GreekNewsBlog: johnmetaxas.com

ARCHIVES
Vol. 1, #15
May 22-26, 2006

NEWS ALERT
19:15 EDT, Friday, May 26, 2006

Iran, Washington in contact via Greece

The A.P. is reporting, "Iran has turned to Greece to convey messages to the United States regarding its contentious nuclear program and other disputes, officials said Friday. Their comments suggested Teheran might be willing to engage Washington in an effort to thwart momentum toward a UN Security Council resolution that could hit Teheran with sanctions over its nuclear defiance."

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Friday, May 26, 2006

One of the things that makes Greece unique
Greek grandmothers the main care-givers for Greece's under-2s

The Athens News Agency reported recently, "Grandmothers are the main care-givers for children aged up to two years old, putting in more than 30 hours a week on average, according to the results of a survey on household income and living conditions released by Greece's National Statistics Service on Wednesday.

The survey conducted in 2004 showed that 80.5 per cent of care for under-twos for periods of 30 hours a week or more was provided mainly by grandmothers or other relatives. Grandmothers and relatives also provided more than 30 hours a week of care for 56.8 per cent of preschoolers aged three to five.

Conversely, the percentage of care provided by private and state day-care centers for under-twos was relatively low at 16.6 per cent, while after-school care programs in schools served just 7.3 per cent of children aged three to five and 20.1 per cent of children aged six to 12.

Less than 1.5 per cent of children were cared for by programs not associated with schools, while nannies and child-minders in either the children's or their own home cared for up to 19.8 percent of children under two and 6.2 per cent of children in total.

Grandmothers and other relatives also account for 41 percent of care provided for under-twos for periods less than 30 hours a week."

NEXT WEEK IN THE GREEK NEWS BLOG: Some personal thoughts on this past week

Thursday, May 25, 2006

podcast

PODCAST: Aftermath of warplane collision
Ioannides sees difficult year for Greek-Turkish relations

While Athens and Ankara deserve high marks for their confidence-building measures before and after Mondays crash between Greek and Turkish fighters over the Aegean, Dr. Christos P. Ioannides of the Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek studies at Queens College, CUNY, tells me the crash is emblematic of real tensions between the two countries that could escalate in the coming months.
listen

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Related links:

Zaman.com: Turkish Air Force Blames Greek Jet for Aegean Collision

Zaman.com: 'Mock Dogfight' this Time Ends in Death

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

podcast

PODCAST: Greece, Turkey play down warplane collision over Aegean
Sitilides notes steps to maintain diplomatic response

Why hasn't this become an incident that escalates tensions between the two rivals? I spoke with John Sitilides, chairman of the Southeast Europe Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center.
listen!

CLICK HERE FOR PODCAST

Athens and Ankara played down the collision yesterday between Greek and Turkish fighters over the Aegean, making conciliatory statements toward each other, though they differed on the circumstances of the crash. Greece says its fighters were scrambled after two Turkish planes had violated the Athens Flight Information region over the Aegean. The Turks say the incident happened over international waters.

Reuters reports, "Greece said the Turkish pilot, flying one of three Turkish planes involved in the incident, had been rescued by a foreign commercial vessel and was later picked up by a Turkish military helicopter after refusing to board a Greek rescue helicopter."

Kathimerini reports, "an air and sea search was continuing late last night in an effort to find Captain Costas Iliakis, a 35-year-old father of two. His plane went down after crashing with a Turkish F-16 that he had been shadowing some 21 nautical miles off the southeastern Aegean island of Karpathos."

TOMORROW IN THE GREEK NEWS BLOG, we will present a podcast with Dr. Christos P. Ioannides of the Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at Queens College, CUNY. Dr. Ioannides labels the regular Turkish military flights into Greek airspace, "a provocation."

Related links:

Kathimerini: Crash over the Aegean -- Greek pilot missing after collision with Turk F-16; FMs urge calm

Reuters: Greek, Turkish jets crash; long-time rivals seek calm

NEWS ALERT
07:30 EDT: Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Greek, Turkish jets collide over Aegean
Search and rescue crews dispatched after this morning's collision

According to Athens, Turkish jets violated Greek Airspace 53 times last month.

Related links:

Reuters: Greek, Turkish jets collide in interception moves

CNN: Greek, Turkish fighter jets crash

M&C News: Analysis: Rough waters in the Aegean Sea

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Greek News Blog gets coverage for decision to drop Google ads
Greeknewsonline.com (not affiliated with Greek News Blog) quotes extensively from our posting of May 19 (see below)

www.greeknewsonline.com: News Blog Removes Google Ads

We believe this issue of the suitability of Google ads extends beyond the Greek-American community to all publishers who use this new technology. While Google has created a new business model for internet publishers, it has also created editorial issues that publishers will need to work through so as not to compromise their editorial content. We will continue working within the Google system behind the scenes to see if we can succesfully screen these offensive ads and will keep you up to date on our progress. -- John Metaxas

Monday, May 22, 2006

Greek-American donor gives Angelides a boost in California Governor's primary
U.S. media gives scrutiny to Tsakopoulos connection

His name won't appear anywhere on the ballot when voters go to the polls June 6, but the Los Angeles Times is reporting in yesterday's edition that "few Californians are having more impact on the governor's race than wealthy developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos." The Times adds, "Tsakopoulos and his daughter Eleni have poured $6 million into a television ad campaign that has revived state Treasurer Phil Angelides' candidacy for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against his far-walthier rival, Controller Steve Westly." Westly, who made his fortune as an early executive at the internet marketplace EBay, has poured some $32.5 million dollars of his own money into the campaign, according to the Times. (LA Times: "The Big Spenders on the Side")

California, with its population approaching 36 million, would rank as the 36th largest nation in the world if it were a nation. (CIA World Fact Book) It has more people than Canada -- more than Australia and Greece combined, to cite just a couple of examples. Ultimately, any state-wide campaign in California will hinge largely on a candiate's ability to raise money. Angelides had an early lead on the strength of some early endorsements and his early willingness to take on incumbent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Westly gained ground in the polls after spending lavishly. Now Angelides has come back in the opinion surveys, thanks in part to the financial support of some loyal friends.

SEE OUR NEW LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SECTION FOR A READER RESPONSE TO OUR ARTICLE ON THE GREEK CHURCH AND "THE DA VINCI CODE"