The National Herald 100 · PALOS HILLS, IL – Father By - ron Papanikolaou, who served the...
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The National Herald A WeeKLY GReeK-AMeRicAN PUbLicATiON August 15-21, 2015 www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 18, ISSUE 931 $1.50 c v O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 NEWS 100 th anniversary 1915-2015 For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] By Constantine S. Sirigos TNH Staff Writer WASHINGTON, DC – Vice Pres- ident Joe Biden, along with White House Chief of Staff De- nis McDonough, led a team of administration officials who in- vited community leaders to dis- cuss the Greek crisis and what the United States, working with Greek-Americans, could do to help a valued and vital ally. When high-level officials in the U.S. government and Greek- Americans gather to address major matters of mutual con- cern, expectations are raised high; both groups are used to overcoming challenges and achieving success. While there was not any major substantive accomplishment, both sides agreed that this precedent es- tablished an important first step and a commitment to continued discussions. Approximately 20 Greek- Americans, including prominent individuals and representatives of major organizations, were joined by ten key Obama Ad- ministration officials. TNH learned the agenda in- cluded a briefing for the com- munity about the Administra- tion’s actions in support of Greece, in its negotiations with the Troika and that they, in turn, received input from the commu- nity leaders. Governor Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presiden- tial nominee, told TNH "every- body agrees that we have to put Greek-Am Leaders Meet w/ Biden,et al. White House Meeting on Greece Deemed “A Good Start” By Steve Frangos TNH Staff Writer CHICAGO- Eugenios Mihail An- doniadis was one of the most famous of all planetary as- tronomers. Yet few Greeks any- where in the world could readily identify this man. This is espe- cially curious since E.M. Anto- niadi (as he was later known) is the most renowned question of mapmaker of Mars in human history. It was not until the 1975 Viking orbiter images that An- toniadi’s maps became a part of history rather than regularly consulted geographic guides. Such was the level of Anto- niadi’s overall work that he is attributed with finally resolving the most sensational and per- plexing question ever to be raised by Mankind; the exis- tence of the Martian canals. On March 1, 1870, Antoniadi was born in the Tatavla quarter of Constantinople the son of Michel Antoniadi and Photini Andoniadi: a Renowned Astronomer Continued on page 7 ATHENS – It took six months of wrangling over reforms and more austerity but in the end Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the proposal for a third bailout of 85 billion euros ($94.44 billion) he sent to Par- liament was necessary to save the country from collapse. Ironically, it was almost the same word-for-word that two former Premiers, then-PASOK Socialist leader George Papan- dreou and then-New Democracy Conservative leader Antonis Samaras had said after they too initially rejected big pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions, pri- vatizations and worker firings demanded by the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Cen- tral Bank. The lenders put up two bailouts of 240 billion euros ($266.66 billion) beginning in 2010 to keep the Greek econ- omy from going under after be- ing driven into the ground by four decades of wild overspend- ing and runaway patronage by alternating – and then joined – administrations of PASOK and New Democracy. But Tsipras’ Radical Left SYRIZA party swept to power in snap elections on Jan. 25 on the back of promises not to negoti- ate with the Troika and to roll back austerity. After having the ECB squeeze off liquidity to Greek banks, Tsipras ordered them closed and imposed capi- tal controls, setting the stage for his surrender. Giving in, he asked Parlia- ment – where a quarter of his party’s 149 lawmakers had twice voted against reforms and austerity proposals – to back him as Greece needs to make a 3.2-billion euro ($3.56 billion) payment to the ECB on Aug. 20 or face default. “The hard truth is this one- say street for Greece was im- posed on us. The policies im- posed on us were irrational. We faced a tough and punitive po- sition,” he said when he realized he had no options left but to do as ordered. ““I am fully assuming my re- sponsibilities, for mistakes and for oversights, and for the re- sponsibility of signing a text that I do not believe in, but that I am obliged to implement,” was the explanation he gave for cav- ing in. THE REASONS WHY Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said the government has pledged to stick to the cred- Tsipras Bows to Greece’s Lenders; Says He Had No Choice TNH Staff PALOS HILLS, IL – Father By- ron Papanikolaou, who served the historic parish of Sts. Con- stantine and Helen in Palos Hills, IL for 55 years, passed away on August 11. In addition to being a renowned cleric, he was a great inspirer, a visionary, and a leader; a mainstay of the parish’s day school, Koraes. Fr. Byron was one of the few priests who served spent his en- tire life serving one parish, and he was as faithful and devoted, and steadfast in preserving the Greek language, as anyone. A loyal and dedicated reader of the Herald, Fr. Byron often impressed us with his knowl- edge and enthusiasm regarding an array of topics: Greece, our Beloved Fr. Byron Has Passed On My Big, Fat Greek Wedding 2 After a 14-year wait, fans of My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, starring and written by Nia Vardalos, seen here with co-star John Corbett, will get their wish: a sequel, starring Vardalos and Corbett, is expected to be in theaters on, appropriately enough, March 25 - Greek Independence Day. Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, right, and Greek Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis attend a committee meeting in the Parliament ahead of a full assembly debate and vote, expected around midnight , in Athens, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. By Constantine S. Sirigos TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK – At the start of the first campaigns of nonpoliticians like Madeline Singas, there is al- ways some concern whether their message of excellence and experience will register with voters. Deep into a summer of campaigning to be District At- torney of Nassau County, the en- thusiasm of the people she meets and her fundraising totals signal that her message is in- deed resonating. The position opened up when incumbent Kathleen Rice resigned after being elected to Congress last November and he prospects received a big boost when Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed her Acting DA. Rice hired the Fordham Law graduate who grew up in Asto- ria from the Queens DA’s office in 2006 to lead a new special victim’s bureau for women. Singas’ resume is stellar, but campaigns get traction through name-recognition, and most of all fundraising. “In the last few months my name recognition has gone up tremendously and we’ve raised a lot of money.” The latter was a big chal- lenge in the beginning “every- one knew I was a very creden- tialed and well qualified candidate, but they didn’t know if I could be a political candidate and run a race.” She has em- brace the new role and is thriv- ing, she is still driven by the work itself, not the prize. “Nassau is one of the safest large counties in the country and we work hard to make sure that will continue,” she said. POLITICS IS A TEAM SPORT It was a spectacular start, but in the long run – in politics, as in all great endeavors – it’s all about the team. “When I de- cided to do it I said I wanted a top notch team because I was in this race to win it,” Singas told TNH. There were no doubts in those who knew of her char- acter, personality and track record, but hard work was needed beyond those people. Singas approached the cam- paign the same way she ap- proaches her cases and all the work she does: “I have to be well prepared to bring out the best in the people around me so that we can win.” Her campaign manager, Isaac Goldberg, knows Nassau politics very well. “He’s one of the best in the business,” she said. Tucker Green, who leads her Singas’ Nassau DA Bid Fundraiser By Penelope Karageorge NEW YORK – Looking at Alexandra Mitsotakis, you might mistake her for a high-fashion model. Instead, the daughter of former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis heads Action Aid, a charitable organi- zation that she founded to pro- vide food and water for children in third-world countries. Fluent in four languages, she also directs the Greek Cultural Institute in Paris, where she lives. As the mother of four grown children ranging from 19 to 32, she takes family seriously. She grew up in one that is both brilliant and accomplished, as well as being close-knit. Her sis- ter, Dora Bakoyannis, was Athens’ first woman mayor, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her brother Kyriakos, an economist, is a up and coming politician in the New Democracy Party. But it is her late mother, Marika, who took center stage in an exclusive interview Alexandra gave to The National Herald on a recent trip to New York. A culinary legend, Marika could sway a politico’s votes with, for instance, her lemon- scented pot roast. The book, Recipes of Love, just published in the United States was “authored” by her mother in the sense that Marika originated all the recipes, and the initial half of the book tells the story of her life and ongoing love affair with husband Con- stantine. She never started a day without having coffee with her husband, and sent him off on every trip – large or small – with a sandwich from home. Said Alexandra: “My mother was first of all in love with my father. He came first.” We met in the lobby of the hotel, where Alexandra was staying. The Sophia-Loren lookalike oozed down-to-earth charm as she uncapped a Coke Zero and admitted: “I’m not a cook. What I really enjoy cook- ing is pasta and salads. Those are the things I do very easily. Somehow I was destroyed. I just had to go home and there was all this wonderful Greek cooking on the table.” She recalled the genesis of the book: “It was my mother’s birthday. She turned 80 that day, and we had planned a party, but she went into the hospital. It was very sad. I thought: what gift can I make for her? She’s in the hospital. She’s 80. What can I really do? And suddenly I had this idea for the book. We al- ways thought she should write a book of her recipes, but clearly for her generation cooking is not something you make a book of. Cooking – you do it, you live it, and you eat it! “I called my sister Katerina, Alexandra Mitsotakis on Her Mother’s Recipes By Angelike Contis Special to The National Herald VLAHOKERASIA, GREECE – Vlahokerasia, population 424, will soon have something most Greek villages can only dream of: its own digital museum. Over the course of four years, a volunteer committee spearheaded by re- tired Sociology/Anthropology Professor Nikos Petropoulos, has prepared a collection of images, moving pictures, and documents to share with the world, digitally. If you’ve ever traveled be- tween Tripoli and Sparta, in Greece’s Peloponnese, chances are you’ve seen the sign for Vla- hokerasia. “To horio,” or the vil- lage, as its fondly called by its sons and daughters, is in many ways a typical Arcadian village, with its much-diminished, aging population, stone homes cen- tered around a grand church square, café culture, nearby olive groves, and a few lingering goat herds. To those who hail from the village (including this au- thor’s father), each visit there is also colored by family tales of brutal WWII occupation and Civil War, painful immigration separa- tion and the disappearing tradi- tions of a centuries-old agricul- tural life. The concept of a museum to capture and share Vlahokerasia’s uniqueness has been around for a while. Vlahokerasia Digital Mu- seum Committee Coordinator Petropoulos notes that the idea dates back to 1991, when a group from Vlahokerasia had an actual – not virtual – folk mu- seum in mind. They wanted to draw attention to the village with “a museum that would contribute in a minor way to a revitalization of the village by making it a cen- ter of attraction for educational One Arcadian Village Has Gone Digital Kos Becomes Key EU Entry Point for Migrants Migrants on a dinghy arrives at the southeastern island of Kos, Greece, after crossing from Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 13. Greece has become the main gateway to Europe for tens of thousands of refugees and economic migrants (related story on page 9). AP PhOTO/ALeXANdeR ZeMLiANicheNKO Continued on page 8 Video of Herald’s 100 Years The video celebrating the Ethinkos Kyrix-National Herald’s 100 years is avail- able to our readers through our English (thenational- herald.com) and Greek (ekirikas.com) websites, and on our Facebook page The National Herald, where it received thousands of views within a short time of being posted. Continued on page 5 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7 Continued on page 3 AP PhOTO/YANNiS LiAKOS
Transcript of The National Herald 100 · PALOS HILLS, IL – Father By - ron Papanikolaou, who served the...
The National HeraldA weekLY Greek-AmericAn PubLicAtion
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www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 18, ISSUE 931 $1.50c v
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ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW
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By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, DC – Vice Pres-ident Joe Biden, along withWhite House Chief of Staff De-nis McDonough, led a team ofadministration officials who in-vited community leaders to dis-cuss the Greek crisis and whatthe United States, working withGreek-Americans, could do tohelp a valued and vital ally.
When high-level officials inthe U.S. government and Greek-Americans gather to addressmajor matters of mutual con-cern, expectations are raisedhigh; both groups are used toovercoming challenges andachieving success. While therewas not any major substantiveaccomplishment, both sidesagreed that this precedent es-tablished an important first stepand a commitment to continueddiscussions.
Approximately 20 Greek-Americans, including prominentindividuals and representativesof major organizations, werejoined by ten key Obama Ad-ministration officials.
TNH learned the agenda in-cluded a briefing for the com-munity about the Administra-tion’s actions in support ofGreece, in its negotiations withthe Troika and that they, in turn,received input from the commu-nity leaders.
Governor Michael Dukakis,the 1988 Democratic presiden-tial nominee, told TNH "every-body agrees that we have to put
Greek-AmLeadersMeet w/Biden,et al.White House Meetingon Greece Deemed“A Good Start”
By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer
CHICAGO- Eugenios Mihail An-doniadis was one of the mostfamous of all planetary as-tronomers. Yet few Greeks any-where in the world could readilyidentify this man. This is espe-cially curious since E.M. Anto-niadi (as he was later known)is the most renowned questionof mapmaker of Mars in humanhistory. It was not until the 1975Viking orbiter images that An-toniadi’s maps became a part ofhistory rather than regularlyconsulted geographic guides.Such was the level of Anto-niadi’s overall work that he isattributed with finally resolvingthe most sensational and per-plexing question ever to beraised by Mankind; the exis-tence of the Martian canals.
On March 1, 1870, Antoniadiwas born in the Tatavla quarterof Constantinople the son ofMichel Antoniadi and Photini
Andoniadi: aRenownedAstronomer
Continued on page 7
ATHENS – It took six months ofwrangling over reforms andmore austerity but in the endPrime Minister Alexis Tsiprassaid the proposal for a thirdbailout of 85 billion euros($94.44 billion) he sent to Par-liament was necessary to savethe country from collapse.
Ironically, it was almost thesame word-for-word that twoformer Premiers, then-PASOKSocialist leader George Papan-dreou and then-New DemocracyConservative leader AntonisSamaras had said after they tooinitially rejected big pay cuts,tax hikes, slashed pensions, pri-vatizations and worker firingsdemanded by the Troika of theEuropean Union-InternationalMonetary Fund-European Cen-tral Bank.
The lenders put up twobailouts of 240 billion euros($266.66 billion) beginning in2010 to keep the Greek econ-omy from going under after be-ing driven into the ground byfour decades of wild overspend-ing and runaway patronage byalternating – and then joined –administrations of PASOK andNew Democracy.
But Tsipras’ Radical LeftSYRIZA party swept to power insnap elections on Jan. 25 on theback of promises not to negoti-
ate with the Troika and to rollback austerity. After having theECB squeeze off liquidity toGreek banks, Tsipras orderedthem closed and imposed capi-tal controls, setting the stage forhis surrender.
Giving in, he asked Parlia-ment – where a quarter of hisparty’s 149 lawmakers hadtwice voted against reforms andausterity proposals – to backhim as Greece needs to make a3.2-billion euro ($3.56 billion)payment to the ECB on Aug. 20or face default.
“The hard truth is this one-say street for Greece was im-posed on us. The policies im-posed on us were irrational. Wefaced a tough and punitive po-sition,” he said when he realizedhe had no options left but to doas ordered.
““I am fully assuming my re-sponsibilities, for mistakes andfor oversights, and for the re-sponsibility of signing a text thatI do not believe in, but that Iam obliged to implement,” wasthe explanation he gave for cav-ing in.
THE REASONS WHY Finance Minister Euclid
Tsakalotos said the governmenthas pledged to stick to the cred-
Tsipras Bows to Greece’s Lenders; Says He Had No Choice
TNH Staff
PALOS HILLS, IL – Father By-ron Papanikolaou, who servedthe historic parish of Sts. Con-stantine and Helen in PalosHills, IL for 55 years, passedaway on August 11.
In addition to being arenowned cleric, he was a greatinspirer, a visionary, and aleader; a mainstay of theparish’s day school, Koraes.
Fr. Byron was one of the fewpriests who served spent his en-tire life serving one parish, andhe was as faithful and devoted,and steadfast in preserving theGreek language, as anyone.
A loyal and dedicated readerof the Herald, Fr. Byron oftenimpressed us with his knowl-edge and enthusiasm regardingan array of topics: Greece, our
Beloved Fr.Byron HasPassed On
My Big, Fat Greek Wedding 2After a 14-year wait, fans of My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, starring and written by Nia Vardalos,seen here with co-star John Corbett, will get their wish: a sequel, starring Vardalos and Corbett,is expected to be in theaters on, appropriately enough, March 25 - Greek Independence Day.
Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, right, and Greek Economy Minister GiorgosStathakis attend a committee meeting in the Parliament ahead of a full assembly debate andvote, expected around midnight , in Athens, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015.
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – At the start of thefirst campaigns of nonpoliticianslike Madeline Singas, there is al-ways some concern whethertheir message of excellence andexperience will register withvoters. Deep into a summer ofcampaigning to be District At-torney of Nassau County, the en-thusiasm of the people shemeets and her fundraising totalssignal that her message is in-deed resonating.
The position opened upwhen incumbent Kathleen Riceresigned after being elected toCongress last November and heprospects received a big boostwhen Governor Andrew Cuomoappointed her Acting DA.
Rice hired the Fordham Lawgraduate who grew up in Asto-ria from the Queens DA’s office
in 2006 to lead a new specialvictim’s bureau for women.
Singas’ resume is stellar, butcampaigns get traction throughname-recognition, and most ofall fundraising.
“In the last few months myname recognition has gone uptremendously and we’ve raiseda lot of money.”
The latter was a big chal-lenge in the beginning “every-one knew I was a very creden-tialed and well qualifiedcandidate, but they didn’t knowif I could be a political candidateand run a race.” She has em-brace the new role and is thriv-ing, she is still driven by thework itself, not the prize.
“Nassau is one of the safestlarge counties in the countryand we work hard to make surethat will continue,” she said.POLITICS IS A TEAM SPORT
It was a spectacular start, but
in the long run – in politics, asin all great endeavors – it’s allabout the team. “When I de-cided to do it I said I wanted atop notch team because I wasin this race to win it,” Singastold TNH. There were no doubtsin those who knew of her char-acter, personality and trackrecord, but hard work wasneeded beyond those people.
Singas approached the cam-paign the same way she ap-proaches her cases and all thework she does: “I have to bewell prepared to bring out thebest in the people around me sothat we can win.”
Her campaign manager,Isaac Goldberg, knows Nassaupolitics very well. “He’s one ofthe best in the business,” shesaid.
Tucker Green, who leads her
Singas’ Nassau DA Bid Fundraiser
By Penelope Karageorge
NEW YORK – Looking atAlexandra Mitsotakis, you mightmistake her for a high-fashionmodel. Instead, the daughter offormer Greek Prime MinisterConstantine Mitsotakis headsAction Aid, a charitable organi-zation that she founded to pro-vide food and water for childrenin third-world countries.
Fluent in four languages, shealso directs the Greek CulturalInstitute in Paris, where shelives. As the mother of fourgrown children ranging from 19to 32, she takes family seriously.She grew up in one that is bothbrilliant and accomplished, aswell as being close-knit. Her sis-
ter, Dora Bakoyannis, wasAthens’ first woman mayor, andMinister of Foreign Affairs. Herbrother Kyriakos, an economist,is a up and coming politician inthe New Democracy Party.
But it is her late mother,Marika, who took center stagein an exclusive interviewAlexandra gave to The NationalHerald on a recent trip to NewYork. A culinary legend, Marikacould sway a politico’s voteswith, for instance, her lemon-scented pot roast.
The book, Recipes of Love,just published in the UnitedStates was “authored” by hermother in the sense that Marikaoriginated all the recipes, andthe initial half of the book tells
the story of her life and ongoinglove affair with husband Con-stantine. She never started a daywithout having coffee with herhusband, and sent him off onevery trip – large or small – witha sandwich from home. SaidAlexandra: “My mother was firstof all in love with my father. Hecame first.”
We met in the lobby of thehotel, where Alexandra wasstaying. The Sophia-Lorenlookalike oozed down-to-earthcharm as she uncapped a CokeZero and admitted: “I’m not acook. What I really enjoy cook-ing is pasta and salads. Thoseare the things I do very easily.Somehow I was destroyed. I justhad to go home and there was
all this wonderful Greek cookingon the table.”
She recalled the genesis ofthe book: “It was my mother’sbirthday. She turned 80 that day,and we had planned a party, butshe went into the hospital. Itwas very sad. I thought: whatgift can I make for her? She’s inthe hospital. She’s 80. What canI really do? And suddenly I hadthis idea for the book. We al-ways thought she should writea book of her recipes, but clearlyfor her generation cooking is notsomething you make a book of.Cooking – you do it, you live it,and you eat it!
“I called my sister Katerina,
Alexandra Mitsotakis on Her Mother’s Recipes
By Angelike ContisSpecial to The National Herald
VLAHOKERASIA, GREECE –Vlahokerasia, population 424,will soon have something mostGreek villages can only dream of:its own digital museum. Over thecourse of four years, a volunteercommittee spearheaded by re-tired Sociology/AnthropologyProfessor Nikos Petropoulos, hasprepared a collection of images,moving pictures, and documentsto share with the world, digitally.
If you’ve ever traveled be-tween Tripoli and Sparta, inGreece’s Peloponnese, chancesare you’ve seen the sign for Vla-hokerasia. “To horio,” or the vil-lage, as its fondly called by itssons and daughters, is in manyways a typical Arcadian village,with its much-diminished, agingpopulation, stone homes cen-tered around a grand churchsquare, café culture, nearby olivegroves, and a few lingering goatherds. To those who hail fromthe village (including this au-thor’s father), each visit there isalso colored by family tales ofbrutal WWII occupation and CivilWar, painful immigration separa-tion and the disappearing tradi-tions of a centuries-old agricul-tural life.
The concept of a museum tocapture and share Vlahokerasia’suniqueness has been around fora while. Vlahokerasia Digital Mu-seum Committee CoordinatorPetropoulos notes that the ideadates back to 1991, when agroup from Vlahokerasia had anactual – not virtual – folk mu-seum in mind. They wanted todraw attention to the village with“a museum that would contributein a minor way to a revitalizationof the village by making it a cen-ter of attraction for educational
One ArcadianVillage HasGone Digital
Kos Becomes Key EU Entry Point for MigrantsMigrants on a dinghy arrives at the southeastern island of Kos,Greece, after crossing from Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 13. Greecehas become the main gateway to Europe for tens of thousandsof refugees and economic migrants (related story on page 9).
AP Photo/ALexAnder ZemLiAnichenko
Continued on page 8
Video of Herald’s100 Years
The video celebrating theEthinkos Kyrix-NationalHerald’s 100 years is avail-able to our readers throughour English (thenational-herald.com) and Greek(ekirikas.com) websites,and on our Facebook pageThe National Herald, whereit received thousands ofviews within a short time ofbeing posted.
Continued on page 5
Continued on page 9
Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7
Continued on page 3
AP Photo/YAnnis LiAkos
2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
AHEPA Supreme President John W. Galanis and the 2015-16 Supreme Lodge of the Order of AHEPA
are proud to announce
Over $500,000 donated to Apostoli mission and to the IOCC for the purchase of food for those in need
in Greece and Cyprus
Shipped over $10 million in medical equipment and materials
to hospitals throughout Greece.
Proud supporter of the “Rebuild St. Nicholas Fund” To help rebuild the only church destroyed on 9/11
Donated millions in educational and charitable funds within our local communities
HELP SUPPORT AHEPA’S EFFORTS DONATE TODAY TO THE AHEPA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
(a 501 C (3) Foundation)
93 Years of Service to the Community
www.ahepa.org • [email protected] Headquarters 1909 Q St., NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20009 • Phone 202.232.6300 • Fax 202.232.2140To join AHEPA, visit www.ahepa.org
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – TheNicholas S. Zoullas HellenicCenter of the Kimisis Church ofthe Hamptons is the scene offine cultural events throughoutthe year. On August 8, retiredfour-star Admiral JamesStavridis, Dean of the FletcherSchool of Law and Diplomacypresented a lecture titled “21stCentury Security Challengesand Opportunities.”
As was expected of a manwho brings the unique and pow-erful perspective of his tenureas Supreme Allied Commanderat NATO, the guests heard a fas-cinating presentation – spicedby Stavridis’ trademark humor– on topics like ISIS, the massivemigrations from Africa and theMiddle East to Europe, cyberrisk, China, and the situation inUkraine.
He was the first admiral toserve as the Supreme AlliedCommander of NATO, but it wasnot in the Navy that he gainedthe necessary insight for thechallenging position, but at theFletcher School of Law andDiplomacy where Stavridis nowserves as Dean.
Stavridis writes in the pref-ace of his recent book, The Ac-cidental Admiral, that as a grad-uate student – he ultimatelyearned a PhD. – “I first learnedto appreciate the key interplayof politics, economics, finance,business, culture, language, andsecurity.”
But the roots of his of hischaracter and intellect are in hisHellenic heritage, which be-comes quickly obvious to his lis-teners.
“In the name of freedom andin the spirit of Themistocles ofAthens,“ – the man who builtthe Athenian fleet that defeatedPersia and saved western civi-lization – “I am honored to behere.”
After saying how pleased hewas to see so many friends inattendance, he expressed hisgratitude to Fr. Alexander Kar-loutsos, Protopresbyter of theEcumenical Patriarchate, Pres-bytera Xanthi Karloutsos, andthe parish for the invitation,
HIGH-STAKES GEOPOLI-TICS
Stavridis said he does notlike to present only the dark sideof what is happening in theworld. The second halves of histalks focus on opportunities, andon what is going well.
He began by making clearwhat the stakes are for nationalsecurity officials when securitystrategies fail: WWI and WWIIwere responsible for perhaps100 million deaths.
The lesson learned fromthose failures, he said, is that“we tried to create security bybuilding walls, but in the 21stcentury we must build bridgesto create security” – better waysof understanding, connecting,influencing and persuading andworking with other nations.
A shattering – literally - per-sonal experience brought thathome.
On September 11, 2001hewas sitting in his office in thePentagon, presumably the safestplace he could be. “But I literallyhad a front row seat as the air-plane hit, and I’m here with youtoday because the airplane’s pi-lot broke slightly to the left.”
“As I came out of that burn-ing building,” he thought of the
irony of the moment. “I’mguarded by five massive con-crete walls, protected by thestrongest military on Earth…ofthe richest country on theplanet. Was I safe? No.”
That is when he began tothink about the security valueof building bridges.
One of the keys is appreciat-ing what his former professor,Joseph Nye Joseph Nye of Har-vard, calls America’s soft power,and finding the right balancewith its more obvious hardpower – its economic and mili-tary strength.
Nye writes that “when onecountry gets other countries towant what it wants-might becalled co-optive or soft powerin contrast with the hard orcommand power of orderingothers to do what it wants.”
One of Stavridis’ mentors,former U.S. Secretary of De-fense Robert Gates, calls for en-hancing American soft power by"a dramatic increase in spendingon the civilian instruments ofnational security – diplomacy,strategic communications, for-eign assistance, civic action andeconomic reconstruction anddevelopment.”
Stavridis noted the power ofsocial networking, and the vastpotential from connecting with
50 percent of the human popu-lation, the women who in manycountries are still marginalized.
He said the most underesti-mated aspect of security is lis-tening, and that promoting sec-ond language learning inAmerica will increase our secu-rity and economic strength.
ISIS, with its massivefundraising power – founded onactivities like drug and humantrafficking and recruiting effec-tiveness, was discussed atlength.
It was chilling to hear thatits flag is the most downloadedimage on the internet.
Regarding the Iran agree-ment he said “I am hoping itmay be successful but I am ex-tremely skeptical as it exists to-day.”
The Admiral warned of theperils of both appeasingVladimir Putin and stumblingback into a Cold War, but hesaid it is cyber-attacks that dis-turb the sleep of national secu-rity officials these days.
Financial markets can bethrown into turmoil but, mostfrighteningly, the world’s powergrids can be attacked by diabol-ical hackers. Delays in repairingmassive physical damage wouldalso destabilize economies.
“Cyber-attacks cross all as-
pects of our lives,” he said.PATH TO GREATNESS Annoyed both by “declinism”
and “triumphalism” he said “ourmilitary is still the envy of theworld,” but noted it is time tocreate a Cyber Force, whichwould benefit, like America’sgeneral economic strength, fromeducation investments in STEM.
He emphasized that theUnited States is the greatest na-tion on earth and its presidentstill commands enormous re-spect. When the presidentspeaks to the leaders of theworld, Stavridis said, “he or she”has their complete attention.
The fact that everyone wantsto come to America means im-migration helps us avoid the de-mographic crises of other devel-oped nations.
It is huge that the UnitedStates, if fracking be conductedwithout harming the environ-ment, will make America energyindependent.
He noted the continued im-portance NATO and our Pacificalliances, but declared we mustfurther cultivate our relation-ship with India, which will soonbecome the world’s most popu-lous nation, not just the largestdemocracy.
Turning to the homeland, hesaid all America’s challenges canbe met and the opportunities ex-ploited, but he asked “What’sour problem here in the United
States? Political gridlock.” He said “Our parties can’t
seem to build bridges, ourbranches of government havedifficulty cooperating, we arenot good at finding rationalcompromises.” One side effectof citizens’ frustration with gov-ernment’s failures is its exten-sion to international relations,and the idea “that the interna-tional world is too difficult.”
That fuels isolationist feel-ings about withdrawing fromthe world.
“That would be a terriblemistake,” Stavridis said from alifetime of experience on the
front lines of history.All the guests, who enjoyed
receptions before and after thetalk, were impressed and some,perhaps bemoaning the currentcrop of presidential candidates,expressed hope Stavridis wouldgo into politics.
The question evoked a burstof applause and the response:“I’m happy to be Dean of theFletcher School – elected officeis not for me.”
Father ConstantineLazarakis, who welcomed theguests, asked Dr. Peter Michalis,former Parish Council Presidentto introduce Stavridis, who waslater presented with a strikingsculpted icon created by PaulMaus, former PC President andChairman of the Building Com-mittee.
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015 3
Admiral Stavridis On Light and Darkness in the Global Affairs Tunnel
fundraising team, has workedwith some of big politicalnames, and Jeff Pollock createsand conducts her polls andhelps frame her issues. He isalso well-respected.
John Del Cecato will be cre-ating the all-important TV com-mercials.
GREEKS COMING THROUGH
To put together a top teamlike that, early money was im-portant, and Greek-Americanscame through for her in a bigway.
“When we first started toraise money I specifically wentto the Greek community first. Itold people I needed to demon-strate that I can be a viable can-didate and the way to do that isto raise money, so people knowthey can take me seriously,” andthey came through for her.
Observers were also im-pressed the team was put to-gether rapidly and gelledquickly. “It enabled me to de-clare my presence on the scenein a big way and the Greek com-munity was a critical part ofthat,” she reiterated, and notedthat she was then able to reachout to other donors and groups.
Her initial report filing of$400,000 in January was an eyeopener and Singas has so farraised more than $1million – aremarkable number for a firsttime candidate in a district at-torney’s race.
Her Republican opponent,Kate Murray has raised$300,000 and brought over$350,000 from her previouscampaign.
“I outraised her 3-1 and sheis a politician who is well-en-trenched and well-known…ithas given our campaign a lotmomentum and people are veryexcited about this race.
too.”August is a relatively slow
month but she will go to a lotoff community events, a lot ofparades, church visits, walkingthe boardwalk at Long Beach –“anything I can do to get myname out there, to get peopleto see me, to talk to people.”
Around Labor Day they shiftinto high gear, and the followingtwo months will pass veryquickly thought Election Day onNovember 3.
ALL IN THE FAMILY“I bring the kids with me a
lot because I think of this as afamily affair – we’re all in it to-gether. My daughter was at the
campaign office yesterday andshe helped as much as she can.
The 12-year-old twins Demeand Billy, love sports and musicrespectively – the latter is alsoathletic – and while so far nei-ther has been bitten by the po-litical bug, they don’t resent giv-ing over some of their summervacation time, “because I’vemade them a part of it, to theextent that I can – I’ve alwaysdone that. As a working momyou incorporate your kids’ pres-ence wherever you can becauseyou want to spend the time withthem.”
“I wanted to be with them,but I want them to experienceit; it’s something that’s really dif-ferent… it’s opened up theirworld a little bit,” – and it’s fun.
Her husband, Theo Apos-tolou, plays mainly a supportiverole and his affable presence onthe campaign is appreciated bythe people who enjoy talking tohim.
“He's my biggest cheerleader.Once you get him started hedoesn’t stop talking about meand my accomplishments,” shesaid, adding that he has sent outfundraising emails that havebeen well-received.
“He is a very smart man andhas helped out in our campaigndecisions, too.”
The July fundraising filing isthe campaign’s most recentmilestone and the next impor-tant date is the Democratic Pri-mary on September 10 – whichis a Thursday – when she facesMichael Scotto, formerly withthe Manhattan DA’s office.
After that, they hope theywill be focusing on a debate thatmost likely will place in October. SIMPLE, CLEAR MESSAGEShe told TNH things have
gone smoothly and as expected,“The messaging in pretty simpleand it hasn’t changed: It’s achoice between a career politi-cian and a career prosecutor.That’s defined this race fivemonths ago and will continueto define it…the message makessense and people intuitively un-derstand that they want some-one in the top law-enforcementposition who knows the positionand is trained to do the job.”
Among the media programsshe has appeared on is JohnCatsimatidis’ Roundtable on970/AM radio, where she saidMurray "doesn't know her wayaround" a criminal courtroom,”and that she has "not practicedlaw in over 15 years, and shehas never, ever been a prosecu-tor."
Madeline Singas’ Campaignfor Nassau DA ImpressesContinued from page 1
At the Kimisis Greek Orthodox Church in the Hamptons, Admiral James Stavridis signs bookfor Margo Catsimatidis as her husband, John, looks on. Nearby are, Amb. Vasilios Philippou,Consul General of Cyprus, and Kimisis’ Protopresbyter, Fr. Alexander Karloutsos.
Father Constantine Lazarakis presents the featured speaker,Admiral James Stavridis with the gift of a sculpted icon, whichhe and his wife Laura will be sure to cherish.
TNH Staff
TORONTO, CANADA – TheTaste of the Danforth is an an-nual tradition among Toronto’sGreeks. Approximately 1.6 mil-lion people gather for three daysin August along Danforth Av-enue in the city’s GreekTownsection of food, music, andbreaking world’s records. To thelatter event, records shatteredin years past included theWorld’s largest Zorba dancegroup, the world’s largest yogurtbowl, and other such Greek-re-lated feats.
These records are not merelyspeculative: the Danforth eventswere measured against previousrecords (the Zorba dance in Vo-los, the yogurt bowl in SouthAfrica).
Contest winners win prizessuch as a trip to Greece, and theproceeds from the contest entryfees go to charity. As the Festivalsponsor, the Danforth BusinessImprovement Association (BIA)states, “the Festival combinesexquisite food, culture and mu-sic with extraordinary philan-thropy to benefit the local com-munity. What most people don’trealize is that the profits fromthe Festival are donated back tothe community by the Greek-Town on the Danforth BIA.
Over the years, GreekTown
has donated more than $2 mil-lion to Toronto East GeneralHospital. In 2012, GreekTowncommitted to a further$500,000 to enhance pediatriccare. This year, GreekTownmade a commitment to a jointhospital project between SickKids and a children’s hospital inGreece – Agia Sofia.”
The main sponsor is KrinosFoods, whose home base is inNew York, but which has opera-tions in other North American
cities, including Toronto.One record The Taste has
held for years is being thelargest street festival in Canada,easily drawing over 1.5 millionper year, when 22 years ago itbegan with about 5000 people.
On its Facebook page, theTaste gave “a huge thank you toeveryone who made it anothergreat success! A special thankyou to Krinos Foods Canada, theGreektown on the Danforth BIA
President of the Board Constan-tine Voidonicolas, our sponsors,business members and volun-teers who make the festival pos-sible year after year! A specialshout out also goes to TorontoPolice Service for ensuring thefestival's safety year in and yearout!
But most of all, thank you toall of you - the visitors - whomake all of the work and effortall worthwhile. Until next year!”
Over 1.5 Million visit Krinos’ Taste of the Danforth
n THRu OCT. 31CHICAGO, IL – The NationalHellenic Museum, 33 S HalstedSt., in Chicago, pays tribute tothe legendary actor and artistAnthony Quinn, who brought tolife one of the greatest and mostlife-affirming literary charactersof our time – Zorba the Greek.Quinn’s creative genius is show-cased in an exhibition of morethan 80 of his emotive paintingsand powerful sculptures. Visi-tors will see reflections ofQuinn’s life experiences and theimpact of his long friendshipwith the Greek people.
n THRu OCT. 3TARPON SPRINGS, FL – Nightin the Islands returns to theworld-famous Sponge Docks ofTarpon Springs for 2015! Satur-days, 6-11PM: Sept. 12, andOct. 3. A free event of Greekmusic, dancing, and dining! Andwe will offer an hour of freeGreek dance lessons by the Lev-endia Dance Troupe from 6-7PM.
n AuGuST 14-16DRACUT, MA – The Assumptionof the Virgin Mary Greek Ortho-dox Church, 1160 MonmouthRoad in Dracut, invites you toits Annual Grecian Food FestivalFriday, Aug. 14 through Sunday,Aug. 16. Noon-11PM Friday andSaturday, Noon-9PM Sunday.Free parking and admission. Un-der the big tents, rain or shine.For more information: (978)957-6051 or assumptionchurch-dracut.org.
n AuGuST 20-23EAST PITTSBURGH, PA – Joinus for Greekburgh! The 32ndYpapanti (Presentation ofChrist) Annual Festival in GreekPittsburgh! Thursday, Aug. 20through Sunday Aug. 23. Thu-Sat: 11AM-10PM, Sun: 11AM-7PM. At the Olympia Hall, 1575Electric Avenue in East Pitts-burgh. For additional informa-tion, please call (412) 824-9188.
n AuGuST 21-22MONESSEN, PA – The St. Spyri-don Greek Orthodox Church,1207 Grand Boulevard in Mon-essen, invites you to join our cel-ebration at our Annual GreekFestival on Friday, Aug. 21 andSaturday, Aug. 22 11AM-10PM.Our Festival is part of the 47Greek festivals throughout thePittsburgh area this summer,and the last of them to takeplace in August.
n AuGuST 21-23ANCHORAGE, AK – The HolyTransfiguration Greek OrthodoxChurch, 2800 O’Malley Road,Anchorage, AK 99507, invitesyou to join them for their annualGreek Festival. The festival willbe on Friday, Aug. 21 and Sat-urday, Aug. 22 from 11AM to10PM and Sunday Aug. 23 from11AM to 6PM. Admission isfree. There will be live music,cooking demonstrations, churchtours, and Greek dance perfor-mances. Bring the kids, as thereis many fun activities for themtoo. Parking is free on churchgrounds and across the street.Free shuttle parking is alsoavailable. See festival websitefor more details.
RENO, NV – Be Greek for theday at the annual 2015 RenoGreek Festival. Authentic Greekcuisine crafted by the membersof the St. Anthony’s Greek Or-thodox Church, 4795 LakesideDrive in Reno. It infuses theneighborhood with scents oforegano, olive oil and lemon.Traditional Greek dance, music,desserts, and imports create aMediterranean atmosphere anda family friendly environment.Sharing the Greek culture withthe community for nearly 40years, The Reno Greek Festivalhas proven to be a signature cel-ebration in our hometown. Fri-day, Aug. 21: 5-10PM, Saturday,Aug. 22 12 Noon-10PM; Sunday,Aug. 23 11AM-3PM. For moreinformation, please contact theChurch at (775) 825-5365.
n AuGuST 28-30CARMEL, IN – The Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 3500W. 106th street in Carmel invitesyou to join them for their annualGreek Festival. The festival willbe on Friday, Aug. 28 from 4PMto 11PM and Saturday, Aug. 29from 11AM to 10PM and Sun-day Aug. 23 from 11AM to 4PM.Admission is free. There will belive music, food and pastries, a
guided church tour, and Greekdance performances. The Hel-lenic Dance Troup will be per-forming, as well as the Ormi Or-chestra. The whole family willenjoy the Children’s ActivityTent. Face painting, Greek flagtattoos, lollipop draw, braceletmaking, and guessing the num-ber of olives in a jar will be someof the fun everyone will enjoy.Make a Greek flag, an Olympiclaurel wreath to wear, and apostcard. A “Cell Phone Selfie”center will allow children to useprops to take pictures of them-selves in front of a backdrop onFriday and Sunday. There willbe a puppet show every 90 min-utes on Saturday only duringthe duration of GreekFest. Seefestival website for more details.
n AuGuST 29-30HONOLULU, HI – Aloha andYeia Sas! We invite you to joinus in our annual Greek Festival,to take place at Ala Moana Parkin Honolulu on Saturday, Aug.29 and Sunday, Aug. 30. Bothdays, Noon until 9PM. Generaladmission is $3, but activemembers of the U.S. militaryand children 11 and under getin for free! Also, if you wear atoga, you get in for just $1! Wehave our “Nisiotes” dancers ofour Sts. Constantine and HelenGreek Orthodox Cathedral en-tertaining you with varioustypes of traditional islanddances (the Greek islands, thatis!). There are three dancegroups: the adult group is theNisiotes (Islanders) Dancers,our middle group is the Ni-siotopoula (Young Islanders)and the Nisiopedea are the littleisland children. We are non-profit and depend on donationsto buy, repair, and clean cos-tumes. Our dancers are Greek,half Greek, part Greek, and non-Greek. What binds us togetheris our Orthodoxy and the loveof Folk dancing so we keep ondancing year after year!
n SEPTEMBER 5TOLEDO, OH – OPA! Join HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral for our 44th Annual Greek-American Festival, Sept. 5, 6 &7. Come and enjoy authenticGreek Food, Greek Pastries &Greek Dancing. Browse throughour Greek Boutique, Greek Cul-ture, Greek Language & Reli-gious Education Booths. Tourour beautiful Byzantine Cathe-dral. Attend the Greek Language& Culture Presentations, andwatch the Greek CookingDemonstrations.
n SEPTEMBER 16LEMONT, IL – There's nothinglike a day spent among friendsand colleagues in an informalsetting, especially as we enjoythe end of summer. MariyanaSpyropoulos, President�of theMetropolitan Water Reclama-tion District, is having a GolfOuting at the Gleneagles Coun-try Club,13070 McCarthy RoadLemont, IL. We hope you'll joinMariyanna at her first annualgolf outing, in memoriam of TedSpyropoulos, at GleneaglesCountry Club on Wednesday,Sept. 16. Join us as we take afew swings, enjoy a beautifulday on the course, and cap offeverything with relaxing cock-tails and food. Registrationopens at 8AM and the shotgunstart will be at 9AM. There willbe lunch on the course at noon.There will cocktails at 2PM fol-lowed by dinner at 3PM.
n OCTOBER 11LOS ANGELES, CA – By populardemand, Peggy Zina is comingto Los Angeles for a special en-gagement. Peggy will be per-forming live at Club Nokia, 800West Olympic Blvd, in Los An-geles. Peggy has a career whichhas lasted over 20 years withmany hits going multi-platinum.We are excited to present heralong with her band directlyfrom Greece for the only westcoast performance! Peggy willbe here Sun, Oct. 11 at 7PM andMon, Oct. 12 at 12 Noon. To gettickets call (877) 639-9715.
n NOTE TO OuR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service tothe Greek American community.All parishes, organizations andinstitutions are encouraged toe-mail their information regard-ing the event 3-4 weeks aheadof time, and no later than Mon-day of the week before theevent, to [email protected]
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TNH Staff
SARASOTA, FL – Khaleej Timesreported this week that Sharjahis all set to host the internation-ally acclaimed musical geniusYANNI CHRYSSOMALIS (popu-larly known simply by his firstname) on Nov. 6 at the Al MajazAmphitheatre in the heart ofKhalid Lagoon.
Then, in early 2016, Yanniembarks on a monthlong tour ofthe American South, particularlyin the Florida cities of Sarasota(Feb. 2), Jacksonville (Feb 3),Clearwater (Feb. 5), West PalmBeach (Feb. 6), Naples (Feb. 8),Tallahassee (Feb. 9), Orlando(Feb. 13), and Melbourne (Feb.14).
Yanni is a Greek-born Ameri-can composer and keyboardistwho was a leading figure in late20th-century new age music, acharacteristically nonarousinggenre of popular music, often en-tirely instrumental and used forrelaxation or in the cultural, artis-tic and tourism spheres in Shar-jah inspire the eagerly-awaitedconcert at a time when the ArabLeague is celebrating the Emirateas the Capital of Arab Tourismfor 2015, says the Khaleej Times.“To mark the crowning of Sharjahas the Arab Tourism Capital, AlMajaz Amphitheatre is lookingforward to hosting a wide arrayof art and cultural events andpopular international musicalperformances and concerts overthe next few months in order toshine the light on Sharjah's grow-
ing presence on the global art andcultural map.”
BEL AIR, CA – Greek-Ameri-can actress JENNIFER ANISTONhas wed again, this time to actorand long-time beau JUSTIN TH-EROUX, reported the Master Her-ald. “The couple exchanged vowsin front of more than 75 surprisedguests, as most of them had noidea they were in for a nuptialaffair. According to US Weekly,guests were told that the eventwas for Justin’s birthday party.The Tropic Thunder screenwriterturns 44 on August 10 which co-incidentally is also the date of thecouple’s engagement anniversary,says the Master Herald. TMZ also
reported “that a huge shed wasbuilt over the past week to con-ceal what was really going on atthe couple’s mansion and that noone was allowed to park near thearea. Judging by the amount ofsecrecy going on, the outlet hada hint that something was upwhen they spotted a wedding-themed cake and two puppet car-icatures earlier that day, they alsospotted an actual pastor with abible in hand walking into thehouse.” Master Herald also re-ported that Jennifer’s parentsweren’t in attendance despite thebride’s reconciliation with hermom last year after a long-stand-ing rift. Just like Rachel and Mon-ica in their hit TV comedy series
FRIENDS, the actress’ longtimefriend and co-star COURTENEYCOX served as maid of honorwhile Justin’s good pal and tattooartist Scott Campbell served asbest man. “The best part aboutJen and Justin’s marriage washow they remained clandestineabout it. For three years sincetheir engagement, the coupleseemed happier with their long-term fiancé label and what betterway to seal the deal when almosteveryone thought the pair was inno rush for marriage.”
COTTONWOOD, AZ – Thereis a Greek restaurant in Cotton-wood, AZ that not only has a dis-tinctive name, but also engagesin a distinctive – and educational– activity. ANCIENT PILLARS, afitting name for a Greek restau-rant, stands out a bit more thanthe traditional “Olympic” “Acrop-olis” “Santorini” “Aegean” andother words typically found on aHellenic establishment’s awning.What also renders Ancient Pillarsto be unordinary is the Greek his-tory trivia questions it posts onits website (Facebook page), “An-cient Pillars Greek Restaurant.”For instance: “Which sea sepa-rates Greece from Turkey andcontains the island of Crete?” and“On which Greek island wasPRINCE PHILIP born?” Thismonthlong contest (which re-cently ended but which featureda good deal of online traffic), re-wards the winner with a VIP card,all the while spreading knowl-edge about Greek history.
New Age star Yanni heads for the sands of the United ArabEmirates (the Arab world’s tourism capital) in November andthen to the sands of Florida’s two coasts in February.
HELLENIC HAPPENINGS FROM COAST TO COAST
COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
It's wall-to-wall Greeks at Taste of the Danforth, and other Torontonians being Greek for a day.
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COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015 5
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, DC – Impor-tant endeavors have a stream ofcauses, and the White Housemeeting between top adminis-tration officials and communityleaders on August 6 is no excep-tion.
While the details of the dis-cussion were off the record, TheNational Herald obtained theperspectives of a number of par-ticipants.
All noted it was a beginning,not an end – more meetings areexpected – and there signs animportant new chapter wasopened both in the community’srelations with Washington andin the way the community con-ducts its business.
After the phrase “first step,”the words spoken most fre-quently were “follow up.”
Asked about the next steps,Fr. Alex Karloutsos told TNH“that is open to the Administra-tion. They perceive this to be along-term relationship becausethey want to stand besideGreece as it goes through its dif-ficulties.”
A senior Obama Administra-tion official said the meetingwas about “how we can worktogether to help the governmentand people of Greece emergefrom the current crisis,” andeveryone TNH spoke to wasquite inspirited by Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden.
Real Estate Magnate GeorgeMarcus told TNH, “I was as veryimpressed with the administra-tion, They are on top of it, theyknow all the details, they arecommunicating on all sides anddoing everything they can tohelp Greece, and the Greek-Americans were very knowl-edgeable and engaged, whowould love the chance to showyoung Greeks.”
Asked if anyone suggestedgetting Greek Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras to call for a“tough love” summit of commu-nity business leaders so he couldhear from them what they needto see before investing in
Greece, Marcus said, “It was notdiscussed exactly in those terms,but people like (former Califor-nia State Treasurer Phil) An-gelides and I think MichaelDukakis have had hour-longtelephone conversations withTsipras,” already.
He said his contribution tothe discussion was to say, “Thismeeting is all well and good …but the only way this is goingto work is if we have a workinggroup of three or four Greek-American leaders and a workinggroup of administration peopleand we meet monthly or evenweekly and we get things pro-gressing in Greece and the EU.”
He said he will email someof the participants and urgethem to form a three-persongroup to meet on a biweekly ba-sis “to see what we can do andcommunicate to the Diaspora onwhat they can do.”
When there’s an agreementbetween the administration andthe coordinating group of theDiaspora, they can delegate dif-ferent things to different people… I am sure they are all willingto help – as long as there issome realistic movement on theGreek restructuring.” Anothercommon refrain.
Former Ambassador EleniTsakopoulos Kounalakis said the
White House has been engagedand concerned from the begin-ning but the timing of the meet-ing was important because“things seem to be hitting thecritical point now.”
The deal Greece is currentlynegotiating with the Troika re-mains onerous and not focusedenough on economic stimulus,Kounalakis said, adding, “It’sclear … there is going to haveto be some way to make thatagreement sustainable … thatwill be in the form of debt re-structuring.”
Marcus, a fellow Californian,told TNH that while everyoneknows the deal is flawed, “TheGreeks must show they are se-rious about putting their housein order.”
Kounalakis also made an ap-peal to the people who were notin the room but whose effortsare also crucial.
“As the crisis deepens, sodoes the need for people to getoff the sidelines and get in-volved and help on the human-itarian side and help identifyU.S. government programsavailable to stimulate the Greekeconomy and provide humani-tarian aid," she said.
She said Greek-Americanscan help by exploring invest-ment opportunities and donat-
ing to effective humanitarian or-ganizations.
She noted there are State De-partment programs for sendingout experts to train young en-trepreneurs, and to show civilservants how to be more respon-sive to citizens’ needs.
John Galanis, AHEPA’sSupreme President, was unableto attend, but lent the organi-zation’s full support, sendingAndrew Kaffes to represent him.
“AHEPA sincerely appreciatesthe high level of engagement byUnited States government offi-cials to address the crisis inGreece and its outreach to Capi-tol Hill and the community onthe crisis,” said Kaffes, who of-fered policy suggestions thatcould possibly assist withtourism and humanitarian aid.
“The discussion itself wasstraightforward, insightful, andsubstantive, and I was encour-aged to learn about certain issueareas the administration is look-ing to address, particularly mi-gration,” Kaffes said.
Angelides said, “The meetingwas very productive…it lastedmore than two hours and therewere high-level people, so it wasvery clear that the recovery andstability of Greece alliance arevery important to this adminis-tration and all of us are grateful
for the efforts of the Presidenton behalf of Greece.
“The purpose of the meetingwas to talk about how we canwork together to assist Greeceon the road to economic recov-ery ... an important first step –not an end – a beginning of aprocess and we committed our-selves regularize our communi-cations,” with the White Houseand among the Greek-Ameri-cans.
“It will be an ongoing dia-logue and process,” he said, “amutual commitment that wewould find a practical way towork together rather than justhave one meeting and to movefrom discussion to concreteprogress.”
Angelides said with urgency,“We have to sort out in the nextfew days” who would be thesmall group interfacing with thegovernment’s working group.
Hotelier and developerGeorge Tsunis, who is also a topDemocrat fundraiser, said that,
“Clearly the administrationwas seeking input from the Di-aspora on what assistance theU.S. could give Greece to helpthem carry out economic re-forms and help with the eco-nomic stability of Greece, in-cluding efforts to encouragemore private investment in
Greece … we must go forwardnow and identify five people tobe a steering committee.”
Angelides summed up theparticipants’ feelings when hesaid, “The fact the Vice Presi-dent of the United States, andthe President’s Chief of Staff,with all they have on their plate… carved out the time for anextensive conversation showsthe administration caresdeeply,” is impressive.
“Greece matters to theUnited States, and not just on ageopolitical basis but on a his-torical basis – it’s a reminderthat it’s a very special relation-ship,” and then emphasized:“It’s time to get our act togetherand begin to develop plans andthen engage in ways that areproductive for Greece and itseconomy.”
Imagination goes a long way,and the Diaspora’s top businessperson thrive on innovation. “Ayear ago the State Departmentasked me to go to help Greekbusiness people,” Marcus toldTNH about an event he at-tended. “It was really remark-able . I spoke to 25 differentpeople in different industries.”
Marcus is one of many com-munity leaders who would loveto show young Greeks how cap-italism is supposed to work.
Greek Talks at the White House: Enthusiasm is Tempered with Realism
something like thattogether...we're going to be fol-lowing up."
Attorney Nicholas Karambe-las, representing the AmericanHellenic Institute (AHI), wasasked if there were suggestionsabout forming working groupsand perhaps a coordinatingcommittee. "I hope that's whatthey do, but there was no dis-cussion about that in the meet-ing...someone's going to takethe ball,” he replied.
Karambelas, who is an inter-national trade expert, broughtup items such as the need for abilateral investment treaty be-tween Greece and the UnitedStates. "We don’t have one,” hesaid, and added that the taxtreaty is obsolete. He noted,however, that is just a small partof what can be done if there is acomprehensive effort."
Participants like industrialistDennis Mehiel said the meetingwas constructive. Andy Man-atos, Founder and President ofthe Coordinated Effort of Hel-lenes, summarized how im-pressed the participants werewith the vice president. "With-out exception, never has a therebeen a vice president with onetenth the knowledge of the de-tails and subtleties of issues likethis for Greece [as Joe Biden].”
Participants said it felt as ifBiden was "one of us," as hetried to help them plot a coursefor how Greek-Americans canhelp Greece.
Biden expressed optimismthat the implementation of re-forms will yield great new ben-efits for Greece.
Congressman John Sarbanesand National Security CouncilSenior Director for European Af-fairs, Charles Kupchan,prompted by Biden, suggestedthe establishment of an intera-gency government workinggroup with the involvement ofmembers of the community,whose substantial intellectualand financial resources could beutilized.
The Administration officialsnoted they have been speakingwith the Overseas Private In-vestment Corporation (OPIC)about promising investments inGreece.
All agreed the endeavors willtake time, but that the meetingwas a very good start.
A senior Administration offi-cial, in communication withTNH, said "Vice President JoeBiden and Chief of Staff DenisMcDonough met with leaders ofthe Greek-American communityat the White House on how wecan work together to help thegovernment and people ofGreece emerge from the currentcrisis. National Security Councilofficials also participated. In the
meeting, the Vice President andMr. McDonough reaffirmed theUnited States' strong commit-ment to the people of Greece,emphasized the important eco-nomic and geopolitical interestsat stake, and thanked attendeesfor their support and leadership.They also underscored U.S. sup-port for a path forward for
Greece that allows a return togrowth within the Eurozone,which is in the best interests ofGreece, Europe, the UnitedStates and the global economy.”
TNH was informed that theWhite House initiative has al-ready stimulated discussions forgreater focus and coordinationamong community leaders.
Mike Manatos summed upthe spirit of the gathering: “Aswas made clear from the open-ing remarks of White HouseChief of Staff Denis McDo-nough, the U.S. government iseager to work with us to createconcrete economic results inGreece. This was not just an ex-change of ideas, but the begin-ning of a new effort to go fromthe theoretical to the very con-crete."
Hellenic American Leader-ship Council (HALC) ExecutiveDirector Endy Zemenides, saidit was beyond constructive. Hewas very impressed with the"high level of U.S. attention.”
The participants also in-cluded: George Marcus, Art Ag-nos, Phil Angelides, Exec, Direc-tor of The Hellenic InitiativeMark Arey, Alexi Giannoulias,Fr. Alex Karloutsos representingArchbishop Demetrios, GeorgeTsunis, Dr. Anthony Limberakis,Mo Owens, representing Georgeand Nick Logothetis, AngeloTsakopoulos, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, and Andrew Kaffes,representing AHEPA.
Among the U.S. officialswere: Deputy National SecurityAdvisor for International Eco-nomic Affairs Caroline Atkins,Special Assistant to the Presi-dent for International Econom-
ics Rory MacFarquhar, State De-partment Director for SouthernEuropean Affairs Phil Kosnett,White House Business CouncilDirector Diana Doukas, SenateForeign Relations CommitteeRanking Member Senator BenCardin (D-MD), Senate EuropeSubcommittee Chairman RonJohnson (R-WI), and Represen-tative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
A number of the participantssaid they were looking forwardto the Stand With Greece Sum-mit on Capitol Hill Sept. 30-Oct.2, which is being organized bythe Hellenic Caucus, which Mal-oney Co-Chairs with Represen-tative Gus Bilirakis.
Community Leaders Meet with VP Biden, et al., Deem it “a Good Start”
Leaders of the Greek-American community gathered at theWhite House on August 6 to meet with Vice President JoeBiden and other U.S. officials, to discuss the best course of ac-tion to resolve the crisis in Greece.
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Continued from page 1
California real estate magnateGeorge Marcus
Former California State Trea-surer Phil Angelides
Hotelier and DeveloperGeorge Tsunis
Eleni Kounalakis was U.S. Am-bassador to Hungary
John Galanis, Supreme Presi-dent of AHEPA
a b
Demetrios Galanis(1879-1966) wasan early twentiethcentury greek artistalso known for hisillustrative woodengravings inbooks, professor atthe Ecole Des BeauxArts in Paris and a lifelong memberof the AcademieFrancaise.Ιn the 1920s D.G.,friend of Picasso,
exhibited alongsidesuch major figures of modern art asPicasso, Matisse,Braque, Chagalle,Criss Dufy in Paris,Brussels, London,New York.His works areexhibited atLondon's TateGallery and soldthrough the largestEnglish auctionhouses.
Τηλ.: (604) 813 4941 Γεωργία ή Ελένη • [email protected]
Authentic painting by Demetrios Galanis, Female Nude, 24X30,
circa beginning 20th century.
It is being sold by a family friend.
Αυθεντικό έργο του Δημητρίου Γαλάνη,
nude γυναικεία φιγούρα
σε pastel, διάσταση 24x30, αρχές του 20ού αιώνα,
πωλείται από οικογενειακό φίλο, για $ 14,000.
Original manuscripts/notebooks of the Iliad translated into Modern Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis(author of «Zorba») in 1948, sold as a set or individually from $ 26 - 33,000 each.
OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
DEATH NOTICES
n BALSAMO, GEORGIAFREEPORT, IL (from the Journal-Standard, published on Aug. 6)– Georgia James Balsamo, 89, ofFreeport, passed away peacefullysurrounded by her family on Sun-day, Aug. 2, at Liberty VillageManor Court. She was born Jul.25, 1926, in Freeport, IL, thedaughter of Evagelia (Petropou-los) and James (Chiamopoulos)Chiames, who were born in PianaGreece. They were members ofthe Holy Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch in Freeport. Georgiagraduated from Freeport HighSchool in 1944. When her oldestchild graduated from high schooland was headed off to college,she decided to start attendingclasses at Highland CommunityCollege at the age of 41, and wasjust two credits shy of receivingher Associates Degree. Threeyears later she learned how todrive for the first time at the ageof 44. When she was 79, she trav-eled to Greece for the first timewith family members where shewas able to talk to the locals inAthens, Santorini and Mykonos,and learned about her heritage.It was a trip of a lifetime for her.She and Nicholas "Nick" Balsamowere married on May 8, 1948,in Dixon, IL. They were marriedfor 40 years and raised five chil-dren until his death on Aug. 14,1988. She is survived by her fivechildren, Martin (Marian) ofFayetteville, NC, James (Carol)of Hermitage, TN, Anthony(Bobbi), Frances (Tess) (Kevin)Dahm and Phillip (Elaine) ofFreeport; eight grandchildren,Christina (Dan) Heir, Apex, NC,Michelle (Kirk) Walden, Fayet-teville, NC, Kelly (Dana) Kasten,Mesa, AZ, Stacy (John) Ander-son, Katy (Jay) Luy, both of Wes-ley Chapel, FL, Nicole Dahm,Freeport, Colton Balsamo, Madi-son, WI, Holly Balsamo, Freeport;and step-grandchild, JeffreyDahm, Madison, WI; 8 great-grandchildren; 4 step-greatgrandchildren; her brothers chil-dren and their families; numer-ous aunts, cousins, nieces andnephews; and her close friend,Don Sala. Preceding her in deathwere her parents; her brother,George Chiames; her husband;and her in-laws. Georgia was aloving mother, grandmother andfriend and enjoyed helping oth-ers. Not one to sit still, she led anactive life raising her 5 childrenand working 3 different jobs untilher death. She started in therestaurant business at the age of13, working with her parents atthe Freeport Lunch Restaurantfrom 1939 to 1948, and then atthe Chiames Café from 1949 to1961. She had been employed atDon's Oasis for the past 67 years(1948 - 2015) along with teach-ing the "Applied Food Sanitation"class at Highland CommunityCollege for the past 36 years(1978 - 2014), and worked atLiberty Village for the past 14years (2000 - 2014). She wasalso mentioned in a book (page19) written by Bill McGraneabout Alan Page, (All Rise, TheRemarkable Journey of AlanPage), "He was inspired by an 81year old waitress named Georgia,who he met during a visit toFreeport when he stopped atDon's Oasis. Who sees the big pic-
ture and their place in it? Godknows, Georgia out in Freeportgets its, that's a start right there!"Funeral Services to be held at10:30AM, Monday, Aug. 10, atthe Holy Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch, 607 W. Galena Ave.,Freeport. A memorial has beenestablished for the Holy CrossGreek Orthodox Church inFreeport.
n DANES, GEORGE C. ALBANY, NY (from the AlbanyTimes Union, published on Aug.6) – George Charles Danes, 75,of Albany, died peacefully athome on Aug. 4, surrounded byhis loving family. The son ofCharles and Garafalia Danes, hewas born Mar. 3, 1940, in Albany.He was a proud graduate of Al-bany Academy for Boys andFranklin and Marshall Collegeand served as a sergeant in theU.S. Marine Corps. He was a de-voted parishioner of St. SophiaGreek Orthodox Church, wherehe served on the board. He wasan active volunteer and servedon numerous other boards, in-cluding Albany Memorial Hospi-tal and The Albany Academy. Hewas a lifetime member of theAmerican Hellenic EducationalProgressive Association (AHEPA).After returning from militaryduty, he taught and coached atthe Albany Academy for Boys.His career as an investment ad-visor began at Spencer Trask inthe mid-1970s and spannedmore than 40 years. He workedfor First Albany, Merrill Lynch,Cowen and Company, SocietyGeneral and ultimately with theHudson River Investment Groupat Morgan Stanley, where he wasa senior vice president. He lovedhis work and considered his Mor-gan Stanley colleagues andclients his family. Time spent withhis family, children and grand-children was precious to him. Heloved to entertain and share goodfood, wine, music, and dancingwith family and friends. A life-time athlete and passionate left-handed golfer, he could often befound on the golf course afterwork or on the weekend, swing-ing a club and offering advice tofriends on their swing. Georgewas an avid reader, especially ofhistory, and always had a bookin his hand. During his treat-ments, he relaxed with a bookand loved to share what he hadread. He loved to travel to Eu-rope, especially Greece, and theisland of Lesbos where his familyoriginated. Traveling to golf des-tinations all over the world washis other joy. George came froma restaurant family and was pas-sionate about the business. Hewas owner of the Gateway Dinerin the late 1970s. His lifelongdream of owning a Greek restau-rant was fulfilled seven years agowith the opening of AthosRestaurant. He was at the restau-rant on a daily basis, and tendedto every aspect of the business.He was known by many as themayor of Athos. He greeted everypatron as if they were his dearestfriend. He always said "philoxe-nia," (enter a stranger, leave as afriend) was the motto. The staffat Athos became his extendedfamily and allowed his dream tocontinue despite his illness. Hegreeted everyone with a smileand a bear hug. When you werein his presence, he made you feelas though you were the most im-portant person on Earth. If any-one had a need George had ahelping hand. He is survived byhis wife, Dr. Sophia Socaris; sons,
Dr. Stratton (Elizabeth) and Dr.Christopher (Jessica); grandchil-dren, Alexander Scavo, Emma,George Stratton, and WilliamDanes and George Joseph andCharlotte Danes; sister, Mary(James) Sokaris and many lovingnieces, nephews and godchildrenwho called him Nouno George.He was predeceased in May 2014by his beloved daughter, Eliza-beth Danes; and also by his niece,Christina Sokaris. The familywould like to thank the staff atthe Albany Medical Center SICUwho cared so compassionatelyfor George over the past year thatthey, too, were like family toGeorge. He couldn't walk downthe hall without staff huggingand kissing him. The attentionand affection he received whilehospitalized sustained George inhis final days. Contributions maybe made to the Albany MedicalCenter SICU Family Fund. Thefamily would also like to thankDr. Makenzi Evangelist for hercompassionate care. George'sstruggle with cancer and his pass-ing were made easier because ofher. Funeral services will be heldSaturday, Aug. 8, at 11AM at St.Sophia Greek Orthodox Church,440 Whitehall Road, Albany. Thefamily will receive relatives andfriends on Friday from 3PM to9PM at the church with Trisagionmemorial service at 8PM. Inter-ment to take place in GracelandCemetery, Albany.
n DANGLES, MARY M. LAGRANGE PARK, IL (from theChicago Sun- Times, publishedon Aug. 7) – Mary M. Dangles(nee Manos) Of Lagrange Park,passed away peacefully on Tues-day, Aug. 4, with her belovedhusband at her side. Devotedwife of 43 years to Christ A. Dan-gles, who affectionately calledher "Cookie". Preceded in deathby her beloved parents, Rebeccaand James "Demosthenes"Manos; sister, Stella (Tom)Greven and brother, George J.Manos. Dear daughter-in-law ofthe late Avangelos (late Vassiliki)Dangles; loving sister-in-law toSophia (late Peter) Skoubis,Demetra (late George) Mannos,Kay (late Tom) Dangles and pre-ceded in death by Catherine (Pe-ter) Panos, John (Rose) Dangles,and Tim Dangles. Mary wasadored like a mother by her twonieces, Annette (John) Vranas,Rebecca (Tony) Petropoulos andwas a doting auntie/grandma totheir children, Paul, her belovedGodson (Diane) Vranas, Tom (Al-lison) Vranas and Nick and Ste-fanie (her political confidant)Petropoulos and Baby John PaulVranas; dearest aunt of the lateNicholas Panos, Georgene (lateRobert) Linton, Angie (Charlie)Breier, Dena (Peter) Spathis,Georgia (Rev. Charles) Lyons, Va-lerie (Michael) McNally, Joyce(Ralph) Ruggiero, Yvonne (Rick)Bowman, Gigi (David) Lenef,Steve (Ellen), Tom (Denise),George (Karen) and Jim (Karen)Mannos, as well as her many lov-ing great-nieces and nephews,cousins and dear friends. Marywas born and raised in Chicagowhere she attended Ogden Ele-mentary and Amundsen HighSchools. She was a devotedGreek Orthodox woman and be-gan her faith journey at the An-nunciation Greek OrthodoxCathedral of Chicago. After hermarriage, Mary became an activemember of the Holy ApostlesGreek Orthodox Church inWestchester where she was amember of the Ladies Philopto-
chos Society. She was a consum-mate professional, working in thefederal government for the De-partment of Housing and UrbanDevelopment (HUD) in Chicagofor 36 years, advancing to the po-sition of Legal Financial Officer.In addition, to Mary's love of fam-ily, friends and country, she andChrist traveled the world includ-ing visiting her many dearcousins and relatives inAchladokambos and Argos,Greece. She especially enjoyedthe annual reunions of the USSBirmingham, where Christ wasstationed in WWII. Mary will beremembered for her sparklingsmile, positive attitude and kind-ness. Visitation Friday, Aug. 7,4:00PM to 8:00PM at Chapel HillGardens West Cemetery & Fu-neral Home, 17w201 RooseveltRoad, Oakbrook Terrace, IL60181. Visitation Saturday, Aug.8 from 9:30AM to 10:00AM atthe Holy Apostles Greek Ortho-dox Church, 2501 S. Wolf Road,Westchester, IL 60154 followedby the funeral service at10:00AM Interment Chapel HillGardens West. In lieu of flowers,donations to the Rev. William S.Chiganos Scholarship Fund, c/oHoly Apostles Greek OrthodoxChurch would be appreciated.May her memory be eternal!
n KOuROS, GEORGE C. MUNSTER, IN (from the Times,published on Aug. 9) – GeorgeC. Kouros, 91, of Munster, passedaway on Saturday, Aug. 8. He issurvived by son, Chris (Jenny)Kouros of Munster; daughter,Joan (John) Kappas of Plainfield,IL; grandchildren: Georgette (Ja-son) Beatty of Carmel, IN; Angelo(Victoria) Kappas of Winfield, IL;George (Samantha) Kouros ofMunster; Jim (Megan) Kappas ofPlainfield, IL; Candice (Austin)Logue of Munster; and George(Kate) Kappas of Lemont, IL; andgreat grandchildren: AdelineLogue, Grace Kappas, John Kap-pas, Jane Kappas, and CharlotteBeatty. Also survived by siblings:Gus (Bessie) Kouros, Eleni An-gelopoulos, Dina Trakas, andGeorgia (George) Dimopoulos, aswell as many nieces andnephews. Preceded in death byloving wife, Georgia; parentsChristos and Giannoula Kouros;brother, Pete Kouros; sister-in-law, Joan Kouros; brother-in-lawAndrea Trakas; and brother-in-law; Pete Angelopoulos. Georgewas born in Nestani, Greece, in1924 and came to the UnitedStates in 1955. Known as"Mikros," "Big Shot," and "PappouBuddy," he was a respectedrestaurant owner in NorthwestIndiana for decades, a memberof St. George Greek OrthodoxChurch, and beloved by all whoknew him. He was especiallyproud of his grandchildren andgreat grandchildren, and wasfond of saying "I'm a rich guy - Ihave six grandchildren!" He alsooften declared that "anybodynamed George is the best!" andadvised, "Don't trust nobody." Inlieu of flowers, please make do-nations to the St. George GreekOrthodox Church Memorial Fundor Hospice of the Calumet Area.Funeral services will be held at10:00AM on Tuesday, Aug. 11,directly at St. George Greek Or-thodox Church, 528 W. 77thAve., Schererville.
n LISSAuER, ATHANASIASAN FRANCISCO, CA (from theSan Francisco Chronicle, pub-lished on Aug. 16) – Athanasia"Sia" Lissauer passed away on
Aug. 2. She was born in SanFrancisco on Aug. 25, 1923, Siawas the daughter of Christos andPolyteme Mardakis, immigrantsfrom Greece. She grew up onShafter Avenue and attended SanFrancisco public schools, gradu-ating from Commerce High. Herfather and uncle drove taxis andwould later own the Home CabTaxi Company. Sia had three sonsfrom her first marriage, all ofwhom survive her: Frank, Peter,and Chris Kanios. Sia is also sur-vived by her daughters-in-law,Alicia, Cynthia, and Melinda Kan-ios, along with three grandchil-dren: Nicholas Patrick, KristinaAthanasia, and Athanasia Lucin.In addition, she has two great-grandchildren: Sofia Athanasiaand Darcee Rose. Sia was prede-ceased by her brother John Mar-dakis of Marin County. Sia mar-ried Alexander Lissauer in 1972and enjoyed a loving marriagefor over 25 years. From this mar-riage, Sia is survived by a step-son, Jack Lissauer, a niece, CarolOlmert, and step-grandson MarkMcClenahan. She also leavesmany kind friends and caringstaff at The San Francisco Tow-ers. Sia was proud to be a SanFranciscan and lived each of her91 years in her beautiful city. Siapursued adult education with UCand USF extension programs forover thirty years and was an avidreader and follower of currentevents. Having personally expe-rienced the limitations placed ongirls and women from patriarchalattitudes earlier in her life, Siabecame a strong supporter ofwomen's rights. Sia also pridedherself on being a responsible cit-izen. She never missed voting inan election from the first vote shecast for FDR in 1944. Sia was thereigning matriarch of a smallfamily of Greek-Americans andwas a source of great love, adviceand kindness. She also wasknown to make the best baklava.Sia will be remembered for herstrong will, her love of family, hergenerosity, and her grace. Shewill be missed deeply, but will al-ways hold an honored place inthe history of her family. Memo-rial services will be private. Do-nations may be made to PlannedParenthood.
n NAHATIS, ALExANDER M. DANVERS, MA (from the Dan-
vers Herald, published on Aug.7) – Alexander Michael Nahatisof Danvers, formerly of Manches-ter-by-the-Sea, died on Aug. 4 af-ter a courageous battle with pan-creatic cancer. He was 56 yearsold. Alex was the beloved hus-band of Lisa Nahatis and proudand loving father of KatharineNahatis. Alex was Vice Presidentof Supply Chain Management atSanmina Corporation, where hedeveloped a reputation for nego-tiating win-win agreements anda strong work ethic. He gradu-ated from Manchester HighSchool in 1977 and from theBoston University School of Man-agement in 1981, where he metthe love of his life, Lisa in ac-counting class. He played offen-sive tackle on Manchesters 1976championship football team andserved as president of the studentcouncil. He was a life-long mem-ber of the Assumption of the Vir-gin Mary Greek Orthodox Churchof Ipswich, serving in his youthas head altar boy, and more re-cently on the Parish Council andAudit Committee. Alex enjoyedcompleting complex home im-provement projects, working inhis yard, fixing things, readingspy novels and sharing them withhis father-in-law, listening to clas-sic rock music, cheering onBoston sports teams, and enthu-siastically supporting any activityinvolving his daughter Kate, whowas his pride and joy. Alex par-ticularly loved to get away fromit all each summer at MadawaskaLake in Stockholm, Maine andenjoyed special trips to Greece,Seattle, Florida, Hawaii and St.John with Lisa and Kate. Alexwas the son of Helen (Contom-pasis) Nahatis and the lateMichael G. Nahatis of Manches-ter-by-the-Sea and son-in-law ofGaylen and Glenice Kelley ofMiddleton. He leaves behind hisbrothers Dean Nahatis of Melroseand Harry Nahatis of Brooklineand his brothers-in law Glen Kel-ley and his wife Leslie of Bedford,NH and Jon Kelley and his wifeLaura of Stoneham. He was theloving uncle of Zoe and AngelaNahatis, Bethany Belmonte andher husband Eric, Aidan Kelleyand his wife Katie, Alison Heidenand her husband Eric, Erin Kelleyand Meaghan Kelley and hisgreat niece Lucy Heiden. A fu-neral service was held on Satur-day, Aug. 8, at Assumption of theVirgin Mary Greek OrthodoxChurch in Ipswich. In lieu offlowers, memorial contributionsmay be made to the Assumptionof the Virgin Mary Greek Ortho-dox Church, PO Box 6, Ipswich,MA 01938, The Michael G. Na-hatis Scholarship Fund, 8 TappanStreet, Manchester, MA 01944 orThe Friends of Danvers Recre-ation, c/o Rail Trail, PO Box 165,Danvers MA 01923.
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days and dates of funerals,memorials, and other events di-rectly correspond to the originalpublication date, which appearsat the beginning of each notice.
NUUR URGENT MEDICAL CARE PLLC. Art. ofOrg. filed with the SSNY on 06/15/15. Office:Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of thePLLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail copy of process to thePLLC, c/o Getaw Worku Hassen, 40 West116th Street, New York, NY 10026. Purpose:For the practice of the profession of Medicine.
274571/17973
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274573/18796
NY Comfort and Style LLC. Art. of Org. filedw/SSNY 10/17/14. Office in Kings Co.SSNY designated for service of process andshall mail to Reg. Agent: US Corp. Agents,Inc, 7014 13th Ave. Ste. 202, Brooklyn, NY11228. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
274555/18796
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274553/11629
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274545/18796
ETI Empire Holdings, LLC, a domestic LLC,filed with the SSNY on 3/24/15. Officelocation: Kings County. SSNY is designated asagent upon whom process against the LLC maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC,162 Falmouth St., Brooklyn, NY 11235.General purpose.
274535/10709
Zavien Capital Management, LLC. App forAuth filed w/ SSNY 5/20/15. Formed in DE3/16/15. Office in NY Co. SSNY designatedagent for service of process and shall mail to:The LLC, 1133 Broadway Ste. 640, New York,NY 10010. Auth Officer: DE Div of Corps, POBox 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Anylawful activity.
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BWSF Developers Of NY LLC, a domesticLLC, filed with the SSNY on 5/14/15. Officelocation: Kings County. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom process against theLLC may be served. SSNY shall mail processto The LLC, 1274 49th St., Ste. 445,Brooklyn, NY 11219. General Purpose.
274536/10709
Notice of Formation of STRETHER CERAMICS,LLC. (DOM. LLC) Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY)on 05/20/15. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it may be served. SSNYshall mail copy of process to: Paul Dougherty,128 Cinton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. Pur-pose: Any lawful purpose.
274526/19602
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274518/18796
Notice of Formation of LIMITED LIABILITYCOMPANY RHD Electric, LLC (“LLC”). Articles of Or-ganization filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork (“SSNY”) on April/14/2015. NY officelocation: Nassau County. The SSNY has been desig-nated as agent of the LLC upon whom processagainst it may be served. The SSNY shall mail copyof process to: c/o RHD Electric, LLC, 237 Willard Av-enue, Farmingdale, NY 11369. Purpose: Any lawfulact or activity. Latest date upon which LLC is to dis-solve: No specific date.
274506/19576
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Greek-American community,pedagogy, culture, and, ofcourse, Greek Orthodoxy.
Ten years ago (October,2005), the Sts. Constantine andHelen community celebrated Fr.Byron’s 45 years there with amoving ceremony. At that point,as TNH reported, he had per-formed many thousands ofsacraments, including havingpresided over 1891 weddingceremonies, 3737 baptisms, and1914 funerals. He had alsomade, to that point, over 65,000visits to hospitals, retirementcommunities, and prisons.
The parish, founded in 1909,is one of the oldest in the UnitedStates, and Fr. Byron played akey role in keeping it united,strengthening it, and leading theschool to new heights, all cul-minating in a deserving celebra-tion in 2009 of its first century.
Strongly supporting himthroughout his accomplish-ments were his Presbytera Xan-thippe, and his children andgrandchildren, all of whommade him proud. His son Aris-totle is co-Founder of and a Se-nior Fellow at Fordham Univer-sity’s Orthodox Christian StudiesCenter, where he is the Arch-bishop Demetrios Professor inOrthodox Theology and Culture.
Father Alexander Karloutsos,who began his career at Sts.Constantine and Helen, ex-pressed to TNH his sorrow forthe loss of his friend and men-tor.
Fr. Byron Papanikolaou, Served Palos Hills for 55 YearsContinued from page 1
ABOVE: Father ByronPapanikolaou (FrontRow, L) proudly attendsanother graduation ofKoraes, the day schoolof the Sts. Constantineand Helen Parish inPalos Hills, which heserved for 55 years. RIGHT: Fr. Byron withhis beloved PresvyteraXanthippe, who withtheir children andgrandchildrensupported him throughall hisaccomplishments.
Alexiou. Antoniadi so quicklydeveloped an interest in astron-omy that by his late teens hewas already systematicallysearching the night skies with a3-inch (76-mm) refracting tele-scope. First in Constantinopleand later on the beaches of theisland of Prinkipo, the youngGreek began to compile detaileddrawings of the planets andother objects he observed. An-toniadi’s exceptional talent as adraftsman was immediately rec-ognized as he submitted hisdrawings to the Societe As-tronomique de France and theBritish Astronomical Associa-tion.
In 1893, the young Greekwas invited by (Nicholas)Camille Flammarion (1842-1925), to work at his private ob-servatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge,near Paris. Flammarion was oneof the world’s leading as-tronomers as well as the funder,in 1887, of the French Astro-nomical Society. Antoniadi pub-lished regularly in this society’sofficial bulletin L’astronomie.While Antoniadi was to earn areputation as a brilliant observerit is in his role as a publishingscholar upon which his interna-tional fame was to rest. Asidefrom French the young Greekwas fluent in English and regu-larly wrote for the Journal ofthe British Astronomical Associ-ation. Once in France Antoniadidevoted the rest of his life to thetelescopic observation of plane-tary surfaces.
Clearly Antoniadi was a well-respected colleague who wasread and listened to closely. Buthe was not initially a leadingfigure at the very center of thefield of cutting edge astronomi-cal debate. All that would comewith the international contro-versy over life on Mars.
Giovanni Virginio Schiapar-elli (1835-1910), an Italian as-tronomer was the director of theMilan observatory from 1862until, 1900, when he retired.Schiaparelli was the first to ob-serve the asteroid Hesperia
(1861) and is credited withidentifying the orbits of numer-ous comets and shooting stars.Such was Schiaparelli’s workthat he was awarded the presti-gious Lalande Prize of theFrench Academie des Sciencesin 1868. Today, Schiaparelli ismost known for his observationsand writings on the planet Mars.
Schiaparelli was not the firstastronomer to draw maps ofMars but he was the first to notespecific geographic featuressuch as mountain ranges, seas,islands, capes, straits and so on.More importantly Schiaparelliwas the first to systematicallyassign specific names to thesegeographic forms on his pub-lished maps. It was the transla-tion of the word canali, whichin Italian can mean either“channels” or “canals” thatcaused an international sensa-tion.
Percival Lowell (1855-1916),a wealthy businessman and in-tellectual, who founded and be-came the director of the LowellAstronomical Observatory inFlagstaff, Arizona, immediately,responded to the implications ofcanals on Mars. In 1906, Lowellpublished Mars and Its Canalsarguing that for these massivecanals to exist some intelligencemust be at work on the planetsurface (New York: Macmillan).
A charismatic individual and dy-namic public speaker PercivalLowell soon had the world sci-entific community and theworld press abuzz with his the-ories.
Antoniadi made his observa-tions from the Grand Lunette atMeudon to study Mars’s plane-tary oppositions between 1924and 1941. While much of Anto-niadi’ public life and work isdocumented his private life re-mains largely unknown. Curi-ously Antoniadi never officiallybelonged to the observatorystaff. He referred to himself sim-ply as the “astronome volontariea l’Obervatoire de Meudon” An-toniadi was a man who couldeasily have secured a positionin astromony literally anywherein the world. But he did notseem to have needed such em-ployment. On June 9, 1902, An-toniadi married Katherine Sev-astupulo, who is said to havebelonged to one of the leadingfamilies in Paris’s Greek com-munity. Curiously history doesnot now record how Antoniadimade his living, assuming thathe needed to do.
It is perhaps difficult for themodern Reader to fully compre-hend the degree of public re-sponse and interest in PercivalLowell’s assertion of the intelli-gent life on Mars. What would
otherwise have been dry acade-mic articles read and argued byonly a small circle of personsbecame the stuff of bannerheadlines in newspapers aroundthe world. The scientific debateon the true surface of Mars be-came one of the very first inter-national sensations of modernhistory.
At first, while at the Juvisy-sur-Orge observatory, Antoniadiwas a supporter of Lowell’swork. Yet, Antoniadi’s own on-going investigations and thepublications of his colleaguescaused him some considerablereflection. As William Sheehanhas noted in, The Planet Mars:A History of Observation andDiscovery, Antoniadi’s: “confi-dence in the whole network hadbeen badly shaken by the “dis-covery” by Lowell and his assis-tants of what Antoniadi referredto as “subjective” linear mark-ings on Mercury, Venus, and theJovian satellites. Whereas in1898 Antoniadi had stated that“despite the skepticism of sev-eral eminent authorities, I donot hesitate to say that the fa-mous canals of Mars have a trueobjective existence,” by 1902 hecharacterized his position as“agnostic” (Tucson: Universityof Arizona Press, 1996).”
Such was Antoniadi’s profes-sional accomplishments that no
less a figure than Henri Deslan-dres (1853-1948) the directorof the Meudon Observatoryplaced the Grand Lunette, then,as now the largest refractor tele-scope in Europe (and the thirdlargest in the world) fully at theGreek’s disposal. This led to arevelation. As Antoniadi’s wroteof his observations of Martiandeserts using the Grand Lunette,“[T]he soil of the planet thenappeared covered with a vastnumber of dark knots and che-quered fields, diversified withthe faintest imaginable duskyareas, and marbled with irregu-lar, undulating filaments, therepresentations of which wasevidently beyond the powers ofany artist. There was nothinggeometrical in all this, nothingartificial, the whole appearancehaving something overwhelm-ing natural about it.”
The ever-meticulous Anto-niadi soon realized that variousoptical effects were at play.Some involved the diffraction oflight by the Earth’s atmospherethat gave the illusion of spotson his telescope lens. Other’shad to do with the eye’s linkingof many tiny surface details intoapparently meaningful patterns.In time Antoniadi took the un-wavering position that, “Nobodyhas ever seen a genuine canalon Mars.” He rightly concluded
that the “completely illusorycanals” seen on Mars were, infact, irregular features on thatplanet’s surface. The entry onAntoniadi in the InternationalEncyclopedia of Astronomyflatly concludes, “he settled thecontroversy about the canals onMars (Patrick Moore, editor,New York: Orion Books, 1987).”
In 1930, Antoniadi pub-lished, La planete Mars, 1659-1929 (Paris: Hedrmann et Cie),which has been translated intoEnglish by Patrick Moore as ThePlanet Mars (Sheldon Devon,U.K.: Keith Reid, 1975). Muchhas been written about Anto-niadi. For those interested inlearning more about Antoniadi’scareer they can consult RichardJ. McKim’s, 1993, two part arti-cle, "The Life and Times of E.M.Antoniadi, 1870-1944. Part I:An Astronomer in the Making"(Journal of the British Astro-nomical Association 103: 164–170. Bibcode:1993JBAA..103..164M and Bib-code: 1993JBAA..103..219M). Aserviceable overview that hasextended passages on Anto-niadi’s career can be found inthe William Sheehan book al-ready mentioned.
Antoniadi has experiencedlasting fame within the scientificcommunity in yet another man-ner. No less than three geo-graphic sites on two planets andone moon are named after him.On our Moon there is the Anto-niadi Crater, on Mercury thereis the Antoniadi Dorsum, andon Mars there is the 381 km An-toniadi Crater, so named in1973. This means that quite lit-erally in our solar system moregeographic locations are namedafter Eugenios Mihail Ando-niadis than any other singleGreek in history. In like mannerModern Greek history will neverbe complete until figures suchas Antoniadi, an internationallyrecognized astronomer, on anequal footing with figures suchas Flammarion, Schiaparelli andLowell are factored into thewider flow of historical events.
FEATURETHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015 7
E.M. Antoniadi: World-Renowned Astronomer and Mapmaker of Mars
Craters on Mars and on the Moon were named after E.M. An-toniadi, the renowned Mars mapmaker who was born to Greek
parents in Constantinople. A ridge on the planet Mercury isalso named in his honor.
tourists from schools as well asfor the younger generation ofVlahokerasiotes [people fromVlahokerasia] living outside thevillage and abroad.” That com-mittee went house to house tolocate tools, costumes, diariesand other objects.
The idea of an actual museumwas abandoned after difficultiesin locating a space, but then re-vitalized two decades later. In2010, a committee tried again,but found that the logistics ofgathering items had becometougher than ever – as many his-toric items had been discarded.The logistics and cost of main-taining a physical collection alsoremained insurmountable.
A digital museum, on theother hand, was a much morefeasible option. So, for the pastfew years, a committee startedcollecting photos, videos and doc-uments. Petropoulos as well ascommittee members Angelos Bis-tolas, a retired elementary schoolteacher and former president ofthe village’s Athens association,Angeliki Katsafanas, Vlahokera-sia’s high school teacher, andMaria Kopitas, president of thelocal youth association, con-tributed materials from their ownsignificant personal collections.High school educator Anna Mar-tinou-Bistolas, veterinarian/sci-ence writer Stathis N. Chronisand this author also contributedto the project.
The idea was to establish botha permanent physical location forthe collection, with a computerand projector setup, as well as aweb-based version. While muchof the material is in Greek, basicinfo, such as captions as well asbiographical sketches of manyVlahokerasiotes abroad, will bein English, too.
HISTORICAL LINKSThe digital project is almost
there. With the aim of launchingthe web version this summer andthe physical version (most likelyto be housed in the villageschool) next summer, the teamis still gathering and cataloguingmaterials.
To date, the committee hascreated captions in both Englishand Greek for over 700 photos,as well as incorporated hyper-links to documents and videos.With the aim of telling the storyof the village from antiquity tothe present, the archival task isimmense.
Petropoulos explains: “Thematerials have been organizedinto over 20 categories, includ-ing, among others, the following:views of the village(landscape/built environment);local fruit trees; the villagechurches; the life cycle; the farm
fields; winter settlements; thresh-ing process; animal stocks;dough-based foods; the vine-yards; water sources; traditionalsoap-making; community activi-ties; the community school; theforest; activities of village associ-ations in Athens, U.S. and Aus-tralia; omogeneis [villagersabroad]; occupations; participa-tion in wars of 19th and 20thcenturies; village benefactors;and Vlahokerasiotes [people hail-ing from Vlahokerasia] in sci-ences, arts and letters, medicine,politics, business, and the folkarts (poetry, prose, music, paint-ing etc.), whether in Greece orabroad, whether living or dead.”
Highlighting daily village lifewill be an essential theme of themuseum. Says Petropoulos: “A
basic principle guiding the col-lection of photos was that theyhave to show the ‘actors’ engagedin some type of local village ac-tivity (for example, plowing,threshing, washing in thestreams, fetching water, workingin the lab or the office, making alocal product etc.). There was anexception to this principle as inthe case of ‘portraits’ or still pic-tures which included past gener-ations of villagers with traditionalcostumes or in some exceptionalcircumstances.” In rare circum-stances, photos from neighboringvillages are included to demon-strate certain customs or sharedvillage practices. The motion pic-ture formats range from silent 8and 16 mm film clips to more re-cent videos.
The museum’s document col-lection dates back to the 1800sand consists of village associationcharters, public work texts, foodrecipes and biographies alike.Among the historic treasures areevidence of villagers’ participa-tion in the Greek War of Inde-pendence and other major bat-tles, early marital contracts (withdowry details) and 19th-20thcentury wills. Genealogists willdelight in male birth records from1846 to 1878.
The committee isn’t snobbishabout the present, however.Notes Petropoulos: “However, la-beling the historical material as“treasures” does not mean thatthe more recent ones are bereftof value-especially for the futuregeneration of Vlahokerasiotes. ”The work will be ongoing ex-plains Petropoulos: “The Com-mittee will be open to receivingnew materials for the further ex-
pansion and enrichment of thecollection.”
The last five years, the mainchallenge of the museum com-mittee volunteers has been find-ing time from other activities toundertake the massive project.They sought materials in Vlahok-erasia, Athens and beyond, oftenvisiting people’s houses to obtainthem.
It’s been an international ef-fort, with research provided bypeople including John Kotsiopou-los, former president of the Vla-hokerasiotes Association in Sid-ney and Orestes Velisaris, formerpresident of the “Manthirean Ed-ucational Society”of Pittsburgh(“Adelfotis Vlahokerasioton”).Says Petropoulos, “They providedus not only with interviews, thehistory of the omogeneis associ-ations abroad but also with doc-uments and documentaries of vil-lage life.”
Terpsie Katsafanas, a thirdgeneration Greek-American fromPittsburgh with maternal roots inthe village, was valuable in point-ing out the 1963 publication“Viografia Xeniteias” by GeorgeP. Zeppos, a first-generation im-migrant born in Vlahokerasiawho settled in Pittsburgh duringthe first decade of 1900s. Thebook, says Petropoulos, “is anepic account of his occupationalstruggle for survival and successin the new land, as well as a tes-tament of his strong bonds withthe mother country.” An excerptwill be included in the digital mu-seum.
The project now lives in a
PowerPoint software presenta-tion, packed with references andhyperlinks. But the committeeaims to collectively purchase thehardware needed to set up themuseum’s physical installation inthe village, and are consultingwith the web designer of Distomovillage’s website www.distomo.grto put the museum content on-line.
APPEAL IN THE U.S. As the first phase of the pro-
ject concludes, something is miss-ing, however. Notes the museumproject coordinator: “We stillhave gaps in materials from com-patriots in the U.S.; the materialswe have collected are not com-mensurate with the scale of mi-gration from our village to theU.S.”
He makes an open appeal toThe National Herald’s readers:“We are certain that many of ourcompatriots (Vlahokerasiotes)and their descendants abroad(U.S., Australia, Canada etc.)have photo archives or docu-ments (dowry contracts, propertytransfers etc.) that pertain totheir ancestors. Also, we are cer-tain that the compatriots whohave visited the village from theU.S. and other countries alsohave valuable materials (photos,films, video etc.) that depict var-ious village activities. We are alsocertain that they have photos oftheir immigrant fathers or grand-fathers (at work, at a coffeehouse, or at a community event)as they made their first steps inadjusting to the new country. Fi-nally, we are also certain thatmany of our compatriots now inthe third, fourth or fifth genera-tion who claim descent from Vla-hokerasia have made their markin the host society, in variousfields of endeavors, and couldsend us the relevant documenta-tion (photo, CV and specimen oftheir work) for incorporation inthe Vlahokerasia Digital Collec-tion.”
The committee is seeking pho-tos, documents, biographies,books, articles, video clips, etc.pertaining to Vlahokerasia, earlyimmigrant life in the U.S. andother countries abroad, villageassociation activities abroad fromthe early immigrant period to thepresent, visits to Vlahokerasiafrom abroad and info about Vla-hokerasiotes who’ve made (ornow make) a mark in Arts & Let-ters, Sciences, Medicine, Law andPolitics, and Business. Here is thecontact info for any such materi-als/info: Dr. Nicholas P. Petropou-los, email: [email protected], mailingaddress: Dodecanesou 30, Athens11363, Greece.
As the project prepares tolaunch, virtual Vlahokerasiacould become an archival modelfor other Greek villages.
To Preserve its Traditional Heritage, an Arcadian Village Has Gone Digital
ALL HISTORY
Continued from page 1
Continued from page 1
1. The Vlahokerasia Digital Museum will include photos such asthis one, featuring Vlahokerasiotes from the village in the US.2. Maria Kopitas, member of the Vlahokerasia Digital MuseumCommittee, takes an interview from two members of the ChurchCommittee, Nikos Houhoulis (L) and Ioannis Zeppos (R) aboutthe history of the Church of the Annunciation (Koimisis tisTheotokou), Vlahokerasia, May 2015. 3. Dr. Anna Martinou-Bis-tolas, English Language and Literature and her husband, AngelosBistolas, exhibiting the materials they used to write a brief socialhistory of the village, Vlahokerasia, May 2015 4. Audiovisualmaterials such as clips from the video “24 Hours in the Village,”by this article’s author, will be part of the museum. 5. Dr. NikosPetropoulos, Sociologist, working with Angeliki Katsafanas onthe Vlahokerasia Digital Museum, August 2014
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a very good cook. In our family,in every generation, you havean exceptional cook. My grand-mother was a great cook. Mymother was a great cook. Kate-rina is the cook of our genera-tion. I said look, I’m going totake care of doing the book. I’llfind the editor, the publisher.But I cannot do the cooking. Youwill have to help me. There wasa practical problem. Nobodycooked in our house withrecipes. They were cooking – alittle of this, a little of that. So,Katerina was obliged to do thevery hard work, to count everygram.
“When the book was ready,it was one year to the day fromwhen we started, which inGreece is not easy. It was mymother’s 81st birthday. She wasso moved and happy. It was thebest thing we could have done.Because telling the story of herlife was a positive experiencefor her. The woman who did theinterviews helped her not onlyto keep busy, but just to feelgood, because she talked abouther life. She was reminded ofeverything.” Marika died fourmonths after book was pub-lished.
Recipes of Love takes us in-side a world of love, family,food, and politics. And there arethose mouth-watering recipes.Says Alexandra, “My favorite ispastitsio with phyllo. This is anold Athenian recipe that nobodydoes anymore. It’s delicious, andit looks so impressive on a buf-fet. The stuffed tomatoes withbéchamel are special. And thereare the parmesan cookies thatGeorge Bush liked. The keftedes
are divine! Try those. They arefluffy. You know, they are nothard. We had to do them threetimes to get them right.”
Food and family meals werethe glue and the sustenance thatheld them together through thetempestuous career of Mitso-takis. Alexandra recalled thetime of the Colonels, when herfather was arrested, then es-caped into exile in Paris. “I wasvery frightened during the [timeof the] Colonels. It was terrible.But my mother still served din-ner. It was a kind of security. Itwas a reference. For me, the dic-
tatorship was the end of mychildhood. I was eleven. It wasnot an easy decade.”
To prepare the recipes for thebook, Alexandra and Katerinaworked in the family home inChania, Crete. Her mother wasthere to enjoy the production.
“It was a fabulous experi-ence,” Alexandra says. “Thephotographer came to ourhouse. We had to make all thephotographs in one week. So wehad to cook all the food thatweek, several things per day.The funny thing was that thisphotographer was used to mak-
ing cook books with food styl-ists. We said, we will just pre-sent it as it is, and then we’ll eatthe food. He said, ‘Are you seri-ous? You’ll eat the food? This isthe first time I’ve worked on abook where everything iscooked and eaten.’
“Because we had so muchfood, we were inviting peopleall the time. We found ourselveson the 15th of August with aturkey and kourambiedes, so weinvited all of our cousins tocome and we had Christmas inthe middle of summer. My momenjoyed that very much. Thehouse was full of laughter. “
According to Alexandra, cre-ating the book proved an occa-sion of discovery. “I realized thatcooking and the ritual of familymeals is something that shouldnot be taken for granted. Eventoday, my father continues tohave his lunch at home everyday, and we know that if wewant to have lunch with him,there will always be food on thetable. It has been a tremendousforce in keeping the family to-gether.
“Because of my activities, I’mconstantly traveling betweenGreece and France, and my fa-ther, the first thing he will askme is ‘What do you want to eattomorrow? What do you wantme to cook for you?’ And this issomething, honestly, I feel veryprivileged to have. And I reallyhope I will remember and try toreplicate it. Do it the way myfamily did. I know it’s anothertime, but let’s sit around foodand talk. That is something thatis important. We talk abouteverything, including politics,and a lot about food.
“One Sunday I was inAthens, and my father said, ‘Ihave this beautiful kokora andwe’re going to do it with pasta.’It would have been just the two
of us, so I called my cousins andsaid my father has a beautifulkokora, and you’ll have to comefor lunch. They said ‘wonderful,we’re coming.’ And suddenly mysister Dora decided that she wascoming with one of her kids. Soinstead of eight, we were six-teen. Of course, the beautifulkokora was not enough, so weneeded to cook a second dish.
“That’s how it works. Eitherwe’re trying to find people toeat the food, or food to feed thepeople. We keep adjusting. Wemight have big or small argu-ments, but the fact that it’s hap-pening around food helps.”
The Mitsotakis family contin-ues to gather every summer atthe family home in Crete, in-cluding children, grandchildrenand great-grandchildren. “Be-tween July and August, every-one comes to see their grandfa-ther or great-grandfather, andhe loves it. They call him BigPappou. The family is so largethat it requires scheduling, buteveryone makes it to Cretesooner or later in the summer-time.”
Although Alexandra’s hus-band is French and she lives inParis, she insisted that her chil-dren learn to speak Greek. “Imade a big effort. First of all,they went on their vacations toCrete, where they learned tospeak Greek with my mom andtheir cousins living in Greece.And in Paris, I had a Greekteacher come to the housethrough their school years untilthey were seventeen.
“That was very, very impor-tant for me. Because I’m Greek,you see. I’m not French. My hus-band is French, but I’m Greek.And my grandchildren, I wantthem to speak Greek. I havespent many years in France butI consider myself living partiallyin Greece. The difference be-
tween being in France and inthe United States is that you cango easily between Athens andParis, and I have an apartmentin Athens.”
Alexandra rescued the GreekCultural Center in Paris. “It wason the verge of closing downwhen I was approached. I saidhold on, Greece will not have acultural entity in France? Topromote our culture, our her-itage, our poetry, photography?I found a few friends and threemonths later I was chairman ofthis thing, and five years laterwe have a really wonderful cul-tural center, doing many many,things. We don’t have any public
money. We raised money be-cause we had good projects andinspiring ideas. We just finisheda film festival showing sixteennew Greek films. We do it everytwo years. It’s wonderful. Peoplelove it.”
She personally avoids poli-tics. “I prefer the civic society,”she says. “I believe in politicsyou need to be a very good andstrong person to remain true toyourself. It doesn’t bring out thebest side in people. And I be-lieve in everyone there is a goodand a bad side. And it’s nice todo things that appeal to thegood side. Because there is agood side in everybody. I believethat.”
She does have her views onthe current political situation inGreece. “I worry that peoplemight be very disappointed. Iworry because I know that theGreek people have suffered verymuch. It’s unfair to give thempromises that can’t be kept. Butwe have to be optimistic, and Iam an optimist. In any case, letme say that whatever happens,even if things go badly in theshort term, I am absolutely cer-tain they will work in the longterm.
“The assets that Greece hasare very great. We have summertourism, but we should havetourism year round. In everycorner of our country, we havesomething to show, somethingto share. There are a millionthings we could do. I’m con-vinced that Greece’s potentialhas not been realized. We couldbecome a fount of knowledgeand also technology. We can doall that. All we need is to worka little bit hard and have a gov-ernment that can solve the in-stitutional problems of Greece.I am convinced we will do it be-cause we have to. It will hap-pen.”
GREECE8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
This week, on Aug.18, Thegreat Thessaloniki fire began onAug 18. It began by accident ata small house of refugees atOlympiados 3, in the Mevlanedistrict between the center andthe Upper City. A spark from thekitchen fire fell in a pile of strawand ignited it.
There was not enough waterfor firefighting because the Al-lied forces controlled reservesto serve their camps and hospi-tals in the suburbs of the city,which were reduced due to thedrought of that summer and thehigh consumption of the grow-ing population. Eventually, anintense wind caused the fire tobe carried to the neighboringhouses, and it continuedthroughout central Thessaloniki.
Initially, the fire followed twodirections, to the Residency areavia the road of Agiou Dimitriou,and to the market via the Leon-
tos Sofou road. The Residencywas saved by its employees, whohurried to help. The windstrengthened and caused the fireto continue to spread towards
the center of the city. In the earlymorning of the next day (6/19August), the wind changed di-rection and the two fronts of thefire destroyed the entire com-mercial center. The fire passedaround the grounds of thechurch of Haghia Sophia with-out burning it, and continuedeastward up to the road of Eth-nikis Amynis, where it stopped.On the evening of Sunday 19August, the fire completely diedout. The fire destroyed 32% ofthe total of Thessaloniki, about1 square kilometer. The burnedregion was located between theroads of Aghiou Dimitriou, Leon-tos Sofou, Nikis, Ethnikis Amy-nis, Alexandrou Svolou, and Eg-natia (from Aghia Sofia). Thisregion is reported in official doc-uments as "burned zone.” Greekauthorities constructed 100houses to shelter 800 familiesthat were affected by the fire.
This Week in Greek History:
The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917
ACROSS1 Clawed sea life5 War __10 Develop13 Three masted Mediterranean boat15 Saint honored on May 516 Univ. in Armidale, Australia (abbrev.)17 Muslim's God18 Act in opposition to19 Licensed practical nurse20 The Catcher in the ___21 Greek god of war23 Morning talk show host Philbin25 College (abbr.)26 Relieving pain28 Glowing31 Thailand dwellers32 Radiuses33 Legion34 Mr..'s wife37 Competition at the Greek games38 Non __ (not welcome)40 Hospital (abbr.)41 Hair goop42 Nat'l Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin.
(abbrev.)43 __ Rica44 Popular game in church halls45 Beantown46 Undoes49 Long fish50 Saudi Arabian citizen51 Indian River Soccer Assn. (abbrev.)52 Chinese seasoning55 Bashed56 Fish tank dweller59 Sarcastically61 First lady?62 Moses' brother63 Happen64 Celtics' Auerbach, informally65 Holy person66 Greek prefix meaning air or space
DOWN1 Tyrant2 Depend3 Can4 Golden Girls actress Arthur, for short5 Hooked up6 Mined metals7 Railway Express Agcy. (abbrev.)8 Legal Nurse Consltnt. (abbrev.)9 City of Tigers and Lions, but not Bears10 Protruding
11 Unfasten the pins of12 Thick14 Joanie Loves ______ (Happy Days spinoff)22 Rodent24 Asner and Sullivan25 Against26 "Cat on _ ___ Tin Roof" (2 words)27 Rocket builders28 Boast29 Fury30 Graven image31 Actor Penghilis34 Max35 Regional Signal Transmission Org. (RSTO)36 Bridge38 Away39 Torn up fabric40 A Cartrwright42 Patron Saint of Nisyros43 DC Activist Ruby44 Not nice45 Bulgarian Acad. of Sciences (abbrev.)46 Direct47 Unknowing48 Soft49 Accord51 Cast metal52 Rodents53 Speak indistinctly54 Greek fast food57 Europ. Assn. of Archaeologists (abbrev.)58 Prefix meaning three60 Famous TV maker of old (abbrev.)
E M M A C H A D S H O R E
B A A L H A R A T A W N Y
O G L E I N T O R I N S E
N I P S C O T B I T
C H A C H I N I K I T A S
N A I G O N E Y C A
A V A N T R A G S S O L
L A M A T H A A O T O R T
K G B A H O T D A N N Y
Y U I N A S A S I C
D E T R O I T A C C O S T
E D S H E R E N U T
B U L G Y C A S A H O P I
U N P I N A T O P S W A N
D E N S E R E P S S E C T
Solution to last week’s puzzle
THE HERALD SQUARETNH's Crossword Challenge
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27
28 29 30 31
32 33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40
41 42 43
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55 56 57 58 59 60
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64 65 66
www.CrosswordWeaver.com
Alexandra Mitsotakis Discusses Her Mother Marika's Recipes of LoveContinued from page 1
Alexandra Mitsotakis, daughter of Greek PM Constantine,helped create Recipes of Love, a book featuring the recipes ofher mother, Marika, a reputed "culinary legend."
KOS, GREECE – Dozens of peo-ple from the Middle East reachthe Greek island of Kos fromnearby Turkey almost daily, join-ing thousands already campedin wretched conditions on whatis normally a tourist playgroundknown for its sun and beaches.
Overwhelmed and unpre-pared for the unprecedented in-flux, authorities on the Dode-canese Greek island have beenheavily criticized for their treat-ment of the migrants – mostlyrefugees from Syria.
At least two rubber boatsmade landfall just before dawnin the Psalidi coastal area, anddozens of men, women and chil-dren set off on the four-kilome-ter (2.5-mile) trudge to the is-land capital of Kos.
Their first question waswhere they had landed — whichprovoked strong laughter as Koshas an obscene meaning in Ara-bic.
“I feel good to be here, but Istill miss my family” in Syria,said Omar Mohammad, a 25-year-old English literature grad-uate from Aleppo.
He said the three-hour cross-ing from Turkey was his thirdattempt to reach Greece in fourdays. On two occasions, Turkishofficials had prevented him fromleaving.
Shortly later, an Italian patrolboat participating in a Europeanborder watch mission broughtin about 50 people rescued atsea — tying up beside dozensof long inflatable dinghiesseized by the coast guard.
Struggling with its worstpostwar financial crisis, Greecehas been overwhelmed by thewave of refugees and economicmigrants, more than 125,000 ofwhom have reached the EasternAegean islands this year — a750 percent increase over 2014.
The country is Europe’s mainentry point for people arrivingby sea, as the alternative routefrom north Africa to Italy hasbecome increasingly dangerousdue to fighting in Libya.
From Greece, the migrantsmove north through theBalkans, hoping to gain asylum,preferably in Germany, theNetherlands or Scandinavia.
“Aleppo is the worst city inthe world,” said Dirar, anotherEnglish graduate who made thecrossing with Mohammad’sgroup. “There’s no electricity, nowater, no Internet. My homewas destroyed by a rocketblast,” he said, showing a pic-ture on his mobile phone ofhimself in the wreckage.
“I was so happy to be alivethat I took a selfie,” he said.“From Greece, I will travelthrough Macedonia, Serbia andHungary to Germany.”
But first, those reaching theislands have to be registered byGreek authorities to get neces-sary travel documents. Hugebacklogs caused by the sheernumber of arrivals and lack ofofficial preparedness havetrapped thousands on Kos, wait-ing for the papers that will se-cure them a berth on an Athens-bound ferry.
WRETCHED LIVINGCONDITIONS
Kos authorities have beenevicting refugees sleeping roughin parks and streets, lockingthem in an old football stadiumthat is the island’s main regis-tration center. Many womenand young children are amongthose interned in a sunbakedwaste without shade or hygienefacilities.
“The situation here is verybad and police here they beat aboy, they beat a man, they beatchildren, it’s too bad,” Syrianrefugee Laith Saleh, who is inthe stadium, told The AssociatedPress by phone. “We can’t go
out.”Doctors without Borders, the
medical charity also known asMedecins sans Frontieres, criti-cized Greek authorities after po-lice in the stadium used fire ex-tinguishers and batons Aug. 11to break up a crowd jostling forpapers.
“MSF is very worried abouthow the situation is evolving inKos,” MSF Director of Opera-tions Brice de le Vingne said lateAug. 11. “What was previouslya situation of state inaction isnow one of state abuse, with po-lice using increasing heavy-handed force against these vul-nerable people.”
Municipal officials weren’tavailable to comment, but havelong been lobbying for therefugees to be taken to themainland. Mayor Giorgos Kyrit-sis has pledged to get them offparks and public areas.
MSF, which is providing med-ical assistance to refugees, saidmore than 7,000 people arrivedin Kos in July.
De le Vigne said Kos author-ities believe that offering no bet-ter living conditions will determigrants from heading for theisland.
“But the truth is that peoplefleeing war will keep on comingwhether or not the authoritiesare trying to stop them from do-ing so,” he said.
“One is left to wonder whatmore the Greek authorities needto rise up to the occasion, taketheir responsibilities and receivethese people humanely and withdignity.”
THE HUMAN TIDEOn this sunny Greek island
accustomed to dealing withnothing more than a summer in-flux of tourists, authorities are
struggling to handle a far dif-ferent human tide: tens of thou-sands of migrants arriving incrammed rubber dinghies inhopes of making new lives inEurope.
Overwhelmed police clerksused fire extinguishers and ba-tons on Aug. 11 to quell thecrowds of weary and frustratedboat people fiercely jostling tobe registered in Kos’ main port,where thousands have beensleeping rough for days waitingfor temporary travel documents.
The migrants, mostlyrefugees from war-torn Syria,make their way across the nar-row strait that separates Kosfrom Turkey in their hundredsevery day — desperate men,women and children risking thesometimes fatal crossing inflimsy boats in the hope of gain-ing asylum in northern Europe.
What they ask of Greece isone piece of paper, which willrecord their refugee status.
“We just want to leave thisisland, and they don’t under-stand that,” said Laith Saleh, a30-year-old former plastererfrom Aleppo, who fled Syria lastmonth after spending threeyears fighting Syrian govern-ment forces and Islamic Stategroup extremists.
“We can’t get on the boat toAthens if we don’t have the pa-pers.”
Kos, like other Greek islandsclose to the Turkish seaboard, isill-equipped to handle the waveof newcomers, its experiencewith troublesome visitors havingpreviously been limited todrunken tourists.
More than 125,000 peoplehave entered this financiallybroken country by sea since Jan-uary, a staggering 750 percent
increase over the same periodlast year and more than in thewhole of 2014 and 2013 to-gether.
Police data show that nearly30,000 people have been de-tained for illegally entering Kosand its smaller outlying islandsso far this year — just short ofits total population.
According to local authori-ties, at least 5,000 are nowtrapped on the island due to theregistration backlog.
Saleh said he spent ninehours on Aug. 10 waiting fruit-lessly with several hundred oth-ers to be registered in an oldfootball stadium that is now theisland’s main processing center.“There were four people doingthe registration,” he said. “To-day there is just one.”
Police have sent additionalstaff to help the process — andwere also flying in two riot po-lice units to help control thecrowds.
As tempers frayed, hundredsof refugees and economic mi-grants briefly blocked the port’smain coastal road, demandingquicker registration.
THE PAPER TRAIL“We want papers! We want
to leave!” they chanted.Similar protests and tension
have occurred on several of theislands bearing the brunt of themigrant influx in recent weeks,including Lesbos, where the ma-jority of new arrivals land.
“We tell them that if theywant to leave the island, wewant it 10 times more,” saidTheodossis Paraschos, one of agroup of local men gatheredoutside the old stadium advisingthe migrants to queue in a moreorderly way.
“The problem (of migrant ar-
rivals) has increased very, veryfast. The solution must comefrom a central government level— and soon,” Paraschos said.
“People are starting to actmad. Earlier, a car driver out heretried to run the crowd over. Somepeople just have no brains.”
The challenges for Kos’ resi-dents are evident.
Tourism is the island’s key in-dustry, and official data show a7.3 decline in the first sevenmonths of 2015, a toll localbusinesses blame on the migrantinflux.
Lack of planning led to thou-sands of migrants, includingmany families, sleeping out-doors or in tents in public parks,along the town’s beachfront orin the port’s landmark medievalfort. Meanwhile, droves oftourists cycle past, while othersfill restaurants and coffee shops.
“Seventy percent of our localeconomy is based on tourism —
a five-and-a-half-month season,”said Kos taxi driver Yiannis Ke-falianos.
“Tourists don’t like the sight(of the camped migrants). Theyfeel sorry for them, of course,but they shouldn’t be out therein tents in the harbor or theparks.”
Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsispromised to evict the refugeesfrom public areas, and munici-pal officials have been doing so
since Aug. 10. But there isnowhere the migrants can gowhile they wait for their papers,other than the sunbaked sta-dium.
Saleh said that while he waswaiting in line at the stadium,his tent and belongings wereconfiscated by municipal work-ers. “Now I have no water, nofood, I lost my phone. Andeverything is so expensive here.”
Still, he hopes to eventuallymake his way through theBalkans to the Netherlands,where he said he would feel se-cure.
“Then I will get my papersand bring my family, my wifeand 3-year-old son, who wasjust 28 days old when I startedfighting. There were times whenhe couldn’t remember me I hadbeen away fighting for so long.”
Saleh, who has shrapnelscars on his face and leg, was inaction in Kobani and Aleppo,
where 35 of his 40-strong unitwere killed.
He eventually entered Turkeyand made his way to Bodrum,opposite Kos, from where hemade the crossing in four hours,crammed in a rubber boat withdozens of other people.
On his first day in Kos, hewas evicted from a supermarketwhere he tried to buy food.“Maybe they looked at my face,”he said.
GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015 9
For Migrants, the Greek Island Kos Becomes Key Entry Point to the EU
ABOVE: Hundreds of migrants gather for a registration proce-dure at the stadium of Kos Town on Aug. 11. Fights broke outamong migrants that day, as authorities struggle to containincreasing numbers of people arriving on rubber dinghies fromthe nearby Turkish shore. BOTTOM RIGHT: Migrants on a dinghy arrive on Kos, on Aug.13 after crossing from Turkey. BOTTOM LEFT: Volunteers helpmigrants to comfort a baby upon their arrival.
NICOSIA – Turkish-Cypriotleader Mustafa Akinci said un-less a deal is reached with hiscounterpart, Cypriot PresidentNicos Anastasiades by May 2016then talks to reunify the islanddivided since an unlawful 1974Turkish invasion will likely fail.
There has been soaring opti-mism that the two moderateleaders would finally provide abreakthrough that's eluded ahost of envoys and diplomatsfrom Europe and the United Na-tions over the decades.
"If we fail to make a criticaldevelopment by May (2016,),then this issue will continue,"Akinci said at a briefing, theAnadolu news agency said. Thatdeadline would be one yearsince he and Anastasiadesstarted talking.
He said they've agreed tomeet again on Sept. 1 after mak-ing a series of smaller conces-sions. "Negotiators, delegationsand technical committees willintensively conduct meetings inAugust," he said, adding that hewould also meet the UN Secre-tary-General in New York inSeptember.
He said that negotiations inthe months of October, Novem-ber and December would give a"clearer picture of where we areheaded".
Akinci said that Turkish Pres-ident Recep Tayyip Erdogan,who warned he had the finalword, had been briefed aboutthe progress so far and was sat-isfied.
Erdogan has refused to rec-ognize Cyprus and bars its shipsand planes from Turkey eventhough he wants admission tothe European Union, of whichCyprus is a member.
Anastasiades halted talks lastOctober after Turkey violatedCypriot waters with a warshipand energy research vessel look-ing for oil and gas off the coast.
But after Akinci was electedto replace hardliner DervisEroglu, the talks resumed againwhen Turkey withdrew the ves-sels.
TURKEY RULES OUT EX-HUMATIONS
Hopes for reunifying Cyprus,with optimism soaring, hit asnag when Turkey said it wouldnot allow access to military ar-eas it occupies to exhume themissing.
The Committee on MissingPersons (CMP) has been barred
from those areas in the northernthird of the island Turkey stillholds after an unlawful invasionin 1974, the Commissioner forHumanitarian Issues Fotis Fo-tiou said.
He called on the Turkish gov-ernment and army to provideany information it has and saidits refusal to cooperate is com-promising the group's work.
Some 2,000 people – 1,508Greek Cypriots and 493 TurkishCypriots – were reported miss-ing since the 1974 Turkish in-vasion and inter-communcalstrife in the 1960s.
The CMP has located the re-mains on 969 people and hasidentified 451 missing GreekCypriots and 144 Turkish Cypri-ots.
The CMP employs a bi-com-munal forensic team of morethan 60 Cypriot archeologists,anthropologists and geneticists,who conduct excavationsthroughout the island and an-thropological analyses of re-mains.
EIDE STEPS INUN Special Adviser Espen
Barth Eide, hoping to keep mo-mentum going in Cyprus unitytalks, headed to Turkey Aug. 12to discuss thorny issues involv-ing stolen property, territory andguarantees.
Eide was expected to meetwith Turkish Foreign MinistryUndersecretary Feridun Sinirli-oglu, media reports said, al-though no details were given.
Eide will not come back toCyprus until the last week of Au-gust to meet the two negotiatorsAndreas Mavroyiannis andOzdil Nami, before Cypriot Pres-ident Nicos Anastasiades andTurkish-Cypriot leader MustafaAkinci resume talks on Sept. 1.
Anastasiades and Akinci havemade concessions to each otherbut said they won't try to resolvethe toughest problems untillater, including that of homesstolen by Turks years ago.
They have already agreed torespect the individual’s right toproperty – both owners and cur-rent users – drawing fury fromcritics who said stolen propertywon't be return.
The two leaders said prop-erty issues could be solved by aa property commission that willdecide on individual cases basedon compensation, exchange orreturn.
Akinci Sets May 2016 as Deadline for Cyprus Unity
itors’ demand of achieving a pri-mary surplus — the budgetwithout taking into accountdebt servicing — of 3.5 percentof Gross Domestic Product by2018. Greece will implementmost of the savings in 2017 in-stead of this year and next year.
Tsakalotos said there will bea package of measures in October2015 that will be implementedin 2017. Progress on Greece’s re-forms will be reviewed everythree months, he said.
“I think there are very diffi-cult measures in this package.In some of these we have triedto play with time” and staggertheir implementation, such asgradual increases on diesel fueltaxes for farmers, to soften theblow, he said.
With SYRIZA rebels staginga near-munity under ousted En-ergy Minister Panagiotis Lafaza-nis, who said he will for a newanti-austerity party to challengehis former party in new elec-tions expected his fall, Tsiprasis counting on support from op-position parties who said theywant to keep Greece in the Eu-rozone at any cost.
The third bill contains thekind of tough conditions thatTsipras vowed to reject beforehe was elected only – as did pre-vious leaders – to do an about-face and embrace them after be-ing squeezed by creditors.
The Parliaments in the other18 Eurozone countries also needtime to ratify the deal negoti-ated by the lenders, which nowwith the European StabilityMechanism (ESM) joining havebecome known as the Quartet.
The draft bailout agreementsees Tsipras accepting what hehad vowed to resist only monthsago: the sale of some state prop-erty and deep cuts to pensions,military spending and endingtax credits to people consideredvulnerable.
The bill includes legislationopening up protected profes-sions to more competition, in-creasing personal, corporate andproperty taxes and abolishingearly retirements.
Tax hikes cover sectors as di-verse as diesel fuel for farmers,private school tuition andGreek-interest shipping, whilesmall businesses and freelanceswill have to prepay the entireamount of the following year’s
taxes.The deal contains legislation
on issues as detailed as wherefresh bread can be sold, the ex-piry date of fresh milk and reg-ulations on when stores canhold discount sales. The Greekgovernment defended its newbailout program as tough butessential to avoid the nation’sfinancial collapse, as it faced arebellion in parliament ahead ofa vote on the deal later in theday.
BIG ECONOMIC HITThe terms of the bailout were
agreed after months of acrimo-nious wrangling and failed ne-gotiations that have cost theGreek economy dearly.
The economy is expected tohave taken a severe hit in July,when talks on the bailout col-lapsed, leading the governmentto close the banks and stockmarket for about a month.
In the three months beforethat happened, however, theeconomy grew by an unexpect-edly sharp 0.8 percent com-pared with the previous quarter,the national statistics agency es-timated.
Analysts said the jump couldhave been due to a strong start
to the tourism season and thegovernment’s suspension ofsome budget cuts.
They note, however, that theeconomy likely took a big hit af-ter the second quarter, when thegovernment was forced to shutbanks for about a month andput limits on money with-drawals.
After the Greek vote, thebailout deal will also need ap-proval from several other Euro-zone parliaments, includingGermany’s, before any funds canbe disbursed.
Germany, who was thelargest single contributor toGreece’s two previous bailouts,has been the country’s harshestcritic and has so far maintaineda cautious stance regarding thenew bailout agreement.
Greece has long said itsmountainous debt of 180 per-cent of GDP cannot reasonablybe repaid and that it needs someform of debt restructuring.
The IMF has also insistedGreece must receive debt relief,but some European creditors, no-tably Germany, are more reluc-tant. Former Greek finance min-ister Yanis Varoufakis said thatthe new bailout won’t work.
Tsipras Bows to Greece’s Lenders; Says He Had No ChoiceContinued from page 1
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EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
It’s the High Sales TaxThat is Hurting Greece
To the Editor:This is in response to Paul
Krugman’s New York Times ar-ticle “We Can Be AnotherGreece” (TNH, Jul. 18). Mr.Krugman misses the point withGreece and the austerity mea-sures taken there.
The reason Greece is in crisisis not because they can’t printor borrow money cheaply, it’sbecause the people’s efforts areno longer rewarded.
The main reason the Greekeconomy is in decline is the 23%sales tax and the added taxationby the government.
Businesses in Greece are notrewarded for providing prod-ucts, so why work, why grow,and why invest? Why?
If the United States were toincrease its sales tax to 23% andrequest its businesses to pay
high taxes regardless of prof-itability and pay them ahead oftime, then it would have a“Greek Crisis” minus thebeaches and beautiful climate.
Dr. Alexander G. AlemisChicago, IL
We Don’t Need aNew Archbishop, But…
To the Editor:Archbishop Demetrios is an
excellent leader of the churchin America.
His age should be a nonissue,since he is dynamic and ener-getic. His stamina is one of aman twenty years younger. Eispolla eti, Despota!
But, since there is a discus-sion of his replacement (“Elpid-oforos Reportedly Seeks to beArchbishop,” TNH, Jul. 28), thePatriarchate must consider thatthe Greek Orthodox Church inAmerica is in existence for al-most 150 years, spanning threecenturies, and it deserves aleader who is most familiar withits operations and nuances.There are at least two Ameri-can-born clerics (one under the
nose of the archbishop and theother a metropolitan in the Mid-west) who would greatly qual-ify. There is a foreign born cleric(again directly under the arch-bishop’s nose) who also wouldbe excellent.
The needs of the Greek Or-thodox Archdiocese and its laityneed to be the highest concern;we don't necessarily need anAmerican-born leader, but weneed a leader who knows andhas breathed the Greek Ortho-dox Archdiocese of America andthe temperament of its members.
George K. LavasRockville Centre, NY
Building on the Good StartWhen a group of approximately twenty Greek-American com-
munity leaders from around the United States met on August 6with Vice President Joe Biden and other top officials of the U.S.government to discuss the matter of humanitarian aid to Greece,it became evident more so than ever before, exactly how longoverdue that conversation was.
It has been a few years since the Stavros Niarchos Foundationoffered the first aid – 100 million euros – to the crisis victims.Why has it taken so long for the American government to beginexamining the situation?
This newspaper had called upon the government and our com-munity not to act too hastily. To rise to the occasion, continuingits century-long tradition of standing in solidarity with the sufferingGreek people.
And relief efforts were made, by individuals and groups. Andthe Archdiocese made a substantial contribution to the Church ofGreece.
The National Herald included all of that in its coverage. Butthere was no mobilization of the community: throughout eachDiocese, and in every state.
Nonetheless, the August 6 event is a good start. If the rightsteps are taken from this point forward, it can be catalytic. If per-sonal interests and agendas are cast aside, and if action is takenat lightning speed.
What needs to happen, as George Marcus told us, is to form asmall group of about three or four community representatives,matched with the same number of counterparts from the govern-ment, and to meet every month, or even every week.
These team members must be chosen carefully, and must havethe time and the knowledge to undertake this task. They mustknow how the government works, as well as NGOs (Non-Govern-mental Organizations) in Greece. And, of course, it is necessaryto frequently update, and be open to the opinion of, the communityat large.
Beyond the vital, immediate goal of helping our brothers andsisters in Greece, something good for the long term may alsoemerge from this collaboration. If conducted properly, it may de-velop into a meaningful, grassroots leadership team, even an um-brella organization that would have sufficient talent and resourcesto represent the general interests of the Hellenes of America.
We hope so, as such an organization is surely needed.
Obama’s Iran MomentPresident Barack Obama recently delivered one of the most
important speeches of his presidency about foreign affairs, atAmerican University.
The topic of his speech was the nuclear agreement with Iranand the need, in his opinion, for Congress to approve it. Butwhat is impressive, if not historic, is that he took the opportunity,in a kind of outburst, to denounce – he did not mince his words– a reality that few dare to touch: that in the last few decadesAmerica has disturbed and destabilized regions of the world withits enthusiastic embrace of unilateral military intervention in far-away countries, based on dubious analyses of its national inter-ests, with which few people are familiar, and which had yieldedwell-known consequences.
The president spoke with determination, his words seemingto be both an answer to and a challenge to his opponents.
The New York Times noted in an editorial that “Mr. Obamadrew one crucial lesson from Iraq – the need to get beyond ‘amindset characterized by a preference for military action overdiplomacy, a mindset that put a premium on unilateral U.S.action over the painstaking work of building international con-sensus, a mindset that exaggerated threats beyond what the in-telligence supported.’” The agreement serves this strategy; itgives diplomacy a chance.
It might not live up to expectations. Iran’s mullahs, after all,are very cunning. But most likely, under the pressure of the eco-nomic sanctions, they decided to reconnect with the outsideworld in order to maintain their power.
On the opposite side of this issue are the well-known support-ers – of war. They are calling for the immediate bombing ofIran’s nuclear facilities. A venture that few consider profitable.
Yet, despite the flaws in their thinking, the war supportershave such influence that the adoption of the agreement by Con-gress will not be easy for the president to obtain. Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a recent teleconference withJewish-American leaders, argued that the agreement contains"fatal flaws."
It is his right and duty to support the interests of his country.The same is true for Obama.
Like Netanyahu, Obama has a duty to put his own nation’s in-terests above those of any other country, no matter how close anally. In this case, then, Obama emphasizes that not only does henot ignore Israel's security – and he must not – but he is pledgedto increase America’s protection of Israel.
Hasn’t he done the right thing?
Objective JournalismWe do not take lightly that being president of the United
States requires a certain level of dignity and decorum. And thoughwe can understand and appreciate Republican candidate DonaldTrump’s bringing to light numerous domestic and internationalproblems, we object to his antics and his tactics.
Nonetheless, we believe that the media needs to treat Trump– and every other candidate running for president, no matterwhat the party – fairly. The best debate panelist or political talkshow anchor is the one who does not tip his or her hand –thereby cueing the audience as to his or her political ideology oraffinity for (or lack thereof) a specific candidate.
It is a long way until November 2016, and the Americanvoters will decide who wins and who loses. But it is the role ofthose who present the news to inform, not to persuade. Give thepeople evenhanded information, and let them decide who thebest man, or woman, will be.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
PRESS CLIPPING
[In a July 31 Washington Postblog, Ana Swanson explainedhow Greece’s economic problemsare illustrated in the country’sinability to maximize its profitson olive oil – which it producesin mass quantities and isconsumed throughout the world.It is Italy, she writes, that gainsthe lion’s share of the profit, andconsumers worldwide who thinkthey are ingesting “Italian oliveoil” do not realize that it comesfrom Kalamata. The article fromher blog follows.]
The hills of Kalamata, on thesouthern coast of Greece's Pelo-ponnese peninsula, producesome of the best olives in theworld. When pressed, they pro-duce an oil that is almost fluo-rescent green and sometimesdescribed as "liquid gold."
But after much of that oil ispressed in Greek processing fa-cilities, tanker trucks come totake it straight to the sea. In2012, 60 percent of Greece'solive oil output was shipped toItaly. There, it is packaged inItalian bottles with Italian la-bels, and then sent around theworld. And most of the profitsgo back to Italy -- according toconsultancy McKinsey, Italycaptures an extra 50 per-cent premium on the priceof Greek oil.
Why does this hap-pen? A segment by NPR'sPlanet Money describedsome of the issues thattwo Greek entrepreneursfaced when they tried toexport their country's oil.
First, they couldn't find any-one in Greece to make a bottle -- they had to have the bottlemade in Italy. They had diffi-culty getting loans to pay for thebottles, and then they were hitwith the taxes. Due to Greece'seconomic issues, the govern-ment asked businesses to esti-mate and pay the taxes theywould owe in 2016 ahead oftime -- in 2015.
The story hints at some ofthe more persistent problems inthe Greek economy, besides itshigh-profile and tragic conflictwith its European creditors.
Wherever you stand onGreece and Germany, there's
certainly plenty of blame to goaround. Greece's European cred-itors continue to negotiate forausterity measures and opposeforgiving Greece's debts, againstthe counseling of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund. Underseemingly endless debt and aus-terity, Greece's economy hasshrunk by about a quarter overthe last five years, and unem-ployment is around 25 percent.
But Greece's economic mis-ery is also, to a certain extent,self-imposed. Beyond Europe,there are many things thatGreece might to do to improveits struggling economy by pro-moting native industry andunwinding onerous restric-tions, as James Surowieckirecently argued in theNew Yorker.
Many segments ofthe economy are ex-cessively regulated: ASurowiecki pointsout, bakeries can onlysell bread in a fewstandardized weights.Other redt a p ep r e -vents
people fromstarting new businesses and for-eigners from investing in Greecefrom abroad.
The fact that Greece holdsonly a 28 percent share of theglobal market for "Greek Fetacheese" and 30 percent of U.S.market for "Greek-style yogurt"also shows a clear commercialopportunity, McKinsey said in itsreport.
Greece's agricultural sectorhas a lot of potential. Greece isthe third largest olive oil pro-ducer worldwide, and is nearlyon par with Italy, which is num-ber two after Spain. In fact,
Costco changed the source of itsKirkland brand olive oil fromItaly to Greece earlier this yearafter a disease ravaged the Ital-ian crop.
Olive oil alone representsnearly a tenth of Greece's agri-cultural output, according to Eu-rostat. Greece also exportshoney, wine, fruit and vegeta-bles around the world, andcould do much more. Beyondagriculture, some of Greece'smost promising sectors are
g e n e r i cpharmaceuticals, aquaculture,elder care, cargo and logisticstransport, waste managementand tourism, says McKinsey.Tourism alone accounted forover 17 percent of Greece'seconomy in 2014. Yet, asSurowiecki points out, mosttourists in Greece are Greekrather than foreigners, suggest-ing a huge opportunity.
What would Greece need totake advantage of these oppor-tunities? Financial stability, forone. The credit freeze earlierthis year has made life forGreece's food industries even
more difficult, freezing importsof necessary farm inputs like fer-tilizers, pesticides and fuel. Be-yond that, Greece needs infra-structure, including larger andmore modern production andpackaging facilities to take ad-vantage of its agricultural ca-
pacity, says McKin-sey.
Easier regulationcould alsoh e l pG r e e k
businesses compete internation-ally. Nearly half of all Greekmanufacturers have fewer than50 employees, Surowiecki says,suggesting that manufacturingis nowhere near economies ofscale. And Greece's agriculturalunits are almost five timessmaller than the E.U. average,according to McKinsey.
With a debt at 175 percentof its economy and unemploy-ment approaching 30 percent,things will continue to be tragicfor the Greeks. But even inGreece's economic troubles,there are big opportunities.
Greece’s Economic Problems Explained by Olive Oil
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Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris
There But for the Grace of God Go I
Ahh, the irony of fate.At a time of great crisis, as Greece finds
itself in dire need of help, thousands ofrefugees knock on its door not to provide ahelping hand, but to find one.
Most of them do not want to stay there– they are just passing through, on theirway to other European countries.
The way in which Greece will respondto this challenge – this massive wave ofrefugees – will determine its standing in theeyes of the international community foryears to come.
Simply put, you cannot ask for compas-sion from others when at the same time youdeny it to those who ask it from you. Evenif Greece is not in a position to offer theserefugees bread, at least it can offer themhuman compassion. This, it can do, and
must do. Not only for the refugees, but alsofor Greece to remain true to its values,ideals, and historical legacy.
Greece cannot help these migrants com-pletely unless it has Europe’s assistance.Meanwhile, it can treat them kindly – askindness does not cost anything.
I see photographs of the waves ofrefugees arriving on the shores of Kos. I seesmall boats filled with jubilant people, an-ticipating reaching their salvation ashore. Isee a father holding a small child in hisarms – next to them, two other children,smiling. But I also police officers turningfire extinguishers onto these refugees, chas-ing them as if they were wild animals.
I see before me, my fellow Greeks, tensof thousands of our own refugees as thecity of Smyrna burned, crammed into itswaterfront, in hope of salvation by the war-ships of the Great Powers anchored just out-side. I see many into the sea, while others
arrive on Lesvos, Chios, Rhodes, Kos, andPiraeus, with nothing at all, but the mercyof God and the kindness of strangers.
Who were they, once? What land didthey own? What does any of that matternow?
I also see Cypriots, feeling from homesthat were their own, and before them intheir families for generations, running tothe South to be saved from the clutches ofthe Turkish Attila.
But those were Greeks in other lands mi-grating to Greece. Today’s migrants toGreece are not Greek, and therefore beginanew in an entirely strange environment.
At some point in the future, today’srefugees will take root somewhere, and willtell the story of their own saga, as did ourown refugees once.
In relaying that story, what will they say,and write, about how they were treated inGreece?
VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015 11
Here’s Greece’s economic cri-sis in a nutshell – the emphasisbeing on “nut” – brought downto everyday terms that mostpeople face when dealing withincome and debt and how tohandle both and survive, keep-ing in mind that Greece isn’t inthe Digital Age, or even the Ana-log Age: it’s in the Abacus Age.
You owe the bank $10,000but can’t pay because you lostyour job or had a wage cut, oryou’re a pensioner, and a UnitedStates president who’s now adead duck as well as a lameduck has cut your benefits 30percent or more.
The bank, not wanting tolose the $10,000, loans you an-other $10,000 to pay the origi-nal $10,000, so now you owe$20,000, which you can’t pay,either. You sign a note that saysyou will cut your spending onessential services and goods soyou can have money to pay backthe bank but, alas, it doesn’twork.
So now you go back to thebank and ask for a third loan,this one for $20,000 to pay backthe original two loans totalingthat amount. The bank doubtsyou can pay but loans you an-other $20,000 to pay them back.
But now you owe $40,000,which you can’t pay, so the bankmakes you sign a memorandumthat you’ll sell your car andhouse, cut your expenditures onfood, stop buying oil in the win-ter for heat and that you take avow of penury and agree to paythem every single penny youmake.
How else to explain whyGreece’s international creditors,first the heartless shysters mak-
ing up the Troika ofthe EuropeanUnion-InternationalMonetary Fund-Eu-ropean CentralBank (EU-IMF-ECB)would give Greecenot one, but twobailouts totaling240 billion euros($267.88 billion)which it KNEWcouldn’t be repaidwould now be loan-ing another 86 bil-lion euros ($95.99billion) to a govern-ment which is si-multaneously asking for a debtcut and said it can’t pay backwhat it’s asking for – and thatthe loans won’t work to saveGreece?
Greece got its first bailout in2010 after former Premier andthen-New Democracy Capitalistleader Costas “The InvisibleMan” Karamanlis’ governmentlied about the country’s econ-omy, forcing his successor, then-PASOK Anti-Socialist leaderGeorge “The Money is There”Papandreou to go begging hat-in-hand to the Troika, the firsthumiliation for Greece.
Greece, of course, caused itsproblem itself – please stopblaming the Americans, Jews,Germans, Zionists, Venetians,Franks, Turks and Martians – bygoing on wild spending bingesfor decades and hiring everyNick and George in the countryto be a civil servant, sit at theirdesks smoking and drinking cof-fee and ignoring clients.
Despite the two bailouts of240 billion euros, despite stiff-ing investors – including those
in the Diaspora –with 74 percentlosses to writedown the debt by134 billion euros($149.57 billion)Greece’s debt hasrisen.
It’s now – as ofthis second socheck yourwatches later be-cause it goes up8,734 euros($9,478) per sec-ond – some352,567,209,379e u r o s
($393,526,704,928). Thatmeans in a country with a pop-ulation of 11.03 million, sub-tracting the hundreds of thou-sands of illegal immigrants, thatevery citizen has a debt of32,051 euros, or about $39,123.
Since they are the ones pay-ing back the debt at the sametime their pay has been cut,taxes raised, pensions slashedand with some 1.3 million outof work, the per capita is farabove that. Then you have tosubtract the rich and politiciansand privileged who pay little orno taxes, hide their money insecret foreign bank accountsand beat their breasts as phonyjingoists imploring everyoneelse to pay. So what each Greekowes is an amount they can’t –just like their country.
A long line of distinguishedeconomists, such as AmericanPaul Krugman, have pointed outthe folly of Greek debt and themyth of repayment as the Troika(now the Quartet with the ad-dition of the European StabilityMechanism) continue the prac-
tice of pretend-and-extend.That is, we will pretend you
can pay, extend how long youhave to repay knowing you can’trepay and some year down theline we’ll do the same with yourchildren and grandchildren.Greek debt is close to 180 per-cent of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) a level so unsustainableit would be laughable if itweren’t so tragic.
Now it’s in the hands ofGreek Prime Minister Alexis(Liar) Tsipras, who flat outknew he couldn’t keep cam-paign promises to reverse aus-terity and took Greeks througha torturous six-month periodwith the country just starting torecover and brought on him andthem the third bailout thatwouldn’t have been needed –and which he said he wouldnever seek nor sign.
The rescue packages will failand the math will keep workingagainst Greece because criticalstructural reforms won’t be car-ried out, corruption won’t becurtailed, and the citizenry willhave more incompetent govern-ments populated by greedy, self-serving politicians without theacumen to run a hot dog standoutside Yankee Stadium.
You can rationalize all youwant, put the numbers on aCray super-computer and lineup the acolyte economists whoserve governments and not thetruth and it will still come outthe same for Greece. As thenoted philosophers of LooneyTunes reminded us, “It just don’tadd up.”
I have been writing negativethings against Donald Trump foryears now. It all started when hebecame a “birther” – perpetuat-ing the absurd notion that Presi-dent Obama was really born inKenya. I’d be happy to get intothe numerous reasons why thatclaim is one of the most ridicu-lous theories I have ever heard,but that would detract from mymain point.
I also thought Trump to be aclown when he sued politicalsatirist/comedian Bill Maher,who announced a bet in jest withDonald Trump if Trump couldproduce a birth certificate andproved that his mother was notan orangutan (because ofTrump’s unusual orange-coloredhair).
When I first heard “news” re-ports that Trump categoricallyreferred to Mexicans as “rapists,but there are a few good ones, Iguess,” I thought he was headedstraight to irrelevance, fasterthan you can say McCarthy Hear-ings.
And when he insulted JohnMcCain – and by extension allveterans – by disputing that Mc-Cain is a hero because “he wascaptured” (by the enemy), I re-ally thought it counterproductiveto even mention his name.
But suddenly I find myself lik-ing the guy, rooting for him,cheering him on. I’m not sayingI’ll vote for him, but I’m not sayingI won’t. Before I explain why, letme also point out (just in casethere’s any doubt) that I am inno way a misogynist, nor do Imake crude remarks – as Trumpdoes – about women.THE ENEMY OF THE MEDIA IS
MY FRIENDWhat became evident to me,
during the August 6 prime timedebate hosted by the Fox NewsChannel and especially afterward,in Fox’ post-debate analysis, wasthat it had been decreed (fromthe top down, perhaps?) that Foxis not supporting Trump’s candi-dacy. The first clear signal wasthe pitifully unscientific surveythat Frank Luntz often conductson Sean Hannity’s show: as soonas the cameras panned to the stu-dio audience, everyone said howdisgusted they were by Trump:namely, because he was the onlycandidate onstage not to pledgethat he would 1) support who-ever the GOP nominee is; and 2)
that he would notrun as a third-partycandidate. Obvi-ously, he’s not a“party loyalist,” andtherefore, my kindof guy.
Not that I favordisloyalty – in fact, Iabhor backstabbing.But I believe incards being on thetable. By raising hishand against thepledge, Trump waseffectively saying:“look, I’m runningas a Republican be-cause that’s the party with whichI most identify. But I can’t promiseI’ll support anyone the party nom-inates, or won’t run against thatperson from another angle. Itwould all depend on who thenominee would be.” A sensible,lucid, answer – a professional an-swer that made the professionalpoliticians on stage look like am-ateurs. After all, Rand Paul, whochided Trump all evening long, isclearly not a Trump supporter. Bytaking that pledge, then, Paul ef-fectively promised to support acandidate (if Trump were thenominee) who he cannot stand.Does that make any sense?
That was the first debate ques-tion, designed to isolate Trumpunfavorably from the onset: makethe viewers dislike him, so theywouldn’t listen to what he said.
Next, Trump lashed out atMegyn Kelly, a supremely success-ful Fox commentator who hasturned into America’s “conserva-tive sweetheart,” because of herquestion to Trump at the debatethat suggested he is demeaningto women and does not have thetemperament to be president. Helashed out at her later on, sug-gesting that “blood was comingout of her eyes, and from her…wherever…” which the media im-mediately interpreted as an insin-uation that Kelly was menstruat-ing, and thereby was just being ahysterical and moody woman be-cause it was “that time of themonth.” Trump insisted that isnot what he meant at all, that by“wherever” he meant other partsof her face, such as her ears ornose – and therefore refused toapologize because “I didn’t doanything wrong.”
What followed was Trump’sappearance on Meet the Press, on
August 9, three daysafter the debate.Host Chuck Toddwas visibly annoyedbecause Trump re-fused to apologizefor the comment,and even suggestedto Trump that atleast he could besorry that some peo-ple took it the wrongway. When Trumpremained steadfastin refusing to apolo-gize, Todd gotsnarky, sayingTrump was some-
how “allergic to apologizing.”Never mind that Trump addedthe part of the story the mediaconveniently forgot to include –that as part of the comments –which were during an interviewwith CNN – Trump also said therewas blood coming out of ChrisWallace’s eyes.
As Trump turned the conver-sation to his theme, that there isno time for tone when Americahas big problems – and then wenton to list the problems – Toddclearly had enough and ended theinterview somewhat abruptly,much like a person trying to geta pesky telemarketer off thephone.
What bothers me intenselyabout this – and I say this as aneducator and a journalist – is thatin all my years as a college pro-fessor, I am happy to say that thevast majority of my students wereextremely happy with me. Ofcourse, you can’t please every-body, and once in a while –maybe one student every three orfour years – would criticize mymethod of teaching, and some-times in an exasperated and dis-respectful manner. But neveronce did I allow that to affect theutmost impartiality with which Igraded that student.
Similarly, Trump has madecrude, vulgar, inappropriate re-marks about countless people, in-cluding members of the media.But as professional journalists,they need to brush it off and con-tinue to report, and interview, ob-jectively.
When it comes to Trump, theliberal and conservative mediaagree – it’s open season on him –and that’s why I’m coming to hisdefense.
Oh, and about the Mexican
rapists, Trump’s actual wordswere that the Mexican govern-ment intentionally sends its worst– it’s rapists and other dregs ofsociety – across the border, sothey don’t have to deal with them,knowing that our “stupid” leaderswill take care of them instead. Ofcourse, that hasn’t been con-firmed to be true – but it is verydifferent than if he were to havecalled the majority of Mexicansrapists. Very, very different.
WE DON’T NEED PCFIREFIGHTERS
If your house were on fire, andthe firefighter showed up and in-sulted your nationality, your race,your religion, your shirt, yourweight, or your nose, would yousay: “you’re not fit to put out thefire, get out!” or would you lethim do his job?
The United States of Americais on fire right now. Russia’sVladimir Putin is engaging inreckless adventurism, Iran’s lead-ers – even as they agreed to nu-clear terms with the U.S. – do noteven pretend that they will be-come our friend. ISIS runs ram-pant throughout the Middle East– which is just a powder keg wait-ing to erupt completely, and wehave become completely indiffer-ent to the concept that if a for-eigner enters or remains herewithout permission, that is illegal,a drain on our economy, and pos-sibly a threat to our well-being.Trump is able to project these is-sues like no one else. It doesn’tmean the other candidates don’tcare – many do – but Trump getsthe message out best.
Right now, Trump is the onlycandidate who can make Putin,Iran, ISIS, and illegal aliens quakein their boots. And for those rea-sons alone, he is worth keepingaround.
Of course, I wish Trump be-haved more civilly. Is he embar-rassing? Absolutely. If he doesn’tchange his ways – and he proba-bly won’t – then I hope anothercandidate emerges with allTrump’s good qualities and noneof his bad ones. Here’s to hoping.
Constantinos E. Scaros’ latestbook, about the 2016 presiden-tial race, will be published thisfall. It is titled Grumpy OldParty: 20 Tips on How the Re-publicans Can Shed their Anger,Reclaim their Respectability,and Win Back the White House.
Go Trump, Go! Why Now I’m Suddenly Defending Him
LETTER FROM ATHENS
The Modern Math of the Greek Crisis Just Don’t Add Up
by ANDYDABILIS
Special to The National Herald
“Happy is theMan Who HasGained Knowledgethrough History.”Euripides coinedthat phrase overtwo millenia ago,yet it remains justas timely today as itever did.
That historicadage came to mindrecently followingnumerous com-plaints by parish-ioners who wereapalled to learn thattheir parish priest and/or admin-istrators ordered the discardingof the entire stock of copies of avoluminous album containingthe entire history of their com-munity's then 75 years of history– a hardcover, full color, highquality bilingual edition contain-ing hundreds of pages of photos,documents, records, news clip-pings, and priceless historical de-tails regarding the establishmentof the community, its institutions,and the generations of faithfulwho served therein.
The decision left most anyonewho heard it deeply saddenedand puzzled as to why copieswere not sold for an affordableprice or even given away at theparish's feast day, which was re-cently celebrated. Space is notan issue, since the community inquestion has sufficient storage,thanks to the extensive real es-tate its founders and historicmembers aquired for it. There-fore, the decision can only be at-tributed to foolishness or spite –which in either instance does adisservice to the Orthodox Chris-tian ethos and the much-hailedGreek “philotimo” about whichwe all like to brag.
This vandalous action servesas an opportunity to assess be-haviors and mentalities and con-sider collectively whether suchoffenses threaten the integrity ofthe Greek-American community.The Hellenic worldview was al-ways strong on symbolism, andassuming that there is even ashred of Romanity left in us, itcannot escape one's perceptionthat by discarding the latest andmost complete version of a com-munity's written history, the per-petrators are symbolically “trash-ing” the founders andgenerations of people whoserved in the community, itsschools, and its committees, aswell as the persons who con-tributed and labored on behalfof the publication, thus destroy-ing a living cell of worldwideHellenism, which contributed tomaintaining Hellenism in Amer-ica for decades.
Furthermore, by so callouslydiscarding this historical study,they are signaling their desire to“break away” from their commu-nity's history and eradicate anyof its remnants; their desire tocut off communion with thememory and goals of the found-ing pioneers, to arbitrarily charta new course and create a“parthenogenesis.”
For the Orthodox Church –the Church of the Seven Ecu-menical Councils, the Church ofthe Holy Fathers and Sacred Tra-dition – this mentality seems un-acceptable. It appears equallyunacceptable for Hellenism,which struggles daily to maintainthe integrity of its history on thelarge scale (e.g., defending theGreekness of Macedonia fromBalkan irridentism) and thesmall scale (e.g., ensuring thatthe oil lamp continues to burnat the tombs of our loved onesor our ancestral home back inthe village, tracing our family lin-eage, etc.). Even from a com-pletely Western and materialisticoutlook, the decision to throwaway a “product” that arose froman investment (it takes money
to print books)makes absolutelyno business sensewhatsoever. Eventhe free advertise-ment from offeringthe books gratiscould haveamounted to somequantitative profit.
This reprehensi-ble action isn'tsomething that isgoing to get dis-cussed in thosewishy washy parishcouncil candidate
seminars mandated by the Arch-diocese or used as a case studyat an upcoming Clergy-Laity Con-gress, but at some level someonefrom Holy Cross TheologicalSchool, from where the afore-mentioned community's priestgraduated, or the local ecclesias-tical authority should be askingthemselves what went wrong...At the very least, when actionsconflict with official teachings tosuch a sharp degree, it becomesvery difficult to defend the latter.How can the local church pro-mote the signficance of sacredhistory and tradition when oneof its priests finds no reason tosafeguard the history of theparish community in which heserves and from where he makeshis living? How can we promotethe authentic role of the parishas a community of persons, inwhich the living interact with thesleeping (especially within thecontext of the Divine Liturgy),when we fail to abide by thistruth in the administration of ourparishes, by silencing the role ofthe people and the history oftheir contribution? The parish ad-ministrator who refuses to inter-act with the parish's history andinquire about its past is in no po-sition to chart its future. For in-stance, it becomes all too easy toclose its institutions or encumberits property because he has failedto establish any organic relationto them and views them as a for-eign entity.
Since the days of Heraclitus,Hellenism has believed that theliving and the dead are in com-munion: “Mortals, immortals,immortals, mortals, the one liv-ing the other's death and dyingthe other's life.” This belief be-came even clearer with the ap-pearance of Christianity, provid-ing Orthodox faithful withimmense solace, but also with agreat duty. We have to accountnot only to the living, but also tothose who have come before us.This is the “ecclesia of thedemos” (the civic administra-tion) in which the polity of Ro-manity calls us to participate.
Just as our goals, dreams,mores, norms, and principleswere shaped by those who camebefore us, so too do we have anobligation to carry on theirlegacy and pass it down to thecoming generations, fullfillingthe circle and continuing the tra-dition. Since the days of AncientGreece, there was a particularword for those who chose tobreak this circle and chart theirown course: “”�διώτης (idiotis),or private citizen. The fact thatthe word idiot is also derivedfrom this term is no coincidence.
The Divine Liturgy teaches re-spect for the founders of our in-stitutions. In the petitions, thepriest calls on the faithful to prayfor “the founders of this holychurch and for all our Orthodoxfathers, brethren, and sisters de-parted from this life before us,and who rest in peace here andeverywhere.” Let us do all wecan to combat the “idiocy” ofwillful deletion of the past thatis certainly not befitting to Hel-lenism or Orthodoxy.
Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas
The Folly of Foregoing theAcquisition of Knowledge
by ChristopherTRIPOuLAS
Special to The National Herald
by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS
Special to The National Herald
By Basil Mossaidis
The last few weeks havebeen very trying for all of us inthe Greek-American community.All of us have read, seen, orheard of the situation in Greece.I for one have grown tired ofhearing of all the penalties andpunishments implied or per-ceived, which were contem-plated to be imposed on Greeceand the Greek people. The me-dia has used Greece as thescapegoat for the failure of theEU to provide a real financialsolution to a problem createdby the EU.
The United States is a federalrepublic system of government.It is a unique system that workslargely because the memberstates are all in the system to-gether. They help one another.Every federal tax dollar assiststhe poorer states, through vari-ous social programs.
This system that we are ac-customed to in the United Statesis not what Europe currently has.Both rich and poor Europeanstates are measured equally, andthus the poorer states are at adisadvantage. Europe currentlypenalizes a member state if it isnot as strong as the rest. If Mis-
sissippi were to go bankrupt,would the United States surgi-cally remove it from part of thecountry? Of course not; theUnited States is a country com-posed of individual states, notlike Europe which has now be-come a union of nation-states.
Time has come for the worldto stop viewing Greece as the"red-headed stepchild" and stopthe rhetoric of punishment of thepeople who have little control ofwhat is happening to them. Theyare resilient and will figure outwhat and how to combat theseissues. The concept of the EU isnot a bad idea, but the concept
of one currency simply does notwork.
The debt that is owed is aninsurmountable amount ofmoney and one no matter howmany austerity measures aretaken, cannot be paid back. TheEU (Germany) gave Greece toomuch money and then askedGreece to rebuild the country inpreparation of the Olympics, andwas either through persuasion orforce that German contractorsshould do the work. Really?!?
Greece and its people havesuffered enough. Everyoneknows or at least has beenshown how and why Greece got
to this point. Why aren't thebanks who gave the money ac-countable for this current stateof affairs? They falsified docu-ments to give Greece the money,isn’t that entrapment, or at thevery least an actionable offense?
The blame game is over. Eu-rope must fix the problem, notexacerbate it. Greece cannot bethrown out of the EU, becausethat will open the door to othermembers to exit and thus destroyany Union they have left.
The debt must be forgivenand a reset button pushed, be-cause the way things are goingnow, collapse is imminent.
Germany must stop this an-tagonistic behavior and all par-ties must come together and savea nation whose history spansover 5000 years. Yes, Greeceowes Europe money, but doesn’tEurope owe Greece something?The country of Greece is not forsale (especially a fire sale)!
The Greeks of the Diasporacannot solve this problem. TheUnited States cannot solve thisproblem. No one but Greece andtheir partners can solve thisproblem.
Basil Mossaidis is Executive Di-rector of AHEPA.
France and Italy are not Florida and Idaho, and the EU is Most Certainly Not the USA
GuEST EDITORIALS
the national herald welcomes manuscripts representing a variety ofviews for publication. they should include the writer’s name, address,and telephone number, and be addressed to the editor, the nationalherald, 37-10 30th st., Long island city, nY 11101. they may alsobe e-mailed to [email protected]. we reserve the rightto edit any manuscripts that we publish, and we do not return orotherwise acknowledge unpublished ones. due to considerations ofspace we enforce a strict 850-word upper limit.
VIEWPOINTS12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 15-21, 2015
By Michael Karloutsos
[The speech below was givenby Church Archon MichaelKarloutsos in July, 2014 at the42nd Biennial Clergy-LaityCongress in Philadelphia, whichhe co-chaired.]
Thank you all for participat-ing in the 42nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Philadelphia!I was personally moved by theenthusiasm and passion exem-plified throughout the Congress.Each and every one of you playsan important role not only inyour home parish but in ourGreek orthodox community as awhole. As I reflected on ourtheme “The Orthodox ChristianFamily: A Dwelling of Christ andA Witness of His Gospel,” I re-called a story of a young man, ason, a husband, a father of sixwho had recently come to Amer-ica from Greece to seek oppor-tunity that could only be foundin the United States. Sixty yearsago in the Lower East Side ofManhattan, in the Church of St.John the Baptist, this young manbegan his ministry as Greek Or-thodox Priest. That storied min-istry brought him and his familyfrom Springfield, MA to Detroit,MI, where he tragically lost hisbeloved Presbytera Olga, whowas only 33 years old. From Ba-yard, NE to Wilmington, NCwhere he ultimately retired. Intotal Father Michael served overa dozen parishes and communi-ties across the United States.
This priest, better known tome as Pappou Michael, laid thefoundation for his children,grandchildren and great grand-children to participate in the lifeof the Church while understand-ing the sacrifices that were madeand the challenges that wereovercome.
I am a PK (“Priest’s Kid”). Butmy Dad, Father Alex, is also aPK which of course makes me aPGK (“Priest’s Grandkid”). I’malso the nephew of two priests,Father Peter (Danbury, CT) and
Father Kosmas (Annapolis, MD),the brother-in-law of a priest,
Father Constantine (Southamp-ton, NY) and the cousin of a
priest, Father Nikolas (PortWashington, NY). Not to men-
tion I have a koumbaro who’s apriest, Father Christ (Broomall,
PA) and my “Spiritual Nouno”,Father Byron (Palos Hills, IL) isalso a priest.
Yes, there is absolutely some-thing in the (Holy) water!
Being part of this incrediblefamily legacy was often very dif-ficult, especially when I realizedthat priesthood was not in myfuture. I loved the church, butwhere did I belong? This issomething I struggled with for along time. How would I servethe Church?
My shining example of howto serve the Church as a layper-son is my Uncle Jimmy (JamesKarloutsos). Like his brothers,he too attended Hellenic Col-lege/Holy Cross but never en-tered the priesthood. Instead, heshared his talents through edu-cation, which ultimately led himback to HC/HC where he is theschool’s Chief Operating Officer.My uncle found a way to serve.
We as laypeople participateby taking an interest. By step-ping up! We welcome fellowcongregants at the pangari, wehold the cloth at communion,we teach Sunday school, wework the souvlaki stand, we sup-port those in need throughPhiloptochos or we spend ourdays off coaching GOYA basket-ball. We each do our part tomake our Church great and tokeep our community alive andthriving for generations to come.This is what my beautiful wife,Anastasia, and I do for our chil-dren, Alexander, Konstantina,Steven, Michael Jr., and ourGodson Joshua. We find a wayto serve.
We also participate by speak-ing up and acting out when wefeel something is wrong. At the1998 Clergy Laity Congress, I leda group of concerned Greek Or-thodox Christians who burst inon the 34th Clergy Laity Con-gress in Orlando, FL to speak upin what has become known asthe “Open Forum.” Not withoutsome irony, sixteen years later Ihave had the distinct honor andprivilege to serve as co-Chair ofthe 42nd Clergy laity Congress,where I’m proud that we heldOpen Forums of our own to en-sure that dialogue and activismcontinue to be part of ourChurch experience. Life comesfull circle, but our responsibilityto “speak the truth in love” asthe Apostle Paul reminds usnever changes.
I want to thank my co-Chair,the amazing Anne Michals, forher partnership and trust. I wantto thank His Eminence Metro-politan Evangelos for his spiri-tual guidance and friendshipand His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios for providing ourcommunity with the steady, prin-cipled leadership that it so richlydeserves. And, of course, I wantto thank His All Holiness our Ec-umenical Patriarch Bartholomewfor his paternal love and exem-plary sacrifice.
Finally, I want to thank themen, women, and children,priests, beloved presbyteres andlaypeople alike for your incredi-ble contributions in making the42nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Con-gress in Philadelphia somethingwe can all be proud of. Togetherwe found a way to serve! Thankyou!
Serving the Church as a Layperson: Perspectives of a Priest’s Kid... and Grandkid
1. 'Yiayia' Anastasia , Xanthi, Katherine andFather Kosmas Karavellas. 2. Father Alex,Michael, Xanthi, Anastasia and Olga Kar-loutsos. 3. My children: Stylianos (Steven),Konstantina, Michael Jr, Alexander andJoshua. 4. Michael Karloutsos and His Ho-liness Pope Francis. 5. Michael, Anastasia,Michael Jr., Presbytera Xanthi, MetropolitanElpidoforos, Father Alex, Presbytera Anas-tasia, Olga Palladino, Marc Palladino, FatherConstantine Lazarakis, bottom: Demetrios, Konstantina, Steven, Alexander, Joshua,Xanthi, Luca, Konstantina and Leo. 6.Michael and Father Alex Karloutsos. 7. Fa-ther Alex and Presbytera Xanthi Karloutsos.8. Michael, Xanthi, Anastasia, His All Holi-ness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,Olga and Father Alex Karloutsos.
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