GreekNewsBlog: johnmetaxas.com

Monday February 18, 2008

The Ecumenical Patriarchate in dire straits

From: acton.org, Feb. 13, 2008

By John Couretas
www.acton.org

With the release of a new book, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I -- best known as the Orthodox Church's Green Patriarch for his environmental activism -- offers a concise summary of the Eastern Christian tradition and views on a wide range of social issues.

The publication of Bartholomew's "Encountering the Mystery" next month arrives at a time of deep crisis for the patriarchate, a crisis that has registered little interest among Europe's secularized political classes or, for that matter, Christians outside the Orthodox Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate, located in Istanbul on the historic East-West crossroads of the Bosporus Straits, has been suffering a slow asphyxiation for decades. And it is not at all certain that this ancient see of the Church, the living witness of a Byzantine Christianity that has proclaimed the Gospel since the establishment of Constantinople in the fourth century -- indeed since the time of the Apostles -- will survive.

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Big Brother is watching; Homeland Security bankrolling futuristic technology to nab terrorists before they strike

Dimitris Metaxas

Dimitris Metaxas, a professor of computer science in biomedical engineering at Rutgers University, has received funding from both the DHS and the DACA to use technology to track and interpret the meaning of micro-expressions and gestures. "I'm trying to find the expressions and body movements that are not normal and could be linked to deception," he says.

From accountability-central.com:

By Robert L. Mitchell, COMPUTERWORLD

The year is 2012. As soon as you walk into the airport, the machines are watching. Are you a tourist - or a terrorist posing as one? As you answer a few questions at the security checkpoint, the systems begin sizing you up. An array of sensors - video, audio, laser, infrared - feeds a stream of real-time data about you to a computer that uses specially developed algorithms to spot suspicious people.

The system interprets your gestures and facial expressions, analyzes your voice and virtually probes your body to determine your temperature, heart rate, respiration rate and other physiological characteristics - all in an effort to determine whether you are trying to deceive. Fail the test, and you'll be pulled aside for a more aggressive interrogation and searches.

That scenario may sound like science fiction, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is deadly serious about making it a reality.

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Turkey roils the Aegean before summit meeting

From SperoNews:

Turkish coastguard vessels have impeded Greek fishermen around the islands of Imia. The two countries nearly went to war over these islands 12 years ago.

By George Gilson

Just weeks before Costas Karamanlis' planned historic visit to Ankara - the first by a Greek prime minister in a half century - a dangerous game of cat and mouse is being played out around the eastern Aegean islands of Imia.

Turkish coastguard ships have for over a month been impeding Greek fishermen who are fishing for bream in the area. The charges of the fishermen, made publicly on several Greek television channels, come exactly 12 years after Greece and Turkey nearly went to war over the uninhabited rock islets. Greek diplomatic sources confirmed the veracity of the complaint, noting that the period from mid-November through to mid-January is peak bream fishing season.

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