Leaders responsible for Greece's economic collapse

The Greeks have to live with belt tightening and domination by the troika for however long it takes, and that may be a long and painful time, or default and return to the drachma and probably wind up out of the EU with all the perils that await them there. The middle road they have been coasting down the last half decade has run out. The game of cat and mouse has run its course. So has the poker game being played on both sides. You can only bluff for so long ... eventually the other side catches on.

Greece has been run by crooks and they have left huge debts while filling their own pockets. Books have been faked. What needs to be done is bring those that mismanaged Greece to trial and lock them up.

Below is an excellent article highlighting the crooks that ruined Greece. This is just a partial list - there are many more individuals responsible for Greece's financially destitute situation. I read this on Politico this morning and it is very interesting:

History shows that a long line of leaders helped make Greece the economic basket case it is today.

By DAMIAN MAC CON ULADH 5/5/15, 6:00 AM CET Updated 5/5/15, 1:23 PM CET

As negotiations inch along between the Syriza government and Greece’s international creditors, the blame for the nation’s looming financial collapse would seem to rest entirely on the shoulders of Prime Minister Alex Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. But not really: History provides ample evidence that a long line of leaders, from Winston Churchill to Constantine II, helped make Greece the economic basket case it is today.

Here are some of the guiltiest culprits:

Konstantis and Georgios Mavromichalis (died 1831)

When Greek-born Ioannis Kapodistrias was appointed independent Greece’s first governor in 1827, little did he realize that the job would be tougher than his former post as Russia’s foreign minister. Accustomed to working on the diplomatic stage, Kapodistrias soon found that his vision of a modern Greek state was not shared by everyone, especially the provincial elites.In 1831, he was stabbed in the stomach and shot in the head as he made his way to church by Konstantis and Georgios Mavromichalis. The killing was revenge for Kapodistrias’s jailing of their respective father and brother, the warlord Petrobey Mavromichalis. His assassination plunged Greece into chaos, leading the European powers to impose a foreign king, the young Bavarian prince Otto, on the young country, giving it a first taste of German rule.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

In 1944, Greece’s leftist partisan movement managed to see the backs of the German army after three and a half years of brutal wartime occupation. Unbeknownst of them, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had secretly divvied up eastern Europe and the Balkans on a piece of paper, placing Greece within Britain’s sphere of influence. While communist leaders also bear responsibility, Churchill’s determination to restore the unpopular Greek monarchy, as well as his determination to exclude former communist partisans from the new Greek army, pushed Greece further down its calamitous path to civil war.

Constantine II (1940– )

Since Greece became a parliamentary republic in 1974, its former king has had no role in political or public life, to almost universal relief. Assuming the throne at the age of 23, Constantine caused enough damage from 1964 to 1967. Soon, he found himself at loggerheads with the centrist government, led by George Papandreou, who eventually resigned. Constantine then sought to create amenable governments using centrist party defectors, which fuelled a constitutional crisis and political instability that ultimately led to the 1967 military coup.

Georgios Papadopoulos (1919–1999)

The weak state of Greek democracy was dealt a major blow in 1967 when a group of mid-level army officers, led by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, staged a successful coup d’état. Seven years of dictatorship followed, during which Papadopoulos himself was deposed in a coup by hardliners. While Papadopoulos would later die in prison, his asinine medical metaphors—he often likened himself to a doctor trying to cure a sick patient (Greece)—were redeployed by advocates of taking a tough line on Greece when crisis struck in 2009.

Andreas Papandreou (1919–1996)

Greece’s longest serving prime minister since the restoration of democracy in 1974, Andreas Papandreou left an indelible mark on Greek politics and its economy. Over the course of his decade in office (1981–89, 1993–96), the Harvard-trained economist introduced long overdue social and progressive reforms and stacked the civil service with his socialist Pasok party supporters. While he elevated many Greeks to the middle class, that success came at the heavy cost of drastically increasing the budget deficit and public debt levels. As corruption scandals mounted in the late 1980s, Papandreou created a sideshow by ditching his wife in favor of his airhostess mistress.

Kostas Karamanlis (1956– )

Like many Greek prime ministers, Kostas Karamanlis became leader of the county largely on the strength of his surname – his uncle was prime minister and president at various stages from 1955 to 1995 – and because he promised to  “re-establish” the state. But in his five year tenure (2004–2009), few reforms were enacted, and the government lost control of Greece’s public finances. Had Karamanlis spent less time in front of his Playstation, as is widely rumored, maybe things could have been better. The rocketing budget deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio, which were continuously revised upward during and after his rule, paved the way for the next government to ask for a bailout.

George Papandreou (1952– )

Prime minister like his father and grandfather before him, George Papandreou was elected in October 2009 using the vote-catching slogan “there is money,” despite being aware of the county’s dire economic situation. Unable to manage the ensuing fiscal crisis, Papandreou requested a €110 billion bailout deal from European Union and International Monetary Fund six months later. To the disbelief of most Greeks, the oblivious former leader attempted a political comeback in the 2015 election, in which he campaigned on an anti-austerity programme.

Akis Tsoschatzopoulos (1939– )

Greece would be in a far worse place today had former interior minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos been successful in his bid to become prime minister in 1996. Luckily, he only came within six votes of replacing Andreas Papandreou as leader of the socialist Pasok party. In 2013, a court sentenced Tsochatzopoulos, now 75, to life imprisonment for pocketing €55 million in kickbacks from military procurements from 1996 to 2001, when he was defense minister. His wife, ex-wife, daughter, cousin, and business associates were all implicated in the scandal, most of whom were also jailed.

Greek Oligarchs

With legacies extending back decades in cases, Greece’s oligarchs have emerged relatively unscathed from the Greek crisis and continue to control vast wealth, which is largely inherited but also derives from continued interests in shipping, communications, banking, construction and public works. This coterie of powerful Greek businessmen used political connections with former conservative and socialist governments to win contracts and restrict the Greek market. They also own and exert editorial control over most, if not all, of the privately-held media companies, in a country where public broadcasting remains largely under state control. The new Syriza-led government has promised to rein in the oligarchs, but some things are easier said than done.

Petros Kostopoulos (1954– )

Businessman and flamboyant publisher Petros Kostopoulos gained fame during the media boom years in the 1990s. He introduced a series of highly popular lifestyle magazines to Athens that sought to break taboos and emulate urban fashions from more affluent western countries. The underlying message in his publications and editorials was one of unbridled consumerism. Cue the multiple credit cards, Cayenne Porsches, skiing holidays, extravagant home loans, and private swimming pools. All these status symbols became more attainable after Greece, one of the poorest countries in the European Union, adopted the euro in 2001, which gave its banks easier access to cheap money.

Nikos Michaloliakos (1957– )

Relatively unknown until a few years ago, Nikos Michaloliakos and his neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party have capitalized on the Greek crisis to propel them to seats in the Greek and European parliaments. Appearing immune from the police or the justice system, Golden Dawn gangs patrolled inner-city streets, intimidating and sometimes beating migrants and political opponents. Only after a Golden Dawn supporter fatally stabbed the anti-fascist singer Pavlos Fyssas in 2013 did the state react by jailing Michaloliakos and several other Golden Dawn leaders, who will soon go on trial on charges of forming and running a criminal organization.

Troika

The troika – made up of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund – bears a fair share of the blame for Greece’s current state. The troika’s programs are based on over-optimistic growth projections, which have led to a number of revisions to Greece’s debt sustainability. Fiscal austerity has imposed a huge social cost upon the Greek people, pushing people out of work and into poverty, and leaving hundreds of thousands without access to public healthcare.

Damian Mac Con Uladh is a reporter for The Irish Times, based in Athens. Follow him on Twitter @damomac.

Despair

“Most people live in fear of some terrible event changing their lives, the death of a loved one or a serious illness. For the chronically ill, this terrible event has already happened, and we have been let in on an amazing secret: You survive. You adapt, and your life changes, but in the end you go on, with whatever compromises you have been forced to make, whatever losses you have been forced to endure. You learn to balance your fears with the simple truth that you must go on living.” - Jamie Weisman 

I must remember to read this quote often. Between the nickel size bruise marks on my body and the blood in my urine (which developed this past weekrnd), I must not lose sight of the fact that this is my 'new normal' ... My oncologist told me this in my body adjusting to the Arimidex, some of side effects.

Sticks and stones will break my bones
But tears don't leave any scars
So I'm all alright, I'm all alright
I've felt this way before ...

Troubled ...

“Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain. ” 

― 

 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Busting a gut with Buddy

Buddy ... busting a gut! He sits like this more often than not. I called this his 'drunk' pose.

Holding Buddy ...

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They all own cats.

Laughter

I love this picture (my mom, my Aunt Ismini & my uncle Caesar).

I took after my mom - when we laugh sometimes we bust a gut!

A close-up ...

The most wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed. ~ Sébastien-Roch Nicolas (Chamfort), translated from French

Mary Elizabeth Frye

Julia's paternal grandmother died. She was crossing the street in Russia and got hit by a truck.

Do Not Stand By My Grave & Weep

This original poem was written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004) from Baltimore, MD. There are in existence many slightly different versions of the poem. This famous poem has been read at countless funerals and public occasions. The author composed this poem in a moment of inspiration, and scribbled it on a paper bag. She wrote it to comfort a family friend who had just lost her mother and was unable to even visit her grave. This is the only surviving poem of Mary Elizabeth Frye.

Do Not Stand By My Grave & Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

A special kind of people

There are some people in the world,

Who are just a little different from the rest.

These people have been through Hell,

But have come out better than the best. 

I’ve only met a few of these gems,

But each one has left their mark on my life.

We’re a special kind of people,

We take life without all the strife.

Iv'e got a pinch of tobacco in my pocket,

I'm not gonna roll it, I'm not gonna to smoke it till we're staring at the stars and the rockets twinkling in the silvery night.

And though the sun may be washed by the sea and the old will be lost in the new, and though you will not wait for me ... I'll wait for you.

Keep the faith my dearest friends. It gets better ... trust me things always find a way of working themselves out.

Life is good!

What's wrong?

When The Times invited essays on the topic, “What’s wrong with the world?” G. K. Chesterton in a letter offered his famous terse response, “I am.” We applaud his reply — and the world has not changed. 

I googled how many wars / conflicts are taking place in the world. The total number of countries involved in wars is 65 which is very sad.

The US is involved in quite a number of these conflicts - both openly and behind the scenes.

The two main reasons for the majority of these conflicts: INEQUALITY and RELIGION

Below is a list of hot zones.

AFRICA:

(27 Countries and 177 between militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Central African Republic (civil war), Democratic Republic of Congo (war against rebel groups), Egypt (popular uprising against Government), Libya (war against islamist militants), Mali (war against tuareg and islamist militants), Nigeria (war against islamist militants), Somalia (war against islamist militants), Sudan (war against rebel groups), South Sudan (civil war)

ASIA:

(16 Countries and 145 between militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Afghanistan (war against islamist militants), Burma-Myanmar (war against rebel groups), Pakistan (war against islamist militants), Philippines (war against islamist militants), Thailand (coup d’etat by army May 2014)

EUROPE:

(9 Countries and 72 between militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Chechnya (war against islamist militants), Dagestan (war against islamist militants), Ukraine (Secession of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic)

MIDDLE EAST:

(8 Countries and 215 between militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Iraq (war against Islamic State islamist militants), Israel (war against islamist militants in Gaza Strip), Syria (civil war), Yemen (war against and between islamist militants)

AMERICAS:

(5 Countries and 25 between drug cartels, militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Colombia (war against rebel groups), Mexico (war against narcotraffic groups)

TOTAL:

Number of Countries involved in wars 65

Number Militias-guerrillas and separatist groups involved 636

My Friend - Cy Coleman

My Friend (by Cy Coleman). From the musical The life.

Another one of my favorite musicals!

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Money

Harder still it has proved to rule the dragon Money … A whole generation adopted false principles, and went to their graves in the belief they were enriching the country they were impoverishing. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

No truer words have ever been spoken.

Breathing

Change your perception and your world changes. Just breathing is a cause for celebration ...

I must remember to stop and smell the coffee.

Life is good!

History of boobies & bras

Who invented the bra?

From the Bathroom Reader:



Through the 1800s, a number of people patented items of intimate apparel for women, but most were just extensions of the corset. In 1893 Mary Tucek was granted a patent for a crude “breast supporter,” which had a pocket for each breast, straps that went over the shoulders, and a hook-and-eye fastener in the back.

But the modern bra was really born 20 years later. The fashion of the early 1910s was to flatten the breasts for a slim, boyish figure; the fashion also favored plunging necklines. In 1913 a Manhattan debutante named Mary Phelps Jacobs became frustrated when her chest-flattening corset kept peeking out above her plunging neckline. “The eyelet embroidery of my corset-cover kept peeping through the roses around my bosom,” she wrote in her autobiography, The Passionate Years. The sheerness of her Paris evening gown was ruined by the lumpy, bulky corset.

WHAT’S A DEBUTANTE TO DO?

In frustration, she and her maid designed an undergarment made of two handkerchiefs and some ribbons that were pulled taut. "The result was delicious. I could move more freely, a nearly naked feeling, and in the glass I saw that I was flat and proper."

Showing off her invention in the dressing rooms of society balls, she had her friends begging for brassieres of their own. Jacobs actually sewed and gave away many bras as gifts. But when strangers started accosting her, requesting the brassieres and offering money, Jacobs went to see a patent attorney (she had her maid model the garment discreetly over the top of her uniform).

A patent was granted and Jacobs opened a small manufacturing facility. She called her invention the "backless brassiere." It was the first ladies' undergarment to dispense with corset-stiffening whalebone, using elastic instead. Jacobs sold a number of her brassieres under the name "Caresse Crosby," but for all her ability as a designer, she had no marketing instincts. Sales were flat and she soon shelved the business.

A few years later, she bumped into an old boyfriend who happened to mention the fact that he was working for Warner Brothers Corset Company. Jacobs told him about her invention and at his urging, showed it to his employers. They liked it so much they offered to buy the patent for $1,500. Jacobs took the money -she though it was a good deal. So did Warner Brother Corset Company -they went on to make some $15 million from Jacobs’ invention.

MAIDENFORM

Ida and William Rosenthal, two Russian immigrants, came to America penniless and set up a dressmaking business in New York with a partner, Enid Bissett. They were constantly dissatisfied with the way dresses fit around the female bosom, so in frustration - and perhaps in rebellion to the popular flat-chested look of the flapper - they invented the first form-fitting bra with separate "cups." And since all women are not built equally, Ida invented cup "sizes."

The Rosenthals gave up the dress shop in 1922 and started the Maidenform Brassiere Company with a capital investment of $4,500. Four years later, they had 40 machines turning out mass-produced bras. Forty years later, they had 19 factories producing 25 million bras annually. Some of their innovations:

● The “uplift” bra, patented in 1927.

● The “training bra” (no definitive word on what they were training for).

● The “Chansonette bra,” introduced in 1949. It had a cone-shaped cup stitched in a whirlpool pattern. The bra, which never changed shape, even when it was removed, was quickly dubbed the "Bullet Bra." Over the next 30 years, more than 90 million were sold worldwide.

When William died in 1958, Ida carried on and continued to oversee the company until her death in 1973 at the age of 87. The Maidenform corporation, which started with ten employees, now had over 9,000.

PLAYTEX

Another major contributor to the development of the bra was Abram Nathaniel Spanel, an inventor with over 2,000 patents (including one for a garment bag designed so that a vacuum cleaner could be hooked up to it to suck out moths). In 1932 Spanel founded the International Latex Corporation in Rochester, New York, to make latex items such as bathing caps, slippers, girdles, and bras, sold under the name Playtex.

Playtex was very aggressive in its advertising. In 1940 - an era when underwear ads in print publications were primarily discreet line drawings - Playtex placed a full-page ad in Life magazine with photos of models wearing Playtex lingerie alongside a mail-in coupon. Women responded: 200,000 sales were made from the ad. And in 1954 Playtex became the first company to advertise a bra and girdle on TV. Those garments - the Living Bra and the Living Girdle - remained part of the line for 40 years.

In 1965 Playtex introduced the Cross Your Heart Bra. Today it remains one of the best-known brands in the United States and is the second bestselling brand of Playtex bra, with the 18-Hour Bra filling out the top spot.

HOWARD HUGHES

The tycoon and film producer also had his handing creating a bra. In 1941 he was making a movie called The Outlaw, starring his 19-year-old "protégé," Jane Russell. Filming was going badly because the bras Russell wore either squashed her breasts or failed to provide enough support to prevent her from bouncing all over the screen.

According to legend, Hughes himself designed an aerodynamic half-cup bra, so well reinforced that it turned Russell’s bosom into a veritable shelf. Censors had a fit. 20th Century Fox postponed the release date due to the controversy. Millions of dollars stood to be lost, so rather than back down, Hughes went all out. He had his people phone ministers, women’s clubs, and other community groups to tell them exactly how scandalous this film was. That prompted wild protests. Crowds of people insisted the film be banned. The publicity machine launched into full gear, and when the film was finally released, it was a guaranteed hit.

On opening night, Hughes hired skywriters to decorate the Hollywood skies with a pair of large circles with dots in their centers. Jane Russell, an unknown before the film, became a star overnight. Years later she revealed in her autobiography that she had found Hughes’ bra so uncomfortable that she had only worn it once … in the privacy of her dressing room. The one she wore in the movie was her own bra. No one - not even Hughes - was the wiser.

THE VERY SECRET BRA

An inflatable bra introduced in 1952, it had expandable air pockets that would help every woman achieve "the perfect contour." The bra could be discreetly inflated with a hidden hand pump. Early urban myth: these inflatable bras sometimes exploded when ladies wore them on poorly-pressurized airplanes.

THE JOG BRA

Hinda Miller and Lisa Rosenthal were friends who enjoyed jogging but didn’t like the lack of support their normal bras offered. Lingerie stores had nothing better to offer them, so they decide to make their own. In 1977 they stitched together two jock straps and tested it out - it worked. Their original prototype is now displayed at the Smithsonian.

In 1978 the two inventors sold $3,840 worth of their bras to sporting apparel stores. In 1997 Jogbra sales topped $65 million.

THE WONDERBRA

Originally created in 1964 by a Canadian lingerie company named Canadelle, the Wonderbra was designed to lift and support the bustling while also creating a deep plunge and push-together effect, without compressing the breasts. Even naturally flat-chested women could achieve the full-figured look. The bra was popular in Europe but wasn’t even sold in the United States because of international licensing agreements.

In 1991 fashion models started wearing Wonderbras they had purchased in London. Sara Lee Corporation (yes, the cheesecake company), who by then had purchased Playtex, bought the license to the Wonderbra and began marketing it aggressively. They spent $10 million advertising the new product, and it paid off. First year sales peaked at nearly $120 million. By 1994 the Wonderbra was selling at the rate of one every 15 seconds for a retail price of $26.

UNCLE JOHN’S BOOBY PRIZES

● Highest-Tech Bra: A British inventor has come up with a bra that contains a heart rate monitor, a Global Positioning System, and a cell phone. If the wearer is attacked and her heart rate jumps, the phone will call the police and give her location as determined by the GPS. The electronic components in this “Techno Bra” are removable for laundry day.

● Most Expensive Bra: For $15 million you can buys Victoria’s Secret bra inset with over 1,300 gemstones, including rubies and diamonds (with matching panties).

● Most Cultured Bra: Triumph International, a Japanese lingerie firm, created a bra to honor Mozart on the 200th anniversary of his death. It plays 20 seconds of his music every time it’s fastened and has lights that flash on and off to the beat. But perhaps in keeping with Mozart-era hygiene, the bra isn’t washable.

● Smelliest Bra: In 1998, French company Neyret announced that it was marketing a bra that would release scents when stretched or caressed. Aromas included apple, grapefruit, and watermelon.

● Biggest Celebrity Bra Collection: If you’re in L.A., visit the Frederick’s of Hollywood Bra Museum. It has such items as the bra Tony Curtis wore in Some Like It Hot; the bra Milton Berle wore on his TV show, and Phyllis Diller’s training bra, marked "This side up."

● Biggest Bra: The Franksville Specialty Company of Conover, Wisconsin, manufacture bras for cows in order to prevent them from tripping over their udders. The bras come in four sizes and are available in only one color: barnyard brown. Design extra: They keep the udder warm.

● Cleverest Dual-purpose Bra: When public opinion turned against her, Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos reportedly wore a bulletproof bra.

“When women’s lib started, I was the first to burn my bra and it took three days to put out the fire.” ~ Dolly Parton

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute has published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

Yellow Daffodil

I can't believe they are calling for snow showers this afternoon. It's very cold and windy.

My nurse navigator mixed up the dates for my appointment with my surgeon. I see Dr. Frazier this Monday at 12:15.

I got an email from my cousin Nick in Greece. I'm waiting until after my appointment to write to him. He is doing good. He uses a timer to remind himself to urinate every 3-4 hours.

Lisa told me that once a month they hold a bra workshop in Newtown Square at the Cancer Center which is where I had physical therapy after my surgery. Julie, my therapist, holds the workshop with Yellow Daffodil.

When I see Dr. Frazier on Monday, I have to remember to ask Kathy for another script for bras and a prosthetic. I lost the script she gave me - I can't find it.

In the meantime, I started wearing my bras (sports bras) until I get fitted at the workshop. I feel discomfort under my arm (the top lining of my bras). I think it's because the weight bears more to the left. I wish I could get away without having to wear bras but that would be impossible.

Who created bras?

F#@k the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990

Germany owes Greece around 162 billion euros ($183 billion) — or around half the country’s public debt, which stands at over 315 billion euros.

Greece’s occupation by the Nazis from 1941 was one of the most bloody in Europe, with Hitler’s forces rampaging, pillaging and shooting, and encountering a nation that fiercely resisted.

The Nazi regime ended up bleeding Greece dry.

Amazing how history has a way of repeating itself. Germany committed genocide in the forties, and now - 70 years later - they are committing economic genocide.

The Third Reich forced the Greek central bank to loan it 476 million Reichsmarks which has never been reimbursed.

Fuck the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990!



#Germany #Greece #Eurogroup #EU #ECB #IMF #Tsipras #Syriza #HelmutKohl #WWIIreparations #AngelaMerkel

Germany is Liable to Greece for WWII Loans

Nazi Extortion Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans

(By Manfred Ertel, Katrin Kuntz and Walter Mayr - March 21, 2015 - SPIEGEL)



German occupation troops in the ransacked Greek village of Distomo on June 10, 1944, shortly after 218 local residents were executed as part of Nazi reprisals.

Is Germany liable to Athens for loans the Nazis forced the Greek central bank to provide during World War II? A new study in Greece could increase the pressure on Berlin to pay up.

Loukas Zisis, the deputy mayor of Distomo, a village nestled in the hills about a two hour drive from Athens, says he thinks about the Germans every day. On June 10, 1944, the Germans massacred 218 people in Distomo, including dozens of children. Zisis, who is just 48 years old, wasn't yet born at the time of the attack.

"We can't forget the Germans," Zisis says. They came to Distomo 71 years ago with their guns. "Today they are exerting power over our village with their banks and policies," he adds. He's standing in the wind on a rocky ledge, a small man in a leather jacket, and looking out over the town. Two-thousand people live here.

The massacre, which continues to shape the place today, was one of the most brutal crimes committed by the Nazis in Greece, with the carnage lasting several hours. For decades, a trial over the massacre wound its way through the courts at all levels in Greece and Germany. Greece's highest court, the Areopag, ruled in 2000 that Germany must pay damages to Distomo's bereaved.

"But we are still waiting," says Zisis. "There has been no compensation."

Last week in Greek parliament, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras demanded German reparations payments, indirectly linking them to the current situation in Greece. "After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the legal and political conditions were created for this issue to be solved," Tsipras said. "But since then, German governments chose silence, legal tricks and delay. And I wonder, because there is a lot of talk at the European level these days about moral issues: Is this stance moral?"

Tspiras was essentially countering German allegations that Greece lives beyond its means with the biggest counteraccusation possible: German guilt. Leaving aside the connection drawn by Tsipras, which many consider to be inappropriate, there are many arguments to support the Greek view. SPIEGEL itself reported in February that former Chancellor Helmut Kohl used tricks in 1990 in order to avoid having to pay reparations.

A study conducted by the Greek Finance Ministry, commissioned way back in 2012 by a previous government, has now been completed and contains new facts. The 194-page document has been obtained by SPIEGEL.

Outstanding German Debt

The central question in the report is that of forced loans the Nazi occupiers extorted from the Greek central bank beginning in 1941. Should requests for repayment of those loans be classified as reparation demands -- demands that may have been forfeited with the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990? Or is it a genuine loan that must be paid back? The expert commission analyzed contracts and agreements from the time of the occupation as well as receipts, remittance slips and bank statements.

They found that the forced loans do not fit into the category of classical war reparations. The commission calculated the outstanding German "debt" to the Greek central bank and came to a total sum of $12.8 billion as of December 2014, which would amount to about €11 billion.

As such, at issue between Germany and Greece is no longer just the question as to whether the 115 million deutsche marks paid to the Greek government from 1961 onwards for its peoples' suffering during the occupation sufficed as legal compensation for the massacres like those in the villages of Distomo and Kalavrita. Now the key issue is whether the successor to the German Reich, the Federal Republic of Germany, is responsible for paying back loans extorted by the Nazi occupiers. There's some evidence to indicate that this may be the case.

In terms of the amount of the loan debt, the Greek auditors have come to almost the same findings as those of the Nazis' bookkeepers shortly before the end of the war. Hitler's auditors estimated 26 days before the war's end that the "outstanding debt" the Reich owed to Greece at 476 million Reichsmarks.

Auditors in Athens calculated an "open credit line" for the same period of time of around $213 million. They assumed a dollar exchange rate to the Reichsmark of 2:1 and applied an interest escalation clause accepted by the German occupiers that would result in a value of more than €11 billion today.

'No Ifs or Buts'

This outstanding debt has to be paid back "with no ifs or buts," says German historian Hagen Fleischer in Athens, who knows the relevant files better than anyone else. Even before the new report, he located numerous documents that prove without any doubt, he believes, the character of forced loans. Nazi officials noted on March 20, 1944, for example, that the "Reich's debt" to Athens had totaled 1,068 billion drachmas as of December 31 of the previous year.

"Forced loans as war debt pervade all the German files," says Fleischer, who is a professor of modern history at the University of Athens. He has lived in Athens since 1977 and has since obtained Greek citizenship. He says that files from postwar German authorities about questions of war debt "shocked" him far more than the war documents on atrocities and suffering.

In them, he says German diplomats use the vocabulary of the National Socialists to discuss reparations issues, speaking of a "final solution for so-called war crimes problems," or stating that it was high time for a "liquidation of memory." He says it was in this spirit that compensation payments were also constantly refused. Fleischer had long been accused of bias and he says he is now pleased to have support from Athens -- particularly given that the present study has nothing to do with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' Syriza government.

When work on the study first began in early 2012, the cabinet of independent Prime Minister Loukas Papedemos still governed in Athens. A former vice president of the European Central Bank, Papedemos formed a six-month transition government after Georgios Papandreou resigned. In April 2014, the successor government of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaris decided to continue work on the study and appointed Panagiotis Karakousis to lead the team of experts. The longtime general director of the Finance Ministry was considered to be politically unobjectionable.

50,000 Pages of Documents

Karakousis spent five months reading 50,000 pages of original documents from the central bank's archives. It wasn't easy reading. The study calculates right down to the gram the amount of gold plundered from private households, especially those of Greek Jews: 7,358.0014 kilograms of pure gold with an equivalent value today of around €235 million. It also notes also how German troops, as they pulled out, quickly took along "the entire cash reserves from branch offices and regional branches" of the central bank: Exactly 634,962,691,995,162 drachmas in notes and coins, which would total about €40 million today.

Above all, the study, with some reservations, provides clarity about the forced loans. "No reasonable person can now doubt that these loans existed and that the repayment remains open," says Karakousis.

This history of the loans began in April 1941, after the German troops rushed to assist their Italian allies and occupied Greece. In order to provide their troops with provisions, the German occupiers demanded reimbursement for their expenses, the so-called occupation costs. It's a cynical requirement, but one that became standard practice after the 1907 Hague Convention.

Out of the ordinary, though, was the Wehrmacht requirement that the Greeks finance the provision of its troops on other fronts -- in the Balkans, in Russia or in North Africa -- despite Hague Convention rules forbidding such a practice. Initially, the German occupiers demanded 25 million Reichsmarks per month from the government in Athens, around 1.5 billion drachmas. But the amount they actually took was considerably higher. The expert commission determined that payments made by the Greek central bank between August and December 1941 totaled 12 billion rather than 7 billion drachmas.

'Unlimited Sums in the Form of Loans'

With their economy laid to waste, the Greeks soon began pushing for reductions. At a conference in Rome, the Germans and Italians decided on March 14, 1942 to halve their occupation costs to 750 million drachmas each. But the study claims that Hitler's deputies demanded "unlimited sums in the form of loans." Whatever the Germans collected over and above the 750 million would be "credited to the Greek government," a German official noted in 1942.

The sums of the forced loans were up to 10 times as high as the occupation costs. During the first half of 1942, they totaled 43.4 billion drachmas, whereas only 4.5 billion for the provision of troops was due.

A number of installment payments, which Athens began pressing for in March 1943, serve to verify the nature of the loans. Historian Fleischer also found records relating to around two dozen payment installments. For example, the payment office of the Special Operations Southeast was instructed on October 6, 1944 to pay, inflation adjusted, an incredible sum of 300 billion drachma to the Greek government and to book it as "repayment."

'Debts Have to Be Paid Back'

In Fleischer's opinion, the report makes unequivocally clear that the Greek demands do not relate to reparations for wartime injustices that could serve as a precedent for other countries. "One can negotiate reparations politically," Fleischer says. "Debts have to be paid back -- even between friends."

Postwar Greek governments sought repayment early on. The German ambassador confirmed on October 15, 1966, for example, that the Greeks had already come knocking "over an alleged claim."

On November 10, 1995, then Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou proposed the opening of talks aimed at a settlement of the "German debts to Greece." He proposed that "every category of these claims would be examined separately." Papandreous' effort ultimately didn't lead anywhere.

So what happens now? What should become of this new study, the contents of which had remained secret before now?

"I am not a politician," says Karakousis, "I've just done my duty."

But the question also remains whether the surviving relatives of the victims of Distomo will ever be provided with justice -- and whether there are similar cases in other countries.

German lawyer Joachim Lau, whose law firm is based in Florence, Italy, represents the interests of village residents of Distomo even today. Lau, born in Stuttgart, a white-haired man of almost 70, is fighting for compensation in the name of the Greek and Italian victims of the Nazis. "I am disappointed by the manner in which Germany is dealing with this question," he says. He says it's not just an issue of financial compensation. More than anything, it is one of justice.

Careless Statements

In February, Lau warned German President Joachim Gauck in an open letter against propagating the "violation of international law" with careless statements about the reparations issue. In his view, the legal situation is clear: Greek and Italian citizens and their relatives affected by "shootings, massacres by the Wehrmacht, by deportations or forced labor illegal under international law" have the right to individual claims.

For the past decade, Lau has been pursuing the claims of the Distomo victims in Italy. The Court of Cassation in Rome affirmed in 2008 that the claims were legitimate and that he could pursue the case. Earlier, the lawyer had already succeeded in securing Villa Vigoni, a palatial estate on the shore of Lake Como owned by Germany -- and used by a private German association focused on promoting German-Italian relations -- as collateral for the suit. In 2009, Lau succeeded in having €51 million in claims made by Deutsche Bahn against Italian state railway Trenitalia seized. On Tuesday, the high court in Rome is expected to rule on the lifting of the enforcement order.

Following a ruling made by Italy's Constitutional Court in October 2014, private suits in Italy against Germany have been possible again. One of the justices who issued the ruling is the current president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.

It remains unclear whether this ruling will unleash "a wave of new proceedings" in Italy, says Lau, who currently represents 150 cases, including various class-action lawsuits.

Present and Past, Guilt and Anger

Everything connects in the mountain village of Distoma -- the present and past, guilt and anger, the Greek demands on Germany today and past calls for reparations. Efrosyni Perganda sits in the well-heated living room of her home. The diminutive woman, 91 years of age, has alert eyes and wears a black dress. She survived the massacre perpetrated by the Germans at Distomo and she's one of the few witnesses still alive in the village.


(Photo by Riedmann / Der SPIEGEL)

The bones of victims of the Nazi killings in Distomo are features as part of the village's memorial to the massacre.

When the SS company undertook a so-called act of atonement in Distomo following a fight with Greek partisans, the soldiers also captured her husband. Efrosyni Perganda stood by with her baby as they took him. She never saw him again.

As the Germans began to rampage, she hid behind the bathroom door and later behind the living room door of the house in which she still lives today. She held her baby tightly against her chest. "I forgive my husband's murderers," she says.

Loukas Zisis, the deputy mayor, silently leaves the house as the woman finishes telling her story. He needs a break and heads over to the tavern, where he orders a glass of wine. "I admire Germany: Marx, Engels, Nietzsche," he says. "The prosperity. The degree to which society is organized. But here in the village, we aren't finding peace because the German state isn't settling its debt."

Zisis admires Germany, but the country remains incomprehensible to him. "We haven't even heard a single apology so far," he says once again. "That has to do with Germany's position in Europe." This is something that he just doesn't understand, he says.

Sweet Charity

Rhythm of Life (by Cy Coleman) - from the musical Sweet Charity

 I love this song! I love Cy Coleman!

Jekyll & Hyde - Your Work - and Nothing More

Today I am listening to musicals. My all-time favorite musicals are:

Jekyll & Hyde, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and The Life.

This song from Jekyll & Hyde is called 'Your Work - and Nothing More' (Music and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn). In all musicals, there are duets, but there are also quartets. Perhaps the most beautiful quartet that I have ever heard is this one.

Dr. Jekyll 'has his work' ...
His fiancée believes his 'work is a crime to be forgiven' ...
Her father cautions 'he's gone too far' ...
Lastly, his best friend, who has known him for so long, sees the 'pain in his eyes' ...

It starts out with Dr. Jekyll and his best friend singing, then his fiancée comes in, followed by her father. At the end, all four of these amazing singers come together.

I get the chills, goose-bumps all over, when I hear this song. The entire soundtrack is amazing.

- - -

Another great song is Façade ...

Man is not one man but two ...

At the end of the day they don't mean what they say, they don't say what they mean ... but the truth is -- that it's all a façade.

F#@k Dunkin' Donuts

The parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts has agreed to remove titanium dioxide, a whitening agent, from all icing sugar used to make the company’s doughnuts. The action follows two years of petitioning by the environmental and corporate responsibility advocacy group As You Sow.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that titanium dioxide is safe for use as a colour in food, provided that such use meets certain requirements. ‘No science demonstrates or implies that FDA-regulated products that involve the use of nanotechnology, including food ingredients, are intrinsically safe or harmful,’ FDA spokesperson Marianna Naum tells Chemistry World. ‘Rather, the agency considers the specific characteristics of the product in question,’ she says.

However, the titanium dioxide used in the Dunkin’ Donuts sugar does not actually meet the definition of nanomaterial as outlined by the FDA, according to Dunkin’ Brands spokesperson Karen Raskoff. Nevertheless, she says the company began testing alternative formulations in 2014, and it is in the process of transitioning.

I don't do fast food, but for those of you who do ... the next time you purchase a donut think about all of the chemicals contained in your Dunkin' Donut.

Many thanks to As You Sow for keeping up the pressure.

Illness as Metaphor

"Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.” ~ Susan Sontag (Illness as Metaphor)

I love this quote. I am a citizen of that other place.

I finished reading 'Illness as Metaphor' last night.

It originally appeared as 3 separate essays in The New Yorker. At the time (1978), it was considered an excellent opinion on society's biases concerning TB and Cancer. Sontag wrote these essays after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

A brilliant opinion on the different metaphors between TB and Cancer.

Blues - Bessie Smith

Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do ...

Bessie Smith's relationships with other female singers were often stormy. Bessie did agree to record with rival, Clara Smith (no relation) a few songs of which 'My Man Blues' portrays the two in mock competition over the same man. The following dialogue comes from the 1925 recording:

Bessie: It is my man, sweet papa Charlie Gray.

Clara:  Your man? How do you git that way?

Bessie: Now look here, honey, I been had that man for umpteen years.

Clara:  Child, didn't I turn your damper down?

Bessie: Yes, Clara, and I've cut you every way but loose!

Turn your damper down means 'calm down' or 'don't be so intense'. Some people conjure up sexual imagery from the phrase, but really it's related to a volatile temper.