Comments by "joe k" (@joek600) on "Alex Christoforou"
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Alex Im a Greek graphic designer working in advertising, internet services and publications. Because of my work I have a strong connection with the vibe of the Greek market. Also I have spent some time in Ukraine, ironically in the Dondass region during the early 00's. Im watching all these talks by EU representatives and especially the German sphere of influence, about reconstructing Ukraine, about fast tracking Ukraine's membership for EU, about sending truck loads of money to Ukraine, plus huge amounts of military aid. I have to confess that my blood boils with rage.
While the EU leadership is trying to convince us that we should donate even our underwears to Ukraine, a non EU member, I cant stop thinking what they did to my country and generally the european south PIGS as they affectionatelly call us. I was 30 years old when the financial crisis hit Greece. The ''treatment'' proposed by the EU (Germany) was basically the financial equivalent of taking rat poison as medicine. Because the issue was never about helping Greece ''put its house in order'' as they said. But to use Greece as an example for the other ''restless pupils'' in the EU classroom. We were crucified, dragged through mud, made fun off. In Germany they even printed posters in the same spirit their grand parents used to do to mock Jews back in the ''old times''. A Greek laying in a hammock sipping frappe coffee, living off ''ze hard werking Germans''. Newspapers printing articles that the Greeks receive 3000 euro pensions at their mid 50's while ''ze hard werking Germans'' increased their retirement age limit. The public was made to believe that somehow their taxes went to pay the Greek debt and other stories with dragons.
In reality the much needed reformations in the state never happened, the public sector was never made efficient and the private sector was DEVASTATED, while the labor rights went off the window, transforming Greece into a post apocalyptic wasteland. Its completely crazy when you think that for the sake of appearences they almost reached to the point of destabilizing the ONLY stable and democratic country in the region despite its other issues. They were dead set on their course to really scare Italy into submission by the example of Greece. Once this was achieved suddenly Greece became from problem child to a ''fast learning pupil'' getting good grades and back pats when in reality NOTHING CHANGED, in fact the economy is by far worse but somehow we get congratulated because it fits their narrative.
I was 30 years old, now Im 43 and Im seeing around me still a financial wasteland. They literally robbed my generation of our most productive years. The most educated generation of Greeks I should add. Nobody asked them to pay our debts, in fact they never did, they just extended their good credit to us. This could have been done with reasonable technical advisors and even strict supervision which nobody from the public would oppose. In fact it would be a fast turning out investment, since already the Greek market absorbed a fair share of their high end products and services. They didnt want that. Instead they served punishment, smoke and mirrors, and tried to snatch some juicy fillets of Greek real estate and businesses in the process. Now they are literally shoveling money towards the MOST corrupted state in Europe no questions asked. There are no posters about money sucking Ukrainians in Germany. I know Ukraine, and I also have friends there. Greece's corruption compared to theirs is like a cute fluffy kitten.
Sorry for the long post.
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These days its not as striking as when i was serving in the Hellenic Forces of Cyprus in the early 00's. Back then it was (at least from me) something out of a movie. You could pass through to the turkish side from small unguarded alleys. Some guys did although it was forbidden from our commanders, in case of a diplomatic incident. You were walking down Ledras street, with small cafes, fashionable stores, gelaterias and suddenly you would face the wall. The army posts. Every house facing the turkish side turned into a bunker, stuffed with sand bags. The houses in no man's land still riddled with bullet holes and falling apart. Many of these houses were quite impressive, obviously the homes of once affluent people, that lost everything. We used to go to the roof of the Woolworth mall, were there was a telescope observatory, were you could see far into the turkish side. It was uncanny. In contrast to the Greek side of a modern city not so different than a european one, the turkish side looked like a camp of gypsies. Im not using it as a rasist slur. Its just the only thing that I have seen close to that reality. It was Mad Max land, and I couldnt help feeling sorry for those people over there.
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Allow me to give you my 2 Greek cents. Greece unlike any other European country, is facing an actual existential threat by Turkey. A nation with a completely different religion, culture, society and values than ours. It took us 400 years to get rid of them and a lot sacrifices, so nobody would accept anything less than total war. All the political spectrum of Greece agrees that there is a huge problem with Turkish aggression. From the far right (unsurprisingly) to the Right wingers, the centrists, the neo-liberals, the diet Cola leftists, to the Communist Party. Hell even the anarchists if cornered after finishing their tirade of platitudes will admit that there is a serious issue. Since nobody here expects the rest Europeans to even lift a finger, ( call that the fall of Constantinople syndrome), everybody accepts as granted that we have to be armed. Armed to the teeth as a deterrent.
I’m sure that most of you who think of Greece as a place for holidays and sightseeing don’t know that we have enough weapons to blow out of the water any European country of our size, and give a seriously extremely bad day to all the rest with the exception of France and UK. Greece at the moment has the most Leopard 2 tanks in Europe, 353 half of the roughly, are the latest variant and not the outdated by modern standards but still capable, A4 versions most countries have. I won’t even mention the older Leopard 1, Modernized M60s etc.
These weapons, that are promoted here as guarantees of our security, are the eye of a tornado of corruption. Every one of those weapons systems were bought way above their normal price in the market, due to commissions given to politicians and military staff, bribes and deals under the table with the manages of French, German and American military industries or/and with their governments who tried to get those very juicy contracts since everybody in Europe basically lives in LaLa land when it comes to actual security concerns. These contracts played a major part in the huge Greek debt and the constant loans that the Greek state is in neck deep. Everybody acknowledges this here regardless his political opinions.
The majority of the Greek public is against this war and against the current diplomatic stance of Greece towards Russia. As usual the government is on a complete separate level, because nobody has balls and because objectively they are being blackmailed by the US who uses the threat of Turkey and the EU who controls the financial outlets. If you ask them personally I bet that most of them would not touch Ukraine with a 10 meter pole. The fact that there are imminent elections means that at least for the campaigning season, they have to take into account the public opinion. At the same time they have a good excuse for not being teacher’s pet for awhile. The public knows that these weapons represent their life’s blood. Those weapons to a great degree were the underlying reason for all that misery of the last 15 years. I was 29 years old when the financial crisis started. I am 44 years old now and still we live in a financial wasteland. I lost my most creative and supposedly career building years as a graphic designer in publications and advertising, just scrambling to keep a job and fending off ridiculously bad deals while my counterparts in Europe were dinning with silver spoons, and some of them were payed by our huge military and industrial contracts brokered by our politicians.
I don’t think that any government would survive the images of our Leopard2 burning in a Ukrainian steppe, while there are huge gaps in our defenses.
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