lies and the
political outfall and the disaster are revealed, a second
chance so that they may withdraw their approval for
the foreseen disadvantageous and, possibly, catastrophic
outcome.


Στην Ελλάδα έχουμε ζήσει τρεισήμισι χρόνια πολιτικής
παρωδίας και φαρσοκωμωδίας. Πώς είναι ποτέ δυνατόν,
με κάποια ελάχιστη δόση σοβαρότητας, να είναι κανείς
μέλος μίας Κυβέρνησης ενόσω διαπραγματεύεται ένα
από τα σοβαρότερα ζητήματα της Εξωτερικής της
Πολιτικής με γνωστούς στόχους, και μόλις αυτές οι
διαπραγματεύσεις καρποφορήσουν επιτυχώς, με βάση
τους στόχους που έχουν τεθεί κυβερνητικά, να αποσύρει
κανείς εμπιστοσύνη, αντί να συγχαίρει για το επίτευγμα;
Ή είμαι τελείως ηλίθιος και μαλθακός και δε μπορώ να
ακολουθήσω κατά κανένα τρόπο αυτό το πολιτικό
σκεπτικό ή είναι κάτι ανήκουστο, ακαταλαβίστικο,
οπορτουνισμός και κυνικότητα ανευ προηγουμένου,
απαράδεχτα παιχνίδια με συμφέροντα οικονομικά
και καρέκλες σε βάρος της τιμής, της πολιτικής υπόληψης
και των Εθνικών συμφερόντων της χώρας και σχεδόν
εγληματικού χαρακτήρα. Ξέραμε ότι ο καταζεματισμένος
είναι αναίσθητος, ζεμανφουτιστής και παχύδερμος, αλλά
αυτά τό επίπεδο πολιτικής γελοιότητας και εξευτελισμού,
σε βάρος της χώρας για την οποία, υποτίθεται, διαρρηγνύει
τα ιμάτιά του, είναι άνευ ορίου και άνευ συνείδησης.


To the Democrats who are thinking of launching campaigns
or explore the possibility of participating in the Democratic
Primaries for 2020: Do not hastily proclaim candidacies and
unnecessarily fracture the Democratic ticket. The current
political climate and the current political scenery call for
the greatest possible degree of unity and solidarity, since
there are so many things that, even the least progressive
Democrat would have an advantage on over the current
office holder. Therefore, I urge all of you to expend special
efforts in meeting the other candidates and find common
ground and to charter common strategies and to be selfless
enough to throw your weight behind one another rather
that each one for his/her own self.


Very interesting, quite good analysis. I would suggest it be read...
I almost agree, but I would possibly consider some other options.


The World of Mathematics and Humanity became
poorer. Sir Michael Atiyah is with us no more...


If this vote had gone through, then we would have
entered very very dangerous territory in the public
discourse in this State of ours. For any American
to even think that because of another fellow
American's religious beliefs (and for that matter,
ethnic background, sexual orientation or any other
personal preferences or characteristics) (s)he should
not be allowed to take part in the public discourse, or in
the process of electing and of being elected, is absurd,
totally un-American and, in my view, borders on the
criminal and on the unconstitutional. SUCH VOTES
SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ALLOWED IN OUR
UNITED STATES and those ``Citizens" that
instigated this should go through Court mandated
education. Just take a moment to think how much
more severe an offense it is to try to disenfranchise
a fellow Citizen of ours than so many other offenses
for which Judges do have the right and do demand
that the offenders go through counseling and/or take
classes to rethink and to reform.


Δεν θα ειχες κανει σωστά την εργασία σου, παπατζή,
αν εμφύτεψες τον τύπο χωρίς να έχεις ψάξει πιο πριν
ποιά ήταν η baby sitter του. Ή είσαι τόσο χαζός που
μόλις τώρα το πήρες χαμπάρι; Κάποιοι αλητήριοι,
αγύρτες και οπορτουνιστές της πολιτικής, ούτε το
σκασμό δεν είναι αρκετά έξυπνοι να βγάλουν όταν τα
δεδομένα και οι εξελίξεις τους καταδικάζουν αλύπητα
και ασυγχώρητα.


Τί λες ρε μεγάλε; Σοβαρά;  Είπαν θα σου στείλουν
απλήρωτες πίτσες στο σπίτι; Πρόσεξε μόνο να μην
κλειστείς από τον πολύ τρόμο στην Πρεσβεία της
Αραβίας των Σαούντ και τότε καταλάβεις τί θα
πεί απειλή.


When I called her the ``female Trump", I was deep
down hoping she would prove me wrong and that I
would be in the happiest of all positions to be forced
to withdraw my characterization. When, however,
I hear in meetings with Prime Minister Abe things
like ``leaving the EU provides an unprecedented
opportunity to strengthen relations with Japan",
I feel dizzy and shivery. Are there any barriers,
any inhibitions in strengthening ties through the
EU or as an EU member? Is Japan not one of the
closest allies and one of the friendliest and most
admired States in our European Union? Why does
one have to leave to strengthen ties? Why do you
have to worsen or loosen ties with your closest
partners and neighbors, your own kin, to solidify,
improve and/or strengthen ties with any other
Nation on Earth? Please, Ms. May, think about
your nonsensical utterings and reserve them for
the morph, for Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage
and all their worthless and opportunistic kin; do
not try to sell them to other thinking Citizens
to convince them that this charade that all of you
have orchestrated is worthwhile for some reason...


Η οικονομία μπορεί να μην είναι το ατού του Τσίπρα,
αλλά δεν είναι όχι γιατί στην οικονομία η Κυβέρνησή
του τα γά**σε, αλλά γιατί, με την κατάσταση που
παρέλαβε και τα μέτρα που χρειάζονταν και έπρεπε
να παρθούν (και που πήρε), δεν υπήρχε περίπτωση
να ήταν το ατού κανενός κυβερνώντος. Όσοι, λοιπόν,
χλευάζετε τον πρωθυπουργό, χλευάστε τον για πολλά
από τα υπόλοιπα και για τα χίλια μύρια ψέματα που
είχε μάθει και που πιπίλιζε από παιδί, αλλά μην του
αποδίδετε και μην τον επιβαρύνετε με αμαρτίες και
με σφάλματα άλλων. Μπορεί να τα έκανε μαντάρα
με την πρόσκαιρη επιλογή του αυτάρεσκου και
γλοιώδη Μπαρουφάκλα, αλλά από τη στιγμή που
είδε, ή που τον αναγκάσαν να δει το φώς και επέλεξε
τον κορυφαίο Γεωμέτρη, έχουμε δει σταθερά χέρια
και σταθερή πορεία και είναι προς τιμήν του Τσίπρα
που τον άφησε, παρά τις πολλές πιέσεις σίγουρα
και εκ δεξιών και εξ αριστερών, να κάνει απερίσπαστα
τη δουλειά του και να φέρει σε πέρας ένα έργο (και
να πάρει ένα ρίσκο πολιτικό) τόσο δυσβάσταχτο που,
ειλικρινά και ταπεινά, όσο φιλοπάτρεις και νά'μαστε,
κανείς από μας δε θα ήθελε να επωμισθεί...
ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥΜΕ, ΕΥΚΛΕΙΔΗ!


I hear there is again (how tiring) controversy in who won
an election in Africa, at the D.R. Congo. Then I listened
to Ofeibea on NPR reporting and, as is her courageous
and forward style, calling the polity (of that and other
States) a kleptocracy (how accurate and pointy) and it
dawned on me: How are we, naive Westerners, ever
expecting elections in Africa to be declared for the true
winner, in a straightforward way, without deception and
controversy, when those States are not Democratic and
elections are only a sham to cover the kleptocracies that
are hiding behind? In such polities, the Government is
won by the highest bidder and the bidding is not done
in front of the people to cast their ballots, but rather in
Presidential, Prime Ministerial and Ministerial comfy
rooms, where the outcomes are prearranged, bought
and sold and where the incomes and bribes change hands?
Africa needs a few Great, Honest Leaders, willing to
live poorly and even sacrifice themselves in the process
of starting untainted investigations on the governing
families and elites of the last decades. Open bank
accounts in Switzerland, England, France and the
United States and inspect properties and houses in
the Capitals of Africa and in London, Paris, New
York and other Cities for both their value and their
contents and confiscate them on behalf of the States,
when the legitimate incomes of their owners does not
align with and justify the value of those illegitimate,
stolen goods. I understand that this must be a long
and careful process, the process of gathering painful,
incriminating evidence against the powerful, and I am
not expecting it to be completed in my lifetime, even if
those clean prosecutorial hands that I am dreaming
about happen to appear in my lifetime. But it is my
wish for our kids, and especially for the kids and
the coming generations of the Mother Continent,
who should know who are those thugs and selfish
self-anointed ``fathers of nations" and their offspring
who are passing for heroes in our ignorant World.
Africa's problems will not be solved by the ``benevolence"
of some leaders, who have with their relatives, pocketed
more than enough for them and for many generations
of their offspring to live comfortably on in the most
expensive cities of the globe effortlessly, and therefore,
are apt to show magnanimity and step down and
appoint successors based on, or in spite of, elections
and/or election results. For Africa to reform, stand
on its own two feet and advance and prosper, the
change must be imposed forcibly through the courts
by investigators, prosecutors and judges that are
clean enough and courageous enough to sacrifice
themselves for the good of their States, despite
the threats and the political pressure from those
in Governments, in Companies and in the CIAs
of the World. Unless the criminal elements in
politics, the political gangs and outfits, that make
up the kleptocracies that Ofeibea talked about,
are punished, shamed, held accountable and forced
out of office by Honest States, imposing their own
Will and their own Laws, as Civilized States ought
to do, and are not allowed to believe that they are owed
for kindness and benevolence by stepping down and
handling the reins to their chosen successors,
whatever changes happen in Africa will be superficial,
ornamental and will not account for much, or at least
not for any of the big changes that this tortured, our
Mother, Continent desperately needs.



Are the President and the legislative branch functionaries,
Representatives and Senators, being paid as essential employees?
If yes, then this has to change. When one considers something
significant and worthwhile enough to shut down the People's
Government and deprive its workers from their paychecks
for weeks and/or months, it should be something worthwhile
enough for them to start those sacrifices by first and foremost
depriving themselves of their own income for the duration.
If it does not meet that standard, then other people's lives
and other people's obligations and responsibilities and their
hardships and incapacity to fulfill them, should not be the
bargaining chips and the threatening elements in a play
of cowards' chess and in cheap braggadocio of unscrupulous
politicians bargaining from behind the safety of their own
guaranteed incomes and their own cozy hearths.
SHAME TO ALL IN WASHINGTON, starting from the
morph on down, that are willing and eager to play with
other people's livelihoods without putting their own on the
line first!


Disappointing, utterly disappointing. At least he did
not declare a National Emergency when none exists.
Congress, be ready to act to become the first Congress
in History to Rightly and Justifiably repeal a State
of National Emergency, if declared, and send a strong
message to the President and the Citizens that our
ordinary, everyday issues should be resolved through
dialog, negotiations and mutual concessions and not
in a childish way, by forcing through loud blabbering,
shouting, inarticulate cries and immature tantrums
our will on everybody else.


FIX YOUR ABJECT STATE BEFORE SENDING AGENTS
AND THUGS AROUND HUNTING AND KILLING YOUR
OWN CITIZENS IN OTHER STATES,


I do not really know how this would work in practice,
but, definitely, us, the more senior Citizens of this World,
are sometimes nostalgic of the days when consumers
would buy appliances, like radios, TVs, electric ranges,
refrigerators etc., and would keep them, through
servicing them and repairing them, for a very long
time, compared with modern standards. I understand
that part of the change had to do with the rapid and
critical advances in digital technology and digitization,
part with the much cheaper cost of producing them
in a fully industrialized and integrated production
World. But I also see a lessening in quality standards
(lees durable and less sturdy construction standards),
as well as an eagerness for rapid change on the part
of the consumer and carelessness or disinterest on
the part of the consumer about the consequences and
the impact that throwing away relatively new stuff
and of replacing stuff relatively regularly has on the
resources of the Planet and on the Environment.
So, with some reservations on how well this would
work in practice, given rapid technological changes
and reduced production costs, I AM IN SUPPORT,
IN PRINCIPLE, OF THIS ``RIGHT TO REPAIR"
MOVEMENT.


Στείλτε της ένα pdf με την ατζέντα της καψερής
νά' χει κι αυτή η κακορίζικια κάτι να συνεισφέρει.
Μόνο εμοτικά και φατσούλες στέλνετε με τα SMS?


Archeologist Stephen Miller's interview to ``To Vima" (in Greek).


I urge President Trump, in his speech tonight, to promise
the American People to declare a National Emergency,
as he has promised to do before, on the opioid crisis,
and to focus on combating, as he has promised to do
before, the unscrupulousness of the huge pharmaceutical
companies that put profit above Human Life and above
Human vulnerabilities. This is the issue that American
Families feel an emergency about and not fellow Human
Beings, destitute and in desperate conditions, traveling
for hundreds of miles to seek safety and a better life for
their families and children. Even though, I am sure that
for them, it is a matter of utmost personal emergency
and personal tragedy, and for their States, failing to
provide Basic Human Standards and Basic Humane
Conditions for their Citizens to live in, has been a
matter of (their) National Emergency for a long time
already, and as a United States, we have failed to take
action and to impose sanctions and punish those pseudo
leaders and politicians in the Central American States
that are failing in their most basic responsibilities and
have created failed States, their only interest being
personal power and personal riches withdrawn from
the coffers of their tortured States. I also urge the
President tonight to admit mercuriality, volatility
and errors in Foreign Policy, especially the fight
against ISIS, and to apologize to General Mattis,
admitting for once his errors in handling this crisis.
Politicians have to realize that, in situations where
our objectives are different from the objectives of
all other players in the region, we cannot afford to
delegate to those other players the task of fulfilling
our own objectives. How could we allow one of the
most brutal dictators and one of the most unstable
and volatile leaders in the region, with great need
for ``foreign triumphs", because of domestic dislike
and unrest, to handle and settle for our United States
a situation that we have spent so much effort and
resources to take care of already? We might decide
eventually to let other States take care of things after
carefully negotiated agreements and compromises,
but the primary goal should not be left to others,
with diverse interests, to accomplish, nor should
they be trusted to carry it out per vague promises.
It would be a refreshing speech indeed if the President,
despite his instability and his pettiness, heeded my
advice, at least in those two issues, and changed
course and promised to do the Right Things.


No Human Being deserves to live a nightmare and have
his personal safety compromised and his bodily integrity
put at risk, however misguided their political ideology
happens to be. Moreover, ABSOLUTELY NO VIOLENCE
in politics, political discourse and ideological strives can
be tolerated. If there is one reason why the extreme right
in politics and the neo-Nazist and neo-Fascist elements
in our societies are justifiably despised and scorned, it is
because the parties and formations they admire and the
political ideologies they espouse and long for have in the
past caused so much suffering and devastation and have
in the past deprived other Human Being of their Freedoms,
of Free Thought, of Free Speech, of Free Expression and
of Free Assembly, that we, Americans and Europeans,
cherish and feel strongly about, as they have been
won through painful struggles and terrible sacrifices.


I strongly support economist Kaushik Basu's wise and insightful
statement and urge my Indian friends and colleagues to heed his
words and refocus their efforts and their priorities:
``For a Nation to progress, it is important that people spend more
time on Science, Mathematics and Literature, instead of spending
time showing that 5,000 years ago their ancestors did Science,
Mathematics and Literature."


A stain in the face of Humanity and an insult for
Egypt's Civilization and in Egypt's Political Life.


Alex, keep dancing and provoking them. Just don't take
money from big business and do not get entangled with
the emetic stink and the despicable lobbyists in Washington.
Keep your heart warm and your soul clean, work only for
the interests of this Country and its People, be progressive,
forward-looking, open-minded and you'll be a beacon in
American Politics for a long time to come.


Painful to watch, embarrassing, bordering on the offensive,
insulting to the audience's intellect and almost impossible to
follow... We elected a beauty, a marvel... Two more years,
we'll have to be patient, to wait and see.


I am ashamed and embarrassed because our United
States is siding with a State that is putting up show
trials, Soviet and Nazi style, in which the judges and
the Court are instruments of the accused and in which
a few selected scapegoats, executing orders, are meant
to explain and to atone for the crimes of the cowards
hiding behind the robes of their own servile judges.
SHAME TO ALL THOSE THAT STAND FOR THIS
RIDICULE OF JUSTICE AND THIS CHARADE.