A Greek on Turkish POT........

I don't think Greeks will ever love the Turks or vice versa. Recently Greek pensioner Minas Karatsoglu, 74, suing to stop a Swedish dairy from using his image to promote its yoghurts stated that in principle, he wasn't against his face adorning the cartons – although he was shocked to get a call from a friend informing him it had happened. It was more, he said, that the yoghurt was branded "Turkish" and by inference the self-styled patriot from Delphi was "baptised" Turkish, too.

Mr Karatsoglu lawers said "For my client that was perhaps the biggest insult, they were trying to convince consumers that the product was made according to a genuine Turkish recipe with a Greek man in Greek dress adorning it".

Just why oh why.......

There can not be anyone in the western world that is not aware of the financial situation Greece has found itself in. Living most of the time in Greece I dearly love the country, but why oh why can its people not see the damage continual industrial disputes are bringing? 

Over the last couple of years the euro has depreciated against many currencies, holiday makers are looking at non-euro countries for better deals in holidays, and Turkey is "laughing all the way to the bank". Recently we have seen Greek air traffic controllers work to rule and strike, with more industrial action probably to come. Now we have fuel tanker drivers striking and most cities & towns in Greece without petrol at the fuel stations......linking both of these together is it a wonder tourists will think twice before coming to Greece.

With tourism a mainstay of the economy the Greek people are damaging THEMSELVES. 

If you carry on striking.....showing your right to march & demonstrate, destroying your country.....you will soon be stepping back into the dark ages when the economy crashes with millions out of work, unable to feed their families.

COME ON GREECE....you have one of the oldest cultures in the world, your men fought for independence, a free world and a better life. FIGHT again WITH your government to make Greece GREAT, and not against it. Suffer the small pains and avoid an agonizing death!

ALDI to withdraw from Greece ?

 

The German grocery retailer ALDI who a few months back put all expansion in Greece on hold looks like withdrawing completely from the Greek market after only 20 months of trading in the country. ALDI Hellas has not yet commented formally but I suspect we shall not see ALDI in Greece during 2011

Wild fires near Athens

Wild fires (video)

(Reuters) - Dozens of wildfires broke out in Greece on Saturday, threatening homes and forcing the evacuation of a nunnery and a children's camp near Athens.

Fanned by strong winds, 45 fires raged across the country, burning large swathes of vegetation but causing little damage to property, the fire brigade said.

Seven fires flared up around Athens, sending thick clouds of smoke over the capital, the first serious wildfires to occur near the city this summer.

The flames wiped out forest left unharmed by a major blaze last year, which destroyed scores of homes and thousands of acres of vegetation.

"The two major fronts in Athens are clearly abating now, we're doing very well, there is no danger," fire brigade chief Stelios Stefanidis said on Skai television.

Earlier, authorities ordered the evacuation of a nunnery near Lake Marathon and a children's camp in the town of Lavrio. Several citizens left their homes to avoid the smoke, while others stayed behind to protect their property using water hoses and tree branches.

More than 150 firefighters, 32 engines, six airplanes and four helicopters were battling to put out the flames.

Wildfires, often laid by arsonists to clear land for development, are frequent in Greece. Anarchic town-planning and illegal rubbish dumps also help the fires break out and spread.

Elliot Ness style DOES work........

Reproduced from ""The Daily Frappe""


It's the equivalent of shutting down the best Hamptons hangouts of the rich and famous and then following them to their beachfront homes to seize the places for unpaid real estate taxes. That's what Greece's tax agents are doing this weekend in a desperate crackdown on its most notorious tax cheats living in posh holiday enclaves dotting Greece's Mediterranean coast. Greece earlier provoked widespread revolt and weeks of riots, fire bombings and wildcat strikes to protest belt-tightening and pay cuts of civil servants made to tame Greece's bloated budget and forestall default. Now, authorities are going after the rich. Taxmen first padlocked 10 of the top nightclubs and entertainment centers, starting in Athens and spreading to hip city Thessaloniki, for not collecting taxes from their rich party crowds. Agents then went knocking on the doors of 990 well-to-do individuals identified by the Ministry of Finance as tax cheats who owe more than $8.5 million in back real estate taxes on their vacation homes and seaside hideaways, on which they failed to report their values totaling $721 million, the ministry said. "Unless they pay their debts to the Greek state by July 20, the assets will be seized," the ministry said in a statement to The Post. In recent weeks, such storm-trooper methods have shaken out $2.33 billion from businesses that failed to report sales taxes -- double the amount collected for the entire prior year, the ministry said. The darkened nightclubs will be padlocked for the indefinite future. The ministry intends to auction seized homes for quick proceeds. Some real estate experts think a giant fire sale could be developing in the Greek isles. 

My transport over the years