My Big Fat Greek Minister (Ex BBC Reporter Slams Pangalos LOL)

This is definately a MUST READ. Renowned journalist Greg Palast, who turned his skills to journalism after two decades as a top investigator of corporate fraud, literally characterized former PASOK Minister Theodore Pangalos as a "Fat Bastard" in his latest article which was featured in Vice Magazine and then republished on his own personal website.

Greg Palast’s book Vultures’ Picnic (Constable Robinson UK/Penguin USA), including chapters on Greece and Goldman, are expected to be published in Greek in early fall by Livanis.  Download the first chapter, Goldfinger, and videos at VulturesPicnic.org.

By Greg Palast
for Vice Magazine via gregpalast.com

The journalist met Pangalos at a Eurasia Media Forum in Kazakhstan and he begins his article by saying that "it wasn't too difficult picking out the Fat Bastard in the crowd of Russian models, craven moochers and media mavens. Besides, Fat Bastard and I were both desperate for coffee and heading for the same empty urn.

(Kazakhstan's annual Eurasia Media Forum, is a kind of Burning Man festival for Eastern oilgarchs and their media camp followers.)

Palast says that his his policy is never to mention an interlocutor's weight, nor question the legitimacy of his or her age, but, this particular Greek Minister whom he calls a "Fat Bastard" was asking for it.

"I had tried to put the belly of this beast out of my thoughts, but I still had a New York Times story folded in my pocket that begins: As an elementary school principal, Leonidas Nikas is used to seeing children play, laugh and dream about the future. But recently he has seen something altogether different, something he thought was impossible in Greece: children picking through school trash cans for food; needy youngsters asking playmates for leftovers; and an 11-year-old boy, Pantelis Petrakis, bent over with hunger pains. Fat Bastard – or Theodoros Pangalos, thinks the little Greek kiddies should stop belly-aching. Pangalos, as you can see from the photo below, is not bent over with hunger pains. In fact, he looks more likely to be bent over with labour pains, but in truth he probably just can't bend over at all.

Pangalos is best known for blaming the working people of Greece for the horror and the hunger among the ruins of what was once Greece's economy. However, it is, of course, not his fault; until last year, and through the core of the crisis, he was just Greece's Deputy Prime Minister – why should he be held accountable for anything?

Minister Pangalos is much loved by Europe's banking chieftains, by vulture speculators and by Prussian President Angela Merkel because they've got themselves a gigantic Greek who will mouth their mantra: that his nation's sudden collapse can be blamed squarely on olive-pit-spitting, lazy-ass Greeks who won't work more than three hours a week, then retire while they're still teenagers to swill state-subsidised ouzo.

Pangalos leads the Fifth Column of Greeks calling to accept Germany's terms of economic surrender: austerity, meaning cuts in food allowances, in pensions, in jobs. As of this week, more than one in four Greeks (27 percent) are out of work.

While we hunted for caffeine, Fat Bastard told me that anyone who complains about the austerity diktat, "Is a fascist or a communist or a conspiracy theorist." He didn't tell me which of these three categories the 11-year-old kids complaining of hunger pains fell into.

Just for the record, those Greeks who can get a job, work 619 more hours per year (see table) than the average German (and way, way more than Britons or Americans as well)."

WE LOVE YOU GREG PALAST

London School of Economics: Window of Opportunity Now Open For Greece

“Mediating a Greek Success Story?” is the title of an article published at the official website of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

On 17 May 2013 the German tabloid newspaper Bild portrayed on its front page Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras as a successful politician who has managed to save the country from chaotic default and an exit from the eurosystem. This constitutes a symbolic example of the improvement of Greece’s international coverage in recent months. Similar cases can also be found in the media discourse.

The Wall Street Journal, for instance, concentrated on Mr Samaras’ attempt to stabilise the national economy and cool political tempers. For its part, Die Welt praised the Greek Prime Minister for his courage and spirit in times of recession. Existing problems such as the rise of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party and the impact of unemployment on young people partly attract the attention of foreign journalists. But their general stance vis-à-vis the country seems to have entered a new era.

The relatively positive image of Greece in the international media discourse has to be principally attributed to its determination to implement necessary reforms and deliver. As it had also happened in the period between May 2010 and November 2010, when the then centre-left government of George Papandreou was showing initial dynamism to apply the bailout terms, the international media now observe a similar tendency. On 13 July 2010, for example, French newspaper Le Monde regarded Greece in its print edition as the ‘good student’ of the European Union who had learned from mistakes of the past and could be a model for other problematic members of the eurozone.  At that time, the PA.SO.K government was insisting on the need to liberate closed professions in spite of opposition by trade unions.

There are two main reasons that explain the optimism penetrating the current coverage. The first is the ongoing survival of the coalition government – led by conservative New Democracy and supported by PA.SO.K and the Democratic Left party. The cohesion of this government had been significantly doubted in autumn 2012 during voting procedures in the Parliament on new austerity measures. And the second reason is the significant reduction of the Greek twin deficits, the budget and the current account one. German politicians have not been economical in acknowledging this reality. Speaking in the Bundestag on 30 November 2012, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble framed – for the first time – the debate on Greece on the basis of the country’s achievements and not failures or omissions.

An analysis of the coverage of the Greek crisis by the international media since October 2009 suggests that journalists tend to follow developments and use international surveys and the domestic press as a source of information. Writing for Foreign Affairs in April 2012 I deconstructed the argument that their majority had been – a priori – biased against the country, as many Greek officials were openly suggesting. By contrast, I found signs of objectivity in their work on the basis of Greece’s poor performance regarding issues such as corruption, competitiveness, underground economy and public spending. In parallel with this, the so-called ‘credibility deficit’ of politicians could not but play a negative role. I recall a live interview I gave for ‘The Hub’ a few days after the first Greek national election on 6 May 2012, in which BBC anchorman Nik Gowing emphasised the question of whether political interests were being put ahead of national ones!

In the aftermath of the second national election of 17 June 2012 Greek pathogenies have not been eliminated. As the Financial Times recently put it in an editorial, ‘a deeper political transformation is required’. For foreign journalists covering the country, however, a sense of routine and fatigue has started to dominate their work. Even personal stories dealing with corruption or tax evasion can hardly be of high interest to their editors or audiences. In parallel with this, credit should be given to the personal communication strategy of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras who is prepared to regularly grant interviews actively demonstrating the will of his government to remain committed to the path of reforms and privatisation.  In August 2012, for instance, he personally arranged a meeting with the editorial team of Bild newspaper in Berlin in order to elaborate on the Greek-German misunderstanding.

It is premature to suggest that foreign journalists are mediating a Greek success story. A country suffering from recession, unemployment, the rise of extreme political parties and widespread public pessimism about the future, has a long way to go in order to change its course. But, on the other hand, a window of opportunity is now open. Valuable time has been offered for Greece to benefit from the current international climate in order to meet its fiscal targets and return to growth. It is in the hands of the coalition government to positively surprise international media leading them to rebrand the lemma ‘Greece’ and disassociate it from terms such as ‘fakelaki’ and ‘rousfeti’.

capital

Conspiracy or Truth - Russia Issues “Extreme Danger” Warning As Alabama Death Toll Rises

PLEASE CLICK ON BOLD LINKS TO CROSS REFERENCE POST WITH MAINSTREAM NEWS ARTICLES

The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) on Wednesday issued an “Extreme Danger” warning for all vessels entering or nearing the United States Port of Mobile, located in the State of Alabama, as the death toll rises from what this report claims is an environmental disaster related to the flowering of genetically modified cotton crops located in this region.

The RS is tasked with providing the safety of navigation, safety of life at sea, security of ships, safe carriage of cargo, environmental safety of ships, prevention of pollution from ships, performance of authorizations issued by Administrations and customers, while the Port of Mobile is the 9th largest US deep water port.

According to this report, RS officials became “highly concerned” this past week after the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) reported that at least 2 people have died, and another 5 put in hospital, due to a “mysterious illness” attacking the respiratory systems of those affected and causing flu-like symptoms.

According to ADPH spokeswoman Mary McIntyre, the illness was first reported late last week and the last of the seven patients was hospitalized Monday, though it wasn't immediately clear which municipalities the illnesses were concentrated in.

“We're only aware of the Southeast, but we don't know — we haven't received reports from anywhere else,” McIntyre said, “That's why we're trying to get the information out.”

RS officials in their “Extreme Danger” warning, however, state that the deaths and symptoms being reported in Alabama are “identical” to those that were reported by Indian farmers last year who were planting the latest version of Monsanto’s Deltapine® genetically modified (GM) cotton seed, and which caused the single largest wave of recorded suicides in human history and resulted in India revoking the right for this most dangerous of seed to be sold.

In Alabama, this report continues, the Deltapine® GM cotton plants (which have a long growing season of 120 - 180 days of frost free weather) are now in their flowering stage giving off massive amounts of pollen contaminated with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins used in all of Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds and proven to cause the symptoms and deaths being reported by the ADPH.

So dangerous, in fact, are Monsanto’s Bt toxins, scientists from the Department of Genetics and Morphology and the Institute of Biological Sciences, at the University of Brasilia, and the University of Western Ontario warned in a new study published last week that Monsanto crops are harmful to mammalian blood by damaging red blood cells and are much more toxic to mammals than previously thought. The study was published in the Journal of Hematology and Thromboembolic Diseases.

Scientists at the United States Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) had further warned that Indian farmers that picked or loaded Monsanto’s Bt cotton reported reactions of the skin, eyes and upper respiratory tract and that 25% of sheep herds that fed on them died within a week.

On 19 May 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.”

They, also, called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM's position paper stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.

They conclude, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.”

Even though the RS is now warning Russian seaman about the GM catastrophe now unfolding in Alabama, there is no evidence the Obama regie is doing the same to protect its own citizens.

As to why this is so was recently explained by the Infowar News Service in their article titled “How did Barack Obama become Monsanto’s man in Washington?” which, in part, says:

     “After his victory in the 2008 election, Obama filled key posts with Monsanto people, in federal agencies that wield tremendous force in food issues, the USDA and the FDA:
     At the USDA, as the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.
     As deputy commissioner of the FDA, the new food-safety-issues czar, the infamous Michael Taylor, former vice-president for public policy for Monsanto. Taylor had been instrumental in getting approval for Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone.
     As commissioner of the USDA, Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack. Vilsack had set up a national group, the Governors’ Biotechnology Partnership, and had been given a Governor of the Year Award by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto.
     As the new Agriculture Trade Representative, who would push GMOs for export, Islam Siddiqui, a former Monsanto lobbyist.
     As the new counsel for the USDA, Ramona Romero, who had been corporate counsel for another biotech giant, DuPont.
     As the new head of the USAID, Rajiv Shah, who had previously worked in key positions for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a major funder of GMO agriculture research.
     We should also remember that Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, once worked for the Rose law firm. That firm was counsel to Monsanto.
     Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the US Supreme Court. Kagan, as federal solicitor general, had previously argued for Monsanto in the Monsanto v. Geertson seed case before the Supreme Court.”

Even worse for the American people, and as reported by the Planet Save News Service in their article about Obama signing a new law last month to protect Monsanto titled “5 Appalling Facts About The Monsanto Protection Act Obama Signed Into Law (GMO Heaven)”:

1.) “The ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of controversial genetically modified (aka GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, no matter what health issues may arise concerning GMOs in the future.” (Studies have revealed severe adverse health effects related to the consumption of genetically modified foods.)

2.) “The provision’s language was written in collusion with Monsanto… the fact that Sen. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri worked with Monsanto on a provision that in effect allows them to keep selling seeds, which can then go on to be planted, even if it is found to be harmful to consumers, is stunning.”

3.) “Many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ existed within the bill they were voting on.” HR 933 was a spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown.

     “In this hidden backroom deal, Sen. [Barbara] Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the the Center for Food Safety said in a statement. “This abuse of power is not the kind of leadership the public has come to expect from Sen. Mikulski or the Democrat Majority in the Senate.”

4.) “On Tuesday, Obama signed HR 933 while the rest of the nation fixated on gay marriage as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument concerning California’s Proposition 8.” (250,000 voters signed a petition opposing the provision.)

5.) The precedent, the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer protections and safety. It suggests that court challenges are a privilege, not a right.)

As Russia has previously warned the Obama regime that global war could very well erupt over the Americans seeming hatred of the global environment, from the people in the United States itself there appears to be no notice of these things….and for the simple reason that they aren’t being told.

Sorcha Faal
WhatDoesItMean

Trial of Tsochatzopoulos Continues

The trial of former defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos and another 18 defendants, charged with money-laundering and taking kickbacks for armaments' procurements programs, is continuing. The trial opened this week with the continuation of testimony by finance ministry financial crime squad (SDOE) official Nikos Maitos and his cross-examination by defence lawyers.

Press reports said that Criminal Appeals court president Christos Katsianis chastised SDOE for not trying to locate the real owners of the American offshore Nobilis, which transferred ownership of a neoclassical house located at the foothills of the Acropolis to Tsochatzopoulos' wife Vicky Stamatis.

He also criticised SDOE for the lack of thoroughness in its reports on the case.

Appeal to the Greek Population for Testimonies

Our blogger friends in Germany are asking all Greek citizens who have suffered greatly from the ongoing recession ,as a result of the strict austerity measures imposed by the Troika, to write about their ordeals and send it ASAP to the International Criminal Court in The Hague so that it can be used as testimony in the following case.

http://unser-politikblog.blogspot.de/2013/05/appeal-to-english-speaking-greek.html

FROM: Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing
Thorner Str. 7
42283 Wuppertal (Germany)
+49/202/2502621
human rights activist

file number: OTP-CR-345/12

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

On 21.11.2012, I filed at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague a charge against unknown for the suspicion of a crime against humanity because of intentions and, at the same time, systematic and broad-scale damage to the health of the Greek population (art.7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute).

Everyone has the human right to the, for the respective person, highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (art. 12 UN Social Pact). In addition to that, the human right to health is protected for women by art. 12 of the UN women's rights convention (CEDAW) and for children by art. 24 UN children's rights convention (CRC).

Furthermore, children have to be protected, according to art. 19 CRC, against damages. As a result, the human right to health needs to be less affected by austerity measures than any other social human right.

I have directed consciously directed the charge against unknown, because so many persons (among them the Troika consisting of EU Commission, IMF, and ECB, the Eurogroup Working Group of the financial undersecretaries, the financial ministers superior to them, and many external counsellors and lobbyists) are involved in the drafts and in the decisions on the conditions in connection with the loans of Greece Support and EFSF, that presumably only the files of the coming into existence of the conditions and testimonies will bring clearness, which concrete persons are responsible for those conditions, which have led to the damage of so many inhabitants and citizens of Greece.

The guilty persons must be detected and be held accountable, and the damaging of the health of the Greeks by the austerity measures must be stopped.

I have, in my charge, shown connections between the conditions and their results to the hunger and to the damaging of the health system at Greece, partly by referring to evidence, which had already been filed by Mr. Georgios Tragkas and his colleagues.

According the pieces of information available to me, the damages to the health have been caused especially by the cuts in the health sector and by the causing of hunger, but also by the causing of homelessness and by lacking financial means for the heating of apartments.

The evidence filed up to now are all on an abstract level. What especially is missing yet, are testimonies of concrete inhabitants of Greece, whose health has been damaged by the austerity measures. Also testimonies of friends and relatives of Greek people, who have died because of health damages caused by the austerity measures, or who committed suicide because of the effects of the austerity measures, are important.

The thing is, to show to the ICC not only abstract number, articles, and statistics, but also the human perspective. The point is, that not only journalists and human rights activists, but especially as many victims as possible themselves testify and so actively engage for justice and for the punishing of the perpetrators.

And for this purpose of giving evidence, I need your support in the way, that you send your testimony to the ICC at The Hague in English language and referring to the file number OTP-CR-345/12.
According to art. 15 Roman Statute, everyone can send evidential pieces of information regarding presumable cases of crimes according to the Roman Statute..

The address for sending evidence is, according to the website of the International Criminal Court:

International Criminal Court
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.

The point at issue is the damaging of the health by concrete austerity measures. Please explain, since which time your health has been damaged by which measure.

This can refer to medicaments or to health services of physicians, which are not available any more or only with unaffordable co-payments or self-payments, or not any more close enough to the place where you live.
If you are starving, the point for your testimony is, since when and because of which cuts (e. g. of your pension or of your wage) you have not had any more enough means for your sufficient nutrition. Also if the loosening of the protection against unjustified dismissal or the rise of specific costs of living are the cause, your testimony is important.

Please also testify, if you are not undernourished only because you are supported by a charitable organization. .

If you have become homeless, or if you have to live in an unheated apartment because of a lack of financial means, please also explain, since when because of which cuts you have not been able any more to afford the necessary means.

If possible, please attach to your letter to the ICC also photocopies of pieces of evidence, which show, that with the financial means available to you, the necessary costs for food, apartment, or health could not be paid any more.

If you have pieces of evidence, since when the persons, who have drafted or decided on the conditions for Greece, must have known, what they cause to the health of the citizens and of the inhabitants of Greece with these conditions, please inform the ICC and also me about these pieces of evidence. Because a crime against humanity (art. 7 Roman Statute) exists only with a certain degree of intention, that one knows respectively must know, what one causes, but that one nevertheless does it.

Every testimony with evidential pieces of information regarding the damaging of the health of concrete persons by the conditions is an important contribution to the solution. In addition to that, the more evidential testimonies are filed, the more is shown to the ICC, that it is important to the citizens and the inhabitants of Greece, to give a high priority to the detection of the persons responsible for the damaging of the health and to the deterrence against further damages.

With friendly greetings,
Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing

link to the address of the ICC for the filing of testimonies and pieces of evidence according to art. 15 Roman Statute - http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/about%20the%20court/practical%20information/Pages/contact.aspx

BOOK OPPORTUNITY - Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters

The new National Geographic Treasury of Greek Mythology offers timeless stories of Greek myths in a beautiful new volume. Brought to life with lyrical text by award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli and stunning artwork by award-winning illustrator Christina Balit, the tales of gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Athena and heroes and monsters such as Helen of Troy, Perseus, and Medusa will fascinate and engage children’s imaginations.

National Geographic completes the book with embellishments of each story: sidebars for each god, goddess, hero, and monster link the myths to constellations, geography, history, and culture to help young readers connect the stories to real life events, people, and places. A family tree and a “cast of characters” profile page help make relationships between the characters clear, and a mapping feature adds to the fun and fascination. Resource notes and ample back matter directing readers to more information round out this luminous book. Sure to dazzle all those intrigued with the fantastic tales of Greek mythology and enchant new readers, this vibrant book will soon become a family keepsake.

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Samaras: Greece Can Easily Become China's Gateway to Europe

Greece, given its geographic location, can be China's gateway to Europe and Europe's to China, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said this week at an event at Athens' Intercontinental hotel, hosted by the Union of Greek Ship Owners and the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, on the occasion of the European Maritime Day and Hellenic Maritime Day.

The Greek premier noted that Greece could play this role as it has a pioneer commercial fleet worldwide. He reiterated that there should be interest in investing in this sector and referred to the successful investment model of China's Cosco in the port of Piraeus.

He added that Greece has now consolidated its position in Europe and the country should be placed on the world map, guided by shipping and tourism. But there should be interest for investments in other sectors, too, he said.

Earlier, Samaras chaired a meeting of cabinet ministers to assess the results of his visit to China last week. The meeting also focused on mapping out a strategy to be followed from now on, aimed at implementing agreements signed in China and enhancing cooperation between the two countries.

Upon decision of premier Samaras, a Coordination Group was formed, which will be in constant contact with all ministers involved for the speedy implementation of these agreements.

Samaras also briefed President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on his visit to China and Azerbaijan and on the government's progress.

(Combined Reports, AMNA)