SPECIAL REPORT - A.Rondos - Now Wanted For Involvement In PASOK Crony NGO

Authorities have charged the head of a demining charity with fraud and money laundering, as well as his wife and seven other high-ranking officials (three of which are serving Greek diplomats)in a case that involves at least 9 million euros in public funding.

Specifically, the unnamed Greek NGO received aid (of more than 8.9 million Euros in government subsidies from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) between the period 2000-2004. It should be reminded that at the time the Greek Foreign Ministry was headed by none other than former PASOK leader George Papandreou. Their mission, claim the same reports, was to clear land mines in countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and Iraq.

The Greek authorities believe that the entire sum was illegally obtained as the NGO did not meet official funding criteria and that no progress reports were ever submitted (while some reports even highly doubt that any work was conducted at all). Authorities also note that Greek embassies in countries where the demining was carried out did not monitor implementation and that supervision of the NGO's expenses by the foreign ministry was "non-existent."

When asked for documentation, police authorities were apparently told that “the NGO has shut down and most of the documents have been thrown away.”

A deep investigation is now underway to determine whether or not the demining operations allegedly handled by the NGO were actually performed or if they were fabricated.

The good news is that the founder of this mysterious non-governmental organization (or NGO) -Constantinos Tzevelekos- has been jailed, but the bad news is that the case is much shadier than it actually looks.

For one, rumors suggest that the NGO’s management had a rather privileged -and chummy- relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs -especially during the PASOK administrations-.

Secondly, the name Alex Rondos popped up. As mentioned earlier, several people have been charged of fraud and money laundering, one of which is none other than Alex Rondos. Some of you may recall his name since he was questioned in connection with the case that involves the assassination attempt against the former prime minister of Greece Costas Karamanlis. Others may remember him as the shadow of George Papandreou, since he was one of his special advisers -and still is one of his closest friends-.

A case has been opened against Rondos charging him with fraud, money laundering and false certification against the Greek State.

When George Papandreou took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (under Simitis' rule) and Rondos became one of his closest associates, many began to question the sudden surge of NGO's that were mushrooming everywhere and sucking the State dry -some claim that the funds absorbed by these NGOs reached as much as 400 million Euros-.

According to "Deutsche Welle", Rondos is now in South Sudan as a special EU envoy to contribute to a political solution of the crisis there.

(Why are we suspicious of that? Simple: everywhere this man has gone, a war, a conflict or an uprising suddenly occurs when he leaves. What is happening in Sudan at the moment? Think Ellada... Think!)

But that is not all. The former commander of Greece's intelligence service -and former MP with the LAOS party-, Mr. Ioannis Korantis had signalled Rondos out as the person referred to in a report that was conducted by the Russian secret services to EYP in 2008 and which had warned the then prime minister of Greece -Costas Karamanlis- that there was an assassination attempt against him. In fact Korantis has said that Rondos was one of the few that "knew about the conspiracy to murder Costas Karamanlis!"

Of course the former head of the Greek intelligence agency said he had no other information about this case -and or Rondos-, but he did note that all the information that was provided to Greek authorities in 2008 by the Russians about the planned assassination attempt proved to be completely credible.

He has already appeared before a Greek prosecutor about the assassination attempt case, and said that during that period there was a bomb attack against Karamanlis' car on Alexandras Avenue, and after conducting an investigation the Russian intelligence service described the event exactly as it happened. At that time, the responsibility for the attack was assumed by a terrorist organization that went by the name of the "People's Will", and one report on defencenet claims that Russian authorities suspect that this organization is one of those that are "controlled by Western intelligence agencies."

Here is where it gets even more interesting. Alex Rondos, who we repeat is and has always been a close associate to George Papandreou, has conducted many missions to the former Soviet republics or to countries that have a high "energy status". Apparently he did this via his involvement in NGOs, -such as in Georgia and we all know what happened here, since this country was soon led into a suicidal war against Russia in 2008-. Basically, Rondos is a mysterious man who appears in all the global "hot spots" or... in areas that have been eyed by the Western world for their energy potential.

In fact the very same Rothschilds that employ international crook and Skopje propaganda financier George Sorros is suspected of actually employing Mr. Alex Rondos. Read more about this HERE

The shocker for us here at HellasFrappe was discovering that Rondos’ first diplomatic activity was working with Albania, Egypt, Libya, Cyprus and Turkey to mark the division of Mediterranean.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg:

     "Rondos is directly involved with the Greek Foreign Ministry’s chapter on foreign aid development that holds an annual budget of some 60 million Euros.
    His connections in the IMF and the World Bank apparently helped Papandreou to deal with the current debt crisis.  It also says that he holds excellent relations with FYROM authorities especially people from the WAZ Group including the director Srdjan Kerim. His liaison or mediator with Greek political and business structures is always Marinela Koppa whose role in secret negotiations with the name is explained in WikiLeaks documents.
    Interestingly enough Rondos' latest activity was a project in Egypt and mentions the activity of the canvas in Egypt, which is an organization through non-violent protests that topple governments in undemocratic regimes.
    Rondos has also conducted secret activities between Tirana and Athens. According to what has been reported a series of strategic agreements on maritime border emerged from these top secret meetings.
    These agreements were also known and signed by Dora Bakoyannis who is also a close friend of Rondos." 

Read more by clicking HERE

And believe us... this is just a small example... We have a load of stories for you to feast on... the links of which are provided below.

So did Papandreou have any knowledge about the strange dealings of his friend? Did he sign out these funds to this NGO? (Because if he did... then its lights out baby...)

Stay tuned frappers... Looks like the establishment is beginning to "clean up house".

References: defencenet, olympia

Related articles

• OPINION - Does The Papandreou +Rondos +Lazzard +Sorros Alliance = The Rothchilds? You Bet It Does!
• PASOK MP Implicated In Karamanlis Wire-Tapping Case - Breached State Secrets
• SPECIAL REPORT - The Plot Thickens In Karamanlis Assassination Plot - More Details Exposed
• PROVOCATION - Papandreou Rushes To Costantinopole, Meets With Erdogan

Please read the stories below for more details, as well as to reference the wire-tapping case, and find out who Mr. Rondos is.

PART l - Plot to assassinate Costas Karamanlis revealed (VIDEO)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/06/plot-to-assassinate-kostas-karamanlis.html

PART II – Plot to assassinate Costas Karamanlis revealed (VIDEO)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/06/part-ii-plot-to-assassinate-kostas.html

Authorities launch formal investigation into assassination plot against Karamanlis
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/08/authorities-launch-formal-investigation.html

Assassination Attempt Against Karamanlis Makes Int.l Headlines VIDEOS
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/03/assassination-attempt-against.html

Ambassador Threatens Greek MP Over Energy Policy - Connected To Karamanlis Assassination Plot
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/01/ambassador-threatens-greek-mp-over.html

Was Mossad, MI6 & CIA Behind Assassination Plot Of Karamanlis?
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/03/was-mossad-mi6-cia-behind-assassination.html

Papandreou, Rondos, Lazzard, Sorros equals to the Rothchilds
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/04/papandreou-rondos-lazzard-sorros-equals.html

Does Papandreou agree with Rondos’ views about sharing the Aegean with Turkey?
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/10/does-papandreou-agree-with-rondos-views.html

Grace Hotels Gets Ready To Construct Luxury Hotel Complex in Kalamata‏

Grace Hotels announced an 80 million Euros investment project which involves the construction of a brand new luxury hotel complex in sunny Kalamata.

According to reports, the new hotel complex is going to be fully operational by 2017 and is expected to include a new hotel unit ad well as holiday villas for sale. The Grace Kalamata hotel shall be located in the outskirts of the southern city and will have 125 luxury rooms and suites as well as 40 three, four and five-bedroom villas.

Grace Hotels is part of LibraGroup, an international business group owned by Logothetis family. The group opened its first hotel in Cyclades in 2007 and since then it has expanded its operations in Northern America, Asia, South America and Northern Africa.

NEW SCANDAL in The Making: The Bail-Out Of Megaron Mousikis

By Kostas Efimeros (Press Project) - At a time when hospitals are clοsing due to lack of funds, the government is bailing out the Athens Concert Hall (a private entity run by people associated with the media and business elite of the country) to the tune of hundreds of millions. Ιn a country looking to privatise even water, why not sell the Megaron?

Background on the Megaron Concert Hall

Founded in 1981, the Athens Concert Hall Organization, commonly known as the ‘Megaron’ is a non-profit-making organization administered by a board of trustees, half of whose members are appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and half by the ‘Friends of Music’ – also a non-profit-making charitable association.

The Megaron is truly a cultural institution of the city’s life. It is also a private entity financed by the Ministry of Culture and private donors, and managed by people who are closely linked to the biggest media company in the country, a company with deep connections to the political and business elite.

So how was it possible that the Megaron over a period of years was able to accumulate debts totalling 230 million?

The fact is that the people who have been running it for decades did not need be overly concerned with racking up major debts. A big chunk of those loans were ‘guaranteed’ by the state. Therefore were the loans to become NPLs (non-performing), the state would simply bail out the organization and pay back the banks.

Zoom to today

Now, following the government’s decision to bail out the Athens ‘Megaron’ Concert Hall to the tune of 230 million, Culture Minister Panos Panagiotopoulos announced that the organisation will remain a private non-profit entity. The minister explicitly ruled out the possibility of it passing to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), Greece’s privatization agency, despite the fact that its ownership has de facto passed to the state and under the memorandum between Greece and the troika, ownership of all such public assets must be transferred to HRADF and privatized. Yet the Minister apparently would find such an outcome for the Megaron highly upsetting saying, “culture cannot be for sale.”

This is despite his own government having given assurances that privatizations of other assets via the HRADF do not mean the loss of access to the public. The government did not hesitate to turn over dozens of Olympic facilities and even the building housing the Athens Police Headquarters, which the government now rents via a ‘lease back’ agreement from the new owner.

The Minister’s emotional response was not enough to conceal one simple truth: that the state, despite assuming responsibility of debts worth 230 million euros, is not asking how they were created. It has not announced a single inquiry into who took out the loans. Why is the state acting as the guarantor of a private entity? How was this astronomical amount spent? Why are banks continuing to give loans to a bankrupt organisation which was unable to pay off even the first installments on its loans? What does the BlackRock report on the Megaron’s finances say? Was money transferred to other companies (eg the media outlets whose top executives and owners are closely associated to the management of the Megaron)? Which administrations are responsible for the non-profit’s collapse?

The government, which ‘butted heads’ with the troika for three months in order to avoid imposing the 25 euro entry fee for public hospitals and then made a big fuss over passing an equivalent measure in the form of an additional tax on cigarettes, went to all that trouble over 40 million euros. Now after a meeting lasting a few short hours it has taken on 230 million euros worth of debt and it’s no big deal.

“Culture is not for sale,” according to the Minister. It seems that in Greece it is the only thing that is not for sale. At least not entirely, because in the list of the 74 bodies which will be eliminated (as a result of the memorandum imposed on Greece by the troika of lenders) there are 6 belonging to the Ministry of Culture and Sports, including the National Theater, the National Opera, and the State Theater of Northern Greece.

So to be more precise, the correct phrase would be, “culture is not for sale when publishers and media barons happen to be involved in the legal entity behind it.”

The government is privatizing water, even after the European Union removed water supply infrastructure from the list of state assets to be privatized. But not the Megaron...

NEW SCANDAL - Israeli Arms Dealers Attempt To Send Supplies To Iran Via Greece!

Following a secret probe by the US government agency Homeland Security (HSI) which was carried out in Greece with the cooperation of the drugs and weapons unit of the Greek Financial Crime Squat (SDOE), it was discovered that an Israeli company attempted to send military equipment - specifically spare parts for F-4 type fighter jets - to Iran via Greece.

This unprecedented violation of the sanctions imposed on Tehran by the international community, and which was revealed by the Kathimerini newspaper, was apparently conducted in two phases: in December of 2012 and April of 2013. The story itself is reminiscent of a Hollywood film.

Specifically the report in Kathimerini states that Israeli arms dealers actually attempted to send spare parts for F-4 Phantom aircraft via Greece to Iran in violation of the international arms embargo against this country.

Kathimerini said that officials traced containers packed with the F-4 parts on Greek territory. The paper also claims that the cargo had been sent by courier from the Israeli town of Binyamina-Giv’at Ada and had been destined for Iran, which has a large fleet of F-4 aircraft, via a Greek company registered under the name Tassos Karras SA in Votanikos, near central Athens.

The same report points out that SDOE officials established that the firm was a ghost company, while the company’s contact number was found to belong to a British national residing in Thessaloniki who could not be located.

According to HSI memos, the cargo appears to have been sent by arms dealers based in Israel, seeking to supply Iran in contravention of an arms embargo, and using Greece as a transit nation.

Reference - Kathimerini

Cuckoo Land - Papandreou Sour Over Claims of Primary Surplus

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Speaking to the To Vima newspaper at the weekend, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras praised the primary surplus that has been achieved, and explained that the debt relief and return to the markets will be based on this success. Samaras told to Vima that his goal is to gradually reduce the rates of VAT, income tax and of course, real estate tax. Specifically Samaras is planning to reduce real estate tax by 38% by 2016.

While he proudly announced that a significant portion of this surplus will return to society -such as pensioners and uniformed officers- the office of former PM George Papandreou came out with a statement that more or less slammed everything the prime minister said.

Specifically, the press officer and close associate of Papandreou, George Elenopoulos -who always pops in and makes a statement on behalf of Papandreou who is galavanting somewhere across the globe pretending to be a global thinker or some type of economic guru- actually lashed out against everyone who dares to speak of a primary surplus and who has been critical of the policies that were followed in 2010 and 2011 (or under Papandreou's reign). He said that the only reason that people speak of a primary surplus is “in a effort to appear immaculate and unblemished in the upcoming elections”. Of course he doesn't want to admit that if the government does indeed present a surplus -as announced- then his boss, Mr. Papandreou, will be ridiculed, and without a job because at the moment he is capitalizing on Greece's failed economy by speaking at various events across the globe.

In his statement, Elenopoulos said that the primary surplus “was not created with magic recipes at Zappeio” while he argues that the huge deficit created by the previous administrations was drastically reduced during those two years.

(Exactly what is Mr. Elenopoulos on because his condition screams out REHAB !!!!)

Elenopoulos also challenged Papandreou’s critics to compare the measures of the first bailout and those of the second, while he reiterated that the estimations of the second bailout were off by billions.

Papandreou’s associate was critical of the time lost “for personal gains and partisan interests” which resulted “in overthrowing an elected government”. And finally he also derided the stance of certain PASOK executives “whose scheming brought disarray to the party”.

(Oh brother...)

On his part Samaras told To Vima that Greece is exiting the recession, and entering a development age while he estimates that the economy will grow by 3% on an annual basis -or from 2016 onwards-.

The EU’s Dirty Secret: Trafficking & The Sex Trade - Worth BILLIONS

(Press Project) - In 2009 the photographer Myrto Papadopoulos noticed something strange: just as the country’s financial crisis was sending most of the Greek economy into a tailspin, one sector appeared to be booming: the porn industry. Her effort to understand the phenomenon led to the Attendants, a cross-media project about the modern-day sex trade recently presented at the European Parliament.

In the years since 2009 Myrto has gained access to brothels and the so-called ‘studios’ (a modernized form of the traditional brothel), revealing through her film and photography the dark-curtained rooms and smoke-filled bars that provide a backdrop to the nightly purchase of women-by-the-hour in Athens. Her portraits of sex workers are both intimate and heartbreaking; images from a world where every fantasy is edged by seediness, brutality and the threat of violence.

But why in times of crisis is the sex industry booming? Surely if people have less money overall wouldn’t they have less to spend on prostitutes and porn films? Perhaps, but that is only half of the story. The fact is that the crisis has also made it a lot easier for traffickers to meet European demand - both legal and not - for the services of sex-workers.

     “We are facing a major social, political, financial crisis at the moment, and what we see is increased vulnerability and social exclusion. This is exactly when we expect the numbers to go up of people being exploited and trafficked.”

That is according to Myria Vassiliadou, the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, speaking at the recent presentation of The Attendants project.

Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

The statement cuts to the core of why projects like The Attendant’s are relevant not just with regards to the world of prostitution, but to the wider humanitarian crime that is people trafficking. Because the fact is that the sex trade is by far the single greatest driver of the illegal trafficking and exploitation of people. According to the most recent data from Eurostat, 62% of all those who are trafficked in the European Union are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. and it is a trade that, despite what is commonly believed, primarily has European victims. 61% of the estimated victims of trafficking in Europe are EU citizens, primarily from Eastern European countries.

The profits from this modern day slavery are huge - roughly estimated to be 2.5 billion euros per year. It is also highly gender specific: 96% of all victims of sex-related trafficking are women or young girls.

Clearly any attempts to address people trafficking without examining the role of the sex trade are doomed to fail. Yet this is also where the issues get thorny.

While people trafficking is obviously a serious crime throughout the Union, prostitution is legal in a number of member-states, including Greece. As such, while the European Commission has a direct responsibility to act against trafficking, it is up to each member state to determine how it will handle prostitution with the issue largely out of the competency of the Commission.

In short, while the European Commission is tasked with reducing human trafficking, it can only indirectly tackle the main source of cash driving the trade. Still, that has not stopped it from trying, and today there is ever increasing pressure to target the millions of clients who visit Europe’s brothels and prostitutes every night.

     “For every woman that is trafficked for sex, there is a trafficker - but there is also a client,” Myria Vassiliadou said. “So for each little girl that is exploited in prostitution and pornography, there is somebody out there who is asking for that service in Europe today. So we can not focus on the victims without addressing demand.”

Recently In a bid to crack down on human trafficking, the European Commission issued the Anti-Trafficking Directive which member states were obliged to transpose to national laws by April of 2013. The Directive focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims and obliges member-states to take ‘concrete measures’ to reduce demand.

An example of such ‘concrete measures’ include efforts to recruit private companies in the fight against trafficking such as those announced by Heracles Moskoff, the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “During the Greek Presidency we intend to launch a European business coalition against trafficking ...we want to provide a labelling system, something like an ISO, that will give the opportunity to businesses to work together to make sure their supply chains are free from exploitation.” It is hoped that businesses such as hotel chains, for example, could be accredited with having systems in place to ensure that their services are not used for the purposes of the illegal sex trade.

The Nordic vs the German Model

Of course, many campaigners would like Europe to go a lot farther than that, effectively banning prostitution throughout the Union in line with the so called ‘Swedish model’ where it is the clients purchasing sex, as opposed to those selling it, that face prosecution. Such a law was implemented in Sweden in 1999 and is credited with achieving significant reductions in prostitution rates.

Proponents of the Swedish model point to its relative success compared to the ‘German model’ implemented around the same time. In 2001 the Greens and Social Democrats passed a law the intention of which was to remove the stigma and isolation faced by prostitutes by regulating the trade and providing them with access to state benefits. More than a decade on the result has been a ballooning of the sex industry in Germany (referred to as a 'giant Teutonic brothel’ by the Economist) with sex tourism on the rise. It is estimated that Germany now has 400,000 prostitutes catering to 1 million men a day. Meanwhile, according to the newspaper, in a mockery of the original law the prostitutes actually claiming welfare benefits number exactly 44.

To people like UK MEP Mary Honeyball, the German experience proves that prostitution is fundamentally a violation of human rights and a form of violence against women. Ms Honeyball is the rapporteur for legislation recently passed by the Women’s Rights Committee and due to be voted on by the full European Parliament in February which calls on all member states to tackle demand for prostitution by criminalising sex-buyers.

While the legislation is non-binding, Ms Honeyball hopes that it will be passed and this will send an important signal to the rest of Europe. She is not without opposition however - some of it coming from prostitutes themselves such as the International Prostitutes Collective who claim that the Swedish model would violate their right to choose sex-work as a legitimate profession.

Such groups make the case that sex work can be a healthy and even valuable service to society - for example for individuals that find it difficult to have their sexual needs met elsewhere due to mental or physical problems. Such a scenario is depicted in the Helen Hunt film the Sessions, based on the true story of a paraplegic who lost his virginity late in life thanks to the services of a sex worker.

These stories clearly complicate the case for outright bans on prostitution in theory. Yet in practice they also amount to a tiny proportion of the modern day sex trade. For people like Myrto, who have chosen to chronicle the industry firsthand, it is far from the reality that they see. “Without exception all of the women I have met have ended up working in the sex-trade either by force or through very difficult circumstances. Many resort drugs to cope and suffer effectively from post-traumatic stress disorder.” she says.

Myrto highlights the loss of identity she believes is inextricably linked to the women’s work in the sex trade. “Prostitutes never give you their real names,” she says. “Why? It is because they are always playing roles. These women have effectively lost their true identities. Society only ever sees them as prostitutes. What they need is actually a form of rehabilitation.”

The goal of the Attendants programme is to provide some measure of that re-integration working with sex-workers in a safe-house currently being set up in a red-light district in Athens by the Salvation Army. Through art therapy and other specialist-led workshops the women will be encouraged to contribute to a mobile exhibition that will travel through Greece telling their stories and shedding light on the murky word of the sex industry.

Allowing them to reclaim control of who they are and how they can fit into a society that as often abuses them as it blames them for their abuse.

Because even if prostitution is not considered a crime, it certainly creates an awful lot of victims.

Govt To Adopt EU Plan to Bring Back Undeclared Funds

The Greek government will be submitting a legislation to Parliament this week that aims to recover funds that were taken out of Greek banks or that were obtained through criminal activities. Those who return such funds will be spared prison time.

Officials estimate that the new measures will recover at least 2.5 billion Euros.

The legislation foresees that citizens -who are suspected and/or charged with tax evasion, money laundering, submitting inaccurate sources of wealth declarations or fraud- will be able to secure lenient treatment if they return these funds back to Greece. If the money is returned before the suspect faces a judge, then they will only get slapped with a three-year sentence instead of life term. If on the other, the funds are returned  before the case goes to trial, then the life term sentence will be reduced to seven years, or 10 years if the money is returned by the time the case goes to appeal. The new law also allows authorities to seize and liquidate the properties of suspects charged with defrauding the Greek state from these undeclared funds.

Similar systems have already been put into effect in other European countries such as Germany, where out of 4.5 million cases where suspects could pay to be spared jail time, only 700,000 ended up going to trial.

Gov't Cracks Down On Tax Officials- Conducts Audit, Finds They Sent Millions Abroad

The government is working on overdrive and cleaning up house in every sense of the word. Following a series of investigations, officials discovered that 143 employees from the Finance Ministry had deposits amounting to a whopping 32 million Euros in Swiss, German, British and Cypriot bank accounts.

The audits were initiated when Minister of Administrative Reform, Kyriakos Mitsotakis demanded that there be an investigation made into the assets of all public sector officials. The public sector officials appeared to have transferred more than 100,000 Euros to foreign banks from 2009 onwards and this raised quite a bit of suspicion.

When the astronomical amount was discovered, the case was taken over by the Greek judicial system and from reports claim that legal authorities have already began disciplinary proceedings against five employees who are charged with a breach of duty and indecent conduct. The prosecution has also launched an investigation to detect further possible criminal offences as well.

After getting past the ridiculous banking secrecy red tape, Greece's Financial Crime Unite (SDOE) discovered quite a few deposits exceeding the 100,000 Euro mark.

One example case involves a tax collector who had transferred more than 1,200,000 Euros in a foreign account.

All audits were reportedly carried out by the General Inspector of Public Administration and the Inspectors-Controllers Body for Public Administration.

The audits also detected 50 city planners who had sent remittances of more than 12 million Euros abroad.

Mitsotakis is determined to eliminate tax evasion he says that everyone must realize that the days of everyone doing as they please, without reporting to anyone, are over.

The Pillaging of Constantinople by the Crusaders

Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (credit: Wikipedia)

Stimulated by Pope Innocent III, whose tenure of that high office marked the apex of the medieval papacy, the Crusaders were originally bound for Egypt, because they believed that conquering it would be the key to regaining Jerusalem from the Muslims. The Crusaders gathered at Venice, Italy, but they could not raise enough money to sail to the Holy Land. They made an arrangement with the Venetians. For Venice, the Crusaders would conquer the Christian city of Zara; then the Venetians would take them on to Jerusalem. After conquering Zara, the Crusaders diverted to Constantinople rather than sail on to the Holy Land. The story of the fourth crusade might well be told with tears of humiliation for the disgrace which it was to Christendom.

A motley collection of French knights setting out from Venice by sea to fight in the Holy Land, the crusaders appealed to the Venetians for transportation and food. Venice held extensive commercial interests in the eastern Mediterranean and wished a Byzantine emperor who would be compliant and supported a candidate for the post. They were persuaded by Alexius, son of Isaac Angelus, the dispossessed Emperor of Byzantium, to restore him and his son to the throne.

The Crusaders set out on an expedition with an attack on their fellow Christians and in July 1203, they took Constantinople by assault. The bulk of the fourth Crusade never reached the Holy Land at all. It started at Venice (1202), captured Zara, encamped at Constantinople (1203), and finally, in 1204, stormed the city.

After an easy siege the gates were thrown open, and the Latins, the Franks, entered the city in triumph. The city was sacked. Naturally the Pope protested at this second diversion of the crusading army "Ye took not the Cross to avenge the wrongs of the prince Alexius," he wrote.
     "Ye are under the solemn obligation to avenge the Crucified, to Whose service ye are sworn.”
The Crusaders knew that Constantinople was a richer prize than all the Holy Land - and that it could be taken more easily and attacked Constantinople, the richest Christian city in the world. They plundered the city and took its wealth, including the treasures of the great church Agia Sophia.

They battled against other Christian men and they raped Christian women instead of fighting the Muslims.

Constantinople had withstood Muslim armies for 5 centuries, it now fell. The imperial capital was stormed by the very men whose forefathers had promised rescue a century before.

Untold treasures of gold, silver, and holy relics were plundered during the subsequent pillage and rape. Literary classics, great and wonderful works of art and treasures untold were either destroyed or carried away.

Many of its priceless treasures were carried off to Europe. But the greatest prize of all were the relics. Bones, heads and arms of saints, the crown of thorns of Christ, St. Thomas, the doubter's finger.

The patriarch fled on an ass without a single attendant. Tombs were robbed. Women were raped. Churches were desecrated. Horses were ridden in the sanctuary. Communion cups and sacred vessels were used as drinking cups in drunken revels. Prostitutes danced on the altar. Icons, even portraits of Christ were used as gaming tables.

Eastern Christendom has never forgotten those three appalling days of pillage... What shocked the Greeks more than anything was the wanton and systematic sacrilege of the Crusaders. How could men who had specially dedicated themselves to God's service treat the things of God in such a way?

As the Byzantines watched the Crusaders tear to pieces the altar and icon screen in the Church of the Holy Wisdom, and set prostitutes on the Patriarch's throne, they felt that those who did such things were not Christians in the same sense as themselves .

The plunder that followed was one of the worst in all of history . No man, woman or child was safe from the ravagers. Robbery and rape were almost universal, mindless destruction widespread. Westerners killed indiscriminately, without mercy or restraint . For this to have been done by crusaders - men actually wearing the Cross of Christ - was a disgrace .The Greeks never forgot the sack of Constantinople in 1204; its memory, more than anything else, has prevented the union of the Orthodox and the Catholic Church from that day to this, despite several major efforts towards that direction.

The Byzantine Emperor was murdered by his own people in a revolt. Venice took much of the coast and islands of the Empire, and the crusaders set up a “Latin Empire” with a Latin, Baldwin of Flanders as emperor. Pope Innocent II could express disapproval, but for the Latins the Greeks were schismatics and heretics so their own rule was set up over the Greek Empire, which lasted 50 years.

The Latin and Greek Churches were declared to be reunited, and Latin emperors ruled as conquerors in Constantinople from 1204 to 1261. This is the first time the Byzantine capital was taken, and a landmark in the history of relations between eastern and western Christians. Knights could now choose to crusade against the Greeks instead of the Muslims.

Hated by the Greeks, deprived of help from home, the Latin Emperor was driven out in 1261 by the Greek emperor of Nicaia, and the Byzantine Empire was restored. After this disaster it was entirely impossible to restore the Byzantine military or economic system, it became a mere shadow of its former self, now reduced to only a Balkan state.

The Latin Empire of Constantinople is a complete freak of history. The Byzantine power was so shattered, it was now unable to check the Turkish sweep into Europe, and the hopes of uniting the eastern and western churches, which the possession of the Byzantine capital had inspired was blighted forever. The chief beneficiaries of this robbery were the Venetian who themselves took over the most lucrative parts of the former Empire, including Crete and the Aegean islands. Eastern Christendom has not forgotten those three appalling days of pillage.

The Crusaders did not bring peace, but a sword, and the sword was to sever Christendom to this day. Between the fall of Rome and the discovery of America the Fourth Crusade is the most important event in the history of European trade. It established the Venetian Empire.

Although other Christians had been transgressed, the Crusaders, who returned with many Byzantine eastern treasures, generally were not condemned by European society. Pope Innocent III even removed the ban that had excommunicated them. The acquisition of the Greek Empire was, after all, a great prize for the West. However, for Byzantium and the Greeks,the sacking of Constantinople by the Latins had paved the way for the Turks to conquer their Empire and themselves on that fatal day back on May 29, 1453 and for this, they will never forgive the West. - NOCTOC

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