The Greek word “kolotoumba,” or somersault, indicative of a complete reversal in one’s thinking or policies, has become the new catchphrase of the Greek political scene, repeatedly trumpeted in the local media as well as the foreign press.

Greece’s newly elected, radical-left Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, has already performed his first kolotoumba by opting for a coalition with Panos Kammenos of the right-wing Independent Greeks, a party, like Tsipras’s, that is staunchly anti-austerity but that derives from the complete opposite end of the political spectrum.

Yianis Varoufakis, the country’s newly appointed Finance Minister, also did a kolotoumba as he is no longer putting an emphasis on a reduction of the Greek debt by indicating that a lengthening of the repayment terms could be an acceptable alternative.

The European Union also made a kolotoumba of its own as it does not appear to be threatening the new government with ultimatums but, rather, encouraging a new dialogue in the hope of finding a potential consensus.

Alexis Tsipras performed another kolotoumba by putting aside his pre-election promises to restore public sector salaries to their pre-crisis levels, rehire all dismissed civil servants and do away with the crippling taxes imposed by previous administrations, merely promising to raise the minimum wage and restore electricity to the country’s impoverished.

By Sunday evening, Tsipras, the leader of the radical-left Syriza party who triumphed in Greece’s national elections by claiming 149 seats in the Greek Parliament, only two shy of an outright majority, started the kolotoumbas and his European partners quickly followed, making the word the key when it comes to the subject of the country’s future in the eurozone.

The Europeans are seeking a new deal with Tsipras in order to keep Greece within the group. Although Germany insists that Greece must adhere to its debt obligations, other voices in the European Union are musing about the possibility of an elongation in the repayment of the country’s debt in order to make it viable for the crippled Greek economy.

Even Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the stern chairman of the Eurogroup, has stated that although there is minimal support for any debt write-off negotiations, there will be discussions on the issue. And, even the hard-line Prime Minister of Finland and the Finance Minister of Belgium have left open the possibility of extending or reducing Greece’s debt load.

Yanis Varoufakis, who was adamant in his pre-election discourses, at times even discussing a potential return to the Drachma for the country, told the BBC that a “Grexit is not on the cards; we are not going to Brussels and to Frankfurt and to Berlin in confrontational style..” and indicated that there is great potential for a mutually beneficial solution to be found.

Of course, all discussions are premature at this stage as the situation is very fluid in the country. The people, tired and humiliated after five years of recession, with unemployment at 26 percent of the population and at 50 percent among its young, with a large exodus of talented Greeks going abroad in the quest of a job and with 2.5 millions Greeks subsisting below poverty thresholds, voted massively for Alexis Tsipras, providing him with a solid mandate to negotiate an end to the country’s harsh austerity measures.

On the other hand, the new Prime Minister, along with his associate in government, Panos Kammenos, has the delicate task of concluding a new loan agreement with his European partners while also maintaining a tough fiscal line in order to keep the budget balanced or, in the least, not let it exceed the European benchmark of three percent of GDP.

At the same time, the boisterous leftists in Syriza are pushing Tsipras to deliver on his pre-election promises, pledges that would dramatically increase the deficit, while Kammenos remains rather skeptical to any such ideas.

The various conflicts within Syriza, with its hodgepodge mix of radical and extreme-radical leftists and more moderate socialists, and those within the new governmental alliance, foreshadow difficult days ahead for the people of Greece who voted for change and relief but want to remain in a united Europe. Perhaps, from here on in, hope in Europe’s future may be spelled k-o-l-o-t-o-u-m-b-a!

Follow Justine Frangouli-Argyris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Justinakion

I heard the news surrounding the mass killing of the 12 journalists at “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris early Wednesday from a friend who is working in the “City of Light” this year. “The capital is paralyzed by fear,” he said, after Islamist extremists had struck the heart of French freedom of expression by attacking the renowned satirical weekly newspaper.

I arose with an anxiety that quickly spread to all the muscles of my body and mind. Earlier this year, the radical fundamentalist group, ISIS, had warned it would attack all the countries partaking in the fight against its guerrillas in the Middle East which have been brutally beheading Western hostages on camera in an effort to spread their message of terror and death.

Before I came to realize what was happening, a third jihadist had killed a female police officer the following day in Paris. And, during the subsequent massive manhunt for the three terrorists, I saw pictures of those held hostage in a Jewish grocery being murdered. I was shocked, not knowing for whom or for what to mourn.

For the exceptional cartoonists who fell victim to Islamic fundamentalism?

For the savage blow to democracy and freedom of expression in the press?

For Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim policeman who was mercilessly gunned down in cold blood?

For the hostages in the Jewish grocery store who fell victim to a growing religious-political war?

For the young Muslim radicals who were born and raised in France but became subservient to the teachings of ISIS and Al-Qaeda?

For the inability of the French secret service to keep an eye on the extremists who had recently returned from a stint in Syria, making them perfect potential terrorist candidates?

For Western society which is unable to integrate immigrants coming from Muslim countries, incapable of making them proud citizens of the Western world?

For the Muslims who freely choose to migrate to the West but allow a hatred for Western society to fester in them?

For the world’s major power brokers in whose interests our innocence is being sacrificed?

For myself, Justine, who matures, day by day, discovering the horrible face of fear?

For our children who are learning to fear Muslims and be suspicious of them?

For the gap that the jihadist attacks have opened between the Muslims and the other populations of the West?

For the consigning to oblivion of the slogan “make love, not war?”

For the hatred that deepens daily between Muslims and other religious cultures?

A week after the dramatic attacks in Paris, while the world surged through the streets to show a common will against the terror that sows terror, I’m feeling sorry and afraid.

I am not pacified by the demonstrations of solidarity towards Charlie Hebdo and the French people. I am not reassured by the hand-to-hand march of Western and Eastern leaders last Sunday in Paris. I’m feeling sorry and afraid.

I feel sorry for the heroes of Charlie Hebdo who lay pointlessly dead at the hands of youths in a zealous frenzy.

I feel sorry for Ahmed who could not be saved by the fact that he was a Muslim himself.

I am afraid for Justine in the West who respects the East but cannot defend its actions any longer.

A week after the deadly terrorist attacks, I feel sorry and I feel fear. These two emotional states have been planted deep inside me, first with the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, then with the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and, finally, with the savage killings in Paris as I awoke last Wednesday. From now on, I know that I will be living with sorrow for what has occurred and with fear for what is going to happen!

Huffington Post – With the clock quickly counting down towards election day in Greece this January 25, the two competitors for the Prime Ministerial chair are Alexis Tsipras, the fiery leader of the leftist Syriza party, and Antonis Samaras, the stoic head of the conservative New Democracy party who governed the country until the fall of the coalition last week.

All major polls have Syriza as front-runner, a fact that is putting a scare into the financial markets and creating tension among Greece’s electorate which, although wishful of a change in direction and in need of a respite from the harsh austerity “memorandum” imposed by the country’s lenders, remains leery of the party’s radical positions.

In the run-up to voting day, New Democracy continues to play a somewhat exhausted trump card, that of attempting to provoke a wave of panic among the voters without offering any realistic proposal for the amelioration of a situation that has plunged the country into a five year recession and left its citizens unemployed and in despair.

Importantly, it appears that neither of the two major parties will be able to procure an outright majority, leaving whoever prevails requiring the support, and perhaps needing to co-govern with, one or more of the smaller factions.

Of course, the potential scenarios are many. The Party of the Independent Greeks (ANEL), led by Panos Kammenos, which appeared to be in a strong position, saw its fortunes take a turn for the worse as it found itself caught up in a farcical corruption scandal when one of its outspoken members, Pavlos Chaikalis, claimed he was offered millions to help keep the Samaras government afloat. The result was a black mark on Greece’s democracy, a ridiculing of its Parliamentary institutions and a swift drop in ANEL’s popularity.

Another party that hopes to breach the 3% threshold required for Parliamentary representation is the recently created “To Potami” (The River) led by well-known journalist Stavros Theodorakis. Although it managed to secure an impressive percentage of the popular vote in European elections last May, the voters will be scrutinizing Potami much more closely this time around as it remains a group defined by a very vague political program without any parliamentary or governmental experience and devoid of any ideological platform. As it did earlier last year, the party is looking to amass a large protest vote but this may be wishful thinking given that the electorate tends to treat elections to the European Parliament very differently from national ones.

In the meantime, a new party has emerged under the tutelage of George Papandreou, son of the former Prime Minister and legendary founder of Pasok, Andreas Papandreou. The younger Papandreou had a brief stint of his own as Prime Minister in 2010, winning a strong majority after naively professing that Greece’s problems could be solved “because there is money!” Papandreou saw himself forced out after saddling the country with its first austerity “memorandum,” forever linking his name with the tactics of the “troika” of Greece’s creditors and the dire economic state of the nation.

Shortly afterwards, he would go on to lose the leadership of Pasok to its current leader and Greece’s recent Vice-President, Evangelos Venizelos. Regardless, with the backing of some old appartchiks who remain loyal to his father’s legacy and to his family, Papandreou hopes to make a comeback by securing the votes to achieve a Parliamentary presence and filling the role of power-broker in a minority government situation. The outlook for Papandreou does not appear bright, however, accused as he is, by the Greek public, of being inept during his tenure.

Finally, this brings us to the official party of the socialist movement, Pasok, under the guidance of the aforementioned Evangelos Venizelos. Venizelos was Papandreou’s Defence Minister at the time the country was initially placed under the watchful eye of the country’s triumvirate of lenders. Later, at a significant political cost to himself and his party, he entered into a coalition government with Antonis Samaras and supported the harsh terms of the “memorandum” in an effort to improve the country’s plight by rectifying its budgetary imbalance.

Venizelos would seem to be the one most likely to fill the role of “third pillar” in the elections by attracting enough support to hold the balance of power in a minority government. Although weary from many years in office, his Pasok party continues to hold staunchly to its center-left ideology. And, despite the strains of a break with its traditional Papandreou faction and the loss of the bulk of its supporters to the more radical Syriza, it remains a force that helped to guide the country in the most difficult of times.

As for Evangelos Venizelos, whose popularity may not be at its apex, he must be respected as one who made sure that Papandreou did not proceed with a potentially tragic referendum on Greece’s European membership and looked up to as the country’s most capable negotiator with respect to the upcoming deliberations on Greece’s future.

Should Syriza be ultimately elected, it should look to secure the backing of Venizelos, putting his experience to good use if it hopes to smoothly lead the transition of the country into the “post-memorandum” era.

If New Democracy is the victor, it will be unable to continue its policy of structural reform and hope to exit the “memorandum” with the support of lesser, more inexperienced partners.

In both cases, only Pasok can play the crucial role of “third pillar” with the ability to sustain a viable Greek government on January 26th.

Follow Justine Frangouli-Argyris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Justinakion

Five thousand years of history will be on display as a result of the exhibition, “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great,” which will be inaugurated on December 12th at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology and History in Montreal.

The exposition, whose focus is centered around personalities synonymous with the history of Hellenism such as the legendary kings Agamemnon of Mycenae and Leonidas of Sparta, the storied philosophers Plato and Socrates of Athens and the incomparable Philip and Alexander the Great of Macedonia, is a chronological path through the history of Greece and its people.

More than five hundred artifacts, from ancient wreaths and sculptures to masks and jewelry, will be showcased at the museum located in the Old Port of Montreal until the end of April, providing evidence that Greece is truly the Ark of Western civilization.

At the same time, the importance of the event, with its numerous pieces travelling outside the country for the first time, can be seen as reinforcing the message that, should the British Museum return the Parthenon marbles to their rightful home, it could receive such archaeological exhibitions in return. As Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evangelos Venizelos, told visiting Canadian journalists last autumn, Greece would be willing to lend the British Museum exhibitions of similar heirlooms in exchange for the coveted Parthenon sculptures. “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great,” he said, “could be seen as an example of what Greece could offer in return for the marbles.”

Ancient objects, both original and copies, from 22 different Greek museums, including the National Archaeological Museum, the Monetary Museum, the Epigraphic Museum, the Acropolis Museum and the Archaeological Museums of Thessaloniki and Heraklion, arrived in Montreal under tight security from the other side of the Atlantic. Spanning five millenia covering nine historic periods, from the prehistoric to the late Hellenistic, the spectacle’s objective is to familiarize the visitor with ancient Greek civilization.

Divided into distinct parts, the exhibition’s first offering is entitled “Prelude: Man in the Prehistoric Aegean” and presents works from the Neolithic age depicting the funerary finds of merchants and seafarers from the Cycladic islands of Amorgos, Naxos and Paros as well as numerous bronze and teracotta relics from the Minoan civilization.

The second section, “Agamemnon and the World of Mycenae,” progresses from Mycenae’s early relations with its Minoan counterparts to the Royal Tombs of Mycenae, dating from the 16th century B.C, and on to the administrative, economic and religious centers that eventually developed afterwards.

The third exhibit, “Heroes and Aristocrats,” recounts the series of events that led to Greece’s transition from a land of city-states, such as Classical Athens, to its establishment of colonies and financial centres.

The sections named “Athletes and Olympics” and “Kouros and Korae” are self-evident as to their subjects while the sixth, “Leonidas, King of Sparta,” contains the renowned sculpture of “Leonidas” (5th century BC) from the Archaeological Museum of Sparta.

The exhibits “Athenians and Democracy” and “Athenians and their Achievements” are dedicated to Athens and the structure of Athenian democracy with the use of inscriptions, reliefs, coins and models.

The next two sections highlight the Macedonian Empire and its splendid artwork, earthenware and jewelry from the archaeological museums of Thessaloniki and Pella. These sections cover the paramount period of Philip and Alexander the Great, displaying silver utensils found in Philip II’s tomb, in Vergina, along with gold wreaths from the Macedonain capital of Aigai and Olympian gold medals, to name but a few.

Finally, the era covering the successors of Alexander the Great, “Dawn of a New World,” depicts beautiful Hellenistic figurines from the archaeological museums of Pella and Veria in Northern Greece.

It should be noted that this exhibition was made possible through the synchronized efforts of the former Greek Ambassador to Canada, Eleftherios Angelopoulos, and the Greek Ministry of Culture and from Canada’s Ambassador to Greece, Robert Peck, and the President of the Museum of the History of Ottawa, Mark O Neill.

Proclaimed Ambassador Peck, “this exhibition is unprecedented, not only for its cultural treasures, many never seen outside Greece before, but also because of the unique collaboration between four major museums in North America. I salute the leadership of Mark O’Neill, the Canadian Museum of History’s President and CEO, its Director-General and Vice-President, Jean-Marc Blais, and their team as well as the exceptional collaboration of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.”

“The exhibition is, without doubt, an important milestone in the relationship between Canada and Greece and comes at a time when major Canadian companies such as Fairfax, PSP and Eldorado have shown confidence in Greece’s future with their significant investments,” Ambassador Peck concluded.

At the same time, the former ambassador of Greece to Canada, Eleftherios Angelopoulos, stated “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great” is unique, not only for the richness of its contents, but also because it will be presented, successively, in four major North American Museums over the next two years. It is an exemplary accomplishment of the Ministry of Culture of Greece and the Canadian Museum of History and a great source of pride for the Greeks of North America.

After its four-month run at Montreal’s Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the exhibition will open at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa on June 5th. It will then travel to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and to the National Geographic Museum in Washington where it will close on October 9, 2016.

Follow Justine Frangouli-Argyris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Justinakion

Huffington Post – The Greek state has an uncanny ability to haphazardly follow the letter of the law, often neglecting the wider picture, thereby creating issues that tend to cause an uproar without there being any sound substantial reason.

It recently occurred with a young offender, Nikos Romanos,who has been emprisoned for 14 months in Avlona, near Athens, convicted of taking part in an armed robbery in the northern town of Velvento in February of 2013. Along with three other accomplices, Romanos was sentenced to fifteen years for the burglary but, more importantly, even though the charges were dropped, also stood accused of being an active member of the urban guerrilla group, “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.”

Interestingly, during his time in prison, Romanos took it upon himself to prepare for the rigorous entrance exams of the School of Business Administration of Athens which he eventually passed. Indeed, the state was so impressed that it awarded him 500 euros for his success and invited him to meet the president of the Republic, both of which the 21-year-old refused.

Romanos subsequently applied to attend his university courses as he is so entitled by Greek law. According to the pertinent regulation, he may leave his cell for 24-hour periods in order to pursue his studies, so long as he returns to prison in the evening.

Regardless, the Greek state went on to refuse his request leading Romanos, claiming his right to an education, to begin a hunger strike on November 10. Over two weeks later, on November 28, he was eventually transferred to hospital under stringent police custody where, according to his lawyer and a family doctor who was allowed to visit him, Romanos’ condition is critical and deteriorating.

Following the Public Prosecutor of Piraeus’ refusal to entertain Romanos’ demands, the case was taken up by the Greek Minister of Justice, Charalambos Athanasiou, who, in a lengthy statement, washed his hands of the matter, referring it to a higher legal body. Athanasiou is none other than the Minister who originally praised Romanos for his achievements.

In the meantime, the young man’s health continues to worsen and various task groups, from lawyers to doctors to hospital officials, are urgently calling on the Government to find a quick political solution to the dilemma.

It turns out that a similar sabbatical was granted to a pathologically jealous murderer, Panagiotis Frantzi, who strangled his wife and “dismembered her body in a way even a butcher would be jealous of.” Back in 1997, Frantzi, a student at Athens’ Economic University, was granted a special educational leave so he could follow, at a minimum, the mandatory courses of his curriculum.

In the two cases, the Greek government is guilty of applying a double standard. For, in the instance of Frantzi, a convicted murderer, it granted him permission to study. With respect to Romanos, on the other hand, the authorities are pretending that no legal framework exists for granting such a furlough. Rather, it has left him to slowly wilt away in the throes of a hunger strike that could, potentially, cost him his life.

In the meantime, Romanos’ youthful co-prisoners have initiated their own, parallel hunger strikes, further complicating things for the government. The perplexed state has inadvertently created a group of “heroes” with Romanos taking on the persona of a victim rather than that of a felon. By refusing his self-evident right to higher education, it has allowed him to take advantage of the situation and generate significant public sympathy. With their bureaucratic bumbling, the authorities have transformed Romanos and his co-conspirators from armed aggressors who plundered to finance their activities into defenders worthy of compassion.

Obviously, the state’s position is untenable as it is unacceptable to grant clemency to a convicted murderer while, at same time, denying it to an armed robber. The fiasco that has ensued is proof, once again, of how the Greek authorities are too often lacking in their political decision making and of how a government can fall prey to its bureaucracy when a clear legislative framework is not in place.

Follow Justine Frangouli-Argyris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Justinakion