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Wednesday, 24 April 2024
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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-11-24Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM Tsipras to visit Israel and Palestine on 25 and 26 NovemberPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras will pay an official visit to Israel and Palestine at a very crucial period for Middle East, the bilateral relations and Greece's role in the regionTsipras will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin and other officials. According to government sources, Tsipras' visit to Israel aims at the broadening of the financial cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the sectors of energy (distribution of natural gas, management of water sources), tourism and technology. The Greek delegation will also propose a trilateral meeting between Greece, Cyprus and Israel. The talks will also focus on the prevailing conditions in the wider region. The Greek Prime Minister will be in Palestine on Thursday and will meet with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Tsipras will also visit the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. [02] President Pavlopoulos stresses need to support social security systemGreek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Tuesday, in a meeting with the President of the Employers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee J.Krawczyk, stressed the need to support the Greek social security system since the people have made huge sacrifices in order to remain in the European Union and the eurozonePavlopoulos underlined that the Greek social security system suffered a huge blow from the PSI, explaining that without the haircut of the Greek bonds, the social security system could have been sustainable for many years. On his part, Krawczyk underlined that Greece belongs to the European Union and the European family adding that all EU member states should support social cohesion and social dialogue aiming at social welfare. [03] The government met its main targets during the negotiation, spokeswoman Gerovassili saysThe government achieved its main targets during the negotiation, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said after the approval for the disbursement of the 2 billion euro loan sub-tranche and the 10 billion euros earmarked for the recapitalization of the Greek banksGerovassili also noted that they managed to protect the first residence from foreclosures and underlined the success of the recapitalization of Greek banks that puts an end to scenarios of a haircut on deposits. [04] Juan Domingo Sanchez Estop: Brussels, catastrophic but no serious(By Juan Domingo Sanchez Estop-Brussels) In the aftermarth of the Paris' attacks on November 13, Belgium was pointed out as the sanctuary where the jihadists had planned and organized the last attacks, and most probably many others before. The right-wing Belgian government decided to respond by fighting and eventually dismantling the ISIS network in its territory. So doing, the Belgian police supposedly discovered a plot for a large-scale attack against civilians in Brussels. Therefore, it gave orders to close the subway, the schools, the shopping malls, theaters and many other densely frequented premises. Formally, the government was honouring its duty to protect the population, and even without any direct traumatism inside Belgium, life changed overnight for the people in the Belgian and European capital. The military patrols the streets with machine-guns, on foot or on khaki trucks in what is almost a ghost town. In some way the traumatism which hasn't occurred is anticipated by a ritual of security and preventive mourn even more excessive that the one put in place in Paris.We soon discovered that, even if we are not at war, we are inside a war, a Euro-Mediterranean civil war with roots in European soil. The "enemy" in such a war is both familiar and completely strange: mostly young people born in Europe and with an European educational background, but those young persons were ideologically conditioned by the Islamic State (ISIS). In contrast to other terrorist organizations, ISIS has nothing to negotiate with the West and makes no attempt to persuade Western populations of the legitimacy of its goals. ISIS presents itself as an actor of a non-wordly punitive violence in the name of Islam and behaves as it were an extra-terrestrian force intending to destroy the West. The images of decapitations and other cruel executions, the fame of horror ISIS is spreading worldwide makes it the "perfect enemy", the enemy everybody would love to fight. This prevents any political reaction to take place when confronting this "alien" force and any analysis of the root causes of violence. Like in a Hobbesian scenario, people are ready to trade obedience for protection and to silence criticism. Political and law enforcement authorities give no information, but nobody ignores that this situation cannot last for long. The Belgian rulers will have to face a difficult decision: resuming business as usual under reduced security measures with a real risk for the population to be targeted by ISIS, or prolonging the current situation and damaging an already stressed economy. This is the typical bio-political or necro-political calculation under capitalist rule in which risks are accepted as a lesser evil in name of the greater good of profit. People are no more political agents, but only potential victims or "game" for the terrorists, or subjects of protection and/or risk -or of economic calculation- for government and business. What was a high and serious risk becomes trivial once compared with a possible economic loss. Quoting a joke often told by Slavoj Zizek we could say that in Brussels "the situation is catastrophic, but not serious." [05] Deposits in Greek banks are fully secured, BoG governor Stournaras saysBank of Greece (BoG) governor Yiannis Stournaras on Tuesday reassured that deposits in Greek banks are fully secured as after the recapitalization of banks the danger of a haircut has been eliminatedStournaras presented the new banknote of 20 euros, which will circulate on Wednesday in all eurozone countries. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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