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ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ
ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
The National Herald
cv
A weekly Greek-AmericAn PublicATiOn
Bringing the news
to generations of
Greek-Americans
www.thenationalherald.com
March 9-15, 2013
VOL. 16, ISSUE 804
$1.50
Samaras and Erdogan Money Laundering Charge Obstacle for Cyprus
Anastasiades Seeks
Meet to Seek New Way
to Secure $17 Billion
To Further Discussion
From Wary Eurozone
ISTANBUL (AP) — Regional rivals Greece and Turkey want to
overcome long-standing differences through dialogue and can
resolve Cyprus's division if they
show the will, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said Monday.
Erdogan was speaking alongside his Greek counterpart, Antonis Samaras, following the
second joint ministerial council
meeting between Turkey and
Greece aimed at building trust
and strengthening economic ties
between the two countries,
which have nearly gone to war
three times between 1974 and
1996. Ministers from both countries signed more than two
dozen cooperation deals, including in health, tourism and fighting illegal migration.
Relations between the uneasy NATO allies have improved
greatly since the late 1990s, but
Athens and Ankara remain at
AP PHOTO
Greek PM Antonis Samaras
speaks to the media with his
Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, not pictured,
after talks in Istanbul, Turkey.
odds over a broad range of issues, including war-divided
Cyprus, Aegean Sea boundaries,
and illegal immigration. Greece
is a main transit point for illegal
immigrants entering the European Union, with most crossing
into the country through Turkey.
"We may have different opinions but we want to solve these
by launching new channels of
dialogue," Erdogan said. "I hope
we will overcome the Cyprus issue through our common will...
It's time to bury this problem in
history."
Cyprus was divided into an
internationally
recognized
Greek speaking south and a
breakaway Turkish speaking
north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters
of union with Greece.
"This is a good day for Turkish-Greek ties," Samaras said,
adding: "There have been ups
and down in our ties, we cannot
ignore this fact. But we want the
history that we shall be writing
from now on to be recalled by
chapters entitled 'peace' and 'development.'"
The leaders did not directly
address the contentious issue of
determining each neighbors'
rights for exploring and exploiting potential mineral and fossil
fuel deposits, but the Greek
leader said the question of the
delineation of the continental
shelf was being discussed by officials during regular lower-level
discussions.
Also, Greece has offered its
support to regional rival
Turkey's bid to host the 2020
Olympics.
The prime ministers of both
countries signed an agreement
pledging to cooperate on Istanbul's latest bid for the games.
The accord was signed by
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan and Greek Prime MinContinued on page 11
TNH Staff
NICOSIA, Cyprus – The top
agenda item for Nicos Anastasiades, the newly-elected president of the Republic of Cyprus,
is securing a a 17 billion euro
bailout from the members of the
Eurozone. One of the main obstacles is the island nation’s reputation as a haven for moneylaundering,
Cyprus partners also have
purely economic concerns. The
Associated Press (AP) reported
that “Eurogroup chairman
Jeroen Dijsselbloem declined to
answer questions on whether
Cypriot bank bondholders —
and possibly even depositors –
should be forced to pay a share
of the cost of the bailout, saying
the negotiations with Cyprus'
new government were only
starting. Dijsselbloem reiterated
that the eurozone seeks to finalize the bailout by the end of the
month.”
The AP explained, however
that “the idea of making bondAnthony S. Papadimitriou, President of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, received the Award of Excellence for the promotion of the world’s shared Hellenic heritage by the
National Hellenic Museum boards chairman John Calamos, Sr.
$350,000 for Nat’l Hellenic Museum Catsimatidis
By Anthe Mitrakos
CHICAGO, IL – A carnival spirit
was in the air at the National
Hellenic Museum’s second annual Ambrosia Ball on March
2nd. Held at the Hilton Palmer
the
Museum’s
House,
fundraiser, which raised over
$350,000, brought together
some 300 of the Greek-American community’s leaders in education, business, and philanthropy.
Honored that night with an
award of excellence for his promotion of the world’s shared
Hellenic heritage was Dr. Anthony Papadimitriou, President
and Treasurer of the Vaduz,
Liechtenstein-established
Alexander S. Onassis Foundation.
The evening was hosted by
the Fox News Chicago anchor
Anna
Davlantes.
George
Stephanopoulos, co-anchor of
“Good Morning America,” who
could not be in attendance,
served as honorary chair, while
Dr. George Korkos, president at
Plastic Surgery Associates, and
Mrs. Penny Korkos, served as
chairs of the night.
Major benefactors included
the families of Mary and
Michael Jaharis, Dean and Marianne Metropoulos, and the Halikias Family. Notable guests in
attendance were former Ambassador of Greece to the United
States Loukas Tsilas, Director of
Cultural Affairs at Onassis Foundation USA Amalia Cosmetatou,
Consul-General of Greece in
Chicago Ioanna Efthymiadou,
and Cook County Treasurer
Maria Pappas.
“On a more personal note, I
Continued on page 4
The Fall of Amb.’s Dinner Heralds Hellenic-Israeli Alliance
Const/ople:
Is a Lesson
For Greece
TNH Staff
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – An entertaining
and informative lecture by the
author of the new book Queen
of Cities: A Historical Novel on
The Fall of Constantinople not
only illuminated a seminal moment in the history of the Greek
nation for a standing room only
audience at the Holy Trinity
Cathedral Ballroom, but was also
a humbling reminder that civilizations that endure for millennia by virtue of their genius can
also be brought low by ignoble
qualities that lurk in the shadows
of their glory days.
The author and presenter,
Professor Andrew Novo of the
National Defense University,
opened by noting parallels with
the current Greek crisis. Infighting among Greeks, massive tax
evasion and incompetence that
crippled the state, and dependence on European partners either reluctant to help or clueless
about what needs to be done are
characteristic of 1453 and 2013.
The event on March 5 was a
presentation of the Cyprus Federation of America in cooperation
with Investors Bank (which recently acquired Marathon Bank
of New York) and Piraeus Bank.
Natalie Nicolaou, a Princeton
graduate who works for Investors
Bank and who is married to Professor Novo, was the MC and
moderator of the Q&A that followed the lecture.
Peter Papanicolaou, the Federation’s president, welcomed the
guests, and there were greetings
from Kevin Cummings, President
& Chief Executive Officer of InContinued on page 3
For subscription:
718.784.5255
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC – The Israeli
Ambassador to the United States,
Michael Oren, and his wife Sally,
hosted a dinner at the Ambassador's residence on the evening
of February 27 in honor of a new
congressional grouping called the
Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance, which is dedicated to improving Israeli-Greek-Cypriot
ties.
The co-chairmen of the newly
established caucus, Reps. Gus
Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ted Deutch
(D-FL), as well as lawmakers including Reps. John Sarbanes (DMD) and Eliot Engel (D-NY),
who is the senior Democrat on
the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee,
and special guests from across
the United States, attended the
reception at Ambassador Oren's
residence. Also present were
Christos Panagopoulos, the Ambassador of Greece to the United
States, and Olympia Neocleous,
the charge d'affaires at the
Cypriot embassy in Washington.
Continued on page 2
TNH Staff Writer
FLUSHING – The Pancyprian
Women’s Issues Network (WIN)
marked its 18th Anniversary and
honored Nicole Petallides, Anchor for Fox Business Network,
2013 Woman of the Year with
at their annual dinner dance on
March 2 at Terrace on the Park.
A feeling of family often prevails at community events, but
the WIN gala was more of a family affair than usual. Petallides’
family, well-known in the United
States and Cyprus for their devotion to the Cyprus cause and
the community as a whole, came
out in force. Some of the dignitaries who addressed the guests
felt the need to declare they
Continued on page 7
Is on Jewish
Radio Show
TNH Staff
NEW YORK – John Catsimatidis, who has made a name for
himself as a tirelessly productive
businessman and philanthropist,
is working hard to present himself as the person best qualified
to carry the mayoral baton after
the combined 20-year run of
Rudy Giuliani and Michael
Bloomberg.
Vowing to spend the necessary money to fund his campaign,
he is making his case directly to
the New York’s numerous ethnic
and social groups, and through
their media outlets.
On February 28 he appeared
on Michael Fragin’s program The
Continued on page 6
AGAPW and
John Jay’s
Forum about
Trafficking
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
a man of deep personal faith,
passionate commitment to Orthodoxy and Hellenism, and a
leading personage of enterprise.
He was an elegant and eloquent
man who took very seriously his
responsibility for the dual legacies of Hellenism and Orthodoxy. His leadership at the
FAITH Endowment has left an
enduring positive mark not only
on the Fund, but in the greater
life of the Archdiocese, offering
his faithful and dedicated services as a Member of the Archdiocesan Council and the Executive Committee. He will surely
be deeply missed by his family,
but also by all of us who have
had the lasting privilege to
know and work with him for the
good of the Church. May his
memory be eternal.”
The son of Greek immigrants
from Arcadia, Kikis was born
and raised in New Rochelle,
New York. When he was eleven
NEW YORK – The Association
of Greek American Professional
Women (AGAPW) and the Center for International Human
Rights of John Jay College presented a Forum on Human Trafficking on February 24.
The forum featured a panel
discussion that was preceded by
the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) film Not My Life
which “depicts the scourge of
human trafficking on a global
scale.” Filmed on five continents
in a dozen countries, Not My
Life takes viewers into a world
where millions of children are
exploited through practices including forced labor, domestic
servitude, begging, sex tourism
and child soldiering, according
to UNICEF.
The purpose of such events
is to provide people with information that will enable them to
speak out pressure their governments to take action. The spirit
of the event was summarized by
a young person in the film who
said “I cannot live a good life
when other people are living
like animals, not because I can
a good person but because they
are human beings like me. “
One of the stories was that
of Grace from Uganda, who told
of her horrific experience as a
child soldier, saying, “marching
into the Sudan was like marching into a grave.” She said the
dehumanization process that facilitates the exploitation of children often began with their being ordered to shoot their own
Continued on page 8
Continued on page 7
It was a night for celebrating the many things Greeks and Jews have in common and appreciate
about one another’s cultures, but the musicians stole the show at the residence of Ambassador
Oren, who joined them on percussion.
WIN Honors Community Bids Adieu to Peter Kikis
Fox Anchor
Petallides
By Constantine S. Sirigos
Continued on page 11
NEW YORK – Entrepreneur,
philanthropist, and stalwart of
the Greek Orthodox Church, Peter T. Kikis has fallen asleep in
the Lord at the age of 90. Archbishop Demetrios of America
presided over the funeral which
was held at the Archdiocesan
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in
Manhattan on March 6.
Friends and family were
joined by Greece’s UN Ambassador Greece's UN Ambassador
Anastassis Mitsialis, George Iliopoulos, Greece's Consul General in New York, and Cyprus'
Consul General Koula Sophianou.
Kikis was the president and
an original founding member of
“Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism,” a
member of the Order of St. Andrew with the title Archon
Maestor, and a member of Leadership 100.
A trusted advisor to Archbishop Demetrios, Kikis had
served as a member of the Ex-
Businessman and philanthropist Peter T. Kikis.
ecutive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council. Archbishop
Demetrios of America released
this statement:
Mr. Peter T. Kikis. Peter was
COMMUNITY
2
Lemnian Society "Hephaestos" Honors Douris
TNH Staff Writer
ABOVE: The ballroom and the
famed Terrace on the Park in
Flushing is filled with the
members of the Pan-Lemnian
Association and friends of
Evangeline
Douris,
the
evening’s honoree.
LEFT: Evangeline Douris, who
was born on the island of
Lemnos, receives a plaque
during the 2013 dinner dance
of the Pan-Lemnian Association Hephaestos dinner dance
in her honor. Dimitris
Vekiarellis and Alexander
Tsoukalas.
and important member of the
community, Evangeline Douris,
who as a little girl proudly wore
the traditional costume of Lemnos and danced as a member of
the dance troupe. Mrs. Douris
continues to make us proud with
her tireless efforts at HANAC, an
organization that helps to improve our lives.”
Hephaestus President Dimitris Vekiarellis, and Alexander
Tsoukalas, who was in charge of
the commemorative journal,
said the event’s success points
to a bright future for the organization.
The president of the Federation of Greek Societies of
Greater New York, Elias Tsekeridis congratulated Hephaestus
for its decision to honor Douris
and invited the guests to participate in this year’s Greek Independence Day Parade in Manhattan.
The Consul General of Greece
in New York George Eliopoulos
and the Consul General of
Cyprus Koula Sofianou congratulated Douris, as well as Hephaestus for its century of work
and love for Lemnos. New York
Assemblywoman Aravella Simo-
tas spoke touchingly of the honoree as an example to many
Greek-American and about
HANAC.
Tsoukalas awarded scholarships to Aspasia Vasilopoulos
and Mary Dimitropoulou. The
scholarships are offered annually in memory of Eraklis Diamataris, the father of the National Herald’s Publisher-Editor
Antonis H. Diamataris. Stamatiki
Valiotis then presented George
Sourelo with the Stamatios and
Stamatiki Valiotis Scholarship.
Dimitrios Filios was the ebullient Emcee, and entertainment
was provided by vocalists Grigori Maninakis and Vicky Palma
and the Microcosmos Ensemble.
Israeli Amb. Hosts Dinner to Honor Hellenic-Israeli Alliance
Continued from page 1
About 50 invited guests,
Greeks and Jews from all over
America, including some Greek
Jews also attended and heard the
official representatives of the
three countries speak with warm
and encouraging words, highlighting the common historical
experience that linked them, but
they also spoke about the future.
Ambassador Oren declared,
“Jews and Greeks share a 3,000year history. Sit anywhere in the
State of Israel and we find evidence of how Jews and Greeks
lived and flourished together in
antiquity. For the last 20 years,
Greece and Israel have enjoyed
excellent relations. Now, that relationship has truly blossomed
into the fields of energy, agriculture, trade, military cooperation,
and tourism. This year alone,
some 400,000 Israelis visited
Greece, and we expect even
more next year. Our friendship
finds expression here in the bipartisan Congressional HellenicIsrael Alliance that was announced last week, chaired by
Reps. Ted Deutch and Gus M.
Bilirakis.”
The Israeli Ambassador also
noted the importance of the joint
exercises of Greek and Israeli Air
Forces. According the Israeli embassy’s press release, “Oren in his
remarks at the dinner, touted
shared economic and strategic
GOINGS ON...
n MARCH 4-30
MANHATTAN – The community
is invited to the new exhibition:
“Lilia: Revealing Moments,” at
Elga Wimmer Gallery, 526 W.
26 Street, #310 in Manhattan.
212-206-0006, March 4 – March
30. Lilia’s new series of works
combines physical media -stone,
plaster, rope- and digital media
– 3d printed sculptures, photography- to explore the concept of
the female body.
By Demetrios Tsakas
FLUSHING – The Pan Lemnian
Philanthropic Association “Hephaestos” celebrated the 107th
anniversary of its founding and
the 101st anniversary of the liberation of the island of Lemnos
with a dinner dance at Terrace
on the Park on March 2.
The gala was rich with emotions and memories because it
was dedicated to the beloved
Evangeline Douris, who is Chairman of the Board of Director of
the social service institution
HANAC, and because numerous
speakers made references to
Lemnos and to the contribution
the Hephaestos has made
through the years – especially
during the difficult post-World
War II period – to its island
homeland and to the GreekAmerican community.
Hephaestus’ dance troupe
presented traditional dances,
which won accolades from the
guests, and provided evidence,
along with the scholarship ceremony, of the relevance of this
historic club for the younger
generation.
Douris declared she was
proud of her roots in the village
of Moudros and recounted with
emotion her visits there with her
parents. She reminisced about
her participation in the dance
troupe and the events organized
by Hephaestus. She also spoke
about HANAC and the services
it offers to members of the community and new immigrants.
As for the award that she received that night, she said it is
the biggest and most important
distinction she has ever received,
and dedicated it to the late parents, Constantine and Hariklia
Papataros.
The event’s organizer, Argyrios Makris, referred to the
Greek crisis and declared that
all eyes are on Greece and its
struggles, and especially on Lemnos. "We are closely monitoring
developments and we are ready
to help again,” he declared.
Referring to the honoree, he
said: "I am delighted the Board
has decided to honor a dynamic
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
Congressional Co-Chairs of the Hellenic-Israel Caucus, Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (DFL), along with Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) stand with Ambassador Christos Panagopoulos, Ambassador Michael Oren and Charge d’Affaires Olympia Neocleous, Eliot Engel (D-NY).
interests among the three countries. Christos Panagopoulos, the
Greek ambassador to Washington, said cooperation among the
three countries would bring
‘peace, stability and prosperity’
to the region.”
Ambassador Panagopoulos,
speaking at the Capitol Hill Reception that launched the Alliance two weeks earlier, said
that “the creation of the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance reflects the evolving cooperation
between our countries, to the
benefit of the regional stability
in the Eastern Mediterranean…
and we discovered in this process
how many things unite us and
can serve as a pillar of prosperity
and stability in the otherwise
troubled area.”
A FESTIVAL OF GREEK
LITERATURE AND BOOKS
P
resented by The Athenians’ Society of new york, in
collaboration with The embassy of Greece in washington,
D.c., the Department of Greek Studies at the university of
Georgetown, and the library of congress.
FOUNDED 1928
P.O. BOX 5725, ASTORIA, NY 11105
www.atheniansociety.com
email: [email protected]
718-721-1113
The Festival will be devoted to the Greek poet
constantine cavafy on the anniversary of his birth and celebrated this year by uneScO. The Festival will include introductions by keynote Speaker, Vassilis lambropoulos, cavafy
chair, Professor of classics and comperative literature at the
university of michigan and presentations by members of the
Athenians’ Society, poets yiota Strati, nikos Alexiou, Tasos
mouzakis, nikos Zavolas & elias neofotistos.
The event will feature the work of our modern
Greek authors and poets who will present their projects and
books. The library of congress will exhibit rare books of poetry from their cavafy collection. Greek Publishing Houses
and authors will present books for sale.
Saturday, March 16, 2013 • 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Georgetown university | bunn intercultural center Auditorium
37th and O Streets, nw, washington, D.c 20057
For more informations: Panos Adamopoulos, 718.721.1111, [email protected]
© WR
Historical screen footage on the life and works of
constantine cavafy and readings of poems in an open forum
will follow.
Ambassador Oren echoed his
colleague at the dinner he
hosted, and pointed out that the
land of Israel is filled with Greek
remains and that even the land
on which the Israeli Parliament
stands is leased from the Greek
Orthodox
Patriarchate
of
Jerusalem. He also noted that Israel is the only Middle Eastern
country where the Christian population is growing.
Congressman Bilirakis declared the evening was filled with
kefi – good energy and spirits –
and guests reported that it was
a cheerful, joyous occasion. They
were delighted by the four talented musicians are known informally as the “Hellenic Israel
Consort,” who stole the show.
The Consort was comprised
of two Greeks and two Israelis:
Magda Giannikou, Dan Nadel,
Petros Klampanis and Rafi
Malkiel, but for one song they
were joined on percussion by the
smiling Israeli Ambassador. They
played numerous Greek and Israeli songs including "Thalassaki
Mou - My Little Sea,” and "Mou
Spasane to Baglama – they broke
my baglama.” It was noted that
many Israeli popular songs have
Greek roots.
The food was Israeli, but the
toasts were made with glasses of
ouzo from Lesvos.
Ambassador Oren posted on
Facebook that ““I was thrilled to
host an evening celebrating the
Hellenic-Israeli Alliance filled
with great food, music, and
friends. This colorful friendship
was on display last night at my
residence. The dinner comes on
the heels of the launch of the
Congressional Israel-Hellenic Alliance celebrating the friendship
between Israel, the Unites States,
Greece, and Cyprus.”
n MARCH 8
MANHATTAN – Internet Dating:
The Good, the Bad and the Outrageous will be the topic of a
program sponsored by the Hellenic University Club (HUC) of
New York and the Greek American Behavioral Institute.
Teacher Alexis Kiriazides and
journalist Dean Sirigos will address the pros and cons of the
21st century phenomenon. Psychologist Tom Mallios will then
weigh in and Fr. Anastasios
Gounaris will present his views
leading into a lively give and
take with attendees who are encouraged to bring their “war stories” and questions. Reception
follows. ADMISSION FREE.
6:30PM, Friday, Mar. 8 at the
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
337 East 74th Street in Manhattan (212) 661-8026.
n MARCH 9
MANHATTAN – The Hellenic
Medical Society will re-create a
traditional
Macedonian
Apokries – Mardi Gras celebration with costumes, traditional
meatfare and other delicious
Greek specialties, and live music
with Lefteris Bournias and the
Kavala Brass Band and the
Greek Choir of Folk Songs with
Athanasia Filios.7PM Saturday,
Mar. 9th at the Ballroom of Holy
Trinity Cathedral. Come dressed
for the festivities! Our Society
plans to support relief efforts in
Greece through a silent auction
and donations at this celebration. For tickets contact Evangelia Tsavaris at 718-398-2440.
n MARCH 10
FLUSHING – The Direct Archdiocesan District Philoptochos
Society will honor the women
of our parishes who have served
Philoptochos for fifty years or
more. The event will be held on
Sunday, March 10 at 1PM Terrace on the Park, in Flushing.
The proceeds of this fundraiser
will be used to assist over 100
Greek Orthodox families that
have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy, as well as benefiting
the newly acquired Philoptochos
Center of Philanthropy at 126
East 37th Street in Manhattan.
For luncheon reservations $65
per person, please contact Marina Katsoulis at 516-627-0580
or [email protected].
n MARCH 13
MANHATTAN –The PC of the
Church of the annunciation in
conjunction with the Philoptochos Society invites you to a
conversation with Klaus Kenneth, author of the best-selling
book, “Born to Hate, Reborn to
Love”. It is an opportunity to
hear and speak with Mr. Kenneth about his remarkable spiritual odyssey. Wednesday, March
13, 6:30PM in Demas Hall; a reception will follow. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church,
302 West 91st Street, (at West
End Ave.) in Manhattan. 212724-2070.
n MARCH 16
WASHINGTON, DC – The Athenians’ Society of NY in collaboration with the Embassy of
Greece, the Dept. of Greek Studies at Georgetown University,
and the Library of Congress presents “A Festival of Greek Literature and Books” devoted to
Constantine Cavafy on the anniversary of his birth. Saturday,
March 16 10 AM to 3 PM at the
Bunn Intercultural Center Auditorium of Georgetown U. For information
contact
Panos
Adamopoulos at 718-721-1111
or [email protected].
n MARCH 17
HOLMDEL, NJ – The nationally
famous Hellenic Dancers of New
Jersey (HDNJ) present Journey
to Greece Through Dance, Sunday, Mar. 17, at Holmdel High
School Theater, 36 Crawfords
Corner Road, Holmdel, with a
performance of traditional
Greek folk dance from 3–5PM.
Light refreshments will be avail-
able for purchase during intermission. All tickets for the event
are $20, and will be available
at the door. Advance reservations for this event can be made
by contacting Cheryl Bontales,
7 3 2 - 7 9 6 - 1 0 0 6 ;
[email protected]. This event is
funded in part by the Hellenic
Dancers of New Jersey, Inc., and
New Jersey State Council on the
Arts - Department of State, a
Partner Agency of the National
Endowment for the Arts.
n MARCH 18
MANHATTAN – Kellari Taverna
is pulling out all the stops for
the annual Kathara Deftera
(Clean Monday) dinner to benefit the renowned Gennadius Library of the American School of
Classical Studies in Athens on
Monday, March 18 at 6:30PM!
Executive Chef Gregory Zapantis is serving a spectacular menu
of Mediterranean dishes There
will be an open bar from 6:30
to 7:30 PM and Greek wines
and beer will be served throughout the evening. Music will be
provided by Gregory Maninakis
and his trio. For reservations call
609-454-6814.
n MARCH 23
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ –
“Manolos Mitsias Sings for
Greece” is a benefit concert in
support of charities working to
alleviate the suffering of children in Greece and Cyprus. Presented by the P.G.E.I of American Charitable Foundation, The
Hellenic Federation of NJ, and
members of Pan Gregorian Enterprises. Proceeds to benefit:
Hamogelo tou Pediou (The
Smile of the Child), which provides a home and other services
to needy children throughout
Greece; Kivotos tou Kosmou
(Ark of the World), which provides services to needy families
in Greece; Apostoli of the Archdiocese of Athens, and the
Cyprus Children’s Fund. Saturday, Mar. 23 at 7PM and the
Nicholas Music Center of the
Rutgers University Douglass
Campus. For tickets and info call
201-981-5764 or 908-624-0250.
n APRIL 11
MANHATTAN – The 2013 Annual Career and Internship Fair
sponsored by The Cyprus-U.S.
Chamber of Commerce will be
held on Thursday, April 11,from
4:30 – 6:45 PM at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Center Ballroom,
337 East 74th Street (between
1st and 2nd Avenues) in Manhattan. Guest Speaker Maggie
Stavrianidis Human Resources
Business Partner. Job seekers
should come with their resume.
Company representatives will be
available to discuss career and
internship opportunities. Companies in the fields of Insurance,
Banking, Accounting, Attorneys,
Trading, Finance, and many others will be on hand to meet with
job fair applicants. Additional
companies interested in participating, contact: Despina Axiotakis, Executive Director 201444-5609
or
e-mail:
[email protected]
. Admission is Free Refreshments will be served.
n APRIL 13
QUEENS, NY – The Hellenic Relief Foundation presents an
evening with renowned composer Yannis Spanos and vocalist Hrysoula stafanakis in a benefit
piano-voice
concert.
Saturday, April 13, 8 PM
Queensborough Performing Arts
Center; 222-05 56th Avenue,
Bayside, NY. Free parking. Tickets and information, 347-2011821 or [email protected].
Tickets online: www.hellenicrelief.org. Hellenic Relief: Preserving Dignity in Crisis.
n APRIL 20
ASTORIA – The Hellenic Cultural Center and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble present a historical concert “Rebetiko …To
Perpetuity” spanning the history
of classical Rebetika from
Smyrna ….to Pireaus…and the
Blues of New Orleans with Grigoris Maninakis and the
Mikrokosmos Ensemble. Narration by Stelios Taketzis. Friday,
April 19 at 7:30 PM; Saturday,
April 20 at 7:30 PM; and Sunday, Apr. 21 at 5PM at the Hellenic Cultural Center, 27-09
Crescent Street in Astoria.
Reservations Mon. – Fri. 10AM4PM at 718-626-5111; other
times: 917- 915-8647
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Vote on our website!
You have the chance to express your opinion on our website
on an important question in the news. The results will be published in our printed edition next week along with the question
for that week.
The question this week is: Do you think the No Smoking
law in Greece will be enforced this time?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe
The results for last week’s question: Would you like to see
Olympia Snowe run for president of the United States?
43% voted "Yes"
29% voted "No"
28% voted "Maybe"
Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
COMMUNITY
3
Epirotes Abroad VIP Gatzoyiannis in Greece
ATHENS – Nikos Gatzoyiannis,
the author and honorary president of the World Council of
Epirotes Abroad, recently visited
Greece to participate in the
100th anniversary celebration
of the liberation of Epiros from
the Ottoman Turks on February
21.
After the celebration, he
went to Athens where he met
with Prime Minister Antonis
Samaras, Foreign Minister
Demitris Avramopoulos, Minister of Defense Panos Panoyiotopoulos, Interior Minister
Evrypides Stylianidis, and
Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras.
While in Athens the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Daniel
Smith, gave a dinner in honor
of the author at his residence
on March 1 that was attended
by Samaras and several of Gatzoyiannis’ friends.
Pictured in the photo to the
left are, left to right, Christina
Mihalos, Gatzoyiannis, Prime
Samaras, Hollywood producer
Stratton Leopold, his wife Mary,
Smith’s wife Diane, and Amb.
Smith. Amb. and Mrs. Smith are
great admirers of the literary
works of Mr. Gatzoyiannis, who
even visited his native village in
Epiros, Lia, last summer.
Another admirer of the author is Ambassador to Hungary
Eszter Sandorfi, who gave a dinner in his honor on March 3 at
her residence in Psychiko.
Among the guests were the Ambassadors of Canada and Bulgaria, all of whom accepted an
invitation from Gatzoyiannis to
visit Epiros and his village next
July.
Lecture on the Fall of Constantinople Draws Parallels to Crisis in Greece
Continued from page 1
vestors Bank and Constantinos
Loizides, the Managing Director
and Chief Executive Officer of Piraeus
Bank.
Archbishop
Demetrios offered closing remarks.
Novo explained that although
“the book is dramatic in design,
its aim is not to present fiction,
but the drama of the historical
and personal reality. It attempts
to bring characters and worldchanging events to life. Here on
one of history’s grandest stages
was a story “two worlds, two
faiths, two cultures, an immortal
struggle over a legendary city at
once impregnable and vulnerable,” and pitting two radically different personalities against one
another: Constantine XI of Constantinople, and the 21 year-old
Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.
The Sultan, whose mother
was Greek and saw himself as the
legitimate and worthy heir to the
Caesars, was brilliant, cultured,
sometimes cruel, and impatient
for the glory the city’s conquest
would provide him. He was also
anxious over the attacks and betrayals that would lead to his own
death in the event of failure.
Among the fascinating facts is
that both men were wary of their
second in command, the Turks’
Grand Vizier, Halil Pasha, who
was suspected of Greek sympathies, and Megadux Notaras, who
was shipping family gold out of
the city as the Ottoman vise –
which could have been smashed
if the Emperor could have secured
more resources – was closing.
One Westerner, at least, was
distinguished for his passion and
commitment to the defense of the
City, the ironically named Genoese condottieri Giovanni Giustiniani, who fought valiantly until
he was mortally wounded on the
last day of the siege.
Constantinople was for centuries the greatest city in the
world, an engine of economic
and cultural achievement as well
as caretaker of the glories of the
Hellenic past. Novo noted that
by the fateful day of May 29,
1453 it was barely a shell of its
former self, its empire gone –
only the City, its suburbs and the
Morea were left – its population
shrunken to a mere 50,000. No
more than 5000 soldiers could
be mustered by the Emperor of a
non-Empire.
The Turks had 80,000 troops,
including the formidable Jannisaries, veterans of conquests
throughout the Balkans and Asia
Minor.
Despite numerous renaissances and comebacks, Byzantine
prospects were bleak. Centuries
of Civil War, greed that exempted
the rich and powerful from taxation and caused even Orthodox
church leaders to refuse to share
its massive wealth in support of
national defense, and the bad
luck to be completely surrounded
by enemies took their tool.
The tragedy can be encapsulated in one fact: more than any
other element – luck, good or a
bad, is always a factor in war – it
was Mehmet II’s massive cannons
that decided the outcome by battering the city’s 1000 year old
wall to dust.
The Turks did not invent artillery, however. Cannon-maker
Orban was first in the employ of
Above: Prof. Andrew Novo,
author of Queen of Cities: A
Historical Novel on The Fall
of Constantinople, addresses
an SRO audience (above) at
the Cathedral, which included
fascinated dignitaries (left).
Constantine, but he was unable
to raise the funds to pay him. Reduced to poverty waiting for the
check in the Byzantine mail, he
sold his services to the affluent
Mehmet, and the City’s doom
was sealed.
Among the lessons Novo believes must be learned from the
fate of Byzantium is the need to
avoid cycles of violence and retribution – and of the scourge of
selective memory. Although
Greeks will “never forget” the
rape of Constantinople by the
Fourth Crusade in 1204, Westerners note that in 1182 tens of
thousands of Latins were massacred in Constantinople in 1182.
By adding a moral motive to
western greed, the Greeks provoked the Latin conquest of the
empire. Although the City was
recovered, its ultimate fall became all but inevitable.
The book was a 10-year project of scholarship and creativity
for Novo. His research included
delving deep into the roots of
Byzantium, or rather, as he explained, the empire whose inhabitants were the products of the
glories of ancient Greece and the
conquests of Alexander the Great
but called themselves Romans.
During the Q&A, one guest presented a question urged on by
his 10 year-old son about “What
happened to the Greeks between
Alexander and Constantine XI?”
Novo’s two minute summary was
breathtaking, causing the audience look forward to future
books and presentations.
Guests declared the night the
cultural event of the season.
Cummings said his bank participated “because we are committed to the community… and it
was also an opportunity to work
with Piraeus Bank to continue
the rich Greek heritage in this
country.” As an American of Irish
descent, he appreciates that the
descendants of immigrant must
work hard to preserve their heritage.
Loizides told TNH that although Piraeus bank no longer
has a physical presence in New
York, he wanted “to keep in touch
with our friends and saying thank
you.”
COMMUNITY
4
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
Ambrosia Ball 2013 Raises $350,000 for the National Hellenic Museum
Continued from page 1
am moved by the presence of
Ambassador Loukas Tsilas, a
great mentor to me and many
others, whose work as Executive
Director of the Onassis Foundation USA, has raised the bar for
anyone who undertakes the presentation of Greek arts and culture in the Unites States,” said
Connie Mourtopalas, president
of the National Hellenic Museum, in a statement.
Chicagoland’s
Orpheus
Dance Troupe provided traditional apokriatiko entertainment. The costumed and
masked group performed the
“gaitanaki,” or maypole dance,
a performance special to
Kathara
Deutera,
while
“koudounatoi,” bell-bearers,
danced around tables, bringing
to light the traditions of the
Aegean island of Skyros. After
dinner, guests danced the night
away to music by DJ John
Grammatis and live entertainment by Public i Band. Tickets
were $350 a person.
John P. Calamos, CEO of
Calamos Investments, who sits
TNH spoke with John P.
Calamos Sr. of Calamos Investments, and Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of the National Hellenic Museum.
TNH: What are your impressions tonight on the Museum’s
second annual Ambrosia Ball?
JC: It is a great success. We
are excited about the participation with the Onassis Foundation. I think part of the mission
of the Museum is to really bring
it out to more and more people
so they understand what’s going
on. Having the Onassis Foundation here, considering all the
good work that they do all over
the world…that's a great success.
TNH: Are you working with
the Onassis Foundation for the
first time?
JC: Yes. I have been in contact with them for many
months. We are trying to leverage off a lot of the work they
do…they may have exhibits
there that we’ll bring to the Museum here. Obviously they have
a lot of knowledge, they have
been doing this for decades and
we like that collaboration with
Over 300 Apokries guests enjoyed an evening of dinner, dancing, and disguise. Above:
Koudounati, the Bell Bearers of Skyros, kicked off the evening by dancing around the tables,
followed by the Gaitananki (Maypole Dance) performed by the Orpheus Dance Troupe.
have to revel in our traditions
and customs, and have fun doing it.
Dr. & Mrs. Korkos 2013 Ambrosia Ball Chairs, and Presvytera and Father James Dokas were
among the hundreds of guests who enjoyed a fantastic party for a good cause.
on the board of the National
Hellenic Museum, presented the
Award of Excellence to Dr. Papadimitriou.
“We of Hellenic origin have
traversed the world for thousands of years and have created
history wherever we have
been,” Calamos said in a statement. “With Dr. Papadimitriou
at the helm, the Onassis Foundation continues to be an ambassador of Hellenic culture
around the world.”
somebody as knowledgeable as
they are.
TNH: Would you say this
year that there is a greater outreach in terms of bringing the
Museum to a nationally-acknowledged level?
JC: That’s an excellent point.
One of the things we are trying
to do this year is make it not
just about Chicago Greek-Americans, but to expand nationally.
So this is really sort of the
launch of that. How do we do
Chicago’s famed Palmer House Hilton Hotel was filled with
the spirit of Carnival – Greek style - for the National Hellenic
Museum’s second annual Ambrosia Ball on March 2.
Major Ambrosia Ball donations included the following:
Chairman’s Circle ($35,000)
• Calamos Investments
• Mary & Michael Jaharis
Platinum Benefactors ($25,000)
• Republic Bank & the Halikias Family
• Dean & Marianne Metropoulos
Gold Benefactors ($15,000)
• Dr. & Mrs. George J. Korkos
• The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation
• Grecian Delight & the Parthenis Family
• Earth Friendly Products & the Vlahakis Family
• Oxford Insurance & the Danos Family
Grand Benefactors ($10,000)
• Mr. & Mrs. John T. Matthews
• Thompson Coburn, LLP – Tom & Christy Skallas
• In honor of Sotiri & Dimitra Kamberos
that? And how can we be more
successful in bringing it to a national level? That’s what we’re
trying to do. We are reaching
out to the National Hellenic Society and others we can collaborate with and make it a truly
national museum.
TNH: Do you see a potential
collaboration with institutions
in Greece, to bring Greek exhibits here, for example?
J.C: I visit Greece two to
three times a year. We’re talking
about that, but I don’t know. At
this point, our mission is to really make sure that we honor
the heritage and contributions
of Greek-Americans to the
United States, that’s our main
focus.
TNH also spoke with Dr.
George Korkos, President at
Plastic Surgery Associates, and
new member of the Museum’s
Board of Trustees.
TNH: What is the significance to you in having recently
joined the National Hellenic
Museum?
G.K: This evening represented a deep concept of our
heritage. I am a new trustee of
the National Hellenic Museum
and Cultural Center only because I am serious about my
heritage. It is very important because when you think of all the
problems our parents had to go
through when they came here…
all the travesties and shortcomings, to make our life a lot better
here in America, we owe it to
them to disseminate Hellenism
in this country. Otherwise, if we
don’t do it, no one is going to
do it, and it will become extinct.
The other thing that is very
important to me is that I personally have a vision and a wish
to educate our young professionals and educators to the
ideals of Hellenic culture as it
pertains to western civilization
as contributions. I am just very
happy to be a trustee of the Museum.
The National Hellenic Museum is really also a cultural
center to disseminate this history of ours and preserve it. But
we also have to have fun. We
TNH spoke with Dr. Anthony
Papadimitriou as well, who is
the Alexander S. Onassis Public
Benefit Foundation Board of Directors President and Treasurer.
TNH: What does receiving
the National Hellenic Museum’s
2013 Award of Excellence mean
to you?
AP: It is a very moving event.
I am deeply honored and grateful for the award, but I am also
very happy to find myself in the
Greek-American community of
Chicago…a community that
comes from Arcadia, and maintains all its traditions in a way
which is quite rare, in fact.
The National Hellenic Museum is doing a great job in
maintaining Greek culture and
traditions. It does a great and
necessary job in maintaining
and saving, for future generations, the memories and history
of the Greeks in Chicago and
North America – the way they
started more than 100 years
ago, from their birthplaces, how
they relate to the city, how they
survived in the city, how they
made good in the city…how
they became rich and powerful
in the city. Maintaining those
memories is a very important
part of maintaining traditions.
The other important thing is
that the National Hellenic Museum is actually working to promote Greek culture within the
general American public. That
is an important goal…not to
keep Greek culture only within
ourselves, but to get Greek culture outside and penetrate the
consciousness of the rest of the
Americans.
In a funny way, in order to
attract more Greeks, you have
to have programs that attract
the American public at large.
Because second and third generation Greeks are not so much
interested in traditions, but
rather, they are interested in the
deep-rooted reality of Hellenism, which is a common heritage of all of humanity.
TNH: How do you see the
Onassis Foundation collaborating with the National Hellenic
Museum in the near future?
AP: I see a bright future in
this collaboration because by
uniting our multiple efforts. We
share the same vision and goals
as Mr. Calamos and Connie
Mourtopalas and have already
discussed various ways to do
more things in New York and
Chicago, and throughout North
America.
TNH: The Onassis Foundation has backed up many important projects promoting Hellenism. Is there some insight
you can give us regarding your
involvement with the Foundation since 1988, and what are
some things that have improved
since then?
AP: We have evolved a lot in
the attitude we have because we
are now more outgoing. We are
doing more activities which are
focused on the outside world,
and the activities we do are in a
sense more focused. There are
only so many groups that can
give large amounts of money to
fund a project, and even less
that can give the gift of $1 million or more. We are in the position of being endowed by
Onassis to do important projects, so we don't squander our
efforts in many small projects,
but rather, we have decided to
focus on few significant projects.
Also, we don’t see our role
only as giving money, we see
our role as organizing people so
that this money is used in a better and more efficient way. We
provide our enthusiasm, knowledge, expertise, and the expertise of the people working for
us to make it happen. Money on
its own is not enough. You need
organization and an efficient
structure to make most of the
money.
ABOUT DR. ANTHONY
S. PAPADIMITRIOU:
Born in Alexandria, Egypt,
Dr. Anthony Papadimitriou began his legal career specializing
in commercial law representing
large shipping companies in
1977, after having graduated
from the Law School of the University of Athens. In 1981 he
earned his postgraduate degree
in Maritime and Transportation
Law from the University of Aixen-Provence. In 1984 Dr. Papadimitriou obtained a B. Sc.
Degree in economics from the
London School of Economics.
He also holds a Doctorate in Political Science and Public Administration from the National
University of Athens. In 1989 he
was admitted to the Bar of the
Supreme Court of Greece.
In 1988, on the recommendation of then President
Christina Onassis, Dr. Papadimitriou was elected on the Board
of Directors of the Alexander S.
Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and had served as coordinator of the He served as legal
counsel to Olympic Shipping
and Management S.A. from
1986 to 2005 when he was
unanimously elected to lead the
Foundation as president and
treasurer. Dr. Papadimitriou has
since then been responsible for
public benefit, welfare, and
business activities of the Foundation, which fund philanthropic endeavors.
About the Alexander
S. Onassis Foundation:
The Alexander S. Onassis
Public Benefit Foundation was
established in December 1975
in accordance with Aristotle
Onassis’ wish to honor the memory of his late son Alexander,
who tragically died in an airplane crash at the young age of
25.
The foundation has since
funded and supported a myriad
of cultural, educational, environmental, and health-related
projects pertaining to Greece
and Hellenism around the
world. The foundation’s activities promote the humanistic
ideals of the Hellenic civilization.
For more information please
visit: onassisusa.org and onassis.gr.
About the National
Hellenic Museum:
Based in Chicago’s Greektown since 1983, the National
Hellenic Museum, previously
known as the Hellenic Museum
and Cultural Center, strives to
preserve and explore Hellenism
and to chronicle the Greek
American journey through exhibitions, oral histories, archival
collections, and educational programs.
Located in a new 40,000square-foot space at 333 S. Halsted St. in Chicago, the Museum
was established to connect all
generations—past, present and
future—to the rich heritage of
Greek history, culture, art and
the Greek American experience.
The National Hellenic Museum’s 5-300 square foot John
P. Calamos Sr. Great Hall and
the 3,600 square foot signature
Rooftop Terrace, featuring a
panoramic view of Chicago, are
available for rent to the public
to host holiday parties, wedding
receptions, business meetings
and such.
Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago, assisted by his deacon, offered the invocation at the Ambrosia ball with an ApokriesCarnival flavor.
For more info please visit: nationalhellenicmuseum.org.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
Grand Marshal:
THE HONORABLE THEODORE SPYROPOULOS, PRESIDENT SAE, USA REGION COORDINATOR
HONORARY MARSHAL: CONSUL GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS KOULA SOPHIANOU
HONORARY MARSHAL: MR. JOHN KASTANIS, PRESIDENT / CEO TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM
For more information contact: FEDERATION PRESIDENT Dimitrios Rozanitis 856-625-6708
PARADE CHAIR Stathis Karadonis 856-308-2877
PARADE CO-CHAIRS
Mela Akranis 610-766-2649 • Nick Yiantsos 609-670-2749 • George G. Horiates, Esq. 856 986-8972
5
COMMUNITY
6
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
“Jobs, jobs jobs,” Catsimatidis Tells Supporters at AHEPA Brooklyn Chap. 41
By Eleni Kalogeras
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – “Jobs, jobs, jobs”
and vocational training on the
high school level are the major
topics in John Catsimatidis’
strategy as he presented it to his
Greek-American and other supporters during an event organized by AHEPA’s, Brooklyn
Chapter No.41 on March 5th.
The event took place a
month after Catsimatidis’ official
announcement to run for the
next Republican mayor of New
York City, and it is the first event
organized by his fellow GreekAmericans of AHEPA.
During his speech, Catsimatidis who, according to Forbes
magazine’s new list remains one
of the wealthiest American businessmen, referred with obvious
pride to his small Greek native
island of Nisyros from where he
immigrated to New York City
with his parents when he was
only six months old.
He also referred with passion
to Manhattan’s West Side as
well as to Brooklyn Technical
High School, where he studied,
though his business instinct
“forced” him to drop out and
begin his massive entrepreneurship.
He is well-known for his
most successful business in ar-
eas including supermarkets, airlines, oil, and real estate.
But Catsimatidis’ most interesting remark was to the youth
to trust New York’s public education system, yet to listen to
their natural talents and follow
their calling instead of a curriculum that wouldn’t lead them to
winning in life.
For “it’s all about winning”
said Catsimatidis and again
called on the young to trust
their skills and combine both
training and education in order
to make a successful career with
a respected annual income compared to the $8 hourly wage
they would endure as high
school dropouts.
Catsimatidis
proposed
adding high school training for
vocations such as carpenters
and plumbers.
Although a Republican himself, as he mentioned Catsima-
tidis attracts also friends from
the Democratic Party and remains an admirer of former
United States President Bill Clinton, whom he considers one of
the smartest persons he has ever
known.
But he has also praised the
accomplishments of New York’s
two most recent mayors, both
Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and
Michael Bloomberg.
PHOTOS: TnH/cOSTAS beJ
(L-R) Republican Party county chairmen Craig Eaton, and Dan Isaacs, John Catsimatidis, former
NY State Assemblyman Matthew Mirones, and attorney George Georgaklis.
New York Mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, who was born in Nisyros, addresses an enthusiastic gathering of friends and supporters at Brooklyn’s Bridgeview Diner.
On the Campaign Trail, Catsimatidis Speaks on Jewish Political Radio Show
Continued from page 1
Spin Class on Jewish Political Radio. Fragin described Catsimatidis as a very successful entrepreneur, founder of the Gristides
supermarket chain, and with interests in real estate, energy: “a
great American success story.”
Fragin asked “what makes
you think you will continue [the
Republican mayoral winning
streak]?” Catsimatidis replied: “I
think New York has done well
[during that time]. Rudy cleaned
up all the problems in the streets,
which was a really big problem.
He said, “I lived in a doorman
building but we also had an
armed security guard. People
were scared to walk around.” He
said Bloomberg’s leadership “has
caused tens of billions of dollars
to flow into New York to keep
New York going. Tourism is almost up to 60 million people,
and people feel safe in the streets
under police commissioner Ray
Kelly.”
Catsimatidis said that such accomplishments do not occur automatically. “It takes leadership
to keep that money flowing in
from all over the country and the
world, keeping our hotels and
restaurants full, selling our apartments. This is because they believe in New York as the greatest
city in the world.”
His message is simple and
straightforward: “if we have the
wrong person leading the city,
that money is going to dry up
fast. If we put the wrong person
in as commissioner, that safety
factor will go away.”
He sees his campaign spending as an investment in the city
that is the foundation of his success and his family’s well-being.
“I’m a big stakeholder in New
York. New York is responsible for
my success and my family’s success.” He also supports immigration reform that will meet the
City’s needs and provide others
with the opportunities with
which his family was blessed.
He put his political ambitions
and loyalties into perspective
when he was asked to comment
on why so many Republicans
want to run for mayor but do
not want to run for governor. “I
love New York City. I don’t want
to live upstate.”
“My grandfathers came
around 1911, and they were
looking for the streets paved with
gold. I want New York‘s doors to
remain open, for immigration to
open up and I want a great, successful New York going forward.
Education is one of the great
engines of New York’s greatness.
Fragin said that among other issues, like the improvement of the
public schools, the Jewish community is concerned about what
the city can and cannot do about
private schools.
Catsimatidis replied “I think
it’s very important that Jewish
and Catholic Schools are not being abused and they should get
some aid from the public school
system, but I believe in a strong
public school system. “
He said he attended public
schools, P.S. 192 and the famed
Brooklyn Technical High School,
but noted that he also attended
parochial schools for three years.
He added, however, that the
City is spending $26,000 per student each year. “If we could pay
private schools $5000 and avoid
spending $26000, it might make
common sense.” He said that on
such issues, “it’s not about being
a Democrat or a Republican it’s
about common sense.”
That prompted the question
of why he left the Democratic
Party. “I was a Clinton Democrat.
I still am. I didn’t leave the Party,
the Democratic Party left me. I’m
a pro-business Republican, but
I’m also a pro social [and] environment Democrat. The Party in
New York is a little too far on the
left hand side of the political
equation.
NOT A BLOOMBERG
BILLIONAIRE
Catsimatidis said “the people
in New York need a choice. They
can vote for me as Republicans,
Democrats,
independents,
maybe even as liberals. I grew
up in Harlem on 135th Street. I
am not a Bloomberg billionaire.
I feel the pain of the people in
the City, the storeowners, and
the people living in every borough that we have to pay attention to. I am one of them, not a
guy that went to Harvard, who
went straight to work at Goldman Sachs or Salomon Brothers.
“I’m the one with relatives in
the other boroughs, in Queens.
I’m the one who went to school
in Brooklyn and the Bronx,” he
said, and explained his relationship to the remaining borough,
Staten Island: “We were so poor
that the only vacations we took
[were] on the Staten Island Ferry
for a nickel, and we went back
and forth three different trips.”
Responding to the notion that
Bill Clinton is not so popular
among Republican voters, Catsimatidis said “but I still admire
him. You have to look at who
can win and the Republicans realize that you can support someone who can’t win, but you know
what you accomplish? Nothing.
I’m not sure New York is ready
to go back to a pure Republican.
Mitt Romney lost the city 81-19
percent.”
Catsimatidis discussed some
of his proposed initiatives, beginning with his call to freeze
tolls, which he says is a big issue
for people in all the boroughs.
“In 1998 the tolls were $4 for a
round trip, now [they are] $15.
Inflation didn’t go up 400 percent. You must have guidelines…
it’s wrong to punish people for
no reason at all.”
Although Fragin agreed those
increases are outrageous, he
added that purportedly, MTA’s
costs are going up exponentially,
especially with respect to labor
costs, healthcare, and other factors. “How do you then pay for
the expense,” Fragin asked the
candidate. “You go through the
budget step by step and you
don’t abuse any particular people,” Catsimatidis replied. “We
want fair treatment for all.”
Regarding whether he would
challenge Adolfo Carrion, who is
running as an independent, Catsimatidis said “I don’t know. I
read the Daily News like you did.
We’ll see what happens. I like
Adolfo, he’s a very nice person I
hope everything’s ok with him.”
To illustrate that he is a genuine, down-to-earth candidate
and not a political panderer, Catsimatidis described his longstanding ties to the Jewish Community: “Rabbi Arthur Schneier
of the Park East Synagogue, I’m
on his Board, and Rabbi Shmuel
Butman, for 20 years in a row
I’ve been lighting the Menorah
on Central Park South – I’m not
a Johnny-come-lately.”
ANALYSIS
What John Catsimatidis Must Do to Become Mayor of New York City
By Constantinos E. Scaros
Greek-American self-made
billionaire John Catsimatidis has
eight months to convince New
Yorkers why he ought to be their
next mayor. But first, he must
win the Republican Primary,
whose current frontrunner is
former Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Chairman Joe
Lhota.
Although Lhota has been
widely praised for his brief leadership at the MTA, particularly
his crisis management skills during Hurricane Sandy last fall, he
is hardly a household word.
That his support ranges anywhere from double to quadruple
that of Catsimatidis’ at the moment, depending on the particular poll, is because he is the insider candidate – not because
he (or anyone else thus far, for
that matter), has won the hearts
and minds of the City’s voters.
On the Democratic side of
the house, a host of candidates
– including former Councilman
Sal Albanese, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, and Public
Advocate Bill DeBlasio – all lead
Republican Lhota by at least a
2-to-1 margin. That the Democratic candidates – any of them,
all of them – are the presumptive favorites should be no surprise: New York is a Democratic
town, after all. Then again, current Mayor Mike Bloomberg and
his immediate predecessor,
Rudy Giuliani, both Republicans, have been among the most
popular and highly-acclaimed
mayors in the City’s history. In
fact, one of New York’s most celebrated mayors of all time,
Fiorello LaGuardia (for whom
the airport was named), was
also a Republican.
Notably, La Guardia, Giuliani, and Bloomberg all have
something in common: none of
them fits the profile of bona fide
conservative (paleo- or neo-),
which in the post-Reagan era
has become a virtual requirement for a Republican to win a
national election.
But all three exemplify the
type of Republican that can generate broad appeal across party
lines, for whom New Yorkers
would vote. In other words,
Grover Norquist and Sarah Palin
need not apply. Catsimatidis,
too, can be added to the La
Guardia-Guiliani-Bloomberg list
as a potentially-electable Republican mayor. “Am I a Democrat?
Yes. Am I a Republican? Yes. Am
I a liberal? Yes. Am I a conservative? Yes,” says Catsimatidis.
A self-made mega-tycoon
who grew up in poverty, Catsimatidis has never forgotten his
humble and simple beginnings.
Despite his 10-figure net worth
not counting decimal points, he
comes across as more of a regular guy than most, and has a
wonderfully-essential homegrown New York accent, to boot.
Far from being a liability, Catsimatidis’ billions can help him
buy much-needed airtime to
flood the television stations with
campaign commercials. Before
he begins spending, though, he
ought to pay heed to some essential advice.
1. Do not listen to anyone
who thought romney was going to win
Many so-called experts said
they were “stunned” that Mitt
Romney lost the presidential
election to Barack Obama this
past November. The only stunning thing about that…is that
they were stunned. Whoever
could not see plain as day that
as soon as the Republicans nominated Romney they had guaranteed their demise knows next
to nothing about how to win
elections, and should not be a
strategist in Catsimatidis’ campaign.
2. It’s technology, stupid
The catchphrase during the
1992 presidential election was
“it’s the economy, stupid,” to underscore that the prevalent issue
was the nation’s listless economy at the time. Incumbent
George H.W. Bush insisted that
TnH/cOSTAS beJ
A Plain-Spoken, Regular Guy Billionaire
Despite his tremendous success and staggering wealth, mayoral hopeful John Catsimatidis has
not forgotten where he came from: the tiny Greek island of Nisyros, to be exact, and 135th
street in Harlem.
the economy was on the mend,
whereas Bill Clinton told unemployed Americans “I feel your
pain.” Clinton won.
The economy is a great national issue, but to reach millions of New Yorkers, many of
whom are not necessarily political creatures by nature, technology is the way to do it. As of
this writing, when Googling Catsimatidis’ mayoral run, very little can be found. A bare-bones
website about his mayoral bid
appears, and there is no indication whether it is his official
website, or one created independently by a supporter. It contains a couple of nice articles,
but very little else by way of
bells and whistles.
If, in fact, the website and
others like it was created independently by supporters, they
are to be commended for their
initiative. If Catsimatidis’ campaign is the site’s creator,
though, then it needs to pour
more time and money into it to
give it much more flair.
Also, a perfunctory Facebook
search reveals very little in
terms of “Catsimatidis for
mayor.” Social media is the way
to win elections nowadays – just
ask President Obama.
3. Use the high road as a
bully pulpit
Sometimes, negative campaigns work, but other times
they flop – as they so richly deserve to do. Political dogfights
often result in a winner who
prevails by a nose, with hardly
a mandate in hand. When politicians concentrate on a positive
message, however – Ronald
Reagan and Bill Clinton come
to mind – they usually emerge
victorious not in squeakers, but
in routs. On the other hand, becoming a political punching bag
that does not fight back is not
the answer, either – as many
readers can confirm in recalling
Michael Dukakis’ presidential
bid.
A positive campaign message
balanced with an aggressive
counterattack to any negative
attacks is the best approach. The
counterattack should focus on a
“how dare you,” “shame on you”
response, not a tit-for-tat battle
that incorporates retaliatory accusations.
A battle of negative attack
ads is childish, and hopefully
New Yorkers are too mature to
buy into any of that. Whoever
runs negative ads deserves to
lose. Whoever refrains from
them, however, may rightfully
claim the high moral ground,
and run “shame on you” re-
sponses with palpable righteous
indignation.
4. Show them that you’re
the number one New Yorker
Catsimatidis should be as
high-profile as possible. By no
means should he employ a Rose
Garden strategy – not even if it’s
the magnificent one in Central
Park. He should be on hand at
opening day at CitiField and
Yankee Stadium, and be a regular at Knicks, Nets, and Rangers
games. And in September and
October, he should go see the
Giants and the Jets play live. Of
course, he should do those
things because he really is a
sports fan – if he weren’t, then
he should not fake it. If nothing
else, New Yorkers usually are
able to spot a phony a mile
away.
He should be on hand for all
parades, marathons, bike-athons, city-wide ceremonies,
and – though we all hope there
won’t be any – tragedies. For
all the great things Giuliani did
in his eight years as mayor –
most notably, making New York
City the crown jewel in the nationwide fight against crime –
he rose to the status of “America’s Mayor” in the eleventh
hour of his reign when, on September 11, 2001, he showed up
to Ground Zero and pointed the
panicked masses to “go this
way.”
If there is one thing Catsimatidis might have going against
him, it is his multisyllabic surname. He is known as “John
Cats” or “Johnny Cats” in some
circles. Then again, even without the nicknames, we are talking about New York City, after
all, not some homogenous rural
American town that is ethnically
out of the loop. And lest we forget, another Republican with a
hard-to-pronounce name, Eisenhower, did quite well for himself
in politics.
Catsimatidis’ candidacy is not
a longshot. This is his election to
win, or lose, depending on how
effectively he runs his campaign.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
COMMUNITY
7
WIN Honors Fox News Anchor Nicole Petallides as Woman of the Year
Continued from page 1
were not one of her first cousins.
WIN WORKS FOR THE
COMMUNITY’S WOMEN
Phillip Christopher, the president of PSEKA and of the Pancyprian Association, which is
WIN’s parent organization,
noted they were gathered to
honor both Petallides, and WIN
for all the “work they have
done.”
Dr.
Florentia
Christodoulidou, its president,
told TNH the organization works
to bring issues of importance to
community women to the forefront. She is most proud of a program that has enabled more
than 700 women without health
insurance to receive free mammograms and Pap Tests.
Dr. Christodoulidou told TNH
“we are proud of Nicole, whom
we saw grow up and achieve the
success,” but it is the fact that
inspires many other young
women, “that’s why we are honoring her tonight.”
Speaker after speaker noted
that the woman whose talent,
charm, and energy were apparent from childhood, but they
marveled most at the dedication
and hard work that propelled
Petallides to the top of her profession as one of the most distinguished voices reporting on
national and global economic
news in the heart of Wall Street.
She appears on FOX 30 times
daily from the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange.
Theana Iordanou – the first
proud cousin to appear – was
the Emcee. She moved the program through the speakers to
the music and dancing that featured Nikos Nikolaides and his
Orchestra and a delightful performance by the adults and children of the Pancyprian Dance
Group.
New York City Mayoral candidate John Catsimatides won
votes by keeping his promise not
to “let my words stand between
you and your dinner.” To the
general pride in Nicole he added
his personal pride in recruiting
her be the voice of the Greek Parade, along with her FOX colleague Ernie Anastos, on the TV
broadcast of the annual Greek
Parade on Fifth Avenue, which
will be held on April 7 this year.
Catsimatidis declared that after years of fighting for the
Cyprus cause, “I feel like a
Cypriot. I’m from the island of
Nysiros, which is just around the
corner.”
Iordanou, as a VP of Allied
World Assurance and the manager of its New York branch office, values the serious business
reporting that Petallides excels
ABOVE: Petallides receives the
Woman of the Year award.
LEFT: She speaks to the gala
audience.
in and noted that when visitors
to the New York Stock Exchange
observe her speaking with all the
mover and shakers of the financial world, they rush to meet her.
She also noted that Petallides’
magnetic personality has turned
the floor of the Exchange into
an Oscars-style “Red Carpet” as
the guests saw images of her being photographed with one star
of the entertainment world after
another at the NYSE.
Nicholas Karacostas, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
the Order of AHEPA, said “we
knew she would be a star from
a young age and she rose to be
a FOX anchor is a very tough
media world. She was always
very articulate, had a beautiful
smile and always the center of
attention.”
Iordanes revealed that Petallides also had modeling aspirations. They were shot down –
despite her statuesque appear-
ance -by the fact that she is 5’ 7”
“She was not devastated, however, “she was determined to
succeed,” she said.
Christopher overflowed with
pride and joy for his niece, who
he said has combined a brilliant
career with devotion to her family, her husband Nicholas Tsiolas
and her children Eric and
Michael. He welcomed all the
guests and dignitaries, and
thanked everyone responsible for
the success of the event, including
Dimitrios and Georgia Kaloidis,
who run Terrace on the Park.
Turning to Petallides, he offered her some avuncular advice. He said perseverance is essential to success, for individuals
and for groups. After noting both
personal setbacks and the fact
that “We have been fighting for
38 years for freedom for Cyprus”
he said: “Success, Nicole, is
never final, and failure is never
fatal. What is important is the
courage to get up every day.”
She must have absorbed that
from her entrepreneurial uncle
at a young age.
An emotional Petallides
thanked everyone, “For the privilege and honor,” which she accepted also on behalf of all
women. “Every single woman in
the room deserves to be Woman
of the Year to me. She the honor
finally hit her in recent days at
4AM – the time she wakes up
for FOX News.
“It’s a great job. It’s a hard
job but I love it. They scream in
my ear, it’s chaos all day long
but I love it,” she said. Although
“everybody told me I would not
get there,” Petallides said, “I
don’t like the word ‘no.’”
She thanked her brother C.J.,
her father John Petallides, and
her stepfather Mort Holliday, but
offered moving praise for her
mother, Fannie Petallides-Holliday, who raised her as a single
mother and was the founder and
publisher of the newspaper
Proini and gave her daughter the
“news bug.” “I thank my mother.
Every breath she takes has
meaning. She and my family
taught me you have to be strong,
that the world is not easy.”
She offered her personal validation to a FOX viewer’s response to the question “what
makes success?” His answer was
“as much as you want to
breathe, you have to want success.” She added “you have to
breathe and die for everything
you are doing – and go for it,
with a full heart, and hopefully
you are as lucky as I am to have
th great family and friends that
are behind me every day, and
this Greek community. “
Petallides told TNH “this is
an unbelievable evening. I am
so honored ad privileged to be
here with the Greek community
and friends…I know I am a very
lucky girl,” she told TNH, but
she paid her dues: “overnights,
double shifts, graveyard shifts,
back to back shifts, and ultimately you break in when you
don’t give up. You keep showing
up and you just do it,” she said.
Anastos sent a message of
congratulations, saying he
wished he could have been there
“to personally honor my friend
and FOX colleague.”
The Cypriot homeland, which
just elected a new President, was
also on people’s minds. Savas
Tsivikos wishes the new president much luck and success “I
think he is the right leader at
the right moment.” He said he
has begun by surrounding himself with capable people. He
agreed that doesn’t always happen “but that is half of the recipe
for success.” He said.
Karacostas believes the new
president who is “pro-business,
pro-EU, has a strong economic
background and knows the key
EU players, will help Cyprus get
back on track.” Christopher also
expressed optimism. “The whole
country has a challenge. It needs
to take swift action. A change
was needed. Based on what I
have seen , experienced people
have taken over. It’s a good
sign.”
At the start of the evening
Constantine Yiannoudes, the
Cypriot-born international baritone, offered thrilling renditions
of the Star Spangled Banner and
the Greek national anthem,
Bishop Sevastianos of Zela, also
from Cyprus, offered the invocation and expressed his personal pride and congratulations
to the honoree.
Cyprus’ Consul General in
New York, Koula Sophianou,
said she felt a special joy at being present , both because of her
admiration for Petallides, “a high
achiever,” in America who “is
proud of her heritage and Kyrenia,” and because the event kicks
of the month of March, which
culminates in the celebration of
Greek Independence. She said
that “for Greeks, Freedom is the
highest good.”
The Greek Consul General
George Iliopoulos also offered
greetings and congratulations to
Petallides and WIN and New
York State Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas presented her a
citation of her own and another
on behalf of State Senator
Michael Gianaris, who she said
regretted that he was unable to
attend. President Peter Papanicolaou told TNH “One behalf of
the Cyprus Federation of America I wish to express my congratulations and say we are very
proud.”
AGAPW and John Jay Cohost Forum on Human Trafficking
F. mArTin rAmin/wAll STreeT JOurnAl
Continued from page 1
parents.
The conditions compelled
some children to kill themselves
with the weapons they were
given.
She was one of the lucky
ones. After being kidnapped
from a church school for girls,
she managed to escape after a
year and now devotes herself
helping other children escape
from their hell and working to
stop the evil.
Katerina Stefanatou, UNICEF
Global Citizenship fellow at the
U.S. Fund for UNICEF, was the
moderator at the New Building
of John Jay College and introduced the panelists who included George Andreopoulos,
Professor of Political Science
and Criminal Justice, CUNY; Director, Center for International
Human Rights, John Jay College, Jennifer Chan, Program
Officer for the End Trafficking
project of the US Fund for
UNICEF, and Dorota Gierycz,
Ph.D. Human rights scholar,
University of Vienna; Webster
University and European Peace
University and the Center for International Human Rights, John
Jay College.
Gierycz began with an
overview of Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) and how it
differs from other criminal activities, such as smuggling in
persons, or illegal migration.
She talked about the international legal framework (focusing on the Palermo Protocol)
aimed at combating THB and
the difficulties in its implementation. She believes a human
rights approach, as opposed to
a law-enforcement paradigm is
the best way to fight THB.
The essence of the crime is
that the mistreatment of the victims goes far beyond exploitation as low wage employees under harsh conditions. These
people, especially the children,
have lost control of their lives.
Because their lives are difficult
to distinguish from those of illegal migrants, and live in conditions that fosters behavior like
petty crime, local law enforcement lose sight of the fact that
evils lurks: the enslavement of
human beings.
Jennifer Chan introduced the
PHOTOS: TnH/cOSTAS beJ
Above: Katerina Stefanatou was the moderator at AGAPW’s forum on human trafficking. The
panel included Prof. George Andreopoulos of John Jay College, Jennifer Chan of UNICEF, and
scholar Dorota Gierycz. The audience (below) was anxious to help trafficking.
work of UNICEF which, according to its website “works in 190
countries and territories to save
and improve children’s lives by
providing health care and immunizations, clean water and
sanitation, nutrition, education,
emergency relief and more. In
partnership with development
partners, governments and
NGOs, UNICEF also works on
all aspects of anti trafficking responses including prevention,
protection, and prosecution.”
Chan described the two pillars of efforts to combat THB,
first the promotion of birth registration and issuing of identifi-
cation documents, second the
broader efforts that help
strengthen families through education and training so that
crushing socioeconomic circumstances don’t cause relatives to
traffic their children.
They also work with local elders and religious leaders to
build up respect for children’s
rights and fight against traditional prejudices, and to generally raise awareness in at-risk
locations, for example, by warning people against believing the
promises made by traffickers.
Professor Andreopoulos, focusing on the Balkans, critically
examined the different approaches to combating human
trafficking such as: law enforcement, human rights, migration
and economic.
He emphasized the powerful
economic forces driving the phenomenon – Interpol estimates
its annual worth at $19 billion
but other groups place it as high
as $31 billion and made the
point that the victims are typically “people with no options,”
and said the challenge is “How
do you empower people to have
credible options in their lives.”
Andreopoulos,
briefly
touched upon the situation in
Greece and mentioned the importance of the work by groups
like Klimaka.
He and other speakers spoke
of the negative impact of the
Greek economic crisis on THB
efforts and said that that law
enforcement officials in Greece
are so hard pressed to maintain
basic safety in the streets, and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are so stressed in
their efforts to fight homelessness that THB cannot be properly addressed.
While Andreopoulos said
“there is no magic bullet” for
eradicating the scourge of THB,
more can be done, for example,
airlines can look out for signs of
sex tourism and Chan said people
can
visit
slaveryfootprint.com to learn
about he forced labor and slavery components of the products
they buy. People can visit ecpat.net to learn about fighting
child trafficking and prostitution.
AGAPW founding president
Olga Alexakos concluded the
evening by thanking the panelists and the guests, including
the consuls general of Greece
and Cyprus, George Iliopoulos
and Koula Sofianou. The latter
announced that her government
has announced a program to
train its diplomatic corps to
combat trafficking.
The drachma print dress from
Mary Katrantzou's spring collection.
Drachma
Queen: the
Story behind
The Design
By F. Martin Ramin
Wall Street Journal
A year ago, Greece's potential
switch from the euro common
currency back to the drachma
seemed to many economists the
final and inevitable act in a
Greek tragedy. But for Athensborn designer Mary Katrantzou,
it was an opportunity.
In her spring collection, London-based Ms. Katrantzou managed to make a poignant and
original statement by taking inspiration from the global economy and giving old currencies,
like the drachma, as well as
postage stamps, a starring role.
Despite the fact that the currency had not been in circulation for more than a decade, Ms.
Katrantzou proved that its aesthetic worth remains intact.
The fitted Swarovski crystal
mesh cocktail dress gets a shimmery effect from a stained-glasslike technique. "It's an innovation that we developed this
season," explained Ms. Katrantzou. "It allowed us to use the
mesh as a fabric, printing it
opaque white, but leaving certain areas bare to allow the crystals to mimic the holographic
nature of the bank notes."
However, the designer said
she intended no overt political
or economic message. "I wanted
to look at world history, and I
thought of bank notes and
stamps because they are a
means of cultural exchange that
signify travel and heritage," she
said. "There is so much history
and beauty in what is essentially
just a piece of paper."
The drachma may now be
relatively valueless, but as inspiration, it is worth its weight
in gold.
OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS
8
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
Community Bids Farewell to Peter Kikis: Leader, Philanthropist, Scholar, Good Friend
Continued from page 1
years old his father passed away
and he began working to help
support his mother and sisters.
He was graduated summa
cum laude from Princeton University, where he majored in
Mathematics. He then served as
a Captain in the US Army during
World War II in Europe
Until 1985, Peter was involved in the shipping industry.
From 1950 to the present Kikis
was the President and a Principal of Spencer Management
Company, a real estate development and management company in New York. He also
served as a Principal and CoChairman on McRoberts Protective Agency, a New York based
provider of security guard services from 1972 to 1992. He
was Chairman of the Board of
Command Security Corporation,
a public security corporation,
since September, 2006. He also
served as Director of Deltec International S.A. and Atlas Capital Group Holdings S.A..
He was active in behalf of
numerous causes and served as
President of the Board of
Trustees of Lenox Hill Hospital
in New York. Kikis married the
late Helen Kikis (nee Kalevas)
in 1955. He is survived by their
son, Thomas P. Kikis, daughterin-law Stephanie, and three
grandchildren: Elena, Peter, and
Terrel Kikis. He is also survived
by his sister, Ms. Urania (Uky)
Perakos.
Friends and family called at
the Frank E. Campbell funeral
home on Madison Avenue at
81st Street on Tuesday, March
5. He will be buried next to his
beloved wife Eleni in Milbrook,
N.Y.
ABOVE: The mortal remains of Peter Kikis are borne away from the Archdiocesan Cathedral of
the Holy Trinity he loved. LEFT: Archbishop Demetrios offers condolences to Thomas Kikis, the
son of Peter Kikis, as the Cathedral Dean, Rev. Anastasios Gounaris looks on.
TRIBUTES TO A FRIEND
AND A LEADER
Father Alexander Karloutsos,
Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Spiritual
Advisor to Faith Endowment
and The Order of St. Andrew
the Apostle, told TNH he felt
blessed to have met Kikis in the
latter part of his ministry.
He said “Peter Kikis embodied the nobility of the American
dream,” and noted that he was
“one of the first Greek-Americans to graduate from an Ivy
League school and became a
‘gentleman’s gentleman in the
upper echelons of American so-
ciety. He rose from poverty to
great wealth, but more importantly, doors that were closed to
him he opened for others.”
“What our grandparents envisioned for their children, to
climb to the mountaintop of
great success - in name and
character - Peter Kikis achieved.
He will be missed but his life
will shine, along with his wife
Helen’s, from that mountaintop,
for the rest of our community.
Eternal be his memory,” he said.
Fr. Karloutsos added that “he
became a philanthropist in the
true sense of the word when he
became the president of the
Faith Endowment, and the
Leadership 100, and by advancing the holy cause of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “
Paulette Poulos, the executive director of Leadership 100,
told TNH that she met Kikis
many years ago through his service at Holy Trinity Cathedral.
“He always impressed me as a
perfect gentleman, always with
that pleasant smile, and always
willing to help people whenever
he could.”
She said she had warm memories of Kikis attending the annual Leadership 100 conference
with his sister in Florida in
2011. “He had a wonderful
time. He was such a warm man,
and a distinguished-looking
man.” Poulos was deeply impressed that “he was a person
who would to everything necessary to get the job done, but
he always stood out to me as a
perfect gentleman, and a dedicated Christian.”
Michael Jaharis, Vice Chairman of the Archdiocesan Council, is a close personal friend of
Kikis. He told TNH, “Peter was
a very good friend, a good
Greek, and a good Christian. He
played a critical role in the creation of the Faith endowment.”
may be made in her name to the
Cornell Hotel Society Scholarship Fund, checks payable to
"Cornell University", c/o Cornell
University, Box 223623, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-2623. Arrangements are by the Bangs Funeral
Home.
DEATH NOTICES
Days and dates of funerals,
memorials, and other events directly correspond to the original
publication date, which appears
at the beginning of each notice.
Orthodox Church. Committal
will be held in the spring at Oak
Hill Cemetery. You are invited to
offer condolences and pay tribute
to Antigone's life by visiting her
guest book at www.thefortingroupauburn.com. Those wishing to make donations in her
memory may do so to: The Holy
Trinity Greek Orthodox Church,
155 Hogan Rd, Lewiston, ME
04240.
n MESSINEZIS, GEORGE
PHILADELPHIA, PA (From the
Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News on Jan. 13) –
George Messinezis, beloved uncle of many nieces and nephews,
fell asleep in the Lord on January
9. George is survived by his close
friend Mary Petcos and his sister
Popi of Greece. Pre-deceased by
his beloved brothers Anthony
and Savas. George and his brothers were career bridge painters
in the Philadelphia area. His Funeral Service will be 11 AM.
Tuesday January 15, 2013 at the
Greek Orthodox Church of St.
Luke, 35 N. Malin Rd., Broomall,
Pa. 19008. Interment Fernwood
Cemetery. In lieu of flowers,
memorial contributions may be
made to the church.
n MIHALAKOS, GEORGE
HAMDEN, CT (From the New
Haven Register, published on
Feb. 3) – J. George J. Mihalakos,
44, of 23 Lovig Lane, Hamden
died suddenly on Jan. 30, 2013.
Born in New Haven on May 14,
1968, he was the son of John
and Joanna Lekas Mihalakos of
Hamden. He was long active in
the family operated Clark's Dairy
and Apizza restaurants in New
Haven and Orange. More recently, he operated a caf in the
offices of the New Haven Register for the past 7 years. Besides
his parents, he is survived by two
daughters, Ana and Sophia Mihalakos, both of Milford; one
brother, Louis Mihalakos of Hamden and a sister, Stefanie Fragias
in Greece. Also survived by 2
nephews and a niece. For more
about George's life, please refer
to the news story published in
the Friday edition of the REGISTER. Friends may call at The Celentano Funeral Home, 424 Elm
St. (cor. Dwight) New Haven
Monday between 5 and 7 pm.
and are invited to attend funeral
services in St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 480 Racebrook
Road, Orange Tuesday morning
at 10:30.Interment in Beaverdale
Memorial Park. To leave condolence messages, please visitwww.celentanofuneralhome.co
m.
n MICHELAS, MICHAEL
LAS VEGAS, NV (Published online on Jan. 28, courtesy of Dignity Memorial) – Michael T.
Michelas passed away Saturday,
Jan. 26, 2013. Michael was a
long-time resident of Las Vegas
and a first generation Greek. He
was born to Theodore and Eve
Michelas, who were both born
on the island of Crete, Greece.
He was born in Rock Springs,
Wyo., in 1928. Michael came
from a very close and loving family. The Michelas family moved
to Las Vegas in 1940. Michael
graduated from a prominent acting school in New York City and
starred in several plays. He was
also a graduate of UCLA, majoring in accounting. Michael returned to Las Vegas and was a
stockbroker for 30 years. Michael
was actively involved in the family apartment and water company business. Michael was very
generous and he loved to read.
He was passionate about travel
and loved taking family members
on trips around the world. He
enjoyed hunting and fishing with
his brother-in-law Keith. He
loved playing second grandfather
to his great nephews, Spencer
and Sean. The Michelas family
was one of the first founding
families of St. John's Greek Orthodox Church. Michael was a
brilliant, generous, kind, and loving person. He was greatly loved
and will be missed by all. He was
preceded in death by his parents,
Theodore and Eve Michelas; and
sister and brother-in-law, Ann
and Keith Campbell. He is survived by his sister, Patricia Robison (Robert); nieces, Diane Robison, Michelle Clark (Jerry) and
Stacey Riggs; nephew, Ted
Campbell (Cheryl), grandnephews, Spencer (Laura) and
Sean Campbell. Funeral services
will be at 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 1,
at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, 5300 El Camino
Road. In lieu of flowers, please
make donations to St. Johns
Greek Orthodox Church.
n MORDECHAI, ESTHER
GREENSBORO, NC (From the
News Record, published on Feb.
23) – Esther Mordechai passed
away peacefully on Feb. 20, 2013
at age of 93 at the Hebrew Home
of Greater Washington in
Rockville, MD. Graveside services
will be held on Sunday, February
24 at 2 p.m. at the Greensboro
Hebrew Cemetery on High Point
Road with Rabbi Eliezer Havivi
officiating.Esther lived in Greensboro for over 50 years immigrating to the United States from
Ioannina, Greece with her husband, Elias, and two daughters in
1951. She was a member of Beth
David Synagogue and had many
friends in the Jewish congregation, the Greek community in
Greensboro and in the Sunset
Hills neighborhood where she
took her legendary two mile walk
every day. Esther was a Holocaust
survivor, imprisoned in Auschwitz
for 18 months during WWII. Although it brought back painful
memories, she recognized the importance of telling her story as a
tribute to those who were killed
and as lesson for future generations. She was one of the first
Holocaust survivors to be videotaped by the Steven Speilberg
Foundation and was frequently
invited to speak at schools in the
area. Esther is survived by her
daughters, Evelyn Mordechai and
Anny Hall, and granddaughter,
Emily Hall. Donations can be
made to the Rabbi's Discretionary
Fund through the Beth David
Synagogue, 804 Winview Drive,
Greensboro, NC 27410. Hanes
Lineberry Vanstory Chapel is assisting the Mordechai family. Online condolences may be made at
www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com
n NATSIOS, CHRISTINE
LOWELL, MA (From the Lowell
Sun, published on Feb. 20) –
Christine Daphne Natsios passed
away after a battle with cancer
on Feb. 16, 2013 at the Cayuga
Medical Center of Ithaca, NY.
She was born Jan. 2, 1953 in
Athens, Greece, daughter of the
late Nicholas Andrew Natsios, a
US Foreign Service Officer, and
Mitzi (Peterson) Natsios. She
was a member of St. Catherine's
Greek Orthodox Church in
Ithaca. Ms. Natsios grew up in
Greece, Vietnam, France, Korea,
Argentina, and the Netherlands,
where she acquired a unique perspective on global cultures as
well as a talent for languages. A
childhood spent traveling within
the world of international diplomacy provided apt preparation
for her subsequent career in the
hospitality industry. A 1985 graduate of the Cornell Hotel School,
Ms. Natsios had 30 years experience in special events management, catering, and sales with
organizations such as the RitzCarlton, Four Seasons Hotels,
Sheraton, Intercontinental Hotels, The Columbus (Ohio)
Athanaeum and Columbus Museum of Art. She was appointed
director of alumni affairs at the
Cornell Hotel School in 2005,
where she served until present
as the school's primary liaison to
the 9,000-member Cornell Hotel
Society and the Cornell Hotel Society Foundation. She traveled
throughout the world on behalf
of 59 international alumni chapters. Ms. Natsios was active in
the Cornell Hotel Society, Washington, DC chapter for almost 20
years, serving as the group's president from 1991-1992, and an
active member of the Cornell
Alumni Association of Central
Ohio. She was a valued member
of the Greek Orthodox community, contributing organizational,
interpersonal and culinary skills
to church societies and festivals.
She is survived by a son, Brian J.
Barton and granddaughter, Kayla
S. Barton of Columbus, OH; and
partner, Charles (Chuck) T. Lilly
of Cortland, NY. She leaves her
mother, Mitzi Peterson Natsios
of Alexandria, VA; sisters and
brothers-in-law, Deborah A. Natsios and her husband John L.
Young of New York City, Valerie
S. Natsios-Mundell and her husband Robert A. Mundell of New
York City and Siena, Italy, and
Alexandra R. Natsios and her
husband Joel D. Wall of Alexandria, VA. She is also survived by
niece, Allegra Andreadis Natsios;
nephew, Nicholas R. Mundell;
and many beloved cousins, aunts
and uncles. A viewing will be
held on Wednesday, February 20,
2013 at St. Catherine's Greek Orthodox Church, 120 West Seneca
St., Ithaca, NY. A private interment will be held at a later date
at Westlawn Cemetery in Lowell,
MA. In lieu of flowers, donations
This is a service
to the community.
Announcements of deaths
may be telephoned to the
classified Department of
The national Herald at
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candidate's approach to teaching Greek as a second language
in the U. S., and 3) Three references. E-mail "soft copy" to:
[email protected], "hard
copy" to: Saint Katherine Greek
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n BOURNAKEL, ANTIGONE
LEWISTON, ME (From the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday
Telegram, published on Jan. 21)
– Antigone Bournakel of Lewiston, ME, passed away on Jan. 20,
2013 at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough after
a brief illness. She was 99 years
old. Born in Arkadia, Greece, on
March 15, 1913, to Michael and
Emily Lysikatos, she was the sixth
of ten children. Antigone came
to the U.S. in 1935, as a young
bride. She and her husband,
Spiro Bournakel, settled in Lewiston where they raised three children. In addition to being a loving
wife
and
mother,
grandmother, sister and aunt to
her family, Antigone was an active, faithful, and devoted member of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church community. The
depth of her faith and dedication
to the church was exemplified
over 75 years of service, as she
lent her talents to every need of
the church. In 2002, Antigone received a Boston Diocesan Award
for her service to the church community. Antigone was the spiritual and emotional center of her
family, raising her three children
and maintaining intimate connections with her grandchildren
as well as all of her relatives
throughout her life. Antigone
and Spiro always took time to
support their families in Greece;
after WWII, bringing nephews
from Greece into their home
where they completed their
schooling; and later, sponsoring
other family members to relocate
to the U.S. Along with dinners
and holidays surrounded by her
children and grandchildren,
Antigone loved cooking and hosting family and friends at Tacoma
Lakes in Litchfield, as well as
spending time in Livadi, Greece,
with her beloved family, near the
village of Melana where she grew
up. Antigone's loving, generous
heart and positive spirit will be
forever missed by her family,
friends, and all who had the good
fortune of knowing her. Predeceased by her husband of 46
years in 1981; her son, Charles
Bournakel in 2012; and her
grandson, Stefan Bournakel in
2004. She is survived by her son,
George Bournakel of Yarmouth
and his wife, Kay, her daughter,
Angela Bournakel of Yarmouth,
her daughter-in-law, Kiki Bournakel of Lewiston; and her sister,
Fani Alexandrou of Athens,
Greece. She is also survived by
four grandchildren, Dean Bournakel of Largo, Fla., Christina
Bournakel of Portland, Christopher Bournakis of Auburn, and
Nicholas Bournakel of Portland;
one great-grandchild, Nicos
Bournakel of Kentfield, Calif.;
and many nieces and nephews.
In recent years, Antigone lived
with her daughter in Yarmouth,
and for the last two and a half
years, she was a resident at Falmouth By The Sea, in Falmouth.
Funeral Service will be on Thursday 11 AM at Holy Trinity Greek
239-777-4904
[email protected]
www.VickyLewisNaples.com
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THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
COMMUNITY
9
ALL HISTORY
Role of Greek Performers in American Circuses, Carnivals, and Rodeos
By Steve Frangos
ought to be assumed that
Bockus and Kilonis were ultimately in charge of their circus,
they had hired seasoned circus
veterans.
James Swafford, was general
manager, and he had worked in
a wide array of circuses since
the 1890s. B&K’s superintendent, was George A. Manchester, "the first man on the lot in
the morning and the last one off
at night" is described as a circus
veteran who "has been in the
circus business 42 years...and
who was with the Buffalo Bill
circus...in 1899 [and]...had
charge of erection of the tented
city (Fitchburg Sentinel May 6,
1936)." So what exactly did
Manchester do as superintendent? "Long before the performers, animals and attractions arrived the cook tent, the dressing
rooms, the animal tent, the side
TNH Staff Writer
PART 5
CHICAGO- That the Bockus and
Kilonis Wild Animal Circus
(B&K) was owned and operated
by Greek-Americans Curtis
Bockus and John Kilonis and
lasted less than one full season
is a matter of history. The precise reasons for its quick demise,
however, remain unconfirmed.
The only publicly available
account of that circus from either of the principal owners
comes from Bockus. In the January 21, 1950, edition of Billboard magazine, a concise history of Bockus' career was
published. Bockus offered only
a passing account of B&K, stating that he formed a partnership
with the Kilonis where "each
contributed the same among of
cash: nothing." Given the size
and complexity of the show, as
we shall see, that cannot be
true. Bockus' few other remarks,
while revealing, are again short
of the full complement of
known facts.
Over the course of this series
about B&K, we have established
that Bockus and Kilonis were
seasoned owners and operators
of circuses, athletic shows, and
other midway entertainments.
Incorporation papers for B&K
were filed on April 30, 1936
with Crystal Lake Park in Manchester, NH, which was identified as its headquarters. Perhaps
it was nothing but show business hokum, but B&K repeatedly
claimed to have been the only
New England-based circus. That
promoters and entertainers involved with circuses and other
outdoor entertainments would
collectively join forces, from season to season, was not uncommon.
As part of the overall preparations, aside from Bockus and
Kilonis joining forces, some
arrangements were made with
William Schultz and Ted Merchant. A curt vignette on
William Schultz is found in
Above: One of the attractions at James E. Strates’ Carnival Midway. Right: A carnival poster.
Strates Shows’ history dates back to 1923. Strates came to America in 1909.
“Bockus & Kilonis Wild Animal
Circus, Season of 1936: Short
Sketches of Former Shows,” by
Joseph T. Bradbury that appeared in the January-February
1967 edition of the circus history magazine Bandwagon:
"An important personage
connected with the new show
was Capt. William Schultz who
was signed to furnish several
wild and domestic animal acts
in the performance. Schultz also
added a number of his own
trucks which photos indicate
were used not only to carry his
own animals and props but also
to load seats and other properties of the show. In the early 30's
Schultz had operated his own
circus using the rather unusual
title of ‘King of the Beasts.’ His
vehicles were still painted with
that title while on the Bockus &
Kilonis show. One of Schultz's
animal acts was trained lions
worked in the steel arena by
Marion Knowlton who later
gained fame on the Cole Bros.
Circus. She also worked horses,
dogs, and ponies. Schultz furnished the majority of stock and
other animals on the show." Various accounts give different
numbers to the animals in
Schultz show, but over 80 seems
a reasonable number.
Merchant was an early Hollywood cowboy actor who also
ran his own independent company: "Ted will have with him
his entire troupe of cowboys and
cowgirls from Hollywood, including Miss Jackie Moore, leading lady in many of his recent
films:
Crooning Dan, cowboy songster, and his wonder horse,
Scout. There are many frontier
experts in the Wild West show
and they will give the circus fans
a real example of rip-roaring
riding, roping and fancy shooting (Fitchburg Sentinel May 5,
1936)."
B&K has been described as
only a "medium sized motorized
circus," but newspaper reports
attest that there were 50 trucks
and a large number of house
cars. It was with this same compliment of vehicles that the circus gave a parade in each city it
toured. In Bradbury's article we
learn that B&K "had received 10
new Ford V-8 trucks equipped
with 24 ft. semi-trailers from the
Charles Carrol Co. and later reports stated that 7 additional
new trucks were delivered. A total of 26 trucks plus 3 advance
vehicles were claimed by the
show and this figure should be
substantially correct."
The accepted explanation for
why B&K failed is poor management. It is argued that Bockus
and Kilonis had only operated
as carnival and sideshow men,
which at least in the case of
Bockus is incorrect. While it
show and finally the main top
arose as if by magic. An army of
employees were busy; each one
had his appointed task (Fitchburg Sentinel May 6, 1936)."
The circus credentials of other
members of the B&K Circus
could be offered.
Putting aside the issue of
poor management, the next logical question is: how were all
these individuals paid? Neither
Bockus nor Kilonis, no matter
how convincing a speaker he
might have been, ever could
have convinced so many individuals to work for no food, pay
or gas money. Extending that argument, who paid to feed all the
animals?
No writer has faulted the roster of circus performers. The
April 29, 1936, edition of the
Nashua, NH newspaper the
Telegraph, offers a succinct over
view of B&K's performers. Miss
Faith Ryan and her blue ribbon
horses are first mentioned and
then "the roster of circus stars
embrace the following well
known artists: William Shulz,
Wild Animal Exhibit, of jungle
bred lions and tigers put
through an amazing routine by
Mariom Knowlton, world's
greatest female wild animal subjugator; De Marlow and Marlette are a European duo of aerial gymnasts; the ‘freeborn Trio’
are skillful equilibrists and high
perch experts; Raymond and
LaFrance, astounding head balancers and acrobats; Leo and
May Jackson, champion tight
wire and nifty jugglers; Harry
Barrows aerial rings in daring
drops and catches; Madame
Dale's stable of Kentucky and
Arabian horses; The DeMarco
sisters, dainty and youthful
trapeze performers; Ted Merchant, cowboy screen star, has
his own company of cowboys
and girls and spirited broncos
and presents thrilling ‘Frontier
Life’; Jinks and Clifford head the
merry clown contingent, who
present their grotesque absurdities and ludicrous comedy. Al
Massey's Military band will offer
concerts before each performance which commences at 3
and 8 p.m.
"Effie Nelson, a daring aerialist and trick rider sees mention
as well as side show attractions,
Madame Rhonda, palmist; petrified man; Airlene; Guy Sampson, musical cowboy playing
glasses, bottles, handsaw, mandolin, guitar, and novelty instruments; snake charmer; Punch
and Judy; magic; legless man;
dancers; and Bill Freeman's colored band and minstrels."
All of that information seems
to point to a mixture of the very
forces of nature along with the
bad luck of daring men that led
to the Bockus and Kilonis Wild
Animal Circus’ demise.
[email protected]
GREEK AMERICAN STORIES
The Perfect Crime
By Phylis (Kiki) Sembos
Special to The National Herald
It was Saturday. The table
facing the front window in the
Dixon cafeteria on Forty-third
and Eighth Avenue hosted its
regular patrons; Dimos, Kipreos,
John and my papa, George.
Their warm coffees remained at
half-way so that the manager
couldn’t accuse them of loitering, as they spoke animatedly
on various subjects ranging
from politics in Greece to politics in the city – all ending with
the same results. Nothing
solved, but each felt a measure
of satisfaction for having contributed invaluable information
that had been, until that day,
unbeknownst to the rest of the
world.
Egos uplifted, they moved on
to another subject, one with
teeth, Yiannis’ grisly, pennypinching ways. “His wife now
works overtime, I hear, while he
stays home,” said Kipreos, observing his buddies reactions.
“Someone has to take care of
their kid.” remarked John,
shrugging.
“I hear they have oatmeal for
dinner because it’s cheap.” said
George, hoping to ruffle their
composure.
“Possible.” Dimos nodded.
“Maybe, when he becomes rich
he’ll serve it with nuts and
raisins.”
“That’ll be dessert.” quipped
Kipreos, lifting his cup as if it
was full, the manager eying
them, curiously.
“Poor Areti! Comes home to
do more work; washing dishes,
cleaning up, ironing and taking
care of baby Barbara. At least,
he does the shopping, you
know,” said John.
“Sure! Doesn’t trust that she
might buy something expensive.” George grinned, sipping
his own coffee. “He says he
doesn’t want to confuse her.”
“I’ve seen them at the super
market. Their bags are sure
light. He says he doesn’t want
her to hurt herself while carrying them home.”
“I’ll bet she fantasizes herself
as widow,” George’s eyes twinkled mischievously. The others
objected, waving that thought
away.
“Areti’s a good, Christianly
woman, uncomplaining, makes
her cross often. I’ve never heard
her say one word against him.
My wife has more complaints
against me than can fill an encyclopedia.” complained John,
stirring a half empty cup, vigorously.
“Y’ gotta remember; Areti
was dirt poor in her village in
Greece, grateful Yiannis rescued
her from humiliating poverty,
being an orphan, an’ all. When
he noticed her hair was curly
and she wouldn’t go to beauty
parlors for curls, an’ stuff – that
cinched the deal.” Dimos explained, thinking of his wife’s
beauty parlor bills. “God! That
IS an economy!”
“I hear he gives her just
enough money to go and come
from work with the bus. He
packs her lunch for her, too. I
wonder what’s in them.” Kipreos
rubbed his chin.
“Oatmeal
sandwiches,
maybe?” said George, looking
serious.
“Look how she dresses, for
God’s sake! Clothes she brought
with her as a bride. Hey! It’s
been ten years now. Even her
shoes are the very same.” John
informed. “My wife buys clothes
all the time – and says, she doesn’t have a thing to wear to
church.”
“Let’s face it, guys. He’s got
it made and you don’t! Could
envy have something to do with
it,” said Kipreos, the bachelor
among them.
“Are you sure you
all want to know?
This is lethal business,
the perfect crime, I’m
talking about here.”
“Anyway, I’ve been thinking.
Suppose Areti wants to get rid
of him. I could help her.” All
eyes were fastened on George,
who leaned back in his seat,
sporting a smug expression,
tinted with devil – pink. He
gazed at them as if he knew the
combination to the Chase bank’s
vault.
“Get rid of Yiannis?” John
looked aghast. “What would
happen to Areti?”
“I’d marry her.” offered
Kipreos, thinking of all the benefits in that situation.
“We’d have nothing to talk
about with Yiannis gone.” John
was rueful. “Gotta admit life
would be dull, then.”
“Besides, it’s illegal to kill
anyone, y’ know. – even Yiannis,” said Dimos, restraining
laughter. “Then, Areti would be
found out and jailed. What happens to the baby?”
“They’ve got visiting days in
prison.” said John, tantalized at
a world without Yiannis. “I’ll
drive her there, myself. No sacrifice!”
“What happy endings! Think
of it, guys!” continued George,
still serious. “Areti relieved of
Yiannis, Kipreos gets a worthy
wife and we find a new subject
for gossip and conjecture. But,
you haven’t heard my way of
getting rid of Yiannis, yet.”
The interest he aroused
caused a quiet that brought the
attention of the manager who
had stood close enough to overhear most of their conversations. Intrigued, he came closer
to hear what George had in
mind as, George, pleased with
their avid attention explained,
“Seriously, I know a way to get
rid of Yiannis without any trouble to anyone – no police involvement, no detectives, no
knives or guns, poisons or baseball bats as evidence – nothing!”
A long silence ensued. Curiosity
reigned. But, doubts clouded
their thinking that such a crime
existed. John broke the curiosity-ridden silence. “Ok George!
How is that done? What do you
know that the world never
thought of?”
“Yeah! You’d better make it
quick! He’ll be here any minute
now.” Kipreos urged as all eyes
went to the wide window,
searchingly.
“Are you sure you all want
to know? This is lethal business
– the perfect crime, I’m talking
about here.” George’s grave expression became almost sinister.
Fascinated, they begged him to
reveal the mechanics of the perfect crime. George’s captivated
audience included the manager
as he took a seat beside them,
listening and waiting with curiosity and suspense. George began slowly to reveal the facts
with measured precision.
“Now, I’m not saying it would
work on just anyone. No! This only on Yiannis! Now! Everybody has a weak spot. So, one
must study his victim carefully
before plotting. So, here’s what
I’d do if we are all in agreement
to kill him.”
“WE?” cried Kipreos. “No,
George! You! It’s your idea.”
“But, I expect your loyalty
when the coroner comes.”
George’s face remained placid.
Tension stilled every voice,
every finger, and every empty
cup as George revealed the solution of ridding the world of
the tyrannical, skin-flint known
as Yiannis.
“First, I’d wait until he seated
himself there – in that chair –
drinking his coffee – calmly and
thoughtfully, as he usually does.
Then, I’d ask him how he feels.
He’d say he’s fine, as usual. After
a few quiet moments, I’d, nonchalantly, take out a fifty dollar
bill and wave it.
He’d look at it with those
bulging eyes and ask what it
was for. His temperature would
begin to rise. I’ll tell him it’s
something I don’t want anymore. Of course, he’d say something like – ‘if you don’t want it,
I do!’ I’d wait until he asked for
it. I’ll tell him he can have it – a
little at a time – and then, proceed to tear it a half inch down.
That’s when his heart will begin
to race, palpitation will rise.”
Every face registered awe as the
scene played in their minds;
even the manager appeared
mesmerized as George continued.
“I’ll tear off more and more,
until his color pales and his
hands sweat. He’ll object, saying, ‘what’re you doing?’ I won’t
answer. I’ll tear it down all the
way and continue the next strip,
laying them beside his shaking
hands. By that time, the fifty
dollar bill now in shreds, Yianni
will begin suffering cardiac arrest. One of you can call the
paramedics as I take out another
bill – a one hundred dollar bill.
I’ll start tearing that one, too.
By the time the paramedics arrive Yiannis will be dead.”
George leaned back in his chair,
pleased, enjoying the despair
and amazement painted on the
stunned faces around him.
“What’s wrong? It’ll work, I tell
you.”
Familiar with the devious
workings of George’s mind, they
sobered at once; John chuckling, Dimos shaking his head,
Kipreos, closing the mouth that
had fallen open. Laughter,
slowly, rose up from them as the
manager, feeling silly to have
been taken in by another of
George’s tales, offered them free
coffee.
“Ingenious!” said, John, wiping his eyes of laughing tears.
“Aw, George!” said Dimos
when the laughter subsided.
“Have a heart! Think of Areti
and Barbara.”
“I am!” remarked George as
the front doors of the cafeteria
opened and the portly figure of
the resurrected Yiannis approached the table, giving a
salutary nod to each. “Anybody
treating today?” Yiannis asked.
“I forgot my wallet and Areti
doesn’t get paid until Friday.”
George lowered his head to stifle surging laughter as the others displayed objections at the
master moocher. One could only
wonder what thoughts went
through their heads at that moment. Had a machine been invented to reveal invisible
thoughts, a fifty dollar bill and
a hundred dollar bill would,
probably, be, gladly, volunteered
as a small contribution to the
perfect crime.
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GREECE CYPRUS
10
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
Eurozone Bailout of Cyprus is Stalled by Suspicion of Money-Laundering
By Charles Forelle And
Matina Stevis
Wall Street Journal
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cyprus's
newly elected government is
bargaining for a €17 billion
bailout from its euro-zone peers.
But the little island won't get
a cent until it wrestles with a
long-standing issue: money
laundering. Cyprus's reputation
as a transit point for shady cash,
and its unusual connections to
Russia, are making many of its
would-be rescuers nervous.
Monday, euro-zone finance
ministers agreed that Cyprus
would have to submit to a fresh
outside examination of its
money-laundering controls—an
audit that many here resent. The
new president, Nicos Anastasiades, sworn in last week, has
pledged cooperation with the
euro zone—"We have nothing to
hide," he told a German newspaper—but his new finance minister said Sunday that there "has
to be a balance" between a tough
audit and bank secrecy.
The country's rescue, though
small, is an essential test of the
currency bloc's newly proclaimed cohesion, which has
calmed financial markets after
years of turmoil. If Cyprus's longdelayed bailout descends into
discord, much of that progress
could be undone.
Mr. Anastasiades's task will
entail piloting the reluctant
Mediterranean island back toward Europe, after a period
when Cyprus flirted with other
rescuers—to the consternation
of the European Union.
When Cyprus was fast running out of cash in late 2011,
for example, Mr. Anastasiades's
predecessor, a Russophile Communist, dispatched his finance
minister to Moscow for a loan
of €2.5 billion, or about $3.3 billion. The next year, Cyprus got
another lifeline, when Tanzanian
bank FBME Bank Ltd., angling
for a Cypriot banking license
that would give it access to all
of Europe, invested 13% of its
balance sheet in the government's junk-rated treasury bills.
FBME says the investment wasn't linked to its application.
At a euro-zone finance ministers' gathering in Brussels on
Dec. 3, Maria Fekter, a blunt
Austrian with little time for collegial niceties, captured the
mood in the currency union over
the prospect of bailing out
Cyprus.
"What about the Russians and
their fake companies laundering
their cash through your banks?"
she asked her Cypriot counterpart at the time, according to
two people present at the closeddoor meeting. "Are we giving
them our taxpayers' money too?"
Cyprus—which joined the
European Union in 2004 and the
euro zone in 2008—needs the
money. Four years of deficits
from a free-spending government run by a Communist have
eroded public finances. A munitions explosion at a naval base
in 2011 badly damaged a critical
power plant, stunting the economy. A major Cypriot bank's investments in Greece have nearly
ruined it.
Skepticism abounds among
Cyprus's would-be rescuers, especially Germany, where parliament must assent to a bailout.
"We will not secure deposits
of Russian black money in
Cypriot banks with German taxpayer money," said Carsten
Schneider, of the leading SPD
opposition party, last month.
Cypriot officials reject such
characterizations and say they
ignore substantial reforms of recent years, and wrongly assume
that money from Russia must be
tainted. "Cyprus is doing a lot
more than other countries" to
combat illegal financial activity,
says Eva Rossidou-Papakyriacou,
the longtime head of Cyprus's
anti-money-laundering agency.
Yet Cyprus is having a hard
time shaking its reputation,
thanks to an industry skilled at
forming shell corporations and
trusts that can camouflage assets. It also has favorable accommodations for Russians, such as
low taxes on cross-border transactions. So much money flows
through Cyprus to Russia that in
war.
Couriers flew cash from the
Yugoslav customs agency to
Cyprus—hundreds of millions of
dollars in a fistful of currencies,
according to a report prepared
in 2002 by a fraud investigator
for prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia, which tried
Mr. Milosevic and others for war
crimes. There, the investigator
said, it was deposited in the
Cypriot bank accounts of front
companies. Much allegedly went
through Cyprus Popular Bank,
which today needs a massive
government rescue.
A spokesman said the bank
didn't breach United Nations
sanctions and "fully cooperated"
with authorities.
The tribunal's investigators
asked Mihalj Kertes, the head of
Milosevic's customs agency, why
cash was brought to Cyprus.
"Probably there," he said, "there
was a passage to the world."
FBME has made Cyprus its
portal for years. It was spun off
from a Lebanese bank and established in Cyprus in 1986 with
reuTerS
A billboard in Russian advertising a property development in
Limassol, Cyprus.
the official statistics the little island is Russia's largest source of
foreign investment—accounting
for nearly a quarter of the total
in 2011.
For some in Europe, Cyprus's
moment of need is also an opportunity to pull it closer. The
island is deep in the eastern
Mediterranean, barely 150 miles
from Beirut. It was at various
times under the sway of Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans.
Richard the Lionheart seized
Cyprus on his way to the Holy
Land. Britain ruled it from World
War I to 1960.
Cyprus doesn't control the
northern part of the island,
which was invaded by Turkish
Army troops in 1974. They are
still there. A United Nations
buffer zone separates 860,000
people in the south from another
quarter million in the north.
Cyprus's financial industry
blossomed after the split. It became a haven for Middle Eastern
money, and the collapse of the
Soviet Union brought new
clients. The unsavory reputation
was cemented in the 1990s,
when Slobodan Milosevic and
his associates funneled money
through Cypriot banks to pay for
its legal domicile in the Cayman
Islands. A decade ago, the Cayman Islands evicted banks with
no real presence there. FBME
found a new home in Dar es
Salaam.
Tanzania isn't a financial center. It is on an international
blacklist of jurisdictions that
don't do enough to stop money
laundering. And FBME itself has
drawn scrutiny from antimoney-laundering officials at
the U.S. Treasury Department,
according to people familiar
with the matter, in part because
of its links with a Lebanese bank.
FBME was spun out of that
bank, Federal Bank of Lebanon
SAL, in the 1980s and has the
same controlling shareholders.
FBME hasn't been accused of
any wrongdoing.
In a 2011 civil complaint filed
in New York federal court, the
Justice Department outlined an
alleged scheme in which money
linked to Hezbollah operatives
and drug traffickers was laundered around the world.
According to the complaint,
money was transferred from several Lebanese banks to the U.S.,
where it was used to buy cars
that were shipped to West Africa
and sold, and the proceeds
brought back to Lebanon. One
of the banks was Federal Bank
of Lebanon, the complaint said.
It handled the smallest amount
of money among the four banks
described in the complaint and
it is not a defendant in the case.
Its lawyers say the bank "always
complies with Lebanese laws
and international standards."
FBME says it does less than
10% of its business in Tanzania.
The bulk is in Cyprus. In the
statement, it said it is "fully applying" money-laundering regulations of both countries.
As Cyprus's government fell
into financial trouble in 2011,
FBME stepped up. In July 2011,
according to a brief public statement last November, it bought
short-term Cypriot government
debt. Over the next year, it
quadrupled its holdings. By November, it said it held €240 million worth.
On the day in May 2012 that
Cyprus's parliament authorized
an initial bailout of Cyprus Popular, FBME applied to move its
legal headquarters from Tanzania to Cyprus. That would make
it a fully European bank with access to the entire EU. It currently
has a license to operate as a foreign branch in Cyprus.
Averof Neofytou, a member
of Cyprus's parliament, asked
the central-bank chief if there
was a quid pro quo. He says he
was told there wasn't.
In its statement, FBME said
its decision to buy the debt was
"made on the basis of commercial interests and at no time
linked to any other consideration."
Cyprus's would-be EU rescuers fret over the dense stacks
of shell companies based here,
which critics say abet tax evasion
and money laundering.
Cypriot officials say the concern is unfounded. Ms. Rossidou-Papakyriacou, the antimoney-laundering chief, points
to her office's broad powers to
block suspicious transactions
and laws requiring shell companies to maintain ownership
records. She brandishes a folder
of letters from foreign counterparts thanking her for cooperation, and points to Cyprus's
largely positive evaluation under
the international money-laundering regime—better marks
than Austria.
In December, Cyprus passed
more anti-money-laundering
laws, among them one that sub-
mits corporate-service providers
to closer regulation. "We've done
everything," Ms. Rossidou-Papakyriacou says.
Still, she acknowledges that
the corporate-service business is
a major industry. "We rely on
tourism and services. We don't
produce cars," she says.
An industry of thousands of
lawyers, accountants and socalled corporate-service agents
in Cyprus beaver away forming
companies, whipping up corporate skeletons and dressing them
with directors, paperwork and
bank accounts.
Their handiwork is evident in
a civil fraud action brought by
BTA Bank, one of Kazakhstan's
biggest lenders, against its former chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov. BTA claims Mr. Ablyazov
and another former executive
looted billions of dollars from
the bank before it was nationalized in 2009 and they were
fired.
BTA says Mr. Ablyazov squirreled the money away inside a
paper empire of companies. A
London judge's order freezing
Mr. Ablyazov's assets lists hundreds of companies alleged by
the bank to be shells—entities
from Cyprus to the British Virgin
Islands and the Seychelles.
Mr. Ablyazov is a critic of
Kazakhstan's strongman president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and
he has said the bank is trying to
silence him. He has argued that
he needed complex structures to
shield assets from what he says
are Mr. Nazarbayev's predations.
His lawyer, Richard Leedham, says that such practices are
commonplace in the former Soviet Union "because of the fear
of state intervention" in business
affairs. "Everyone in this game
operates like this," he says.
"That's how it's done."
Mr. Ablyazov was granted
asylum in the U.K., and he lived
for several years in Carlton
House, a nine-bedroom mansion
with a Turkish bath in north London. Last year a judge sentenced
him to 22 months in prison for
violating the freezing order and
lying to the court about his assets. He has fled the U.K., and it
isn't certain where he is. Mr.
Leedham says Mr. Ablyazov
"completely disputes the bank's
contention that he has in any
way siphoned off assets."
Cyprus was the engine room
of Mr. Ablyazov's alleged operation. In court documents, BTA
bank claims Mr. Ablyazov used
a London company to direct
agents in Cyprus who administered companies there—while
apparently asking few questions.
One agent was Paul Kythreotis, a 45-year-old Briton with offices in Limassol. Mr. Kythreotis's
assignments included handling
the corporate affairs of scores of
companies the bank alleges are
linked to Mr. Ablyazov.
"We need some intergroup restructuring," an official at the
London management company
emailed Mr. Kythreotis in 2008,
according to court documents.
The official instructed Mr.
Kythreotis to change the
recorded owner of "all companies under your administration."
There were 102.
Among entities in Mr.
Kythreotis's stable were five
British Virgin Islands companies
that BTA alleged Mr. Ablyazov
ultimately owned. (A London
judge has ruled he did own at
least one.) BTA says $300 million worth of bonds owned by
the bank ended up in the coffers
of those companies.
Mr. Kythreotis was sentenced
to 21 months in prison in the
U.K. for refusing to turn over
documents. He has remained in
Cyprus, where last year he was
sentenced to two months in jail
for refusing a court order to
search his house and Limassol
office. His lawyer declined to
comment.
Residents of Cyprus, meanwhile, welcome the Russians.
The money brings jobs and investment. And, many say, the island provides a refuge for legitimate Russian businessmen.
Elias Neocleous, a lawyer at
one of Cyprus's most prominent
firms, with an office in Moscow
and a hefty client list, says
Cyprus needs to capitalize on its
position in the world. He envisions making the island a global
center for arbitration, "for people
who don't trust their own systems." Cyprus's future is in "facilitating business, bridging cultures and geographies," he says.
"We don't have anything else."
Jay Solomon contributed to this
article.
A version of this article appeared
March 5, 2013, on page A1 in the
U.S. edition of The Wall Street
Journal, with the headline: Money-Laundering Suspicion Stalls
Europe's Latest Bailout.
Euro Crisis Now Breeds Comics: Italian Funnyman Wins 25% of Vote
By Gideon Rachman
The Financial Times
Some months ago, I was discussing the euro crisis with a
high-ranking US diplomat. “It’s
back to the 1930s, isn’t it?” said
my companion with a mixture
of gloom and relish. “The extremists are on the rise.”
After the Italian elections,
these doom-laden predictions
are redoubling. The Spectator,
a British magazine, has labelled
Beppe Grillo as “Italy’s new
Mussolini”. Even some Italian
commentators have made the
same comparison.
That is not just unfair on Mr
Grillo, a comedian whose Five
Star Movement has just scooped
up 25 per cent of the vote. It is
also a misreading of how European politics are likely to develop, under conditions of economic stress. The temptation is
to argue that because the Depression of the 1930s led to the
rise of fascists and communists,
the current economic crisis will
provoke a similar flight to the
far right and the far left.
There are a few similarities
between Europe then and now.
As in the 1930s, a financial
crash, followed by austerity policies, has led to high unemployment. Once again, new political
movements are springing up
that heap scorn on the governing class. But dig a little deeper
and the comparisons seem superficial. When the Depression
arrived in Europe, only 12 years
had passed since the continent
had suffered the horrors of the
first world war. About 40 per
cent of French and German men
aged 19-21 in 1914 were killed
in the next four years. Italy also
suffered terrible casualties.
Overall, more than 10m soldiers
died in Europe. Millions more
were mutilated.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were both veterans of the
war and the movements they
led were profoundly shaped by
it. Mussolini took power in the
1920s, before the Depression
even hit Europe. When it got
under way in the 1930s, Europe
was ill-prepared. Welfare states
were vestigial, so unemployment often spelt destitution and
hunger.
By contrast, modern Europe
is a much richer and less traumatised continent. Of course,
times are tough in countries
such as Portugal, where wages
and pensions have been cut. Unemployment is high across the
eurozone and many people fear
for the future. But this is not the
1930s.
The country that looks closest to producing 1930s-style politics is Greece, whose economy
has suffered the deepest contraction of any in Europe –
shrinking by 25 per cent. That
has led to the rise of Golden
Dawn, a far-right party that flirts
with fascist themes, from ultranationalism to anti-semitism.
Golden Dawn is currently at
about 10 per cent in the polls
and the far-left Syriza party
came a close second in the last
election. But, for now, an unpopular centrist government
continues to hold power.
What is striking about
Greece, moreover, is that it remains exceptional in contemporary Europe. If you look at the
rest of the continent, the far
right and the far left have not
yet made dramatic headway –
even in countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain, whose
economies are suffering badly.
In Spain, where youth unem-
ingram Pinn illustration©ingram Pinn
ployment is now higher than 50
per cent, the big new political
development is the rise of Catalan nationalism. This is a serious
phenomenon that threatens the
unity of the country. But it is not
to be confused with a resurgence of Francoism or the anarchist movements of the 1930s.
Italy’s regional separatists,
the Northern League, emerged
well before the economic crisis
but did badly in the most recent
election. The new force in Italian politics is Mr Grillo and his
movement – whose political
style is very different from that
of the Italian fascists. Mussolini
was militaristic and bombastic.
Mr Grillo uses humour and informality as his trademarks. It
is true that he ridicules the Italian parliament and political
class. But he has never rejected
democracy as a system.
In fact, modern Europeans
seem more likely to react to bad
times by voting for a comedian
than for a fascist. Mr Grillo is
not an isolated example. In Iceland, whose economy was devastated by a financial crisis, the
voters elected Jon Gnarr, a
stand-up comic, as the mayor of
Reykjavik, the capital. Mr
Gnarr’s political pledges included a drug-free parliament
within a decade.
A comic’s ability to combine
anger and humour works politically, when things look bleak.
Comedians can also make unconventional proposals that subvert the pomposity of politics as
usual. Mr Grillo has promised
to slash the pay of politicians,
make the internet faster and create more bicycle lanes.
The difficulty for politicians
who make their breakthroughs
as truth-telling clowns is that actually wielding power presents
them with some distinctly unfunny choices. That may be
Lesvos, Once Famous for its
Wine, is Bottling Once Again
The island of Lesvos has been
famous from antiquity and the
middle ages for its wine, which
was the most expensive in the
markets of ancient Athens,
Rome and Constantinople.During Ottoman rule, it was the
only wine consumed in Turkish
harems.
Eventually however, in the
course of the island's turbulent
history, including the many
changes in rulers, the viticulture
tradition was lost on the
island;the grapes were killed by
the lethal disease Philloxera
and, since Lesvos by then had
specialized in the production of
ouzo, vineyards on the island
were abandoned.
Recently , a couple of quality
labels, Methymnaeos and Daphnis & Chloë have put the name
Lesvos back on the wine map.
Methymnaeos
wine
was
launched by the Lambros family
following their discovery of the
last remaining vines of the traditional red grape of Lesvos in
the surroundings of the village
Chidira.
partly why Mr Grillo is currently
rejecting all overtures to form a
coalition government.
Where his Five Star Movement has gained power at the
local level, it has governed pragmatically. In Parma, Mr Grillo’s
followers found themselves in
charge of a city that was hugely
in hock. They responded by refinancing the debt and pushing
through spending cuts. Similarly, in Reykjavik, the comedy
mayor has had to cut jobs and
raise taxes.
By contrast, Mr Grillo’s proposals for Italy’s national economic crisis hint at much more
radical policies. He has talked
of stopping payments on Italy’s
huge national debt – and flirted
with the idea of Italy leaving the
euro. Most mainstream politicians treat these ideas as a bad
joke. But, unless they can find a
way forward that looks more attractive than another five years
of austerity, Mr Grillo and his
imitators could have the last
laugh in Italy.
The
grape,
named after the
village
Chidiriotiko, was replanted in 1985 in
the family estate,
inside the crater of
the extinct volcano
which, millennia
ago, had created
the Petrified Forest
of Lesvos. Daphnis
& Chloë, red and
white, is produced
at the vineyard Oenophoros, at
Megalochori with rare indigenous varieties.
Source: AMNA
GREECE CYPRUS
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
11
After Positive Signs of Progress, Greece-Troika Talks Have Hit a Roadblock
By Andy Dabilis
TNH Staff Writer
ATHENS – With some positive
signs emerging for Greece’s battered economy, the uneasy coalition government led by Prime
Minister Antonis Samaras took
a setback when his talks with
international lenders were postponed after administration officials could not reach agreement
on demands for accelerated reforms.
The Troika of the European
Union-International Monetary
Fund-European Central Bank
(EU-IMF-ECB) that is putting up
$325 billion in two bailouts to
prop up the country’s flat-line
economy is demanding Greece
open closed professions, privatize state enterprises, and start
firing public workers to reduce
their numbers by 150,000 the
next three years or face likely
cutoff of more rescue loans.
Fearing a backlash from
unions and workers already beset by three years of crushing
austerity measures, the government had hoped to persuade the
Troika that firing some 7,0008,000 disciplinary problems and
early retirements would prevent
the need for immediate layoffs,
or at least delay them now.
Finance Minister Yiannis
Stournaras said that there was
a “long road ahead” in the talks
between the two sides aimed at
checking the progress of reforms.
The Troika in December
agreed to start releasing some
$69 billion as part of a second
bailout of $325 billion but has
insisted that the government
meet fiscal targets to reduce its
debt-to-Gross Domestic Product
ratio and start chasing tax
evaders.
At stake now is the next installment of 2.8 billion euros,
about $3.63 billion, which now
has been delayed a month and
AP PHOTO/THAnASSiS STAVrAkiS
Former Greek defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, surrounded by police, arrives at a court in Athens, Monday, March
4. Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to eight years in prison
after a court found him guilty of submitting false income declarations. The court also fined Tsochadzopoulos euro 520,000
($676,000) and ordered the seizure of his Acropolis-view home.
without which the government
doesn’t have enough money to
pay workers, pensioners and
banks.
Successive governments have
dragged their feet for three
years over dismissal of public
workers – their voter constituency – as private sector unemployment has hit a record 27
percent, some 61.7 percent for
those under 25 and plunged
Greece into a six-year recession.
The Troika also wants a payment plan for companies and
individuals that owe social security contributions and a program giving bank customers
longer to repay their loans.
Banks are hounding workers
buried by pay cuts, tax hikes,
and slashed pensions to repay
their loans in full while New
Democracy and one of its coalition partners, the PASOK Socialists, have not paid 250 million
euros ($324.3 million) in bank
loans.
The government reportedly
wants approval for a five-year
installment plan for social security fund debtors, some of
whom have reportedly been
keeping worker contributions
and putting them in their own
pockets, but the Troika has
balked.
The newspaper Kathimerini
said that the government also
proposing that for the next four
years some low-income households, pensioners, the unemployed, large families and disabled people be allowed to only
repay the interest on their loans,
which will be set at a fixed rate
of 1.5 percent.
The Troika, however, doesn’t
favor such leniency and reportedly wants only to allow a twoyear repayment of interest-only
so that banks and investors can
be protected.
CUT! CUT! CUT!
A plan to consolidate government ministries, which is close
to completion, will result in
around 2,000 employees being
laid off for a year at reduced
pay and then fired if other positions for them can’t be found as
part of a plan to cut the public
workforce by 25,000 by the end
of the year, although the government hopes it won’t be necessary.
Approval has already been
given though for the reduction
of 900 workers at six ministries
to save 19.8 million euros,
($25.6 million).
Speaking to Kathimerini, a
high-ranking Finance Minister
official said negotiations had “a
long way to go” as government
officials met with the IMF’s Poul
Thomsen, the ECB’s Klaus Masuch and the European Commission’s Matthias Mors.
Greece remains a volatile
mix of economic sentiment,
with the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research
(IOBE) reporting that its
monthly index showed a bounce
although consumer confidence
remained low.
“The stability we see confirms that citizens and businessmen are trying to come to terms
with the reality created by the
enforcement and implementation of additional (austerity) …
but also the continued funding
of the Greek economy by our
partners,” IOBE said.
However, it added that “the
concerns about the issue of increasing long-term unemployment remains intense and reinforces uncertainty at high
levels.”
Greece remains deep in recession with the economy expected to contract by more than
4% this year. Many economists
fear unemployment will rise further to about 30% this year.
IOBE expects the economy to
shrink by 4.6% in 2013, compared with a slightly more optimistic government prediction of
a 4.5% economic contraction
this year.
CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN
PICKS UP
Sensing growing public outrage could undo its hopes for a
recovery, the government has
stepped up its crackdown on
corruption and on tax evasion
although not a single major alleged tax cheat has been prosecuted.
Vassilis Papageorgopoulos,
the former mayor of Thessaloniki and a New Democracy
stalwart, received a swift life
sentence after being convicted
of embezzling 18 million euros
($23.35 million) while former
defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to eight
years for failing to disclose his
assets and his mansion was confiscated.
Tsochatzopoulos, who has
been jailed for 11 months, faces
trials on more serious charges
of masterminding money-laundering schemes to steal as much
as 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion)
from defense contracts.
Three other former ministers
were also caught up in the corruption sweep.
Among them was Yannos Papantoniou, a prominent Socialist politician who was finance
minister after Tsochatzopoulos
when Greece joined the euro in
2001. He faces misdemeanor
charges for failing to disclose in
2008 that his wife had 2.2 million euros ($2.85 million) in deposits in a Swiss account of the
HSBC Bank, where another
2,062 Greeks have $1.95 billion
in hidden monies that still hasn’t
been checked for possible tax
evasion.
Former Public Order Minister
George Voulgarakis, 53, was
also accused of hiding from the
state that his wife had deposits
of 117,000 euros ($152,000) in
a foreign bank account in 2007.
The country’s international
lenders are ramping up the pressure to go after tax cheats who
hide their assets.
Papantoniou and Voulgarakis
both denied the charges, which
stem from a probe into the socalled “Lagarde list” of potential
tax evaders published that
sparked an outcry among
Greeks angry at a wealthy elite
partly blamed for dragging the
country to the brink of bankruptcy. It is named for former
French finance minister Christine Lagarde who gave the
HSBC list to former finance minister George Papaconstantinou
in 2010. He is being investigated after it was discovered the
names of three of his relatives
were removed.
Papantoniou and Voulgarakis
told a parliamentary committee
that is looking into the Lagarde
list that the accounts belonged
only to their wives. Former
Deputy Finance Minister Petros
Doukas, a member of the ruling
conservative party, was also
charged with felony after the
prosecutor refused to accept his
explanation over the disappearance of 1 million euros ($1.29
million) from his bank account
in 2010, court officials said.
Doukas, 60, has denied any
wrondoing. He has said the
money was transferred to an investment account, which was
declared in his income statement. Greek politicians are required under law to declare the
origin of their wealth after Parliament toughened legislation in
2010 soon after its debt crisis
erupted.
Samaras and Erdogan Seek to Resolve Cyprus Issues Northern Greek Policemen
Injured in Gold Mine Clash
Continued from page 1
ister Antonis Samaras following
meetings in Istanbul on Sunday
and Monday.
In a joint declaration, the
leaders said they are committed
to "engage in cooperation with
regard to the technical and related aspects in the organization
of the 2020 Summer Olympic
Games."
The agreement said the two
sides will "explore ways of enhancing the benefits of the
Olympics for the two countries
as well as for the entire Balkan
and Black Sea region" if Istanbul
wins the bid.
Greece, the home of the ancient Olympics and birthplace
of the modern games, last
hosted the Olympics in Athens
in 2004.
Istanbul, bidding for a fifth
time, is competing against
Tokyo and Madrid for the 2020
Games. The International
Olympic Committee will select
the host city in Buenos Aires on
Sept. 7.
"The ties between Turkey and
Greece have been strengthened
today, thanks to the power of
the Olympic Movement to build
bridges," Istanbul bid leader
Hasan Arat said. "The closer cooperation between our countries
will be a valuable and lasting
legacy of our bid."
Greece and Turkey mounted
a joint bid for football's 2008
European Championship, which
were awarded to Austria and
Switzerland.
Turkey and Greece nearly
went to war three times be-
AP PHOTO
ABOVE: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
right, and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras shake
hands after a joint news conference in Istanbul, Turkey,
Monday, March 4, 2013.
tween 1974 and 1996. Relations
between the uneasy NATO allies
have improved greatly since the
late 1990s, but Athens and
Ankara remain at odds over a
broad range of issues, including
war-divided Cyprus, Aegean Sea
boundaries, and illegal immigration.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras greets Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Constantinople.
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)
— Residents of a northern
Greek village who object to the
construction of a gold mine
clashed with riot police Thursday, with some claiming that police fired tear gas into a school
yard. Two police officers were
hurt.
Police have been conducting
frequent searches in the village
of Ierissos, looking for evidence
in connection with a February
nighttime raid on the mining
company's facilities during
which people set fire to machinery. The mining facilities are being operated by the Vancouver,
Canada-based, Eldorado Gold
Corp.
The Greek government says
the gold mine would provide
badly needed overseas investment and create jobs during a
time of national economic crisis.
Local campaigners argue the
mine would damage the environment and put farmers out of
business.
On Thursday, residents set up
a roadblock at the village's entrance, burning tires to prevent
the riot police from entering
Ierissos. Police said tear gas was
fired at the roadblock.
A former local mayor,
Michalis Vlachopoulos, said tear
gas also was fired inside the village, including in the yard of a
high school, and that students
were suffering breathing problems.
Police denied the allegation.
"We categorically deny claims
made in the news media that
(tear gas) was used at a school
and outside homes in the area,"
a police statement said.
It said two police officers suffered minor injuries after being
hit by rocks thrown by protesters. No arrests were made.
Unemployment
dips to 26.4 %
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Unemployment in Greece dipped
marginally to 26.4 percent in
December, but experts warn that
more significant improvements
are unlikely in coming months.
The Greek Statistical Authority said Thursday the November
figure had been revised from 27
percent originally, a record high,
to 26.6 percent. The agency said
the discrepancy was due to a
seasonal adjustment recalculation.
The rate has fluctuated
around the record levels in recent months, with some economists — as well as a government-funded
study
—
predicting an increase to 30 percent this year.
About a million Greeks have
lost their jobs since the start of
the recession in late 2008. Only
3.7 million people work out of
a population of nearly 11 million.
Cyprus, Seeking Eurozone Bailout, Hindered by Money Laundering Charges
Continued from page 1
holders and owners of large
bank deposits take a hit is controversial, because many economists and leaders fear it might
set a precedent that could spook
markets, undermining recently
regained confidence in the eurozone as whole. Cyprus has vehemently rejected the proposals,
adding the discussion already
has led some depositors to withdraw their money.”
An extensive article this week
on the subject in the Wall Street
Journal noted “Cyprus' reputation as a transit point for shady
cash, and its unusual connections to Russia, are making many
of its would-be rescuers nervous.”
On March 4, a week after
Anastasiades was sworn in, succeeding Dimitri Christofias, the
Communist stalwart who was
able to obtain a loan of €2.5 billion, or about $3.3 billion from
Russia, the European finance
ministers pushed Cyprus into accepting an independent audit.
The probe will determine
whether its financial institutions
comply with international rules
against money-laundering.
Anastasiades has promised to
cooperate. He told a German
newspaper "we have nothing to
hide," but the Journal reported
that “his new finance minister
said Sunday that there ‘has to be
a balance’ between a tough audit and bank secrecy.”
Cyprus’ partners are not in a
polite mood however. Maria Fekter, the Austrian finance minister,
was blunt at a December 3 gathering in Brussels, but she reflected her colleagues’ feelings
regarding a bailout of Cyprus.
She asked her Cypriot counterpart "what about the Russians
and their fake companies laundering their cash through your
banks…Are we giving them our
taxpayers' money too?"
The Journal nicely summarized Cyprus’ predicament: “Four
years of deficits from a freespending government run by a
Communist have eroded public
finances. A munitions explosion
at a naval base in 2011 badly
damaged a critical power plant,
stunting the economy. A major
Cypriot bank's investments in
Greece have nearly ruined it.”
“Skepticism abounds among
Cyprus's would-be rescuers, especially Germany, where parliament must assent to a bailout.
‘We will not secure deposits of
Russian black money in Cypriot
banks with German taxpayer
money,’ said Carsten Schneider,
of the leading SPD opposition
party, last month,” according to
the Journal.
Cyprus declares
“we have nothing
to hide,” but its
partners are not
in a polite mood
these days.
Officials in Cyprus say their
critics are ignoring major reforms
they have undertaken, and they
challenge the notion that Russia
money must be tainted. "Cyprus
is doing a lot more than other
countries to combat illegal financial activity,” the Journal quoted
Eva Rossidou-Papakyriacou, the
veteran head of Cyprus's antimoney-laundering agency.
“Yet Cyprus is having a hard
time shaking its reputation,
thanks to an industry skilled at
forming shell corporations and
trusts that can camouflage assets. It also has favorable accommodations for Russians, such as
low taxes on cross-border transactions. So much money flows
through Cyprus to Russia that in
the official statistics the little island is Russia's largest source of
foreign investment—accounting
for nearly a quarter of the total
in 2011,” the Journal reported.
Cyprus's financial industry
blossomed after the illegal Turkish invasion and occupation. The
Journal wrote: “it became a
haven for Middle Eastern money,
and the collapse of the Soviet
Union brought new clients. The
unsavory reputation was cemented in the 1990s, when Slobodan Milosevic and his associates funneled money through
Cypriot banks to pay for war.”
According to the Journal,
“couriers flew cash from the Yugoslav customs agency to Cyprus
– hundreds of millions of dollars
in a fistful of currencies, according to a report prepared in 2002
by a fraud investigator for prosecutors at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, which tried Mr. Milosevic and others for war crimes.
There, the investigator said, it
was deposited in the Cypriot
bank accounts of front companies. Much allegedly went
through Cyprus Popular Bank,
which today needs a massive
government rescue."
A bank spokesman denied
that it violated United Nations
sanctions and claimed it "fully
cooperated" with authorities.
According to the Journal:
“Cyprus' would-be EU rescuers
fret over the dense stacks of shell
companies based here, which
critics say abet tax evasion and
money laundering…Cypriot officials say the concern is unfounded. Ms. Rossidou-Papakyriacou,
the
anti-money-laundering chief,
points to her office's broad powers to block suspicious transactions and laws requiring shell
companies to maintain ownership records. She brandishes a
folder of letters from foreign
counterparts thanking her for cooperation, and points to Cyprus's
largely positive evaluation under
the international money-laundering regime—better marks than
Austria.”
Cyprus passed more antimoney-laundering law in December which call for closer regulation of corporate-service.
Rossidou-Papakyriacou said,
"We've done everything.”
“Still, she acknowledges that
the corporate-service business is
a major industry. ‘We rely on
tourism and services. We don't
produce cars,’ she says. An industry of thousands of lawyers,
accountants and so-called corporate-service agents in Cyprus
beaver away forming companies,
whipping up corporate skeletons
and dressing them with directors, paperwork and bank accounts,” the Journal added.
Elias Neocleous, a lawyer at
one of Cyprus's most top firms,
has an office in Moscow and a
substantial client list. He told
the Journal “Cyprus needs to
capitalize on its position in the
world,” and he envisions Cyprus
becoming a global center for arbitration, “for people who don't
trust their own systems.” He believes Cyprus has a bright future
“facilitating business, bridging
cultures and geographies. “We
don't have anything else.”
EDITORIALS LETTERS
12
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The National Herald
A weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.
(ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ),
reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest
to the Greek-American community of the United States of America.
Publisher-Editor Antonis H. Diamataris
Assistant to the Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos
Associate Editor Constantinos E. Scaros
Senior Writer Constantine S. Sirigos
Production Manager Chrysoula Karametros
Webmaster Alexandros Tsoukias
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Today’s Turkey Deserves
Admiration, Not Distrust
To the Editor:
Like many first-generation
Greek-Americans, my wife and
I had an inborn distrust for
Turks. It was based on personal
experience: not ours, but that
of our fathers. For them, it was
TO OUR READERS
The national Herald welcomes
letters from its readers intended for publication. They
should include the writer’s
name, address, and telephone
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The editor, The national Herald, 37-10 30th Street, long
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The Greek-Israeli Spring
It was friendly, cheerful, joyous occasion, the dinner hosted by Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Michael Oren, and his
wife Sally, on February 27. The gathering highlighted a new grouping
called the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance.
The guests were delighted by “Hellenic Israel Concert,” which
stole the show. It was comprised of two Greeks and two Israelis:
Magda Giannikou, Dan Nadel, Petros Klampanis and Rafi Malkiel.
For one song they were joined on percussion by the Israeli Ambassador. It was noted that many Israeli popular songs have Greek roots.
The ambassador pointed out that the land in Israel if filled with
Greek remains and that even the location on which the Israeli Parliament stands is leased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of
Jerusalem. And he said Israel is the only Middle Eastern country
where the Christian population is growing.
The event, which was a "Celebration of Friendship between Israel,
the United States, Greece, and Cyprus" was also attended by the
Greek Ambassador to the United States, Christos Panagopoulos,
Olympia Neocleous, the charge d'affaires at the Cypriot Embassy,
and about 50 invited guests: Greeks and Jews from all over America,
including some Greek Jews.
The official representatives of the three countries spoke with warm
and encouraging words, highlighting the common historical experience linking our peoples. But they also spoke about the future.
The Israeli Ambassador referred to the joint training of Greek and
Israeli Air Forces pilots and mentioned that 400,000 Israelis visited
Greece last year.
It was indeed an important event. It was not only and evening
filled with “kefi,” as it was described by Congressman Gus Bilirakis
of Florida, who spearhead the creation of the Alliance.
For now, what matters is to deepen the relationships between our
communities and our homelands and place them on a basis of mutual
interests and benefits and the common values and principles we
share, rather than to rely on impetus from common enemies.
We Greek-Americans must work with our fellow Jewish-American
citizens for the good of our common country, and for the countries of
our origin, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.
Diaspora Do-Gooders
Let's face it: quite often, the community does not always show
proper gratitude to those Greek-Americans that provide financial support for the events and projects of the community. Instead, we take
them for granted. And then, when they disappear, we get frustrated.
Those of us who live in New York usually take the existence of the
rest of the community for granted. When we go on the road and
travel to places far from New York, however, that is when we feel the
joy and thrill of meeting other Greek-Americans.
And that is also when one truly appreciates the endeavors of
members of the community, in places where there are precious few
Greeks and Cypriots.
We wish to highlight the recent fundraising gala, the Ambrosia
Ball of the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago. To note the importance of the work done by the members of our community there.
We also want to emphasize the role played by certain people that
is crucial for the establishment and support of this inspired and vital
project. They are our compatriots acquired great fortunes, and to
their credit, they have chosen to spend some of their valuable time
and their money to enhance Hellenism in America.
The Ambrosia Ball, celebrating Apokries – Greek Orthodox Carnival
– was underwritten by a few generous Hellenes according to the
commemorative journal.
Let us, therefore, express our gratitude to them and to others that
support the projects and events of our community.
And lets hope they will do even more in the future.
understandable. But it was not
at all like the unjust tirade
against Turks in early March by
Secretary of State John Kerry.
My wife's father was among
victims of genocide when
Turkey expelled Greeks and Armenian citizens from their ancestral homes in Anatolia. He
was dumped into a pit of Greek
bodies. In the dark of night, he
climbed out and crawled to the
nearby coast, where he found a
raft on which he floated to
safety on a nearby Greek island.
Mine was in the Greek army
that fought Turks in repeated
battles of the early 1920s.
Both men immigrated to the
United States. Their antipathy
toward Turks remained within
them, and was instilled in their
children. That inherited attitude
grew with the Turkish takeover
of part of the Greek island of
Cyprus.
Today, those of my generation have a new view: an appreciation for Turkey's resistance to
Israel's encroachments in the
Middle East. Meanwhile, we
wonder at the continuing silence of our government about
continuing occupation by our
ally, Israel, in Palestine.
For most of the 20th century,
the United States and Turkey
were viewed as opposites, the
former a symbol of freedom and
free expression, the other with
a history of repression. Today,
that has changed. Turkey has become a more open society, while
we have become an aggressor
nation in the Middle East.
Israel, as well as our thirst
for Middle East oil, are given as
justifications for our sending
troops into the Middle East. Iran
may be next, unless we finally
develop a Turkish-type spine in
dealing with Israel.
George Beres
Eugene, OR
GeOrGe SArAFOGlOu / SPeciAl TO THe nATiOnAl HerAlD
AGORA – THE ORIGINAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS
By Antonis H. Diamataris and
Constantinos E. Scaros
From time to time, an issue emerges and
inspires various minds to converge, often at
odds with one another, to discuss it. Hopefully,
collective enlightenment will result from such
conversations. The Ancient Greeks did that in
the Agora, the original marketplace of ideas,
and we, their modern-day descendants, aspire
to continue that tradition.
We (Diamataris and Scaros) rarely disagree
with one another, but we think it is valuable
to share our thoughts when we do, and invite
you to share yours as well. We would never
fabricate a difference of opinion for the sake of
writing an interesting column. Rest assured,
anything we write here are our sincere, heartfelt
thoughts. We will share them with you every
two weeks. We hope you enjoy them, and we
look forward to your taking part in the discussion as well – by contributing letters to the editor in response, and/or commenting on our
website: www.thenationalherald.com.
Greece Needs a Hand, But Must Jumpstart its Own Economy
1. TNH’s PUBLISHER-EDITOR SHARES HIS POINT OF
VIEW
Dino, one has to be blind not
to see that there is some encouraging news emerging from
Greece these days. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is doing
his utmost to save the country.
Last week, a former mayor
of Thessaloniki went to prison
for life for embezzling millions
of public funds. A former close
aid to Andreas Papandreou
went to jail for eight years and
had his house right under the
Acropolis Hill confiscated for
similar reasons. Three other
ministers also face jail time for
misrepresenting their wealth to
Parliament. All these incidents
point to an increased focus on
law and order.
In addition, there is not
much discussion these days
about Greece exiting the Eurozone.
Yet, it would be quite wrong
to think that the situation on the
ground is improving for the people. Quite the opposite, in fact.
With an unemployment rate
of 27% and wave after wave of
new taxes imposed on the urging of the troika in the hope of
raising the revenues of the country, the people have just about
had it. They simply cannot make
ends meet anymore.
A conversation today with a
friend from Crete, one of the
most affluent areas in the country, hit me hard. “There is no
hope anymore left in this country,” he said. “If my children
were older I would not hesitate
for a minute to send them to
America. There is no life here
anymore,” he continued.
It seems to me that before
the place explodes in violence
or before they elect a lunatic as
prime minister – going a step
further than the Italians did a
few weeks ago – before Greece
is set afire, the Eurozone countries, indeed the international
community, need to step in and
lighten Greece of its debt burden.
They all know that this
amount of debt is not sustainable. To pretend otherwise
might be politically expedient,
it might help Mrs. Merkel in
Germany until the next elections, but it does not help anybody else.
Therefore, instead of waiting
for the inevitable, instead of destroying the lives of a couple of
generations of Greeks, before a
massive exodus takes place,
there is no alternative but to
move ahead and forgive a great
percentage of its debt.
The money, then, should be
invested in the country in the
hope that it might lift the economy out of the depression in
which it finds itself.
Frankly, I see no other alternative.
For if they procrastinate for
whatever reason the burden of
misery and the loss of hope will
be so great that the next possible solution in fact would be
Greece’s exit from the Eurozone.
2. TNH’s ASSOCIATE EDITOR RESPONDS
Antoni, I agree that some
loan forgiveness is a very sensible solution. What I do not understand, however, is why – in
Mountain Lion
John Catsimatidis has been climbing mountains all his life. The
latest mountain he has attempted to scale, which is the topic of discussion throughout the community, is his run for the office of mayor
of New York City.
We are often asked: can he win? In politics a lot can happen from
one day to the next. That said, here is what we think:
First, Catsimatidis will surprise a lot of people who do not believe
that he has a serious chance of winning. His chances are greatly increased by his gift of being able to communicate with the average
citizen. Despite his tremendous wealth, he is humble, and he understands ordinary folks and their problems.
Second, he did not decide to run on a whim, but only after
thoughtful deliberation. We recall his past desire to run, subsequently
tempered by prudent evaluation of the facts and circumstances at
the time. He would not have entered the race, we suspect, unless he
thought he had a strong chance to win.
Third, we expect the Greek-American community to support him
virtually unanimously. Not just because he is Greek, but because he
is the epitome of a resilient, “mountain-climbing” New Yorker.
Recently, he told Cindy Adams of the New York Post: “Look, I’ve
climbed mountains all my life. I’m from little Greek island Nisyros,
where I could’ve stayed a sheep herder. My busboy father, who never
made waiter, moved here. To 135th Street. Today, I live in that
restaurant’s owner’s same Fifth Avenue apartment.
“I’ve always climbed mountains. Working in a supermarket, 80
hours a week, $1.10 an hour – cashiers got $1.20 – my tip was 2
cents a bottle, 10 bottles — then I borrowed money and bought the
supermarket. In ‘77, I started buying properties, one a month. I got a
pilot’s license. Bought Roy Disney’s plane. Bought Capitol Airlines
with offices in 15 cities. Board member Senator Fred Thompson had
me write a check to Al Gore, and that started me on politics.
“A trustee for my airline was trustee for an oil company. I bought
that company. We wrote the deal on a napkin.
“Listen, I once made a landing by myself, with one engine out. I
was alone. I don’t like being alone. But I don’t sweat. Other candidates
did 10 times worse things than I’ve done. Make my day. Let them go
after me.
“I’ve never said no to anybody. I’m 64. A New York Republicrat
who wants the next century’s kids to believe in heroes again.
“In ICU, 10 minutes after coming out of the operating room, I
wanted my BlackBerry. I love life. I love my family. I love New York
City.”
And he loves the Greek-American community, Greece, and Cyprus.
We wish you a great climb, John.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
addition to austerity measures
and crackdown on corruption,
both commendable measures,
and with an eye toward hope
for debt relief – Greece is not
doing more to spark immediate
robust economic growth by fully
utilizing its top resource: that it
is a vacationer’s dream getaway
destination.
Why doesn’t everyone simply
slash prices? It doesn’t matter
that other Euro countries keep
their prices high. Just because
Greece uses the same currency
doesn’t mean it has to charge
The lenders must
forgive some of
Greece’s debt, but
Greece needs to
do more to spur
robust growth
the same amount – just like the
cost of living in rural Arkansas
is far less than it is in Manhattan, even though the residents
of both places use the same
American dollar.
A bunch of my cousins and I
have been talking for some time
now about a family reunion in
Greece this summer. Ultimately,
some will go, and some will not,
but none will ignore that the
tremendous costs involved is a
serious factor in the equation.
Why aren’t Olympic and the
other airlines running huge bargain sales on tickets for both international and domestic
flights? If the price of a roundtrip ticket from New York to
Athens were $500, and the price
from Athens to and from one of
the islands was $50, can you
imagine how many thousands
more people would go there this
summer?
Moreover, what if the cost of
staying in a hotel, eating in a
restaurant, buying food from a
supermarket, and riding in a cab
– better yet, making sure cabs
were not on strike, but available
to transport tourists wherever
they wanted to go – were cut in
half? Why would the restaurateurs care if all food and drink
they served was 50% off? After
all, whenever they spent money
on rent, paying the mortgage,
filling their cars, buying a pair
of shoes, or paying the utility
bill, those expenses would 50%
less expensive, too.
Of course, there are the
lenders to consider: if the
Greeks all get by just fine charging each other much less, how
can they pay off their loans to
foreign lenders? That is where
those lenders must do their part,
in concert with the domestic
price-slashing, and forgive the
loan amount commensurate
with the price reduction.
Meanwhile, the tourists
would flow into Greece at
record rates. After all, the many
splendors of Greece are still
there to behold – the Greeks
haven’t managed to ruin them.
A coordinated effort to forgive
loans, slash prices, continue
throwing the crooks in jail, and
ending the senseless strikes and
riots will go a long way to lift
Greece from its doldrums much
sooner than later.
3. WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?
COMMENTARY
The Triumph of Truth at Last: Senator Menendez Vindicated
By A.H. Diamataris
Robert Menendez, the son of
Cuban immigrants – a carpenter
father and his a dressmaker
mother – and a U.S. Senator
from New Jersey, was not
merely persecuted by his opponents, he was crucified. The
mainstream media felt compelled to go along with his accusers who circulated rumors on
the Internet.
It should be noted that the
rumors and reports flared up
when it became clear after last
year’s elections that Menendez
would become the chairman of
the powerful Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee.
The attacks started on several hitherto unknown websites,
which contained allegations
about his personal life, and also
raised questions about his
friendship with an ophthalmologist in Florida.
He was accused of having relations with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic,
where he vacationed.
In fact, a girl was filmed saying she actually had sex with
the Senator.
This "news" was eventually
picked up by major media outlets, giving it weight.
The Senator struggled in vain
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to convince reporters that he did
not even know the girls who accused him, that the whole situation was created by his enemies, who were trying to
destroy him politically.
Indeed, the New York Times
called for his temporary resignation from the post of chairman of the Committee until the
case is solved.
But as the Greeks say, God
loves the thief but he also loves
the landlord.
So a couple of days ago, the
same girl who appeared in the
video claimed she had a relationship with the Senator revealed that she had been paid
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line at www.thenationalherald.com.
to say that, and admitted that
she never met him and does not
even know what the Senator
looks like.
She also revealed that a
lawyer approached her and a
friend about doing the video, in
turn revealing the name of another lawyer that gave him the
text and paid him to find the
two women.
These incredible things are
unacceptable. They pollute legitimate democracy. After these
revelations, which have restored
Menendez’ innocence, both the
authorities and the media, must
get to the bottom of it and punish the conspirators.
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THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013
VIEWPOINTS
13
60% of Greek-Am. College The Perils of Running U.S. Foreign Policy on a Budget
Grads Abandon the Church
By Fr. Steven C. Salaris
Last year I attended a clergy
gathering where we had several
“workshops” discussing the importance of Orthodox Christian
Fellowship (OCF) ministry to college students, and what I call
“The 60%.” This term derives
from a recent study revealing
that 60% of college students
never return to church after college...
So why do 60% of our college
youth leave Orthodoxy? This is
a difficult question to answer, but
I have come up with several hypotheses. Some will apply specifically to our Orthodox Church,
others will apply to Christian
churches in general.
Here are my hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: Linguistic and
cultural ghettos that masquerade
as “Churches” are contributing
to “The 60%.” Orthodoxy has
been in America for over 200
years. Yet too often our parishes
live with the notion that the
Church’s primary function is to
be an ethnic preservation society.
Far too many people go to
Kids cannot learn about
Christian love when their
parents hold grudges
church not to encounter Christ,
the Son of the living God, but to
talk in or listen to foreign languages and eat ethnic foods.
Why do we attempt to raise our
children spiritually in an atmosphere of dead liturgical languages and the equally dead cultures from which they came?
Gee, Toto, we’re not in Byzantium (or Tsarist Russia) anymore! Nonetheless, we continue
to offer incense to the idol of
“spiritual language” while not
gaining a substantive understanding from what we hear.
Sure, sending our children to
Arabic/Greek/Russian school
might make grandma happy, but
they will still be unable to understand the liturgical languages
they hear in Church.
Hypothesis 2: Enmity in our
churches is contributing to “the
60%.” Enmity is a word that
means “positive, active, and mutual hatred or ill will.” Churches
are full of it! – including the Orthodox. It would be great if we
hated evil, sin, and the devil; instead we hate each other. Jesus
tells us that we are to love one
another as he has loved us. Too
often, we fail.
When we fail we are hypocrites. How can Johnny learn
about Christian love when mom
has not spoken to “that person”
in the parish for fifteen years?
Add to this parish splits, gossip, back-biting, the way personality-disordered parishioners
treat the priest, vituperative general assembly meetings, etc., is
it any wonder that our youth flee
once they are free?
Hypothesis 3: Lack of stewardship is contributing to the
60%. We don’t regard the
Church as the pearl of great price
or a treasure buried in a field.
Instead we treat the Church like
a street beggar. In many of our
parishes, clergy and stewardship
committees hold out their hands
hoping (and begging) that parish
families will pay their “minimum
dues.” Why must I hear of
parishes with hundreds of families that by midyear do not have
enough money to pay the electric
bill or the priest’s salary? Why
must I hear about priests and
their families that are expected
to live in substandard housing,
send their children to substandard schools, drive junk cars, and
depend on food stamps? This is
scandalous! Even worse, this is
oftentimes expected by parishioners who are quite generous
to themselves. Why do churches
depend on endless fundraisers
and festivals for income? The answer to these questions is simple:
too many parishioners do not
value the Church.
We must pass on to our children, by our example, the principle that the Church is worth
the stewardship of our time and
talents above all else.
Hypothesis 4: Failed models
of Christian education are contributing to “the 60%.
With all due respect to those
that have worked so hard in
Christian education, it is time we
admit that our Protestant-derived models of Christian education have failed. Like us, the
Catholics and Protestants also
have their own 60%.
Christian youth come out of
years of Sunday school and still
don’t know the basics of their
own faith. I know of students educated in Catholic schools that
think the Holy Trinity is Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph! I know Orthodox Christians who think that the
Holy Trinity is God, Jesus, and
Mary. An organic living knowledge and internalization of the
Orthodox Christian faith cannot
happen in 45 minutes on a Sunday by cutting and coloring paper doll clergy and iconostases.
There was no Sunday School in
the early Church and yet families
– parents and children – were
martyred together bearing witness to the Christian faith (read
the life of the early second-century martyrs Sophia and her
three children...if you dare). Perhaps a radical re-thinking and
new approach to
Hypothesis 5: The lack of a
personal relationship with Jesus
Christ is contributing to “the
60%. The Church is like a fig tree
with lots of leaves. The leaves are
things we get passionate and obsessive about – icons, facial hair
(on men), chanting, vestments,
ethnic nationalism, calendars,
choirs, rants about ecumenists
and liberal deconstructionists,
spirituality, pseudo-spirituality,
and all the rest of the fodder that
one can find on “Orthodox” blog
sites. However, if the tree doesn’t
bear fruit, then it is doomed to
whither.
I am going to be bold and
identify the “first fruits” of the
Church as a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. Some people
might think that sounds a bit
“Protestant,” but in fact it is entirely Orthodox. Our relationship
with Jesus Christ is so deep, intimate, and personal, that He
feeds us with this very own Body
and Blood in the Eucharist (beginning for many of us when we
are babies). That “first fruit,” that
intense personal relationship
with Christ, should then yield the
fruits of repentance and spiritual
growth in the lives of every Orthodox Christian. If we are unable to bear these “first fruits,”
our youth and our Churches will
wither.
Fr. Steven C. Salaris, MDiv, PhD,
is Protopresbyter of All Saints of
North America Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in
Maryland Heights, MO
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These are not exactly times
without challenge. The Arab
world has launched into the
most transformative epoch since
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire whose final development
cannot be discerned. Palestinians
and Israelis have locked themselves into a political death grip
that threatens to undermine the
last forty years of diplomacy. Iran
and Israel have together convinced us that the former is determined to become a nuclear
power. China and Japan are on
a collision course over a chain of
semi-submerged and uninhabited islands. Russia behaves as if
Mott Romney won the recent
election and seems to be treating
them like the “greatest threat.”
Hopes that the young new dictator of North Korea would
change the behavior of his unhappy nuclear-armed country
appear to have been dashed. Islamist-inspired terrorist groups
have gained new footholds in
North Africa. Europe has paralyzed itself into a downward economic spiral through mismanagement
and
confusing
economic and political objectives. At this crucial moment, the
administration and the rest of
the country allowed a lunatic
fringe of ideologues to stampede
us into a monstrosity called sequestration, perhaps the dumbest political decision since Prohibition.
But, as Will Rogers once said:
“There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States that
forbids the American people
from making damned fools of
themselves.” We weren’t listening then and we aren’t listening
now. I am not, however, going
to go into one more Jeremiad
about how stupid this all is. We
did it and now we have to live
with it. Living with it does deserve more serious attention
than silly arguments about how
The time has
long we will have to
come for the United
wait in lines at airStates to act like a
ports. Nothing tertrue historical great
rible has happened
power.
The
yet to damage
Olympic-class pracAmerica’s national
titioners of diplosecurity but rereadmacy, the Byzantine
ing the first paraand British Empires
graph can reveal a
survived for cenlot about what can
turies. Romans, like
happen.
disbumbled
Americans,
We
dained diplomacy,
blithely into two
by AMB. PATRICK N.
put their faith in
unnecessary wars,
THEROS
military force and
which are arguably
could not survive a
among the most imSpecial to
The National Herald
change in the balportant proximate
ance.
causes of our curThe principals of diplomacy
rent inability to deal with the
world. Our problems stem have remained unchanged for
largely from our national obses- centuries; only the tools evolve
sion that a unilateral threat to with technology. The first is the
go to war is the only way to pre- most difficult to learn and to
vent one. As a consequence, we practice: know your limits. No
have seriously weakened our amount of military strength can
armed forces and today realisti- force every one to do your bidcally lack the capacity to threaten ding. If you overdue military coa medium-sized country. Since ercion your allies, sooner or later,
we seem to regard diplomatic will join your enemies. Pick your
tools such as building alliances, wars; modern technology dicpersuading others through tates that no foreign occupying
bribes, or subtle persuasion as power can defeat a nationalist
somehow un-American, this has insurrection. Vietnam, Iraq and
Afghanistan all failed because we
further paralyzed us.
The good news is that there made them American wars unare some very competent Amer- like the defeat of the communists
icans who do know how to man- in Greece, a Greek civil war
age our national security and fought by Greeks alone. Never
who may be able to do so if only destroy your opponent: the cost
because our politicians do not is not worth it and besides you
really care much about foreign will almost certainly need him
policy. The further good news is as an ally in the future against a
the State Department, with the stronger threat. Vietnam’s intersmallest budget among federal ests regarding China now coinagencies, has escaped much of cide with ours. Get your allies to
the mindless micromanagement join you in the fight or better
that allowed the sequester to still, fight on your behalf. Don’t
paralyze so many of the other go to war without a realistic
government agencies. It is one endgame; a mistake Americans
among the few agencies that has repeat over and over again. The
some leeway to move funds invasion of Iraq drove the Iraqis
around sufficiently to keep its into the embrace of their ancient
most valuable and effective asset, enemy the Iranians. Bribing forthe men and women of the U.S. eign countries works; it may
sound dirty but I can assure you
Foreign Service, on the job.
it is a lot less dirty than leaving
thousands of young soldiers
dead or maimed.
In fairness to the Obama administration, its conduct of foreign policy marks the first real
attempt by American Government to protect our national security within our means. It has
failed to articulate its success very
well. “Leading from behind” in
Libya is an unfortunate term that
describes exactly what we
needed to accomplish: the removal of a criminally insane dictator with the help of allies. Managing the aftermath is tough but
we are working on it despite the
tragic loss of diplomats. Obama
correctly refuses to be stampeded
into attacking Iran or jumping
into the Syrian swamp without
trying everything else first.
The obvious first step in Syria
would be to enlist Assad’s allies,
Russia, Iraq and Iran, and, together with our allies, force the
warring parties to reach a compromise solution. Making compromise a dirty word in American politics produced the
sequester; refusing to find a compromise in Syria would be
equally stupid.
As a nation we have to realize
that we were once powerful and
well-meaning adolescents. We
had made ourselves into a benign super-power that could
crush anybody who would not
allow us to save him. That time
has passed. The time has come
to grow up.
The Hon. Ambassador Theros is
president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. He served in the
U.S. Foreign Service for 36
years, mostly in the Middle East,
and was American Ambassador
to Qatar from 1995 to 1998. He
also directed the State Department’s
Counter-Terrorism
Office, and holds numerous U.S.
Government decorations.
LETTER FROM ATHENS
Greece’s Famed Flying Doctor is Now Grounded for Life
Vassilis Papageorgopoulos
earned the sobriquet “The Flying Doctor” because won two
medals at the European Indoor
Track Championships and the
bronze in the 100-meter dash in
1971 before going on to become
a dentist. Then he got involved
in politics in 1978 when was
elected a City Councilor in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest
municipality and his star was
rising. He kept practicing dentistry as well, although, as it
turned out, he was better at
drilling for gold in the city’s coffers.
He had all the elements that
the New Democracy conservatives wanted and at one point
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the Party leader, called him
an “honest man,” in tones that
would have made you think
Diogenes was the King of the
Prevaricators by comparison.
From January 1999 to the
end of 2010, Papageorgopoulos
was the Mayor of Thessaloniki
until Leftist Yiannis Boutaris was
elected and immediately complained that someone had
cooked the books.
An investigation ensued and
Papageorgopoulos wasn’t fast
enough to get away from the
long arm of the law after he was
convicted of heading a gang of
thieves of city officials charged
with embezzling 51.4 million
euros ($66.9 million) and given
a life sentence in jail, although
it remains to be seen if that will
ever be carried out given
Greece’s penchant for letting
politicians plunder with impunity.
Predictably, he denied any
wrongdoing. “I declare that I
have nothing to do with this
case,” he told the Thessaloniki
stealing from the
court, which conpetty cash acvicted him of direct
counts, but only 1.2
complicity in emmillion
euros
bezzlement. “Some
($1.56 million) and
people will go to
given the high
their
graves
prices in Greece
weighed down by
even during a
remorse.”
crushing economic
He claimed his
crisis who could
trial had turned
blame them? A
into a “political
guy’s gotta eat,
process,”
coneven if it’s Beluga
ducted “to satisfy
by ANDY
caviar.
the general mood
DABILIS
You can’t make
that calls for politithis guy up, even as
cians’ blood,” with
Special to
a character in a BGreeks buried unThe National Herald
film noir. From jail,
der pay cuts, tax
hikes and slashed pensions de- he wrote a letter demanding anmanded by international lenders swers to 13 questions that
in return for $325 billion in res- weren’t revealed so maybe one
cue monies, while tax cheats of them was, “Can I get a shovel
and politicians have largely es- or a nail file?”
Apparently overlooking his
caped sacrifice.
It’s rare in Greece for a politi- conviction, the 65-year-old
cian to even be charged with a grounded sprinter called on
crime and it wasn’t until former anyone with “the smallest piece
defense minister Akis Tsochat- of concrete evidence that I parzopoulos, who elevated arro- ticipated in embezzling” to degance to an art, was charged last clare it on television, although
year with stealing as much as they already did in court, maybe
$1.32 billion from defense con- while he was asleep. He said he
tracts and thrown into detention wouldn’t appeal if they did, a
that any high-ranking official move so dumb you wouldn’t see
had seen the inside of a jail in a it used by someone trying to
convince Judge Judy they didn’t
long time.
Two other former high-rank- steal their girlfriend’s car and
ing former Thessaloniki city of- wreck it on a date with another
ficials also got life in jail for their woman.
This guy is a walking mispart in the scheme to scam taxpayer money, although they take. How else can you explain
were convicted of stealing only how he got caught when other
18 billion euros ($23.44 mil- politicians who are still stealing
lion) so who knows where the are walking around and drinking coffee at upscale cafes while
other $43.46 million went.
Apparently not content with avoiding beggars?
Greek newspaper reports
taking millions, according to
prosecutors, Papageorgopoulos showed his greed knew no limand 16 other former officials in its because while he was knockthe gang that couldn’t steal ing down a big paycheck as
straight were also accused of mayor, he was collecting two
pensions, one for being a dentist
and the other for his time in the
Greek Parliament, where you
can earn a pension for serving
about 10 minutes.
He wasn’t the only lame
brain using the city treasury as
a personal ATM, according to
prosecutors. Former general secretary Michalis Lemoussias and
former treasurer Panagiotis Saxonis are the others who will see
him around the jail yard for the
rest of their lives if the sentences
are carried out. Media reports
said they were spending like
drunken sailors, although that
gives drunken sailors a bad
name.
Saxonis was responsible for
forwarding to social security
funds the contributions withheld from municipal employees’
salaries but the court found he
put the money in his pocket, apparently thinking no one would
notice why they were bulging.
But he kept only 10 percent
and forwarded the rest to Lemoussias, who prosecutors said
split the difference with Papageorgopoulos. Even in Greece
that’s a crime and when the social security office asked, “Hey,
where’s the money?” the jig was
up.
Presiding judge Giorgos
Apostolakis said that “Papageorgopoulos was in charge, and
without his approval Lemoussias could have done nothing.”
“His silent stance on the sidelines showed that he knew
everything.” Now the disgraced
former mayor will find that this
race is different than his dashes
for Greece and glory: they are
neverending and there is no finish line.
[email protected]
The Elections in Italy, Viewed in Wider Context, Reveal Overall Threat to Democracy
By Mark Mazower
The Financial Times
The turmoil produced by the
Italian elections has directed attention back to where it should
have been all along – to the politics of the eurozone crisis. We
have had six months of complacency, rising stock markets and
wishful thinking. The conventional wisdom was that the crisis
had been contained, with Ireland recovering and the risk of
a Greek exit from the eurozone
reduced. But this view always
ignored the politics.
Greece, in particular, showed
that even if capital flows might
be going in the right direction,
the democratic deficit was
widening. No one has much
cared outside Greece that a neoNazi party could shoot to above
10 per cent in the polls. But it is
a warning of what can happen
to other eurozone members.
There is, fortunately, no parallel to the rise of Golden Dawn
in Italy. But the crisis of democratic legitimacy has been shown
to be equally deep there. As in
Greece, the voters have a reasonably clear view: they want
to remain in Europe and –
knowing the defects of their
own economic system – they
may even accept some measure
of austerity.
But the Rome-based political
class has lost all credibility in
their eyes – they were creators
of the mess, and of the corruption that accompanied it. They
cannot be trusted to clear it up.
Those who have made no sacrifice themselves lack the moral
credibility to ask them of others.
Technocrat prime minsters,
such as Italy’s Mario Monti or
Greece’s Lucas Papademos, are
no alternative: they may have
clean hands because they remained outside party politics.
But they are creatures of banking and economics. While they
may understand money, that no
longer recommends them to the
voters who would rather have
someone who understands
them.
The result is dangerous. It is
but a short step from writing off
the political class to writing off
the institutions of democracy. So
far most voters have not done
this in either Italy or Greece. But
some have and the temptation
is there for more to do so,
whether by drifting towards the
far right, towards an anti-capitalism that is the prisoner of its
own revolutionary rhetoric, or
towards a kind of anarchic alternative to party politics – the
direct democracy espoused by
Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement in Italy.
The response from Brussels
and the creditor north to all this
has been robotically unimaginative – to insist that the debtors,
like the little fish in Finding
Nemo, must just keep on going.
And so they may – for a while.
It is possible that southern Eu-
rope will give the Germans until
the autumn to come around to
a new approach. But toleration
for austerity is unlikely to last
much beyond then.
A moment of truth is surely
approaching. Joachim Gauck,
the German president, has
called for a new debate on Europe, and suggested that its future lies in reviving the idea of
a commonwealth of nations. But
if such a debate is to go anywhere, it will have to confront
the question of monetary union.
For Europe may be approaching
a stark choice: giving up the
euro; or keeping it and seeing
the political crisis spin out of
control.
As Mr Gauck noted, the original European idea saw supranational policy making not as
something that would suffocate
individual member nation-states
but rather as a means to help
them out of the existential crisis
that had beset them during the
second world war, to restore
their prestige and their ability
to govern.
European
co-operation
emerged alongside economic
planning, exchange controls,
Keynesianism and corporatist
management of industrial relations. The whole approach was
discredited by the stagflation of
the 1970s. Under the leadership
of Jacques Delors, European
Commission president from
1985 to 1994, and his successors, the EU went in a different
direction. It emphasised monetary co-ordination, free capital
flows, privatisation and a soft
touch in financial regulation.
The older vision was abandoned, but it produced higher
growth rates than the model
that succeeded it. It also nurtured domestic political institutions rather than undermining
them: credibility was painstakingly restored to parliaments
and parties.
So, from today’s perspective,
the 1950s and 1960s look like a
golden age. Its achievement
now looks in danger of being
undone. For it is not written in
stone that Europe will always
be identified in the minds of its
citizens with growth and
democracy. A different future
may lie ahead in which Europe
is identified instead with stagnation, unemployment and
tyranny.
Those preaching austerity
probably do not see themselves
as contributing to a crisis of
democracy, but they are. The
Italian elections should remind
eurozone leaders to pay attention to their voters. Economic
fixes have failed to staunch a
political crisis that has the capacity to harm not only EU integration, but the legitimacy of
the continent’s democratic order
itself.
The writer is a professor of history at Columbia university and
author of ‘Governing the World:
The History of an Idea’
14
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 9-15, 2013