Israel Declares Greek HRW “Security Threat” July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Lebanon Crisis.1 comment so far
And this one comes from WAFA - Palestine News Agency, Palestinian Territories, refering to “International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said that an Israeli administrative court decided to deport a Greek Human Rights Worker (HRW) under allegation of “a security threat.”
Here is the link >
Palestine News Agency-WafaIsrael Declares Greek HRW “Security Threat”
Greek Church warns Israel: ‘Fear God’s wrath’ for Lebanon deaths July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Lebanon Crisis.add a comment
This becomes quite interesting, as it comes from Israeli Haaretz newspaper (when you go to the article, just scroll a bit down to read the Talkback response/comments)
Here is the link to the article >
Greek Church warns Israel: ‘Fear God’s wrath’ for Lebanon deaths - Haaretz - Israel News
Karpathos: dramatic mountains, safe villages July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Greece Islands Aegean.add a comment
This Dodecanese island has embraced the package tourist trade but is still duly famous for its unique villages.
What a racket! It begins at the quay in Pigadhia, the main town on Karpathos from which you will, rightly, be trying to escape. While the old harbour front is not without charm, a mostly-unpleasant concrete fungus has since spread up the hill behind, partly to accommodate the package tour industry which Karpathos has welcomed enthusiastically (the island’s fine sandy beaches, mostly in the south, are lined with their accommodation).
Like any other visitor you will have been told you really have to go to the “traditional” village of Olympos which lies in the north. Since this is the second-largest island in the Dodecanese (49 kms long), the north is more than a bus stop away. In fact, the bus from Pigadhia does not even go there. A long section of the road north is unpaved and said by those in the car hire trade to be negotiable only by 4-wheel drive vehicles, though this may be a profitable exaggeration.
The point is that you will conclude the most pleasant, and the simplest, way to get from Pigadhia to Olympos must be by boat. That’s why you’re on the quay, preparing to weigh up your options. But you quickly discover that there is nothing to weigh. Just one excursion boat goes from Pigadhia to Olympos and its owner, a woman who always seems to wear (Olympos) black, is more than ready to welcome you - and everyone else - aboard.
From 8.00am the coaches pull up. Holiday reps guide their charges up the gangplank. Whatever deal the lady in black has done with the tour companies has doubtless been fixed long ago. But not so with people like you. You need a return ticket. “How much is it? ” She knows you have no choice so she is already scribbling out a voucher with, on this occasion, 20 euros at the bottom of it. That’s sounds steep, you think. And it’s surprising that there are no pre-printed tickets with prices on them. But if you want to get to Olympos, what can you do? At 8.30 am the Chrysovalantou sets out with about 150 people aboard. You can hear the cash tills applauding. (Chrysovalantou is the boat’s name).
It is a scenic journey. At first, there are clouds romping about on top of clifftops in a blue sky but the further north you get the more subdued the light becomes. The craggy Karpathian coastline bucks about in front of you. Hanging onto it are little white settlements, dark swathes of pine trees and isolated churches. Sometimes the road you did not take materialises for a moment before being thrown off again. By the time you reach Diafani - the small port connected by tarmac with Olympos - it is raining. (more…)
Chautauqua looks at Greek myths July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.add a comment
The Oregon Chautauqua series continues Tuesday with “Labyrinth and Thread” from 12:10 to 1 p.m. at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.
Actor, writer and artistic director with the Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon, Keith Scales will introduce the often-eccentric characters in Greek myths. Greek myths are vivid, thrilling and profound, as are the surprising archaeological discoveries that proved many of those myths had a basis in historical fact.
Scales’ retellings of the murderous tale of Clytemnestra and the strange legend of the Cretan Minotaur illuminate the discoveries of the archaeologists, spies and adventurers who sought to reconcile the myths with their own interests.
The Chautauqua series is free, and participants can bring their lunches. Linn-Benton Community College’s Benton Center, the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and Benton County Historical Museum sponsor the series, which is made possible by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Remaining talks in the series are “The Romantic Roots of Environmentalism” on August 1 and “Rivers That Were” on August 8.
For more information, call the Benton Center at 757-8944, or library at 766-6793.
Wasting time drawing lines in the sand July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Culture History & Mythology.add a comment
I was just reading Orlando Sentinel’s George Diaz: Opinion commentary published July 23, 2006 where he makes this “brilliant” comment >
QUOTE “Those same scientists who predicted what is occurring today are saying that we will see a different world severely impacted by global warming over the next 50 years. Do you dismiss them as crackpots, like those goofy ancient Greeks Aristotle, Strabo, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy, who insisted that the Earth was round, or take cautionary pre-emptive measures in case there is substance in the warnings? Ask your kids what kind of world they want to live in, and then do something about it.” UNQUOTE
The link is this > Wasting time drawing lines in the sand
Well, Aristotle, Strabo, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy are they all “goofy” ?????
I suggest to the said “opinion maker” to re-read history and to try not to humiliate those who at least given lights to the mankind. To them he should at least be thankful for his existence on this planet today. Or is he from another planet???
Wake up Mr cowboy! Show some respect to the historical facts and mind your language you “I know everything” but the least you can do is to show your ignorance.
EDITOR’S NOTE > This exact entry has been also posted into our “a web (not paper) magazine” blog as well. http://homeboynet.wordpress.com/
Books > A personal view of Beirut July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in BooksLife, Lebanon Crisis.add a comment
In Abraham Firestone March’s book, “To Beirut and Back: An American In The Middle East,” published in May, the former Dover resident writes of his time as a naive but aggressive businessman in a place, time and culture that intrigued, irritated and sometimes terrified him: Lebanon and the Middle East during the 1970s.
The book includes his family’s travels through Canada, Greece, Germany and finally to Lebanon. While there, he was robbed and kidnapped during a civil war. He left the country in 1974 because of financial trouble but returned a year later. March’s story starts with his excitement, determination and admiration for the beauty of his surroundings. But fear of the unknown was also an underlying emotion.
With Lebanon now in the crossfire of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah fighters, March, now living in Germany, agreed to a question-and-answer session via e-mail.
Read the interview at > A personal view of Beirut
Refugees find safe haven in Cyprus July 23, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Lebanon Crisis.2 comments
Hundreds of foreign nationals fleeing the Israeli air strikes that have pounded Lebanon for more than a week were yesterday finding a safe haven of sorts in Cyprus, according to a Reuters report on July 20.
Three ships docked in the Cypriot port of Larnaca late on Wednesday, a US-chartered cruise liner carrying 1044 people, mostly Americans, a United Nations ship with an unknown number aboard and a French ship with 320 on board.
Hotels in Cyprus are crammed with foreigners, and most commercial flights off the island are either rapidly filling or are booked out.
A Sydney woman, Venesa Mourad from Rockdale, who was among the 100 Australians to escape on Wednesday aboard a British Navy ship, said the situation in Cyprus was becoming desperate.
“I can’t blame Australia for us being in Lebanon, but with the little kids that we have with us, it just didn’t even enter my mind that Qantas wouldn’t be there waiting for us,” Ms Mourad said.
“My little son, every morning he’s been saying, ‘Is John Howard coming to get us now? He didn’t come mum?’ And I’m like, ‘No, he didn’t come’. Why aren’t they helping us?”
Ms Mourad said a note from the Australian Government said the family had two days’ accommodation in Larnaca, and then had to organise travel or accommodation themselves.
The US ambassador to Cyprus, Ronald Schlicher, said the operation to bring people out of the stricken city of Beirut was just beginning, with thousands - maybe up to 7000 - more expected. I think we just have to wait and see,” he said.
About 40 US Marines landed in Beirut yesterday to help evacuate about 1200 Americans. It was the first time they had been back to Lebanon since Hezbollah guerillas blew up a Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 people.
With the help of Lebanese soldiers, the marines carried the evacuees, who included many women and children, over the breaking waves to a waiting landing ship at dawn.
As the families clustered at the assembly point before beginning their 75-kilometre voyage to Cyprus, two explosions from an Israeli air strike echoed over the city. Ali Fowaz, 16, a high school student from Florida on holiday with his family, said as he arrived in Cyprus, “It’s horrible … I think they should have negotiated it, not just go and destroy a whole city.”
The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, on a trip to Europe, ordered his official Airbus be diverted to Cyprus on Wednesday to pick up Canadians. The first ship chartered by Canada also left Beirut with evacuees on Wednesday evening.
France was evacuating its citizens by sea to Cyprus, and Germany sent at least 500 to Syria in a convoy of buses. Poland and Sweden were also pulling out their citizens.
Six British ships, including two aircraft carriers, stood by to rescue about 5000 Britons.
grhomeboy
