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Posts Tagged ‘Greece’

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire called ‘unsportsmanlike’ by Greek prosecutor

Harry Maguire, the Manchester United, has been found guilty in a Greek court of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, violence against public employees and insult. United say he will remain their captain. Maguire says he’s innocent and will appeal the sentence of 21 months, 10 days in prison, suspended for three years. What was a minor incident on a Greek island is all over the news because Maguire is famous. And for that reason Greek lawyer Dr Ioannis Paradissis is invited to address the nation via BBC Radio 4. The prosecutor representing Maguire’s apparent victims tells the Today Programme:

“…[my clients] told me they are still waiting for an apology and they haven’t heard any and this is what I find quite shocking and quite unsportsmanlike, because fair play means when I’ve done something wrong, I apologise.”

It’s personal, no? Maguire might well be a berk, but when the prosecutor goes on the radio and alludes to the famous face’s job as playing some part in the incident, things look a bit odd, unfair even. Why should Maguire be “sportsmanlike” in a criminal court? It’s not sport. He’s not contesting the ref’s decision. He’s appealing a serious criminal conviction.

Posted: 26th, August 2020 | In: manchester united, News, Sports | Comment


Blame the Jews: Greeks says Jews not Germans control their finances

The Jewish quarter, Smyrna, Greece, 1900s.

The Jewish quarter, Smyrna, Greece, 1900s.

 

In today’s edition of ‘I blame the Jews?’ the Free Beacon reports: “85% of Greeks Believe the Jews Have Too Much Power Over Global Finance“:

Are Greeks turning into Germans?

A new poll by the Anti-Defamation League found that the majority of Greeks continue to hold anti-Semitic views about Jewish control over finance and the global economy, despite a recent drop in anti-Jewish attitudes in other parts of Europe.

Nothing’s changed, then. Although it’s encouraging to nhear that the Fernch, Austrian and even the Swiss are less racist than they have been.

Greece—which faces the prospect of economic default at midnight on Wednesday—surpasses Iran and trails just slightly behind Turkey in the percentage of its residents who hold anti-Semitic views.

Can they push for the coveted Number 1 spot?

According to the ADL poll, 90 percent of Greeks agreed with the statement that “Jews have too much power in the business world” and 85 percent agreed “Jews have too much power in international finance markets.” 

In addition, 70 percent said that “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust” and 51 percent said “Jews don’t care about what happens to anyone but their own kind.” 

They still talk about teh Holocaust? Maybe after the all surivors are dead the Jews will shut up, already. And its good to see that Mel Gibson still has a European fanbase:

One-third said Jews are “responsible for most of the world’s wars” and 41 percent agreed that “People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.” 

And 59% said people hate Jews for the way they don’t behave. There is much in how the question if asked.

Of course, these days it’s easy to disguise your anti-Semitism as anti-Israel.

 

Posted: 2nd, July 2015 | In: Reviews | Comment


Let’s Get The Gypsies: The Big Fat Darkies Are Stealing Blonde Children In America, Greece, Ireland And Your Town

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ANY gypsy woman who has cheated on her husband with a blonde man had best watch out. And blonde gypsies should just run. The powers that be are eyeing non-Aryans with a suspicious eye. The Mirror and Express lead with news of another blonde child seized from a Roma gypsy camp, this one in Dublin, Ireland.

The child has blonde hair and blue eyes. This not that she not only makes the front pages but has been removed from her darker haired and skinned ‘parents’. This echoes the news of Maria, the blonde removed by Greek police from gypsies.

This Irish child will have DNA tests to establish her identity and links to her family.  No arrests have been made. But the child is in the care of the Irish state. What could go wrong?

The Times adds:

The couple she was living with told police their “daughter” was born at Dublin’s Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital in April 2006, the Sunday World newspaper reported. However, the hospital had no record of the birth and the name and date of birth given by the parents is different to records with the register office.

A birth certificate was deemed to be inconclusive and a passport bore a picture of a baby and could not be matched to the seven-year-old. A consultant at another hospital told detectives it would be unusual for Roma parents to have a blonde-haired child.

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Posted: 23rd, October 2013 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comments (4)


Irony overload: Greece follows up arrest of Nazi-loving Golden dawn by seizing immigrants

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HOW we cheered when the righteous, freedom-loving Greek police arrested the Nazi-loving Golden Dawn MPs.

Buoyed by that success, and cheered on by the Left, the Greek police went out to nick some more wrong ‘uns. No not violent bigots. Illegal immigrants.

Police arrested 41 people in central Athens on Sunday night during a large operation involving some 150 officers. The arrests were made around Omonia Square and in Aghios Panteleimonas. More than 330 people were detained. The majority of those arrested were immigrants who lacked the necessary paperwork.

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Posted: 30th, September 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comments (4)


Isn’t this a surprise! Greece will need another bailout!

Supporters of the far-right party Golden Dawn hold up Greek flags and a sign that reads in German ''Merkel get out'' during a protest outside the Germany embassy in Athens on Friday, March 22, 2013. The party protested Germany's lead role in Cyprus' bailout crisis, as the island remains on the brink of bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

LOOKS like the Germans are finally waking up to reality here, admitting that Greece will need another bailout.

Ms Merkel’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, admitted last month that Greece will need another bailout, raising fears among Germans that they will have to foot the bill.

On Sunday, the Chancellor refused to rule out another aid package but dismissed debt haircuts, which would hurt Germany as the country with the largest exposure to Greece.

“I am expressly warning against a haircut,” she said. “It could create a domino effect of uncertainty … in the eurozone.”

On Monday, Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras said his country may have to renegotiate its bailout terms in a bid to ease its debt burden.

He told a German newspaper this could involve lower interest payments and more time to repay €240bn in loans.

Greece also faces a finance black hole of up to €10bn (£8.6bn).

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Posted: 29th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment


Soula Alevridou is here to save Greece with sexy football

TO Greece, where football club Voukefalas Larissa has been sponsored by two brothels, Villa Erotica and Soula’s House of History. Prostitution is legal in Greece. Club president Yiannis Batziolas explains the thinking behind the 1,000 euros rescue package:
“Unfortunately, amateur football has been abandoned by practically everyone. This year, because of the more general financial crisis, that has affected us greatly. We were forced to seek any type of financial support for the club so that we could survive.”

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Posted: 20th, October 2012 | In: Sports | Comment


Evangelos Venizelos and Greece’s Jewish and gay problem

IT always comes back to the Jews. Evangelos Venizelos, leader of Greece’s socialist Pasok party and former Greek finance minister, reportedly, says the names on the Lagarde list are “Jewish”.

The Lagarde list is what the Greek press have dubbed a list containing 1,991 names of wealthy, Swiss-bank-account-possessing Greeks. It’s named after French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund. Evangelos Venizelos says he was given the list.

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Posted: 15th, October 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment


In photos: The Greek Army played Über Alles as Angela Merkel landed in Athens

IN 5 years the Greek economy has shrunk 23%. Some Greeks believe the country is in the thrall of Germany. So. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Athens today, demonstrators shouted slogans, dressed as German World War II soldiers with Nazi swastika armbands, called her a Nazi, compared her to Hitler, and as Merkel’s private plane landed at Eleftherios Venizelos airport the Greek military band struck up that German national anthem (“Germany, Germany above everything”). The past is never far away…

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A protestor holds a banner with the picture of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that reads "wanted" and "war compensations" during a protest in Athens on Tuesday Oct. 9, 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes her first visit to Greece since the eurozone crisis began here three years ago. Her five-hour stop is seen by the government as a historic boost for the country's future in Europe's shared currency, but by protesters as a harbinger of more austerity and hardship. More than 7,000 police will be on hand, cordoning off parks and other sections of central Athens, to keep demonstrators away from the German leader who is due to arrive today in the Greek capital for talks with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. . (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Posted: 9th, October 2012 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment


Greece votes and Spain gets it – Spain’s bond yield kills the euro

IT was supposed to be that if the “right” Greek party won the election then the pressure would be off Spain and Italy: for the euro would be saved.

The “right” party in Greece being anyone other than Syriza essentially, as the other two that had even a hope (Pasok and Ne Democracy) have already agreed that they’ll do the right thing and keep Greece paying its debts and in the euro.

So, that happened: New Democracy squeaked past Syriza and the euro is saved! Spain is safe!

That’s Spain’s 10 year bond yield at 7.1 per cent according to Bloomberg’s composite data.

Ooops!

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Posted: 18th, June 2012 | In: Money | Comment (1)


Well, Greece is screwed whichever way it turns

LOOKS like any which way Greece tries to turn it’s screwed. If they try and stay in the euro then they’re screwed by a decade or more of this internal devaluation, this austerity. Things would get better if they leave, after the horrible shock of actually leaving.

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Posted: 23rd, May 2012 | In: Money | Comment


Greece rages: Dimitris Christoulas and Marios Lolos die as racism rises

GREECE is bleeding. A 77-year-old retired pharmacist named Dimitris Christoulas committed suicide at Syntagma Square in central Athens. In a suicide note, he claimed the financial crisis in Greece had ‘destroyed’ him. Hundreds attended the ceremony at an Athens cemetery. At a march in Athens to mark his death, a policeman was badly beaten. Also, photographer Marios Lolos, 46, who heads the Greek Photojournalists’ Association and works for the Chinese news agency Xinhua, suffered a skull fracture while covering the protest. Other Greeks are targeting foreigners – not only the Germans who are seen as the enemy. Several political parties have promised to take a tougher line on illegal immigration, ahead of a general election, expected in late April. Greece is the busiest crossing point for illegal immigration in the European Union. It’s getting hot in Greece….

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An injured and bleeding policeman is assisted by passersby after he was attacked by protesters in Athens' main Syntagma Square, Saturday, April 7 2012. A protest march that followed a memorial service for a retired pharmacist who committed suicide earlier this week turned violent with marchers beating a policeman in central Athens and stealing his uniform, bulletproof vest, manacles and walkie-talkie. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

Posted: 11th, April 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment


So how will Greece leave the Eurozone? Answer: painfully (photos)

HOW will Greece leave the Eurozone? Painfully it seems.

There’s a general agreement among realist economists (ie, not those drunk on some nonsensical dreams of European unity) that the euro as it was set up was a decidedly bad idea. That even if it had been better set up Greece certainly shouldn’t have been part of it and that it would be better for Greece and everyone else if Greece were to be out of the euro.

All of this is simple enough. The problem is how do we get from here to there? As this column points out in what for economists is sneering and vitriolic language, erm, actually, we probably can’t.

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Posted: 11th, April 2012 | In: Money | Comment


Will people please stop blaming Greece on the Neoliberals?!?

AS a fully paid up neoliberal myself it does irritate immensely when we get blamed for things that are absolutely none of our fault. It’s just fine to blame us for things we did fuck up (the design of British Rail’s privatisation for example) But getting shouted at because people are doing absolutely the opposite of what we Green Lizards controlling humanit recommend is going a bit too far.

Take this for example:

The slow death of Greece was a political project from the start, with politicians accepting the prescriptions of neoliberal economics.

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Posted: 5th, March 2012 | In: Money | Comment


Don’t Sweat the Greek CDS

NOW that we can see what the Greek bond deal looks like we can now see that the Greek CDS contracts will almost certainly be triggered. These are those toxic waste derivatives which are going totally destroy western capitalism. Man.

Sadly for the conspiracists they’ll do absolutely no such thing for two reasons.

The first is that as the FT reports, there’s piss all of these contracts around.

The use of collective action clauses in Greek bonds, as part of the country’s sovereign restructuring, seems set to trigger credit default swaps. For the $3.2bn of net notional still outstanding on the contracts, it’s been a long road to a credit event.

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Posted: 23rd, February 2012 | In: Money | Comment


Don’t Fear The Greek Default: It’s A False Alarm

TO a large extent all this alarm about what’s going to happen when Greece defaults is just that: alarm. Alarm with no real basis in anything that’s really likely to happen.

There’s two things you need to know, over and above the usual background.

That usual background being that Greece owes around €350 billion and there’s no way it can pay it back. So, default it will have to be.

The two things? The first is that banks don’t just sit there and wait for the default. They do what is called “mark to market”, or at least are supposed to, and this means that when a loan or a bond is going sour they write down the value of that bond or loan. In effect, they take the loss they think they can see coming now, rather than waiting for that loss to actually arrive. We’ve seen in recent days that RBS has written their Greek debt down to 50% of face value and so too has Deutsche Bank. We’re pretty sure actually that all of the UK and most of the German banks have done this. We worry a bit that most of the French ones haven’t but that is Sarkozy’s problem, not ours.

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Posted: 27th, October 2011 | In: Money | Comment (1)


Stupid, Stupid, Stupid: Greece To Become Centre Of Europe’s Sun Belt

I’M not sure that I’ve actually seen anything quite this stupid for some time:

“Greece could become the showcase of solar development in Europe‘s ‘sun belt’ and that development could become the main driver of Greece’s green economic growth,” said Costas Karayiannis, chief executive of Greece’s only solar energy investment fund, Axeon Navitas. “Germany is the global leader in solar energy and it has a lot less sun than Greece. It makes a lot of sense for it to invest in this type of project here.”

Yes, we know that Greece is bust, yes, we know that the Greek Government has run out of money and yes, we also know that yer average Greek on the Corinth Omnibus hasn’t got any money either.

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Posted: 7th, October 2011 | In: Money | Comment


Photos On This Day In History: 1974 – Greece And Turkey Wage War Over Cyrpus

ON July 20, 1974, Turkish forces invaded Cyprus in response to a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The Greeks, governed by the military, deposed the President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios. Five days later, Turkey invaded.  As a result, Cyprus was split into Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north. The story in photos:

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Turkish troops parade at Geunyeli, near Nicosia, Cyprus, on the anniversary of the great offensive in the Turkish war of independence on Sept. 1, 1974. (AP Photo)

Posted: 20th, July 2011 | In: Flashback | Comment


European Parliament Goes Bonkers Trying To Rid EU Of Speculators Betting On Greece Going Bankrupt

IT’S bad enough that we’re being ruled by foreigners but why do they also have to be either ignorant or bonkers?

The European Parliament is attempting to rid the EU of speculators betting on Greece going bankrupt, voting for a ban on the practice of naked short-selling of credit default swaps.

You what? Is it just because it’s all about money in offices that our lawmakers are so horribly ignorant?

A credit default swap is insurance. Just like house insurance: you own a house, it might burn down, so you pay an insurance company money and on the off chance that your house does burn down they will then give you lots of cash.

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Posted: 6th, July 2011 | In: Money | Comment


The Guardian Encourages Readers To Riot In Gorgeous Greece

THE Guardian has not learnt its lesson about meddling in foreign affairs.

It now invites readers to head to gorgeous Greece for some sun, sea and stun guns.

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Posted: 21st, January 2009 | In: Photojournalism, Reviews | Comment (1)


1982 And Bust: Trade Will Contract By 2.1 Percent In 2009

DON’T bank on Ireland, Italy or Greece…

Or anywhere else for that matter; the World Bank has consulted the goat’s entrails and it’s not looking good: it believes that global growth will be a mere 0.9% next year, and “The volume of world trade, which grew 9.8 percent in 2006 and an estimated 6.2 percent this year, will contract by 2.1 percent in 2009.”

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Posted: 10th, December 2008 | In: Back pages | Comment (1)