Once a liar...

Greek Pm Papandreou Jr (the dork in the left) with Arafat bcak in 2001,
when it was convenient to be have a Palestinian friend

Greece is supposed to be the land where democracy was born.
Today, it is hard to see that.
Greeks have taken to the streets to protest not so much against the austerity measures, but against the lack of democracy in this country.
This country after the end of the military junta in 1974 has been ruled mostly by two families, Papandreou and Karamanlis with short intervals by others who many say had to be endorsed first by members of these families in order to come into power.


The most powerful family in Greece today is probably the Papandreou family.
George Papandreou was prime minister before the military junta, back in the 60's, his son Andreas Papandreou also became a prime minister in 1981, and his grandson George Papandreou (the second) is now the prime minister of Greece.
So it seems that every 20 years or so another Papanreou gets democratically ellected in this country.
And what a great job they have done!

Former Pm Andreas Papandreou, father of George Papandreou.
Like father like son...

Andreas Papandreou in particular, the father of the Greek prime minister was also the founder of the now ruling Greek party PASOK.
He came in to power mainly by preaching socialism, anti-Americanism, anti Europe, Greek soverenity and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
He was a personal friend with Jaser Arafat, and supporter of the PLO.
Since then PASOK has "evolved" and it was under PASOK rule that we became members of the Euro zone, and a good friend of USA, but still the friendship with the Palestinian people kept strong.
Of course all of that was just talk, but still it remained at least in PASOK's theoretical principals.
Little over a year before PASOK with its new leader (guess who?) George Papandreou came into power, in October of 2009 a member of the Greek parliament, and member of PASOK was among the activists who were able to break the blockade of the Gaza strip with 2 Greek owned fishing boats.

Then George Papandreou congratulated the activists and called for Israel to permanently stop the blockade.
In 2009 he also helped organize humanitarian aid for the Gaza strip.
Just a few months before getting into power PASOK’s then representative was issuing a strong statement protesting against warnings from Israel that the freedom flotilla will be stopped even with arms, and asked the then Greek government to do it’s outmost to help the flotilla reach its objective!!!

Hell, even the Greek parliament issued a statement back then condeming violence and asked for the immediate and permanent free access to the Gaza strip...

Ch. Papoutsis, internal security mininster. The one responsible for stopping the
boats heading to Gaza. How they all loved palestinians back when it was convenient...

Now the same people, the same political party with the same leader as a prime minister has forbidden not just Greek ships, but any ship, under any flag, with whatever crew to set sail from Greek waters to the Gaza strip…
In addition he has ordered the Greek coast guard (and probably the Greek navy and air force) to monitor the waters of the Mediterranean Sea for any suspicious movement, and have forced three ships to port from sea.
They have also detained some activists and have set up mock charges in order to slow them down and tie them up in legal battles.

Georges Papandreou stance (or its change) against the Palestinians is only one of the many changes he has undertaken in regards with what he used to say before he got elected.
As soon as he became a prime minister he has methodically and persistently being changing all of his beliefs, all of his preaching’s and all of his party’s principals.

It is not only the suffering people of Gaza that have been betrayed, but also and in a greater extend the Greek people, so please, when you talk about Greece remember:
It is another thing to talk about the Greek government and different thing altogether to talk about Greece, or the Greek people!
The distance separating the Greek government with its people is huge and that is why they had to implement such force and violence against their people a few days ago.
(Even if you can't read greek watch the videos at the bottom of this page and you will get the picture.)

As it seems times change, but I believe people don’t
Once a liar, always a liar and the Papandreou family have always being lying to the Greek people and it seems to the whole world. Why shouldn’t they? It has obviously served them well.

Update 19/7/2011: The commedy continues. After a sabotage crippled two of the flotilla boats, one in Greek waters, the other in Ireland, after the Greek coast guard went as far as placing captains and crew of the remaining boats under arrest,  Dignite, the last boat made it into international waters only to be boarded by Israely navy forces some 50 miles from Gaza.
One crew member is a Greek citizen and he has been taken in custody.
The Greek ministry of foreign affairs, the same ministry that condemned Israels conduct the last year and the years before that had nothing to say about it other than he shouldn't have been on that boat...


Ps. English or more correctly American is not my maternal language as our prime ministers who was born in the USA, so forgive me for any mistakes. I can only hope that those who read this will understand how deeply ashamed most of the Greek people feel about the sudden change of our foreign policy about Gaza.

Update 29/10/2011: I have seen reports that Israel is once again invading and bombing the Gaza strip.
Just a month before the last elections and the government takeover of the PASOK party, the same people that are now rulling Greece refused to sign EU's report on Gaza because they thought that it was ... too soft on Israel! They called for a stronger condemnation of the invasion on Gaza and for EU to suspend Israels partitipation on European programs... here's the link (sorry it's in Greek) they still have it on their official website.
Ofcourse 2 years later things are much different and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any such condemnation now... I can only say that I am shamed for having such liars as my government.