The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the...

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The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK-AMERIcAN PUbLIcATION August 16-22, 2014 www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 17, ISSUE 879 $1.50 c v Bringing the news to generations of Greek-Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 NEWS For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] By George Georgiou NICOSIA – Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, in an inter- view with The National Herald on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Turkish inva- sion, emphatically declared that there is no Plan B, i.e., a two- state solution, for Cyprus. The European Union, of which Cyprus is a member, the United States, and the interna- tional community at large, Anastasiades said, does not sup- port a two-state solution in Cyprus. Anastasiades referred to ef- forts to remedy the deadlock in talks for a Cyprus settlement, confidence-building measures aimed at creating a new dy- namic from which on the one hand can achieve a win-win sce- nario and on the other some- thing from which all parties can benefit (win-win scenario), and for the negotiation process to receive a new impetus. President Anastasiades also emphasized that Turkey is not the only player on the Cyprus problem chessboard, but it is the key, and that the Turkish- Cypriot community is not polit- ically monolithic with regards to the problems and solutions. MEMORIES OF THE INVASION TNH: Tell us also about those tragic days of the invasion, and how did you learn about it? NA: I learned about the in- vasion just like everyone else did. It was a traumatic experi- ence for all of us, for every Greek Cypriot, no matter where they were and what ideology they believed. It was a dark time for all of us who remember, and we remain hopeful that our land and our people never experi- ence anything like that again. What matters is not only the tangible data, such as the num- ber of dead and missing per- sons, refugees, and loss of prop- erty, but that all of that taken together overturned a history on the island that had been built upon many centuries. The expulsion of the Greek population from the occupied part of Cyprus, the relocation of all Turkish Cypriots to the North and an organized colonization He Declares to TNH: “We Must Prevent A Permanent Division at All Costs” By Constantinos E. Scaros SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The words “Golden Dawn” do not mean nearly as much to Greeks in the United States as they do to their counterparts who live in Greece, but one prominent Greek-American in particular – former California State Trea- surer and 2006 Democratic Gu- bernatorial candidate Phil An- gelides – has actively sought to make Americans – Greek and non-Greek alike – aware of the rise of that political party, which he deems “a matter of great con- cern not only to Greece, but also to Europe and the United States.” So is Golden Dawn, which proclaims itself to be a pro- Greece patriotic party, really Neo-Nazi and a criminal orga- nization? “The Greek govern- ment has rightly identified Golden Dawn as a ‘criminal or- ganization,’ and this neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant en- tity has no place in the democ- ratic affairs of Greece or the Eu- ropean Union,” Angelides told TNH. “It is tragic that Golden Dawn has become a dangerous, destabilizing force in Greece – the birthplace of democracy and a nation that fiercely resisted Nazi aggression and suffered terribly under a brutal occupa- tion. Golden Dawn’s rise is a re- minder that the forces of hate, which prey on economic desper- ation, are a constant threat that must be confronted and repelled without reservation or hesita- Angelides: Beware of Nazism in Greece Ex-CA Treasurer Raising Awareness About Golden Dawn TNH Staff BOSTON, MA – Almost 100 years since the Demoulas Family of Lowell, MA opened a tiny grocery specializing in lamb that has blossomed in 71 stores across New England, a bitter battle between cousins of the late former owners for control – or sale – of the operation could bring it to an end. In 1916, Greek immigrants Athanasios ("Arthur") and Efrosini Demoulas opened the first store and in 1954 they sold it to two of their six children, Telemachus “Mike” Demoulas and his brother George. With market savvy and cheap prices, the Brothers Demoulas within 15 years had 15 stores under their family name. Today, it operates as the Market Basket chain but George’s son Arthur S. and Mike’s son Arthur T. have squabbled over the business’ fu- ture. Six years ago, Arthur T. was elected President by the Board of Directors of the Corporation but was summarily fired on June 23 by the board and the next day said he and his family were making an offer to buy company shares they didn’t al- ready control from Arthur S. and his family. What the company didn’t count on – and which garnered international media attention – was the unrelenting loyalty Arthur T. had from employees happy he had provided strong benefits, including profit sharing and scholarships for employees in college. They also feared a takeover that would threaten their jobs. Customers responded too, organizing boycotts and joining in a number of rallies at stores where workers refused to accept deliveries from drivers replacing those in the company who re- fused to work. That caused a 90 percent drop in business in the first week after Arthur T. was fired and many company stores have empty shelves and few cus- tomers, but Arthur S.’ side hasn’t budged. Protesters said Arthur S. was working with co-CEO’s Felicia Thornton, formerly of the Al- Demoulas Family Feud Threatens Grocery Chain Close Encounters of the 4th Century, BC Prime Minister Antonis Samaras made a special visit to Anthipolis to inspect a tomb that arche- ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story on page 12. Marielle Marlys Chosen America’s National Teenager Overcome with emotion upon being chosen as American’s National Teenager, Greek-American Marielle Marlys’ tears quickly turned to smiles at the joy of winning this nationwide event, sponsored by America’s National Teenager Scholarship Organization. See story on page 2. TNH Staff LIA, GREECE – The U.S. Am- bassador to Greece, David Pearce, honored renowned au- thor Nicholas Gage with a visit to his home village of Lia in Greece. Each year, Gage holds a memorial service to honor the death of his mother Eleni, who was executed by communist guerillas in 1948. As Gage de- scribed the event at a previous memorial: “My mother, Eleni Gatzoyianni, and four other Li- otes – Alexandra Gatzoyianni, Vasilis Nikou, Spyros Mihopou- los and Andreas Mihopoulos, Ambassador Visits Gage’s Home Village TNH Staff NEW YORK – When travelers have great hotel experiences, they may not know the boss’ name, but when they thank the staff that takes good care of them at amazing places like the Atlantis Paradise Island, the lat- ter know the name of President and Managing Director George Markantonis – and he knows theirs. Earlier this year his peers honored the man who has thrived in the Bahamas and held top positions at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, NV as Caribbean Hotelier of the Year. “When I was at Caesar’s Palace nice years, I didn’t think anything would happen would keep me interested or occu- pied,” he told TNH during a New York visit. When the Kerzner Family asked him to join Atlantis, he was skeptical, but they said “please come and chat with us. Markantonis’ Hotel Gives Satisfaction By Alexandros K. Kyrou Special to The National Herald Gene Rossides. Kissinger & Cyprus: a Study in Lawlessness. Washington, DC: American Hellenic Institute Foundation, 2014. Pp. 250. $24.00 (hardcover). BOSTON, MA – Perhaps more so than in any other country, in the United States time often changes the reputations of pub- lic figures. Historical memory – meaning, the way a society over time chooses to remember the past and reinforces that con- structed past – often has less connection to historical reality than it has to do with how a na- tion prefers to imagine its past, its people, and its leaders. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is Richard Nixon. Despite the fact that Nixon was a criminal conspira- tor who destroyed both the in- tegrity of the presidency and the tradition of faith in American government, by the time of his death he had managed to have himself rehabilitated to the sta- tus of a “great statesman.” Nixon may be the most obvi- ous beneficiary of this phenom- enon, but time and historical memory have been even kinder to the reputation of another member of Nixon’s inner circle – Henry Kissinger. The gulf be- tween Kissinger’s actual histori- cal record, on the one hand, and his public image, on the other hand, is arguably greater than that of any other American po- litical figure of the twentieth century. Today, Kissinger is generally treated as the equivalent of a diplomatic demigod. He is pop- ularly revered as the most bril- liant practitioner of realpolitik Rossides on Kissinger in New Book EUROKINISSI Cyprus President Anastasiades Nixes Two-State Solution Continued on page 9 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 4

Transcript of The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the...

Page 1: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

The National HeraldA wEEKly GREEK-AmERIcAN PUblIcAtION

August 16-22, 2014

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 17, ISSUE 879 $1.50

c v

Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek-Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

S

For subscription:

[email protected]

By George Georgiou

NICOSIA – Cyprus PresidentNicos Anastasiades, in an inter-view with The National Heraldon the occasion of the fortiethanniversary of the Turkish inva-sion, emphatically declared thatthere is no Plan B, i.e., a two-state solution, for Cyprus.

The European Union, ofwhich Cyprus is a member, theUnited States, and the interna-tional community at large,Anastasiades said, does not sup-port a two-state solution inCyprus.

Anastasiades referred to ef-forts to remedy the deadlock intalks for a Cyprus settlement,confidence-building measuresaimed at creating a new dy-namic from which on the onehand can achieve a win-win sce-nario and on the other some-thing from which all parties canbenefit (win-win scenario), andfor the negotiation process toreceive a new impetus.

President Anastasiades alsoemphasized that Turkey is notthe only player on the Cyprusproblem chessboard, but it is thekey, and that the Turkish-

Cypriot community is not polit-ically monolithic with regardsto the problems and solutions.

MEMORIES OF THEINVASION

TNH: Tell us also about thosetragic days of the invasion, andhow did you learn about it?

NA: I learned about the in-vasion just like everyone elsedid. It was a traumatic experi-ence for all of us, for everyGreek Cypriot, no matter wherethey were and what ideologythey believed. It was a dark timefor all of us who remember, andwe remain hopeful that our landand our people never experi-ence anything like that again.What matters is not only thetangible data, such as the num-ber of dead and missing per-sons, refugees, and loss of prop-erty, but that all of that takentogether overturned a history onthe island that had been builtupon many centuries.

The expulsion of the Greekpopulation from the occupiedpart of Cyprus, the relocation ofall Turkish Cypriots to the Northand an organized colonization

He Declares to TNH: “We Must Prevent A Permanent Division at All Costs”

By Constantinos E. Scaros

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Thewords “Golden Dawn” do notmean nearly as much to Greeksin the United States as they doto their counterparts who livein Greece, but one prominentGreek-American in particular –former California State Trea-surer and 2006 Democratic Gu-bernatorial candidate Phil An-gelides – has actively sought tomake Americans – Greek andnon-Greek alike – aware of therise of that political party, whichhe deems “a matter of great con-cern not only to Greece, but alsoto Europe and the UnitedStates.”

So is Golden Dawn, whichproclaims itself to be a pro-Greece patriotic party, reallyNeo-Nazi and a criminal orga-nization? “The Greek govern-ment has rightly identifiedGolden Dawn as a ‘criminal or-ganization,’ and this neo-Nazi,anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant en-tity has no place in the democ-ratic affairs of Greece or the Eu-ropean Union,” Angelides toldTNH. “It is tragic that GoldenDawn has become a dangerous,destabilizing force in Greece –the birthplace of democracy anda nation that fiercely resistedNazi aggression and sufferedterribly under a brutal occupa-tion. Golden Dawn’s rise is a re-minder that the forces of hate,which prey on economic desper-ation, are a constant threat thatmust be confronted and repelledwithout reservation or hesita-

Angelides:Beware ofNazism inGreeceEx-CA TreasurerRaising AwarenessAbout Golden Dawn

TNH Staff

BOSTON, MA – Almost 100years since the Demoulas Familyof Lowell, MA opened a tinygrocery specializing in lamb thathas blossomed in 71 storesacross New England, a bitterbattle between cousins of thelate former owners for control– or sale – of the operationcould bring it to an end.

In 1916, Greek immigrantsAthanasios ("Arthur") andEfrosini Demoulas opened thefirst store and in 1954 they soldit to two of their six children,

Telemachus “Mike” Demoulasand his brother George.

With market savvy and cheapprices, the Brothers Demoulaswithin 15 years had 15 storesunder their family name. Today,it operates as the Market Basketchain but George’s son ArthurS. and Mike’s son Arthur T. havesquabbled over the business’ fu-ture.

Six years ago, Arthur T. waselected President by the Boardof Directors of the Corporationbut was summarily fired onJune 23 by the board and thenext day said he and his family

were making an offer to buycompany shares they didn’t al-ready control from Arthur S.and his family.

What the company didn’tcount on – and which garneredinternational media attention –was the unrelenting loyaltyArthur T. had from employeeshappy he had provided strongbenefits, including profit sharingand scholarships for employeesin college. They also feared atakeover that would threatentheir jobs.

Customers responded too,organizing boycotts and joining

in a number of rallies at storeswhere workers refused to acceptdeliveries from drivers replacingthose in the company who re-fused to work.

That caused a 90 percentdrop in business in the firstweek after Arthur T. was firedand many company stores haveempty shelves and few cus-tomers, but Arthur S.’ side hasn’tbudged.

Protesters said Arthur S. wasworking with co-CEO’s FeliciaThornton, formerly of the Al-

Demoulas Family Feud Threatens Grocery Chain

Close Encounters of the 4th Century, BCPrime Minister Antonis Samaras made a special visit to Anthipolis to inspect a tomb that arche-ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. Hecalled the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story on page 12.

Marielle Marlys Chosen America’s National TeenagerOvercome with emotion upon being chosen as American’s National Teenager, Greek-AmericanMarielle Marlys’ tears quickly turned to smiles at the joy of winning this nationwide event,sponsored by America’s National Teenager Scholarship Organization. See story on page 2.

TNH Staff

LIA, GREECE – The U.S. Am-bassador to Greece, DavidPearce, honored renowned au-thor Nicholas Gage with a visitto his home village of Lia inGreece.

Each year, Gage holds amemorial service to honor thedeath of his mother Eleni, whowas executed by communistguerillas in 1948. As Gage de-scribed the event at a previousmemorial: “My mother, EleniGatzoyianni, and four other Li-otes – Alexandra Gatzoyianni,Vasilis Nikou, Spyros Mihopou-los and Andreas Mihopoulos,

AmbassadorVisits Gage’sHome Village

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – When travelershave great hotel experiences,they may not know the boss’name, but when they thank thestaff that takes good care ofthem at amazing places like theAtlantis Paradise Island, the lat-ter know the name of Presidentand Managing Director GeorgeMarkantonis – and he knowstheirs.

Earlier this year his peershonored the man who hasthrived in the Bahamas and heldtop positions at Caesar’s Palacein Las Vegas, NV as CaribbeanHotelier of the Year.

“When I was at Caesar’sPalace nice years, I didn’t thinkanything would happen wouldkeep me interested or occu-pied,” he told TNH during aNew York visit.

When the Kerzner Familyasked him to join Atlantis, hewas skeptical, but they said“please come and chat with us.

Markantonis’Hotel GivesSatisfaction

By Alexandros K. KyrouSpecial to The National Herald

Gene Rossides. Kissinger &Cyprus: a Study in Lawlessness.Washington, DC: AmericanHellenic Institute Foundation,2014. Pp. 250. $24.00(hardcover).

BOSTON, MA – Perhaps moreso than in any other country, inthe United States time oftenchanges the reputations of pub-lic figures. Historical memory –meaning, the way a society overtime chooses to remember thepast and reinforces that con-structed past – often has lessconnection to historical realitythan it has to do with how a na-tion prefers to imagine its past,its people, and its leaders.

The most obvious example ofthis phenomenon is RichardNixon. Despite the fact thatNixon was a criminal conspira-tor who destroyed both the in-tegrity of the presidency and thetradition of faith in Americangovernment, by the time of hisdeath he had managed to havehimself rehabilitated to the sta-tus of a “great statesman.”

Nixon may be the most obvi-ous beneficiary of this phenom-enon, but time and historicalmemory have been even kinderto the reputation of anothermember of Nixon’s inner circle– Henry Kissinger. The gulf be-tween Kissinger’s actual histori-cal record, on the one hand, andhis public image, on the otherhand, is arguably greater thanthat of any other American po-litical figure of the twentiethcentury.

Today, Kissinger is generallytreated as the equivalent of adiplomatic demigod. He is pop-ularly revered as the most bril-liant practitioner of realpolitik

Rossides onKissinger inNew Book

EUROKINISSI

Cyprus President Anastasiades Nixes Two-State Solution

Continued on page 9

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 3

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 5

Continued on page 4

Page 2: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

By Demetris Tsakas

WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ –Marielle Marlys, a 16 year-oldGreek-American high school ju-nior from Wall Township, NJ hasbeen chosen “America’s Na-tional Teenager.”

The event, sponsored by theAmerica’s National TeenagerScholarship Organization(ANTSO) is the organization’s44th annual national pageant,and took place in Nashville, TN,with Marielle declared the win-ner on July 27.

Her father, James, is a doctor,and her mother, Mirta, is Direc-tor of the Foreign Languages de-partment at Monmouth Univer-sity in West Long Branch. Dr.Marlys is American-born; his

parents were born in Laconia,Greece; the family’s full Greeksurname is Maroulakos.

Marielle and her two broth-ers, Peter and Michael, grew upin the community of St. BarbaraGreek Orthodox Church in TomsRiver, and she remains a volun-teer in the local GOYA there.

"It was a difficult and de-manding race and I was verypleased to represent New Jerseyand return to it with the crown,”Marielle told TNH. “I am 16years old, and [the day shewon] was the happiest day ofmy life.”

Marielle’s grandmother,Anna Maroulakou, was ateacher at the school of St.Thomas in Cherry Hill, andAnna’s brother, George Bour-lotos, has his own TV channel,which broadcasts in the GreaterPhiladelphia area. Bourlotosproudly spoke to TNH about his"brilliant, beautiful and gener-

ous" grandniece. Marielle shared additional

information about the Pageant,via a press release, excerpts ofwhich follow:

“Contestants who competedat ANTSO are among the bright-est in the country, having wontheir state representationthrough academic, communityservice, interview and onstagecompetitions.

“’America’s NationalTeenager was founded in 1970upon the principles of celebrat-ing young woman’s smarts andbig heart. Therefore, while theworld around us has changed,our company has not. We stillfocus on the female’s academicpotential, contribution to com-munity, and the ideals andpower that women have, at anyage, to make a difference,’ statesANTSO CEO and owner, JennyTelwar.

“The 2014 National event in

Nashville, TN consisted ofseveral days in compe-tition, and fun cityevents like a celebra-tion party at the fa-mous showboat –The General Jack-son, photoshoots, andfamily fungame night.W i n n e r sw a l k e daway withmore than$ 4 0 , 0 0 0

in scholarships forcollege alongwith variousother prizes.

“‘ANTSO trulypromotes a posi-tive and enrichingexperience for allyoung women in-volved and theirfamilies. Whileeach youngwoman competesfor several thou-sands in scholar-ship, she also getsto spend qualitytime in positive,self-esteem build-ing activities with

her family. It’s awin-win for

all in-volved,’

s t a t e sT e l -war.”

Greek-American Chosen America’s Nat’l Teenn THRU NOV 1TARPON SPRINGS, FL – Nightin the Islands returns to theworld-famous Sponge Docks ofTarpon Springs for 2014! Satur-days, 6-11PM, May 3, Jun. 7,Jul. 12, Aug. 2, Sept. 6, Oct. 4,and Nov. 1. A free event ofGreek music, dancing, and din-ing! And we will offer an hourof free Greek dance lessons bythe Levendia Dance Troupefrom 6-7 PM. The festival is sup-ported in part by a grant fromthe National Endowment for theArts. Come join us for authenticisland fun in the warm Floridasun and mark your calendar andmake this a regular destination!And if you’re just in town for aweek or two, make sure to markyour calendar as you will notwant to miss this! TarponSprings is a unique Greek expe-rience in the United States, oneunlike any other Greek commu-nity. Come be part of this one-of-a-kind American experiencethat will make you feel as if,truly, you are back in the home-land!

n AUGUST 16-17WINCHESTER CITY, VA – Yas-sou! The annual WinchesterGreek Festival in 2014 will takeplace on August 16 & 17. Joinus in celebrating our Feast Day,the Dormition of the VirginMary. Observe our proud Greekculture and traditions. Sampleour legendary Greek culinaryfare. And experience ourrenown Greek music and dance.Become Greek for a day... Trulygreat fun for the whole family!Come hungry... A large selectionof tasty Greek food is offered.From the kitchen, we offerbaked entries which includesAthenian Chicken, Moussaka,Pastitsio, and Spanakopita.From the spits, we offer Gyros,Souvlaki, and Roasted Lamb.And from our bakers, we offeran assortment of delicioussweets and pastries that will sat-isfy any sweet tooth. Check outour menu webpage for a com-plete listing with descriptions.Want to learn more about ourfaith? Informal guided tours ofthe church are offered by ourclergy. Questions about our faithand traditions are welcome.Also, the Parish Store will beopen offering religious itemsand reading material of the Or-thodox faith. Other retail ven-dors will also be set-up display-ing their various items forpurchase. Admission is free andample free parking is available.Admission Fee: Free Parking &Admission, Food & Drink forpurchase. Dormition of the Vir-gin Mary Greek OrthodoxChurch 1700 Amherst Street inWinchester. Saturday, Aug. 16,2014 11AM-7PM and Sunday,Aug. 17 12Noon-7PM. ChurchPhone: (540) 667-1416 ChurchEmail [email protected] Websitedormition.va.goarch.org/greek-festival. About our Parish: heDormition of the Virgin MaryGreek Orthodox Church in Win-chester was originally foundedby a small group of Greek Amer-icans, but today the parish aptlyreflects the American experienceand comprises approximately100 families representing sev-eral different Ethnic groups, allwitnessing to the Good News ofJesus Christ, striving to reflectHis love, and living accordingto the ancient Christian princi-ples and disciplines of the Or-thodox Christian Church.

n AUGUST 17-19ANCHORAGE, AK – The 20thAnnual Alaska Greek festivaltakes place from August 17 to19 at the Holy TransfigurationGreek Orthodox Church, 2800O’Malley Road in Anchorage.Come enjoy the tastes, smells,sights, and sounds of Greece!Events & Activities a tour of thenearly-completed new Church,including lessons on the history,traditions, and worship of theGreek Orthodox faith. A cook-ing demonstration by LaurieConstantino – how to makebaklava and dolmades. Dancinggroups performing traditionalGreek dances, dressed in au-thentic regional costumes. Inaddition to the food and drinkson hand, there is an array of im-ported Greek cheeses, olives,olive oil, grape leaves, halva,pasta, herbs, cookies and candy.The hot summers in the Conti-nental United States is the per-fect time to take a trip and cooloff in beautiful Alaska. And

when you do, please rememberto visit us, as it will a uniqueexperience: Hellenism, Alaska-style!

n AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER1COLUMBUS, OH – Live like aGreek for an entire long week-end! Experience the culture andancestry of Greece and our Or-thodox Christian faith! Be partof this year’s annual Greek fes-tival (our 42nd!) at the Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral, 555 N. High Street(Goodale Boulevard at HighStreet) in Columbus. Friday,Aug. 29 through Monday,Sept.1. Come and connect withheritage and traditions that arecenturies old, but still contem-porary in their focus. Our Cathe-dral tours will inspire you, theOrthodox Christian Bookstorewill educate you, the food anddrink will entice you and thehospitality will overwhelm you.Stop by the shops, enjoy the mu-sic and dancing, visit the ex-hibits and enjoy the wonderfulGreek pastries. (614) 224-9020or visit our website: www.greek-cathedral.com. We look forwardto seeing you there!

n SEPTEMBER 27-28BOSTON, MA – The Initiativefor Productivity and HealthManagement at the HarvardSchool of Public Health (HSPH)in collaboration with the PBSshow, The Cooking Odyssey, ispleased to announce the confer-ence, “Mediterranean Diet andWorkplace Health” on Septem-ber 27-28 in Boston. Thisunique and innovative confer-ence will feature lectures, pan-els, and select chef-supervisedmeals to increase awareness, ap-peal, and understanding ofMediterranean dietary habits asa vehicle for improved work-place and school health. Con-ference registrants will also becourtesy guests at an associatedGreek food and wine exhibitionimmediately following theHSPH conference. The HarvardConference is a unique collabo-ration between the Course Co-Directors: Harvard’s Dr. Ste-fanos N. Kales, aninternationally-recognized re-searcher and workplace healthauthority; and New York’sworld-renowned Gourmet Chefand Restaurateur Michael Psi-lakis. Kales and Psilakis have as-sembled a highly experiencedteam of elite scientists, chefsand thought leaders to presentthe tradition and flavors of theMediterranean diet; the sciencebehind it; and various strategiesand ideas necessary to introduceand implement it in workplacesand schools.

n NOVEMBER 9MANHATTAN – St. Michael’sHome is pleased to announcethat our 2014 Annual Name DayGala will be held on Sunday,Nov. 9 at the Metropolitan Club,1 East 60th Street in Manhattan.In conjunction with the Gala, St.Michael’s honors a distinguishedmember of the Greek OrthodoxCommunity who embodies andpromotes the finer qualities andtraditions of our Faith and her-itage. This year’s recipient of the2014 Archangel Michael Awardis Mr. Stephen Cherpelis. Mr.Cherpelis has given tirelessly tothe Greek Orthodox Communityas an Archon of the EcumenicalPatriarchate, 1st Vice Presidentof the Archdiocesan Cathedralof Holy Trinity, devoted memberof St. Nicholas Church of Flush-ing where he was instrumentalin the building of the expandedcommunity center and school,Vice Chair of the New YorkDiocesan Council, member ofLeadership 100, and a majorcontributor and fundraisingchairman of the Ronald McDon-ald House. For more informa-tion please contact us by phoneat (914)-476-3374, by email [email protected] or visit our website athttp://www.stmichaelshome.org/what-our-residents-do/gala/.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service tothe Greek American community.All parishes, organizations andinstitutions are encouraged toe-mail their information regard-ing the event 3-4 weeks aheadof time, and no later than Mon-day of the week before theevent, to [email protected]

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[email protected] We may publish some responses as Letters to the Editor in

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Kos, Kastri Inlet

Greek-American Marielle Marlys is stunned to learn that she’sjust been chosen America’s National Teenager! As the joyousreality of the moment sets in, she is smiling from ear to ear.

Page 3: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

tion,” he said.Though he did not predict

whether the threat is actuallyfleeting or long-term, Angelidessaid “we must take the view thatthe threat is real and dangerousuntil it has been eliminated. Toeffectively combat the scourgeof neo-Nazism in Greece, it willrequire a full political and edu-cational effort as well as eco-nomic reform and recovery, in-cluding an end to thedevastating policies of austeritythat have been imposed by theEuropean Union on Greece.”

Angelides is encouraged thatas more Greek-Americans learnabout Golden Dawn, they speakout against it. “I have beenheartened by the fact that manyGreek American leaders includ-ing Congress members Dina Ti-tus, John Sarbanes, and GusBilirakis, and many otherelected, civic, and business lead-ers, have spoken out stronglyabout the threat,” he said. “Icommend efforts like the Hel-lenic American student-led“Oxi” campaign

(https://www.hellenext.org/2014/05/say-no-to-the-new-nazis-in-greece-a-student-led-campaign-2/) to combat thepernicious threat of neo-Nazism.”

AMERICAN POLITICSThird parties in the United

States do not have nearly theimpact they do in other coun-tries, such as Greece. And speak-ing of American politics, who –

besides Hillary Clinton, whomjust about everyone mentions asan inevitable candidate – doesAngelides see emerging in bothmajor parties as candidates forthe 2016 presidential race? “Itis always difficult to predict thepolitical future,” he prefaced.“Each day, week, or month canbring dramatic change to thepolitical landscape. But, clearly,if Hillary Clinton decides to run,she will be a formidable candi-date. I have known Ms. Clintonfor two decades and have nodoubt she would make a strongand effective president.” Whatabout on the other side of thepolitical aisle? “As of yet, I donot see any potential Republicannominees who stand out fromthe pack.”

Though Angelides left Cali-fornia’s Treasury in 2007, it isapparent from his command ofthe issues that he continues tokeep a close eye on politics, bothat home and abroad. He was notelected governor in 2006, butwould he seek to run for officeagain? “I have been honored tohave had the chance to servethe people of California and thenation in both elective and ap-pointive public office,” he said.“It was a privilege to serve asTreasurer and as Chairman ofthe Financial Crisis InquiryCommission, which conductedthe nation’s official inquiry intothe causes of the financial crisisthat devastated our economy.”With refreshing candor not of-ten shared by those potentiallyseeking office, Angelides added

that “at the right moment andin the right circumstances, Iwould welcome the opportunityto return to public service, al-though I do not have specificplans at this time.”

IMMIGRATION REFORMImmigration is an issue that

will likely be prevalent in boththe 2014 midterm elections andin the presidential race twoyears later. It is a national issue,and certainly California, be-cause of its size and geographi-cal location, would probably beaffected by immigration reformlegislation as much as any otherstate, if not more so. Whatneeds to be done to bring aboutimmigration reform? “We are anation of immigrants and astrong society and country in nosmall part due to the talent andenergy that immigrants havebrought to our shores for gen-erations,” Angelides began, hehimself a recent descendant ofimmigrants on both sides of hisfamily. “The current systemneeds to be reformed so that wehave a system of legal immigra-tion that works well for our na-tion’s future. Over the decades,we have made changes to ourimmigration system to reflectchanging conditions and weneed to do so again. Unfortu-nately, bipartisan reform effortshave been stymied by a minorityof hard line politicians who havebeen resistant to reasonable andthoughtful resolution of this is-sue. The stalemate must be bro-ken for the good of our societyand economy.”

GREEK ROOTSAngelides’ mother, Eleni (née

Papadopoulos), was born andraised in Alexandria Egypt,where her parents had relocatedfollowing their flight fromSmyrna in 1922. In 1949, Eleni“came to the United States in1949 to pursue her education.My father, Gerasimos (Jerry),was born and raised in SanFrancisco. My yiayia on my fa-ther’s side was born in Skala onthe island of Cephalonia andcame to the United States in1920. My pappou, from the vil-lage of Paneriti, near Corinth,immigrated here in 1907, re-turning briefly to Greece to fightin the Balkan War of 1912.

“I consider myself lucky tohave been raised in a family thathas always been proud of ourGreek heritage and that em-braced the values of family, hardwork, educational achievement,faith, and community that havedefined Americans of Hellenicdescent.

“I remain grateful to all theGreek-Americans around thecountry who supported mewhen I ran for and was electedas State Treasurer of Californiaand when I was the Democraticnominee for governor. The sup-port I received from my fellowHellenes was truly remarkableand a source of inspiration tomy family and me.”

By Arthur Dimopoulos

The National Hellenic Soci-ety (NHS) is a relative new-comer on the Greek-Americanscene. There are rumblingsabout NHS being a country clubof the Greek American elite –NHS members do include lead-ers from Wall Street. Silicon Val-ley, Hollywood and Washingtonpower circles – but the charac-terization is inaccurate. NHS isselective of who gets to be amember but not as a barometerof wealth. To the contrary, NHSmembers share something spe-cial beyond success: a profoundappreciation of this bond of her-itage that ties us to one another,abiding appreciation of our par-ents’ and forbears’ sacrifices andthe values instilled in us – valuesserving as the wellspring of oursuccess: philotimo, hard work,education and love. Love of her-itage, family, of parea and coun-try. Being Greek is about givingback: to family, community andsociety – hallmarks of NHSmembership.

Passing on the legacy of our"Greekness" to our children andfuture generations in a worldcompeting for our time is a chal-lenge when viewed within thecontext of modern demograph-ics and institutions not keepingapace with change. The statis-tics speak for themselves – the"community" we established willcontinue to evolve and withinthe next two or three genera-tions will be unrecognizable.

There is nothing permanent,except change, said Heraclitus.Many lament change, while oth-ers embrace change as opportu-nity. Changes within the "com-munity" are no different thanthose we see in life, especiallyin the business world. Icons likeKodak, RCA, and Blockbuster,yesterday's industry leaders, areno more. Compared those toApple and Samsung, companiesthat embrace and thrive onchange and sport a combinedmarket cap over nearly $1 tril-lion, three times Greece's GDP!

NHS looked upon Hellenicheritage with its many nuances,features, and benefits as a prod-uct and identified our prospec-tive customers of the same asthe next generation of progenyof American families with vary-

ing levels of Greek descent, sev-eral of which are totally de-tached from their Greek identityand the institutions once servingas rallying points.

The game-changer strategyNHS developed is branded as"Heritage Greece." It is a two-week cultural and educationalimmersion for college studentsof Greek-American descent. Stu-dents with exceptional academiccredentials and an open mindand desire to find out moreabout their Hellenic roots andidentity. The students are hostedby the American College ofGreece (ACG), Europe's oldestand largest American styled uni-versity, located on a plush 65-acre campus on an Athens sub-urb hillside.

The Greek-American stu-dents are paired with an excep-tional group of Greek studentpeers from ACG. Together, theyshare journey of and discoverylearning from each other andfrom a staff of experts and pro-fessionals. Learning unfolds innon-traditional ways – class-room language classes are aug-

mented in the Plaka, Agora,Acropolis, Benaki and Naufpliomuseums. Cooking and danceclasses coupled with tours ofwineries, ancient sites and sail-ing regattas to the Saronic Isles.Early one morning, on the Isleof Poros, a large group of stu-dents took it upon themselvesto attend early morning Liturgyat St. George's Church. ThePriest and congregants were sostunned to see young people re-turn to Church and enlistedthree of the young men to serveas altar boys, even morestunned to see them know ex-actly what to do with precisionpractices long abandoned. Thecongregants begged the stu-dents to come to their homesfor breakfast, some of the intan-gible benefits of Heritage Greecethat leave lasting memories.

Thanks to a generous grantfrom the Stavros Niarchos Foun-dation, 10 Stavros Niarchos Her-itage Greece Scholars partici-pated in this year's Program.The Niarchos Scholars and en-tire Heritage Greece class metwith Stavros Niarchos Founda-

tion officials in Athens and wereled on a tour of the incrediblenew Stavros Niarchos Founda-tion Cultural Center in Kallitheacurrently under construction.The Center will house Greece'sNational Library and Greek Na-tional Opera. The grant under-scores the Niarchos Foundation'sCommitment to youth, educa-tion and in building bridges.The NHS also received grantfunding from the Elios Founda-tion in San Francisco for threeElios Foundation Scholars.

The Heritage Greece 2014students were also paid surprisevisits by two special guests, BillAntholis, Managing Director ofthe Brookings Institution, andDespina Anastasiou, DowChemical General Manager ofGreece & Cyprus. The studentswere given inspirational mes-sages to ever excel at what theychoose to do and stay connectedwith their heritage, one anotherand with Greece.

For Heritage Greece stu-dents, the journey continues be-yond the trip back from Greece.Students are enrolled as part of

the Heritage Greece Alum Net-work, convening at a reunion intandem with the NHS' annualevent, Heritage Weekend andClassic held in early October atthe Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne,FL. Heritage Greece Alum fromthe previous five sessions gatherwith NHS members as the NHScontinues to play a role in men-toring and advising them,grooming them to be ambas-sadors of Hellenic heritage. Inturn, the students participate inNHS at the local level augment-ing NHS local activities and ef-forts.

There is no question of thepowerful and positive impact ofHeritage Greece. For Greece, theProgram is also a "win-win" asscores of students and their fam-ilies have returned to Greece –some to study, others to visitlong-lost relatives and to furtherexplore their Greek roots. Lever-aging the bonds made is just amatter of time. While the Her-itage Greece students were inAthens, NHS member, and DowChemical Chair and CEO An-drew Liveris met with Greece's

Prime Minister Samaras, andthe head of IBM Europe to an-nounce the creation of an Infor-mation Delivery Systems Centercreating many jobs for the nextgeneration. A paradigm of "giv-ing back,” something worth in-stilling and passing on to theHeritage Greece family.

One student, Allie Weber ofIndiana University, had this tosay: “I never in a million yearsthought that I would get thechance to experience Greece inthe way I was blessed tothrough Heritage Greece, letalone with other Greek studentslike myself. I’ve been askedmore times than I can count‘how was Greece?’ The onlywords I can find to answer thisare ‘life changing.’ “HeritageGreece was a chance to visit in-credible historical sites, taste au-thentic Greek cuisine, and ex-perience all of the things aboutGreece Yiayia and Pappou con-stantly regaled over, but also ato make lifelong friends.Though I was told the relation-ships made on a trip like thisare unique, I had no idea whatto expect. Having so much incommon from the beginningcoupled with sharing amazingexperiences together, the 2014Heritage Greece class quicklybecame my family. This programgave me an opportunity to ex-perience amazing things – tobetter understand my culture,and connect with other studentslike myself. Heritage Greece wasa once in a lifetime experience,and I couldn’t possibly be morethankful to have been able tobe a part of it. The first thingthat I did when I got home wasrearrange my schedule for thefall so that I could take ModernGreek. I am now officially en-rolled in the introductorycourse. Without this program, Idon't know that I ever would'vetaken the initiative to learnGreek. I don't know how I couldrepay NHS for this incrediblegift – a gift of culture, experi-ence, adventure, and most im-portantly, lifelong friendships.”

For further information see:www.hellenicsociety.org/pro-grams.

Arthur Dimopoulos is the Exec-utive Director of the NationalHellenic Society.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014 3

National Hellenic Society’s Heritage Greece: Changing the Lives of Students

Prominent CA Politician Angelides Raises Awareness about Golden Dawn

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The smiling faces say it all: The National Hellenic Society’sHeritage Greece 2014 was not only a resounding success, but

created fond memories and opened important paths for a life-long appreciation of Hellenic heritage.

Continued from page 1

Angelides, seen here with current Secretary of State John Kerry, at a campaign rally for his2006 run for governor of California. He didn’t win, but might reenter the political fray “at theright moment and in the right circumstances.”

Phil Angelides, former CA State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate is one of the more prominentGreek-Americans seeking to raise awareness about the emergence of the Golden Dawn Party.

Page 4: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Euripides’ Andro-mache has had numerous criticsthrough the centuries. FromJuly 28-August 2 the New YorkEuripides Summer Festival 2014of the American Thymele The-atre (ATT) performed an excel-lent service by letting theaterdevotees judge for themselves.

The stage was dark exceptfor a shrine at far left. The moodwas set through original com-positions evocative of ancientGreek music which later on ac-company the poignant move-ments of the chorus, both ofwhich are ATT trademarks.Sarah Hysjulien was the chore-ographer and Steven Diacrussithe Producing Artistic and Stagedirector.

The veiled woman sitting inthe shrine was Thetis, the divinemother of Achilles, and Andro-mache enters ironically seekingher help. Her son killed Andro-mache’s husband Hector, caus-ing her to become slave andthen concubine to her grandsonNeoptolemos, to whom he borea son.

Life was as good as could beexpected until politics com-pelled Neoptolemos to manyHermione, the child of one ofhistory’s most unfortunatematches: Menelaos, King ofSparta, and Helen of Troy.

Unable to conceive, her hus-band began to lose interest, gen-erating a murderous rageagainst Andromache and herson. With Neoptolemos away,Menelaos showed up as hisdaughter’s enforcer.

But Andromache could counton Achilles’ father Peleus whois elderly but still fiery, and heeventually chased Menelaosaway.

Euripides missed no oppor-tunity to poke fun of Sparta inthe middle of the PeloponnesianWar. When Hermione put downAndromache for sleeping withher husband’s killer, the lattergave both Laconian men andwomen a vicious tongue lash-ing.

Hermione freaked out whenshe learned daddy has gone andshe turned on the chorus ofPthian women, who could careless about either princess.

They are plunged intomourning by the death of Neop-tolemos, but the tragedy wassoftened (matters are seldomtragic for everyone) when Thetiscame alive and promised Peleusimmortality and Andromache anew husband.

Judging from their enthusi-astic applause at Barnard Col-lege’s Diana Center Building,the audience disagreed withcritics who feel it lacked dra-matic unity.

The play’s three movementshad unifying elements, not leastof which was the pain of threeroyals finding themselves com-pletely alone and at the mercyof the machinations of gods andmen.

The music, lighting, and act-ing by the huge cast left the au-dience in a properly catharticstate.

ATT was founded in 1993 byDiacrussi to promote and dis-seminate Hellenic culture inAmerica by producing playswith Greek themes and whichare presented free at both in-door and outdoor venues.

Euripides’ Andromache is Yet Again Bereft and Again Saved by the Gods

(L-R) Leanne Gonzalez-Singer as Andromache, Christian Monturano, Mike Newman as Menelaos.Constantine Zias tugged at the audience’s hearts as Andromache’s son Molossus.

were all executed along witheight others on Aug. 28, 1948,by Communist guerrillas whomurdered innocent civilians inevery village in these moun-tains, as well as 114 capturedsoldiers, all in their twenties.Two weeks after the executionsin Lia, the guerrillas were drivenout of these mountains and tookall the people from these vil-lages with them and scatteredthem throughout eastern Eu-

rope, where they all enduredyears of hardship.

“Those who committed thosehorrible crimes have all gone totheir final judgment by now andtheir ideology has been con-signed to the ash heap of history.They will be remembered, ifthey are remembered at all,with scorn and contempt.”

Gage wrote about hismother’s saga in the bestsellingbook, Eleni, which was alsomade into a feature film.

Ambassador Pearce is the

fourth U.S. envoy to Greece tovisit Lia and was preceded byDaniel Smith, now Assistant Sec-retary of State for Intelligenceand Research, two years ago. Anumber of ambassadors fromother countries have journeyedto Lia to pay tribute to Gage'smartyred mother, including thoseof Japan, Canada, and Hungary.

Many famous political lead-ers, executives, writers, educa-tors, actors, directors, and hu-man rights activists have madethe pilgrimage to the village

over the years to view the set-tings of the dramatic scenesGage describes in his famousmemoir, which has been trans-lated translated into 34 lan-guages. They have included for-mer Greek Prime MinisterConstantine Mitsotakis, U.S.presidential candidate MichaelDukakis, film directors EliaKazan and Peter Yates, actorsJohn Malkovich and Kate Nelli-gan, New York Times editorsA.M. Rosenthal and ArthurGelb, former U.S. Chief of Pro-

tocol Selwa Roosevelt, formerTime-Warner co-Chairman NickNicholas, and Robert L. Bern-stein, the founder of HumanRights Watch.

Every day, especially in thesummer, readers a with thebook in hand arrive in the vil-lage from countries all over theworld as well as busloads of stu-dents who are assigned thememoir to read by many col-leges and universities. On July28, a bus with 32 students ar-rived in Lia and were delighted

to find the author there, whopersonally showed them aroundthe village, and then answeredtheir questions over lunch at theinn of Lia, which Gage built forthe village 25 years ago.

"It's a testament to the lovemy mother demonstrated whenshe sacrificed her life to save herchildren, that decades later somany people want to come andsee the world in which she livedand died," Gage has said. "Thatlove is what brings everyone toLia."

Amb. Pearce Honors Nicholas Gage with a Visit to His Home Village LiaContinued from page 1

bertsons supermarkets andJames Gooch, formerly of RadioShack, consultants who re-placed Arthur T. in June, to selloff Market Basket. The BostonGlobe reported that the parentcompany of Hannaford Super-market is also bidding.

Thornton and Gooch issuedan ultimatum to workers whorefused to work that the wouldbe fired and have let go somein upper-management.

But, after getting a letterfrom the Attorneys General ofMassachusetts and New Hamp-shire advising them of employ-ment laws, haven’t followedthrough although they set anAugust 15 return to work dead-line.

Most store managers,though, have signed a petitionsaying they would rather resignthan work for anybody butArthur T. in the event of a saleof the company, and the chainhas been taking big losses whilethe internecine rivalry wages.

The Globe also reported thatArthur T. offered to running thecompany to get it back on

course, as he continued to workto buy Market Basket.”

A statement from the com-pany’s board released shortlythereafter voiced continued sup-port for existing management,,but also suggested negotiationsfor a potential purchase fromDemoulas and his family mem-bers would continue.

On August 8, members of theboard said they had offered adifferent proposal: to bring backfired and resigned members ofDemoulas’s management teamin an effort to stabilize the com-pany as negotiations continue,and to work with Demoulas ina non-CEO capacity as part ofthat process.

Demoulas respondedthrough a spokesperson, callingthat offer “disingenuous” andsuggesting it amounted to amethod to make Market Basketmore attractive for another bid-der.

On August 9, those rivalshareholders—including ArthurS. – issued a statement saying

they were willing to sell toArthur T. but accusing him ofdealing in bad faith.

They also said they had of-fered Arthur T. a financing plan.

Arthur T. responded on Au-gust 10, saying the two sideswere not in disagreement aboutthe price of a sale, but suggest-ing the terms from Arthur S.’s

side to complete a deal were“onerous.”

So far, neither side has givenin, the shelves remain un-stocked, the customers havegone away and what started asa mom-and-pop Greek grocerystore might go out of businessbecause cousins were fighting.

Deloumas Family Feud ThreatensFuture of Market Basket GroceryContinued from page 1

Arthur T. Demoulas, seen here (L) in a Market Basket supermarket, was firedon June 23 as President of the food store chain. He is trying to buy shares fromhis cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. The two cousins are feuding over control of

the company. RIGHT: An outpouring of support from Market Basket employeesto reinstate Arthur T. Demoulas reflects the high quality of workplace satisfac-tion they experience.

America's Ambassador to Greece, David Pearce (1st photo, right, 2nd and 3rd photos, left)visits acclaimed author Nicholas Gage in the latter's home village of Lia in Greece, where the

latter holds an annual memorial in honor of his mother, Eleni, who in 1948 was executed byCommunist guerillas. Eleni, by Gage became a bestelling book and feature film.

Page 5: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014 5

By George MatsoukasCommentary

The theme of the 42ndClergy Laity Congress “The Or-thodox Christian Family: ADwelling of Christ and A Wit-ness of His Gospel,” is very ap-propriate for us in this time oftransition. For it is truly withinthe home that the Orthodoxfaith will be learned, and willsurvive and grow by the exam-ple and actions of each of us.However, for many, parish lifeand archdiocesan settings arean antithesis to the theme of the42nd Congress. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

On September 18, 1999 HisEminence ArchbishopDemetrios was enthroned as thesixth Archbishop of the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese of theUnited States. In July 1-7 2000he presided over the 35th ClergyLaity Congress “Ageless Tradi-tions in a New Millennium.”That was his first Congress asArchbishop. The Archdiocesehad experienced many changessince the resignations of Arch-bishop Iakovos and ArchbishopSpyridon.

The main concern of the del-egates was the development ofa new Charter, the fifth for theArchdiocese since 1922. Itshould be noted that the firstcharter established the Archdio-cese as an autonomous Church.Each subsequent Charter erodedthat autonomy. The delegates ofthe 2000 Congress were con-cerned that the new charter nottake away the last remnant ofautonomy of the Archdiocese.

The delegates to the 2002Los Angeles Clergy Laity Con-gress, the last Congress withmeaningful input from the par-ticipants, made it clear that theywanted an autonomous Arch-diocese in the USA. The even-tual 2003 gift charter imposedby the Patriarchate did not comeforth for consideration before aClergy Laity Congress. It waseventually presented in NewYork as a fait accompli. Thismodus operandi reflected thepoor status of the trust relation-ship between the hierarchy andthe laity and foreshowed whattheir relationship would be-come.

ARCHDIOCESAN LIFEThe Charter weakened the

role of the Archbishop and cre-ated an even more fragmentedprocess of governance withinthe Archdioceses.

The Patriarchate is deter-mined to control the Church inAmerica and elevated the for-mer titular Metropolitans of dio-ceses under the 1970 Charterinto Metropolitans of UnitedStates cities, under the 2003charter. In reality, it establishedautonomous Metropolises.

The traditions that haveemerged for the new millen-nium since Philadelphia 2000 inthis restrictive Archdiocesan en-vironment are many. The mostprofound is the Archdiocese andthe Orthodox Church in generalin the United States has suc-cumbed to the tragedy of cleri-calism. The synergy of clergyand laity working together in arespectful manner within theethos of the accountability andtransparency, which is the Or-thodox Way and the AmericanWay, has been lost. All commit-tees are appointed. There is lit-tle turnover in the committeesrelated to the administration, fi-nance, external affairs and theseminary.

In this environment of cleri-calism, Orthodox Christian Fun-damentalism pervades as thenew ethos of the Church. Theseminary is producing priestswho believe they are fully incharge of parish administration.Even our best and more mature

priests look to leave the Arch-diocese and work as fill in priestswith lay professions. Thereseems to be no way to get con-trol of the franchised monaster-ies that have developed all overthe country where Greek is therequired language. They havebecome a drag on the Church ingeneral. Some married priestswho are parish priests look tothese monastic norms and emu-late these monastic norms. It isinteresting to note that some ofthe books stores of these monas-teries are full of books about thelives of different Elders and donot have an Orthodox StudyBible in stock.

Students attend the seminaryand then are not ordained.Mediocrity is becoming thenorm within the Church. Ortho-dox Fundamentalism needs tobe addressed. It is a factor at-tracting a type of seminarianwho is not appropriate for thefuture well-being of the Ortho-dox Church in America.

The Archdiocese has also un-dertaken a policy of “Helleniz-ing” the Church. There is no de-finition of this concept. Onecharacteristic is to institutional-ize the Greek festival as afundraiser for parish operatingcosts because the concept oftithing is not taught and encour-aged. Ethnic youth dancing isnow a ministry. IndigenousAmericans of Greek descent,fourth and fifth generation,have been marginalized. It is in-teresting to note that the devel-

opment of the St, NicholasShrine within the 9/11 lowerManhattan site of the AmericanMemorial is being morphed intocreating an Acropolis in NewYork City and… “a perpetual sa-cred shrine to Orthodoxy andHellenism…”

PARISH LIFE – CLERGY &LAITY

The fragmentation of theArchdiocese into autonomousMetropolises has created prob-lems for the clergy. New pat-terns of relating to their superi-ors have emerged. Priests canbe assigned as a result of theirrelations with the Metropolitan.In some cases, cronyism hasbeen a factor in assignments.Ethnicity has been a factor inassignments. There are caseswhere good priests were re-moved from parishes becausethey are not Greek enough.Cash payments either by clergythemselves or influential layper-sons have determined assign-ments. In general, our priestsare troubled. They are afraid tospeak their minds. Divorce ratesare high among our Clergy.

Clericalism has also createdproblems for parish administra-tion. Priests are assigned toparishes without interviews bythe parish council. When thereis not a good match, problemsemerge within the parish anddivisions become counterpro-ductive. If parish councils persistwith their legitimate input, theyare threatened with being dis-missed. The attitude is that the

laity will continue to pay andobey. But times are changing.Before the imposed 2003 Char-ter, we heard criticism fromclergy and hierarchy about theChurch being oriented in con-gregational ways. It should benoted it was in this pre-2003 en-vironment that most of the in-frastructure of our church inAmerica was built and devel-oped. Our grandfathers used theethos of this country which wasworking in local committeeswith transparency and account-ability to build our parishes. Thegood order of our Church at alllevels depends on restoring thebalance and synergy of clergyand laity working together.Restoring this balance must beaddressed.

Financial administrativecosts to govern a relatively smallchurch of an estimated 440,000adherents have grown enor-mously. The budget for 2014 is27.3 million dollar to support agrowing bureaucracy within theArchdiocese and each Metropo-lis. What do we get with thatbudget? Every parish in theGOA is under pressure to raisefunds for parish, Metropolis andArchdiocese administrativecosts.

NEW WAY NEEDEDFirst-time observers to the

2014 Clergy Laity Congresshave expressed that in adminis-trative informational sessionsthe Archdiocese seems to beplaying a catch-up game. Likeparish meetings, the main con-

cern is just maintenance. Thereseems to be a lack of vision forthe future. Very little input fromthe laity is sought; there is nogive- and-take. The event hasbecome a social reunion at greatcosts to the participants andparishes. Could this money bebetter used to benefit the min-istries of the Church? It seemsthat the Church faithful are re-signed and apathetic while alsoconcerned about the directionof a Church that feels stale. Dis-cussions about how to revivemany of our Churches that havebecome empty shells because ofchanging demographics are nota concern. A highlight ofPhiladelphia 2014 from the per-spective of the Metropolitans isthat they can close parishes andacquire their assets without theinvolvement of the laity.

The Church needs leaderswho will energize the faithfulwith a discussion of their faithand its application to their life.A more appropriate and uplift-ing highlight would have beena meaningful overview of thework of the Assembly of Bishopsas they go about the develop-ment of a blueprint for a unifiedand self-governing OrthodoxChurch in the United States.Everyone knows and feels thatthe present uncanonical state ofOrthodoxy in the United Stateswith its separate jurisdictionsbased on ethnicity diminishesits mission to all of us.

The early Church, laity al-though living in the uncertainworld about them, were yetstrong of faith, following theBiblical tradition Jesus set at theLast Supper, gathered togetherin upper rooms. The originalDisciples and later the Apostlessoon joined them. Laity discov-ered the empty tomb, then ranproclaiming the “Good News.”Today’s Orthodox families cando the same in their parishes.Surely the Good News must beheard loudly again resulting inparish strength and a deeperFaith in Orthodoxy.

George E. Matsoukas isExecutive Director of the Ortho-dox Christian Laity, and the au-thor of A Church in Captivity:The Greek Orthodox Church ofAmerica.

Latest Clergy-Laity Conf. Illustrates Need for Families to Pave New Path

The 42nd Clergy-Laity Congress, held last month in Philadel-phia, was yet another example of a clergy-centered Churchwithout much input asked of the laity, says George E. Mat-soukas, Orthodox Christian Laity Executive Director.

“So I flew to the Bahamas, sawthis amazing Atlantis and I said‘you know, this is different.’”

First, however, he continuedcareer-long pattern of taking onimportant assignments thatthough not attractive, serve tocatapult talented people higher.

The Kerzners wanted him toopen an Atlantis in Dubai. “Thelast thing I had in mind was run-ning off to the Middle East after9/11 with two sons so I said ‘nothank you.’”

They again asked him just tofly there for a weekend with hiswife, Sarah. After a day, the cou-ple said “this is the next adven-ture.”

After a year, Markantoniswas asked to “Las Vegasize” theresort, which had a family ori-entation. He added nightclubswith acts he used at Caesars,celebrity chef restaurants, andall-adult swimming pools.

Regarding his own recruitingphilosophy, he said “we havestrict values. We look for pas-sionate, energetic, enthusiasticpeople,” but good character isalso important.

He also looks for people whodon’t think they should be in ho-tels – like himself.

“I was going to be a lawyer. Iworked at a hotel when Ineeded a six month job beforeschool started.”

He began by checking in peo-ple at the front desk. “I liked in-teracting with people, but I alsohad a sense of responsibility tomake sure they had a greattime…It became a mission andfrom the way my supervisors

were responding I saw theywanted me to stay.”

But he felt he let his familydown. In a twist on the GreekDiaspora experience, he was theonly one in his family who didnot go to college.

He explained to his father hehad to stay because they weregoing to promote him. “Promoteyou to what? You have beenthere five months. You’re nine-teen.”

He responded, “AssistantNight Manager,” at the 700room Westin in Johannesburg,South Africa. He had fun, too.“All the strangest things use tohappen on that shift.

He continued to be promotedbut was surprised when theysent him to manage a restaurantto broaden his experience. “Ican’t even make a sandwich,”he told them, but his success ledto becoming the hotel’s DeputyManager at 25.

When he was offered Direc-tor of Conference and Conven-tion Services in Dallas, TX hethanked them, but said “I don’teven know what that is.” Theysaid “You don’t need to. Youknow rooms, you know food.Conference services need both.”

By then he had learned hislesson. After Dallas, he was ea-ger to handle major problemsin El Paso and Toronto Canada,and was promoted to directorof operations at two Westins inHouston.

“Always say yes because youget rewarded,” he says to youngprofessionals.

But his biggest reward wasmeeting Sarah.

“My wife is Jamerican – fa-ther’s Jamaican, mother’s Amer-ican.” She was raised in Jamaicaand he was raised in Zimbabwe.They met when she worked atthe Westin.

Their two sons, Minas (17)

and Michael (14) were born inLas Vegas and next month thecouple celebrate their 20th an-niversary.

They postponed their honey-moon for a year, and whenMarkantonis was first offeredthe Caesar’s job he said “I’m go-ing on our honeymoon” andtold TNH “It was wonderful –Skiathos, Santorini, Mykonos…I introduced my wife to thehomeland.”

When he returned, CaesarsPalace was still waiting, andwhen he visited he fell in lovewith the mystique and the his-

tory.He was promoted six times

during four hostile takeovers.“In Las Vegas it’s automatic –they cut all the key people. Imust duck well because I wasthe only one to survive.”

He added, “In every role, youhave to work hard and have pas-sion, but you have to have luck.”

He has also had many men-tors, but he said of his parents“they are my absolute heroesand role models. I have spokenthem every day for the last 30years.”

His father is a retired senior

manager with Price Waterhouseand from him he learned “to dothe right thing, what they expectyou to do even when they arenot looking. You need a con-science. I need to be able to sitin front of mom and dad andtell them what I did and nothave them say ‘a son of minedid that?’”

He also values his Greek con-nections, including “my annualshot of Greece,” and the Ortho-dox Church – he is involved inthe Greek Orthodox Church inthe Bahamas, and supports HolyCross Seminary in Brookline, MA.

There are 359 Greek familiesin the Bahamas. “Most are fromKalymnos and the Greek flagflies all over – they are thelargest ethnic group there. Thehotel sponsors the annual GreekFestival and the biennial Hel-lenic Ball and he hopes to installa Greek restaurant in Atlantis.

Markantonis closely followsthe Greek tourism industry. Hesaid it helped make Greececome out of its depression fasterthan most people expected butbelieves it has a huge potential.

“There has been some reallyimpressive stuff done in hotelchain upgrades in the past twoyear…but they need havehigher end hotels, but they aremaking great progress,” he said.

Hotelier George Markantonis’ Biggest Priority is Customer Satisfaction

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e-mail: [email protected]

www.dimitriadislawfirm.gr

Continued from page 1

Atlantis Paradise Island, a sprawling resort in the Bahamas on500 acres, features 140 acres of waterparks, river systems and

aquariums, has 60,000 fish species, 4000 rooms, three beaches,and a golf course.

George Markantonis (C) receives the 2014 "Caribbean Hotelier of the Year" award from officialsof the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association and MMGY Global.

Page 6: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

COMMUNITY6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014

diplomacy and great powerstrategy to have ever presidedover American foreign policy.Yet, the historical record is clear– he was an abject failure as aforeign policy statesman. In fact,Kissinger’s diplomacy producedor contributed to a series of dis-asters whose scope and magni-tude was unprecedented in thehistory of American foreign pol-icy.

A welcome addition to thecritical studies that separate theKissinger myth from the actualhistorical record is found in the2014 publication, Kissinger &Cyprus: a Study in Lawlessness,”by Gene Rossides, a prominent,longtime Washington civicchampion of rule of law, as wellas one the most influential lead-ers of the Greek-American com-munity. (Rossides was AssistantU.S. Treasury Secretary in theNixon Administration, Founderof the American Hellenic Insti-tute, and Publisher of this news-paper’s sister publication, Eth-nikos Kyrix.)

Rossides’ volume is of partic-ular interest and value for itscareful and thorough decon-struction of a specific case studythat offers evidence for an in-dictment of Kissinger’s broaderforeign policy and diplomaticrecord as National Security Ad-visor and later as Secretary ofState for Presidents Nixon andGerald Ford, from 1969 to 1977.

Indeed, Rossides’ meticulousstudy underscores the cata-strophic effects of Kissinger’spolicy for Cyprus and, in theprocess, throws into sharp reliefthe tactics and norms that ex-plain why Henry Kissinger hasbeen a net loss for America’sstrategic interests and moral au-

thority in the world. Henry Kissinger’s crimes

against humanity committed inthe name of American foreignpolicy interests in Africa, Asia,Latin America, and the MiddleEast are well documented. Yet,Kissinger’s egregious actions inCyprus are often overlooked.Inasmuch as Rossides’ bookhelps to fill this stark omissionin the historical record, it is aninvaluable work.

Since 1974, Gene Rossideshas consistently and tirelesslyworked to promote governmentand public awareness, and tocontribute to a just resolution,of the Cyprus Problem. Rossides’activism has been premised onan uncompromising commit-ment to the principle of the ruleof law. The principle of the ruleof law is not only at the heart ofthe American constitutional, de-mocratic system, it is the foun-dation for modern internationalrelations, which the UnitedStates officially supports andpromotes. However, Kissinger’scontempt for the rule of law anddisregard for all internationalnorms and standards governingrelations in foreign affairs pro-duced chaos and violence acrossmuch of the globe, including inCyprus.

Rossides is uniquely qualifiedto write authoritatively aboutKissinger and Cyprus. The au-thor’s rich experience in govern-ment, his expertise in law, hisactivism on behalf of Cyprus –going back as early as the 1950s– and his proximity to the actorsinvolved in the events describedin his book make Rossides notonly an invaluable observer andanalyst, but an important his-torical figure in his own right.

The readers of this revieware more than likely quite fa-

miliar with the history of theCyprus Problem. What needs tobe emphasized here is that theCyprus Problem is neither in-tractable nor the function of in-terethnic conflict between thecountry’s 80 percent ethnicGreek, 18 percent ethnic Turk-ish, and 2 percent Armenianand Maronite populations; theCyprus problem is a problem ofillegal invasion and occupationby Turkey. For centuries, Cyprus’different confessional and lin-guistic communities coexistedpeacefully. When interethnic vi-olence, which was ultimatelyvery limited in scope, did occur,it was deliberately manufac-tured and sensationalized by theBritish colonial authorities inthe 1950s as a tactic to thwartthe Cypriots’ right to self-deter-mination. The same tactic wastaken up and continued byTurkey in the following decadeas a way to undermine the Re-public of Cyprus, an indepen-dent, democratic, and unitarystate established by interna-tional treaty in 1960.

Kissinger’s contempt for

Cypriot sovereignty and thecountry’s non-aligned status, hispersonal hostility towardsCyprus’ democratically-electedpresident, Archbishop Makarios,and his slavish deference toTurkey, a rogue state whichshared Kissinger’s scorn for in-ternational law, hence making itan ideal partner for his machi-nations in the Eastern Mediter-ranean and Middle East, all con-verged in 1974 to produce crisis.Backed by the bumbling US-de-pendent military dictatorship inAthens, on July 15, 1974, ultra-nationalist Greek Cypriot oppo-nents of the Makarios govern-ment carried out a coup d’etat,briefly toppling Makarios frompower. Five days later, on July20, Turkey launched a massivebombing assault and invasion ofthe island’s north on the pretextof restoring the constitutionalorder of the sovereign Republicof Cyprus. Although the coupplotters quickly capitulated andconstitutional order was reestab-lished by the legitimate Cypriotgovernment, ending Turkey’spretext for intervention, Turkishforces responded by expandingtheir invasion, occupying thenorthern third of the island, andforcing a massive exodus of200,000 Greek Cypriot refugeesinto the south, thereby achievingAnkara’s actual longstandinggoal – the partition and ethniccleansing of Cyprus.

For four decades, Kissingerhas consistently denied any in-volvement in the tragic eventsthat took place in Cyprus in Julyand August 1974. In fact, CIAdocuments released to the pub-lic in 2007 confirm Kissinger’sextensive involvement in, andsupport for, the anti-Makarioscoup, multiple failed assassina-tion attempts against Makarios,and “green-lighting” the Turkishinvasion. Rossides makes all ofthis clear through his deploy-ment of impressive research andbrilliant synthesis of primary

and secondary sources. In con-cise language, his own andKissinger’s, the author revealsKissinger’s thinking and his roleas a conspirator and provoca-teur against Cyprus, “Kissingercared nothing for the territorialintegrity of Cyprus, or its inde-pendence. He went so far asopenly supporting a policy of di-viding Cyprus between Greeceand Turkey. On August 13[1974], in a meeting at theWhite House with PresidentFord, Kissinger said, ‘some of mycolleagues want to cutoff assis-tance to Turkey—that would bea disaster. There is no Americanreason why the Turks should nothave one-third of Cyprus.’ ForKissinger, what he perceived asrealpolitik trumped interna-tional law” (p. 40).

Rossides rightly observes thatthe United States possesses suf-ficient influence to shape a justand democratic solution to theCyprus Problem based on therule of law. Any proposal for asolution to the Cyprus Problem,like the obtuse and undemocra-tic Annan Plan, which waswisely rejected by the majorityof Cypriot voters in 2004, thatdoes not begin with an unqual-ified end to the illegal Turkishoccupation of all Cypriot terri-tory and the establishment offull sovereignty for Cyprus is notonly senseless and unjust, it isnot viable.

The author makes the pointthat the United States has a spe-cial obligation to bring about ajust settlement of the CyprusProblem because, thanks toKissinger’s actions, Washingtonwas a party to the Turkish inva-sion, partition, and occupationof Cyprus. Rossides writes, “inthe middle of the twentieth cen-tury, the United States led theway towards the institutional-ization of international law, giv-ing democratic voices aroundthe world a chance to be heard.In the twenty-first century, it

should be a truism that Ameri-can credibility and prestige suf-fer when it itself turns awayfrom the rule of law. Yet, timeand again we have had to re-learn this lesson. It was underHenry Kissinger’s tenure thatmany of the worst episodes ofthe United States acting counterto international law in the ser-vice of a mistaken sense of na-tional interest occurred. In fact,it is in the national interest ofthe United States to support therule of law, and rectifying itswrong in Cyprus would be animportant step in this direction”(p. 191).

One of the great strengths ofthis book, not only for GreekAmericans but for all Americancitizens, also lies in the pro-found relevance of its message.Henry Kissinger is one of thetwentieth century’s worst warcriminals, and to ignore his ac-tions is to condone his crimes.Kissinger is wanted for question-ing in criminal investigations inArgentina, Chile, France, GreatBritain, and Spain. Our society– its democratic values, rule oflaw principles, moral authority,and simple decency, as well itsinternational reputation – is cor-rupted by the celebration ofHenry Kissinger as a greatstatesman. America’s failure topush for a just solution inCyprus is a symptom of the cor-rosive impact of HenryKissinger’s actions and immoral-ity in the U.S. foreign policy es-tablishment. Rule of law is thelegal and moral compass that isnecessary for a just resolutionof the Cyprus Problem and forAmerica’s rejection of the for-eign policy decay of Kissin-gerism.

Dr. Alexandros K. Kyrou is Pro-fessor of History at Salem StateUniversity in Salem, MA, wherehe teaches on the Balkans,Byzantium, and the OttomanEmpire.

Gene Rossides Writes a New Book Revealing Kissinger’s Role in Cyprus

ACROSS1 Carson's Tonight Show predecessor5 Negative7 Soiree10 Celtics' Chief11 Where the action is13 HB's Casablanca co-star (init.)14 NYC Subway line (abbrev.)15 Athenian Neighborhood18 Island where Revelation was written20 Polo line fashion desgnr. (init.)21 Plyd. Rebeccca on Cheers (init.)23 "Mani and ____?" spa question25 Flankers of FGH26 Greek fast food28 Wrote Eleni29 Yepremian of football31 Teo of Indy 50032 Docket Mgmt. System (abbrev.)33 Black Sabbath Ld. Singer (init.)34 Unilateral Admin. Order (abbrev.)35 Questionable38 A Sweathog40 Hover41 Canadian Inst. in Greece (abbrev.)42 Irritate45 Michael Jordan's nickname47 Ginger Rogers' dnce. partner (init.)48 Giant semiconductor chip maker50 Bull Moose pres. (init.)51 A Karamanlis53 Greek prefix meaning small54 Lugosi of Dracula fame56 "Cat on _ ___ Tin Roof" (2 words)57 ___ King Cole58 I'll homonym61 Astoria Greek church (2 words

DOWN1 Prefix for sail or legal2 Avg. Round Trip Time (abbrev.)3 NBA's "Answer" (init.)4 Regional Signal Transmission Org. (RSTO)5 Natural History Assn. (abbrev.)6 Yours and mine7 Fuel8 51, to Nero.9 Mr. Lincoln, informally10 Alternative to cigarette or cigar12 Type of red wine16 __ Jon Roth of the Scorpions

17 Warehouse-style furniture store19 Tenors Lanza and Frangoulis22 Pop Band ___ Supply23 Greek Socialist Party (init.)24 Plyd. Lisa on Green Acres (init.)26 Atlanta's st. (abbrev.)27 Trendy City within Tampa28 Graduate Mgmt. Admission Council(abbrev.)30 Mount of Greek Gods31 Flanked by E and I32 Not singular35 Actor Koteas36 Haze37 Moses Malone said it three times in 198339 Athenian Neighborhood41 Corp. moneyman (abbrev.)42 Perimeter43 Impatiently ambitious44 An Ancient Celtic god45 GED alternative college student (abbrev.)46 Saint honored on May 549 Plenty51 Smith of "God Bless America" fame52 Folk singer Guthrie55 Flee58 Where injured sports plyrs, are placed (init.)59 Richmond Cty., New York (abbrev.)60 Cowboys' record-setting RB (init.)

S A A D I G O R O R E O

O I C A R M I N E O D E

L A R R Y A O R A G

O T C A P R H O D E S

N B A L H O P E B A

N E O P A G E S A M

F R A P P E A N G E L O S

R A S M I N A Y

A I G A G N E W N

G A Y D L E O L Y R A

O N R E T O F L E L

R O I L I A N R J E E P

A N I S T O N E A V B H

I L A G V D N E O A

A R E C A R O L E K

Solution to last week’s puzzle

THE HERALD SQUARETNH's Crossword Challenge

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

31 32

33 34 35 36 37

38 39 40

41

42 43 44 45 46 47

48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

By Constantinos E. Scaros

In a scholarly article by de-mographers Tanja van derLippe, Marieke Voorpostel, Be-linda Hewitt published in theJuly issue of the DemographicResearch journal, Greek couplesargued the least about mattersof housework, paid work, andoverall money issues, as com-pared to 21 other EuropeanCountries.

The study involved hetero-sexual couples between ages 18and 45, all living together andmost married, from Austria, Bel-gium, Czech Republic, Den-mark, Finland, France, Ger-many, Great Britain, Greece,Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Lux-embourg, Netherlands, Norway,Poland, Portugal, Slovakia,Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The country in which couplesargued the most about house-work was Finland – over 90 per-cent – while in Greece only 28percent squabbled over divvyingup the chores.

Iceland led in terms of argu-ments over job-related issues, at69 percent, while Greece, again,was the lowest with 31 percent.

As for overall money issues,Finland again, was highest,while Greece, the most harmo-nious in all three categories, tiedwith Portugal for the low at 37percent.

To some extent, the authorsargue, married couples argueless about financial matters asthey tend to be more stable fi-nancially than their non-marriedcohabitating counterparts. Thatmight be true if looking atGreece by itself – in which caseonly 3 percent of the respon-dents were unmarried. But only4 percent were unmarried inPoland and Slovakia, where 57and 61 percent, respectively, ar-gued about money.

The results are telling insofaras Finland, Norway, and Swe-den, which consistently rankhigh in quality-of-life polls, wereat or near the top in all three ofthe particular domestic argu-ment categories.

Though the scholars empha-sized factors such as number ofchildren in the household, num-ber of years of cohabitation, etc.,without actually revealing thatdata, they did not analyze oreven discuss the large disparitiesbased on the country in ques-tion.

Do Greeks have other thingson their minds than these issues,and thus do not spend time ar-guing about money? Are genderroles in Greece more clearly-de-fined than in other Europeannations so as to obviate the needfor an argument (in otherwords, is it less likely that aGreek woman would even con-sider asking her husband towash the dishes, as comparedto, say, a Finnish woman)?

Looking at it differently, is it

possible that Greek respondentswere less forthright in answer-ing – downplaying their house-hold spats? Not necessarily be-cause they wanted to receive theconductors of the study, but be-cause what to their counterpartsin other European nations mightbe deemed an “an argument” or“disagreement,” to Greeks is a“discussion.”

In an article in Quartz maga-zine about the study, reportedZainab Mudallal concluded thatGreeks are “living the good life”

But Mudallal, too, does not spec-ulate as to why that is. And it isparticularly telling consideringthat Greece remains in the midstof a financial crisis. Could it bethat in times of crisis, couplesstick together and argue less, inorder to deal with the problemsoutside the home as team?

It would seem the results ofthis initial study are intriguingenough to be examined ingreater detail by other demog-raphers in future scholarly arti-cles.

In which European country do couples argue least about doingthe dishes and paying the bills? Belgium? Norway? Sweden?No…Greece!

BIBLIA: A BOOK REVIEW COLUMN

Continued from page 1

My Big, Fat, Greek Happy Home

Page 7: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- For ten full years,Aletheia and Aleko toured theUnited States astounding audi-ences with their psychic abilities.I make no claims for their truepowers as mentalists. Aletheiaalways claimed to be the onlygenuine psychic who ever ap-peared upon the Vaudevillestage. Columbia University pro-fessors were said to be stymiedby this couple’s uncanny abili-ties. All that I can report, basedon newspaper articles and ad-vertisements, gathered fromaround the nation, is that thiscouple remained a hugely pop-ular act from 1910 to 1920. De-scribing Aletheia’s and Aleko’sperformances, which did changeconsiderably in execution overthis decade, will provide thefoundation for our considera-tions here.

As succinctly described in a1911 issue of Variety magazinethe core act was as follows:“Aletheia in Oriental garb, blind-folded sits in the center of thestage, while Aleko, a big broad-shouldered Greek in his nativeattire, approaches different per-sons. After a whispered conver-sation, he asks Aletheia to tellthe first name, initial, and wishof the person in question. Thiswoman proceeds to do in a loud,clear voice.” A variation on thisformat soon developed. “Alekogoes into the audience and asksquestions in a whisper, so thatAletheia cannot possibly hear.She immediately repeats thequestion and gives the answer.An investigation of their workwas made by a committee of sci-entists from Columbia Univer-sity, in New York, who failed todetect any mechanical con-trivances to make their feats pos-sible (Seattle Star February 4,1911).”

While there were any numberof mind reading acts during thisera Aletheia and Aleko wereunique as was fully recognizedat the time. “This act stands outpre-eminent among the otheracts of this nature in Vaudeville.Aletheia uses no writing pads ormechanical devices of any kind,and depends entirely upon theworking of her mind to answerthe multitudinous questionshurled at her by the audience.There is a refined vein of humorrunning through the turn whichgives it a most delightful finish(Times Dispatch January 28,1912).”

Aletheia is always describedas a psychic who possessestelepathy and prophetic vision.Aleko is said to “share her pow-ers” which is how they are ableto communicate over any dis-tance. More than that Aletheiaand Aleko are also always de-scribed as ethnic Greeks. Adver-tisements in virtually everynewspaper announcing their ar-rival in local theaters makes thispoint in one form or another.Various claims are made such asAletheia is “the new Sibyl of Del-phi in Telepathy and PropheticVision;” or the couple is de-scribed as “Greek Mystics WhoRead Your Secrets and Lay BareAll Mysteries;” “True Descen-

dants of the Seeress of the Del-phian Oracle” who possess noth-ing less than “Grecian PsychicMarvels,” whatever those maybe.

We need to offer some back-ground to this sketch of Aletheiaand Aleko Vaudeville Act. Thiswas the era of Mentalism orSpiritualism. A time of greatclaims for those who professedpsychic abilities and what couldbe called the first era of ghostbusters. For public figures suchas H.G. Wells, Arthur ConanDoyle and especially Harry Hou-dini all set about to disprove theclaims of all those who claimedpsychic powers. Initially theclaims of those with psychicpowers made sense given thebroader beliefs of the generalChristian society of Europe andNorth America. Since, God ex-isted and influenced the lives ofmen everywhere, then the darkside must also exist. If in thedistant past men had contactwith angels, demons, fairies,spirits and even God, then logi-cally, conceivable, such contactscould be made—even today.There is much much more tothis period and the entire issueof Spiritualism but it is enough,for our purposes here, to offerthis briefest of outlines.

Unfortunately, I have been

unable to locate a full name foreither Aletheia or Aleko. Thecouple is said in various news-paper accounts to be husbandand wife. Clearly, these two in-dividuals were basing their per-formance upon existing Ameri-can popular cultural beliefs ofGreeks. First Aletheia is pre-sented alone on stage in “Ori-ental garb,” which was alwaysin white with a full veil, whichharkens back to American rec-ollections and notions of Greeksunder the Ottomans. EventuallyAletheia is shown in various ad-vertisements in robes holding aGreek urn. While I could notfind an illustration or photo-graph of Aleko, in costume, heis always referred to as “a Greekpoet in his native costume.”Since so much is made of thispoint, and all the references toDelphi, I can only imagine thatAleko was attired in some sortof robe.

Another critical point ofAletheia and Aleko’s overall suc-cess on the Vaudeville stage wasthat they could conduct their actin nine languages. Immigrantsfrom the 1880 to 1920 waves ofarrival to North America heavilyattended Vaudeville given thatmany of the performances didnot require an understanding ofEnglish. Still, as we know from

sporting events such as wrestlingor boxing during this same pe-riod, speaking in their nativetongue always drew immigrantcrowds.

My claims to the huge successof Aletheia and Aleko are sup-ported by the advertising thecouple received. Vaudeville ad-vertisements had a structure thatis critical for our understanding.Slang terms, now popular, suchas “top-billing” or “headliners”have their basis in theatrical ad-

vertisements. As these terms im-ply Aletheia and Aleko nameswere always at the very top lineof the advertisement. In travel-ing from theater to theater fromtown to town Aletheia and Alekowere not always first given top-billing due to the popularity ofrunning acts. Nevertheless whennot listed as the headliner,Aletheia and Aleko saw inclusionin the advertising copy in someother prominently displayed orillustrated manner.

The act began to gain inrenown as the phrase “No writ-ing! No Questions!” began to seeinclusion in the duo’s advertis-ing. As the act evolved, as wehear in the November 15, 1913edition of the Gazette andCourier form Greenfield Massa-chusetts: “Questions from allparts of the house are answered,and in many instances namesare given and questions an-swered to well-known peoplewho had not asked verbally any-thing.” Aletheia also began tomake public predictions such as:“the election of Gov. Walsh, Pres.Wilson, (the) Mayor of NewYork and many other occur-

rences (Greenfield Recorder No-vember 13, 1913).” Aletheiasoon began to hold sessions justfor local women. The Aletheian,a magazine of some sort, wassoon published and available tothe audience.

From 1910 until 1918,Aletheia and Aleko had beentouring the United States con-tracted annually to variousVaudeville theater chains. In1918, an exclusive contract wassigned with Alexander Pantages.A fellow Greek immigrant, Pan-tages once owned the largest in-dependent chain of Vaudevilletheaters in the United States andCanada. It is at this moment thatAletheia disappears from the actand Aleko becomes the centralfigure. Yet the “act” continues asheadliner on the Pantages cir-cuit. Aleko, is ever described asa “Grecian Telepathist,” who isnow assisted by a variety of per-sons: “They are the only head-liners on a program which in-cludes Aleko, a telepathist, inmuch drapery and in possessionof a gift of gab so fluent thatProfessor Presco has trouble in-terrupting with his questions. Inthe aggregation is also Panthea“the Delphian Oracle (Goodwin’sWeekly December 28, 1918).”

Now, in this version of theact, we see “the serious andadept demonstration of telegra-phy given by Aleko, the Greekmystic, who is ably assisted byPanthea, the beautiful Grecianseeress, and Professor Presco, astudent of telepathic science anda graduate of the National Col-lege of Sciences in AthensGreece (Ogden Standard De-cember 31, 1918).”

“Aleko, a tall man with acommanding presence, walkeddown into the audience, after abrief announcement and invitedthose in the audience to ask himtheir questions, in a confidentialwhisper. Meanwhile, on thestage, Panthea and Presco en-tered from a replica of theAcropolis in Athens, behindwhich was a beautiful drop de-picting Old Athens in all herglory of historic splendor. Thetwo assistances took their seatson the stage and then Alekocalled out: “Answer the ques-tion:” Presco answered: “I re-ceive the name of the lady asMrs. Minnie Williams; he saidpromptly, “She is asking abouta diamond ring which she lostabout a week ago. She will findthe ring under the corner of arug in the home of her friend,Mrs. Walker, where it was acci-dently dropped.” And there thering was found, the very nextday.

We need to know more aboutGreeks who performed orworked as promoters for Amer-ican popular entertainments.Assessing how much influenceGreeks may have had, in thepast, on the popular imagina-tion can help in a long overduereconsideration of their historyin this nation. This is especiallyapt for any review of Aletheiaand Aleko since being native-born Greeks was always the cen-tral organizing theme of theirpresentations.

[email protected]

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014 7

Aletheia and Aleko, Two Highly Popular Psychics of the Vaudeville Era

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

The guys at Dixon’s were dis-cussing Kipreos’ recent trip toCyprus over the Easter holidays.“Did he have a nice time?”asked Dimos between sips ofcoffee. “I’m not sure,” shruggedJohn. “I saw him yesterday,wearing a wild, colorful shirt,printed all over with fishes andflags. It looked radioactive. Ithink his shirt was the best part.Said the plane was violentlybumpy and, at one point, he gotso scared, he had the airlinehostess hold his hand. It didn’thelp when the movie theyshowed was, Death on the Ori-ent Express.” George, grinning,said, “Who can blame him?There are no landing places inthe Atlantic Ocean, you know.”Dimos asked why he wasn’there, today. John answered,“He’s suffering from jet lag, hetold me.” Dimos looked up, sur-prised. “Jet lag? But, he camehome by ship, I’d heard. He did-n’t trust planes anymore.” Johnnodded, “That’s true! And, hegot very sea sick. But, he blamedthe airplane for it,” adding, “hesaid the waves were as huge asMount Kilimanjaro. He stayedin his cabin for most of the trip.”Amused, George told them, “I’mglad he didn’t ask one of theseamen to hold his hand. He’dbe shark fodder.”

“How about Easter inCyprus?” inquired Dimos. “And,where’s Yiannis this Sunday?”John, keeping a straight face,explained about the barbeque

on the church property. “Thewhole village attended, Kipreossaid. They placed a whole lamb– that had been alive and kick-ing minutes before – on askewer and it turned and turneduntil it was done. He looked atit and saw the eye balls staringat him, its tongue hanging out.At that moment he became avegetarian. He felt ill. The vil-lage priest asked everyone topray and thank God for thebounty they were about to en-joy.

He prayed, too, asking Godthat he not vomit or faint. Whenthey were serving the lamb, hetold them he never ate anythingwith eye balls. He ate salad andpotatoes – that’s it!” After apause, he explained that Yiannishad eaten too much at his sis-ter’s house and was sleeping itoff.

George, who figured asmuch, said, “That means he’llsleep for about a week.” Chang-ing the subject, Dimos asked,“Did his mother find a bride forhim?” “That’s the other thing!His mother had three suitablebrides waiting. Kipreos, whocouldn’t come home with aharem and didn’t want to hurthis mother’s - or the women’sfeelings, told them he’d have ananswer by Tuesday.” Dimos,laughing, asked how he man-aged to get out of that situation.“Easy! Monday night he left anote saying he didn’t want to belate for the plane. At midnighta taxi took him to the pier. Heslept on a bench until the boatdocked.” Shaking his head,

George said, “The perfect bach-elor - who wants to work at thehotel, enjoy life without compli-cations.” They agreed. “Will wesee him here next week, do youthink?” asked Dimos. John,shaking his head, told them,“Who knows? When I saw himhe looked as if he’d just gottenoff the Crazy Cruncher Cycloneride in Luna Park. He’s swornoff planes and ships and –taxis.””

They all looked up. “Taxis?”John nodded. “Another ordeal.From the pier to his roominghouse, the taxi driver – whoknew very little English, or, hisway around Manhattan, spokenot a word as Kipreos watchedthe vehicle take off like a jet,sway through the streets as ifcops were after them, He hungon to the strap that cut into hishand as the cab tore throughyellow lights, had a near colli-sion with other cabs andskimmed curbs. Pedestriansshook their fists at the driver fortheir ’near death’ experiences asthe taxi swiped past them. Indesperation, Kipreos made a‘tama’ to St. Mihalis that if hegot home in one piece - and notin installments - he’d make asubstantial contribution to hischurch as soon as he’s recoveredfrom the Easter vacation. He’ssworn if his feet don’t go – hewon’t go!” Dimos, making hiscross, said, “Well, Easter is past.And, Christ has risen!” “True!”John responded. George, theunbeliever, said, “HE MAY haverisen. But, Yiannis? Not anytimesoon.”

Easter’s Aftermath

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Instrumental toAletheia’s and Alekos’success was theirability to perform theiract in nine differentlanguages. This wasespecially helpful indrawing large crowd ofimmigrants who spokelittle or no English,and were able to enjoythe show in theirnative tongue. The duotoured the UnitedStates, performingtheir immenselypopular act, from 1910to 1920.

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DEATH NOTICES

n ALExOPOULOS, ARISTIDISELIZABETH CITY, NC (From theVirginian Pilot, published on Jul.29) – Aristidis Grigorios Alex-opoulos of 100 Hunters Trail,Elizabeth City, NC died Thurs-day, July 24, 2014 at his resi-dence. He was born in 1940 inLamia, Greece, the son of thelate Grigorios and MariaKarathanos Alexopoulos and thehusband of Evangelia DelistathisAlexopoulos for over forty-sevenyears. He was a Sergeant in theGreek Army, serving near the Al-banian border. With hopes of abetter life, he moved to Americain 1974 with his wife, son,mother, sister and her family.Discovering his entrepreneurialspirit, he and his brother Vanstarted Van's Pizza on the OuterBanks in 1975. After buildingthe business on the Outer Banks,he and his brother moved toElizabeth City in 1980 to startVan's Pizza on Hughes Blvd.There he and his wife workedtirelessly to build a thriving busi-ness beloved by local patrons.He retired with his wife in 2001.In retirement, he and his wifeembraced gardening and built amanicured lawn and garden ad-mired by many. He loved spend-ing time with his son and grand-daughters, cheering on hisOlympiacos Football Club andhelping his brother's family atBig Daddy's Pizza. He was amember of the AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Cathedral inNorfolk, VA. In addition to hiswife, he is survived by a sonGrigorios (Greg) Alexopoulosand wife Joni of Rye, NY; twobrothers, Athanasios Alexopou-los and wife Voula of Greece andEvangelos (Van) Alexopoulosand wife Aspasia of ElizabethCity, NC; a sister, Nerantzia(Rita) Alexopoulos Vlahos ofKitty Hawk, NC; three grand-daughters, Evangelia, Maria andAristea; and many nephews andnieces. In addition to his parents,he was predeceased by abrother-in-law, Dimitrios (Jim)Vlahos. Funeral services will beconducted Tuesday, July 29,2014 at 11:00 a.m. at Annunci-ation Greek Orthodox Cathedral,7220 Granby St., Norfolk, VA of-ficiated by the Rev. Fr. GeorgeBessinas. You may express con-dolences to the family by visitingwww.twifordfh.com.

n ARGES, STEVEHIGHLAND, IN (From theTimes, published on Jul. 23) –Steve J. Arges, 88, of HighlandIN, passed away peacefully withhis family by his side. Steve wasborn in Tripolis, Greece, to thelate Vasiliki and Dimitrios Arges(Argyropoulos). He leaves be-hind his darling wife Helenewhom he was blessed to spend67 years together. Loving fatherto Betty (Gus) Voukidis, George(Pat) Arges, Demetria (George)Bakris, and son Peter who whopreceded him in death. Proudgrandfather to Marika (Rick)Brooks, George (Jenny)Voukidis, Steve Voukidis, AthenaBakris, Louis Bakris, Christopher(Hiral) Arges, Jason Arges, JoeMerryweather (Sarah) and DanMerryweather; and great- grand-father to Phoenix & AlannaVoukidis, Eleanor Brooks, andJack Merryweather Dear brotherto Christos (Ismini) and Gus(Dimitria) Arges. Beloved bymany nieces and nephews aswell as friends. Veteran of WorldWar II Army Air Corps. Retiredfrom Inland Steel after 42 years.Steve was a member of the Pan-Arcadian Federation, AHEPA andserved on the board of St.Demetrios and St George GreekOrthodox Church. Funeral onThursday,July 24th at 10 a.m. atSt. George Greek OrthodoxChurch, 528 W. 77th Ave. Scher-erville, IN, the Rev. ConstantineAliferakis officiating. Memorialdonations can be made to St.George Greek Orothodox.

n DEMOPOULOS,THEODORE

HERSHEY, PA (From the Harris-burg Patriot-News, published onJul. 31) – Theodore "Ted" De-mopoulos, 88, of Hershey,passed into eternal life on July27, 2014. He was born June 16,1926 in Mazeika, Greece andwas raised in the Bronx, NY. Hewas a WWII Navy Veteran. Heearned his Bachelor of Sciencein Engineering at NYU. He re-

tired from Boeing as an Aero-nautical Engineer. Although hewas trained and worked in aero-nautics, Ted also worked on thedesign of trains. The subwaytrains, planes and helicopters hehelped design are still in use to-day throughout the UnitedStates. Ted can best be describedas a man of virtue and many tal-ents. He was an engineer whosehobbies included building shipmodels, cartooning, sculptingangel figurines and restoringcracked eggs. Also known as"Tango Ted", he was also an avidlover of the arts, literature, mu-sic and dance. Of his many gifts,most people enjoyed his delight-ful sense of humor and hearingthe spinning of a tall tale. Hewould often say that people be-lieved a story more than theybelieved the truth. Without adoubt, Ted's greatest passionwas loving his wife, Georgia "Jo".After losing his wife of over 58years in 2011, Ted's life wasnever quite the same. Together,they shared a lifetime full oftravel and adventure touchingmany lives along the way. Theywere loving and loyal to familyand many friends who becamefamily. We are happy that theyare reunited in our Lord andSavior Jesus Christ. In additionto his wife, " Jo", he was alsopreceded in death by his par-ents,Thomas and Georgia, andhis sister Eftihia. Surviving arethree sons, Theodore T. of Cali-fornia, Thomas E., and TimothyP. and his wife Jessica of Her-shey; daughter, Samantha K.Lopez and husband, Manny ofHershey; daughter-in-lawMartha Demopoulos, brother,Harry Demopoulos and wifeRita, NY; and brother James De-mopoulos and wife Guinevere ofPennsylvania; 10 grandchildrenand three great grandchildren.Funeral Services will be held at12:00 Noon on Monday, August4th in Holy Trinity Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral, 1000 YverdonDrive, Camp Hill, PA 17011. Inlieu of Flowers, memorial con-tributions can be made to HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral or the , 3544 North ProgressAve., Suite 205, Harrisburg PA17110.

n GEORGE, HELEN SAN FRANSISCO, CA (From theSan Francisco Chronicle, pub-lished on Aug. 1) – HelenGeorge Jul 29, 1916- Jul 29,2014. 1916 was a good year.The Boy Scouts were formed,Monet painted his masterpiece,Water Lilies, the SaturdayEvening Post had its premierpublication, and President Wil-son sent troops to Mexico tohunt down Pancho Villa. Thebest thing about 1916 was thatHelen George (nee Kastanos)was born to Vasili and MarigoKastanos on July 29 in San Fran-cisco. Helen was born to firstgeneration Greek parents whoimmigrated to the United Statesvia Ellis Island to seek a betterlife. Helen witnessed major his-torical and cultural changes.When Helen was 13, the stockmarket crashed, ushering inyears of severe poverty duringthe Great Depression. Theseevents shaped Helen's life. Shegrew up in crushing poverty,made easier with the support ofa very large extended family.The best memories are familygatherings at the Richmondhome of Vasili and Marigo. Al-most every Sunday relativesfrom Oakland and San Franciscogathered to visit and partake inSunday supper. Home-raisedchickens and harvested vegeta-bles were used to make home-made traditional Greek dishes.Razor thin phyllo dough, thatcan now be purchased in everysupermarket, was made at homefrom scratch. Every New Year'sDay Vasili's name day was cele-brated with 60-70 relatives at-tending to honor and respectHelen's father. Helen was raisedin a large family with six sib-lings: Dora, Jimmy, Irene, Stella,Christine, and Esther, all ofwhom preceded her in death.Helen, until the day she died,talked about the good times shehad in Los Gatos spending thesummers at her cousins' playingwith Dora Rubiales, NickTriantos, Lucy Malandaris andthe Parashis brothers. Helen didwell in school and was an hon-ors student consistently through-out her middle and senior schoolyears. She graduated from Rich-mond High School in 1933,ranking 5th in her class. Helenhad dreams and goals of attend-ing a university, preferably UCBerkeley. A Richmond High law

teacher selected one outstandingstudent every year to assist himin legal research and the writingof briefs. At the end of the in-ternship he would find the stu-dent a good job. In 1933 he se-lected Helen. However, at theend of the internship he regret-fully informed Helen no jobwould be forthcoming due to theDepression. Helen's dreams ofhigher education came to anend; she was the second oldestof seven children and had to goto work to help support the fam-ily. Helen married in 1941 andhad her only child, Marlene, sev-eral years later. In many respectsHelen was a woman ahead ofher time. Either out of necessityor choosing to transcend tradi-tion, especially in a "old Greekhome" she decided to go it alonewithout a husband. Helenworked full time in San Fran-cisco in the field of computerswhen they were size of a largerefrigerator. She got up everymorning at 5:00 a.m., put on abusiness suit, and crossed theBay Bridge to work in corporateAmerica for over 40 years toearn a living to support herselfand her daughter. She did whatmany women of her generationdreamed of: she earned her ownmoney and made her own per-sonal and financial decisions.Helen was a devoted singlemother. She provided well forherself and her daughter, Mar-lene. There were summers at thefamily home in Lake Tahoe,eight trips to Europe, and travelsaround the world. She took Mar-lene with her to Europe fourtimes, staying up to six weeks ata time. She exposed Marlene tofine international dining, theopera, symphony, museums and,most of all, the Greek cultureand religious tenants of theGreek Orthodox faith. She tookMarlene to Greece to visit thevillages where her paternal andmaternal grandparents wereborn. She wanted Marlene tostay in Greece for one year tobecome immersed in the lan-guage and culture. Saturdayswere either shopping in SanFrancisco at I. Magnin or City ofParis, and lunching at Blums, allold San Francisco institutionsthat are no longer, or attendinga Cal football game at MemorialStadium in Berkeley. The entirefamily is rabid about Cal and CalFootball. Names such as Oski,Pappy Waldorf, Marv Levy, CraigMorton were part of her vocab-ulary. From the time Marlenewas a little girl the daily mantrawas "You will study hard, getgood grades, and graduate fromUC Berkeley." She was proud ofMarlene's accomplishments.Marlene graduated from UCBerkeley and earned a graduatedegree. Recently when the fam-ily set up an endowment withUC Berkeley to provide scholar-ships to worthy needy youth,Helen remarked to the staff, "Iwant a youth to have what wasnot available to me." Helen hada strong faith and belief in God,and she was a member of theGreek Orthodox Cathedral of theAscension in Oakland since itwas built in the '60s. Helen hada keen interest in politics, andanyone who knows her knowsher party affiliation. Franklinand Eleanor Roosevelt weremythical figures in the house-hold; the Roosevelts rescuedthem from bruising poverty. He-len was a news junky readingthe "Chron" cover to cover daily.She watched the news and hadan intense reaction to the op-posing party. She never missedvoting in an election, and stud-ied the issues intensely. At age98 she slowed down a bit, andonly in the last few weeks didshe become ill with heart failure;but she was active and happyuntil the last day of her life,when she died on her 98th birth-day at home peacefully withMarlene and Nick at her side.She loved her son-in-law like ason and he was devoted to herin return. All in all. hers was anordinary life well lived. She in-herited a legacy from her par-ents that she passed down to herdaughter. The struggle for exis-tence became a distant memoryand in fact life had become verycomfortable. When her parents,Vasili and Marigo greeted her onthe other side they said, "Welldone, well done." Helen is sur-vived by her loving and devoteddaughter, Marlene; her son-in-law Nick; and niece, MarilynSardonis. Funeral services willbe on Monday, August 4th at theGreek Orthodox Cathedral of theAscension, 4700 Lincoln AvenueOakland, followed by a lun-

cheon.

n MELIAGROS, DENNIS P.NORFOLK, VA (From the Virgin-ian Pilot, published on Aug. 8)– Norfolk - Dennis PanagisMeliagros, son of the latePanagis and Eriketi Maliagros,fell asleep in the Lord in hishome surrounded by his familyon the afternoon of August 6,2014, in Richmond, Virginia.Friends and family of Dennisagree he led an amazing life. Hewas born in Argostoli, Kefalonia,Greece on December 11, 1939.His family endured the tryingtimes of the island's Italian, andlater German, occupations dur-ing World War 2. But it was thedevastating earthquake of 1953that crumbled the whole islandand their home which causedthem all to move to the main-land of Greece, with the aid offriends. It was there in Piraeusand Athens where Dennis grad-uated from several electrical andmechanical engineering schools.He came to the United States inDecember of 1967 to work as aconsultant for an engineeringfirm. Desiring an American de-gree, he went back to school andreceived an engineering degreefrom the City College of NewYork. Dennis also pursued aMaster's degree from ColumbiaUniversity in Nuclear Engineer-ing. He became a US citizen in1972 and lived in New York City.He married the love of his lifePatricia Aspacia of Norfolk, Vir-ginia in 1973, daughter of thelate Dennis and IreneMousouris. Dennis and Patraised their children in Smith-town, Long Island before relo-cating to Mathews County, Vir-ginia in 1989. Dennis held manyjobs throughout his lifetime. Hetraveled the world as a merchantmarine, was a building inspectorfor NY insurance firms, a con-sultant and ship designer for theUS Navy, working for New Yorkfirms as well as the NewportNews Ship Yard. His major life'swork, together with his wife,was establishing GreenpointManagement LLC in 1978, a realestate management firm whichkept him active during his re-tirement. Dennis attended theGreek Orthodox Churches inNorfolk, Newport News, andRichmond. He was a member ofAHEPA (Newport News Chap-ter) and the Kefalos Society ofNorfolk, Virginia. He is survivedby his loving wife, Pat, and histhree children: Katie, Christina(husband John Kyrus), and Pete.Dennis was the youngest of sixclose siblings. Those in theStates include his brother Spi-rangelos Maliagros (wife Heidi)and two sisters Matina (husbandRoss) Patinitotis and Evangelia(husband Stefanos) Apostolou.He has two additional sisterswho live in Greece: BarbaraMaliagros and Anastasia Marcel-lou (late husband Andrea).Brother and sister-in-laws: Markand Patricia Mousouris, and Dr.Alex and Mary Girevendulis.Dennis loved them very muchand all his nieces and nephews:Andrea and Denise Mousouris,George Patiniotis, Cathy (John)Town, Taki (Christina) Apos-tolou, Stamatina (John) Sardi-nas, Jutta (Robert) Ferrer, Diana(Kalil) El Daher, Evangelia (Ste-lios) Chatzopoulos, and Christos(Sophia) Marcellos. The funeralwill take place at the Annuncia-tion Greek Orthodox Cathedralin Norfolk on Monday, August11th at 11AM. Donations to besent to the Greek OrthodoxChurch. Online condolencesmay be shared with the familyat www.hdoliver.com.

n SIGANOS, JAMESLITTLE ROCK, AR (From theLog Cabin Democrat, publishedon Jul. 26) – James George""Jim"" Siganos, 76, died Mon-day, July 14, 2014, at BaptistHealth Medical Center in LittleRock. Jim was born Feb. 26,1938, in New York City, N.Y., toGreek Immigrant Parents GeorgeJames Siganos and FotiniSiganos of Samos, Greece, whobecame proud American citi-zens. He was hospitalized for asudden attack of viral encephali-tis on the afternoon of Saturday,June 28, 2014. Jim was an avidgolfer and played his last 18holes with friends on Friday,June 27, 2014. He is survivedby his wife of 31 years, CarlaAntonia Siganos; sister, MatiaVamvounakis of Land O' Lakes,Fla.; five daughters, StephanieAnderson, Sandie Six, ChristieSiganos of Van Buren, Ark., She-lia Beene, of Mount Vernon,Ark., and Lydia deSambourg of

Hot Springs, Ark.; 14 grandchil-dren; and 11 great-grandchil-dren. Jim graduated from col-lege with a degree in MechanicalEngineering and held a Profes-sional Engineering (PE) Licensein Arkansas and Louisiana. Heworked for CON ED in New YorkCity, City Services Oil in WestTexas and Tulsa, Okla., Civil En-gineering Companies in FortSmith and Little Rock, Ark.,Lockheed Martin at NASA inNew Orleans, La., and his lastjob was for the Arkansas Depart-ment of Environmental Qualityin Little Rock. He retired in 2008at the age of 70. Jim served inthe U.S. Army at Fort Chaffee,Fort Smith, Ark., and was amember of the American Legionin Hot Springs Village. He was agolf marshal in the village for14 years at DeSoto and Isabellagolf courses. Jim served as usher,reader, choir member, altar as-sistant and Festival Worker at

Zoodoches Peghee Greek Ortho-dox Church in Hot Springs, Ark.,St. Nicholas Greek OrthodoxCathedral in Tarpon Springs,Fla., and Annunciation GreekOrthodox Church in Little Rock,Ark. He was also a member ofAHEPA (American/Hellenic So-ciety) in Arkansas and Florida.In addition to Golf, in his youthJim played NYC League baseballand he loved sports. His favoriteteams were the Arkansas Razor-backs, LSU Tigers, New YorkYankees, Dallas Cowboys, andNew Orleans Saints. Jim and hiswife Carla spent eight years inNew Orleans and Slidell, La., liv-ing on the golf course and en-joying Cajun festivals, SaintsGames and Gulf Coast beaches.Then nine years in Mayflower intheir log home on a farm enjoy-ing a menagerie of farm animalsand fostering for C.A.R.E. for An-imals. In 2000, they bought ahome in ""golf heaven"" HotSprings Village, Ark., where theyhave lived for 14 years, winter-ing in Florida since 2008. Jimwas a wonderful Christian, hus-band, brother, father, grandfa-ther, great-grandfather, golfbuddy, friend and straight-man.His laugh was contagious. Hecould not tell a lie or keep a se-cret and was quick to say ""I'msorry."" He was an excellentdance partner and his hugs wereunforgettable.

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By Demetris Tsakas

Entrepreneur and art loverGeorge Alikakos passed away onAugust 7, at age 80, plunging intomourning his children, Valerie.Elias, and Roula, grandsonGeorge, siblings Quincy and Mary,and other relatives and friends.

Alikakos was born in Laco-nia, and in 1967 came to study

in New York. He graduated fromFordham University and com-pleted his postgraduate studiesin Business Administration atBaruch College.

He was involved in real es-tate and opened an office in As-toria, while engaged in art col-lection. His passion for art andGreek culture played a crucialrole in his election for seven

consecutive years on the Boardof the Queens Museum of Art.

At the time, he created thelargest Greek-American fine artsreport, displayed at the QueensMuseum and in Thessaloniki.

In lieu of flowers, the familyinvites relatives and friends tomake a donation in memory ofthe parish of Holy Cross inWhitestone.

Art Aficionado George Alikakos Passes AwayNotice of Formation of Averity, LLC, a(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 05/01/2014. Office location:Bronx County. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: 261Madison Ave., 9th Floor, New York, NY10016. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273930/19167

Notice of Formation of JAY-C LLCArts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SS-NY) on 03/13/14. Office location: BronxCounty. SSNY designated as agent of LLCupon whom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail process to Corporation ServiceCo., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd.agent upon whom and at which process maybe served. As amended by Cert. of Correctionfiled with SSNY on 04/11/14, the officelocation is: Kings County. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

273927/17976

Notice of Formation of BOSSE HOMESERVICES, LLC (DOM LLC). Articles of Orga-nization filed with the Secretary of State ofNew York, (SSNY) on 05/14/2014. Office lo-cation: NASSAU COUNTY. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom process against the LLCmay be served. SSNY shall mail process to:UNITED STATES CORPORATION AGENTS,INC. 7014, 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn,NY 11228. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273914/19163

956 ATLANTIC AVENUE LLC a (DOM. LLC).Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on07/23/2014. Office location: Kings Co. SSNYis designated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shallmail process to: PO Box 380529, Brooklyn, NY11238 . Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273915/10801

VYND MANAGEMENT, LLC a (DOM. LLC). Ar-ticles of Organization filed with the Secretaryof State of NY, (SSNY) on 06/24/2014. Officelocation: Kings County. SSNY is designated asagent upon whom process against the LLC maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to: 82 Flan -ders Rd., Westborough MA 01581. Purpose:Any Lawful Purpose.

273878/19138

9 K’S PROPERTIES INVESTOR LLC, a do-mestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on9/18/12. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, 657Snediker Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11207. GeneralPurposes.

273870/10709

241 86TH ST. LLC, a domestic LLC, filedwith the SSNY on 6/4/14. Office location:Kings County. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to JohnEconomos, 9120 Ridge Blvd., Brooklyn, NY11209. Latest date to dissolve 6/3/2044.General Purposes.

273869/10709

Notice of Formation of LOVE KITTY LLC a(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 03/17/2014. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: LOVE KITTY LLC,3115 Clarendon Road, Basement Apt.,Brooklyn, NY 11226. Purpoce: Any LawfulPurpose.

273865/19132

Notice of Formation of NEW JOB EMPLOYMENTAGENCY LLC (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organi-zation filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork, (SSNY) on 06/18/2014. Office location:Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Mr. RicardoCastro, 463 56th St, 2 Floor, Brooklyn, NY11220. Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

273861/19227

EMUNAH EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING LLC,a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on6/9/14. Office location: Kings County. SSNY isdesignated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shallmail process to The LLC, 1010 Cleveland St.,Brooklyn, NY 11208. Purpose: EducationalConsulting Services.

273853/10709

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITYCOMPANY. NAME: TREESPROUTS LLC. (DOM.LLC ). Articles of Organization were filed withthe Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on05/01/14. Office location: Kings County. SSNY hasbeen designated as agent of the LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shall mail acopy of process to: c/o Treesprouts LLC, 245 16thStreet, Apt. 4, Brooklyn, NY 11215. Purpose: Forany lawful purpose.

273851/19118

Notice of Formation of BLACK SPRINGS LLC a(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filed withthe Secretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/27/2014. Office location: Nassau County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mailprocess to: BLACK SPRINGS LLC, c/o Nicolas N.Chai, 18 Prospect Ave., Port Washington, NY11050. Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

273858/19225

Notice of Formation of LS TEXAS, LLC (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/12/2014. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served. SSNYshall mail process to: LOU SCHEINER 3839FLATLANDS AVE , BROOKLYN , NY 11234.Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

273874/19136

Notice of Formation of MAXONO,LLC a (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/18/2014. Office location: NASSAUCOUNTY . SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: 7014 13th Ave.,Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any LawfulPurpose.

273892/19148

Notice of Formation of SOULBROVAS LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 06/04/2014. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Mathew Woodruff,855 Blake Ave., 2D, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Pur-pose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273900/19155

Notice of Formation of NEW YORK OFF ROADLLC (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 03/17/2014. Office location: NASSAU COUNTY. SSNY is designated asagent upon whom process against the LLC maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to: NEWYORK OFF ROAD LLC, 60 BROAD ST., STE3502 NEW YORK NY, 10004. Purpose: AnyLawful Purpose.

273902/19154

LITRAS FUNERAL HOMEARLINGTON BENSON DOWD, INC FUNERAL HOME83-15 Parsons Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432(718) 858-4434 • (800) 245-4872

APOSTOLOPOULOSApostle Family - Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew - Funeral Directors of RIVERDALE FUNERAL HOME Inc.5044 BroadwayNew York, NY 10034(212) 942-4000Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLECONSTANTINIDESFUNERAL PARLOR Co.(718) 745-1010Services in all localities - Low cost shipping to Greece

ANTONOPOULOS FUNERAL HOME, INC.Konstantinos Antonopoulos - Funeral Director38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,Astoria, New York 11105(718) 728-8500Not affiliated with any other funeral home.

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Page 9: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

by Turkey has created a new re-ality. As time passes, there is arisk that this reallocation willbecome permanent. I am veryanxious about this, and my con-cern is not to allow there to bea permanent division of Cyprus.

My message, then, on the oc-casion of this tragic anniversary,is this: we must prevent, at allcosts, a permanent division ofCyprus. The future of our coun-try and our children will bebrighter and more hopeful if wesucceed and overcome obsta-cles, and make possible theelimination of dividing lines,through a federated Cyprus,where the EU’s Acquis Commu-nautaire will be valid through-out the country.

COEXISTENCETNH: Do you think there

have been missed opportunities

for a resolution?NA: Whether or not there

have been missed opportunitiesis up to future historians tojudge. It is not helpful to lookupon the past with a critical eye.Rather, the past should help usdefine the future. Again, I be-lieve the right solution will be asituation in which everyone –Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots – will win.

Once the problem has beenresolved, Cyprus must play a re-gional role much greater thanmight be expected from a coun-try that small in size. It is the onlycountry in our region that exem-plifies coexistence between Chris-tians and Muslims, and maintainsexcellent relations with Israel andall the Arab states.

A solution would also allowfor the utilization of hydrocar-bons in the Eastern Mediter-ranean and create conditions for reconciliation between Greece

and Turkey.At the same time, a solution

would help to create a bettersense of stability and to attractsignificant investment, to thebenefit of all legal residents.

Therefore, there are so manyof the benefits a solution willbring, that I see no reason whywe cannot succeed. My wishand my hope is that the otherside will see it that way as well,and we can work toward a daywhen we celebrate the anniver-sary of the solution, not the darkanniversary of the invasion.

WIN-WIN SCENARIOTNH: Do you think Turkey

would every allow Turkish-Cypriots to live among Greek-Cypriots if they so choose? IsTurkey an obstacle to the Turk-ish-Cypriots to express their truewill?

NA: Turkey has always beenthe key to the solution. It is notthe only player on the chess-board, but it is the key.

You know, in the history ofCyprus, particularly in the his-tory of the Turkish-Cypriot com-munity and its relationship withTurkey in the negotiations, there

has always been this two-wayrelationship, where at times theTurkish-Cypriot leadership(Denktash) guides develop-ments in Cyprus or when thearmy in Turkey decides everymove at the negotiating table.

That Turkey maintains morethan 40,000 troops in the occu-pied territory, however, andplays a role as political mentorand financial sponsor, rendersit the most important factor inthe equation.

I do not want to give an opin-ion as to the true will of theTurkish Cypriots; the Turkish-Cypriot community also is notpolitically monolithic. Whattroubles us is procrastination, orrather the contradictory mes-sages we get from the otherside. That while we often hearpublic statements and positionson the need for immediate set-tlement of the Cyprus problem,and assurances to third partiesthat Ankara is ready to con-tribute to the solution, in prac-tice we see that readiness resultin concrete actions.

We, however, try to reformu-late the rules of the game, if youwant to break the deadlock, and

stagnant positions and opinionsthat did not bring about resolu-tion during the past 40 years,offering new perspectives aimedat creating a new dynamics. Wehope soon to have the appropri-ate response from the otherside.

THERE IS NO PLAN BTNH: How do you assess the

progress of the peace talks? Doyou share the view of those whosay that the Turks are trying tocreate conditions that precededthe request of recognition oftheir puppet regime?

NA: Talks have resumed un-der the agreement reached be-tween the two leaders on Feb-ruary 11, and has since beenactively pursued. As for ourpart, we are committed and en-gaged in this, and we want tocontinue and the successful con-clusion of the talks.

Regarding your second ques-tion, there is no Plan B. Turkeyhas tried to gain that recogni-tion for 40 years and failed. Theintegration of the totality of theterritory of Cyprus to the Euro-pean Union in 2004, with reaf-firmation from the United Statesand the international commu-nity, reaffirms that a two-statesolution is simply not an option.The context of the solution is inplace; what remains is to agreeon the content.

TNH: On this 40th anniver-sary of the invasion, is thereanything else you would like toconvey?

NA: This spring completed50 years of presence of the UNpeacekeeping force in Cyprus,and a few weeks ago, 40 yearsfrom the black anniversary ofthe invasion. I do not thinkthere is a single Cypriot on thisisland who does not want thecomprehensive settlement of theCyprus problem, and the rightto dignity, without fear and un-certainty of life.

We, therefore, as politicalleaders, are obligated not to dis-appoint our country, our coun-trymen, and history yet again.

Four years after asking inter-national lenders for bailoutsthat came with attached harshausterity measures that createdrecord unemployment and deeppoverty, Greece’s strugglingeconomy is already showingsigns of coming back and gain-ing strength, the Paris-based Or-ganisation for Economic Coop-eration and Development(OECD said.

According to the latest data,the OECD’s composite leadingindicators (CLI) for the Greekeconomy rose to 102.81 pointsin June, with 100 indicating along-term growth trend.

CLI are designed to forecastcurving points in an economy –either acceleration or a slow-down – six months before thisoccurs. The CLI stood at 102.71in May, having been treadingabove-100 ground continuouslysince October 2013. This reflectsa slowdown in the recession,which shrank 0.9 percent in thefirst quarter of 2014, year-on-year.

Prime Minister AntonisSamaras, who has stuck to hisguns with austerity despite see-ing his New Democracy Conser-vatives and its coalition partnerthe PASOK Socialists take a hit

in the polls, has been toutingwhat he calls a “success story”and recovery, although some in-dicators are not good and job-lessness is still a problem.

The Hellenic Statistical Au-thority (ELSTAT) this fall willrelease an initial estimate on theperformance of the economy al-though an initial projection by

Eurobank shows encouragingsigns and the possibility the GDPwill not shrink for the first timein 24 consecutive quarters.

According to Eurobank, most

economists polled by Bloombergforecast a 0.5 percent contrac-tion, while the bank’s chiefeconomist put the figure at -0.3percent. If it comes in betterthan that – and positive – thatcould rejuvenate confidence inthe stock market and the rest ofthe economy, the Eurobankstudy said.

The study, conducted by aca-demics Andrew Eggers andAlexander Fouirnaies, examineswhat happens in an economywhen the growth rate hoversaround zero.

GOOD STATSGreece’s economy is shrink-

ing at its slowest rate in nearlysix years, official figuresshowed, reinforcing hopes thatthe end of the country’s punish-ing recession is in sight.

The Statistical Authority saidGreece’s economy was only 0.2percent smaller in the secondquarter than it had been a yearearlier — the lowest since thethird quarter of 2008.

In the first quarter, the Greekeconomy was 1.1 percentsmaller, slightly worse than pre-viously thought. The statisticsoffice does not publish quarterlyfigures.

After six years of recession

brought on by the global finan-cial crisis and Greece’s home-grown debt problems, manyeconomists are predicting mod-est growth in the second half of2014.

Since the recession started in2008, Greece’s economy hasshrunk by around a quarter,partly because the governmenthad to impose tough deficit-slashing measures, such asspending cuts and tax hikes, toget its public finances into shapein return for internationalbailout loans from its Europeaneuro partners and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund.

Capital Economics analystJames Howat said the Greekeconomy appears to be “slowlyemerging from the abyss.” Buthe warned that recovery re-mains anemic, particularlywithin industry and among con-sumers, despite an expectedtourism boon.

“Growth remains too weakfor the country to reduce itshuge public debt without signif-icantly more outside help,” hesaid.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014 9

Signs of an Economic Recovery are Beginning to Take Shape in Greece

Cyprus President: a Two-State Solution is Not an Option

Greece's Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras talks to reporters while presenting budgetexecution figures at the finance ministry in central Athens, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014.

AP PHOtO/PEtROS GIANNAKOURIS

TNH Staff

August 15 is known through-out Greek Orthodoxy as theFeast Day of the Assumption ofthe Virgin Mary into Heaven.

But that date is also impor-tant to Christianity in anotherrespect. On August 15, 1309,605 years ago, the Knights ofSt. John conquered the Greekisland of Rhodes.

The Knights fled Jerusalemto escape the growing forces ofIslam, and sought refuge inCyprus.

But not happy becoming em-broiled in Cypriot politics, theKnights sought a new home inwhich to preserve Christianity,and after two years of fighting,

the Rhodians succumbed. TheKnights also established astronghold in the neighboringisland of Kastellorizo.

The Knights in Rhodes grewstronger as a military force, andrepelled attacks in 1444 by theSultan of Egypt, and one by Ot-toman Sultan Mehmed II, in1480, who had his eye on con-quering the Knights. But in1522, another Ottoman sultan,Suleiman the Magnificent, de-livered over 100,000 men to theisland. The Knights, though theyfought valiantly, only had aforce of 7,000 and were de-feated within six months. Thesurviving Knights escaped toSicily, and Rhodes was subjectedto Muslim rule.

This Week in Greek History:

The Knights ConquerRhodes

Greek regional authorities aretrying to figure out how much aRussian food embargo imposedon the West in retaliation forsanctions over Ukraine will costfarmers and the state.

Officials in seven prefecturesassessed the impact, particularlyon prized Greek peaches, aheadof a meeting on Aug. 14 in Brus-sels of European agricultural ex-perts.

Authorities in Imathia, Pella,Kozani, Larissa, Florina, Pieriaand Thessaloniki have startedrecording the value of theplanned exports of peaches andother products that have beencanceled by Russian firms.

The information is being sentto the Agricultural DevelopmentMinistry, whose officials havebeen working closely with thoseat the Development and Financeministries to draft a strategy forminimizing the impact of theRussian ban on Greek producers.

The government said thefarmers would be held harmlesswith payments from the state orEuropean Union, or both, buthave to get a waiver from rulespreventing agricultural subsidies.

Agricultural DevelopmentMinister Giorgos Karasmanis saidhe had discussed the problemwith the European Commis-sioner for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Dacian Ciolos,Kathimerini said.

He added that Greece – to-gether with Spain, Italy andFrance, which also exportpeaches – had sent a joint memoto the European Commission,proposing a common approachto dealing with the fallout of theban.

A statement by the Agricul-tural Development Ministrynoted that a “first round of talkson the expert level” in Brusselswould lead to the calculation ofdamages for each of the affectedEU member states.

Speaking to SKAI TV, DeputyForeign Minister Dimitris Kourk-oulas would not say whatamount in damages Greece isplanning to request from the EUbut said that if it’s not enoughthat Greece would ask for more.

Estimates of the losses likelyto be sustained by producers thisyear range from 50-200 millioneuros. Peach producers from thenorthern region of Macedoniacompiled a joint petition withrepresentatives of road haulagefirms, packaging companies andothers.

The farmers are appealing toBrussels for immediate action toavert an “economic disaster” thatthey said the Russian embargowould bring.

According to the petition, theRussian ban “is provoking incal-culable damage to the peach in-dustry in the middle of the har-vest, the most profitable season.”

But Greek officials down-played disaster talk and said theembargo on Greek exports ap-pears limited in the sense themajority of agricultural productshave already been exported toRussia.

They calculated damages tothe exporters reaching “no morethan 50 million euros,” as reportsof trucks loaded with unsold pro-duce were forced to return toGreece.

“The Foreign ministry willmove along the lines of offsets,”a ministry official said after a keymeeting of the players. Thatwould include “a compensatorybouquet of things.”

Greece MullsImpact ofEmbargo onIts Farmers

Continued from page 1

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades

ATHENS – With the CoastGuard unable to cope with therising tide of illegal immigrantstrying to sneak into the countryby sea, the Greek Navy will jointhe fight.

The Navy has put two gun-boats and a frigate to the taskof trying to stop immigrantswho continue to come, manyfrom Turkey, in a desperate bidfor a better life, even thoughmany drown when rickety andovercrowded craft capsize orsink.

The patrols are concentratingon attempted infiltration as wellfrom Africa and with peoplefleeing the Syrian Civil War aswell as conflicts elsewhere inthe Middle East.

Merchant Marine Ministry of-ficials said providing aid to theCoast Guard, which has been ac-cused of pushing back immi-grant boats, was discussed in ameeting between Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras and the minis-ters of Defense and MerchantMarine, Dimitris Avramopoulos

and Miltiadis Varvitsiotis.The initial plan had been to

put all six of the Navy’s gun-boats at the coast guard’s ser-vice.

They were to display CoastGuard insignia so their presencein the Eastern Aegean could notbe construed as an act of ag-gression by Turkey, Kathimerinisaid it was told.

However, it was finally de-cided that two gunboats and afrigate would be used, for now,with two Coast Guard officers

assigned to each.The beefed up security oper-

ation is being paid by the gov-ernment, not the EuropeanUnion’s border protectionagency Frontex.

Greece has complained bit-terly that the European Uniondoes too little to help Greece,the southernmost entry pointinto the bloc and the first desti-nation for most illegal immi-grants.

Frontex’s budget for Greekoperations has fallen 40 percent

between 2010-13 as immigra-tion inundation has increasedand the country has also beentrying to deal with a crushingeconomic crisis.

A recent request by PublicOrder Minister Vassilis Kikiliasfor extra European Union fundsto bolster Greece’s border secu-rity was rejected by EuropeanEuropean Home Affairs Com-missioner Cecilia Malmstrom af-ter she had approved 3.4 millioneuros from the EU’s Internal Se-curity Fund.

Greek Navy Joins Coast Guard in Patrolling Sea for Migrants

NICOSIA- Failure to pass a fore-closure bill as demanded by in-ternational lenders could under-cut Cyprus' recovery, analystssaid.

“It’ll put the entire programin jeopardy, not just the nexttranche of assistance, but theones after that as well…counton it,” economist Mike Spanostold the Cyprus Mail.

Cyprus received a 10 billioneuro bailout last year from theTroika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) but tha came withattached austerity measures andbank confiscations.

President Nicos Anastasi-

ades, who reneged on a cam-paign vow he wouldn't allowbank accounts to be touched topay for the bankers mistakes,has stuck stringently to reformsinsisted upon by the Troika, butthe foreclosure bill is in limbo.

As it did in Greece, which re-moved a ban on foreclosureseven though many people hit bypay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pen-sions and worker firings, theTroika wants to make it easierfor banks to seize property inCyprus.

Failure to pass the foreclo-sures bill will lead to banks fail-ing the scheduled stress tests,Central Bank Governor (CBC)Chrystalla Georghadji warned,

The Mail also said.“We have demonized some

issues. Without a healthy banksystem we have no economy.The banks may be blamed for alot of things but that doesn’tmean that debtors shouldn’t paytheir loans,” the CBC Governorsaid.

Georghadji told Parliamen-tarians that out of €52.5 billionin loans, €10 billion had homesas collateral and €4.0 billion ofthose were non-performing.

Apart from the banks, rejec-tion of the bill would spell trou-ble for state finances.

The bill must be approvedbefore the next Eurogroupmeeting in mid September, for

Cyprus to be eligible for the nextinstallment in bailout aid.

Finance Minister HarrisGeorgiades also warned that ifCyprus` sixth bailout tranchewas not disbursed in time, “wewill face difficulties and conse-quences beyond our control andplanning.”

Evdokimos Xenofontos, for-mer Deputy Chairman at theBank of Cyprus, agreed. “This isnot “This is not scaremongeringeither,” Xenofontos said.

“It’s common sense. If youfail to live up to an agreementwith your lenders, whoever theymight be but especially theTroika, then why they wouldthey ever consider giving you

the next tranche, let alone thetranches after that?”

If Cyprus doesn't get its nextinstallment of 400 million eurosit could spell trouble for the gov-ernment to meek payrolls andpay bills.

The Interior Minister has saidthat the government has enoughcash to keep operating and paysalaries only until November.

Spanos says the ripple effectcould have serious conse-quences.

“Think of contractors alreadyworking on government pro-jects, they’d stop being paid, togive you just one example. Theeffects would spread like can-cer.”

Foreclosure Bill Remains in Limbo, Cyprus Plan Unsettled

Page 10: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014

From our website…Beware of Greeks,And of Americans,Bearing “Social Justice”

In response to “It’s not apretty site in Greece”:

The 40 year dance of the Pa-pandreou/Marxist/Socialistmob and the carnage it deceit-fully filled the minds of its vot-ers over the years is the sad giftthat keeps on giving in ModernGreek society, unfortunately.Tragically, it is still dragging the

population along the brokenglass of its broken promises andhistorically predictable out-come. Those who cannot re-member the past are con-demned to repeat it.

Consider these quotes: “So-cialism is a philosophy of fail-ure, the creed of ignorance, andthe gospel of envy, its inherentvirtue is the equal sharing ofmisery.” — Winston Churchill.

“Democracy and socialismhave nothing in common but oneword, equality. But notice the dif-ference: while democracy seeksequality in liberty, socialism seeksequality in restraint and servi-tude.” — Alexis de Tocqueville.

As we hope for new and trueliberty-seeking thinkers to resus-citate Greece’s political land-scape, which ought to take atleast a generation, I think WalterE. Williams, the professor,columnist, and economist., bestsummarizes the miserable fail-ure of historical central planningand promises of Utopia onearth. He warns us about thecurrent buzzwords like “SocialJustice” here in America and toremember our Founders’ spiritof the Constitution and Decla-ration of Independence when hesays: “The path we’re embarkedupon, in the name of good, is afamiliar one. The unspeakablehorrors of Nazism, Stalinism,

and Maoism did not begin in the30s and 40s with the men usu-ally associated with thosenames. Those horrors were sim-ply the end result of a long evo-lution of ideas leading to theconsolidation of power in cen-tral government in the name of‘social justice.’ It was decent butmisguided Germans, who wouldhave cringed at the thought ofextermination and genocide,who built the Trojan Horse forHitler to take over. “We Ameri-

cans promote disrespect for ourConstitution, rule of law, andprivate property in our pursuitof ‘social justice.’ But the scumthat rises to the top has anagenda of command and controlthat’s leading toward totalitari-anism. And, incidentally, it’s nocoincidence that most of thoseat the top are lawyers — peoplewith a special, seemingly tu-tored, contempt for our Consti-tution and rule of law.”

Paul Poulos

August News, After All"In August there is no news, or even if there were, we do

not pay attention," once said the Italian writer/philosopherUmberto Eco, portraying with a few words the relaxed moodwith which people go about their lives during that month. TheGreek crisis, however, seems to be bucking that theory. How,for example, can any of us ignore the recent Wall Street Journalarticle that refers to unemployed Greeks over 50, noting thatmany of them are highly unlikely to ever again in their liveshave a full-time job?

The first reaction, of course, might be: so what else is new?In other words, those who have not been seduced by the rosystatements made by Greek officials, relaying success story aftersuccess story of the surpluses and other economic good news,know full well what is happening in the homeland.

They know, for example that this “1.5 million unemployed”number is not merely an impersonal statistic, but that theseare real people – “living” in Greece. (We place “living” in quotes,intentionally, because how can one plagued by such rampantunemployment and doomed to the inability to escape it, actuallylive?)

The Journal article is valuable, indeed, because in the midstof a lazy summer it spotlights Greece’s major problem – unem-ployment – which like a time bomb threatens to explode andshake the very foundations of Greek society.

Greece’s unemployment figures far worse than other coun-tries whose economies have been hamstrung by high unem-ployment, such as the United States. It is significant, for in-stance, that approximately 18% of men in Greece between theages of 40 and 59 lost their jobs last year (according to Euro-stat).

By comparison, among that same age group in the U.S.,only 8.2% had lost their jobs in 2010, the worst part of Amer-ica’s Great Recession in terms of unemployment. The numberin the U.S. has dropped annually, and fell to 5.7% last year.

Equally disappointing is Greece’s unfavorable comparisonto Spain and Italy, countries that have also been plagued by re-cession over the past few years.

Time and again we have emphasized in this space the dan-gerous long-term consequences high unemployment in Greececan generate. And we will do so in the future, as many timesas necessary, regardless of whether we sound disagreeable tothose who overemphasize macroeconomic achievements which,mind you, we in no way underestimate, much less deny – weonly wish to see them presented in the proper context.

We will continue to write about the need for drastic reduc-tion in Greece’s unemployment rate – drastic, we say, becauseit is ludicrous to think that a small reduction in a countrywhere the rate is an astronomical 27% would make any signif-icant impact. Otherwise, there cannot be substantial improve-ment in economic conditions.

The longer the rate stays this high, the harder it will be toreverse the situation.

Hey Iraq, We’re BaaackIn one of the most striking American foreign policy about-

faces in recent years, President Obama has resumed combat inIraq. Even though withdrawing American troops from thatcountry was one of his key promises in 2008, when he first ranfor president.

In a masterful media campaign, the president outlined thatthis is not a full-fledged return, but one subject to specificterms: first, there will be no boots on the ground. Second, ourair force will not become the Air Force of the Iraqis and Kurds.And, finally, that cooperation in this effort is expected of ourIraqi allies, religious groups, and various factions. If they donot prove that they want to save themselves, the presidentsaid, then how can we save them?

Obama seems to believe what he says. He does not want tobecome involved in a new military misadventure – either inIraq or elsewhere. Too many Americans have died fighting infaraway foreign lands. The United States has spent too muchof its wealth on such wars. It is time to look after our owncountry.

Quite correctly, the president added, in an interview withNew York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, that the greatestdanger to our country is ourselves. The force that weakens usis ourselves.

This country has unlimited potential, he said, from energy,to technology, to the economy. What remains to be done is tohave our two parties cooperate with one another because theway they behave sometimes paints the same picture as thefeuding parties in Iraq.

That is all well and good, except the United States in varioustimes throughout its history has tried to remain neutral, not toenter the polemic fray abroad, but eventually, for one reasonor another, has been unable to stay out of the quarrel.

As former Secretary of State George Schultz in a recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street journal warned, in “tumultuoustimes,” as are these, the world needs a strong United States.

The problems, as we see them, are two: First, that President Obama does not really believe in this

new course of action and second, which is is related to thefirst, that the limited force being used will not be sufficient. Itis well-documented that air strikes alone are not effective. So,we will inevitably nudge our way, little by little, into deeperand deeper involvement in Iraq.

The Vietnamization of Iraq, which we warned about recently,will tragically result in the amassing of more corpses.

Last but not least, it is important to mention that in theFriedman interview, the president said that Putin “could invade”Ukraine at any time, and, if he does, “trying to find our wayback to a cooperative functioning relationship with Russia dur-ing the remainder of my term will be much more difficult.”

Did he say that to deter Putin from invading Ukraine, wewonder, or to encourage him?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

WASHINGTON, DC – In thepast two months, we have wit-nessed unprecedented engage-ment on the Cyprus issue by theObama Administration, namely,Vice President Joe Biden. I havenever seen anything like it inmy 27 years of advocating forCyprus with the American Hel-lenic Institute (AHI).

The vice president’s visit toCyprus was historic. It was thefirst time in 52 years a sittingvice president visited there. Healso hosted two off-the-recordmeetings at the White Housewith leaders of the Greek Amer-ican community. One was a pre-trip briefing and the second apost-trip debriefing. I had theprivilege to attend them.

Folks who follow the Cyprusissue know Biden is no strangerto Cyprus. He is probably themost well-educated and well-versed public official on the nu-ances of the Cyprus issue. Forthis result, credit must be givento the Greek American commu-nity’s grassroots. For example,it was the then American Hel-lenic Institute Public AffairsChairman Dr. Dean C. Lomis,along with members of AHI-Delaware back in 1974, whomet with Biden to educate himabout the conflict and who havebeen keeping him informed eversince.

Without Biden’s strong sup-port through the many years aschairman of the Senate ForeignRelations committee (alongwith Senator Paul Sarbanes)who knows where this issuewould be today. Furthermore,we certainly would not havebeen as successful in havingCongress impose an arms em-bargo on Turkey immediatelyfollowing Turkey’s invasionwere it not for his assistance atthe time.

This year, Cyprus receivedhigh-level visits from U.S. De-partment of State Assistant Sec-retary Victoria Nuland in Febru-ary; and just two weeks ago, onthe heels of the vice president’svisit, Deputy Assistant Secretaryof State for European andEurasian Affairs Amanda Sloatand Deputy Assistant Secretaryof Defense for European andNATO Policy James Townsend.

What does all this mean?The only plausible explana-

tion is that Cyprus now has thepotential to be a major energysupplier for Europe and beyond.This is a game-changer. How-ever, as long as the Cyprus issueremains unresolved, it will com-promise how this energy will be

fully developed,and more impor-tantly, how it willbe exported. Bidenunderscored thispoint when hespoke at the 2014Clergy Laity Con-gress in Philadel-phia. He said: “Theexciting discoveriesof natural gas andoil offshore inCyprus and Israel,as well as potentialdiscoveries inGreece andLebanon, have anopportunity to position the re-gion as a global energy hub, andwe have no bones about it fromthe very beginning. And underinternational law, Cyprus ownsaccess to these valuable fieldswithin the region.”

But exporting it out of the re-gion is important. The UnitedStates and others would preferthat it be piped through Turkey.This will never happen becauseit would have to go throughCyprus’s Economic ExclusiveZone (EEZ) and without a set-tlement, it’s a non-starter.Therefore, energy has been thenumber one catalyst for in-creased U.S. engagement, mak-ing Cyprus a strategic partnerof the United States,

In Philadelphia, Bidenadded: “…Cyprus…has becomea genuine, strategic partner.

That’s what’s basi-cally changed; it’sbecome a gen-uinely strategicpartner of theUSA.” There areother areas that arealso defined asstrategic, and Bidencontinued, “On theissue of counter-terrorism, Cyprus isan essential link toour war on terror-ism. Essential Part-ner! That is no hy-perbole; that isabsolutely true.

Counter-terrorism is an area ofstrategic partnership, and pre-venting the spread of weaponsof mass destruction, includingthe removal of serious chemicalweapons and the prevention ofre-acquiring the nuclearweapons, little Cyprus has takenon an outsized role in our purenational interest in our strategicrelationship. But it’s not just astrategic partnership; it’s agrowing strategic partnership.”

For the United States to ben-efit fully from this strategic re-lationship Cyprus needs to befree and united. A settlementmust be reached that is just andviable, incorporating the normsof democratic principles. TheUnited States can go a long wayto make it happen. The vicepresident has started.

In Cyprus, he stated: “The

matter of the fact is that theGovernment of Turkey, in myview, is coming to understand,not for any noble reasons, butfor practical reasons, that thestatus quo on the island doesnot benefit them economically,militarily and politically. Andthere is significant potentialbenefit for Turkey in a bizonal,bicommunal federation.”

Biden’s remarks at theClergy-Laity Congress demon-strated his further, active en-gagement on the issues. There,he stated he raised the issues inconversations with TurkishPrime Minister Erdogan. There,he also stated publically thatTurkish troops should be re-moved from Cyprus. “I openedup and made clear the U.S. po-sition that although it was aCypriot negotiation, there wasand is and can only be one gov-ernment, one Cypriot, GreekCypriot government, on the is-land, with no Turkish troops onthe island,” he said.

As extremely important asthese comments are, it wouldbe helpful to see additionalsigns that the vice president’sstatements are the administra-tion’s policy. Signs Turkey willcease its intransigence on theseissues and play a constructiverole would also be welcomed.Turkey has not shown its will-ingness to do this. In the past,Turkey has manipulated the ne-gotiations through the TurkishCypriot leader. Turkey’s interestson Cyprus are not the same ofthe people of Cyprus. Unfortu-nately, not much progress hasbeen made as evidenced by thelack of movement on confi-dence-building measures. Thisis reality. Biden and the StateDepartment would be wise tounderstand it. While it’s ex-tremely important for negotia-tions to proceed, they cannotsucceed if the Turkish Cypriotswill continue to take their in-structions from Ankara and thepolitical will is absent.

Therefore, the United Statesgovernment must continue toput open pressure on Turkey. Asa community, we must do ourpart to remind policymakers ofVice President’s Biden’s encour-aging remarks. Because as his-toric and important as the re-cent flurry of comments andvisits have been, we need to bevigilant and adopt PresidentReagan’s slogan, “Trust, but ver-ify!”

Nick Larigakis is President ofthe American Hellenic Institute

The Current U.S. Interest in Cyprus: “Trust, but Verify”

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

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by NICKLARIGAKIS

Special to The National Herald

GEORGE SARAFOGlOU / SPEcIAl tO tHE NAtIONAl HERAlD

Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

A Leader in CyprusIt is not all that surprising that a national

problem – the Cyprus problem – that hasendured for 40 years without much hopeof immediate resolution does not seem allthat compelling to some, even as it remainsthe Hellenic world’s top issue.

A contributing factor to the lack of a so-lution, I must say, has been the lack of di-rection and resolve on the part of some ofCyprus leaders to achieve one.

But Cyprus’ current leader, PresidentNicos Anastasiades, is a reason to justifynew hope.

Anastasiades had the misfortune of hav-ing to deal with his country’s economic crisisright away; it began to plague Cyprus onhis first day in office. Therefore, he wasforced to channel his energy in the defenseof his people ’s bank deposits and the econ-omy overall.

Despite those crucial matters, Anastasi-

ades paid the proper attention to the over-riding national issue – the Cyprus problem.

He made clear from the beginning hisreadiness and willingness to achieve a so-lution.

He has the makings of a leader who canwithstand the magnitude of such a difficultdecision.

And he has no qualms, as he speaks thetruth and enlightens his countrymen on therealities at hand, to criticize their points ofview when necessary.

In an exclusive interview with our news-paper (page 1, lead story), President Anas-tasiades said many important things – butthis comment stood out, in particular:

“As time passes, there is a risk that thisreallocation [of Turkish Cypriots to theNorth and organized colonization efforts byTurkey] will become permanent. I am veryanxious about this, and my concern is notto allow there to be a permanent divisionof Cyprus. My message, then, on the occa-

sion of this tragic anniversary, is this: wemust prevent, at all costs, a permanent di-vision of Cyprus.”

And this is the essence. Despite its willingness to help, Athens is

struggling with its own crisis, and whilealong with Nicosia the two Hellenic capitalsconvey overtures of a united front, that'swhere it ends. Meanwhile, Ankara, unfor-tunately, has remained obstinate on certainpositions for decades.

That said, there has been a great deal ofgeopolitical change in the area surroundingCyprus.

Changes that make Cyprus a more im-portant geopolitical player on the regionalstage than it has been before, serendipi-tously at a time when the country is in thehands of a government that maintains closeand firm relations with the West.

Not least of all, Cyprus has a presidentwho is willing, and able, to solve the prob-lem.

US Vice President Joe Biden with Cypriot President Nicos Anas-tasiades before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in theCypriot capital Nicosia on Thursday, May 22, 2014.

tNH ARcHIVES

Page 11: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

[This article, shared with TNHby the author, originallyappeared in the WashingtonTimes]

By Ellen Karis

The best new reality show ontelevision this season is The RealAgents of the IRS on the Depart-ment of Treasury Network,which is owned by Obama, Inc.Unlike all those other House-wives shows, with the fakecooking, lips and sisterhood,these are real people who earnreal paychecks from real hard-working American taxpaying cit-izens. This show has mystery,intrigue, and talk of recycling,which makes the Green Move-ment giddy.

It is riveting to think that allof our deductions from our pay-checks are being spent on tryingto find “lost” emails from thenow-conveniently retired topIRS official Lois Lerner–or LoLe,as she called in the Accounting‘hood. The bedlam started whenit became blatantly obvious thatunder madam’s instructions, thetax-exempt department was toscrutinize any application thateven had an aroma of affinityfor Ronald Reagan or the movieKnute Rockne. Lerner’s disdainwas not expressed in flipping atable at a restaurant like a cer-tain NJ Housewife, who is coin-cidentally being indicted for taxevasion, but by trying to bringdown conservatives and thosewho love them. It must be doneto keep the network bosseshappy.

What differentiates this showfrom the others is all of thebandwidth involved in attempt-ing to solve the missing case ofthe lost, destroyed or buried-with-Jimmy-Hoffa emails. Re-sources from the Ways andMeans Committee, House Com-mittee on Oversight and Gov-ernment Reform, Treasury In-spector General for theAdministration, and the DC Dis-trict Court to name a few, areall being utilized to investigatethe legend of the missing harddrive, which was called Bigfootat the last Alternative MinimumTax Convention. The result is,millions upon millions of tax-payer dollars being spent juston this investigation alone, tofind these emails to prove thata war was being sanctioned onthese radical righties who wereapplying for tax-exempt statusthat they are eligible for…whichonly seem to be issued to illegalaliens nowadays.

Based on a Statement ofCash Flows, the results are NoCash In, All Cash Out. I am re-ally torn between which is moreludicrous and wasteful, thespending on Operation LoLe orthe $325,000 study per the

WasteBook 2013 Report thatwives need to calm down fasterto be happier with their hus-bands. Really…does that applyto when my husband keepshounding me to hang his newbicycle from the ceiling, like wejust graduated from Ohio State?

There is also a whole host ofCSI computer experts combingthrough hard drives, software,and recycling plants, whichwould make a great episode onHoarders for the techies. ThisIRS scandal has something foreveryone!

Recently discovered areemails that were sent by Ms.Lerner to an associate, her hus-band Michael Miles or Enter-tainment Tonight, depending onyour source. Ms. Lerner used petnames like “crazies” and“__holes” to describe approxi-mately 40% of the U.S. popula-tion which, from her viewpointare more destructive than alienterrorists. Yes, as we all knowfrom that fierce competitorMarge from McCool Junction,Nebraska has been known tostrap a bomb on herself whenshe makes the Bowling Cham-pionship finals. Ms. Lerner is, ofcourse, certainly entitled to heropinion but it does not bodewell in the bias department.

The comedic irony of thiswhole circus is that the IRS isthe governing authority on ap-plying the laws of a tax codethat is so enormous in size andso convoluted, it’s like combingthrough Bill Clinton’s mistresslist. The IRS also has the author-ity to audit any individual with-out any reason quicker than Mr.Obama dashing off to a BeverlyHills fundraiser while the Mid-dle East is imploding. Audit se-lections can be random, or yourname can be Googled, in whichcase if the search turns up thatyou signed a pro-fracking peti-tion, tsk, tsk.

When you are faced with thiselite group of number crunchers(some are very hard workingand bright people and some, notso much), you can be asked toprovide canceled checks for de-ductions you have made, whichis perfectly reasonable. Or youmay be asked to provide a re-ceipt for a tuna sandwich youpaid for at a business lunch, butyou threw out because it hadmayo on it.

When the audit is complete– this is a spoiler alert so stopreading now if you don’t wantto see how it ends – you aremost likely have to pay taxesyou owe with interest andpenalties that would have madeTony Soprano envious.

This circus will continue, Ms.Lerner will never be held ac-countable, and the Committeeof Investigation of Finding theExistence of Things that Don’tExist will continue to investigate.

Just wait until Obamacare isfully synched up to this stellaragency. I hear you will have tospeak to Bernie from the Estateand Trust Department to find aperiodontist in your network.

Ellen Karis is an actress andcomedienne in New York (El-lenKaris.com), and an accoun-tant.

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014 11

Among the funnier unin-tended lines in stories aboutGreece was that a few years agoby a college professor – he mayeven be one of those actuallygoes to classes when they’re ac-tually held, unless students orprofessors or the staff is onstrike.

Upset by ratings that the Uni-versity of Athens, and the restof the alleged colleges inGreece, were not listed in thetop 400 in the world, he said itdeserved to be in the top 50.

There may be 50 Americanhigh schools that are better,starting with Boston LatinSchool, Boston Latin Academy,and a host of private schools likePhillips Andover and Exeter andChoate and Middlesex and St.Mark’s.

The saddest part is that sincePlato’s Academy, founded in 387BC, Greece has come full circlefrom critical thinking to un-thinking rote memorization andcolleges seen as sinecures forno-heavy lifting work and whocares if you to class? This isGreece.

Greek students don’t have aclue what it’s like to struggle toget into a good university in theUnited States, or the UnitedKingdom or Germany or othercountries were higher educationis valued.

They don’t have to worryabout getting a GPA highenough so they won’t be booted.They don’t have to worry aboutpesky exams because who’skeeping score? They don’t haveto worry about graduating be-cause a recent survey has shownthat 90 percent of the 180,000enrolled students – some regis-

tered in the 1950s –are making no at-tempt to do so.

Most of them arelong gone and don’tcome near collegebut you can still seesome hangers-onand is there any-thing more patheticthan a gray ponytail on a rebelposeur who thinksit’s the 1960s?

There’s little realfree thinking atGreek universitiesbecause studentsand professors are aligned withparties and are highly-politi-cized, and the KKE Communists,who haven’t gotten the memothat the Berlin Wall is down andthe Soviet Union is busted, stilltry to sucker in recruits outsidethe college walls.

Last year the University ofAthens and Athens Polytechnicwere shut down for 13 weeksbecause of strikes but no one onthe staff missed a paycheck. Itwas funny though to see stu-dents wishing they could actu-ally go to class because a crush-ing economic crisis means thosewho do have a better chance offinding a job.

There have been a numberof failed attempts to reformGreek colleges, who don’t haveto worry about competition be-cause Greece, in violation of EUlaw, doesn’t recognize privateuniversities and Greek studentswho flee to Harvard or Prince-ton or Cambridge or Oxfordcan’t be hired as a typist in aGreek bureaucracy.

Education Minister Andreas

Loverdos – we’llhave to see if hemeans it because,eh, this is Greece –said he will ejectthe so-called eter-nal students andthose who are tak-ing more than 11years – yes, 11years – to get a de-gree. No studentsentering an Amer-ican college thisSeptember expectto be in the Classof 2025.

He said thatunder reforms passed a fewyears ago but never imple-mented, the names of any stu-dents taking longer than 11years to complete courses thatshould run to a maximum offive years will be erased fromuniversity registers.

“Everybody has had a longenough time to prepare,” saidLoverdos. “All these studentswere warned in 2007 and thenagain in 2011.”

He said he will not delay orchange the measure, which isdue to take effect on August 31.“Whoever thinks that we willgive ground on this for petty po-litical reasons only has to waitfor a few more days to find outwhether we will be true to ourword,” he said.

Loverdos said while most ofthese students were not a finan-cial burden for the state, thecleaning up of university recordswould allow the government tomake more accurate calcula-tions about the number ofteaching and administrative

staff required at the public in-stitutions. I smell another strike.

There was never even a realrush for college students to geta degree because many of themlive with their parents into their30s, have free rent, spendingmoney for coffee and cigarettesand hanging out and partying,and there’s a laissez-faire atti-tude toward studying and grad-uating.

This stuff starts in the highschools where students rou-tinely take over school buildingsfor vague protests and are al-lowed to do so, along with usingcell phones, sleeping and other-wise practicing for college life.

That’s why it’s baffling to seehigh school students anguishingover university entrance exams,especially when you can essen-tially make it if you spell yourname right.

Many of those who are ad-mitted don’t even show up theFIRST year, taking a break fromwhat they think is a gruelingexam to get in.

According to a study fromthe Agricultural University ofAthens (AUA) 565 students en-rolled at the school there in2000.

Twelve years later, only 358(63.4%) have graduated.

Of them, 17.2% completedstudies within seven years, themajority (40.4%) between 7-10years and 5.8% needed morethan a decade in order to obtaintheir degree.

Plato said it best. “Educationis teaching our children to de-sire the right things.” Let’s startwith going to class.

[email protected]

According to legend, whenAlexander the Great was march-ing through Asia, he encoun-tered certain tribes that were sofierce that he imprisoned theminto the bowels of the earth toensure that they would nolonger pose a threat to civiliza-tion. As a spin-off, some say thatwhen major atrocities (likegenocides) or particularlyheinous acts are committedthroughout the course of history,the perpetrators of these actsare descendants of these “vilenations” - cousins of vampiresand werewolves - who managedto escape the undergroundAlexandrian prison and menacehumanity once again. A quickglance at the atrocities currentlybeing committed in the MiddleEast, with modern-day barbar-ians decapitating and crucifyingtheir enemies, while raping,plundering and pillaging theirway through cities and townsmakes one wonder whether ornot the “vile nations” are a prod-uct of legend alone...

Undoubtedly, depraved actshave been committed by so-called “civilized” nations as well.Perhaps not with the scimitarand the hood, but with the cal-culator and the suit. After all,an attack by jackals or by vul-tures is nonetheless an attack.And while legend relegates theformer to “vile nations,” themodern term for the latter is de-rived from scientific taxonomy.In this case, some sort of muta-tion (for the worse) turnedhomo sapiens into homo eco-nomicus (man as a mere eco-nomic being), and subsequentlyinto homo technocraticus (manas a mere compartmentalizedtechnocratic being).

In the first transformation,man is divested of all his spiri-tual and intellectual qualities,and functions solely for the sake

of consumption.His impetus for do-ing anything andeverything is pri-marily economic,and all his actionsand planning areinterpreted accord-ing to this model.In the second mu-tation, even themost base and he-donistic urges asso-ciated with con-sumption areremoved from thehuman condition,and man is reduced to a com-partmentalized instrument thatfunctions blindly and solelywithin the parameters of his as-signed task – regardless ofwhether or not this task actuallybenefits the whole.

Consider the troika and thevulture funds that have over-taken the global economy toconstitute this equally “vile”species. Their ongoing malfea-sance in Greece has yielded de-struction and misery that only awar could produce. Granted, theGreek economy was left vulner-able to enemy attack fordecades because of the treach-erous actions of the partisangangs running the country, how-ever, this does not absolve thenation's would-be internationalsaviors from their crimes. Puredescendants of the thugs of theFourth Crusade, who purportedto save Christendom only tosack Constantinople and lay thegroundwork for centuries of Ot-toman rule in ancient Christianlands, these technocrats andtheir uncontrollably avariciousbosses will be the undoing ofcapitalism.

Generations of Greeks whofeared losing their homes andlivelihood to the “communistthreat” are turning over in their

graves as their chil-dren and grandchil-dren surrender thefamily estate to thebanks that their taxdollars and pensionfunds bailed outonly some shortmonths ago.

The populationis being taxed todeath amidst un-precedented salaryand pension cuts,not to fund neces-sary public benefitworks or job cre-

ation programs to provide des-perately needed work for thenearly one-third of the non-re-tired population (includingnearly two-thirds of youngadults), but to pay off usuriousand odious debts. The newly im-plemented real estate tax thatcame out this month has ex-ceeded the already bold targetset for it because of the insa-tiable greed of the troika thugscommanding every governmentministry, forcing the govern-ment to sheepishly leak plans ofreducing tax rates or institutingacross-the-board cuts as home-owners max out their creditcards and sell the family silver-ware to try to keep from gettingtheir land repossessed or goingto jail.

When Argentina went bank-rupt in 2001, the jobless ratereached 25% - nearly three per-centage points less than Greece,which had the (mis)fortune(?)of being “bailed out.” And al-though Argentina was declaredbankrupt once again this sum-mer, it will be interesting to seeif the consequences are betteror worse than the “therapy” be-ing force fed to Greece by thetroika, which is forced to admitmistake after mistake in its han-dling of the crisis (the most re-

cent of which was the IMF's ac-knowledgement that the slash-ing of salaries did not producegreater competitiveness), onlyto insist that Greece continuesdown the road to perdition.

Naturally, despite having apopulation that is nearly 50 per-cent bankrupt and an economythat was decimated as if by awar, the Greek people are stillfar better off than the Christiansof the Middle East, who aremeeting a fate similar to that ofthe Greeks of Asia Minor, Pon-tus, and the other Christian peo-ple of Anatolia in the early 20thcentury, when Turkey's MustafaKemal was committing genocideand laying the groundwork forthe Holocaust.

Thanks to the “democratiza-tion” of the Middle East, the 1.5million Christians in Iraq (in2003) and 1.8 million Christiansliving in Syria (in 2011) havebeen reduced to 400,000 in theformer and less than 100,000 inthe latter!

(Not so) strangely, the worldhas remained eerily quiet whilethis ethnic cleansing and massdisplacement has been takingplace, just as they did between1910-1922 in Turkey. Suffice itto say, just like then, some inthe West actually even assistedthe perpetrators of theseheinous acts, in order to ad-vance geopolitical interests.

Confronted with the evergrowing threat of the “vile” na-tions and the rise of homo tech-nocraticus, Greeks, above all,should remember that their an-cestors first taught the worldthat “man is the measure of allthings” and that they dedicated– and often sacrificed – theirlives fighting to free man fromall forms of tyranny.

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

Struggle for Humanity: Can Hellas Regain its Measure?

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LETTER FROM ATHENS

Greek Universities’ Own Version of “Lifelong Learning”

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

Hottest Show on Television:The Real Agents of the IRS

The IRS is the governing authority on applying the laws of a tax code so enormous and convoluted, it’s like combing through Bill Clinton’s mistress list.

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS

Special to The National Herald

We face many foreign policychallenges today, as even a pass-ing look at the news flow makesquickly apparent. One almostgets the sense that every placeour recent policy decisions have"touched" is now blowing up (ex-cuse the descriptive phrasing).None of the latest developmentsis more troubling than thegrowth and consolidation ofISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq andSyria, which now calls itself just"The Islamic State." Needless tosay that holding the mantle ofour greatest foreign policy chal-lenge in today's environment isan accomplishment on its own.

If I had to guess the pulse ofthe American public regardingthe establishment of ISIS, I wouldimagine most Americans askingthemselves, "how did we let thishappen?" For some, this wouldbe a rhetorical question, asked inexasperation following years ofIraq angst. For others, it wouldconstitute an angry demand foranswers – for explanations and

for attributions of culpability.Personally, it angers me when

politicians try to politicize toughforeign policy choices. For exam-ple, it has become a consistentmantra for Republicans to callon President Obama to showleadership on Ukraine; other-wise, the "great strategic mind"of Vladimir Putin will keep front-running the rest of the world,and President Obama will keepon "leading from behind." I donot consider that criticism fair atall, especially as PresidentObama has already been doingexactly what Republicans are de-manding from him: condemningthe Russian Federation and im-posing sanctions. I also thinkthose critics give far too muchcredit to President Putin's sup-posed grand strategy. I considerit just as likely that the RussianPresident is reacting himself tosituations on the ground – he justmay be more abrasive or brashthan we would ever accept inour own president.

But back to ISIS:how did we let thathappen? Obviously,a large part of thissituation originatesfrom the Bush Ad-ministration's deci-sion – and the sub-sequent bipartisancongressional ap-proval – to toppleSaddam Hussein.Clearly, creating apower vacuum in amassive countrywith artificial bor-ders and pent-upethnic tensions atthe heart of the Middle Eastwould not come without conse-quences. So, the gross underes-timation of the "nation building"that was ultimately required wasa major policy error with long-term effects, including, of course,ISIS.

Recall that the neocons de-spised nation building; so, whenI heard former Vice President

Dick Cheney placeall blame for thecurrent Iraq situa-tion on PresidentObama, I thoughtfor a second I waslistening to a joke!Everyone is in thebusiness of redefin-ing their legacy, butthey should reallybe focusing on ar-ticulating the truth,if not to the public,then to the familiesthat have suffered.

President Obamadoes bear some

blame, however. In particular, hemissed an opportunity that couldhave redefined this region, an op-portunity that did present itselfsolely during his term as Presi-dent. It was late 2012 and early2013 when President Assad's gov-ernment in Syria was at its heels.The United States could haveequipped the local, moderate op-position, and could have achieved

a desirable result (including theprevention of thousands of civil-ian deaths). Instead, the analysisparalysis gave the Syrian Presi-dent breathing room to rebuildhis government, to protract theSyrian conflict, and, ultimately, toprovide the physical and norma-tive space for ISIS to grow roots.In the process, the Obama Ad-ministration underwent a humil-iating exercise of accusing Presi-dent Assad of genocide (followingthe chemical attack in the sum-mer of 2013), preparing to inter-vene unilaterally, but then, at thelast minute, switching towardseeking Congressional approval,only to see President Putin takeSecretary Kerry at his word whenthe latter casually raised the re-mote possibility of Syria volun-tarily discarding its chemicalweapons. You get the point.

So here we are, finding our-selves with President Obama ask-ing Congress for half a billion dol-lars to equip the Syrian rebels.He has also just started limited

airstrikes against ISIS to protectAmericans working in the region.The general explanation offeredto justify the limited, reticent ap-proach to this growing danger isthat, if Iraqis don't have it in themto find a political solution fortheir differences, then the UnitedStates should certainly not be ex-pending any more resources ofits own. Maybe it is best not toinitiate an outright fight againstISIS and cause a direct confronta-tion. That said, the reticent ap-proach has only brought aboutunintended consequences so far,and we all know the UnitedStates has deeply-engrained in-terests in the region. These arenot easy choices to make, and, ifwe want to make them wisely,then we better start respectingeach other at home.

Stefanos Kasselakis is aninvestor and entrepreneur; Hehas traded commodities at Gold-man Sachs and founded cvfrom-greece.com.

by STEFANOSKASSELAKIS

Special to The National Herald

Economy & Politics

Scapegoating Rooted in Political Opportunism is Not a Viable Foreign Policy Strategy

Page 12: The National Herald · ologists discovered, believed to be from around the time of Alexander the Great’s reign. He called the discovery “clearly extremely important.” See story

GREECE12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 16-22, 2014

AMPHIPOLIS, Greece (AP) —Archaeologists excavating anancient mound in northernGreece have uncovered whatappears to be the entrance to animportant tomb from about theend of the reign of warrior-kingAlexander the Great, officialssaid Tuesday.

Prime Minister AntonisSamaras, who visited the

tightly-guarded site Tuesday,said the discovery "is clearly ex-tremely important" and datesbetween 325-300 B.C.

Alexander, who started fromthe northern Greek region ofMacedonia to build an empirestretching as far as India, diedin 323 B.C. and was buried inEgypt.

His fellow royals were tradi-

tionally interred in a cemeterynear Vergina, far to the west,where the lavishly-furnishedtomb of Alexander's father,Philip II, was discovered in the1970s.

But archaeologists believethe apparently unlooted Am-phipolis grave, which is sur-rounded by a surprisingly longand well-built wall with courses

of marble decorations, may havebelonged to a senior ancient of-ficial.

Excavator Katerina Peristerihas argued that the mound wasoriginally topped by a largestone lion that was unearthed acentury ago some 5 kilometersfrom the site. In the past, thelion has been associated withLaomedon of Mytilene, one of

Alexander's military comman-ders who became governor ofSyria after the king's death.

"The excavation will answerthe crucial question of who wasburied inside," Samaras said.

The tomb is expected to beopened in the next two weeks.

So far, workers have unveileda flight of 13 steps that lead toa broad path, flanked by ma-

sonry walls, which end in abuilt-up arch covering two head-less, wingless sphinxes — myth-ical creatures that blend human,bird and lion characteristics.

A strong police guard hasbeen mounted around thefenced-off mound, where earth-moving machinery was shiftingtons of dirt from the excavationTuesday.

Greek PM Says Important Tomb Found in Northern DigA partial view of the site where archaeologists are excavating an ancient mound in Amphipolis, northern Greece, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — In anobscure corner of a park sits aforlorn reminder that, 10 yearsago, Athens hosted the 2004Summer Olympics. The crum-bling miniature theater is in-scribed with the words "glory,wealth, wisdom, victory, tri-umph, hero, labor" — and it iswhere visiting Olympic officialsplanted an olive sapling thatwould bear their names for pos-terity.

Once a symbol of pomp, themarble theater is now an em-blem of pointless waste in a ven-ture that left a mixed legacy: abrand-new subway, airport andother vital infrastructure thatsignificantly improved everydaylife in a city of 4 million, setagainst scores of decrepit sportsvenues built in a mad rush tomeet deadlines — with littlethought for post-Olympic use.

As Greece groans under acruel economic depression,questions linger of whether theAthens Games were too ambi-tious an undertaking for a weakeconomy. While economistsagree it would be unfair toblame the meltdown on the 17-day Games, the post-Olympicera is seen as a decade of lostopportunities — including fail-ure to significantly boost the

country's sporting culture. It's alesson to which Brazil may payheed, as it races to completeprojects ahead of the 2016Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"We didn't take advantage ofthis dynamic that we got in2004," said former Olympicweightlifting champion PyrrosDimas, a Greek sporting heroturned Socialist member of Par-liament. "We simply made thebiggest mistake in our history:We switched off, locked up thestadiums, let them fall to pieces,and everything finished there."

"We spent a lot of money forsome projects (that) are shutand rotting," said Dimas, whowon his last Olympic medal inan Athens arena now reinventedas a lecture and conferencevenue. "There were projects thatshould have cost 2 and 3 million(euros) and suddenly becameso big that they cost 13 and 14million. There was no control."

The latest government esti-mate sets the final cost of theGames at 8.5 billion euros, dou-ble the original budget but a dropin the ocean of the country's sub-sequent 320 billion-euro debt,which spun out of control after2008. Former organizing com-mittee chief Gianna Angelopou-los has commissioned the first in-

dependent survey of theOlympics' overall economic ef-fect. It will aim to weigh Olympicoverspend and waste against apossible boost to the crucialtourism industry — arrivals havealmost doubled since 2004, from11.7 to 20.1 million — foreigninvestment and employment.

"The Olympics were very im-portant in increasing the brandawareness ... of Greece," saideconomist Theodore Krintas,managing director of AtticaWealth Management. "But wedid, very, very limited things ona follow-up basis."

Andrew Zimbalist, a U.S.economist who studies the finan-cial impact of major sportingevents, said past experienceshows that hosting the Olympicsdoes not generally promote eco-nomic development: "At the endof the day, the main benefit tobe had seems to be a feel-goodexperience that the people in thehost city or the host countryhave," said Zimbalist, a professorof economics at Smith College."But that's a fleeting experience,not something that endures.

"Why couldn't Athens havesimply invested ... in develop-ment and transportation andcommunications and infrastruc-ture, and not hosted the

Olympics?"The cost of hosting the

Olympics and ensuring a city isnot left with white elephants isa key issue facing the Interna-tional Olympic Committee andnew president Thomas Bach.Scared off by the record $51 bil-lion price tag associated withthe 2014 Winter Olympics inSochi, several Western Euro-pean cities declining to bid ordropped out of the race for the2022 Winter Games.

Reducing the cost and focus-ing on long-term sustainabilityis part of Bach's "OlympicAgenda 2020," a package of re-forms that will be voted on at aspecial meeting in Monaco inDecember.

In Greece, few of the sport-ing venues — mostly purpose-built permanent structures —have seen regular post-Olympicuse. The badminton venue is asuccessful concert hall, but theempty table-tennis and gymnas-tics stadium is up for sale, andthe beach volleyball center hasbeen rarely used and was re-cently looted.

Most venues are padlocked.The seaside site of Athens'

old airport hosted half a dozenvenues. Politicians havedithered for a decade over how

to use the sprawling plot —meaning facilities have simplybeen left to rot. Lengths of largetubing lie near abandoned run-ways. Decommissioned jumbojets sit near where plannersonce dreamed of building a wa-ter amusement park. This year,private investors won a tenderto develop the entire area intoa residential, commercial, hoteland leisure center, in a 7 billion-euro investment.

Greek Olympic Committeehead Spyros Capralos, a seniormember of the 2004 organizingcommittee, said the state of thesporting venues "puts our coun-try to shame." The former swim-ming champion and two-timeOlympic water polo competitorblames bureaucracy and lack offoresight.

"Nobody was thinking whatwould happen the next day," hesaid. "Many of the sports facili-ties were constructed just to beconstructed ... and nobodythought that they required a lotof money for maintenance afterthe Olympic Games."

In their haste to meet im-placable construction deadlines,government officials didn't evensecure proper planning permitsfor several venues, including theelegant crown on the main

Olympic Stadium — a steelcanopy by Spanish architectSantiago Calatrava.

Greece's sports ministry saysit has finally rectified the per-mits oversight, which until nowhindered necessary repairs andmaintenance, and funding hasbeen found to conserve the roof.

Overall, Capralos insisted,the Games were a boost forGreece, mainly due to non-sports infrastructure pegged tothe Games that otherwise mightnever have materialized.

"It saddens me that publicopinion has come to believe theAthens Olympic Games werenot successful," he said. "Theywere very much so, both fromthe sports aspect and throughprojects that gave life to Athens— tourism has increased, thereis a modern airport, roads, themetro, phones work properlyand when it's very hot the powersystem doesn't collapse."

Capralos believes the legacyof the stadiums can still be sal-vaged.

"Simply, someone must dowhatever is needed for thevenues to be taken over by theprivate sector — because I don'tthink the state can be a verygood entrepreneur or venuemanager."

Athens Olympics Leave Mixed Legacy, 10 Years Later

Ten years have passed since Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics and Greeks scrambledto get the city ready for them. So consumed with meeting the deadline, they didn’t give much

thought to the sports venues’ post-Olympic use.PHOtOS: AP PHOtO/tHANASSIS StAVRAKIS