news bulletin

One horrific terrorist attack after another in Europe.  Belgium, France, Germany,  unsuspecting civilians killed, hundreds injured and thousands traumatised.  Can Europe win the war on terror?  These 'lone wolves' make it extremely difficult to know who will strike where or how.   So much hatred.  What in the world is happening?

What is the 'turkish sultan' planning next? Last weeks military coup was a farce.  Was it all planned by President Erdogan himself to consolidate his power?  He can now replace military staff, teachers, government workers, judges, police, anyone who has opposed or criticised him at any time.  And he has done just that.  Something like 10,000 have been detained and 50,000 dismissed from their jobs.
When the coup started I was watching my favourite programme, CSI,  and the show was interupted by a news flash of the coup and then hours of endless live updates as the coup  progressed in Constantinople (Istanbul).  Fortunately they re-ran the CSI episode a couple of days later. 

 Erdogan appeared on TV asking 'the people' to come out into the streets to support him and that is what they did, disarming soldiers and stopping tanks.  He is a popular leader and on his way to becoming another middle eastern dictator.

8 high ranking military officers escaped to Greece in a helicopter and asked for asylum giving Greece a diplomatic headache.  If the officers are returned they will be court-martialed and will disappear one way or another.  If they are not handed back then Turkey will make all sorts of problems for Greece.  They could  retract their agreement with Europe by which they  have stopped mass migration of asylum seekers across the Aegean sea and flood the greek islands with many more thousands of  refugees.

Greek tourism will perhaps benefit from the unstable situation in Turkey, first all the bomb attacks which seem to have been targeting places frequented by tourists and now the coup.    I can imagine quite a few countries are advising against tourists visiting Turkey.  There have been five terrotist attacks since the beginning of 2016.



The plight of refugees is long gone from the front pages of our newspapers.   Fewer than 70 a day are arriving on the greek islands, not in the thousands of  last summer.  Many are now trying to enter  Europe through Italy.

Refugee camps on the Greek islands close to the Turkish coast are overcrowded.  Living conditions are poor and violence oftens breaks out amongst the migrants.  In Athens conditions are no better.   The biggest problem is where they go from here.  Many european countries are unwilling to take any more asylum seekers. After the recent terrorist attacks in Europe it will be even more difficult for these countries to accept refugees.  

82.6 million euros will be given to Greece to provide more shelter and health services for these people.  This may bring a short term improvement in their living standards.  What about the future of these 50,000 human beings?


  The greek economy limps along although the Greek PM assures us that bright days will soon be here and the economy will be booming, the unemployed at work.  Does this man live in some sort of parallel universe?  He has no idea of how greek people scrape out a living.   

Pension cuts are continuing.  They get nibbled at every month.   The end of July is the time for our first tax payment and also the first installent of the 'special' property tax. Do they have to do this in the middle of summer?  Any time is a bad time to pay taxes but not mid summer when you need a few spare euros for a cold beer or an iced coffee.

Presidential election in the United States.  Wonder which way that will go.  Hilary or Trump - between the the devil and the deep blue sea.   I see that film maker Michael Moore is saying  'Donald J. Trump is going to win in November. This wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full time sociopath is going to be our next president. President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, ‘cause you’ll be saying them for the next four years: President Trump.”

Brexit.  The Brits have left the EU.  Good on them.  It is a sinking ship.  How can there be one rule for Europe when it is made up of so many different cultures, traditions, languages, religions and so many countries who at the moment are probably all giving an -exit a serious consideration.  Teresa May appears to know her job.  I am sure she had some very good reason for appointing Boris Johnson to the post of foreign secretary.  Britain's new secret weapon, the 'blonde bombshell'.
He will keep us entertained in the next few years reading about all his latest breaches of etiquette.

At least I can end this post with a short piece of good news.

Sir Patrick Leigh-Fermor  - British author and war hero.
1915-2011

Fermor wrote his first  book about his 'walk' across Europe as a young man, a masterpiece in prose. A number of later books were about his travels through Greece. He is described by the Wall Street Journal as 'the greatest travel writer of his generation'.

  He joined the Irish Guards at the outbreak of WW11 and after the fall of Crete commanded the resistance operations on the island.  In the 60s he and his wife Joan built a house in Kardamyli in Greece where they lived for many years.  On his death it was bequeathed to the Benaki Museum.  

The house will now be fully restored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and used as a centre for writers, scholars and artists who need a retreat  and  also for cultural events for residents of Kardamyli.

latest news and Poros views

In a few days time Pope Francis will visit the refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos.  He will be accompanied by the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Ieronymos and of course the PM.  The Pope has already visited refugee centres on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013.

They will all visit one of the Hot Spots (reception centres) and then the Pope will meet with the Catholic community on Lesvos.

All this in an effort to raise the public awareness of the plight of the thousands of Syrian asylum seekers.  The refugee crisis has disappeared from newspapers and broadcasts in most countries outside Europe.

Young Afghan and Kurdish refugees camped out on the Macedonian border and across the railway tracks between Greece and Macedonia attacked the fence dividing the two countries and attempted to invade the neighbouring country.

The Macedonian border guards repelled them with rubber bullets and tear gas.  There was an immediate uproar, accusing Macedonia of entering Greek territory.  Greece should have cleared up the mess on the border a long time ago.  The borders through the Balkans are closed and will not reopen to refugees.  Macedonia was simply defending its boundaries.

Austria is building an anti-migrant wall on the Italian border across the Brenner Pass.  They are awaiting an influx of migrants coming through Italy now the Balkan route is closed. Austria already has a fence at its border with Slovenia.


Economics -

Grexit is making a comeback.  There are continuous talks with the EU, the IMF and Greek ministers.  Athens needs 3.5 billion in July for debt repayment.  That must come once again from pension and wage cuts and more taxes.  Where exactly the cuts will be made  and who exactly they'll crush with the new taxes is what they'll all arguing about.

Turkish jets once again invaded Greek air space yesterday.

Poros harbor

Coffee culture in the main square Poros

another view of the harbor from the sea

what it's all about, beer and homemade cheese pies

at Vassili's Taverna next to the sea Neorion Beach

don't forget

ricthewriter.com

for his latest views on the world

and please leave a comment or two

2015..austerity All Blacks and more

XMAS 2015

NZ NIGHT - ALL BLACKS WIN THE WORLD RUGBY CUP

ALL BLACKS - DANAE AND ELLI

What can I write that I have not already written  during this long year, last year and the year before. Economic ruin was on the cards for the first six months.  Worse than the years before, but with the usual outcome.  A last minute bailout saved Greece from bankruptcy but the threat is still there to keep the masses toeing the line.   Our stockpiles of macaroni and toilet paper gave us supplies for the next few months.  What we saved on food and hygiene products we gave to the government in the hope that we wouldn’t lose the roof over our heads.    January 1^st will bring more pension cuts, from 10-25%.  Our family are still able to pay all their taxes and we are grateful for that.  I hope I can still write that at the end of 2016.

 Refugees and asylum seekers took first place in the news in the second 6 months.  In previous years refugees from Afganistan and Pakistan arrived in the thousands on the greek islands.    This year asylum seekers, mainly fleeing the war in Syria, have topped the half million mark.  You’ve all seen the news reports and horrific photos.

  Thousands are still arriving each day on greek shores crossing the 'sea of death' between Turkey and Greece.  Seas are rough, bodies are washed up daily on greek beaches.  Borders are closing as fences and walls are built all along the refugee route to restrict and control the huge numbers of people passing through.  Refugees are stuck in the freezing cold for days or weeks before they continue on to Europe.  Athens has opened up its Olympic stadiums to accommodate those who want to wait out the winter. 

And terrorists creep through to bring terror in Paris and all of Europe.``  

At the moment there are an estimated 7,000 on the northern greek borders.  Last week Iranian men sewed their lips together in protest at not being able to cross into Skopje.  Yesterday it was a war of stones with the police and bona fide refugees who are allowed through the border.  A Moroccan migrant was electrocuted whilst attempting to climb on top of  a train.  Why a Moroccan?     Was his life threatened in Morocco or was he just in search of a better life and trying to get into Europe via a back door.

Syrian families who can qualify as genuine refugees are the first to be allowed through to continue on their long trek.  But young men from Pakistan, Afganistan, Iran....and Morocco are the majority on the borders.  They are the irregular migrants who are stopped from continuing and they are the trouble makers.  They are fighting between themselves and with police. All of them are supposed to have been photographed and fingerprinted but what does that do really.  At least one of the Paris attackers came through the island of Leros.    Whose is to say if they are genuine refugees or a threat to peace in Europe.  Young men are deported regularly.  As soon as they set foot 'home' they are off again, on their way back to the refugee trail.

After the incident between  Russia and Turkey the 'Csar' and the 'Sultan' are insulting each other and making threats which I hope they do not carry out.  Russian ships have been stopped from sailing through the Bosphorous and out into the med.  Turkey has stopped providing fresh fruit and vegetable to the Russians.

Turkish war planes invade Greek airspace a dozen times a week.  As the Greek PM said, 'thank goodness our pilots are not as nervy as the Turks.'

A blessed greek monk, named brother Paisios, who died in 1994, left behind him Nostradamus type predictions.  One of them was that Russia and Turkey would go to war and Turkey would be wiped off the map.  Whilst he says Konstantinople (Istanbul) will be returned to the Greeks, something they have been waiting for since its fall  to the Ottomans on a Tuesday (a most unlucky day) in 1453, it would also mean a war on our border.  Peace brothers.

Greek chemists, hospitals, the employed and the unemployed are out on the streets striking and protesting.  Farmers have warmed up their tracters and are blocking roads.  Our local school still has not got its full quota of teachers although the schools opened in September. 

Big businesses are moving across the border to Bulgaria, Skopje and even Albania where life and taxes are cheaper.    We've all gone back to shopping at the Chinese 'emporiums'.  Galatas across the waters has  a large store where we find cheap clothes for all the family. 

Our days here are still sunny and bright but the nights are getting colder.  We lit our wood burning stove for the first time last night.  The neighbours have gathered most of their olives and we have a 17 kilo tin of fresh olive oil to keep us going for a few months, plus half a ton of fresh olive wood.

GREEN OLIVES READY FOR PICKING

10 kilos of olives pressed to get one litre of oil at the beginning of the season

by December it was 6 to 1

HAPPY HELPERS MOVING OLIVE WOOD FROM FRONT ENTRANCE

K STACKING THE WOOD AT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE

The grape harvest went really well, especially considering that most of the grapevines in our area were under water for months after flooding last December.  For the first time Kostas did not get any grape juice and has not made his own wine.  We buy a few kilos from our neighbour as needed.  An extra tax has been put on wine and there was a huge uproar.  Politicians did agree that wine was not a luxury in this country but a tradition.  A few glasses of wine are drunk with every meal . Fiery  raki cleans out the rust and warms the blood, a necessary 'medicine' not a luxury.

The winter was wet, the summer was hot.  We all grew a year older.

“May calm be widespread, may the sea lie smooth as greenstone, may the warmth of summer fall upon us all”.

A maori blessing



as usual all the types of type face have been used, much to my bewilderment.  One day I will get it all the same, I hope. 

FOREIGN REFUGEES AND MINOR POLITICAL PROBLEMS

This is not just a few boat people arriving illegally under cover of darkness on a few greek islands. Summer and calm seas has brought an invasion with boats arriving on the hour during daylight hours.  Imagine a plague of ants climbing up and over your doorstep and swarming all through your house.

Thousands of refugees are now on Greece's northern border with Skopje* .   The route for this onslaught of refugees mainly from Syria but also Iran, Afghanistan and other middle east combat zones, is from the shores of Turkey to a greek island by some sort of flimsy vessel (although some were brought across by jet ski before the human trafficker was caught by the greek coast guard).  On they go by ferry to Athens, train to northern Greece and the border with Skopje where they are let through a few hundred at a time.  There they are allowed as far as the nearest railway station where they board a train for Serbia.  From Serbia they hope to reach Hungary and eventually Germany and places east, west and anywhere European. 

Bulgaria has closed its greek border for refugees so Skopje is the only passage way for them. Thousands were repelled by tear gas and stun grenades as they stormed the country's border.  Skopje has declared a state of emergency and is calling for more trains to transport them to Serbia.  Serbia meanwhile is struggling to give them food and water on their passage through the country.  Hungary is reputed to be building a 13' high fence along their border to keep out or at least restrain this human onslaught.  At the moment thousands are camped out on the main railway station in Budapest waiting to enter Europe. 

100,000 have entered Austria and Switzerland over the alps from Italy. Many more thousands are arriving in Italy from Libya which involves a much longer sea journey.  Italian authorities are reputed to let refugees escape  from camps in Sicily because it is just too expensive to keep them.

There are riots and fighting at the channel tunnel entrance on the coast of France. Official reports say they have stopped 37,000 attempts to reach England through the tunnel since January.

In Greece thousands are now being washed up daily and big passenger ferries have been put into service to transport them a few thousand at a time to the Port of Pireaus. Riots  on the island of Mytilene ended in two refugee deaths.  It is no longer just a case of those few hundred camped in Athens parks being rehoused (where they are complaining about the lack of WiFi).  Many of those fleeing Syria were from the middle class, educated, with good jobs.

  On the islands they must be fingerprinted and receive an official paper so they can continue.  Delays are making the crowds angry and frustrated.  Police cannot process them fast enough.  The biggest worry is that Islamic militants are among those seeking asylum.

5,000  are  today at the border of Skopje waiting for permission to enter.  The guards are letting in 100 at a time, families first.  The rest are left in a no mans land between the two countries.  They have already cleared the fields of anything edible, from the seeds of fields of sunflowers to watermelons.  Human aid workers are trying to keep them supplied with food and water and the small villages nearby are providing what aid they can.

The weather is changing and nights are cold. Rain is forecast.

There are 200,000 more refugees in camps on the Turkish/Syrian border.  

This a human tragedy of huge proportions.  It involves families, pregnant women and hundreds of  children who are fleeing alone hoping for the chance to live their lives free and in safety.

*The foreign press know the country as Macedonia but Macedonia is part of northern Greece, the birth place of Alexander the Great.  Macedonia is Greek.  The country's offical name is Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia or FYROM.  The greeks call the republic 'Skopje after its capital city.

Greece's political and economic problems are minor compared to the surge of human beings from the inferno of the  middle east.

Tsipras has resigned and called for elections.  Opposition parties are now trying to form a coalition government but that is unlikely to happen.  Elections will probably take place on September 20th before unpopular new tax laws come into force.

25 radical members of his party have broken away and formed a new party called 'Popular Unity' saying that Tsipras has gone against party promises of no more austerity.    

Tsipras  is seeking a majority for the SYRIZA party and he is still well liked because of the tough stance he took towards the European creditors.   However the first poll puts him only slightly in front of the opposition New Democratic party.

So now we have a month of endless political discussion and the prospect of an unstable future with another coalition government. The caretaker government will be headed by Supreme Court president Vassiliki Thanou-Cristophilou and Greece will have its first female Prime Minister.

www.local-kiwi-alien.blogspot.gr

www.ricthewriter.com