The neverending war on terror!

Since last Monday and after the International Conference on Peace and Security that took place in Paris, the world edges closer to another war in the Middle East. (The Guardian)

Western Powers, this time joined by leaders of many Arab countries,vowed to use "whatever means necessary" to defeat the ISIS threat. France and Britain already are stepping up to join the US in the fight against the militants.

Overall leaders and diplomats from over 30 countries agreed on the urgency of stopping the expansion of ISIS in Iraq and the surrounding region. 

Sadly I am afraid that Europe and the West has no choice but to intervene. We should have never meddled with the region's affairs and declare a war on "terror" so easily, especially when there was no evidence to back it up. Europe made a mistake in joining the war in Iraq. 

We have destabilized the region and what is going on over there is serious. We need to take action, or it will  come back to bite us if we ignore it.  

In case the region falls under ISIS control, it is obvious that these fundamentalists won’t stop there. The whole region will sink into a radical theocratic Middle Ages and having a neighbor like that is not good. How could we have relations or trade with a country gripped by such regimes?

After they committed their recent gruesome criminal acts, of beheading two US journalists and one British aid worker, their hatred towards the West is evident. It is one thing to kill captured military personnel and another to kill an aid worker, who is there to help and do humanitarian work.

To them, the late David Haines was just another much hated Westerner. The fact that he had nothing to with the policies that his country has pursued in the region, did not bother his executioners. Solely his nationality was enough to get him killed. 

So imagine how could we ever send businessmen, tradesmen, aid workers, tourists, doctors or journalists to a region gripped by radicals and enhance our cooperation and collaboration with these countries. In other words, while ISIS is strong in the Middle East, we can never have any safe relations with the Levant.

And not just that, but if we take into account the number of the European born Muslims that were radicalized and fled to Syria or Iraq to fight, the issue becomes even more serious. It is known that Mr. Haines' executioner had British accent. In other words, there are radical Muslim individuals, perhaps with connections to ISIS living in Europe as we speak.

If ISIS gets absolute control of the region, what tells us that they won't seek to act within our countries too with their European Muslim members? Perhaps they could organize terror attacks on European soil, in retaliation of Europe's involvement in the US led wars in Iraq.

Everyone in Europe could be in danger then, either their government took part in the operations against Iraq or not. The free movement of people within the EU could be in jeopardy, once we enter a phase of high terror attack risk and the implications will affect everyone.

It is clear that the threat of ISIS must be eradicated. But it must not be only the work of America, Europe or the "West". Firstly because we can not be seen as the "Crusaders" again, as this will drive more people into the ISIS circles. 

Secondly, Arab countries and other nations from the region must actively participate in the operations. It is in their interests too to stop the spread of radical elements in their neighborhood. ISIS has been killing Islamic religious minorities in the territories that they have captured. 

The threat they pose is universal, so the Arab and other Muslim nations (yes, including Turkey and Iran-they are at risk too after all) should stop hiding behind America's or Europe's back and take action. If ISIS gets more empowered, it will be their citizens, either Christian or religious Muslim minorities that will also be under threat. What nation would allow that to happen?

My overall attitude is anti-war and against any European, or Western invasion and military intervention anywhere on the planet. But since we have made a huge mistake in following America in every war, now it is time to face the consequences and clean our act up. Having ISIS and any other radical organization right on our doorstep, with potential members in our lands and with a totally mistaken policy towards the Middle East, is a recipe for disaster and a serious security threat.

I hope Europe and the West have learned a lesson here. Next time they decide to intervene and meddle in another region's affairs they must think twice. Once you destabilize a region you open a Pandora's box. All bad things that were hidden dormant, or were laying as sentiments in the bottom are stirred and come up to the surface. 

Especially when you are doing a shake up to overthrow a lesser bad, or someone who you have been supporting initially, it indicates either the highest level of stupidity or corruption in the Western political elites.

Peace in Europe is obviously in the hands of the ordinary people!

 I can not believe what is happening in Europe once again.

It is almost a year since Ukraine entered a very turbulent and critical stage in its history. From protests and demonstrations, to edging very closely to a civil war.

The country is in a critical stage, that could destabilize the whole region, Europe's relationship with Russia and the continent itself.
 
The European and Russian elites have been engaging in a ridiculous tug-of-war over the country. The two regions are close partners and rely on each other, never mind the close historic ties that binds them. Russia was always an integral part of Europe and its history. But ever since the cold war, both sides are wary and critical of each other.

Europe's suffocatingly close alliance with America and the megalomania of the Russian leadership, with the vision of restoring Russia's former"glory" and pride, is tearing Ukraine apart. It is no secret that both sides have interests in the region and they are trying to promote them. But the Ukrainian people must have the final say themselves, about the future of their country.

Personally I do not see why the Western powers are still feuding with Russia and vice versa. Europe, America and Russia would be better off as close partners, but the remnants of the cold war are still a thorn in their potential deeper partnership.

The European elites imposed sanctions on Russia, by ending its exports of oil equipment, placing an embargo on Russia's arms trade and cutting off Russian bank finance, as well as placing sanctions on individual Russian elites. Russia in return, placed a ban on EU fruit, food and agricultural products.

This is the silliest trade war there has been for a while. By placing sanctions on each other, the two sides are not only harming the other's economy, but also their own. They are behaving like children that are angry with each other and so they are destroying whatever good they have built together!

Can these elites be trusted? No! In the past it was the same attitude of Europe's political elites that led to two world wars that killed millions of Europeans. Interestingly enough, this summer we commemorated the 100 years since the beginning of the First World War, in which millions of young European perished.

Are we people, going to allow them to do the same on European soil once more? Will hundreds or thousands of young Ukrainians, Russians and other Europeans have to die, over the future of Ukraine? A country that should after all decide its future on its own, by all democratic means.

I do not understand why the Russians are so afraid of "losing" Ukraine. The Russian minority in the eastern part of the country, will always remain ethnic Russian, with the only difference that they will be also EU citizens if the country joins the EU.

Russia will have a direct influence and a say in the EU, if MEPs and other politicians from the Russian speaking regions of the expanded EU, enter the Brussels institutions. Provided of course that the Russian minority is treated with respect by the Ukrainian and European authorities.

But the attitude of Europe is also wrong towards Russia and Ukraine. The American influence in their relations is obvious, and it is not helping. The only way to encourage the integration of the few remaining nations in the eastern region of Europe to join the EU, is what Europe does best: trade!

We should be engaging with trade and bilateral agreements, with all former USSR democracies. If Europe offer "funds" in order to gain control over these nations, it then corrupts these countries. We give money in one pro-democracy party, that in the end becomes addicted to foreign money and uses all means to stay in power, by keep twisting the arm of their donors for more funds, in exchange for more democratic reforms and keeping the status quo.

These money are being misused and they corrupt the "democratic" elites which eventually they become gangrenous both to the country and the donors. It would be better to engage with them with trade, and bit by bit via investments and continuous cooperation, change will come naturally, as well as their entry in the European institutions. 

It will be the people themselves who will initiate it, after seeing how we in the rest of Europe live, come in contact with our values and way of thinking, once they come over here to work, study or do business. And vice versa, when European tradesmen go over there to start businesses and invest in their countries, they can become beacons of European values.

The exact same attitude Europe must have towards Russia. The more we criticize the country for the bad decisions and practices that their corrupt elite is doing, the more we help nationalism rise among the population and support these elites, as they are viewing them as heroes and protectors of their nation and values. This is going nowhere and Russia should become a key ally of Europe and even America itself.

In other words, the wrong attitude and grave mistakes of the Russian and European elites, could cost the lives in a great number of Europeans once again (I include the potential Russian victims, as they are Europeans after all). We should not allow them to bring disaster in our continent again. 

The Ukrainian people have nothing to separate with the Russians, the Russian with the Europeans and so on. We are all striving for a better future and living standards, our goals and interests are in fact uniting us. If our elites want to play games with our welfare, over power, land and dominance over another then they are not representing our interests and we should show them the way out! 

If there is any chance for peace in Europe, it is obvious that is lies in the hands of the ordinary Europeans, Ukrainians and Russians. Do not fall for your government's propaganda, for blinded nationalism and the promise that your interests lie in a nation state, a national government or on constant power games between your nation's and other neighboring ones.

Refuse to be part of your political elite's mistakes and wrong doings, or it will be you and your children that will pay the price once again.

Europe: a place of peculiar judicial systems and leadership!

This week, three incidents that took place in our lovely continent had me absolutely outraged! The first one comes from my native country, Greece. A country that for the past six years of recession, looks more like a theater of peculiarities and a freak show.

I can never understand under which circumstances, someone who shoots at his employees for rightfully asking their hard earned salaries, walks free! I am talking about the incident in Manolada in Southern Greece, where an strawberry farm owner and his cronies, opened fire to 28 migrant Bangladeshi workers seeking simply to be paid.

The incident happened last April, but the verdict was announced today. The owner, who had been accused of human trafficking and one other had the charges against them dropped. Two others were handed prison sentences of 14 years the most, but were also freed pending appeal. (The Daily Star)

It is known that there is a huge problem of corruption, especially in the police, judicial and state institutions in Greece, but that incident is absolutely unacceptable for an EU member state. These practices were more common in the "Wild, Wild West", and they belong to that time and place.

The immigrant workers in Greece and in every other European country, form the backbone of its economy. They do the work that nobody else wants to do, cheaper and often better. They pay higher taxes and have to also keep applying and paying for a visa, just to stay in the country.

To treat such people like dogs, brings disgrace on the whole local community of Manolada, but also on Greece itself. I myself am outraged and appalled by the very incident, let alone today's verdict. How can the country attract workers that it needs now, when we are showing to the world that we actually want slaves to work without pay. And that we are going to shoot at them if they ask for money and get away with it.

Such practices belong to another era, where slavery was legal, not in Europe of 2014. The judicial system of Greece and the people responsible for such decision must come immediately under scrutiny, if necessary by a European or international judicial body.

No one can treat immigrants, human beings above all like this and get away with it. The Greek government must act on it immediately and see to the punishment of such businessmen, or itself must be accused of racism and fascism. The EU must investigate and act accordingly.

Speaking about far right elements in governments throughout Europe, the second peculiarity in the European continent came from another EU state, Hungary.

We are used lately of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Viktor Orban's controversial policies and speeches. But things are getting really serious, after his latest speech on July 26th, at a retreat of ethnic Hungarian leaders in Baile Tusnad in Romania.


Mr. Orban stated that he wants to abandon liberal democracy in favor of an “illiberal state,” citing Russia and Turkey as examples. Together with China, he listen the above nations as "successful," while stressing that the global financial crisis in 2008 showed that “liberal democratic states can’t remain globally competitive”. (Bloomberg)

While I am not fond of the way that economic "liberalism" has developed over the recent years and what it represents nowadays, Mr. Orban's aspirations will result in more troubles for his country. For a European leader to be inspired by Russia and Mr. Putin, a country that sees a surge of homophobia and xenophobia, while it demonstrates expansionist agenda, it is a worrying development.

Especially when Mr. Orban is very keen in his country's relationship with Hungarian minorities in other European, even EU states. Not to mention that in the case of Turkey, which we witness a barrage of freedom of speech violations recently, for any politician to  be "inspired" by them is simply laughable.

The Hungarian people must realize where Mr. Orban's "vision" will lead their country and decide more wisely during the next elections. If in any doubt, just check the human rights, freedom of speech and personal development records of Mr. Orban's three role model countries.

Yes economic neo-liberalism may be troublesome the way it developed and it may have also caused lots of problems for the average European household and middle class. But going towards the other extreme is not the solution either. You can not have a country that is nationalist and conservative, in an international organization that promotes integration of European economies, societies and states. 

The solution to Hungary's and in fact most of the European nations' woes, would be actually less state intervention and more European governance, directly elected by the European people collectively. Our national governments are in most cases the ones responsible for Europe's economic collapse, though the EU as an institution is not blame free.

Yet if we accuse the EU Commission as the root of all bad policies adopted by the EU, well think who appoints these men and women in these positions in the first place; our national governments! 

Finally, speaking about Turkey as an "inspiration." On the 28th of July there was the third case of peculiarity in Europe, with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç stating that women should not laugh out loud in public, complaining about “moral corruption” in Turkey. (Hurriyet Daily News) Seriously as if some politicians are trying hard to damage their political career.

Thank God that the Turkish ladies gave him a proper answer, flooding the country's social media with pictures of themselves laughing! I am not sure what got into Mr. Arınç's mind but whatever it was, it was silly and utterly misogynist or sexist! Not appropriate for a Deputy Prime Minister, in a country that wants to join the EU one day. Time for the Turkish people to rethink about their leadership too perhaps.

Europe's neighborhood is in flames: Ukraine and Palestine.

The past few days we have witnessed the world going crazy. Two ongoing conflicts-one very old and one recent-got out of control, resulting to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.

On Thursday (17th of July 2014), a Malaysian passenger airplane was shot down over Eastern Ukraine, allegedly by Russian separatists. As result, 298 passengers were killed, all of them civilians that had nothing to do with the regional conflict.

During the same week, we had the flaring up of the Palestinian fighting, with Israeli forces invading the Gaza strip again on Thursday. This conflict lead to another 310 human lives being lost in Palestine, plus two in Israel.

Overall in one week we had over 500 deaths in Europe's neighborhood, as result of land, political, ethnic disputes and power struggles.

During this time Europe is absorbed by its own internal problems, in the aftermath of the European elections and the slow decision process in agreeing the next EU Commission leadership.

Since the elections, the candidacy of the former Luxembourgian  PM Jean-Claude Juncker for above post dominated the European leadership's interest, while the public was absorbed by the FIFA World Cup football games. So the developments in Ukraine slipped for a while as top story of interest in our continent.

But Europe can not be passive anymore, as this time the victims are not just Ukrainians. With the MH17 aircraft tragedy, not just Europe but the whole international community is directly involved. Out of the 298 people who perished in this atrocity, none of them were Ukrainian or Russian. They died because of a war that apparently until now had nothing to do with them.

The victims are from many different nationalities from all over the globe, so as result the war in Ukraine affects all these countries. And that is not all. Because many of the passengers of the tragic flight were leading researchers and campaigners attending the 201th anniversary AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne- Australia, their loss affects humanity itself.

Thus this time Europe and the international community as a whole, can not remain just observers in this conflict. So far the EU and the US have imposed sanctions against top Russian officials and offered financial aid to Ukraine. This hasn't worked.

It would be unwise to to enter an open war with Russia and its oligarchs, as this could have even worse implications. But we could work to unite the rest of the world against the Russian separatists, or any other extremist element in Ukraine. Draw in the international community and place sanctions on all those who are to blame from either side, or offer an overall support to the country.

Europe and America can not and should not try to find solution to the problem on their own. The ongoing conflict of interests between Eastern and Western powers, is the main root of the problem in Ukraine and it has played a role in the disputes in the Middle East too.

The Europeans and the Americans must involve the governments of other countries and organizations, putting aside any personal vendettas with Russia and its leadership. If the more countries of this world isolate the Russian leadership, the pressure will be greater.

This tragic accident offers a chance for a global, united response against the actions of Russian interests in Ukraine, but also all the shortcomings of the Ukrainian government itself. As long as Europe and Russia struggle over the country there will be no solution to the conflict, with the very danger of becoming one day, as old as the Palestinian one.

A conflict that if the international community really wanted it, it would have been solved already. Sadly, the interests of the big powers of this world, are not really interested for a handful of Arabs living in Palestine. Although the Palestinian side has a fair amount of blame in the problem, if Israel and its allies really wanted a solution they already have it in their hands: it is called capitalism!

As long as the people of Gaza and Palestine are isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, with no opportunities and with very low living standards, the easier it will be for Hamas, or whatever other organization to find willing recruits.

When Gaza's youths have no future and prospects like the young people in Europe, plus when they see their family being killed in Israeli air strikes, it is easier to radicalize them and make them fire these rockets. If they "enjoyed" capitalism like the rest of us, or they had wealth similar to those of many other Arab states, the last thing they would want is to be killed in an air strike.

These options may look far fetched and impossible, but as long as our leadership insists on the ones they have been working on so far, I afraid that nothing will change. Ukraine is on Europe's borders and is a problem that won't go away, since Russia is equally trying to promote its own interests in the region.

This world edges dangerously closer to a bust up and this is a prospect that should terrify us all. It is now clear that as long as Ukraine is unstable, the rest of Europe will be affected directly. It is not something that is happening only in Ukraine, it is something that happens in Europe and the great number of European victims in this tragedy confirm this.

With this blog-post I wish to offer my condolences to all the families affected in these tragedies.