The National HeraldA wEEKly GrEEK-AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON

October 20-26, 2012

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Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek-Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

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By Daniel KleinWall Street Journal

Here I am in my mid-70s,and I am wondering: Is now thetime to take a final stab at un-finished business—to accom-plish at long last the remaininggoals on my lifetime to-do list?

Or is now the time to step back,let go of my ambitions, reflectand just live?

It is not an easy choice, es-pecially in light of the prevailingethos of the "New Old Age." Be-cause medicine is allowing us tolive longer than ever before andbecause the people turning 65belong to that famously aspiringand adventurous group knownas baby boomers, old age is nowwidely seen as an opportunityfor more busyness—lots more.

Working harder thanever...for what?

We are advised that an ex-tended life span has given us anunprecedented opportunity. Andif we surrender to old age, weare fools or, worse, cowards.Around me I see many of mycontemporaries remaining intheir prime-of-life vocations, of-ten working harder than ever be-fore, even if they have alreadyachieved a great deal. Some arewriting the novels stewing intheir heads but never attempted,or enrolling in classes in conver-sational French, or taking upjogging, or even signing up forcosmetic surgery and youth-en-hancing hormone treatments.

But something about thisnew philosophy of old age doesnot sit well with me. I suspectthat if I were to take this route,I would miss out on somethingdeeply significant, a unique andinvaluable stage of life. I havedeep-seated qualms about goingfrom a protracted prime of lifedirectly to old old age—thenow-attenuated period of senil-ity and extreme infirmity thatprecedes death. But what, praytell, would a contented and au-thentic old age consist of?

To figure that out, I recentlypacked a suitcase full of philos-ophy books and set off for theGreek island of Hydra, where Ihad once lived for a year when Iwas a young man. I wanted toread what the ancients had tosay about a fulfilling old age.And what better place to readthem than in the sunlit, rockyterrain where their ideas still im-bue many people's world view?

The Greek philosopher Epi-

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Relections on the “New”Old Age: it May Be New,But is it Really Improved?

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – TNH has been in-formed that New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo will be a specialguest at the annual meetings ofthe Archdiocesan Council andthe National Philoptochos at theNew York Hilton on October 19.He will address a joint gatheringof the two bodies before also at-tending the luncheon.

Although the purpose of thevisit has not been disclosed,there is speculation that a majorannouncement will be made re-garding the future of the Churchof St. Nicholas at Ground Zero.

Cuomo presided over thesigning of an agreement on Oct.14, 2011 resolving the long andat times acrimonious dispute be-tween the Greek Orthodox Arch-diocese and the Port Authorityof NY and NJ, which threatenedto block the rebuilding of theChurch.

At the time there were re-ports of an informal timetable

Gov. CuomoWill DiscussSt. Nicholas

By Theodore Kalmoukos

WASHINGTON, DC – “Greecewill make it. A new Greece isborn. Greek-Americans are abridge between Greece and theUnited States.” That was themessage that the newly-ap-pointed ambassador of Greeceto the United States, ChristosPanagopoulos, conveyed to thePresident Barack Obama.

Panagopoulos is an experi-enced diplomat who knows theAmerican diplomatic and polit-ical realities well, but also theGreek Diaspora, since he hasserved twice in the UnitedStates in the past, in Los Angelesand in Boston.

In his first interview to TNH,Ambassador Panagopoulos said“I feel like coming back homeafter completing two terms. Thefirst in Boston in the 80s, a pe-riod that had been marked bysignificant developments for theGreek- American community. Iam referring, to Mike Dukakis’campaign for president. Later, I

had the opportunity to representGreece in the West Coast, in acompletely different environ-ment. Now, I am returning tothe United States in a positionwhich is the highest honor forevery Greek diplomat, at ourEmbassy in Washington DC.Nonetheless, I have an over-whelming feeling that I am com-ing back home.”

During the presentation ofhis credentials a few weeks ago,Panagopoulos conveyed toObama, on behalf of the presi-dent and the prime minister ofthe Hellenic Republic, but alsoof the entire Greek people,“their cordial wishes of friend-ship and cooperation.” He alsoexpressed “their appreciation forthe constant support, providedby the United States, and thepersonal interest shown by theAmerican president during thiscritical financial juncture forGreece.” He added that “theAmerican president personally,but also Vice President Biden,during his recent visit to Athens,along with other members ofthe Administration, namely Sec-retary Clinton and SecretaryGeithner have, in a every possi-ble way, strived to supportGreece, as shown in their publicstatements.”

“It is of high importance tous,” he added, “to feel that weare not alone in this fight andthat Washington is providing itssolidarity.”

Panagopoulos also said that“I conveyed to President Obamathe importance that Greece at-taches to the Greek Americancommunity, who are our broth-ers and sisters here. I under-scored that the Greek-Ameri-cans are a ‘bridge’ of friendshipand cooperation between ourtwo countries that we valuehighly.”

The Greek-American rela-

Amb. Panagopoulos Tells Obama ThatGreece Will Make it

NEW YORK – George Papacon-stantinou, former Minister of Fi-nance for Greece and Ministerfor the Environment, Energyand Climate Change, was thefeatured speaker at a joint pre-sentation of The Yale Center forthe Study of Globalization andthe Hellenic Studies Program on“Greece, The Euro and the DebtCrisis,” at Yale University on Oc-tober 15.

The common refrain of thepanelists, sounded moststrongly by Papaconstantinou, isthat Greece must try its best toimplement reforms and hold on

until after next year’s Germanelection to obtain debt relief,and that a return to thedrachma would be catastrophic.

A lively Q & A session fol-lowed the presentations. One ofmost dramatic questions – andone that prompted applause –was directed at Papaconstanti-nou, who was asked to “explainwhat happened to that list afterit arrived,” referring to the CDwith information about theSwiss bank accounts of Greeksthat was given to him by Chris-tine Lagarde before she becamethe Director of the IMF. After

detailing the sequence of events,he declared “I am at peace withmyself,” for having handled thematter properly.

Papaconstantinou was joinedby Miranda Xafa, CEO of E.F.Consulting, an Athens-based ad-visory firm focusing on Euro-zone economic and financial is-sues, and Domingo Cavallo,Senior Fellow, Jackson Institutefor Global Affairs, and formerMinister of the Economy, Ar-gentina.

Ernesto Zedillo, Director,

Papaconstantinou is Key Yale Speaker

Petrol bombs explode in front of riot police during clashes during the 24-hour nationwidegeneral strike in Athens on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Hundreds of youths pelted riot police withpetrol bombs, bottles and chunks of marble Thursday as yet another Greek anti-austeritydemonstration descended into violence.

AP PHOTO/KOSTAS TSirONiS

Greeks Hold More Strikes and Violent Protests

By Penelope KarageorgeSpecial to The National Herald

Restaurant Loi is a populardining destination. On a recentSaturday night, every table ap-peared to be full, with peoplewaiting to get in. The decor –including a long mural seascapefrom a photo taken by Loi fromher home of Nafpaktos, Greece– the comfortable, striped fabricarmchairs, the three enclosedprivate dining rooms, the multi-leveled dining room, makes thisan interesting place to dine. It’sfun to look around at the ener-getic scene of waiters and din-ers. The delicious aroma of whatsmells like a succulent stefadodrifts out to you from thekitchen, visible through a win-dow in the dining room. You cantune in to the pleasant cacoph-ony of forks, knives, and glassesclinked. A super-plus, at least tome (who avoids noisy restau-rants): one can actually carryon a conversation here withoutshouting. No obtrusive musicplays. The ceiling has been

Restaurant Loi: a Popular Greek Dining Experience in NYC

By Constantine S. Sirigos

NEW YORK – She is known asCrown Princess Katherine ofSerbia and was born in Greeceto Greek parents. After her wed-ding to Crown Prince Alexanderof Serbia she devoted her life toworking with her husband tohelp the Serbian nation. In anexclusive interview with TNH,she said that during the horrificwar years of the 90s and after-ward, no one helped more thanthe people of Greece, and nowshe wants to give back, not onlyby helping children in need to-day – which is her priority – butby inspiring young Hellenes allover the world to take the leadin building a New Greece.

Princess Katherine estab-lished the “Lifeline Humanitar-ian Organization” in 1993, withoffices in New York, Chicago,Toronto, London and Athens.

The website www.lifelineaid.orgwill soon post information abouta joint appeal in the UK and USwith the Greek organizationcalled “Together for the Child”(www.mazigiatopaidi.gr) whichunited 10 non-governmental or-ganizations (NGOs) which helpchildren. The appeal has501(c)(3) status and hasopened a special bank account.

“We would like every GreekAmerican to give what then canto help keep these institutionsopen and take care our chil-dren.” But she told TNH hermission has a special dimension:“I am appealing to the youngpeople in the US to show an ex-ample to their parents that theyhave the ability to save the chil-dren of Greece, by organizingdinner dances, concerts, etc.”

“I would like to see all theGreeks of the United Statesmake us proud,” but she wants

to give children the opportunityto make all Hellenes proud. Andshe believes it will make a greatimpact in their own lives “Theywill grow up remembering ‘Ihelped Greece during the cri-sis.’”

As anyone who has ever triedto raise money for a causeknows, it is not easy. Hard workis required, and the royal coupleis veterans at planning and exe-cuting events, publicizing themand locating benefactors. Askingpeople to dig into their pocketscan be painful, especially in dif-ficult times, but charisma is thespoonful of sugar that helps themedicine go down.

Katherine credits all thecharisma to her husband, butthere are different kinds. Thewarmth and attention she be-stows upon everyone she speaks

Princess Katherine Thanks Greece for Helping the Serbs

Chef Maria Loi delights guests at her eponymous restaurant with her food and charm.

Crown Princess Katherine ofSerbia.

By Andy DabilisTNH Staff Writer

ATHENS – As Greek Prime Min-ister Antonis Samaras’ uneasycoalition government movedcloser to a deal to make another$17.45 billion in spending cutsand tax hikes – and he was inBrussels trying to convince Eu-ropean Union leaders he hadput the country on the path torecovery – more than 70,000Greeks protested in the nation’scapital.

Greeks are furious thatSamaras, the New DemocracyConservative leader, and hispartners, the PASOK Socialistsand tiny Democratic Left, aregoing to impose more austeritymeasures. Protesters rallied inthe streets on Oct. 18 for thethird protest in a month againstpay cuts, tax hikes, and slashedpensions.

That coincided with anothergeneral strike that put much ofthe country in a standstill as la-bor union leaders, workers, pen-sioners, and the poor banded to-gether to demonstrate againstausterity and demand an end tothe punishing conditions. It wasthe 20th work stoppage sincethe economic crisis engulfed thecountry in 2009.

A similar demonstration byabout 17,000 people in theNorthern city of Thessalonikiended peacefully. The strikegrounded flights, shut downpublic services, closed schools,hospitals, and shops and ham-pered public transport in thecapital. Taxi drivers joined in fornine hours, while a three-hourwork stoppage by air traffic con-trollers led to flight cancella-tions. Islands were left cut offas ferries stayed in ports.

Tensions mounted when asmall group of protesters beganthrowing pieces of marble, bot-

Samaras SteersGovernment toAdditional Cuts

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 7

Ambassador of Greece to theU.S. Christos Panagopoulos.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Continued on page 5

Continued on page 3

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

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COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Vote on our website!You have the chance to express your opinion on our website

on an important question in the news. The results will be pub-lished in our printed edition next week along with the questionfor that week.

The question this week is: Did Barack Obama bounce backsufficiently in the second debate?o Yeso Noo Maybe

The results for last week’s question: Do you think AngelaMerkel is to blame for Greece’s current problems?0% voted "Yes"100% voted "No"0% voted "Maybe"

Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The New YorkAthletic Club (NYAC) is one ofthe numerous institutions thatensure Americans don’t onlyrely on Hollywood to learnabout the contributions of Hel-las to their culture. On October6 the renowned institution lo-cated on one of Manhattan’smost exclusive corners hostedits biennial “Greek Night” at itselegant City House.

Established in 1868, TheNYAC was a pioneer in the am-ateur sports movement inAmerica. Its founders were in-spired by the classical Greekprinciple that an education mustcombine training for the mindand the body. Their endeavorpreceded the modern Olympicmovement, which it then em-braced. According to its website,NYAC members have won 119Olympic gold medals, 53 silver

medals, and 59 bronze medals.The NYAC evolved into one

of the city’s most elite socialclubs and on Saturday night theclub’s Greek and Philhellenemembers and their friendsturned the room with cofferedceilings and glittering chande-liers and windows with views ofCentral Park into a slice of theMediterranean.

The guests were warmly wel-comed by the Dinner Chairman,attorney Andrew Charles Tsunis,and greeted by the club’s presi-dent, S. Colin Neill. FatherNathanael Symeonides, pastorof the Church of the Annuncia-tion, offered the invocation andspotlighted parishioner andNYAC member George Nicholasand his wife Stacey, whose 50thanniversary celebration in-cluded gathering with theirfriends for Greek Night. Cyprus’Consul General in New York,Koula Sophianou, was also pre-sent.

The dean of the substantialGreek-American presence in thelegal profession in New York,the beloved Judge NicholasTsoucalas, is a member.

He told TNH he looks for-ward to the event and that thereare many Greeks who are mem-bers, a testament to the rise thedescendants of humble immi-grants to the top of every pro-fession.

He is very proud of the Greekcontingent among the NYAC’s

almost 9000 members. Tsou-calas noted that the Greeksstand out at the NYAC. “WhenGreeks join a club, they becomeactive. They want to make acontribution,” he said, duringthe cocktail reception.

Markos Drakotos, with rootsin Trikala and Santorini, echoedthe judge’s words “We all getcaught up in our busy lives andwe don’t always see who we’dlike to see, and it’s nice forGreeks to come to a differentvenue than they are used to.”He also enjoys Greek Night be-cause it is one of the club’sevents that bring together mem-bers from different divisions,and he likes the fact that theyare exposed to Greek culture.He agrees it is also importantthese days for influential peopleto see Greece in a positive light.

Drakotos said of the club,and its mind and body philoso-phy based on classical ideals: “Ifthere is any organization thatunderstands how importantGreek culture has been to theworld, it’s the New York AthleticClub.”

Setraki Agonian, an Armen-ian from Bulgaria who was de-scribed as one of the drivingforces of Greek Night throughthe years, considers theOlympics one of the greatestgifts of Greece to the world.

Tsunis, who acknowledgedthe work of the Greek NightCommittee including Agonian,

George Kantakis, GeorgeNicholas, and Alec Diacou,” toldTNH, "As a member of the So-cial Activities Committee at ourclub, I always look forward tochairing the Greek Night Com-mittee. What could be more ex-citing than an opportunity toshowcase our culture to ourfamily and friends in a gracefulmanner that only our club couldachieve."

The delicious culinary offer-ings were suitably Hellenic,from the Shrimp Santorini ap-petizer to the Greek salad andthe choice of Baked Bronzini orOven Roasted Lamb Rack Tav-erna. The yogurt with freshberries was Greek, of course, aswas the wine: Lyrarakis, Vilana’10 and Lyrakis, Kotsifali ’09.

The Syn-phonia band led byPanos Chrysovergis and featur-ing singer Aphrodite Daniel pro-vided the music, mainly Greek,that fueled the evening’s kefi.The group demonstrated itswell-known gift for getting themost reluctant groups up and

out of their chairs as the musicand dancing began even beforedinner was served, to the de-light of guests whose spiritedcircle dances spilled beyond therectangular confines of the offi-cial dance floor.

As is usually the case, non-Greeks were very excited aboutdancing with their Greek friendsand although one could not al-ways find two people to dancebetween whose feet kept up tothe band’s hypnotic beat, oneguest was whisked away by twofine dancers who did not haveesses at the end of their names.Layla from Russia, who worksat the United Nations, resplen-dent in a red dress, and Bing,who learned Greek dancingfrom her husband, demon-strated one can be a Greek inheart, mind, or feet.

“It is heartwarming to seenon-Greek members returningyear after year to attend GreekNight," said Tsunis, who is al-ready thinking about the 2014event.

It’s Greek Night at the New York Athletic Club

Above: The New York Athletic Club’s rooms overlooking CentralPark are an elegant setting for its biennial Greek Night. Left:Standing, L-R: Markos Drakotos, Sofia Davis, Andrew C. Tsunis,Sumiko Tajihi, Setrak Agonian, Seated, L-R” Koula Sophianou,Colin Neill, Bernadette Neill, Didi Agonian, and Judge NicholasTsoucalas. Below: The Syn-phonia band led by PanosChrysovergis and featuring singer Aphrodite Daniel arerenowned for getting guests up and dancing.

n OCTOBER 19-21READING, PA – Sts. Constantine& Helen Greek OrthodoxChurch, at 1001 E. WyomissingBoulevard in Reading, will holdits 42nd Annual Greek FoodBazaar from Friday, Oct. 19through Sunday, Oct. 21. Fridayand Saturday from Noon until8PM, and Sunday from Noonuntil 6PM. Live Greek music, tobe performed by Stavros &Maria, and dancing will be fea-tured. An array of Greek appe-tizers, entrees, and pastries, aswell as artwork, jewelry, andother gifts. For more informa-tion, please call (610) 374-7511.

n OCTOBER 20MANHATTAN – “Movie Night atthe Annunciation” proudly pre-sents “My Sweet Canary”, an ex-uberant documentary film aboutthe life and career of singer RosaEskenazy, A Sephardic Jew fromAsia Minor who became themost recorded singer of "Re-betika" songs (Greek blues) inthe 1920s, with a career that ex-tended beyond the politicalboundaries of Greece to theGreek Diaspora and spannedmany decades. Three musicians,a British-born Greek Cypriot, anIsraeli and a Turk, embark on amission to tell her incrediblestory. “My Sweet Canary” is di-rected by Roy Sher and featuresthe Greek singer Haris Alexiou,Yasmin Levy, Mehtap Demir,Tomer Katz and Martha D.Lewis. (In Greek, Hebrew andTurkish, with English subtitles.)The suggested donation of $15supports the philanthropic workof the Philoptochos Societywhich sponsors “Movie Night”.Refreshments will be served.Film starts at 7PM. Demas Hall,Annunciation Greek OrthodoxChurch, 302 West 91st Street(at West End Ave.) in Manhat-tan. 212-724-2070.

n OCTOBER 30PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Com-munity is invited to a seminar:“Jewish Greeks: Legacy, Chal-lenges, Prospects.” Day Panel:12:30–2 PM La Salle University,Dunleavy Room. Speakers:Marcia Haddad-Ikonomopoulos,MA, Curator, Kehila KedoshaJanina Synagogue and Mu-seum; Paul Hagouel, PhD, Mem-ber of the Board of Directors,Jewish Museum of Greece;Asher J. Matathias, MA, St.John’s University; Dr. Zoe Kos-midou, Minister Counselor, Cul-tural Affairs, Embassy of Greece,and USA Office Director of Hel-lenic Foundation for Culture.Evening Panel: 7–9 PM, Congre-gation Mikveh Israel, 44 N. 4thStreet, in Philadelphia.www.mikvehisrael.org. Studentsare welcome. Speakers: Profes-sor Christos Katsetos, MD, PhD,FRCPath, Drexel University Col-lege of Medicine, and Rabbi Al-bert E. Gabbai and Lea Alvo-Sadiky at Congregation MikvehIsrael Co-sponsored with the LaSalle University School of Busi-ness, the Leadership and GlobalUnderstanding program, theMulticultural and InternationalCenter, and CongregationMikveh Israel.

n NOVEMBER 2FLUSHING – Hellenic Public Ra-dio- Cosmos FM 91.5 is Cele-brating 25 Years of BroadcastingExcellence and honor renownedComposer Yiannis Markopouloswith The 2012 PhidippidesAward for Passionate Advocacyof Hellenism at The 18th AnnualPhidippides Award Gala. Friday,November 2 at Terrace on thePark in Flushing at 7PM.

n NOVEMBER 2-4MANHATTAN - The LadiesPhiloptochos Society of SaintSpyridon Church of WashingtonHeights will hold its annualGreek Food Festival and Bazaaron Friday, Nov. 2 from 11AM-4PM, on Saturday, Nov. 3 from11AM-4PM and on Sunday, Nov.4 from 12:30-3:30PM. Greekdishes such as moussaka, sou-vlakia in pita, pastitsio,spanakopita, and Greek saladwill be served along with Greekdesserts such as baklava andfinikia. Attendees are invited toshop among the many boutiqueand flea market items. Therewill be live music on Sunday,November 4. Saint SpyridonChurch is located at 124Wadsworth Avenue betweenWest 179th and 180th Streetsin Manhattan.

n NOVEMBER 4MANHATTAN – Hellenic PublicRadio-Cosmos FM 91.5 is proudto present Yiannis MarkopoulosLive in New York. Special GuestArtist: Mario Frangoulis withVasiliki Lavina & AlexandrosBelles and a 15-Member Orches-tral Ensemble Conducted by theComposer. Sunday, Nov. 4 at theCooper Union, Great Hall. 7 E.7th St. in Manhattan at 4PM.Tickets: $50 $75 $100 $125. Forinformation and reservations:7 1 8 - 2 0 4 - 8 9 0 0 .cosmosfm@gaepis.org

n NOVEMBER 15TENAFLY, NJ – ThePTO/Mother’s Club of theCathedral of St. John the The-ologian is hosting its annualTricky Tray Auction on Thurs-day, Nov. 15 at 353 Clinton Av-enue in Tenafly. Prizes includegift certificates for spa servicesand to restaurants, electronics,and much more. Doors open at6:30PM. Admission tickets($10) can be purchased onlineat www.tricklytray.myevent.comor by calling the Church officeat 201-567-5072.

n NOVEMBER 16MANHATTAN – The 24th an-nual Dinner Gala honoring NewYork State Senator Michael Gi-anaris, 12th District for his Ded-ication to Public Service and At-torney of the Year KirkKarabelas, Esq. Karabelas andPapagianopoulos, LLP andChairman, Alma Bank. TheBlack Tie Optional affair will beheld on Friday, Nov. 16 at thePierre Hotel in Manhattan.Cocktails at 7PM, Dinner imme-diately following. Live entertain-ment by Panos Chrysovergis andAphrodite Daniels. ADVANCERESERVATIONS ONLY – NOTICKETS SOLD AT THE DOOR.For reservations and informa-tion please email Stacey Pappasat. Stacy@hlany.org or call 917-842-6534 by November 2.

TARPON SPRINGSCenter for Gulf Coast FolklifePrograms Fall 2012 Workshops.Bouzouki Workshops: Hosted byGeorge Soffos. Sundays, 2-4PM, Oct. 7 & 21, Nov. 11, 18, &25, Dec. 2, 9, & 16, HeritageMuseum, 100 Beekman Lane,Craig Park in Tarpon Springs.October 21 class will be at theCenter for Gulf Coast Folklife,101 S. Pinellas Avenue in Tar-pon Springs. $5 per class.George Soffos is considered bymany to be the best bouzoukiplayer born outside of Greece.Classes will be divided into be-ginning (2-3pm) and advanced(3-4pm) sections. There will bea few bouzoukis available forbeginning students. GreekCooking Classes: Saturdays, 12-2pm, Oct. 13 & 20, Nov. 10 &17, Safford House, 23 Parkin Ct,in Tarpon Springs. $20 per class,$18 for Cultural Treasures mem-bers, $10 for students with IDcards. Excellent communitycooks teach the delicious cuisineof the Greek islands and Cyprus,and everyone enjoys a meal to-gether after the class. Join usfor food, fun, and fascinatingcultural insights at the historicSafford House! October 20:Crete – Joan Frangedis—kalit-sounia (spinach pie) & youvar-lakia (soup with meatballs inegg-lemon sauce); November10: Halki – Nikki Christu –fako-rizo halkitiko (lentils with pasta& fried onions) and horiatki(vil-lage-style) cabbage salad; No-vember 17: Cyprus – Yiota The-ofanus & Eleonora Yiallouros –kleftiko lamb and pishies(dessert) EVENTS: Musical Pre-sentation: Night in the IslandsSaturday nights, 6-11PM. Oct.6 and November 3. SpongeDocks. Night in the Islandsrecreates the atmosphere of theGreek islands with monthly out-door dining on the SpongeDocks, performances by out-standing musical groups Elladaand Odyssey, Greek dancing,and other arts. Free dancelessons will be offered from 6-7PM beginning Oct. 6. Exhibi-tion: Sacred Arts. Sept. 27-Nov.30, Center for Gulf Coast Folk-life Gallery, 101 S. Pinellas Ave.Religion has been the inspira-tion for a rich array of artisticcreations. Whether conveyedthrough architecture, painting,music, vestments, needle arts,custom, or ritual, beauty in theexpression of the Sacred is animportant aspect of many reli-gious traditions.

GOINGS ON...

Ann Arbor Journal News

The University of MichiganLibrary recently announced thaturban expressionist painter SamKarres has donated sketchbooksdating from 1975-2009 to theModern Greek Collection. Thesketchbooks will support thestudy of both Greek Americaand the city of Detroit.

Karres has spent his life de-riving inspiration from theneighborhoods and people ofDetroit. In his sketchbooks hecaptured Greektown before thecasino, at a time when it wastruly a Greek-American neigh-borhood.

His drawings often origi-

nated in coffeehouses, bars, andrestaurants, and showed Greek-town regulars going about theirdaily lives, among them the late“Greektown Stella,” an elderlyhomeless woman known forshrieking at passers-by.

After earning a B.F.A andM.A. from Wayne State Univer-sity in the 1950s, Karres workedas an illustrator for Ford MotorCompany for 25 years – but hedidn’t let the job interfere withhis personal artistic life. Sketch-ing every day, and painting mostdays, Karres would sit at hisdesk at work and make lists ofstreets, buildings, and busi-nesses that he wanted to paint.Initially he would make sketches

with the plan of painting later,but eventually he bought a vanso he could set up his easel andpaint on the spot. Karres toldbiographer James Bloch, “Mydream, even in college, was topaint in the streets.” His retire-ment in 1980 meant more time

for those streets, and the vol-ume of sketches and paintingsincreased.

The University of MichiganLibrary and the U-M ModernGreek Program invite the publicto an exhibit and reception tohonor Karres and his gift ofsketchbooks, to be held on Oc-tober 24, 4-6pm, in the firstfloor Gallery of the U-M HatcherGraduate Library in Ann Arbor.The exhibit will showcase draw-ings, most in pen and ink, thatgive visual insights into Detroitand the many colorful charac-ters Karres has encounteredalong the path of his life. Briefremarks will be followed bylight refreshments.

Expressionist Karres Donates Sketchbooks to Univ. of Michigan

NEW YORK – There will be acocktail reception and dancewhose proceeds willbenefit  Greek children through“Make a Wish Greece” on Sun-day, October 21 at Holy TrinityCathedral in Manhattan. That isnot something unusual for theArchdiocesan Cathedral on theUpper East Side. What is specialabout the event prompted bythe suffering of the people ofGreece is that it is the initiativeof a 17 year old senior at TenaflyHigh School.

Leventis, a first generationGreek-American told The Na-tional Herald, “I wanted to helpmy country. I have heard somany stories of middle classfamilies that have lost every-thing and I decided to do some-thing to help.” The team she as-sembled has already raised$50,000.

She told TNH she asked afriend of her father’s in Greecewhat organizations are doing

good she suggested Make aWish. Working with Desi Dinouof the Greek affiliate and StevenHenderson of Make a Wish In-

ternational, they created anevent that will be tax-deductibleand will benefit Greek children.Through the years, generousdonors and over 30,000 volun-teers have enabled Make a Wishto grant approximately 300,000wishes worldwide.

Leventis said she was alsomotivated by a desire get chil-dren involved in helping Greece.“From what I see, a lot of Greek-American children are not intouch with their country and Ithink this is something that willencourage that, and get them toreach out and help,” she said.

Leventis is very excited aboutthe event, which will run 5:00PM to 10:00 PM and promisesfun in addition to  philanthropy.It is designed to appeal to boththe younger and older set inNew York’s Greek-Americancommunity and their friendsand will feature a DJ playing avariety of music – Greek andAmerican, naturally.

There will be a silent auctionand the young philanthropistshave worked very vary to obtaininteresting prizes. They includetickets for concerts by LadyGaga and Swedish House Mafia,Jets football games, and to seethe Brooklyn Nets at their newarena. Trips to Aspen and theCaribbean will also be offered,and there will be signed athleticjerseys from famous Greek ath-letes that may not be known toAmericans, and at least oneAmerican athlete - Michael Jor-dan –  who is pretty recogniz-able in Greece. The latter wasmade available by director SpikeLee, whose son is a classmateof her sisters, tenth gradersEvangelina and Natalie.

During the brief speakingprogram she will be introducedby Greece’s Consul General inNew York, George Iliopoulos, atwhich time she will share hervision and thank everyone whohelped.

HS Senior Helps to “Make Wishes in Greece” True

Christine Leventis is a seniorat Tenafly High School.

with and the clarity of her ap-peal must make it difficult forpeople to say no.

Prince Alexander’s role in theresurrection of Serbia was notlimited to charitable endeavors.“I am very proud of my hus-band, because he broughtdemocracy to our country byuniting the opposition leaders.”She said he sent a simple emailto Serbia’s politicians in 1999:“I would very much like to seeyou. In ten days you will be inBudapest,” and the princess said98 percent appeared, “whichwas a shock, because these werepeople who were not willing tobe under the same roof.” In afollow-up meeting in Athens shesaid “He united the oppositionparties. They came back andthey won.”

Their first visit to Serbia wasin 1991, to a tumultuous wel-come by more 500,000 well-wishers. “It was an incrediblewelcome, emotions, tears every-where.” After the democraticrevolution in October 2000, agrateful nation granted thePrince not ownership of theroyal palace in Belgrade – thatis still under dispute – but theright to live there. They arrivedin 2001 and there was muchwork to do beyond renovatinga building that had become a“forbidden city” under Tito.

The unemployment rate was40 percent, Serbia had morethan 600,000 refugees and med-ical equipment in hospitals wasalmost worthless. She was ap-pointed by the minister ofhealth to be the official coordi-nator for health issues for thewhole country. When she livedin the United States, she worked

in the business world, whichgave her experience that helpsher in her current endeavors,adding “my husband and I takeour roles very seriously.”

She oversees dozens of hos-pitals and they have visitedevery hospital in the country,presiding over the delivery ofthings like ambulances andmedical equipment, but thehealth of the country remains ina disastrous state. Because often years of war women post-poned having children, causinga rash of pre-mature babieswithout the means to care forthem. “There were not enoughincubators for them to survive,”she said.

Drastic circumstances call fordrastic measures. “I went toGreece and called all my friendsand said ‘have you ever been todinner with an incubator.” Theysaid “never” and she responded“well, this is a dinner to savelives.” They raised more thanone million euros in one night.“It was very moving. MarioFrangoulis came and sang‘Mamma’ and the hospitals gottheir incubators.”

The royal couple has accessto an extraordinary social net-work – The Queen of Englandis her husband’s godmother –but their energy and spirit arecrucial to their efforts. They hadjust raced to New York for acharitable event at le Cirque tobenefit children with specialneeds in Serbia. The next daythey traveled to Canada to raisefunds for cancer treatment. Inthe past, through the assistanceof the Niarchos foundation, shewas able to obtain a mobile unitfor digital mammography whichhas examined more than 45,000women. Serbia has the highestbreast cancer rates in Europe.

If one gets involved inenough situations helping peo-ple in need, one begins to wit-ness miracles. One day PrincessKatherine was in the palace dur-ing a visit of hundreds childrenand she heard shouting. She ranto see what was happening andwas told a brother and sisterwho were separated by the warsfound one another in the middleof the room. In a few years theywould not recognized eachother. The minister of social ser-vices was in the palace and de-clared “It’s God’s will.”

About help from Serbia’sneighbor she said “There wasnothing that I needed that Icould not ask Greece for. Thou-sands of shoes from Thessa-loniki, blankets, thousands ofeverything.”

“Greece had saved lives inour country and it is our turn tohelp Greece,” she said, noting“I’m Serbian now…but a Greekis always a Greek. We want toshow our appreciation to the

people in Greece.” Her husbandis half Greek, the grandson ofKing Alexander of Serbia andAspasia Manos.

She said she was not quali-fied to say much about the situ-ation in Greece, but she said “itis not good to be blind,” towrongdoing and suffering.“When I began to hear in Greece‘this doesn’t involve me,’ I wasstunned.”

And it’s a sin to ignore thesuffering of children, she said,adding “Because of this mess,nobody is focusing on the morethan 10,000 children with spe-cial needs. We have to show theGreek people that we cannot al-low our children’s institutionsto close. Some have closed al-ready and this is a shame on us.

“Incurring a debt that onecannot pay back is one thing,but letting our children be givenback to parents who are not ina position to help them is a hu-manitarian crime.”

She believes the key to thefuture is Greece’s youth, but theissues are not all economic innature. “We must educate ouryoung people, to first have re-spect for one another, and tohave enough confidence toknow they can contribute.Everyone can make a contribu-tion. It does not cost anyone tohelp one another and you neverknow when you will need helpfor yourself.” That is the rationalbasis for philanthropy. The spir-itual basis is, as she said, “Weare all children of God.”

Her father and mothertaught her the joy of giving andsaid, “I learned it well, becauseI learned it young. It is our re-sponsibility to teach that to ourchildren.”

Katherine acknowledged thata spirit of giving and volunteer-ing and “giving back” is devel-oping in Greece. She told thestory of the Theotokos institu-tion in Athens that cares formore than 300 mentally handi-capped children but was goingto close. “People had not beenpaid for more than five months.Do you know you saved it?Young people.”

There was a big charity eventat the Claridge Hotel in Londonand more than 100,000 BritishPounds were raised. 400 youngpeople from the Greek commu-nity in England and in Greececame through. They paid thestaff, installed new windowsand heating systems, and rebuiltthe play grounds.

She and her husband,through Lifeline Hellas, havebeen organizing events inGreece and Cyprus. “We have tokeep moving and doing what wecan.”

At Athens’ Grand BretagneHotel there will be a dinner forGreece in December, and she is

very excited about a December16 ballet performance featuringchildren “dancing for the chil-dren of Greece.” The theme is“children helping children.”

These are the messages sheis bringing to the diaspora.“Greek-American children arenot as connected to Greece asthey could be, but by givingthem a chance to help Greece,it will pass into love for thecountry. Greece will only survivethrough the help of the people,whether they are within its bor-ders or outside. It doesn’t mat-ter. It is a sin to forget the moth-erland. That’s why it is calledMother-land,” she said.

Princess Katherine onceasked her mother “what is hap-piness,” and was told “when yougive of yourself,” and I prayedto God to give me an opportu-nity.” Through her husband shereceived a whole country, andnow she says “lets save the chil-dren of Greece. Let’s all holdhands and help. I know this willpass, but what we are trying todo is make it pass easier andfaster for the people and to gen-erate a spirit of giving that willsurvive the crisis.”

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012 3

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Greek-Americansare known for throwing greatparties, less so for supportingtheir political parties of choice.On October 12, an informalgroup of supporters of the Presi-dent called NY Greek Americansand Friends for Obama did bothat the Loi restaurant in Manhat-tan.

The featured speakers firedup the guests, the food offeredby Loi’s owner, chef Maria Loi,delighted their palates and thefellowship warmed all theirhearts.

Arthur Cheliotes, President,Communications Workers ofAmerica, Local 1180, AFL-CIO,Peter Marudas, long-time Chiefof Staff for Senator Paul Sarbanes,Democratic candidate for theNew York City Council Constan-tine Constantinides, who was oneof the event’s co-chairs, and NYState Assemblywoman AravellaSimotas addressed the guests.Simotas also conveyed greetingsfrom NY State Senator MichaelGianaris and State Senate candi-date Andrew Gounardes.

George Papaioannou, theevent’s chairperson, and his co-chairs: Olga Alexakos, Ted Anas-tasiou, Arthur Cheliotes, AndrewGounardes, Effie Lekas, TasoPardalis and Stavroula Toska,made sure the guests – and thestrong Greek and Greek-Ameri-can media presence – all enjoyedthemselves.

Papaioannou welcomed alland thanked the co-chairs andall those who worked hard tomake the endeavor or success“including my friend Olga Alex-akos.” He then quipped, “Olgaforgive me when I say ‘friend,’ Idon’t mean it in the Joe Bidensense.” The vice president hadcalled his opponent, Congress-man Paul Ryan, his “friend,” 14times during their debate.

It was clearly a partisan party,but a major theme was the needfor Greek-Americans, regardlessof party affiliation, to be moreinvolved in grass roots politics.

Marudas travelled all the wayfrom Baltimore with his wifeIrene to convey regards from re-

tired US Senator Paul Sarbanesand Congressman John Sarbanesof Maryland, “I want to expresstheir gratitude not just thisevening,” but for the support thecommunity through the years.

He then put the efforts of thepresident into perspective: “Hecame in after the worst financialcrisis since the Great Depression– the world economy was teeter-ing towards disaster and he camein and took bold action.” Maru-das also gave an overview of for-eign policy issues, and citedObama’s selection of Hilary Clin-ton as Secretary of State as im-portant to the Community be-cause “she understands Greece,Cyprus, the Ecumenical Patriar-chate, and other related issues.”

Marudas emphatically de-clared that during the economiccrisis in Greece “the Obama ad-ministration has pressured theEuropeans to do the rightthing… while Republicans intro-duced legislation to prevent theIMF from giving aid to Greece.”

He closed with an exhortationfor guests to spur their relativesin key states like Ohio andFlorida to vote and to get in-volved in the campaign. “Thankyou for participating as citizensin this great experiment ofdemocracy,” he said.

Arthur Cheliotes told the

guests: “you are here becauseyou want to reelect BarackObama. Your money is impor-tant, but your actions are evenmore important. If you don’t goout and convince other peopleto do as you are doing, then youhave missed the opportunity thatwe all have, to work for the bet-terment of our society.”

“We Greeks understand whatdemocracy is. It began on oursoil It wasn’t perfect…and weneed to return to a governmentthat is by and for the people,” hecontinued, and invited everyoneto participate in a phone bankat 6 Harrison Street in Tribecawhere volunteers are makingcalls to swing states weeknightsbetween 5:30 and 9:00 PM.

Costas Constantinides, is run-ning for City Council in 2013,began with praise for Simotas,Gianaris, and Cheliotes because“they have knocked down somany doors for Greek-Ameri-cans. I understand the impor-tance of the torch being passedto me, and I will make sure wecontinue to knock down thedoors,” to insure the commu-nity’s voice is heard.

Constantinides also an-nounced that on Saturday, Octo-ber 27 a bus will take peoplefrom Astoria to Pennsylvania tohelp the Obama campaign.

Simotas thanked the guestsfor their time and presence,which she said is even more im-portant than their checks. “Yoursupport tonight is vital to futureof the country.” Papaioannouagrees, but he noted contribu-tions can still be made throughFacebook: https://donate.barack-

obama.com/page/outreach/view/2012/NYGreekAmericans

Simotas also took a momentto thank Gianaris for the role hehas played in the Greek-Americancommunity mentoring youngpublic servants like herselfthrough the years, and nowGounardes, “who couldn’t be here

because he is doing his job. He’sknocking on doors in Brooklyn.”

The final speaker was TedAnastasiou, the deputy directorof the Obama campaign in Penn-sylvania and he kept his promisenot to repeat what others said.He reminded, however, that healso spoke at the fundraiser thegroup held at the Atrium Café ofthe Olympic Tower in 2008, andis gratified for its reprise at Loi.He hopes that the energy andenthusiasm he has witnessedturns into a broader coalition ofGreek-Americans engaged in pol-itics and public service to con-tinue working on important com-munity issues and supportingcandidates like those referred toearlier.

Papaioannou then announcedthat a permanent New YorkGreek Democrats organizationwas in the works. Olga Alexakos,the founding president ofAGAPW, spearheaded the eventand was deeply grateful to allwho helped. She told TNH theyraised $8500 and have pledgesthat will bring the total to$10,000. A video of the eventcan be seen at MGTVUSA:http://vimeo.com/51362603.

NY Greek Americans and Friends for Obama Celebrate and Raise Funds

Princess Katherine Gives Thanks to Greece for Helping the People of Serbia

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Organizing committee and guests, L-R: Effie Lekas, George Pa-paioannou, Aravella Simotas, Tasos Pardalis, Olga Alexakos,

Costas Constantinides, Maria Loi, Ted Anastasiou, guest,Stavroula Toska, Peter Marudas, guest, Arthur Cheliotes.

Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katerina.

Continued from page 1

By Constantinos E. Scaros

Three of the four general election debateshave now concluded. Mitt Romney was widely-declared the winner of the first one by outduel-ing a lethargic Barack Obama, but observersdiffered more so about who won last week’svice presidential debate, between Joe Biden andPaul Ryan. Essentially, Biden was the obnoxiousloudmouth high school football coach who chas-tised the nerdy chemistry student Ryan for nottrying out for the team. Biden spoke with pas-sion, but then laughed uncontrollably like a de-ranged lunatic. Ryan was measured and polite,almost robotic: don’t we get enough of thatfrom Romney?

The ticket headliners met again on Tuesdayevening, with a resurgent Obama finding hisfooting, while Romney took a page out of AlGore’s town hall debate bullying tactics (from

2000). That time, George W. Bush had beenbrilliant in making Gore look absolutely ridicu-lous. Obama was not quite as effective, but hedid stand his ground and gained more fromthat exchange than he lost.

Some of Obama’s strategists fear that WhiteAmerica is still not ready for an angry blackman, and so Obama needs to show restraint. Idisagree. Obama is the president and he needsto use the bully pulpit in the final contest onMonday night.

If he sounds authoritative and presidential,he will prevail. If he seems irritated, then Rom-ney will win that one too, and the debate seasonas a whole.

Obama still seems to me to be the slight fa-vorite to win on November 6. Then again, bymy calculations, no presidential candidate hasever lost the debate series overall but won theelection.

PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

2012 Presidential Race - Update

Princess Katherine talks toTNH as she strolls through thePierre Hotel in New York City.

RESTAURANT REVIEW4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012

By Penelope Karageorge Special to The National Herald

Super chef Maria Loi, a culi-nary star, brings her special per-sonality and expertise to Greekfood at Restaurant Loi on Man-hattan’s West 70th Street. “I lovebeing in New York,” Loi says. “Ithink I was born here. I love thepeople. I love the restaurantbusiness. I’m like a painter. I gointo the kitchen and createthings that I like. Every day it’sa new thing for me.”

Arriving from Athens, shefound the Loi location when shespotted her own initials on thedoor. She considered it a goodomen, and it has been fortu-itous. Her elegant restaurantwith its original recipes, whole-some food, fresh ingredientsand sophisticated atmospherefilled a “Greek gap” on the Up-per West Side. The restaurant’salready attracted an amazinglyloyal and enthusiastic clientele,as well as constantly drawingnew diners.

“I’m very lucky to be here inthis neighborhood, in thisrestaurant. I picked it by acci-dent and its going to be a meccafor good food. I met some chefsat the Michelin party, and theysaid ‘Hey kid’ – they call me ‘kid’– I don’t know why. Youchanged the neighborhood. Isaid, ‘Me? I’m trying to followyou.’”

Loi’s particularly proud of be-ing cited in The Michelin Guide,

New York City Restaurants,2013: “Greek TV personality,cookbook author and restaura-teur, Maria Loi, is a known pow-erhouse. At her eponymousspot, this favorite chef gives herhomeland’s cuisine an upscalekick while maintaining a com-forting touch…” Because therestaurant’s been open for lessthan a year, it can’t yet rate astar.

Loi’s committed to deliveringtraditional food with an originaltwist, and she revels in thework. “Think about it. To makebread, it’s so beautiful. You getall your stress out. Dealing withdough – it’s really nice. And Ihave nice people in the restau-rant with me. Everyone loveswhat they’re doing here. Whenyou make food with love, I be-lieve it’s better. You can feel it.”

She arrives in the restaurantat 9AM daily and is therethrough closing time “fourteendays a week.” No detail is toosmall to miss her attention. Shecan even be seen helping to seta table. A powerhouse of energy,she works in the kitchen andlater circulates through the din-ers, greeting old and newfriends. She particularly likesthis aspect of the restaurant. Acommunicator, she has a rich,genuine laugh that signals she’sgenuinely enjoying herself.

Loi’s generous in her cookingadvice, and relishes discussingfood. She waxes eloquent whendescribing cooking chicken, forinstance, or her signaturerooster dish. “It cooks for sixhours. I don’t want it to begamey.” She also invites otherGreek restaurants to call on her“if they need my help. We haveto help other Greek restaurantsto go ahead. For me, I’d like tosee a Greek restaurant every fiveblocks.”

Her hors d’oeuvres for wed-dings and special events havewon high praise. Says Loi:“Everyone likes them becausethey’re real food.” At afundraiser recently, she in-cluded “lollypop lamb chops.People like meat – not toomuch.”

One special feature ofRestaurant Loi: “a customer canrequest a special dish, anythingthey want, from a special areaof Greece, for instance,” shesays. “If they call in advance andwe don’t have the ingredients,we will get them. I love to dothat. Anything they want.”

On a tour of the well-orga-nized kitchen, Loi points out:“We make everything fromscratch, including our dolmadesand yogurt. Everything is from

fresh ingredients. It’s not thatI’m against prepared products,but if I can make it, why shouldI buy it. There are many goodproducts on the market, and if Ididn’t have time, I’d buy them.But now I do have the time. If Ihad fifty restaurants, I might dothings differently.” Four cookswork under her at RestaurantLoi.

She has a cooking turn-off.“There’s something in my lifethat bothers me. That’s butter. Idon’t like butter. I want to makefood that doesn’t bother me.There’s no butter and no fryinghere. We bake everything. Howdo I do it? Instead of cookingwith fat, I cook withcaramelized onions. Icaramelize the onions in a hotpot, cooking them slowly fortwenty minutes. Then, in thebaked rooster dish, for instance,I add the rooster to the pot withthe onions – and just a pinch ofGreek salt – and cook it slowly.”She serves the dish with home-made noodles. “The rooster dishis a mixture of my grandmother,my aunt and my own influence.Instead of adding a glass ofwine, I’ll add a whole bottle. It’slike the French coq au vin butwithout the heavy sauce. “I al-ways add something to myrecipes. I never make the samerecipe. Every day I have spe-cials. One day I’ll make rabbit,or a different kind of chicken.We made vegetable stew. Every-one loved it.”

Loi admits to her one cook-ing failure: making kourabi-ethes, the Greek butter cookies.“They were like rocks. I couldthrow them. I never made themagain.” She’s also turned off byretsina wine – “It tastes like pe-troleum.”

Retaurant Loi features an ex-cellent selection of Greek winesmanaged by Marco Divine, anative of Port au Prince, Haiti.The sommelier spent weeks inGreece’s vineyards to gain hisin-depth knowledge and waxes

poetic about the “noble, ancientgrape.” A linguist and wine ex-pert, Divine says: “Greeceopened my eyes. The foodmatches the wine. Greek wineshave something that otherwines don’t have. A lot of themare organic wines with a dry,clean taste. It’s special. I’m notsure if it comes from the wateror the soil.”

Loi’s emphasis on delicious,healthy food won her an invita-tion to cook at the WhiteHouse, a thrilling experience forher. “The White House was fan-tastic. The pastry chef was anangel,” Loi says. “I cooked likecrazy, and they said that mydishes are on their menu now,because they’re healthy. Presi-dent Obama asked me what Iliked most in the White House,and I said the kitchen. Hethought I would say the BlueRoom or the Red Room. And Isaid, okay, I know you will askme why and I’ll tell you. Be-cause the people in the kitchenare very happy and that meansthat you’re a nice person. I saidin Greece we say that when thefish smells, it smells from thehead, and he liked that. Thepeople were shocked I was talk-ing to the president like I wastalking to a friend of mine. ButI’ll talk to anyone the same way.

“I made baklava with honeyfrom the White House beehive.And the President said ‘It’s likethe good Greek honey.’ And Isaid it’s almost as good as theGreek honey. There was a pho-tographer and he said to thePresident, why don’t you get apicture with this charming lady?She’s something. And I said,‘could you include the Vice Pres-ident?’” Loi laughs delightedly.

When Loi talks about herself,she displays confidence ratherthan conceit. She’s enjoying theNew York adventure, including

TV appearances and her TV pro-gram that will appear on PBS,Cooking with Loi. Currentlyplans are in the works to pro-duce 13 more episodes of theprogram.

Loi became inured to thework ethic growing up on a to-bacco farm outside of Nafpak-tos, Greece. The youngest of fivechildren, she helped plant andharvest, often getting up at3AM. “For me, cooking was avacation.” She rolled out herfirst plate of meatballs at ageseven, and won high praise fromher father. After that she pitchedin on the family cooking. Re-calling those early years on thefarm, she says with a touch ofirony: “You know, my father did-n’t want me to go into therestaurant business. He didn’twant me to work so hard.”

Moving to Athens, she be-came a public affairs specialistand lobbyist. She successfullyundertook projects for multina-tional conglomerates such as theenergy giant Texaco, Nokia, andthe Sheraton Hotel Chain.“Sometimes I was flying to threeplaces in one day – from Athensto Berlin, and then to Londonand back.”

She went through a periodof self-examination, and wasparticularly moved by a Cavafypoem “As Much as You Can”….”And if you can’t shape yourlife the way you want, at leasttry as much as you can not todegrade it by too much contactwith the world, by too much ac-tivity and talk…taking it aroundand exposing it so often to thedaily silliness of social eventsand parties… “

“My mother was sick,” Loisays. “I dropped everything andwent back to Nafpaktos to lookafter her.”

While there, she returned toher first love, cooking. She be-

gan inviting friends over. Theywere so enthusiastic about herkitchen magic that they encour-aged her to open a restaurant.The restaurant’s still thriving,managed by a niece. Loi hadfound her niche in life, the thingthat satisfied her most. Sheloved to cook and was good atit. After her mother’s death, shereturned to Athens andlaunched her culinary career.

Loi created and starred in herown cooking show on Greece’smost successful morning pro-gram on the country’s leadingTV network, Mega Channel.Along with her TV work, she au-thored several cookbooks, in-cluding the official book for theAthens 2004 Olympic Games ti-tled Ancient Dining, a dazzlingperformance on Loi’s part.Culling from her collection ofrecipes and intensive foodknowledge – “No tomatoes ap-pear in any of the recipes – theancient Greeks didn’t havetomatoes” – she turned in thecookbook in two weeks. Shealso produced a weekly maga-zine, Kouzino Mageirmata. TheChef’s Club of Greece pro-claimed her “International Am-bassador of Gastronomy.”

Loi’s dynamism and blondgood looks attract the confer-ring of titles, including “TheGreek Martha Stewart.” SaysLoi: “I suppose I look somethinglike her and have designedkitchen equipment in Greeceand have a TV show. Of courseI’m flattered. But I have my ownpersonality. I like what TonyTantillo, CBS’s food expertcalled me – the Godmother ofGreek food. And George Lois –he’s an advertising legend – hesaid that I should reject theMartha Stewart tag. Lois said,‘No, you’re the Goddess of Greekfood.’ ” Loi smiles. “And I reallyrespect his opinion. So now

everyone calls me the Goddessof Greek food after George Lois,and I love that because Lois is agenius.”

Loi’s involved in many chari-ties, including Elpitha, a foun-dation for Greek childrenstricken with cancer, an organi-zation she helped found. Shealso oversees a scholarship fundthat helps underprivilegedyoung adults obtain college ed-ucations in the USA and Europe.“I do many events for charity.I’ll be cooking at the City Har-vest in Monticello with somevery big chefs to raise moneyfor a children’s charity. I’m theonly woman!”

With her multifaceted enter-prises, what’s Loi’s major goal?Does she want to found a culi-nary empire? “Oh, no,” she saysadamantly. “I don’t even like theword ‘empire.’ I want to havethe money to support one hun-dred kids. That’s my big goal. Idon’t know how I’ll do it exactly– through restaurants, throughbooks. The one hundred kidsare in Eleniko Horio. It’s a vil-lage in Thessaloniki for abusedyoungsters. They’re doing amaz-ing things there. The rest for meis nothing. I don’t need any-thing. I don’t need things. I havemy jacket. I like simple things. Ican live on five hundred dollarsa week. I don’t understandmoney anymore. Actually I havenever understood money.”

But she does understandfood.

How does this dynamo reactto the criticism that Greeks arelazy? “Greeks are not lazy.Greece is the scapegoat. Theycount everything except one fac-tor. The human factor. Theyneed to bring democracy backto Greece. Regardless, Greece isHellas and Hellas doesn’t haveborders. The Greeks are goingto surprise everyone.”

treated to absorb noise. But it’s the food that counts,

and it’s delicious. Homey, butelegant. The restaurant is an ex-tension of Loi’s personality.There is a sense of hospitalityas the stuffed grape leaves ar-rive with a yogurt dip, and freshbreads with olive oil for dipping.The breads could be addictive,particularly the whole wheatsourdough and cornbread. Youconsume these while perusingLoi’s interesting and extensivemenu, including a pre-theatremenu, served from 5 to 6:30PM,

an excellent value.The dolmades prove a rare

treat. Homemade, they’re echoicof the dolmades friends and Itraveled miles to dine on lastsummer in Limnos. They’remade with Cretan grape leaves,risotto rice, and go heavy on thedill, lemon juice and zest – andthen steamed. The slender dol-mades, almost like large ciga-

rettes, afford the diner the op-portunity to really appreciatethe special flavor of the grapeleaves.

For starters, notable dishesinclude the Tyri Fournisto,baked Greek cheese with toma-toes, peppers and fresh herbs.A hugely popular favorite: Gi-gantes me Spanaki – oven bakedgigante beans with spinach andtomato, served with Feta cheesetopped with onions. The home-made phyllo pies of the daywere marvelously light – madewith olive oil rather than butter.Grilled octopus, one of the stel-lar starters, is served with onion,olive oil, capers, chick peas, al-monds , fresh herbs and lemonjuice.

Loi orchestrates seasoningand flavors in a unique way, re-lying on olive oil – of course –as well as nuts, fruits, capers,that play well on the palatewithout oppressing it. For in-stance, the Roka salad, highlyrecommended, combines babyarugula with smoked Met-zovone cheese, figs, bits ofhazelnut and a balsamic vinai-grette dressing. The salad takesinspiration from the ancientGreeks who employed fruit fre-quently in their cuisine.

Loi offers a special take onGreek food. Most dishes arehigh on flavor and light in exe-cution. For instance, thespanakopita, probably the bestI’ve had in a restaurant, presentsjust the right combination ofdill, cheese and spinach. Servedin slender triangles, it’s moistand delicious. The moussaka issucculent and airy. I also sam-pled the vegetarian moussaka.This uses chopped mushroomsrather than meat and has a rich,rustic flavor.

On the main courses, don’tmiss the Kokoras Krastatos,deeply-flavored rooster in wine

sauce, falling off the bone, theresult of six hours in the oven.It’s served with hylopites(home-made pasta). The richly-seasoned meat mingles with thepasta in wine-sauce. It’s a deli-cious dish that makes you wantto swipe your dish with breadat its conclusion. The grilledbranzino, served with capersand charred vegetables – pep-pers, onion, and zucchini, wasmemorable – the best I’ve hadoutside of Greece. I appreciatedthe presentation, including thelively, piquant capers.

The fish head was also on the

plate (upside down, no eye star-ing at you) – some do love topick at the fish head. It waswonderfully fresh.

Greek coffee and galakto-boureko – the luscious custardpastry – ended one meal. Thedesserts are scrumptious, in-cluding the Ekmek Kataifi,which could be called the LoiCupcake. Shredded phylodough, with a hint of almondflavor, is topped with custard,toasted nuts and a light crème.

“Restaurant Review” will beappearing biweekly in TNH.

Restaurant Loi – a Popular Dining Destination in New YorkContinued from page 1

The food prepared by Super Chef Maria Loi for her restaurantis both delicious and beautifully presented.

Maria Loi – A Celebrity Chef with Tradition, Flare, and Love for her Craft

A table is being prepared in a dining room, one of a variety of pleasant spaces in the restaurant.

Loi contains a number of delightful little private rooms.

Restaurant Loi filled a “Greek gap” on the Upper West Side.Maria Loi is proud of being cited in The Michelin Guide.

PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Rating: *** (Note: Restaurants are rated:Good*; Excellent**; Superb***)

By Constantine S. Sirigos

NEW YORK – The Greek-Amer-ican Community is in the midstof a string of centennial celebra-tions. The Panchiaki Korais So-ciety of New York is celebratingthe 100th anniversary of itsfounding by the ambitious andpatriotic immigrants who gath-ered in a coffee shop in Man-hattan. And this year the Chiansjoin their Eastern Aegean neigh-bors in marking the liberationof their islands on November 11,1912 after 700 years of Italianand Turkish rule.

On Saturday, October 13, theSociety presented its “Centen-nial Symposium 1912 to 2012 -Milestones in History - UnitedStates and Greece.” It is thethird of four extraordinary Cen-tennial events which began withconcert that filled the Church ofSt. Nicholas on March 18 andculminates in the CentennialBanquet at the MetropolitanClub on November 10.

The society has committed it-self to raising the bar for theway the community celebratesimportant events. ChristopherStratakis, the Society’s legal ad-visor, chairman of the Centen-nial Committee told TNH that“Instead of just limiting our-selves to having a good timewhich has been the norm fordecades, we feel we should addanother dimension to our obser-vances. Our idea today was totry to nourish the mind by pre-senting prominent speakers whoare very accomplished in vari-ous areas of expertise.”

The well-organized eventwas not an accident. Stratakisacknowledged the work of theorganizing committee and thepreparation of the speakers.

After a continental breakfast,a welcome by Athena Kromidas,principal of the William Spy-ropoulos Day School of St.Nicholas in Flushing, who is thechairlady of the CentennialSymposium, and opening re-marks by Stratakis, the series ofdistinguished speakers beganwith Ambassador Loucas Tsillas,the Executive Director of theOnassis Foundation (USA). Hepresented “Hellenic Heritage:The Marble head of the Poet.”

Dr. Christos Ioannidis, Direc-tor of the Center for Byzantineand Modern Greek Studies atQueens College spoke on “TheMegali Idea: A Messianic DreamUnfulfilled,” followed by “Ele-ments of Economic Transforma-tions of Greece and Chios Dur-ing the Last Century” by Dr.George Tsetsekos, the Dean ofthe Lebow College of Business

of Drexel University. Kromidas took the proceed-

ings in a literary direction with“Authors and Poets of Chian Ori-gin during the Last One Hun-dred Years and their Contribu-tion to the IntellectualDevelopments in Greece.” Herparents are from Mesta onChios, and she told TNH shecongratulated the Korais Societyfor their initiative and she waspleased that “a wealth of knowl-edge was presented and it wasa good taste of what we can doin the future.”

After a buffet lunch Dr. Math-eos D. Los shined a spotlight onthe field of endeavor for whichmodern Chiotes are best known:“Chios Liberated - ShippingContinues Upward,” which sur-veyed the Chian component inan industry where Greek com-panies are world leaders.

Dr. Stamatios Krimizis intro-duced the audience to brilliantChiotes who have made greatintellectual contributions to Hel-las and the world from pioneersin medicine to mathematicianslike Constantin Carathedory,whose genius was acknowl-edged by giants of 20th centuryphysics like Albert Einstein, MaxBorn, and Max Planck.

Krimizis himself is a world-class scientist. A member of theAcademy of Athens and theHead Emeritus of the Space De-partment of Johns Hopkins Uni-versity, Krimizis, a plasma physi-cist, is the only scientist who hassent instruments to every singleplanet in the solar system.

George Negroponte spokeabout “The Shooting Star,” buthe was not encroaching onKrimizis’ bailiwick. An artistwhose family roots reach backto Chios, Negroponte was talk-ing about the Greek-Americanpainter William Baziotes. The ti-tle refers to the fact that al-though he was highly regardedin his time as one of the pio-neers of American abstract ex-pressionism – he was a memberof the group of legendarypainters in New York which in-cluded Jackson Pollock, Willemde Kooning and Mark Rothkowho were called “The Irascible,”his fame waned quickly after hisdeath in 1963. Negroponte re-ferred to the inexcusable neglectby the art world of a “remark-able artist” who influenced hismore famous colleagues.

Negroponte has reason tohope for Baziotes’ resurrection.A few years ago when the Mu-seum of Modern Art in NewYork reinstalled their abstractexpressionism gallery, visitorspassed through a propylaeum

consisting of paintings by Greek-American artists. At the en-trance, one of Baziotes’ workswas beheld on the left and apiece by fellow Greek-Americanpainter Theodoros Stamos wason the right.

Stratakis closed the sympo-sium with a historical surveycalled “Hellenism –The Ameri-can Experience,” which he sup-plemented with a “bird’s eyeview of the Hellenic Communityin American and reflectionsabout the future,” at the sym-posium’s conclusion.

It has been common at such

celebrations of Hellenism in re-cent years for people to expresstheir concern for Greece and itspeople during the economic cri-sis. One guest asked aboutWashington’s offer to Greece ofbattle tanks that are no longerneeded by the US after thewinding down of the Iraq andAfghanistan wars. After inform-ing the gathering that Greececannot afford the transportationcosts, he asked if the Greek ship-ping industry can perhaps cometo the rescue.

Los explained that mostGreek-owned ships are not con-

figured to transport them, butthe government and private sec-tor officials are looking into howto manage the logistical issuesto get the tanks from the EastCoast of the United States toGreece. Some guests wonderedwhether private money inGreece or the Diaspora can help.

Stratakis sounded poeticnotes during his historical sur-vey. While the modern Diasporawas caused by economic condi-tions, he said the far-flung an-cient Greek colonies were afunction of restlessness, andadded that the Greeks were “at-

tracted by the seductiveness ofthe unknown… the initialsource of knowledge.” Whilethat was illustrated by theOdyssey of Homer, who somehistorians connect with Chios,the symposium demonstratedthat the tradition of “the pursuitof excellence - aien aristevein”which can be traced back toHomer’s Iliad, has ancient rootson Chios and continued throughthe liberation in 1912 and be-yond, illustrated by “theplethora of leaders” of Chianorigin “in every profession onevery continent.”

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012 5

tions “are going through one oftheir best periods ever, as no is-sues of any particular signifi-cance are overshadowing them.Our goal is to open up new av-enues of cooperation,” he said.

“Greece is very appreciativeof the stance of the UnitedStates government and of thepresident himself,” he said. Hebelieves that “the Greek eco-nomic crisis is the product of theglobal crisis. Our European part-ners have the task at hand tosearch for durable solutions toproblems which are not solelyGreek, but also Spanish, Italianetc., and that have to do withour common currency, the euro.America is already helping inmany ways. We could also con-sult about additional, more tan-gible ways in which she couldgive us support. Greece and theUnited States are on the samewavelength, and our FinanceMinistries and Ministries of For-eign Affairs are in touch at ahigh level to look for other waysof supporting Greece.

“As the Ambassador ofGreece to the United States, Ican state that there is much in-terest in what is happening in

Greece, and although it mightbe due to negative publicity orto the fact that we happen to bein the epicenter of this globalcrisis. People always want to lis-

ten what the Greek Ambassadorhas to say. It is both an expres-sion of interest but also of con-cern, as we are closely inter-twined. Thus, if something goes

wrong in a friendly country asGreece, no matter how smallthe country may be, no one willbe immune. We live in a globalworld, with all that this entails,positive or negative, and every-one is interested in listening towhat we have to say.”

He also said that “with ourpresence here and our contacts,we are not only trying to dealwith the economic crisis ourcountry is currently goingthrough, but we are also strivingto identify ways of moving for-ward. There are, obviously,other important issues that needto be addressed.”

He said that “despite the eco-nomic crisis, Greece is a factorof regional stability. It plays areally valuable role, in terms ofactively supporting the effortsundertaken by the free world tohelp the transition of the coun-tries of the so called Arab-Northtowards more open, more de-mocratic societies, with full re-spect of human rights. Greecefinds itself at the very epicenterof those developments, proving,time and again, that it can makea real difference. This has beenthe case with the recent crisisin Libya, during which, on anumber of occasions, the presi-

dent himself, as well as highranking officials of this Admin-istration have acknowledgedand commended our active role,including our making availableto NATO valuable military facil-ities and other assets. We obvi-ously stand ready to continue toplay this positive and stabilizingrole, as future needs arise.”

Washington respects Greece.He said “I haven’t seen any signsof lack of respect whatsoever. Ithink this has a lot to do withthe fact that I am dealing, onevery level, with true profession-als, who have a very clear andaccurate picture of our state ofaffairs, away from the stereotyp-ical and, truth be told, rather of-fensive idea that Greeks are theroot of all evil; that they are lazyand ignorant and so forth. Oneneeds to understand that suchnaïve, simplistic and insulting ap-proaches have no place in gov-ernment to government rela-tions.” Panagopoulosemphasized that “Greece is reel-ing today from the severe conse-quences of the economic crisisfor a number of reasons, includ-ing its own serious mistakes.Some of them have not been anyworse than those of other coun-tries, who nonetheless have suf-

fered less than the Greeks. Wealso found ourselves in the mid-dle of what I often call a veryunhelpful conjunction of circum-stances. We are now, slowly butsteadily, starting to come out ofthis crisis, which, it needs to bepointed out, has had an immensecost for those affected. Our in-terlocutors know very well thatGreece is not responsible for thesituation at hand, or better, notsolely responsible for it.”

He called the recent visit toGreece of German ChancellorMerkel a success. He said that“it could have happened a littleearlier, but it finally took placeat a critical juncture. At a timethat we are still trying to stabi-lize our economy and to meetall the criteria set for the dis-bursement of the next trancheof our loan-funds that are nec-essary for the liquidity of the fi-nancial markets and the recapi-talization of our banks. Oncethese major immediate goalshave been achieved, we will beable to get within reach of thenext major goal, which is layingthe groundwork for the growthour economy so desperatelyneeds so as to recover, once andfor all, from this horrible crisis.Greece will make it.”

Ambassador Panagopoulos Meets with President Obama, Speaks with TNH

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The new ambassador of Greece to the Untied States, ChristosPanagopoulos, told President Barack Obama. “Greece will makeit, a new Greece is born.”

The Panchiaki Korais Society of NY Celebrates 100 Years of Chios’ Liberation

that had construction beginningin the spring of 2013 after thecompletion of the Vehicle Secu-rity Center, but subsequent re-ports put that forecast in doubt.The Church will rise atop a plat-form the PA would build overone of the VSC’s exits.

Congresswoman Carolyn B.

Maloney hosted a Town HallMeeting at Astoria’s StathakionCenter on April 21 that was at-tended by Archdiocesan and PAofficials, including Patrick Foye,its then-recently appointed ex-ecutive director. He announcedthat everything is on track forthe Church to open before the100th anniversary of the parishin 2016.

Gov. Cuomo to Speak aboutGround Zero Church’s Future

LEFT: The Panchiaki Korais Society celebrated its 100th anniversary and the liberation of Chioswith a symposium. RIGHT: Dr. Christos Ioannidis spoke on “The Megali Idea: a Messianic

Dream Unfulfilled. Also seen (L-R): Amb. Loucas Tsillas, Christopher Stratakis, Athena Kromidas,Stamatios Krimizis, and Matheos D. Los.

Continued from page 1

Archbishop Demetrios of America and NY State Senate MajorityLeader Dean Skelos join Governor Andrew Cuomo (center) atthe signing of an agreement to rebuild the Church of St.Nicholas on October 14, 2011.

TNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – A day dedicatedto the work and memory of NikiSideris, the founder and presi-dent of the Greek Division of theRonald McDonald House(RMH) on Manhattan’s UpperEast Side, began with a one-yearmemorial service at the Arch-diocesan Cathedral of the HolyTrinity and continued with thededication and placement of aleaf with her name on theRMH’s Tree of Life.

Sideris, who passed awaylast year at 77, had come tosymbolize the philanthropicspirit of the Greek-AmericanCommunity. The Greek division,which was created to providehousing and comfort for youngcancer patients from Greece andtheir families, has accommo-dated more than 11,000 peoplesince its founding in 1979.

Father Anastasios Gounaris,the Dean of the Cathedral, paidtribute to Sideris after the Di-vine Liturgy and announced thatBishop Philotheos of Meloapresided over the memorial asArchbishop Demetrios’ represen-tative. Greece’s Consul Generaland Consul in New York respec-tively, George Eliopoulos andEvangelos Kyriakopoulos, andCyprus’ Consul General KoulaSophianou were also present, aswas RMH President and CEOWilliam Sullivan, who presidedover the leaf ceremony at RMH.

Stephanos Cherpelis, thePresident of the CathedralCouncil, was a longtime friendof Sideris. “We will miss her andher leadership,” he told TNH.“Under her leadership thou-sands of children became welland families were taken care of.I am honored to be here for herone-year memorial,” he said.

Sideris’ dedication to RMHwas also acknowledged a fewyears ago when Sullivan dedi-cated “The Niki and Dr. MichaelSideris Board Room.” Her long-time assistant Spiridoula Kate-chis, is honored to have workedwith her. “She was a beautiful

person, a legend. Everyoneknew that whoever camethrough her door, at RMH or ather home could expect her helpto the maximum. She was oncall 24/7 for the Community.Families who needed moral sup-port were welcome at theirhome,” where her husband,who was trained as a cardiolo-gist in Greece but practiced psy-chiatry when he came to Amer-ica, would offer themcounseling.

Sideris’ niece, Dr. Tina Papas,who is a dentist, like herbrother, and is a professor atTufts University’s dental school,traveled from Boston to attendthe ceremonies. “She and myuncle were very much in love,really soul mates,” but they didnot have children, she said. Dr.Papas and her brother were asclose to being their children ascould be. “Because of that theyspent their whole life doingcommunity service.”

She said of her aunt and herwork at RMH: “Those childrenwere her whole life.”

Father Gounaris told TNHthat although he never had theopportunity to meet Sideris, theoutpouring of love he witnessedbrought new meaning to thephrase “may your memory beeternal.” He said, “I can see theresonance of the work of Mrs.Sideris in the Greek-Americancommunity and at Ronald Mc-Donald House, and “through themany stories people have toldme.” He added “I can only hopeshe will continue to inspire peo-ple in the Greek Orthodox Com-munity to emulate her example.”

Guests at RMH were greetedby Sideris’ smiling image andthe words “Panta stin kardiamas – Always in our hearts.”The ceremony and reception,organized by the Greek divisionand Sideris’ long-time assistantKatechis, was presided over bySullivan.

Eliopoulos, who arrived inNew York after her passing,knew Sideris only through thepraise he has heard, whichmade it clear “she was a womanof deeds, not of words. She triedwith love and compassion to of-fer to those in need, especiallythe children, dignity and helpto overcome their difficultiesand to comfort their families.”

He said “She was an exampleto follow. Volunteering and phil-anthropy are always important,not only because we are Chris-tians and this is part of our tra-dition and way of thinking, butbecause by helping our neigh-bors we create a better commu-nity and society which benefitsus now and our children in thefuture.”

Sideris grew up in Spartaand later moved to Athenswhere her relatives lived. Shethen moved to Belgium to pur-sue her studies and eventuallyended up in New York in the

early 1970s to visit siblings, notimagining that she would spendthe rest of her life there. Whilein New York, she met her latehusband, Dr. Mihalis Sideris, aphysician who had served in theFederation of Greek Societies ofGreater New York among manyother organizations.

After Ronald McDonaldhouse was founded, Sideris of-ten went there to look after theGreek residents. When the timecame for a new House to bebuilt, Vivian Harris, the Found-ing President of Ronald McDon-ald House New York, called onSideris for help and respondedpositively to the idea of addinga Greek Division.

A vital part of Sideris’ legacywas the recruitment of numer-ous Greek organizations to be-come active in the life of theGreek Division, including visitsduring Christmas, Easter, andThanksgiving holiday events.The visits served to surround the

Greek children with love.Consul General Iliopoulos

added to the praise by present-ing Sideris as an example to fol-low, in the United States and inGreece. He noted that Greek so-ciety has made progress in vol-untary and philanthropic en-deavors. He said “We have anumber of institutions that havebeen doing good work to helpthe weakest links in our society– the children in need. Becauseof the crisis, the institutions arenow struggling and cannot sup-port them the way they used to.It is extremely important for allof us to help them to continuetheir valuable work.”

Iliopoulos said there arewell-known and respected orga-nizations and institutions thatensure that donations will bewell-spent and “people will behelped. It is very important inan environment of crisis to cometo the assistance of those whocannot help themselves.”

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012

DEATH NOTICES

n DERVISSIS, EFSTATHIOSMAHWAH, NJ (From TheRecord/Herald News, publishedon Oct. 1) – Efstathios, 68, onSeptember 28, 2012, of Mah-wah, NJ. Beloved husband ofEugenia for 37 years. Loving fa-ther of Christos Dervissis andGeorge Dervissis and wifeKathryn. Dear brother of Voulaand Maria and the late Thana-sis, Kostandinos and George.Brother-in-law of Ioannis Reves.Uncle of Paulina Reves, JoannaReves and Stamatis Reves. Efs-tathios was a man of virtue, in-tense love and dedication for hisfamily and an unrelenting pas-sion for life. He immigrated tothe US from Greece in the sixtiesand immediately became a citi-zen. He was a fervent patriotwho loved his new home nation.Efstathios worked for ADI in Pal-isades Park for 25 years. Afterhe moved to Mahwah in 1988,he worked for Tam Metals for17 years. Efstathios was knownfor his wit, great sense of humorand unwavering honesty in allmatters. A true self-made manwho embodied both the Greekand American Spirit. He will bedearly missed by all who knewand loved him. A funeral servicewill be celebrated on Monday,October 1, 2012 at 10 AM at St.Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch in Wyckoff, NJ. Inter-ment will follow at MaryrestCemetery in Mahwah, NJ.Please send tributes, memoriesand condolences towww.vanemburghsneider.com.Arrangements by the Van Em-burgh-Sneider-Pernice FuneralHome, 109 Darlington Ave,Ramsey. (201-327-0030).

n PALEOLOGOS, CONSTANTINE

BOSTON, MA (From the BostonGlobe, published on Sept. 1) –Constantine C. 82, passed awaysuddenly on August 30, 2012.A fifty-year resident of Arling-ton, Constantine was born inLesvos, Greece on January 15,1930 and he moved with hisfamily to the United States at ayoung age. He joined the UnitedStates Army and proudly servedin the Korean War. He is sur-vived by his daughter, LindaTheoharis, her husband, LakisTheoharis, and three grandchil-dren, Vanessa, Jackie, and Ja-son, his sister Kati, and manyextended family members inLesvos and the Boston area. Fu-neral Service in St. DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church, 57Brown St. Weston, Tuesday at10 AM. Visitation prior to ser-vice in the church from 9-10AM. Relatives and friends kindlyinvited. Interment Massachu-

setts National Cemetery,Bourne, Tuesday at 1:15 PM. Inlieu of flowers expressions ofsympathy may be made in Con-stantine's memory to the St.Demetrios Church BuildingFund, 57 Brown St. Weston, MA02493. Online guestbookatwww.gfdoherty.com. GeorgeF. Doherty & Sons Wellesley.

n PASSALIS, THEODORESALT LAKE CITY, UT (From theSalt Lake Tribune, published onSept. 12) – Theodore G. Passalis(“Pappouli”) was born October28, 1928, in Athens, Greece. Hepassed away September 8. 2012in Salt Lake City. He came toUtah in 1947 on a student's Visasponsored by his uncle andaunt, the late Mr. and Mrs. PeterAthas. He attended West HighSchool, and Westminister Col-lege for a brief time, mostly tolearn to speak English. In Octo-ber of 1950 he was drafted intothe Army and served as a for-ward observer during the Ko-rean Conflict. He was awardedthe Soldier's Medal and theBronze Star with a V for Valor.He was a true hero. He earnedhis citizenship after the war andworked for Sears for 25 years.He married Katherine Loulias in1957, she later passed away in1986. He lost his father andthree brothers in Greece duringthe German occupation, shortlyafter his mother passed away.He is survived by his daughter,Angelic Passalis; two grandsons,Noah and Sam, whom he lovedmore than life itself. He was amember of the Greek OrthodoxChurch. Graveside services willbe held at 12 Noon, Friday, Sep-tember 14, 2012 at Midvale CityCemetery, 7500 South 400West, Midvale, Utah. Viewingswill be held at Jenkins-SoffeMortuary, 4760 So. State Street,on Thursday, September 13thfrom 6-8 p.m. (with Trisagionat 7 p.m.) and Friday from10:30-11:30 a.m. prior to thegraveside. Online condolencesmay be shared at www.jenkins-soffe.com.

n PAULOS, JAMIE VOTSIS SALT LAKE CITY, UT (From theSalt Lake Tribune, published onOct. 14) – In loving memory ofJamie Votsis Paulos, age 39, whopassed away on October 12,2012 while waiting for a livertransplant. Jamie was born Au-gust 18, 1973 in Salt Lake City,UT to Apostolos and Elpitha Vot-sis. She married Bill Paulos inSalt Lake City, UT on February17, 1996. After graduating fromHighland High School, Jamie at-tended the University of Utah,graduating with a BS degree inElementary Education. She be-gan an 18 year career as a de-voted teacher at Riverton Ele-mentary. Her dedication andconcern for her students en-deared her to many children andtheir parents. They often re-turned to her classroom to ex-

press their gratitude years laterafter graduation. Jamie was amember of the Greek OrthodoxChurch and was devoted to herFaith, her Family, and her GreekHeritage. She was a loving wifeto her husband and wonderfulmother to her two adorable chil-dren Yanni and Elpitha. Jamiewas very creative with every-thing she did. She loved toscrapbook and enjoyed enter-taining. She enjoyed watchingher kids play sports and lovedspending time with her sistersand friends. Despite everythingJamie endured with her health,she never complained or feltsorry for herself; instead livingher life with grace and courage.She leaves a void in the lives ofall that knew her and will bemissed dearly. Jamie is survivedby her loving husband, Bill; son,Yanni; daughter, Elpitha; par-ents, Apostolos and Elpitha Vot-sis; sisters, Joy (Todd) Kapos,Angie (Steve) Hillas; mother-in-law Sofia Paulos, brother-in-law,Ted Paulos; sister-in-law, Stacy(George) Kournianos; nieces andnephews, John and Elpitha Ka-pos, Yanni, Apostoli and NikolasHillas, Anthony and SophiaKournianos; grandparents,Joseph and Evangelia Sifanton-akis; uncle, Jim (Katina) Sifan-tonakis; aunt Maria Katsanevasand cousins Elpitha (George),Sifi, Eva, Yanni, Katerina, Angie,and many aunts, uncles andcousins in Greece. "Mama, welove you and will miss you verymuch" Yanni and Elpitha Funeralservices will be held at 11:00a.m. on Tuesday, October 16,2012 at Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Cathedral 279 South 300West, Salt Lake City, Utah. OnMonday, October 15, there willbe a viewing at the Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Cathedral from6-8 p.m. with a prayer serviceat 7:30 p.m. Interment to followfuneral services at Mt. Olivet,1342 East 500 South. In lieu offlowers, memorial donationsmay be made to the Greek Or-thodox Church of Salt Lake City."May her memory be eternal."

n TOUGIAS, ANGELOSPRINGFIELD, MA (From TheRepublican, published on Sept.7) – Angelo Elias Tougias, 91,lifelong resident of Springfield,MA and recent resident of Pom-pano Beach, FL, passed awayWednesday, September 5, 2012.Angelo was the son of the lateElias and Artimas Tougias, im-migrants from StemnitsaGreece. He was predeceased byhis beloved wife of nearly 40years, Clarice D. (Tassinari)Tougias. He is survived by histhree daughters, Karen Tougiasand Michele Tougias of Deer-field Beach, FL, and JoanneLynch and her husband AllenLynch of Wenham, MA. Heleaves behind his grandchildren,Krista Rowland of Knoxville, TN,Alexis and Ryan Lynch of Wen-ham, MA, and his great grand-

son Christian Elias Shown ofKnoxville, TN. He was prede-ceased by his sister PatulaDaskcaloupoulos of Long Island,N.Y. and his brothers PeterTougias of Longmeadow andGeorge Tougias of Springfield.He is survived by his sister RenaTasagaris of Springfield and hisbrother Pons Tougias of Spring-field, his brother Arthur E.Tougias of Naples, FL, and manynieces and nephews. He alsoleaves behind close family friendWilliam DeSalazar of DeerfieldBeach, FL. For over 50 years An-gelo worked diligently with hisbrothers at the Tougias BakingCo. in Springfield, building thefamily business founded by theirfather in 1904. The famousTougias bread remains a deli-cious staple of many restaurantsand grocery stores throughoutthe region. Angelo was a Vet-eran of WWII, having proudlyserved with the elite 79th Divi-sion of Army Rangers. He was alifetime member of SaintGeorge's Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral in Springfield. Since histeens, one of Angelo's greatestpassions was studying and in-vesting in the stock market, andhe became a highly respectedand successful investor in thebrokerage houses of Springfield.He founded and presided overThe Breakfast Investment Club,a group of his close friends, andgreatly enjoyed providing infor-mal investment advice to manywho sought him out . He was astudent of nutrition and twiceattended The Pritikin LongevityCenter in California and Miami.In his younger years he was alife guard, avid swimmer, diver,acrobat, and tennis player. Hehad a deep pride in his Greekethnicity and a self-sacrificinglove for his family, church, andcountry - a consummate patriotand proud protector of all heloved to the end. Visiting hourswill be held at Springfield. Fu-neral services will be held TO-DAY, September 11th, startingat 8:45 am at the Forastiere Fu-neral Home, 45 Locust St.,Springfield, commencing toSaint George's Greek OrthodoxCathedral, 8 Plainfield St.,Springfield for a 10 am service.Interment with military honorswill follow the mass at TheGates of Heaven Cemetery.Memorial contributions may bemade to The Soldiers' Home inHolyoke, MA or Saint George'sCathedral in Springfield, MA.

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790 NEW LOTS GROUP LLC Articles of Org.filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/7/12. Officein Kings Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC uponwhom process may be served. SSNY shallmail copy of process to 790 New Lots Ave.,Brooklyn, NY 11208, which is also the prin-cipal business location. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

272226/10801

Notice of formation of PREMIER WORK-SITE SOLUTIONS, LLC. Application for Au-thority (FOR LLC). Arts. of Organizationfiled with the SSNY on 09/05/2012. Officelocation: Kings County. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom process against theLLC may be served. SSNY shall mail processto: SEAMUS DUGAN, PREMIER WORK-SITE SOLUTIONS, LLC, 1078 FULTON ST.,APT. 5G, BROOKLYN, NY 11238. Purpose:Any Lawful Activity.

272194/18282

Notice of formation of limited liability com-pany (LLC). Name: Lazy Mas L.L.C. Articlesof Organization filed with Secretary of Stateof New York (SSNY) on 07/23/2012. NYoffice location: Kings County. SSNY hasbeen designated as agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it may be served.The post office address to which the SSNYshall mail a copy of any process against theLLC served upon him/her is: Trena De Lan-dro, 250 Hawthorne St., Apt. 3C Brooklyn,NY 11225. Purpose/character of LLC: Anylawful purpose.

272195/18283

Notice of Formation of Mathis HoldingsLLC, Art. of Org. filed Sec'y of State (SSNY)7/19/12. Office location: Kings County.SSNY designated as agent of LLC uponwhom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail copy of process to JosephWeingarten, 1465 President St., Brooklyn,NY 11213. Purpose: any lawful activities.

272178/10834

171 HALSEY STREET LLC, a domestic LLC,Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on6/6/12. Office location: KingsCounty.  SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may beserved.  SSNY shall mail process to: DavidBlaize, 171 Halsey St., Brooklyn, NY11216. General Purposes.

272170/10709

Notice of Formation of SPURLOCK PRO-DUCTIONS, LLC. (DOM LLC) Arts. of Org.filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on05/22/12. Office location: Kings County.SSNY designated as agent of LLC uponwhom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: C/O UNITEDSTATES CORPORATION AGENTS, INC.7014 13TH AVENUE, SUITE 202, BROOK-LYN, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful ac-tivity.

272248/18314

Notice of formation of SHAARCK APPARELLLC. (DOM LLC) Art. of Org. filed NY Sec.of State (SSNY) 09/11/12. Office in KingsCo. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whomprocess may be served. SSNY shall mailcopy of process to C/O UNITED STATESCORPORATION AGENTS, INC., 701413THE AVENUE SUITE 202, BROOKLYN,NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

272245/18313

Notice of Formation of MR. NICE TOY LLC.Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY(SSNY) on 09/24/12. Office location:Kings County.  Princ. office of LLC: 2300Linden Blvd., Brooklyn, NY 11208. SSNYdesignated as agent of LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNYshall mail process to the LLC at the addr.of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful ac-tivity

272213/18295

Notice of Formation of  MINNIE SAYS LLC,a domestic LLC,  Arts. of Org. filed withSSNY on 08/21/2012. Office location:Kings County. SSNY designated as agent ofLLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: THELLC, P.O. BOX   250470, BROOKLYN,NY  11225. Purpose: any lawful activity.

272214/18294

JJV 97 COURT LLC, a domestic LLC, Arts.of Org. filed with the SSNY on 6/25/12.Office location: Kings County. SSNY is des-ignated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shallmail process to: Joseph Keenan, 88 PineSt., 21st Fl, NY, NY 10005. General Pur-poses.

272189/10709

Notice of formation of 2035 EAST 3RD STREETLLC Arts of organization (DOM LLC) filed withthe SSNY on 01/20/2012. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served. SSNYshall mail process to: C/O WAC HTEL MASYR &MISSRY LLP Attn: Eli D. Dweck, 885 2nd Ave,47th Flr., NEW YORK, NY 10017. Purpose: anylawful purpose or activity.

272167/18255

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One-year Memorial for Niki Sideris, Founder and President of RMH’s Greek Division

Friends and family of Niki Sideris before the RMH Tree of Life (L-R): William Sullivan, Fr. Anas-tasios Gounaris, Bishop Philotheos, Tina Pappas (niece), George Stevens , Stephanos Cherpelis,George and Anthoula Eliopoulos, Spiridoula Katechis, and Eva Koutsoupakis.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- Of all the Hellenesto arrive along the shores of theWestern Hemisphere, Ferdi-nando Paleologus remains oneof the most intriguing. Born onOctober 8, 1655, Paleologus wasthe nephew of the last Byzan-tine Emperor, Constantine XI.Very few documents remain thatattest to this man's life so wehave only the barest of outlines.Certainly little interest wouldexist in his life were it not forthe inscription on his tomb-stone. Paleologus' tombstonenow rests in the St. John grave-yard on the Easternmost side ofisland of Barbados. The presentday St. John's Church, whichdates from 1836, with it's frangi-pani trees in the yard, it's doublestaircase of cedar leading to theorgan gallery and the high-backed pews, harkens back toColonial times. The circum-stances around Ferdinando Pa-leologus' life and his ultimatearrival in Barbados, even in out-line, offer a vivid account ofGreeks in the New World.

Theodore Paleologus, secondbrother of Constantine XI, wasFerdinando's father. The date ofTheodore's birth appears to beunknown, but we do know thaton July 6, 1593, he married,Eudoxia Commena. Theodorejourneyed to Great Britainsometime in 1596, not long af-ter his first wife's death.

He first went to Lincolnshire,then to Plymouth, ending up inthe small rural village of Lan-dulph in Cornwall which is lo-cated on the River Tamar whichforms the county boundary be-tween Cornwall and Devon. By1600, documents reportTheodore was 'Rider to HenryEarl of Lincolne' at TattershallCastle. In the same year, May 1,1600, he married his secondwife Mary Balls at Cottingham,Yorkshire. For the next twenty-five years nothing more isknown of him, but he was prob-

ably fighting as a soldier of for-tune on the Continent. Over thenext quarter century marriageswere arranged and variousmembers of the Paleologus fam-ily still have descendants in Eng-land and Italy.

Curiously, Landulph, is mostknown today for Theodore Pa-leologus' epitaph, inscribed ona brass tablet near the vestrydoor of the St. Leonard and St.

Dilpe Church. As with the tomb-stone of his son, Theodore Pale-ologus' memorial plaque re-mains a much visited site.Bearing the coat of arms of thePaleologi this inscription reads:"Here lyeth the Body ofTheodoroPaleologi of Pesaro in Italy de-scended from ye Imperial lyne of ye lastChrist-

ian Emperors of Greece, beingthe sonneof Prosper, the sonne ofTheodoro, thesonne of John, the sonne ofThomas, se-cond brother of ConstantinePaleologus, the 8th of that name and lastof the lyneyt raygned in Constantinopleuntill sub-dewed by the Turkes, whomarried withMary ye daughter of WilliamBalls of Hadlye in Souffolke, Gent.,and had issue5 children, Theodoro, John,Ferdinando,Maria, and Dorothy, and de-parted this lifeat Clyfton ye 21st of January1636.”

Ferdinando Paleologus ar-rived in Barbados, sometime af-ter the 1645 Battle of Naseby,in England. It is most often saidthat Ferdinand, retired, to prop-erty his mother's family ownedon Barbados in the West Indies.Paleologus lived on his 197-acreplantation for 20 years, whichhe managed from 1649 to 1670.He soon became one of the mostprominent men on the island.Paleologus was deeply involvedwith the St. John Church. In1649, his name occurs as vestry-man of the parish of St. John,and thereafter he held a numberof parochial offices, includingthat of churchwarden for theyears 1655 and 1657.

On October 3, 1678, Paleo-logus died on his plantation andwas immediately buried in theSt John’s Parish Church. Paleo-logus was not buried accordingto the usual custom – head toeast and feet to west, but ac-cording to Greek Orthodox tra-dition with his head to the west(pointing to Constantinople)and feet to the east. It was saidthat he was buried “backways.”Rumors about how “the GreekPrince of Cornwall,” was buriedpersisted until nearly 200 years

later. A hurricane in 1831, de-stroyed the original church ofSt. John and Paleologus' coffinwas discovered under the organloft in the vault. On May 4,1844, given the persistent ru-mors about the Greek prince'sburial, a curious church officialordered the vault opened.

It was noted at the time thatPaleologus' skeleton was of ex-traordinary size and like his fa-ther's embedded in quicklime.He had been buried accordingto Greek Orthodox traditions,which amongst other things, de-manded that the dead person’shead should point to the westand their feet to the east. Theseare critical distinctions since Pa-leologus must have accommo-dated himself to the circum-stances of his social position hehad died in the faith of his ownchurch. The coffin was carefullydeposited in another vault, andin 1909 a tablet was erectedover it with an inscription partlyborrowed from his father brasstablet in Landulph. FerdinandoPaleologus' tombstone memor-ial, wrought in Portland stoneportrays a Greek temple withDoric columns surrounding thecross of Constantine carved inthe center. The following in-scription may still be read: “Here lyeth ye body ofFerdinando PaleologusDescended from ye imperiallyneOf ye last ChristianEmperors of GreeceChurchwarden of this Parish1655-1656Vestryman, Twentye yearsDied Oct. 3 1678”

Ferdinando Paleologus' will,dated September 26, 1670, ispreserved. By his will Ferdinanddivided his property between hiswidow Rebecca and his sonTheodorus, the widow to betrustee until he should attain theage of fourteen years. In 1680,Theodorus died and was buriedin the cathedral parish of St.Michael on Barbados. Publicdocuments exist reporting that

Theodorus died at sea in 1693,and that while his property wasbequeathed to his mother, hiswife Martha and her childrenare also mentioned in this will.

But should you think thisman was nothing more than alost figure in modern Greek his-tory be aware that as TheodoreN. Constant noted in his accountof Ferdinando Paleologus that"during and after the Greek Warof Independence, the provi-sional government of Greece issaid to have addressed an offi-cial inquiry to the authorities ofBarbados inquiring whether ornot a male branch of the Pale-ologi was living in the islandand requested that in case thatwas so, that such person shouldbe provided with proper meansof returning to Greece and thatthe Greek government wouldpay all expenses, if required."

It is the sheer natural beautyof Ferdinando Paleologus' tomb-stone that strikes so many visi-tors, as we hear: "No other Pa-leologus, even during the twocenturies that the family occu-pied the imperial throne, wasinterred in a more striking site.On a cliff eight hundred feethigh, Ferdinand's sepulcheroverlooks the Atlantic, whosesoundless breakers form a pris-tine white border for the freshverdure of the windward coast.Graceful palms wave gently inthe breeze. Delicate pink petalsfall on the grave from a frangi-pani tree. And when the zephyrsbecome stronger, there beginsthe chatter of the hardened podsof an overhanging tree, some-what ungraciously known as theWoman's Tongue Tree."

Without question there wasmuch more to the life and deathof Ferdinando Paleologus. Wecan only imagine today whatthe Hellenes of the future willultimately know of the actionsand experiences of the GreekPrince Barbados.

hellenenow1@yahoo.com

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012 7

Ferdinando Paleologus: Last Byzantine Emperor in Western Hemisphere

Ferdinand Paleologus' gravestone on the island of Barbados.Born on October 8, 1655, this month marks his 334th birthday.

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

Everyone was glad to be intheir regular places at Dixon’sthat rainy Sunday. Where elsecould anyone go on such a day,anyway? George shook out hisraincoat and parked it over theempty chair beside him whilethe others stood on line for theircoffee. John was holding a trayfor the variety of donuts – it washis turn – with Yiannis, at hiselbow, doing the choosing. “Ilike the ones with frosting,John.” When they all wereseated Yiannis told them abouthis day at the playgroundWednesday with Barbara.

“I was sitting on the benchwatching Barbara play when Isaw an old man holding a largepaper bag. He rummaged in thegarbage. He picked up only Mr.Coke bottles.” He paused to siphis coffee, enjoying being thecenter of attention. “I asked himwhat he does with the bottles.

He said he cashes them in attwo cents a bottle. Imaginethat? Two cents a bottle! Said itpays his rent.” Another pause.“Who would think that dis-carded bottles can make enoughto pay rent? I asked him wherehe takes them. He said to thegrocer on his block.”

George looked up, amused,“What did you do? Ask him tobecome his partner?” Yiannis ig-nored him and continued. “Idrink Mr. Coke. But, I didn’tknow you can cash them in fortwo cents.”

“You’d need a truck load ofbottles to get enough to payyour rent, Yiannis.” Kipreoschided.

“It’s not a bonanza, Yiannis.”Said Dimos, worried his friendwould start picking intogarbage. “It’s dirty work and notworth it.”

“I know! I know! Still, twocents! Would you throw awaytwo cents into the street?”

No one responded. “I didn’t

think so. From now on I’m tak-ing my bottles back to thestore.”

“The Internal Revenue willbe after you, Yiannis.” Johntried to keep a straight-face. “Ifyou’re successful you’ll be in an-other tax bracket.” Yiannis saidnothing, continuing histhoughts, and taking anotherdonut, compliments of John.When everyone started leavingGeorge noticed Yiannis’s pocketbulging with what looked like afolded paper bag.

“What’s that for, Yiannis?”George asked him, poking at thepocket. Yiannis looked down asif surprised. “I’m going to dosome shopping for Areti beforeI go home.” But, George grewsuspicious. He waited, then fol-lowed him to the subway en-trance. Downstairs, he saw Yian-nis dig into the trash cans alongthe station, taking out only Mr.Coke bottles and placing themin the bag.

In a short time the bag was

almost filled. A woman pushinga shopping cart along the sta-tion looked into the trash can,finding nothing. Her face regis-tered weary disappointment.George asked the lady to waitthere. Yiannis was about toclimb the steps to the streetwhen he spotted George. Withfirm resolve George stood be-

fore him, giving Yiannis a firmslap on the shoulder, saying,“I’ve a new respect for you,Yiannis. Who would haveguessed that our buddy, Yiannis,would be so charitable and goto the trouble of helping thispoor, dejected woman?” Some-what taken aback and turning ahot pink, Yiannis nodded, “It’s…

nothing.” The woman thankedhim. “No trouble at all. You’revery welcome!” Yiannis releasedhis firm hold on the bag, but-toning his raincoat. George con-tinued expressing his admira-tion. “I’m proud of you. I can’twait to tell the others how kind-hearted and generous you reallyare.”

“Like I said, it’s nothing, re-ally. I was waiting for thetrain… No need to mention itto the others, please. I’m toomodest to take credit for beingcharitable. It’s…embarrassing,really. See ya’ next week.” Wav-ing his hand, he jumped into thetrain and was gone. Georgestood watching the train depart,a devilish grin on his face, won-dering where Yiannis was going.Yiannis never took the train toget home. He lives four blocksaway and wouldn’t spend thequarter if he lived in the Bronx.On his way home he debated onhow to tell the others aboutYiannis’ latest venture.

Being Charitable

ALL HISTORY

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

curus wrote: "It is not the youngman who should be consideredfortunate but the old man whohas lived well, because theyoung man in his prime wan-ders much by chance, vacillatingin his beliefs, while the old manhas docked in the harbor, havingsafeguarded his true happiness."

That notion of being freefrom vacillating beliefs gets tome as I sit reading this philoso-pher at an outdoor taverna

table. My understanding fromEpicurus' other teachings is thathe also is referring to the youngman's vacillating pursuits, theones that follow from his vacil-lating beliefs. Epicurus is point-ing to what the Zen Buddhistscall the emptiness of "striving."

Epicurus also wrote: "Of allthe things that wisdom providesto help one live one's entire lifein happiness, the greatest by faris the possession of friendship."Even back in the Athens of thethird century B.C., he could see

how a professional life of anykind could corrupt genuinefriendship. A life engaged inbusiness inevitably leads totreating other people as meansto an end, rather than as endsin themselves.

At the taverna, I view agroup of men my age at anothertable. Although my Greek isrudimentary, I can catch thedrift of their talk, which beganbefore I arrived and will con-tinue until the sun begins todrop behind the Peloponnese

peninsula, just across the sea.They talk about the unusuallyhazy sunlight, the new ownerof a cheese stall, their grand-children, politics in Athens. Oc-casionally one tells a story fromhis past—usually one that hiscompanions have heard before.The talk is punctuated byleisurely, comfortable silences.

One of the men, Tasso, is mydear friend. His table mates—all born and raised on the is-land, now retired—fished,taught and waited tables fortheir livings; Tasso is a formerAthenian judge who, as a youngman, studied law in Thessa-lon�ki and London. But Tassodoes not want any of his friendsto tighten up his summary of acase before the court, as he fre-quently desired a lawyer to doduring his days on the bench.Tasso feels no need to manipu-late, exploit or in any way ma-neuver his companions to doanything. No, Tasso simplywants his friends to be with him.

Yes, untrammeled friendship!Returning to my book of Epicu-rus, I am even more convincedthat the New Old Age is not forme. I wonder what other sub-lime pleasures are uniquelyavailable in old age. But I haveonly begun my exploration.Books by Plato and Aristotle,Montaigne and Sartre, remainunopened on my pension bedtable. What may be my last am-bition is to consult them too.

The “New” Old Age: Thanks, but I’ll Stick with the “Old”Continued from page 1

Don't miss our special issue

next week celebrating our

15th anniversary!

Look back at the major events that have shaped our community

since October 1997, plus a look

at Greek-America: then and now!

The National HeraldThe Link to Hellenism in Changing Times

GREECE CYPRUS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012

BANKING

ATHENS, Greece (AP) —Greece's Alpha Bank says it hasagreed to buy loss-making com-petitor Emporiki Bank fromFrench lender Credit Agricolefor the symbolic sum of €1($1.3).

Credit Agricole, France'sthird-largest bank, is selling itsGreek business due to concernover the country's financial cri-sis, which has caused massivelosses on loans and governmentbond holdings. Greek banks aretrying to consolidate to weatherthe financial difficulties.

Alpha said Tuesday thatterms of the sale are unchangedsince it announced the negotia-tions earlier this month. It willbuy Emporiki for the token priceof €1 after the French bank addsanother €550 million ($717.5million) to a July capital injec-tion into Emporiki of €2.3 bil-lion ($3 billion).

The deal is to be finalized bythe end of the year.

Greece’s Alpha BankSet to Buy EmporikiFrom Credit Agricole

SPORTS

Greece Wins overSlovakia 1-0 in ‘14World Cup Qualifier

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) -Dimitrios Salpingidis struck inthe second half to lead Greeceto a 1-0 victory over Slovakia ina 2014 World Cup qualifier onTuesday.

Salpingidis capitalized on adefensive blunder by the hoststo score the winner from closerange in the 63rd minute at atime when Slovakia was puttingthe visitors under pressure.

Greece has 10 points fromfour matches and leads GroupG together with Bosnia-Herze-govina, which beat Lithuania 3-0 in another qualifier on Tues-day. Slovakia is three pointsbehind.

Slovakia captain MarekHamsik came close several timesbut wasted his chances andMichal Braznanik hit the post ofOrestis-Spyridon Karnezis' goaltwo minutes from time whenthe hosts were desperately seek-ing an equalizer.

Greece travels next toBosnia-Herzegovina while Slo-vakia hosts Lithuania on March22.

Norway Prevails 3-1Over Cyprus in 2014World Cup QualifierNICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Goalsfrom Brede Hangeland, Tarik ElYounoussi and Joshua King gaveNorway a 3-1 away win overCyprus in a World Cup qualify-ing match on Tuesday.

Cyprus opened the score inthe 42nd minute when mid-fielder Stathis Aloneftis' loopingcross eluded Norway's divinggoalkeeper Rune Jarstein.

But Norway equalized twominutes later when an un-marked Hangeland picked up aloose ball in front of goal aftera failed Cypriot clearance andeasily scored.

The Norwegians went aheadin the 81st when El Younoussiconverted from the penalty spotafter King was judged to havebeen brought down in the box.

King scored a couple of min-utes later with a low, close-range shot after evading severalCypriot defenders with a fine in-dividual run.

Norway has seven points af-ter four games in Group E, whileCyprus has three points.

The NationalHerald

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(718) 784-5255info@thenationalherald.com

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Cyprus'finance minister said Wednes-day that he expects the finalround of talks with potentialcreditors on a bailout agreementto likely begin next week.

Vassos Shiarly says there's nospecific date when officials fromthe so-called troika — the Eu-ropean Commission, the Euro-pean Central Bank and the In-ternational Monetary Fund —will arrive here. But he expectsnegotiations to start immedi-ately after the government thisweek wraps up discussions withpolitical parties and tradeunions on the kind of bailoutdeal the country should seek.

Shiarly said negotiations

with the troika will begin "defi-nitely within the coming week"because "time is limited and sowe're working on a very tightschedule."

Shiarly said that the troikawants Cyprus to make €975 mil-lion ($1.28 billion) in spendingcuts over three years. Estimateson the size of the bailout Cypruswill need to prop up its ailingbanks and pay its bills range be-tween €12 billion to €17 billion($15.74 billion to $22.3 billion).

Cyprus's coffers are drying upfast and the country —with itscredit rating deep into junk —can't tap international markets.A bid to clinch a €5 billion($6.56 billion) low-interest loan

from Russia appears to havestalled. Cyprus last year askedand received from Moscow a€2.5 billion ($3.28 billion) toget by this year.

Now the rush is on to ham-mer out an agreement by Nov.12 when ministers from theother 16 countries that use theeuro meet to discuss Cyprus'case and sign off on the bailoutso that the first batch of cashcan arrive before the year is out.

"There is only one aim now,and that's to save this countryand lead it out of crisis," oppo-sition DIKO party spokesmanFotis Fotiou said. "It's time toput Cyprus above party consid-erations."

Cyprus asked for a bailout inJune with troika officials visitingin July. But delays in solicitingsupport from political parties andtrade unions to avoid social up-heaval pushed negotiations withthe troika back and promptedcalls from top European Unionofficials to speed things up.

Shiarly said Cyprus needs€4.5 to €5 billion ($5.9 to $6.56billion) to refinance its debtover the next three years. Buthe repeated that the govern-ment disagrees with the troikaon how much the banks' recap-italization needs will be, amidconcerns that a high figure willmake the country's debt levelunsustainable.

Cyprus: Talks To Seal Bailout Deal Next Week

Cyprus' finance minister Vas-sos Shiarly.

ATHENS, Greece (AMNA)- Oneman was killed and another se-riously injured (photo) in shoot-ing at the Evelpidon court com-plex in Athens on Mondaymorning.

Unconfirmed reports said thedead and injured men, bothRoma, were waiting for the thedead man to stand trail for themurder of a young child whenthe mother of the child, alsoRoma, opened fire on him.

The incident occured on the

first floor of courtbuilding 9,where the investigating magis-trates' offices are housed.

Police managed to immobi-lize the woman, who had smug-gled the gun past security and ametal detector at the entranceof the complex, wrapped in atowel. Other reports said theshooting was due to a vendettabetween Roma families.

A scuffle ensured, duringwhich a second man was injuredby a knife.

One Dead and Another InjuredIn Athens Courthouse Shooting

Yale Center for the Study of Glob-alization, former President ofMexico, rounded out the impres-sive lineup and was the modera-tor.

Papaconstantinou said “prettymuch everyone agrees on the ba-sic grand bargain” that needs tobe struck by Europe’s leaders toend the debt crisis. There mustbe 1) A banking union and even-tually a Europe-wide guaranteeof deposits to stop the bleedingof deposits, 2) Some kind of debtequalization – he brought up Eu-robonds as an option and, 3) Theestablishment of a strong fiscalunion.

He declared it is simply in Eu-rope’s interest to help Greece andsaid he has often asked if some-one can tell him what happensto Europe if Greece exits the Eu-rozone. No one has been able togive him an answer. He saidthings are moving in the hoped-for direction and that Greece andEurope as a whole are more ma-ture places now. ADVICE FROM ARGENTINA:DON’T DO WHAT WE DIDCavallo advises Greece not to

do what his country did in re-turning to the Peso. He said itwould have been better if Ar-gentina had done what Greeceaccomplished this year with anorderly restructuring of its debtand the implementation of re-forms and austerity measures.

Xafa echoed the other speak-ers when she said “the financialcrisis of 2007 morphed into adebt crisis in the Eurozone forthree reasons: reason 1) Monu-mental market failure – financialmarkets failed to perceive creditrisk in the Eurozone 2) Regula-tory failure - Banks carried thesame zero risk rate on their booksregardless of whether they heldGreek or German bonds 3) insti-tutional failure at the EU - thestability and growth pacts thatwere to be the foundation of theeurozone failed to impose fiscaldiscipline.

But she did not let Greece offthe hook. Institutional weak-nesses made her the most vul-nerable European state after2007. She spoke of the clien-

telism that prevailed that bothrigged the system and blockedreforms. Nevertheless, she said“one half of Greece’s fiscal ad-justment has been complete.”She regrets however, that thegovernment relied on cuts thehorizontal, across the board kind,reduced the public investmentprogram that could have bluntedthe economic blow, and stressedtax increases, all in response tothe reality of the power of inter-est groups. That policy mixcaused the recession and unem-ployment to be deeper than ithad to be she said.

BLAME GAME OVERTIMEXafa was also concerned

Greece has yet to take action toreduce redundancies in its publicsector workforce, cannibalizingjobs in the private sector. In re-sponse, one woman bluntlyasked why the victims were beingpunished for the sins of the politi-cians, declaring they never askedfor a bloated bureaucracy. Papa-constantinou was equally bluntin his response, noting that suc-cessive governments were re-

elected from both parties. “I don’tbuy the story ‘you guys are re-sponsible and we had nothing todo with it.’”

He said everyone had becomeused to a situation that was un-tenable. “How could it not be,when public sector wages –where you have security of em-ployment – can be 30 percenthigher that private sector wages,”he said, adding – to laughter andgasps – that there were clerks inthe finance ministry who wereearning more than what doctorsor university professors weremaking. “That has to be said loudand clear, instead of saying ‘I’msorry we have to cut public sectorwages because that is the onlyway we can get money from theTroika.’ No! We have to cut thembecause the situation is not sus-tainable.”

When the “CD” with Swissbank accounts came up, Papa-constantinou said, “You have noidea how frustrating I find thisquestion,” the minister began.“First of all, the Lagarde list didn’tjust arrive – I asked for it. And I

went and got it. My predecessorsdidn’t.” He then declared that hepresented the names of 20 peoplewhose deposits constituted onehalf of the total. After delays heturned over the whole list anddemanded that the officials “dotheir job,” and he began negotia-tions with the Swiss governmentfor a bilateral agreement for pro-viding access to information onGreek depositors.

He also noted that his govern-ment instituted an economicprosecutor and that ”We were theones that criminalized tax eva-sion. The result is that people arenow going to jail – I agree, notenough – but for the first timeever in Greece people are goingto jail for tax evasion. “

FRIEND OR FOE: THEMERKEL MYSTERY

Papaconstantinou and thepanelists seem to pin much oftheir hope on the belief that evenGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel is on their side, and thatshe will be able to explain afterGerman election next year thatit is in the interest of the German

people to help Greece emergefrom the crisis and ultimatelythrive.

Distinguished Yale economistJohn Geanakoplos raised a ques-tion during the Q&A session: ifGreece cannot credibly threatena default, how can its leadersbring up debt reduction, and towhom would they talk?

It was pointed out that debtforgiveness is a loaded phrase,but that debt relief for Greecemakes sense. It is clear Greece’sleaders need to convince the Eu-ropeans that the Greeks havepaid for their sins. They have anally in Christine Lagarde and theIMF, but IMF has said relief can-not involve IMF money.

Papaconstantinou said an-other important task at the mo-ment is “to be able to describewhat the country will be like infive years and where growth willcome from.” He said Greece mustfight the prevailing image that itis a “basket case.”

Papaconstantinou had earlierdeclared himself an eternal opti-mist, but he also noted that seri-ous observers of the Greek eco-nomic scene see positiveelements. He cited the report bythe Athens office of the interna-tional consulting firm McKinseyand Company titled “Greece 10Years Ahead – Defining Greece’sNew Growth Model and Strat-egy.” It has become must-readingfor those concerned aboutGreece’s future.

The former economy ministersaid there are areas where Greececurrently has comparative advan-tages and that new ones can becreated, and noted that Greecehas many healthy, successful ex-port-oriented companies. Theirbiggest challenge is financing andthe greatest overall challenge isthat investors are waiting on thesidelines, he said. Among otherthings, foreign exchange rate riskhas to be addressed: Investorsmust be able to determinewhether or not Greece will re-main in the Eurozone.

The Hellenic Studies Programat Yale is funded by the StavrosNiarchos Foundation. GeorgeSyrimis, Associate Chair and Lec-turer in Comparative Literature,is the Chairman.

Papaconstantinou and His Colleagues are Blunt and Cautious

(L-R) Miranda Xafa, CEO of E.F. Consulting, Domingo Cavallo, former Minister of the Economy,Argentina; George Papaconstantinou, Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico.

Continued from page 1

LARISSA, Greece (AP) — Theworld's oldest profession is givinga whole new meaning to love ofthe game.

Players on a cash-strappedGreek soccer team now wear pinkpractice jerseys with the logos"Villa Erotica" and "Soula's Houseof History," two bordellos it re-cruited as sponsors after drasticgovernment spending cuts left thecountry's sports clubs facing ruin.

Other teams have also turnedto unconventional financing. Onehas a deal with a local funeralhome and others have wooed ke-bab shops, a jam factory and pro-ducers of Greece's trademark fetacheese.

But the amateur Voukefalasclub — whose players includepizza delivery guys, students,waiters and a bartender — hasraised eyebrows with its flamboy-ant sponsorship choice.

"Unfortunately, amateur foot-ball has been abandoned by al-most everyone," said YiannisBatziolas, the club's youthfulchairman, who runs a travel

agency and is the team's backupgoalkeeper. "It's a question of sur-vival."

Prostitution is legal in Greece,where brothels operate understrict guidelines. Though garishneon signs advertising their ser-vices are tolerated, the soccersponsorship has ruffled somefeathers in the sports-mad city ofLarissa. League organizers havebanned the pink jerseys duringgames, saying the deal violates"the sporting ideal" and is inap-propriate for underage fans.

Batziolas acknowledges thesponsorship took his team by sur-prise. "They didn't believe it in thebeginning," he said. "But whenthey saw the shirts printed, theythought it was funny."

Near-bankrupt Greece is strug-gling to meet creditors' relentlessdemands to slash spending andkeep the euro as its currency. AsGreece heads toward a sixth yearof recession, drastic budget cutshave hammered many ordinarypeople: Retirees have been left tocover their own medical ex-

penses, children have lost schoolbus services, and sports teamshave scrambled to find sponsorsas businesses close under the bur-den of emergency taxes.

Brothel owner Soula Alevri-dou, the team's new benefactor,has already paid more than 1,000euros ($1,312) for players towear her jerseys. The team is ap-pealing the game ban, but thatdoesn't worry the 67-year-oldAlevridou, who says she's only init because she loves soccer.

"It's not the kind of businessthat needs promotion," she said,dressed all in white and flankedby two young women in dark leg-gings at a recent game. "It's aword-of-mouth kind of thing."

Her businesses, plushly deco-rated pastel-colored bungalowswhere 14 women are employed,have weathered the country's fi-nancial disaster far better thanmost, and she readily acknowl-edges her success.

"If we don't help our scientistsand athletes, where will we be?"she asked. "Greece has educated

people, cultured people and goodathletes. It's better to help themthan take our money to Switzer-land."

Alevridou watched in disap-pointment as her team lost itsfourth straight game, 1-0, despiteher promise to players of "a spe-cial time" at her businesses if theywon. "There's a lot still missing.We have no midfield," said Alevri-dou, a slightly built woman witha husky voice. "Many of our boyshave jobs that keep them workingat night. And if we have a gamethe following morning, they can'thave a real presence on the pitch.... They need more help."

They aren't the only team suf-fering. Greece's Amateur AthleticsFederation suspended all its ac-tivities for several weeks earlierthis year to protest funding cuts.And even the major soccer clubssent most of their star playersabroad this summer in the faceof financial trouble and poor at-tendance, with fans no longerable to afford tickets.

Government cuts have hurt

most of the teams in the amateurleague in Larissa — the majesti-cally named Olympus, Hercules,Fearless and Sagittarius clubs, aswell as Voukefalas, named afterAlexander the Great's horse.

The impact of the crisis onsports is a major local concern.The town of 200,000 fielded theonly professional club to everbreak big-city domination of theleague, winning the nationalchampionship in 1988. In 2007,Larissa FC also rebounded frombankruptcy for victory in the pres-tigious Greek Cup.

Voukefalas says it needs about10,000 euros ($13,120) a year tomeet expenses, and Alevridou haspromised more cash.

"Here is where it all begins,with amateur sport. It's where thetalent is bred," she noted. "I am aGreek woman, and I love mycountry." She watched quietly,holding a cigarette and wearinga straw fedora with a leopardprint band, as her team struggled."The team will get better," shesaid. "I'm certain of it."

Prostitutes Rescue Greek Soccer Team that was Shunned by Gov’t Cuts

tles, and petrol bombs at policebarricading part of the squarein front of Parliament, prompt-ing riot police to fire severalrounds of teargas to dispersethem.

A 65-year-old man suffereda fatal heart attack during thedemonstration, authorities said.He was not far from violentclashes between groups ofhooded anarchists and riot po-lice, with the protesters throw-ing Molotov Cocktails, rocks,and bottles and police re-sponded with stun grenades andtear gas. There were skirmisheson side streets around the mainarea of Syntagma Square, whereother protesters confronted po-lice with verbal assaults and af-ter some shoving occurred, po-lice pushed the demonstratorsback.

“Enough is enough. They’vedug our graves, shoved us inand we are waiting for the priestto read the last words,” saidKonstantinos Balomenos, a 58-year-old worker at a water util-ity whose wage has been halvedto 900 euros and who has twounemployed sons, told Reuters.“Agreeing to catastrophic mea-sures means driving society todespair and the consequencesas well as the protests will thenbe indefinite,” said YannisPanagopoulos, head of the GSEEprivate sector union, one of twomajor unions that representabout two million people, orhalf of Greece’s workforce.

Samaras said the new mea-sures were essential to unlock-ing a delayed $38.8 billion in-stallment from the Troika of theEuropean Union-InternationalMonetary Fund-European Cen-tral Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that ispart of a first series of $152 bil-lion in rescue loans. A secondbailout of $172 billion is also onhold.

The 2013-14 budget planwas being held up by objectionsby the coalition partners, the PA-SOK Socialists and tiny Democ-ratic Left, to some of the harsh-est austerity measures,including the planned firing of15,000 public workers, cuts inseverance pay, and new taxesthat many businesses on theverge of collapsing said willpush them into bankruptcy. De-spite their reservations, how-ever, the government said it ex-pected to reach an agreementsoon.

The protests were the thirdin a month, following a Sept. 26

and another on Oct. 9 whenGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel, whose country is thebiggest contributor to thebailout and who is insisting onausterity, came to Athens tomeet Samaras and his partners.In this one, riot police and pro-testers battled for about anhour. Four demonstrators wereinjured after being hit by police,volunteer paramedics said.

THE LAND OF PROTESTSAthens has seen hundreds of

anti-austerity protests over thepast three years, since Greecerevealed it had lied about itseconomic statistics. FormerPrime Minister and then PASOKleader George Papandreou hadto ask for a bailout, but it camewith attached austerity mea-sures that have worsened thecountry’s five-year depression,put nearly two million peopleout of work, closed 68,000 busi-nesses and is shrinking the econ-omy by 7 percent

“We are sinking in a swampof recession and it’s gettingworse,” Dimitris Asimakopoulos,head of the GSEVEE small busi-ness and industry association,told Associated Press. He saidthat, “180,000 businesses are onthe brink and 70,000 of themare expected to close in the nextfew months.” Higher taxes ex-pected to be levied in the newausterity program will destroymany of the struggling busi-nesses that have managed toweather three years of the crisis

so far, he said. “In 2011, only20 percent of businesses wereprofitable. So these new taxmeasures present small busi-nesses with a choice: Dodgetaxes or close your shop,” hesaid.

Samaras said despite objec-tions from his partners on someissues, most of the main areasof the new budget plan havebeen agreed upon and he ex-

pects to soon ram it through theParliament for rubber-stamp ap-proval and implementation.That could lead to moreprotests, strikes and riots of thekind which brought down Pa-pandreou, who resigned lastyear. Samaras said he had nochoice but to renege on his pre-campaign vow to resist moreausterity because Greece will bebroke without continued wel-

fare aid from its internationallenders.

“Just once, the governmentought to reject the troika’s ab-surd demands,” YannisPanagopoulos, head of the GSEEprivate sector union told theBBC News. “Agreeing to cata-strophic measures means dri-ving society to despair, and theconsequences as well as theprotests will then be indefinite,”he added.

GREXIT FEARSSamaras said he’s trying to

keep Greece from being forcedout of the Eurozone of the 17countries that use the euro, ar-guing that would push the coun-try back to the drachma andcomplete economic collapse.

The German think tank theBertelsmann Foundation agreedand said a so-called “Grexit”could lead to a worldwide de-pression of dire proportions. “AGreek exit from the euro carriesthe risk of a European and eveninternational conflagration andcould trigger a global economiccrisis,” the foundation reported,citing the study it commissionedfrom Prognos AG. Greece’s de-parture would entail costs forthe country, already in its fifthyear of recession, totaling 164billion euros, $214.6 billion.

Even German Chancellor An-gela Merkel, who is unrelentingin demands for more austerity,said she wants to do whateverit takes to keep Greece in theEurozone. Merkel, who was metwith large protests by austerity-weary Greeks during her trip toAthens last week, has praisedthe efforts of Greece’s new gov-ernment to put the public fi-nances in order, though she alsosays much remains to be done.

GREECETHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012 9

As Samaras Steers Government Toward New Deal, Greeks Protest Again

By Julia Amalia HeyerSpiegel

How can someone who hasdeclared an annual income of€25,000 ($32,400) transfer €52million abroad? What kind ofsupplementary income must anindividual have who, accordingto his tax returns, earned€5,588 in 2010, yet still man-aged to move €19.8 millionabroad? And how can it be thata Greek citizen sequesters €9.7million abroad although he sup-posedly earned exactly zero eu-ros?

These are the questions thattax fraud investigators will haveto ask of a number of individu-als whose identity has so faronly been made public in theform of initials. For instance, a"G. D." stands at the top of a listwith the names of 54,000 Greekcitizens who relocated major as-sets abroad between 2009 and2011. The list stems from theGreek central bank and is nowin the hands of the Finance Min-istry.

It is the longest of four liststhat are currently circulating inAthens. Each contains thenames of people whose financialcircumstances -- bank balancesand real estate holdings -- donot correspond at all with whatthey claimed on their tax re-turns. But hardly anything is be-ing done about it. The Greek re-ality is sometimes paradoxical:While the governing coalitionwas busy squabbling with inter-national creditors over howmany hundreds of euros can stillbe trimmed from teachers' andnurses' paychecks, and Athenscontinued slashing employeepensions, wealthy Greeksmoved billions abroad with rel-ative impunity.

The odyssey of the "Lagardelist," as it's known, exemplifiesthe typically lax attitude towardtax criminals. For many months,it was thought to be lost, butthen it resurfaced in early Octo-ber. Now, the public prosecutorfor financial crimes has a copy.It lists 1,991 Greek owners ofSwiss bank accounts, and re-portedly includes many promi-

nent individuals from the realmsof politics, business and culture.

LIST GOES MISSING The story of this list primarily

illustrates the unwillingness ofpoliticians to do anything to im-prove the situation. In the au-tumn of 2010, Christine La-garde, who was still the Frenchfinance minister at the time,gave her Greek counterpartGiorgos Papakonstantinou a dig-italized list of bank accountswith information on Greek cus-tomers at the HSBC Bank inSwitzerland. The accounts con-tained a total of some €1.5 bil-lion. While the French state wasusing this list to help collect halfa billion euros from its own taxoffenders, the Greeks showedlittle interest in attempting asimilar initiative.

It wasn't until many months

later, in June 2011, that Pa-pakonstantinou finally relin-quished only 10 names from thelist to the head of Greece's Fi-nancial and Economic CrimeUnit (SDOE). The former min-ister said a few days ago that hedidn't pass on all of the infor-mation because he had "no con-fidence in the agency."

He was succeeded by Evan-gelos Venizelos, who is theleader of the Panhellenic Social-ist Movement, better known asPASOK, and thus part of thegoverning coalition. Venizelosserved as finance minister fornine months. He negotiated thedebt haircut and the secondbailout package -- and vowedtime and again to tackle the bigproblem of tax evasion.

Meanwhile, tucked away ina drawer of his secretary's desk,

there was a USB stick with in-formation that had already beengathered on Greek tax offenders-- the Lagarde list. The authori-ties merely needed to launch in-vestigations. But Venizelos did-n't instruct the SDOE to conductinquiries, nor did he inform any-one of the existence of this in-formation. Everyone else in thegovernment thought that the listhad disappeared. It was onlywhen the current Finance Min-ister Yannis Stournaras heardabout the lost information, andwanted to ask Paris for a copy,that Venizelos supposedly re-membered the USB stick in thedrawer. He sent it by expresscourier to Greek Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras. Venizelosmaintains that he didn't know"that no one aside from me hada copy."

Both Venizelos and Papakon-stantinou have had to justifytheir actions before an investiga-tive parliamentary committee --and both men have attemptedto shift the blame on each other.

ALLEGATIONS IGNORED There is yet another, shorter

list, which despite its diminutivesize is even more politicallycharged. Greek tax authoritiesare currently investigating theassets of some 60 politicians,and the probe apparently ex-tends beyond suspicions of taxevasion alone. The speaker ofthe Greek Parliament, EvangelosMeimarakis -- a member of thegoverning conservative NeaDimokratia, or New Democracyparty -- recently stepped downdue to corruption allegations,and he is not the only one im-plicated. A number of high-ranking former ministers arealso suspected of involvementin sham transactions andmoney-laundering schemes.

Corruption allegations stilldon't necessarily interfere witha political career in Greece, asexemplified by the case of theformer prefect of Thessaloniki,Panagiotis Psomiadis. He al-legedly personally receivednearly €1 million for publicworks projects that were neverbuilt. Psomiadis is also sus-pected of being connected with

a mafia ring of loan sharks.None of this has apparentlydamaged him. In May, PrimeMinister Samaras made him hiselection campaign organizer fornorthern Greece.

"We are very bad now as asociety. We have become bad.We are greedy and asocial," saysCostas Bakouris, 75, chairmanof Transparency InternationalGreece. Bakouris sounds verydifferent than many Europeanpoliticians who suddenly findthat things are taking a turn forthe better in Greece. Now thatit's clear that the creditors willcontinue to pay, he says peopleare turning a blind eye to theinevitable.

In reality, says Bakouris, anincompetent political class con-tinues to govern the country --the same people, the same story.For decades, they have createda sick system that permeates allsegments of society.

Indeed, it's not just formerministers and parliamentarianswho have squirreled away mil-lions of euros of dubious originin their bank accounts. Investi-gators even discovered €2.8 mil-lion -- none of which had beendeclared -- in an account be-longing to the deputy mayor ofa town of only 14,000 inhabi-tants in the Thessaly region. Theman receives a monthly salaryof approximately €1,500.

CONDITIONS RIPE FOR CORRUPTION

Greece's largest social secu-rity organization, IKA, has beenused by many in the country astheir personal piggy bank. Thefact that IKA coffers are actuallyempty hasn't stopped depart-ment heads or low-level em-ployees from continuing totransfer money to friends andrelatives who are not entitled toreceive any payments whatso-ever. But even everyday citizenstake advantage of the system:Of the supposedly 700 blindpeople on the island of Zakyn-thos, for instance, in realitythere are only 60 who truly can-not see.

Thanks to such common-place tricks, an estimated 40percent of Greece's annual gross

domestic product (GDP) stillgenerates no revenues for statecoffers, says Athens-based cor-ruption investigator LeandrosRakintzis.

According to TransparencyInternational's Costa Bakouris,Greece has all the right condi-tions for corruption: plenty ofbureaucracy, no functioning jus-tice system, laws with numerousloopholes -- and economic pres-sure. Bakouris was himself anentrepreneur and lived for 20years in Switzerland. He saysGreeks like him, who have livedabroad for many years, have theclearest perception of the prob-lems in their homeland. Bak-ouris also briefly worked for thestate as the managing directorof preparations for the 2004Olympic Games in Athens. Aftertwo years, he "more or less fired"himself. He says that he refusedto accept that all bids -- whetherthey were for major infrastruc-ture projects or for the carpetingin the Olympic village -- shouldbe roughly three times as highas they were in Sydney, whichhosted the games in 2000.

Bakouris doesn't believe thatall the information on the listswill actually be investigated.Only one top politician has beensitting in jail awaiting trial forthe past six months: former De-fense Minister Akis Tsochat-zopoulos. He allegedly acceptedmany millions of euros in kick-backs for defense projects.Tsochatzopoulos, who denies allof the allegations, was a politicalprotégé of socialist Andreas Pa-pandreou, the founder of PA-SOK and the father of formerPrime Minister Georgios Papan-dreou.

The legacy of corruption goesback generations. In the dayswhen Papandreou the elder gov-erned the country, after thestory broke that the head of thestate electricity provider hadlined his own pockets with some1.5 million drachmas, the primeminister reacted with the fol-lowing quip: "We all agree, ofcourse, that we are allowed togive ourselves a little presentfrom time to time. But pleasedon't make it too large."

Despite Recovery Plans, Corruption Remains Steady throughout Greece

Continued from page 1

A protester clashes with riot police during the nationwide general strike in Athens on Thursday.

Members of the PAME Communist-affiliated union gather outside the Greek parliament during a 24-hour nationwide general strikein Athens, Thursday, Oct. 18. Labor unions in recession-hobbled Greece are holding another general strike against a new harsh aus-terity program, as EU leaders beset by a deep debt crisis and economic stagnation gather for a summit meeting in Brussels.

AP PHOTO/THANASSiS STAVrAKiS

AP PHOTO/THANASSiS STAVrAKiS

Lawyers and doctors scuffle with riot police during an anti-austerity protest outside the Finance Ministry in Athens,Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012.

AP PHOTO/NiKOlAS GiAKOumiDiS

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012

Reader Tells TNH to StopActing Like a Spoiled Child

To the Editor:I do not agree with your as-

sessment of ArchbishopDemetrios. His Eminence is, asare all clergy, a shepherd of thefaithful from this world to thenext, not necessarily a distribu-tor of fairness or democracy inthis one.

How many parents denytheir kids things they want witha big oxi? The kids immediatelydemand to know “why not?”and if told, often think their par-

ents’ reasoning is misguided.My three girls, like virtually allkids, do that all the time.

Simply put, Demetrios does-n't owe you an ad placement,paid or not, nor does he needto tell you "why not." He doesn'towe the press anything in theway of explanation, nor does heneed to be democratic.

Further, notwithstandingyour Socrates and Protagorasquotes, Christ never said thatdemocracy (an invention ofman) rules the day.

My thoughts are not rootedin any extreme ideology and my

criticism is not applicable to youas a whole. I enjoy readingTNH, and I respect democracy.In fact, I live in New Hampshire,

whose license plates bear thestate motto: “Live Free or Die.”

Thomas Frangos Portsmouth, NH

Attracting American TouristsOlga Kefalogiannis, Greece’s indefatigable Minister of Tourism,

made an impressive effort in New York to jumpstart the flow oftourists from America to Greece.

Relying, as she should, on the advice and guidance of Greek-Americans, her team is working hard to penetrate the Americanmarket by reaching out to those with the expertise and ability toinfluence it.

Past ministers treated the large and affluent American marketwith benign neglect, and took it for granted. The result was thatAmerican tourists found other Mediterranean destinations to en-joy.

The minister’s task is difficult, however, and it requires a lon-glasting effort. Not least among the problems is the global media’sdaily bombardment of the global media of news and commentaryabout the events unfolding in Greece.

The motherland asks – and rightly so – to be given a chance tobreathe again, to grow through investments that will spur devel-opment in order to overcome the crisis.

But major investments take years to materialize, while actionsto stimulate the rise of tourism income can yield immediate results.

Along with internal changes, then, that must be implementedin the tourism sector – notably, better customer service – Kefalo-gianni’s approach is what is necessary: a long term and compre-hensive campaign to attract tourists from the huge and affluentAmerican market.

The first step, which would have the most immediate impact,would a be broad approach of the Hellenic Diaspora in the contextof its universal love of Greece and desire to help.

Because results cannot wait – they are needed now.

Extreme Takeover?The much faster-than-expected rise in the popularity of a col-

lection of leftist parties called SYRIZA, and of the neo-fascist partyGolden Dawn are beginning to spark a panic in the internationalpolitical and economic systems. But panic has not yet bred commonsense.

While it is obvious that Golden Dawn’s growth rate is due tothe deep economic crisis and its consequences, the Troika continuesto push the logic of a policy that would lead to an even worse cri-sis.

The Economist newsmagazine commented this week that onereason for Merkel’s embrace of Antonis Samaras is that he is betterthan the most likely alternative, SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras. And al-though such high-level meetings with Merkel are important, theydo not by themselves resolve the most pressing problem: that theunemployment rate now exceeds 25% (and 55% among youngpeople). No nation can tolerate such massive unemployment with-out reacting.

Dangerous Demagoguery This week’s demagogic statements by Karolos Papoulias, Presi-

dent of the Greek Republic, were disturbing. What he said to theleaders of the trade unions we think will fall on fertile soil andyield bitter fruit in the future.

Papoulias said that since the wealthy Greeks are not participatingin the sacrifices the rest of Greeks are making, they are not patri-ots!

There is certainly some truth in what he said.However, this presupposes that citizens trust their government

with their sacrifies, and that politicians are the first to set a goodexample.

Germany’s leader Angela Merkel reportedly asked Papoulias"What are the wealthy Greeks doing, the shipowners?" The presi-dent replied: "What can I say, everyone behaves in accordancewith his patriotic feelings."

These are serious statements.In fact, shipowner in a meeting with the prime minister

agreed  to pay some taxes.The danger of such comments by a country’s leaders is that is

fans the flames  and feeds the rhetoric of extremist parties. Theycontribute to risk that there will be only two main groups in Greece,the poor and the rich. That can lead to uncontrolled violenceagainst anyone who even appears to be rich, while in its extremeform it can even lead to civil war.

In any case, creating a climate of intimidation will lead thewealthy to leave the country, as is the case in Latin America whichwill result in serious consequences for the economy.

Greece and the U.S. ElectionIt is interesting – and there is no longer any doubt – that the cli-

mate is changing and is shifting in favor of Greece remaining inthe Eurozone, and the optimism is not without justification. AntonisSamaras, by widespread perceptions, is fighting for his country isa way that has not been seen until recently.

It is a battle that is winning friends in Germany and the IMF.They are becoming convinced that he is determined to do every-thing possible to succeed.

That sentiment, however, is not unanimous. For example, theSwedish Minister of Finance, who according to Wall Street Journalsurprised observers by breaking taboos against such things, declaredthat Greece’s staying in the Eurozone may be neither possible noreven desirable.

Another explanation for the lifting of the gloom that was hangingover Greece is the elections in the United States. A Greek exit fromthe Eurozone would lead to a White House exit for Barack Obama,and not only because of the potential damage it would cause tothe global economy. It would create a window for Mitt Romney toattack Obama as unable to manage crises and to protect America’snational interests.

Nonetheless, Greece should see this coincidence of its talks withthe Troika and the American elections as an opportunity to addressits problems, and to make the structural changes necessary to be-come more competitive.

Because that in itself is in its interests, and is the only possibleguarantee for an economic recovery.

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AGORA – THE ORIGINAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

1. TNH’s PUBLISHER-EDITOR SHARES HIS POINTOF VIEW

They both won. Dino It was a joy watching for

more than 90 minutes these twothoroughbrds, Barack Obamaand Mitt Romney, arguing backand forth.

They were both at their peak.God bless them.

I would sing Obama’s praisesin this installment of Agora ifthe facts led me in that direc-tion. But as our Ancient prede-cessors used to say, place truthabove all. And the truth is, theyboth won. Here’s what I mean:

Obama was good. Very good.In fact, he did what he had todo and more. He put a stop tothe free fall of his campaign af-ter his inexplicably bad perfor-mance in the first debate. Theway he did it was by going onthe attack: “not true governor…check the transcript…” By look-ing presidential throughoutevery inch of his body, by play-ing up his authority: “Hillary didan excellent job but she worksfor me, last time I checked shehad not resigned.” By tellingRomney “proceed.”

Romney on the other handwon for being able to stand upto a resurrected Obama, bylooking quite presidential him-self. In fact this is a major vic-tory for Romney: after the firstdebate he embedded in ourminds the notion that he ismade of presidential material.With another solid performanceunder his belt, it might very wellcarry him to victory in Novem-ber.

Now, Dino, I have to say – itannoys me a great deal everytime he brings up Greece as anexample of a country to beavoided. I know very well thatGreece is not exactly a modelcountry. I criticize what theGreeks do very often in the hopethat they will improve. I justwonder why is Romney doingit? is he gaining something byinsulting a whole nation, infront of tens of millions of view-ers?

Could someone please passon the word to him to stop it?

In any event, both of thesetwo candidates are gifted. Verycapable individuals. They arethe kind of leaders a great na-tion like ours and the wholeword needs.

I truly marvel at the depth oftheir knowledge, their elo-quence, and their ability to stayon message.

So what distinguishes them?On what bases should onechoose between them?

It has to be the question ofcharacter. The question ofwhose philosophy of life oneagrees with. On whom onetrusts more to take that 3AMemergency phonecall.

On these points, Obamascores higher. He distorts thefacts less. He is more carefulwith the words he chooses. Heseems to have in mind his re-sponsibility to his position, thepresidency of the country.

Romney is recasting himselfand rather successfully I mightadd, from some of the extremepositions he took during the pri-

maries to much more moderateones.

It might be good for thecountry if he wins. But mean-while, it does not score high inthe all-important department oftrust.

Lastly, the whole demeanorof the debate was not healthy.There was a lot of intense ten-sion, a sense of animosity. Theirbody language conveyed thewrong message to the country.There were points that theycame chest to chest.

If that unfortunate part hadnot happened, then, Dino, Iwould have said that this debatewas the best one ever.

So yes, as you might havesurmised, I am still undecided.

2. TNH’s ASSOCIATEEDITOR RESPONDS

Antoni, like you, I am some-what undecided, too (though inmy column next week, I will de-clare my endorsement for pres-ident). That is because neitherof us is a blind partisan fanatic.And above all, we are not hyp-ocrites. Not like the Democratichypocrites who used to talkabout how terrible it was thatGeorge W. Bush ran up thedeficits, kept Guantanamo Bayopen, used drones to blast ter-rorists out of their cells – alongwith stray civilians at times –and deported illegal aliens. Ofcourse, when Obama does thosethings, suddenly they don’t uttera peep. Or the Republican hyp-ocrites, who looked the otherway when the Bush Administra-tion bungled pre-9/11 warn-ings. But when Obama’s teamignored the same heed regard-ing the Embassy in Libya, it wasas if he had committed treason.

As for Tuesday night’s de-bate, I can’t say that I saw itquite the same way you did. Iwas disappointed, overall.Obama and Romney are a cou-ple of climate-controlled dou-bletalking robots. Obama seemspassionate and sincere only ascompared to Romney. I think

this was the most lackluster de-bate since the Jimmy Carter-Gerald Ford series back in 1976.

Yes, it is great thatObama  said “not true” to Rom-ney, but he should have beensaying that all night long. Atleast Romney was relentless inhis attacks on Obama’s record,but I agree with you – when hetried to invade Obama’s zone,he came across as a bully. Usu-ally, those types of tactics back-fire. In 2000, Al Gore tried thesame trick, and George W. Bushwas absolutely brilliant in mak-ing him look like a fool. Obamawasn’t quite as good vis-à-visRomney, but at least he had thegood sense to look beyond Rom-ney as Romney still badgeredhim, which made the Romneyseem petty and desperate.

Moreover, here’s what’swrong with the debates: theyare controlled by the purport-edly “nonpartisan” but actuallyheavily bipartisan Commissionon Presidential Debates (CPD).The CPD took over the debateprocess from the truly nonpar-tisan League of Women Voters(LWV) in 1992. More accurately,it was a hostile takeover, asGeorge Farah described in hisexcellent book on the subject,No Debate (New York, NY:Seven Series Press, 2004). TheCPD is a staunch proponent ofthe major party duopoly andwill do just about anything toexclude third party candidatesfrom the debate process. Thereare plenty of worthwhile candi-dates running this time around,with some very interestingideas, including the ReformParty’s Andre Barnett and theConstitution Party’s VirgilGoode, both of whom I inter-viewed this year.  Granted, Bar-nett’s candidacy is muchsmaller, but the ConstitutionParty is the third-largest inAmerica. The Libertarian andGreen Parties, though smaller intotal membership, are on virtu-ally every state ballot. Their can-

didates are Gary Johnson andJill Stein, respectively. Why,then, were Goode, Johnson, andStein not invited to the debate?Because the two major partiesand the CPD are afraid of shat-tering the duopoly.

Don’t get me wrong: BarackObama is the president of theUnited States and, as such, mycommander-in-chief and I re-spect him a great deal. I willalso give Romney that same re-spect if he becomes president.Both men are quite capable, asyou say – but both have beenbehaving too little like humanbeings and too much like politi-cians. Let’s hope the third de-bate gives us some things thathave been sorely lacking – yes,from both sides – thus far: hon-esty, integrity, candor, andcourage.

Finally, a word about Greece.Romney is simply conveying amessage that he thinks the typi-cal American voter – who knowsvery little about domestic politicsand even less about interna-tional matters – can understand.Whether deserving of the repu-tation or not, Greece has becomesynonymous with a failed na-tion, just as the Edsel will for-ever be known as the failed au-tomobile. So, the catchphrase forAmerican politicians this year is:“Don’t let the United States be-come another Greece.” But thereis hope: a couple of years ago,the same could have been saidabout a failing company: “Don’tlet it become another GeneralMotors.” But now that GeneralMotors has rebounded magnifi-cently, its resilience has super-seded its failure. If and whenGreece bounces back it, too, canbecome synonymous with re-silience. Until then, Romney anda host of other politicians willuse “Greece” as a buzzword withnegative connotations to exploitvoters’ worst fears. It’s not per-sonal, it’s just politically expedi-ent.

3. WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?

Obama-Romney Part II: Was it Magnificent or Mundane?

By Antonis H. Diamataris andConstantinos E. Scaros

From time to time, an issue emerges andinspires various minds to converge, often atodds with one another, to discuss it. Hopefully,collective enlightenment will result from suchconversations. The Ancient Greeks did that in

the Agora, the original marketplace of ideas,and we, their modern-day descendants, aspireto continue that tradition.

We (Diamataris and Scaros) rarely disagreewith one another, but we think it is valuableto share our thoughts when we do, and inviteyou to share yours as well. We would neverfabricate a difference of opinion for the sake of

writing an interesting column. Rest assured,anything we write here are our sincere, heartfeltthoughts. We will share them with you everytwo weeks. We hope you enjoy them, and welook forward to your taking part in the discus-sion as well – by contributing letters to the ed-itor in response, and/or commenting on ourwebsite: www.thenationalherald.com.

In this Oct. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate,former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney exchange views during the second presidential debateat Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

ASSOCiATED PrESS

If former U.S. Secretary ofWar – er…State – HenryKissinger could win the NobelPeace Prize while he was direct-ing the war in Vietnam, and U.S.President Barack Obama couldwin in 2009 while he was con-tinuing the Bush Wars in Iraqand Afghanistan, what’s so sur-prising about the EuropeanUnion – presumably not all 500million people in its 27 coun-tries – winning this year whileconducting an economic war inGreece?

Some people believe that aperson has to win the prize, notan amorphous entity. But nowthat the Nobel Committee,made up of members of the Nor-wegian Parliament – an oddityas Alfred Nobel, the inventor ofdynamite who created theaward, perhaps to soothe hisconscience that what he madewould be used by people aroundthe world to blow thesmithereens out of each other –was Swedish. But now that theaward doesn’t have to go to ahuman – putting a dent in GreekPrime Minister Antonis Samaras’chances to move up his ladderof ambition after he finishes offGreece – maybe next year itcould go to the chair Clint East-wood spoke to at the RepublicanNational Convention this year.After all, that chair hasn’t killedanyone yet.

According to Nobel’s will, theprize was to be awarded to theperson – the key word here be-ing “person” – who “shall havedone the most or the best workfor fraternity between nations,for the abolition or reduction ofstanding armies and for theholding and promotion of peacecongresses.”

Under thosespecific terms, theEU – a collection ofmutual back-pounding politi-cians who toleratemassacres, killingsand dictators incountries aroundthe world, includ-ing its owndoorstep in Belarus– doesn’t qualify.All it does is putmessages of con-cern, grave con-cern, really graveconcern, and dou-ble secret probation secret con-cern whenever there are killingsin places like Kenya, Burma,Uzbekistan, and hotspotsaround the world where it hasno influence. That includes theMiddle East, where its envoy –former British Prime MinisterTony Blair – did nothing to ad-vance the cause of peace.

The Nobel Peace Prize nowis less valuable than AVN Awardgiven to stars of the porn indus-try, although the Greek govern-ment could qualify for that oneafter what it’s been doing to itspeople. The Nobel Prize hasbeen cheapened through the po-litical shenanigans that lead tothis kind of decision, especiallywith the announcement comingafter 50,000 Greeks took to thestreets to protest the appearanceof chief economic warmonger,German Chancellor AngelaMerkel in Athens to pat Samarason the back and order him tokeep cutting people’s pay, rais-ing their taxes, and slashingtheir pensions.

It’s not the fault of the EU,along with the International

Monetary Fund andEuropean CentralBank, who makeup the Troikafronting $325 bil-lion in loans to de-mand austerity inreturn for themoney. It was thefault of profligatespending by theNew Democracyparty Samaras nowleads, and the PA-SOK Socialists thatnew leader Evange-los Venizelos has al-most completely

destroyed with his double back-flips over supporting and oppos-ing austerity measures.

But you can’t award politi-cians a prize for peace whilepeople are fighting in thestreets, and not just in Greece,but Spain and Portugal andcoming soon to other countrieswhere the EU wages economicwar on the poor, working class,and elderly to benefit banks andinvestors.

There isn’t enough ridiculeyou can heap on an award for agroup of politicians who can’tbalance a checkbook and havehad endless summits to try tosolve the Eurozone crisis andGreece’s debt problem, all ofwhich have failed. This prize issupposed to be for success.

Greece has known too muchgenuine war and its economiccrisis can’t be compared todeath and misery beyond de-scription, including peoplestarving to death, but awardingthe EU this once-coveted prizefor promoting peace while peo-ple are nearing a Civil War den-igrates it.

Petros Markaris, Greece’sbest-known crime writer and anastute observer of his country’spolitical scene, said that thecommittee used the wrong cri-teria in picking the EU as beingdeserving because there hasn’tbeen war in Europe. “On the ba-sis of that logic, every countrythat has lived peacefully de-serves the prize,” he told theBritish newspaper TheGuardian, adding it was clearthe award had become a “prizewith an agenda.”

Or, as Athenian photogra-pher Ioanna Nikolareizi said inthe same piece: “It’s absurd.This is a prize that should go toa human being, not an institu-tion that is going down thedrain.”

Chrisoula Panagiotidi, anAthens beautician, told Reuters:“Is this a joke? It mocks us andwhat we are going through rightnow. All it will do is infuriatepeople here.”

By default, the prize goes tothe heads of the EU, former Bel-gian Prime Minister Hermanvan “Humpty Dumpty” Rompuy,who has no real duties, and Eu-ropean Commission PresidentJose Manuel Barroso, a formerMaoist rebel in college who be-came Portugal’s Prime Ministerand for the last eight years hasmostly smiled at news confer-ences.

Greece touches this awardtoo because the EU has a rotat-ing presidency every six monthsand until the end of the year it’sheld by Cypriot PresidentDemetris Christofias, who’s asuseless as the Nobel Peace Prizeis now.

adabilis@thenationalherald.com

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 20-26, 2012 11

More years ago than I careto remember, I listened on theradio to the very first televisedpresidential debate. (My veryunreasonable father did not be-lieve a college freshman shouldhave a television.) At the end ofan hour, I switched off the radioconvinced that Richard Nixonhad mopped up the floor withJohn F. Kennedy. Nixon had pro-vided a crisp, clear, and well-in-formed commentary about thestate of the world and the na-tion and his plans for the nextfour years. Kennedy had beenarticulate but, in my mind, shal-low and superficial. He had of-fered only platitudes about whathe would do if President. Inthose days, the pundits weremuch slower off the mark andthe news networks had betterthings to broadcast than abunch of incestuous talkingheads. Imagine my shock towake the next morning to dis-cover that, perversely, Kennedyhad cleaned Nixon’s clock!

The next morning, the Wash-ington Post reported thatKennedy had carried the day. Atanned Kennedy dressed in ablue shirt (which showed upwell on black and white TV) hadpublicly humiliated a blue-jawed Nixon in a white shirtthat made him look like CountDracula. I read on, in horror, todiscover that almost no onecommented on the actual meritsof the debate but only on theeffect Kennedy’s disproportion-ate good looks had on the view-ing public. Most pundits referto the debate as a key factor inKennedy’s victory.

I have whined about the factthat the Kennedy-Nixon debatesset a new political standard forthe last five decades. Since1960, good looks and goodmakeup rather than merit de-

termine who willwin the presidency.

Now, more thana half century later,an invigorated MittRomney, tannedand rested after twofull days off thecampaign trail wait-ing for the debate,took on an obvi-ously tired and dis-tracted Obama.Romney gained thepsychological highground in the firstfew minutes of thedebate and ap-peared to intimidate a hesitantObama. Obama looked down athis notes, failed to make eyecontact, and paused before eachresponse. Worse, the presidentstayed on his own script and de-clined to confront Romney’s at-tacks. At least they were bothequally well- dressed, althoughmatching Romney’s coiffuremay be well beyond human ca-pacity

Again, the pundits declaredthe candidate who made thebetter appearance an unequiv-ocal “victor” of the debate. Un-like 1960, we now have a fullboard of fact-checkers, who didpoint out Romney’s inconsisten-cies, occasional outright lies,and the fact that Romney ap-pears to have joined the Demo-cratic Party. Unfortunately, as in1960, the facts seem to havecarried little weight with eitherthe audience or the pundits.

WE HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE

BEFOREFact-checking

Governor MittRomney would befar more amusingwere not the con-sequences of hiselection so scary.The Debate raisedone stark question:will the Real MittRomney pleasestand up? Will weelect the fire-breathing, tax-cut-ting disciple of

Grover Norquist, who haspledged to undo everything theObama Administration hasdone, make financiers the realrulers of America, and pack thesupreme court with jurists whowould undo 50 years of socialchange in America? Or, will weelect the left-leaning, tax-rais-ing, socially and culturally pro-gressive, Romneycare-creating,governor of Massachusetts, whodid a reasonable job workingwith a Democratic-majority leg-islature? My moderate right-wing “Anybody-but-Obama”friends are praying desperatelythat Romney will be the latter.The other Romney supportersare praying he won’t be and willbe watching a future PresidentRomney like a hawk to guaran-tee that he does not stray fromthe radical oratory of the Re-publican primary.

My own views: GovernorRomney will have two legisla-tive objectives should he be-come president. First, he willstrive mightily to reduce hisown taxes and those of his bestfriends to near zero by abolish-ing, as he promised, all taxes oncapital gains and carried inter-est. Secondly, he will do what-

ever is necessary to ensure a sec-ond term. The Romney we haveseen so far cares not one whitwhat that might need to be.

As a footnote: I write thiswhile visiting an Arab countrythat sees itself as America’s bestfriend in the Middle East, sup-porting democratic change,women’s rights, freedom of re-ligion. It also hosts the air basewithout which America’s mili-tary could not sustain itself inthe region, and directly or indi-rectly provides jobs to half a mil-lion Americans and huge profitsfor several American energycompanies. I have not spokento a single person here, Ameri-can, European, Arab, or othernationality who does not fearthat a Romney presidencywould provoke a highly destruc-tive war in the region.

Given the fact that Romney’sforeign policy team consists al-most entirely of the Bush-Ch-eney-Rumsfeld neoconservativeswho took us into Iraq, their fearsare justified. They pray thatRomney will not need to attackIran in order to get a secondterm.

The Obama-Romney debatehas so far followed the samescript as the Nixon-Kennedy sce-nario. Let’s hope that after 50years, the American public haslearned to see beyond superfi-cialities.

The Hon. Ambassador Theros ispresident of the U.S.-QatarBusiness Council. He served inthe U.S. Foreign Service for 36years, mostly in the MiddleEast, and was American Ambas-sador to Qatar from 1995 to1998. He also directed the StateDepartment’s Counter-Terrorism Office, and holds nu-merous U.S. Government deco-rations.

The Presidential Debates: We’ve Seen This Movie Before

By Christos Panagopoulos The Hill

Although I just arrived inWashington, DC as the newGreek ambassador, Americamakes me feel right at home.This is not only because I haveserved in the United Statestwice in my career � in Bostonand in Los Angeles � but alsobecause there are so manythings here that remind me ofmy home country’s heritage andradiant culture, bringing out thedeep affinities of our two na-tions, our shared values and ourstrong ties of friendship and al-liance.

The Capitol building, with itsneoclassical architecture, thethemes of the Federalist Papersand the works of the FoundingFathers of America � all can findmany of their roots in Hel-lenism. The Hellenic spirit hasalways transcended its geo-graphic borders � not just in an-tiquity, but through the Hellenis-tic era, the Byzantine Empire,the Age of Enlightenment and

onwards. Our destinies have always

been intertwined, from the ad-miration of the Greek people forthis nation’s own struggle for in-dependence to the Americanpeople’s support for our War ofIndependence, and the solidar-ity to the outnumbered GreekArmy’s stand against the Axisforces, which resulted in thefirst Allied victory in WWII.

We have fought side by sidethroughout all the major con-flicts in the 20th century, andyour famed Liberty shipslaunched the modern Greekshipping industry.

Our mutual history is alsolinked by the long presence ofthe Greek American community:a community that came toAmerica in times of hardshipand has managed to thrive andexcel through hard work, com-mitment and dedication to theirnew homeland.

My arrival in America coin-cides with Greece’s severe eco-nomic crisis and our efforts toimplement long-overdue re-

form. This has deeply affectedthe Greek people: it has led to adramatic drop in their standardof living, which was nevernearly as high as that in otherWestern European nations.

We are indeed grateful forthe support of our Europeanpartners, the U.S. and the inter-national community. This sup-port is not free: it comes in theform of loans that we are payingback with interest; it comes at acost to everyday people, as weare pushing through painful re-forms; and it comes as a re-sponse to a crisis that is not justGreek or even just European.

To paraphrase John Donne,“No economy is an island.” Inthis global economy, our fatesare intertwined. However,Greece offers the West an islandof stability in a volatile and cri-sis-stricken region. Understand-ing this, we take our responsi-bilities very seriously,implementing drastic measuresthat no other modern countryhas taken in such a short periodof time. We are also making

great strides in an ambitious pri-vatization plan, and doing agreat deal to attract foreign in-vestment.

Fiscal crisis aside, Greece isa country of many treasures: itssun-kissed beauty, its rich his-tory and culture, and its

Mediterranean climate thatyields agricultural products ofexquisite quality make it unique.Greece offers well developedtourism, shipping, and serviceindustries; a highly skilled andhard-working labor force; nat-ural resources; and above all,the perpetual will of its peopleto succeed.

Despite the crisis at hand,

Greece is proactively pursuingits foreign policy objectives. Fo-cusing on our region, we arestriving to bring the countriesof Southeast Europe into theEuro-Atlantic family, on the con-dition that they meet the neces-sary criteria and respect theprinciple of good neighborly re-lations. Just a few days ago, theTurkish foreign minister visitedAthens. We still have pendingissues, but we maintain closeand regular consultations, tryingto find common ground. Also,the Albanian foreign ministerpaid a visit, after we signed,along with Italy, a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU)for the construction of the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP), to pro-mote energy security in Europe.We have proposed to the formerYugoslav Republic of Macedoniathat we sign an MOU to facili-tate the resolution of the nameissue, trying to break the dead-lock caused by Skopje’s lack ofany constructive step since theU.N. talks began almost 20years ago.

In the swiftly changing re-gion of the Middle East andNorth Africa, we maintain closecontacts with the countries indemocratic transition, includingEgypt, and we are closely mon-itoring the deteriorating situa-tion in Syria. We are enhancingour cooperation with Israel, tothe benefit of stability in thewider Eastern Mediterranean.

Greece has a proven recordas a steady and reliable ally thatprovides critical support toNATO. For example, Greece istaking part in the operation inAfghanistan and provided vitallogistical support to the opera-tion in Libya. In the true spiritof cooperation, we are commit-ted to working with you to pro-mote peace and stability, re-membering that both countrieshave given the world democ-racy, freedom and the inherentvalue of the individual. I lookforward to our future together.

Christos Panagopoulos is am-bassador of Greece to theUnited States

Greece’s Ambassador to the U.S. Christos Panagopoulos: a New Beginning for Greece

GUEST EDITORIALS

The National Herald welcomes manuscripts representing a variety ofviews for publication in its View Points page. They should includethe writer’s name, address, telephone number and be addressed tothe View Points Editor, The National Herald, 37-10 30th St., liC, Ny11101. They can also be e-mailed to english.edition@thenational -herald.com. Due to considerations of space we enforce a strict 850-word upper limit. we reserve the right to edit.

by AMB. PATRICK N.THEROS

Special to The National Herald

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Amid Waging Economic War, EU Won Nobel Peace Prize

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

By John Psarouthakis

Barack Obama will go downin history as the first AfricanAmerican president of theUnited States, but he might alsobe remembered as a one-termerbecause of the economy travails,and lack of leadership to bringthe country together as he hadso eloquently stated in the 2004Democratic National Conventionkeynote speech.

He has become a polarizingforce and has missed the oppor-tunity to be a statesman.

He has remained a conven-tional politician when the coun-try needed a bona fide leader tounify the people and bring usout of a collapsing economy andtwo wars.

Obama has created an atmos-phere of uncertainty with his ap-proach of decision making. Heeven delegated the most impor-tant legislation of his adminis-tration to date, the AffordableCare Act (aka “Obamacare”), toformer House Speaker NancyPelosi, and only when its pas-sage looked doubtful he becomeinvolved, in a manner that manycalled “Chicago politics.”

The voters in 2008 were hun-gry for a change, but they didnot demand of the candidates tospell out the change theypromised. And so here we arefour years later, continuing todeal with old-style politics.

JOBSObama seems unable to get

a firm grip on the toughest issueof all, the economy. His ideolog-ical bent for ever bigger govern-ment has blocked his thinkingon economic growth and job cre-ation by the private sector. Thereare nearly 25 million unem-ployed or underemployed Amer-icans. When will they find a full-time job? Blaming others hereor abroad does not really definethe problem, and therefore doesnot create a solution.

Technology is EliminatingJobs

Tellers, phone operators,stockbrokers: those jobs arenearly extinct. Since 2007, theNew York Stock Exchange haseliminated 1,000 jobs. Andwhen was the last time anyonedealt with a travel agent? Nearlyall of them have been displacedby technology and the Internet.Librarians can’t find 36,000 re-sults in 0.14 seconds, as Googlecan.

Doctors are under fire aswell, from computer imagingthat looks inside of us and fromComputer Aided Diagnosis,which looks for patterns in X-rays to identify breast cancerand other diseases more cheaplyand effectively than radiologistsdo. Other than barbers, no jobsare safe.

But be warned the Americaneconomy is incredibly dynamic,and there is no quick fix for jobcreation when so much technol-ogy-driven job destruction is tak-ing place.

Fortunately, history showsthat labor-saving machineshaven’t decreased overall em-ployment even when they havemade certain jobs obsolete. Ul-timately, the economic growthcreated by new jobs always over-whelms the drag from jobs de-

stroyed – if policymakers let ithappen.

POLITICSThe inexperienced officials

around the president have man-aged the crisis as an exercise inpolitical maneuvering to positionthe President for reelection.Some believed that Obama’s per-sonality and intelligence alonewould be enough to convinceand appease the voters. Someclaim that the Administrationhas won society’s silent consent.However, the government’sproblem is not so much the frus-tration or the reactions from thevarious sectors of our society, butthe uncertainty that is now erod-ing our confidence in investingin our economy. It appears thatwe are moving to an ever- biggergovernment and more of a wel-fare state

The Obama Administrationseems ineffective, but thatshould hardly come as a surprisesince the president had no priorexecutive experience of any kind!He has lost touch with a greatpart of society and he looks moreand more as a spent politicalforce. But in politics, surprisesare the norm. Nonetheless, thisbrilliant person graduate of Har-vard Law School and editor ofthe School’s Law Review, and anunusually powerful speaker, hasshrunk and turned into an ordi-nary politician.

The fact is that Obama inher-ited a deep financial crisis; theworse since the Great Depression.However, it is also a fact that in-stead of focusing his attention onhandling the crisis – and primar-ily focusing to create an environ-ment for entrepreneurial invest-ments in the private sector of oureconomy focusing on formingnew jobs – he lost valuable timeand wasted many political re-sources on his health care reformbill, and trying to convince us allthat the previous administrationcontinues to be at fault for thecurrent mess.

Actually, if the previous ad-ministration had done a betterjob, then most likely senator Mc-Cain would have been elected.President Obama was electedbecause he promised to changethings for the better people be-lieved and trusted him to do so,but he has not yet succeeded.

The most essential ofObama’s problems is that afteralmost four years as president,there are still few people whoknow what he is thinking, whathe represents, and what he be-lieves. Polls show that mostAmericans like him and trusthim. But they don’t think thathe is capable of fixing the econ-omy.

The key to this election arethe economic issues, Jobs (pri-marily the unemployment fig-ures), but personal likeabilitycannot be discounted.

Dr. John Psarouthakis is the Ex-ecutive Editor of business-thinker.com; Publisher of gav-dospress.com; DistinguishedVisiting Fellow-Professor at theInstitute of Advanced Studies inthe Humanities, University ofEdinburgh, Scotland, andFounder and former CEO ofJPIndustries, Inc., a Fortune 500industrial corporation.

Looking at the PresidentialElection within the contextof Obama’s Place in History

Are debates “won”based on what acandidate says, oron how a candidatelooks on television?

Greece has provento be a steady andreliable ally to NATO,providing critical sup-port in operations in places like Afghanistan and Libya.

By Quentin Peel andJoshua ChaffinFinancial Times

The banner headline acrossthe front page of Germany’s Bildnewspaper summed up the re-action of many of its readers tothe demonstrations in Athensthat greeted Angela Merkel,German chancellor.

“Germany does not deserveTHAT” it said, with a big red ar-row pointing at a Nazi swastikabeing waved by the “repulsive”protesters.

Bild is a paper that fre-quently plays on the prejudicesof its readers, but it also has agood feel for the popular pulse.More than two years ago, whenthe Greek financial crisis broke,the newspaper sent a journalistround the streets of Athens try-ing to persuade passersby to ex-change their euros for Greekdrachmas – the former nationalcurrency.

This triggered a xenophobicwar of words and pictures be-tween the national media in thetwo countries, just as Ms Merkel

and her fellow European leaderswere wrestling with the problemof how to rescue the Greekeconomy. Ever since, popularopinion in Germany and Greecehas been deeply polarised, witha majority of Germans in favourof seeing-Greece leave the euroand a majority of Greeks blam-ing Germany for the drastic aus-terity measures that have beenforced upon their successivegovernments.

And yet this time Bild wasnotable for being the only sig-nificant German newspaper totake such a hostile stance. In aneditorial it denounced the “un-grateful” Greeks and declaredthe visit a political mistake: “TheGreece that revealed itself yes-terday in the middle of Athensdoes not belong in the euro.”

The rest of the German me-dia were much more concilia-tory, in keeping with the mes-sage from Ms Merkel. Manysuggested that if anything hertrip was overdue.

“I want Greece to stay in theeurozone,” she insisted at herpress conference with Antonis

Samaras, Greek prime minister.“I came here knowing full wellthat the period Greece is livingthrough is an extraordinarilyhard one for its people, thatmany people are suffering . . .We are partners and we arefriends.”

The fact is that German pub-lic opinion is deeply dividedover the crisis in the eurozone,over how far to go in bailing outthe debt-laden eurozone statesof the south, and Greece in par-ticular.

As the crisis has deepened,tipping big economies such asSpain and Italy into recession,the solid performance of theGerman economy, with steadygrowth (more than 3 per centin 2011), a huge export surplusand declining unemployment, isno longer seen as a protection.

The latest opinion poll con-ducted by the Forsa research in-stitute for Stern magazine andRTL television this week sug-gests that anxieties are growingagain in the German population.After an optimistic start to theyear, the pollster’s “barometer

of concerns” is up across theboard.

Fear of soaring state borrow-ing is up three points over thepast four months to 65 per cent,for example, and concern overinsecurity of pensions is up fivepoints to 63 per cent.

Fear of a return to rising un-employment – up seven pointsto 42 per cent – is the drivingforce behind the shift in senti-ment, according to ManfredGüllner, head of Forsa. Althoughthe number of jobless has de-clined from 5m to below 3msince 2005, in recent monthsthere has been a slight deterio-ration and “Germans are verysensitive to unemployment fig-ures”, he says.

They are also confused bythe eurozone crisis, and worriedthat their political leaders can-not cope with the problems. Inspite of an underlying nostalgiafor the Deutschmark, they wantto preserve the euro as a stablecurrency.

Prof Güllner sees Greece asan exception to the general rulethat German public opinion is

ready to stabilise the eurozoneand help out countries such asSpain and Italy that face soaringborrowing costs in the financialmarkets.

“At the beginning in 2010,there was still a majority infavour of help for Greece,” hesays. “They had become gooddemocrats, and many Germanswent there on holiday. But thenwith time that turned round.The view was ‘they have de-ceived us’.

“People feel rather insultedthat the Greeks denied their

own responsibility for theirplight. I don’t think people takethe swastikas too seriously. Theimportant thing is they are seento have lied and deceived us”about the true size of the budgetdeficit and the soaring publicdebt.

Yet Ms Merkel’s trip toAthens may have come just asthose anti-Greek feelings arefading.

Ulrike Guérot, senior policyfellow at the European Councilon Foreign Relations in Berlin,says the visit marked “the endof the Greek exit discussion” inGermany.

“Six weeks ago that was thewhole debate,” she says. “Nowwe have buried it.”

She believes Ms Merkelshould have gone to Athensmuch sooner – in June 2010, af-ter the first Greek rescue pack-age was agreed, or during theBild campaign earlier that year.

The latest poll to measure at-titudes to Greece leaving the eu-rozone suggests a shift in opin-ion. The Politbarometerpublished by ZDF televisionshowed that after a year inwhich Germans said theywanted Greece to leave, by alarge majority, there is now avery narrow margin in favour ofthe country remaining inside thecurrency union – by 46 per centto 45 per cent.

But the question Ms Merkelcould not answer in Athens waswhether she could persuade theGerman Bundestag, or at leasther own conservative supportersin the parliament, to back anymeasures to provide further re-lief to the government inAthens.

Volker Kauder, parliamentaryleader of her Christian Democ-ratic Union, the main party inMs Merkel’s centre-right coali-tion, says the Bundestag will notapprove more money.

If it were possible to giveGreece more time to implementits reforms, without it costingmore money, that might be ac-ceptable. But the German fi-nance ministry calculates that atwo-year extension would re-quire €20bn in extra funding.

The fear among conserva-tives is that by going to Athens,and pledging support to keepGreece in the eurozone, MsMerkel has taken the pressureoff the Greek government to im-plement the full programme.

“Ms Merkel and WolfgangSchäuble (German finance min-ister) always knew there has tobe another solution [forGreece],” says Willi Steul, direc-tor-general of Deutschlandradioand a former correspondent inAthens.

“But if you signal that to theGreeks too early, they will donothing. So she has to talksoftly, and carry a big stick.”

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By Leonidas Petrakis

It is disheartening to witnessthe invective being hurled at thecultural heritage and the peopleof Greece during that country’sharsh economic times. Germanmass media and some politi-cians have been at the forefrontof these unceasing efforts to de-monize the Greeks as peopleand Greece as a nation.

These developments contrastsharply with the long traditionof recognition of the great con-tributions that Greece has madeto Western Civilization. At thetime of the Greek War of Inde-pendence, an international pan-theon of influential people stoodby the struggling Greeks andprovided moral and politicalsupport as well as material help.The list of admirers of Hellenismand supporters of the Greekcause included Thomas Jeffer-son, the great German poetGoethe, the French writerChateaubriand, and, arguablythe most effective, Lord Byronand the French painter EugeneDelacroix.

Both Byron and Delacroixprovided critical supportthrough their political positionsand influence. In addition,Delacroix used the power of thevisual in his paintings to raisesympathy and funds for theGreeks; while Byron used thepower of romantic poetry andhis personal fortune, and sacri-ficed his very life for them.

Byron (1788 –1824) was oneof the greatest British poets ofall times, and a most powerfulfigure in the intellectual life ofEurope, with lasting influencein the artistic and literary move-ment known as the RomanticPeriod that flourished in Europearound the time of the GreekWar of Independence. To matchhis intellectual gifts, Byron puthimself through arduous physi-cal training thereby overcominghis “club foot” handicap, and be-coming a powerful horseman,boxer, and swimmer. Theseserved him well in his politicaland social life, but also in hisadventurous but at times reck-

less life style (he swam theHellespont while waiting per-mission from the Turks to dockhis boat in Constantinople).

From 1809 to 1811 Byronwent on a grand tour, a manda-tory component of the classicaleducation of the English intel-lectual elite. He spent consider-able time in Messolonghi andthe Ionian Islands, Epiros, Pelo-ponnisos, and Athens, therebydeveloping an intimate appreci-ation of, and deep affection for,Greece, her land and people,and their cultural heritage.Many of his experiences becamepart of his long narrative poem“Childe Harold’s Journey,” thefirst part of which was publishedupon his return from Greece.The poem made him immedi-ately famous, and at the sametime brought attention and sym-pathy for the Greek struggle forindependence.

Byron was strongly opposedto Lord Elgin’s looting of theParthenon marbles, and he de-nounced the pilfering in hispoem “The Curse of Minerva.”He celebrated Epiros and theIonian islands. On sailing to-wards Patras he was deeply im-pressed by the spectacular whitecliffs in Southwestern Lefkada(he must have been remindedof the Dover cliffs). From hisclassical training he knew thatthe Cape was also known as“Sappho’s Leap,” because Sap-pho leapt to her death there af-ter being dumped by her loverPhaon. Byron celebrated thebeauty of the location and theaura associated with one of thegreatest lyrical poets of all time.While in Athens he learned ofthe Turks’ way of dealing withany adulterous woman (throw-ing her into the sea wrapped ina sack). He found the practicerevolting, and he wrote “The Gi-aour” (The Infidel), which al-lowed him to highlight the bar-barity of the Turks, and tocontrast Christian and Muslimattitudes on justice and toler-ance. He returned to this themeof the barbarity of the Turks inother poems (“The Siege ofCorinth”).

Byron led a notoriously reck-less and scandalous life that wasreplete with accusations of bothsodomy and incest (presumablyhe fathered a daughter with hishalf-sister Augusta). To avoidthe severe scrutiny and disap-proval in his native England, hewent into self-imposed exile andnever returned.

While living in Italy, Byronturned fully his attention to theGreek War of Independence. In1823, he spent large sums of hisown money to upgrade Greekwarships and he chartered theBrig Hercules, which broughthim to Messolonghi. There heand Alexandros Mavrokordatosplanned an attack on the Turk-ish naval base in Lepanto (Naf-paktos), with Byron paying spe-cial attention to getting heavyartillery for the expedition. Butin February 1824, he fell ill anddied on April 19.

The English were shocked by

his sudden death, and theGreeks mourned him as a na-tional hero. Byron's body wasembalmed and sent to Englandfor burial where huge crowdsviewed it as he lay in state, buthis heart was retained at Mes-solonghi. The national poet ofGreece Dionysios Solomoswrote the moving poem, “To theDeath of Lord Byron.” ManyGreeks to this day name theirsons “Byron” in his honor. Asuburb of Athens has beennamed after him. NearZappeion just outside the Na-tional Garden in Athens standsa magnificent statue showing“Greece crowning Byron”. In1881 King George I donated amarble plaque for Byron’s burialsite, and Nikos Koundouros hasmade a film on his life.

Eugène Delacroix (1798 –1863), a leader of the FrenchRomantic School, not only pro-duced great works of art, but

had profound influence in thelater development of the Im-pressionist movement in paint-ing and Symbolism in literature.Delacroix also had connectionsto the French political elite atthe highest levels, and he servedin the French Government invarious positions. Just like LordByron, Delacroix’s influencewas two-fold, both on the artis-tic and political front.

Delacroix was in his early 20swhen he experienced a transfor-mational event in his life: themassacre of Greek civilians byTurkish troops on the island ofChios. Chios was prosperous onaccount of the cultivation andtrade of masticha –an item ofgreat financial interest to theTurks. Although the majority ofthe island’s business and com-munity leadership was reluctantto join the revolution andthereby alienate the Sultan, aminority of patriots forced theissue and in March 1822brought Chios to the camp ofthe national revolutionaries.The Sultan was incensed and se-verely punished the revolting is-land. Some 7000 Turkish troopslanded on Chios, and proceededto utterly destroy the island,burning villages and systemati-cally killing tens of thousandsof its citizens, including the tar-geted extermination of all chil-dren under the age of 3. Thebrutality of the Turks was un-precedented, and it shocked Eu-rope.

Delacroix was horrified bythe news, and he decided to dowhat he could to help theGreeks. The result was his fa-mous painting “The Massacre atChios” that was displayed at the1824 Salon and now hangsprominently in the Louvre. Thepainting, done in the heroicstyle of Géricault’s “The Raft ofthe Medusa,” shows a group offamished Greeks about to beslaughtered by the Turks. Thesympathy that the paintingraised for the Greeks was im-mense throughout Europe, andit also catapulted the youngDelacroix to fame. (An exactcopy was shown in Chios in

2009, but it was removed whenapparently the Turkish govern-ment objected.)

Delacroix produced morepaintings showing his admira-tion for the cultural history ofthe Greeks and expressing hissympathy with their struggles:“Greece on the Ruins of Messo-longhi” (a tribute to that Greekholocaust and also homage toLord Byron), “Entry of the Cru-saders in Constantinople” (a re-minder of the catastrophe thatthe Crusaders wrought againstthe Byzantine Empire in 1204),and “Combat of the Giaour andthe Pasha” (based on Byron’s fa-mous poem, was used byDelacroix for fund raising on be-half of the Greeks, and now ishanging in Chicago’s Art Insti-tute).

In 1823 Byron wrote to thebickering Greek politicians asthey awaited the release of aloan by the Europeans: “Greeceis faced with three possibilities:to regain its freedom, or to be-come a vassal to Europeanrulers, or to revert to being aTurkish province”. These arevery difficult times for Greeceand a modern Lord Byron orDelacroix would be most wel-come. But the Greeks cannot af-ford to wait for a philhelleneMessiah. They need to take theinitiative to protect their cul-tural heritage, project the valuesthat have nurtured Western cul-ture throughout the ages, andrebuild the Greek state on thosevalues. As for the Greeks of theDiaspora – an untapped re-source for Modern Greece – theyneed to lend a helping hand alsoin pulling the country from theedge of the abyss.

Leonidas Petrakis holds a PhD inphysical chemistry from the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley.He has taught at several univer-sities, worked in the private sec-tor, and was Department Chair-man and senior Scientist atBrookhaven National Labor a to -ry. He has published six booksand over 150 scientific papers inenergy and the environment. Helives in Oakland, CA.

The Unforgettable Philhellenic Contributions of Lord Byron and Eugene Delacroix

Delacroix’s famous painting “The Massacre at Chios.”

The Eurozone is Bitterly Divided by a Common Currency

German ChancellorAngela Merkel

AP PHOTO