Disappointments by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The generous offer of “help” from the Austrian-and-German strong-arm crowd, of fascist/racist/neo-nazi inclinations, to their kin in the Greek border at Evros (and, more dangerously, in the Northern Aegean islands where local vigilantes have been forming nuclei to hunt down refugees and immigrants crossing over from Turkey and to harass [...]
Threat (and fear) is easy to spread, difficult to manage by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The way in which the corona-virus threat is spreading around the globe is impressive indeed. Covid-19 is capturing media time; health professionals supply information or even over-information; eerie images from China are supplanted by one of empty shelves in Italy; the [...]
Fighting against the horror and against resignation on the refugee front by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The recent horror incident of the extreme-right wing, conspiracy-theory believer in Germany/Hanau (Hessen) who shot at close range on a peaceful crowd and slaughtered 9 people (before killing his own mother and committing suicide) carried a particularly vicious dimension: the [...]
Assurances given, but tensions looming ahead by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Both debt servicers who have been loading up with Greek banks’ NPLs and the systemic banks themselves who still keep dud loans on their books (but are also participating in SVPs established in successive efforts to offload such loans) have been volunteering assurances to the [...]
We live in thoroughly mediatized times by Antonis D. Papagiannidis It is quite interesting indeed, to see how everything in Greek public life gets deeply mediatised in this extremely tense period. To start from really serious issues, the ebb-and-flow pattern of tensions over the Greek-Turkish ever-spreading bouquet of disputes is increasingly dictated by the stance [...]
Bicentenary talk by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Since its very start, year 2020 sees preparations blossom for the celebration for the Bicentenary of the Greek Revolution that started on 1821. While the official, State-mandated “Greece 2021” Committee for the 1821-2021 celebrations – headed by Gianna Angelopoulos of Athens 2004 Games fame and comprising three dozen luminaries [...]
An unpleasant situation by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The January 19 Conference convened under the Berlin Process for Libya has produced little more than an intricate, Committee-laden roadmap to face the Libya civil war. For Greece, the major issue is the fact that it was kept away of the Berlin Conference hosted by the German Government; [...]
«Waiting for Palmer» by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Samuel Beckett’s minimalist play “Waiting for Godot” mobilises ritual, allegory and interplay of the tragic and the comic to raise deeper existential questions; Beckett’s great success and popularity over time was largely due to his work’s openness to interpretations. It may seem a bit sinful, but the one [...]
45 years earlier by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Usually, the start of a new year is a time for wishes; for positive thoughts; for planning ahead. This time round, it would rather seem a time for buckling up – especially so if one looks at things in our part of the world (such part being the [...]