January 28, 2009
LONDON: Soccer is quite aptly called the “world’s game.” The sport’s superstars are household names around the globe. Its landmark competition – the World Cup – is watched by hundreds of millions. Even gun-toting insurgents in Iraq can be spotted wearing replica shirts of Europe’s most fashionable clubs.
Not everyone in Britain, however, revels in the [...]
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The Macedonian name disputeJanuary 28, 2009
Athens has vowed to veto NATO’s enlargement, not allowing the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM — the country’s official United Nations name) to enter the Alliance at the April Bucharest Summit, unless there is a prior satisfactory resolution of the bilateral name dispute (what FYROM’s final name should be). In Greece, this threat enjoys [...]
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Alexander the Great: how Slavic was he?January 27, 2009
The real question is not whether Alexandre trhe Great was Greek or not. He was. The real question is whether the Slavic invaders to the Balkans during the 7th century AD, more than one thousand years after Alexandre, can claim today any other nationality than Slavic and have the right to hold any other passport than Bulgarian. And the answer is simply NO.
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“Macedonia” is just a geographical term, just like…India. Really?January 26, 2009
It’s been said that the British created the Republican form of government in India:
The English language helped to unite the different language speaking communities and the British railway system helped to unite the country geographically.
To illustrate the importance of a unifying language, Churchill, upon hearing of India’s Independence, said something like
“We should never have taught them [...]
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To meet deadlines…ask for an extensionJanuary 25, 2009
An interesting article by Chris Cobb appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, regarding “anti-personnel mine” stockpiling in Greece, Turkey and Belarus.
According to the article, some countries have either destroyed them (at least on paper), or have taken the necessary steps to meet the deadline for eliminating them.
Others, like Great Britain, have “opted”, in their usual manner, [...]
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Macedonia: it’s not just the nameJanuary 24, 2009
The dispute regarding the official name by which the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is known appears to many policy makers to be anything from arcane to trivial. Yet its mishandling during the last 15 years, and especially in the last few months, has had political consequences for some of the world’s major players [...]
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Iannis Xenakis, the expression of a free spiritJanuary 23, 2009
Xenakis was born in Brăila, Romania to Clearchos Xenakis and Fotini Pavlou, and was educated as a child by a series of governesses. At the age of ten he was sent to a boarding school on the Aegean island of Spetsai, Greece and later studied architecture and engineering in Athens. Xenakis participated in the Greek [...]
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Greece struggles to cope with migration flowJanuary 20, 2009
MYTILINI, Greece, January 19 (UNHCR) – The number of irregular migrants and asylum seekers detained last year on Greece’s Lesvos Island after crossing from Turkey more than doubled from 6,147 in 2007 to 13,252, including thousands of children.
A rise in the number of arrests – almost 70,000 nationwide in the first seven months of last [...]
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Ο Ματσάκης εκνεύρισε τον Ερντογάν!January 20, 2009
Την έντονη αντίδραση του Πρωθυπουργού της Τουρκίας Ρετζέπ Ταγίπ Ερντογάν προκάλεσε ερώτηση που υπέβαλε προς τον ίδιο ο ευρωβουλευτής Μάριος Ματσάκης στο πλαίσιο επίσημου δείπνου- συζήτηση που πραγματοποιήθηκε χθες στις Βρυξέλλες, σύμφωνα με ανακοίνωση του Κύπριου ευρωβουλευτή.
Σε επίσημο δείπνο- συζήτηση στις Βρυξέλλες στις 19 Ιανουαρίου μετά από ομιλία του Τούρκου Πρωθυπουργού, ο κ. Ερντογάν «ανάλωσε [...]
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Ancient Greek vessel docks for Pompey refitJanuary 19, 2009
The most complete ancient Greek ship ever found – which is being painstakingly pieced back together by marine archaeology experts in Portsmouth – is shown here as it would probably have looked when it sailed around the Greek islands at the time of Homer.
Discovered in silt off the coast of Sicily, the vessel is believed [...]
