written by K. Vaxevanis posted at www.koutipandoras.gr Dear Mr. Venizelos  - finance minister of Greece Some time ago, I publically addressed you a number of questions that give rise to serious issues on the way you lead your political life. These questions are based on  facts and not on any kind of speculation. You never replied to this. I was under the impression that your preoccupation with the issue of ...

REPORTING FROM ATHENS — Anthee Carassava   Greece was in political disarray Tuesday after Prime Minister George Papandreou's surprise decision to put the euro rescue plan to a national referendum, a move that caused at least one lawmaker to quit the ruling party and others to call for the premier's resignation. Milena Apostolaki defected from Papandreou's Socialist Party a day after the Greek leader an ...

Düsseldorf von Gabor Steingart Greece has to take the responsibility for his debts, but the real depression comes from Brussel, Berlin and Paris. When you were invited by friends, you would like to say afterwards: It was nice. You felt at ease and you were impressed by the things you’ve heard and seen. Unfortunately, looking back in such a pleasant way has turned out to be impossible in the case of the rese ...

Greek austerity measures result in cuts of public sectors services with one exception - the police force. Nikolas Kosmatopoulos for aljazeera.net Greece increased its police force with 2,000 policemen and recently bought new anti-riot equipment [EPA] In the old days of the European colonial expansion eastwards, the Great Powers (England, France, Russia, and Austria) would rack their heads over the fate of w ...

El Pais asked me to write a piece on the ‘fiscal disobedience’ movement that seems to be shaping up in Greece. Here is what I wrote. (I shall post the Spanish version, off El Pais’ site, when available):  “Can’t pay won’t pay”, was Dario Fo’s boisterous satirical play by which the playwright incited his audience to rethink their political responsibilities. During the past two years, here in Greece, a sponta ...

In his final dispatch from breadline Europe, Jon Henley finds nepotism, bribery and systemic low-level corruption are as much to blame for southern Europe's crisis as anything else.           Jon Henley in Thessaloniki for   guardian.co.uk It's the system, they say. It sucks you in, makes you complicit. You really have very little choice. It's everywhere, in every corner of your lif ...

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Some euro zone countries want a European Commission task force to be given extra powers to oversee the sale of Greek state assets and the country's civil service under a far-reaching plan to tighten supervision of Athens, EU sources have told Reuters. The radical proposal, dismissed by some officials as a form of colonialism and which may be shot down in the face of st ...

Germany Questions Contract By SPIEGEL A huge arms deal is threatening to put French-German relations under strain. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, France wants to deliver two to four new frigates to the Greek navy and to allow the highly indebted nation to postpone payment of the €300 million ($412 million) purchase price per ship for the next five years. A stealth frigate built by DCNS of Fra ...

By Peter Schwarz 8 October 2011 The European institutions have clearly changed course in relation to Greece. Instead of the “rescue” of the country, they are now discussing its bankruptcy, and reducing the risk of contagion. The euro rescue fund, supposed to guarantee Greece’s solvency, is being used to secure the creditor banks against the consequences of state bankruptcy. The change of course has happened ...

Dear All, The issue of the fortune that the Papandreou family has made by the buying and selling of credit default swaps (CDS) is "old news" in Greece.   The first time that this issue was raised within Greek parliament was by the MP of the Conservative Party (ND) P Kamenos. The revelations that "Mr"  P Kamenos made provided the first base of evidences regarding the very profitably activities concernin ...