Thoughts on the upcoming war against Syria.

As the world holds its breath for a new war against Syria, it is impossible not to have a sense of anger and disgust about what has been, is and is going to happen in the region.

We all knew that the possibility of the Western allies to intervene in Syria was high, but somehow we were hoping that common sense and humanity would prevail.

After the use of chemicals on innocent people allegedly by the Assad regime, there was an outcry throughout the Western world. But the UN hasn't yet investigated who used chemical weapons in Syria and it did not come to any conclusions. Hastily Europe and the USA are already preparing for war. A sense of deja-vu comes to mind, as we have seen similar cases many times before, like that of Iraq.

To understand what is going on, we need to stop thinking or reasoning the politics of Syria and the whole region of Middle East as we do for Europe. They have a very different way of thinking, they are a different culture. And their political heritage and reality is very different from ours. The Islamic and Arabic traditions have influenced politics in the region. Also foreign factors and meddling, especially during the era or European colonization in the Middle East have left their mark. 

The Arab states do not have the same version of democracy as we do. In fact most they do not believe in it and that is why most Arabic states are not democracies with European standards, but they have established their own version of our most cherished political system. We just do not understand Arab politics, but that is not a reason to support as citizens a further intervention in Middle East, as the situation is tricky. From one side we have a dictator oppressing his people and in the other we have rebels with links to radical extremists. 

Whose side do we get on? In reality this decision was taken for us a long time ago, as the Western media made it clear that the enemy of the West was the Assad regime. Obviously America and Europe just needed an excuse to strike. They have been supporting the rebels against the Assad regime openly and even promised to supply them with weapons, their kind remains unknown. Since we have no official evidence on who used the chemicals, ideally we should not condone to a war on Syria so easily. 

There are a lot of parties involved in the conflict and not all things are as they seem. Some of these parties are supporters of the USA in the region and many are their enemies. But when two parties have the same enemy, who can exclude the option of them cooperating in one case, while fighting each other in another?

The rebels in Syria are supported by Al-Qaeda that are enemies of the Assad regime. If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as Al-Qaeda. (The Independent)  

Will it be unreasonable to think that perhaps it was the agents of America or Al-Qaeda that used the chemical weapons, to provoke and initiate their involvement in their region? For too long now the West was looking for an opportunity to invade. Either it is Russia, America, China, Britain or France, they all have a reason to get involved and secure their interests. 

This is how it has always been and how it works. When the interests of big powers are conflicting, innocent civilians and soldiers die. And what we will have in the end is another Afghanistan. In the past the Americans supported the Taliban against the Soviets. Thirty years later it was them who were fighting against them. Now they support the rebels in Syria, despite their Al-Qaeda links and despite their crimes against the Christians of Syria and other groups of people. Thirty years from now, they will invade again to fight the very same people they are helping now.

The war is definitely good news for the US weapon industry, as they probably have secured few more months or even years of profits. The Americans and their European allies will do whatever they want to serve their interests and the interests of those who they serve, the weapon and oil industry.Sadly, war is profitable business for some. 

Syria could also be the next Iraq by all means. As stable is Iraq today and as successful was the Western intervention there, the same will be the future for Syria. The Westerners have a tradition of lies, when it comes in promoting their interests and achieving what they want, as they proved in Iraq and the "weapons of mass distruction" argument. The Russians are no better either. So the Syrian people are captured between the interests of the big powers of this world and local old feuds and political, ideological, religious and social struggles. 

And that makes this conflict very dangerous and we should be far more careful. Russia and China have repeatedly expressed their objections on a Western military intervention. The Russians even have sent warships in the region to protect the Russian citizens based on the region. Syria is Russia's last ally in the Middle East and it is doubtful that they are going to let it go as easily. 

They and the Chinese have walked out from a UN Security Council voting on the Syrian situation and that is a serious warning. (InvestmentWatchBlog) Iran has also condemned any military strike by the US and made threats on bombing Israel. There are many parties from neighboring countries like Lebanon and Palestine that will get involved, if the conflict escalates. Also what if Britain attacks Syria from their bases in Cyprus and the Syrians retaliate hitting back and implicating the island nation? 

It is very possible that the war will spill over to all neighboring nations, like Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Iraq and Iran. This operation can have far worse implications for the region and all the people living in it. European states should be very careful when deciding to enter a war, that could escalate in a greater conflict that could engulf the whole region and Europe itself. 

Scenarios that led to the Turkish riots this summer.

In the beginning of this summer season, we witnessed another uprising of the people in yet another Mediterranean and Muslim state, Turkey. The riots that took place turned violent and they resulted to human casualties, but they also brought to light the reality of the country's politics and public opinion.

The riots seemingly started by an outrage at a brutal eviction of a sit-in at Istanbul's Taksim Gezi park protesting against an urban development plan. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey protesting a wide range of concerns, at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the government's encroachment on Turkey's secularism. (Wikipedia)

The timing of the protests coming in the same period with the Arab Spring and its aftermath, but also the Occupy movement elsewhere, place the developments as highly important for the greater Euro-Mediterranean region. And that because the whole region is engulfed by an economic, political and social crisis and upheaval that has not settled yet, therefore we haven't been able to draw conclusions or see any immediate results.

In the center of the Turkish protesters' anger was the country's Prime Minister Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, the AKP. They have been ruling Turkey since 2002 and have led the country out of recession, boosting its economic growth and placing the country in the G20 and the top economies of the World. But as this economic growth is mainly based on the construction industry boom, it remains to be seen if this boom is permanent or Turkey is going to follow Spain and Ireland in a construction industry meltdown.

That of course does not stop the country's leadership continuing with their plans and pushing their agenda, hoping to make Turkey a major player in the region. The country has paid off the loans that it received from the IMF and it is asserting itself in the Middle East and in the Balkans. But what about Turkey's EU membership bid?

It is true that the success and long term in power, have made Turkey's leadership overconfident for some people's likings. The recent spat with Israel for example and Mr Erdogan's passionate outburst on the alleged Israeli involvement in Egypt's military coup , confirms that. (Hurriyet Daily News). And that is not the first time that Mr. Erdogan spoke out against Israel, a country that Turkey had formerly very close relations. A few years ago, the incident of the killing of several Turkish activists on a aid flotilla destined for Palestine, strained the two countries' relations.

But it is not just people from outside Turkey who start feeling discomfort with Erdogan's leadership and increasing power or influence. Since 2011, the AKP and Mr Erdogan have been accused of driving forward an Islamist agenda, having undermined the secularist influence of the Turkish Army.

During the same period they also increased a range of restrictions on human rights, most notably freedom of speech and freedom of the press, despite improvements resulting from the accession process to the European Union. They have allegedly also have increased restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, internet use,television content and the right to free assembly. (Wikipedia)

So is there any wonder that these protests came at a time that seems to be a general upheaval, or perhaps a redesigning of the greater region of the Middle East, the Balkans, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean? Mr Erdogan himself has stated in a speech on 18 June that "internal traitors and external collaborators", prepared the riots very "professionally."

And he is not deluded by believing this. The whole region is being reshuffled according to some people/groups' interests. If Israel did not take part in Egypt's coup, certainly others have who didn't approve the Islamist oriented policies that the ousted former President Morsi pursued. Could Mr. Erdogan also be warned by foreign powers on his seemingly ever increasing Islamist agenda, by stirring protests that could shake his government?

Turkey under Erdogan became very confident, even to the point of scorning EU membership and pursuing to create a new Turkish-led block in the Middle East, in order to expand the country's influence there. One can actually doubt that EU membership for Turkey is seriously still considered by either the Turks or the Europeans.

By just being an EU candidate country, Turkey receives a vital lump-sum to push for the necessary reforms that are needed in order for any country to achieve full membership. Reforms that in Turkey's case are either not happening or they are proceeding in a very slow pace.

But in that way Europe does not close the door to Turkey for good and it keeps it under its influence. Turkey also receives not just funds, but also access in the European market with a lot of other benefits that it gains through various bilateral agreements. Will this relationship evolve into a full membership one day? It is doubtful under the current Turkish political reality, especially under Erdogan.

Since they receive much of what they would like from a full EU membership already, I doubt that they will proceed with total reforms in order to meet the criteria that Europe placed as condition to join EU. The Turks would have to alter the country radically and break a lot of their nation's traditions. Changing the role of the military's involvement in the country's politics for example, could prove very difficult to achieve.

Nevertheless Turkey continues to pursue its own interests in the Balkans and over Cyprus, knowing that some of their activities could hinder all of their efforts to join the European club. They made clear their objections over the Israeli-Cypriot collaboration for gas exploration in Cypriot waters. They invest in FYROM and support the country, building strong links and spreading their influence in a nation with a dispute with Greece, an EU member state.

They also promote their interests in the Muslim minorities all over the Balkans, from the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, the Muslim populations of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and of Greece, which are not considered to be all of Turkish ethnic background. Yet Turkey keeps the Pomak communities in Northern Greece, well under their sphere of influence.

Either the protests were indeed fanned by foreign powers or they were a protest of the citizens towards their government's policies, they were definitely used by the foreign press to damage the Turkish government's image. Not that they were wrong in doing so. The Erdogan government, perhaps knowing that the protests were not strictly what they seemed or being aware of the consequences that it would have to deal if the rioters were successful, used an overwhelmingly amount of violence in order to place it under control.

But what has been achieved by the protests so far and why the media stopped focusing on Turkey, redirecting their attention once again on Syria and Egypt? We haven't seen any results or closure from last June's Turkish protests. Maybe the Erdogan administration has compromised with the protesters or the media attention on the incident simply fizzled out, captured by events with a greater importance in the neighboring countries.

It will take more than one protests to change Turkey and the Turkish citizens, their governing elite, their NATO allies and European partners know that. It would be great if we saw the protests evolving into a real citizen movement, working for the democratization of the country. But will the Erdogan government and these "external collaborators" as he called them, allow such movement ever succeeding in its cause?

The greater region is very unstable and things are still shifting. Turkey is located in the region and one way or another it will be affected by the whole process. The question is how the Turkish people will be impacted and how can the international community help them in achieving a better country for themselves first, then perhaps turning Turkey into a fully democratic European country.

Closing this article I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the protests and my best wishes for those injured or affected by them in any way. 

The importance of encouraging Entrepreneurship in Europe.

One of the things that characterize Europe and that is harming its economy is the lack of entrepreneurship across the continent.

A stereotypical explanation for this is that Europeans are too ashamed of failure and too unwilling to take risks to be successful entrepreneurs. 

Contrast this attitude with that of America, where anybody – as long as they’ve got a “can-do” attitude and enough elbow grease – can start a business in their garage and watch it grow it into a billion-dollar enterprise. (Debating Europe)

So, why is America able to encourage its people to experiment and to be bold, when starting a new business from scratch, making the American market and economy more competitive than the European one? What are we doing wrong on this side of the Atlantic?

Europe basically lacks two things. Firstly our governments, our political and financial systems do not encourage or even allow entrepreneurs to flourish. In some countries, it is very hard to start a business and that is deliberate. Our political elites want to keep the established financial status quo and do not encourage new business to blossom. 

Taxation, red tape and over-regulation are the means that are used to stop any young or new businessmen to start their own business and bring more competitiveness in their region. Also in many countries, it is very hard to start a new business if you do not bribe the local authorities, or do not know any high ranked official in them. 

Europe is a very rigid and conservative continent and it is no wonder that nowadays it finds itself in a crisis, that is not just an economic but also a political, social and cultural one. The narrow-mindedness of the ruling elites, but also their power mongering, lack of vision and true leadership is the real problem, not the "laziness" of the ordinary citizens. 

Secondly, the other problem is concerning our education system, but also our mentality as people that are not very independent or innovation-oriented. We are teaching our youth outdated modules in school in an outdated way, like religion for example. Modules such as this should not be made compulsory or be taught in the traditional way in our classrooms. 

Instead, we should introduce new modules that will enhance the ability of our youth to become real businessmen. Our education system should overall change and include modules that will teach our youth about new industries and how to become more innovative. Encourage young people to experiment and take risks, not to crush them through the austerity measures and force them to stay with their parents until they're well in their 30s.

How can anyone in Europe be bold enough to become an entrepreneur if the risks are too high and there are no guarantees of recovery or support by the government? 

Also, the European population like to stick to what it knows. This originates in the post WW2 era, when an income and job security was very important for our survival. Generation upon generation grew up with this mentality and that has lead to the crisis we are facing now. The world has changed, but sadly we have not. 

Our predominant industries are fishing in the North, agriculture in the mainland, the public sector in small peripheral states. The property, tourism and banking industries also flourish just because they offer a chance of easy and quick money, seasonal profits in some cases but without the ability of exports. 

The globalization process has forced our biggest industries to move into countries with a cheaper workforce, thus leaving Europeans with fewer options to find a job. And how can there be innovation without an industrial background and the possibility of finding employment, to financially support you during the first years of becoming an entrepreneur?

Our established business elites support and perpetuate this situation because they have invested millions in developing these sectors and economic models. Introducing any new sectors would alter the financial makeup of the country and shake up vested interests. 

The austerity that Mrs. Merkel and other European leaders have placed upon us badly hits young people, and how do the European elites expect Europe to recover in the future, if the youth on the continent are incapacitated and have their wings clipped in their most creative stage? 

They are making sure in that way that the wealth remains in certain rich and powerful elites' hands, of certain rich and powerful nations, while forbidding any chance of changing this status. So, the only way Europe can find a way out of this crisis is for its political and business elites to realize that it is either reform or doom at this stage. 

It is in their interest to have an active European population that is engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship. The wealth that is going to be produced can fuel the transformation of the European economy and with an educated population, we could overall become more competitive. 

The solution could happen on a pan-European level with the direct involvement of the EU and its institutions, but it is doubtful that the local authorities will cooperate and implement the new regulations fully. The problem is that seemingly there isn't any European politician with enough leadership and backbone to proceed with the necessary reforms. 

Gay "Propaganda" is banned in Russia, when will they ban human right abuses?

A disturbing news story has broken out from the largest neighbor of Europe, Russia. The government has approved a ban on gay "propaganda" as it named it, meaning gay pride parades, flags and anything that allegedly "promotes" homosexuality.

This is another sign that the country hasn't really changed that much from its authoritarian, totalitarian communist past. Most of the changes that took place after the collapse of Communism were on an economic, political and on ideological front, but not a social one.

Gay activists in the country were beaten up in a recent gay pride rally in June, while the attacks on gay people are on the rise in general and are not isolated incidents anymore. In the past, a rise in the number of attacks on foreigners from Africa or from the former USSR Asian democracies was a cause of concern, but as it happens in similar cases, after the foreigners it is always the gay people who are targeted. A lesson to be taught for many European states, notably my native Greece.

Russia of course is not the only country that witnesses a rise in far right and fascist outbursts. But it is the only country in Europe to pass a law that justifies and promotes discrimination towards gay individuals, instead of promoting a wider recognition for them. And the only developed country that consciously is moving backwards regarding gay rights.

The very notion of branding the gay pride as "gay propaganda" is laughable, especially in a country that  for decades after WW2, had established one of the best organized brainwashing, propagating and surveillancing systems in modern human history.

I hope that one day the Russian leadership will understand how ridiculous this law is and that they can not deny the rights to about 10% of their country's population. Homosexual individuals always existed throughout the history of the human race and in fact one of Russia's best loved music composers, Tchaikovsky was one of them.

The gay pride is a symbol of acceptance and human rights, though sometimes today it does not always stick to its real message and purpose. In some countries it has been transformed to a huge gay gathering and party, taking for granted the meaning for its existence.

The gay pride movement started after the Stonewall Riots on Saturday the 28 June 1969, where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning persons rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar at 43 Christopher Street, New York City. This riot and further protests and rioting over the following nights were the watershed moment in modern LGBT rights movement and the impetus for organizing LGBT pride marches on a much larger public scale.

On November 2, 1969, Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes proposed the first pride march to be held in New York City by way of a resolution at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) meeting in Philadelphia. (Wikipedia).

Since those days the movement has spread to almost every country in the "West," symbolizing the right to be of different sexual orientation. Although I am not a great gay pride goer myself, I am really happy to know that both the city I originally come from, Thessaloniki in Greece and the city I chose to live, Dublin in Ireland have the annual celebration of the gay pride.

It symbolizes that those cities and the countries in general are not morally pretentious, conservative and authoritarian, but they are embracing the diversity of the sexual orientation of their inhabitants and thus being open, liberal societies. It does not symbolize as the Russian leadership believes, that the country is immoral and is succumbing to any kind of propaganda coming form the West or the gay people.

The Russian gay community is Russian above all, they are citizens of this country and they have rights as they have obligations just like every other citizen. To be able to celebrate the gay pride, is not about following a popular trend that sweeps the Western nations, rather showing that as a society Russia is mature and aware that a percentage of its population has different sexual orientation. And that this is fine by the heterosexual majority.

It gives the gay community a chance to show themselves and manifest not only their existence, but their absolute acceptance by the society and state they are living in. It is in fact a collective statement of a nation, that being homosexual is totally accepted and tolerated among its society and it is not about the gay community rubbing their "immoral" practices to the face of the mainstream, conservative and heterosexual community.

The Olympic games bring all nations of the planet together in peace and acceptance of each other, in respect of basic human values and peace. In 2014 Russia will host the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and so many activists, notably the British writer and broadcaster Mr. Stephen Fry, have called for a boycott of the games.

I do not think that such drastic initiative will be allowed, or supported by the majority of the governments, athletes and various political or sport groups. As the Olympics are generally a chance not only for peace, but of a great commercial importance for many sponsors, I doubt that they will back any move to cancel or relocate the games. Besides the Olympic games were never supposed to be political, though humanity has seldom managed to achieve that.

What I would love to see from all countries and the athletes that will be participating in the games, is to enter the stadium holding a gay pride flag together with their national one. Or perhaps all athletes could wear the pink triangle on their chest, as a protest of such laws and a message of solidarity to the Russian gay activists.

Sometimes it is best not to alienate or criticize a nation for its wrong decisions and direction. Such attitudes occasionally empower the hard-liners and unites the rest of the nation around them, so a boycott on the games might just do that. But if we silently transform the Olympic games into a big gay pride, we will give a strong message to the Russian nation, that the rest of the World empathizes with the 10% of the Russian population.