tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post4403776961845342403..comments2023-07-17T11:55:51.363+02:00Comments on ObservingGreece: Crazy Iwankleinguthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-52466876467252235322018-03-24T16:14:24.406+01:002018-03-24T16:14:24.406+01:00What's interesting is that he started out in t...<i>What's interesting is that he started out in the Treuhand, eastern German sell-out.</i><br /><br />sorry, twice sorry, really. But it feels one should not leave disinformation on the web. Not even in the heat of the moment. Surfaced somewhere, maybe I picked up some other disinformant's traces. ...<br /><br />http://whoswho.co.za/alexander-von-mellenthin-1473305<br /><br />https://www.northdata.de/Von+Mellenthin,+Alexander,+Gr%C3%A4felfing/1<br /><br />Anyway, Goetz and Partners, is a somewhat hard to figure out business. Not least due to is diverse partners, takeovers? or angles. As nitwit I probably shouldn't connect arbitrarily dots from my memory and limited insight universe. But then? I have to admit, in a bigger case of gray vs "white" market the authorities, to the extend the bothered at all, only scraped on the surfaces in one case over here. As I found out in a business register relocated to my city after. It was obvious the clerks must have been deeply asleep. ... bankruptcy fraud. ... I also knew some things the authorities couldn't know then from a personal level.<br /><br />If you look at Alexander von Mellenthin via the South African-Britain lens he has a background in banking. ... And yes, I did deeply dislike the fast attempt to privatize East Germany, seems Sinn did too, I do have basically the same concerns about Greece. But von Mellenthin is no doubt a busy man. Superficially South Africa-Britain - France - Germany<br /><br />On the other hand I can see that the central problem is the same in these scenarios. High times for vultures.<br /><br />Second sorry, used wrong reply button below.<br /><br />LeaNderAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-13102462102296074922018-03-22T21:17:41.535+01:002018-03-22T21:17:41.535+01:00Actually the battle of AEK and PAOK are for two di...Actually the battle of AEK and PAOK are for two different neighborhoods of Constantinople.<br /><br />AEK means Athletic Union (Enosis) of Constantinople<br /><br />and PAOK means Panhellenic Athletic Club (Omilos) of Constantinople.<br /><br />So the battle is about who is more authentic representing the Istanbul heritage. Go figure.<br /><br />Dean.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-48562754082326491802018-03-22T21:14:00.190+01:002018-03-22T21:14:00.190+01:00A sad day for Europe. The era of Russian influence...A sad day for Europe. The era of Russian influence in the Balkans via the port of Thessaloniki is a done deal.<br /><br />The transfer of a 67 percent stake in Thessaloniki’s Port to South Europe Gateway Thessaloniki Ltd (SEGT) will be completed tomorrow.<br /><br />The deal was closed today, the company paid the 231.9 million euros as agreed agreed and replaced members of the company’s managing board.<br /><br />The consortium that set up SEGT is owned 47 percent by DIEP GmbH, 33 percent by Terminal Link SAS, and 20 percent by Belterra Investments Ltd (Ivan Savvidis). The Greek state will maintain a 7.22 percent share in the port.<br /><br />And all of this for peanuts.<br /><br />Dean.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-49130949684259804002018-03-22T13:47:37.169+01:002018-03-22T13:47:37.169+01:00So PAOK battles AEK, North Greece the south, the e...So PAOK battles AEK, North Greece the south, the east the west, The young the old, the communist the conservative, the farmers the city dwellers, the poor the rich, the private the public. And all these sub-fractions battles 4 of Greece's neighbor countries.<br />The outsiders have been offered a vantage point from where to observe it, the very pinnacle of this pillar of stability, Greece. <br />Lennard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-5337277398593928502018-03-20T17:06:24.153+01:002018-03-20T17:06:24.153+01:00And to think I wanted to be brief so that I'll...<i>And to think I wanted to be brief so that I'll be able to write back also to Dean today</i><br /><br />sorry, but thanks anyway.<br /><br />LeaNderAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-22315246273064407022018-03-19T21:13:39.251+01:002018-03-19T21:13:39.251+01:00Part 3
You see, before going through these precio...Part 3<br /><br />You see, before going through these precious Ptolemaic rubbish only a few texts, such as the New Testament, managed to escape enough the Atticist diktats so as to give us a sufficient picture of Koine. But Oxyrhychus changed everything and one of the most pleasant surprises for us, Neo-elines, was that the language that common people used amongst them, whether as native language or as second one, even when it pertained to highly codified usages on official documents, that nevertheless were meant to be understood by the general, not so much or even at all, educated public, was even more close to our own than, say, that of the New Testament! That's a huge deal for Greek nationalism cause the most important and by far the most essential connection we have with our overly idealized ancient ancestors (but also with our unjustly disregarded but much more familiar own Romans / Ρωμιούς) is the ever evolving but not ever breaking apart (cause both conservative and flexible) Greek language - which by they way wouldn't have been possibly if it hadn’t become the linguistic vessel of Christianity in the whole East and afterwards the language of the Church during the Ottoman rule, which meant that every single Christian subject of the Sultan if he ever wanted to practice commerce, educate itself and have any business with the local and imperial administration, was very much obliged to learn Greek cause the only authority that represented him and was responsible for him before the Sublime Gate was the Greek- Orthodox Patriarch! But this is another story which I hope to tell Dean if only find the time….<br /><br />So, to finally answer your question, Yes! One who has graduated Greek Likio (roughly equivalent to French Lycée and German Gymnasium) should be able to read these multimillenial monuments of every day communication, provided they have been transcribed (not translated) from papyrus writing form to a more modern reader friendly one.<br /><br />So to get an idea, here is a hasty google result: http://www.katapi.org.uk/G&LPalaeography/Ch10.html, though it's outdated and not appropriate to the discussion.<br />More appropriate: https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Papyri-Introduction-Princeton-Library/dp/0691649553<br />And better: http://www.biblionet.gr/book/155717/%CE%A0%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%B8%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%AC%CF%82,_%CE%91%CE%BC%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BB%CF%8C%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC_%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B1_%CF%83%CE%B5_%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8D%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82_%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%95%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%8A%CE%BA%CE%AE%CF%82_%CF%80%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%8C%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%85<br /><br />And to think I wanted to be brief so that I'll be able to write back also to Dean today...<br /><br />Lykinos<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-71673812650898041712018-03-19T21:12:12.514+01:002018-03-19T21:12:12.514+01:00Part 2
The problem was that until the papyrologic...Part 2<br /><br />The problem was that until the papyrological discoveries of the late 19th and the 20th century that brought to light quite a lot of private documents: ex. Private correspondence, notarial deeds, court and tax records etc. we knew only precious few about Koine. That is because written, literary and generally "high- culture" word in the Greek language has an over- millenary history of emulating, to a greater or a lesser degree, sometimes beautifully and others laughably so, that famed over-stylized Attic dialect of 5th and 4th century B.C (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atticism). On the other hand, the spoken language followed its own path throughout the millennia and it eventually gained its own prestige status as language of literature and culture; but I kid you not, this dichotomy persisted until 1974/5 essentially creating two parallel histories of two distinct language forms not quite independent the one from the other but not always intercomprehensible either! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language_question) So It's not without irony that the aforementioned ground-shacking scientific discovery was the unearthing of a big old garbage dump! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri). <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-46941181314435825492018-03-19T21:10:25.323+01:002018-03-19T21:10:25.323+01:00To Leander on March 19, 2018 at 1:11 PM
Part 1
...To Leander on March 19, 2018 at 1:11 PM<br /><br />Part 1<br /><br />Koine is a simplified and more systematized evolution of the Attic dialect which after Alexander's conquests became the Lingua Franca of eastern Mediterranean, a great big part of the Balkans and the coastal cities of the Black See; it remained so all during the so-called Hellenistic period, the Roman era proper, well through the 7th century, when the Arab conquest gave the first blow - and a heavy one - to the status of Greek as an international language. <br /><br />Compared to modern Greek it shows some substantial differences (the use of the infinity being the most prominent) but it is also the era where some of the most characteristic features of modern Greek begin to developed and some even reach their, more or less, final form: the simplification of the vowel system and the monophthongization of the diphthongs. Those who know modern Greek maybe will understand it better put like this: nowadays we write ι,η,υ,ει,οι but we pronounce only /i/ or we write ο,ω but read /o/ every time or ε,αι sound both /e/ because sounds who were previously distinct in the Attic Greek now began to merge so as to facilitate learning for the vast and vastly different populations that were using now the language. Mutatis mutandis is what now English is untergoing with Globish though we're probably still at the early processes of a still very young international language - perhaps African French offer a better parallel. <br /><br />If you don't have access to the Christidis book I recommended (I think it's been translated to English), you can get a general overview by this:<br />https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-language/The-middle-phases-Koine-and-Byzantine-Greek#ref603499 <br />And more focused on Koine, strangely enough Wikipedia is not half bad.<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek<br /><br />Anyway, Gēorgios N. Hatzidakis, the father of Greek linguistics (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georgios-N-Hatzidakis), was the first to establish that Modern Greek originate from Koine and he proceeded to prove that: "from the roughly 4.900 words of the New testament almost half of them, i.e. 2.280, are still in use nowadays; as for the others most of them, 2.260, are well understood by the majority of Greeks in written or spoken form, and only a few, ca. 400, are truly incomprehensibly to the Greek people.<br />http://www.tovima.gr/opinions/article/?aid=103970<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-18040225311551942802018-03-19T13:11:03.087+01:002018-03-19T13:11:03.087+01:00Hmm, Lykinos, interesting.
You make me very, very...Hmm, Lykinos, interesting.<br /><br />You make me very, very jealous once again. A close friend of mind grew up with Greek and Latin as first languages. That gives a rather solid grasp of history, apparently. I regretted too late to never have paid enough attention on all the dynasties and emperors. ;)<br /><br /><i>You'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that you can read everyday-use papyri from Ptolemaic Egypt (a much more important centre of Hellinismus at the time than Athens), without any previous training, and you'll be flabbergasted to discover that probably we wouldn't be speaking Greek nowadays or we would be speaking a very different, cut-off variation as, say, French are to medieval Latin,</i><br /><br />Alexandria. Koine, the common language? Really. Is that true? Without training? Koine is close to modern Greek?<br /><br />Don't remind me of ages ago. Once upon a time, I stumbled the early literary tradition there more by accident. Fascinated me ...<br /><br />Two central Monotheist traditions seem to have almost completely erased it. At least for us. At one point I suspected that some tales survived anyway, by more devious routes. Maybe even made it into the Churches' own early story collection, with a certain bent no doubt.<br /><br />Has this changed lately. It's decades ago?<br /><br />Both E. R. Dodds lectures series are freely available online. Interesting, thanks.<br /><br />But yes, libertarian Kelley L. Ross seems to have some sharp argumentative edges.<br /><br />LeaNder<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-85295538546126889762018-03-18T23:32:24.444+01:002018-03-18T23:32:24.444+01:00Lykinos:
From the pdf you provided I take the fol...Lykinos:<br /><br />From the pdf you provided I take the following points:<br /><br />1. Roman army during the late stages of western Roman empire mostly German composed.<br />2. Greeks inherited the eastern Roman empire ("Eventually pared down to the Balkans and Anatolia, the Empire finally consisted mainly of Greeks, or at least Greek speakers, as well as Armenians, Albanians, Vlachs, etc. Conquered and humiliated by Rome, the Greeks inherited Romania and subsequently always called themselves Rhômaioi. This, of course, is incomprehensible unless one understands the meaning and consequences of the Constitutio Antoniniana, let alone Christianization. As such, it is well over the horizon of popular culture, much academic culture, or Hollywood -- to whom the history of "Byzantium" is like something from science fiction, if even that. I cannot say that there has ever been a "Byzantine" Emperor represented in a Hollywood movie -- or a Constantinople that was not already Istanbul.".<br />3. Anatolians (presumably Greeks) recolonized mainland Greece. (" The money, as it happens, came from Anatolia, which, although raided regularly by the Arabs, was in much better shape than the Balkans or Greece, where Slavic migration had broken all the way into the Peloponnesus -- Greece had to be resettled with colonists from Anatolia. The paid military would eventually draw recruits from Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and England. Meanwhile, the libraries and the Classical art of Constantinople might leave one wondering if very much had changed at all in the passing centuries, while visitors from the impoverished West or barbarian North were left to gape in awe at the bustle, wealth, architecture, and sophistication of a place unlike any other in Christendom.")<br /><br />So as long as we speak of Christendom this is another way of saying Rome and Greeks are but a minor player in all this? <br /><br />I think we are coming to the same conclusion when I say that the Eastern Roman Empire was an anti_Greek concept, even though it had some Greeks in it.<br /><br />Because from what you provided I can not possibly conclude that East Rome or New Rome had anything to do with Greeks other than the mainly Greek population of Anatolia which was better preserved from barbarian invasions of mainland Greece and mainly Greek-speaking (Ionians of Athens, which the Turks today call Yunans i.e. Ionians).<br /><br />D.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-42147456615602580762018-03-18T22:29:58.379+01:002018-03-18T22:29:58.379+01:00To Dean on March 18, 2018 at 8:02 PM
I enjoyed y...<br />To Dean on March 18, 2018 at 8:02 PM<br /><br /><br />I enjoyed your comment and I'm sorry I'wont have the time to respond to the extent that it merited. <br /><br />Since you equate Greeknes with Reason, which is a very German thing to do (remember for Germans it used to be that Germans = Greeks 2.0) I can only suggest this seminal work which is also an extremely enjoyable read:<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Greeks-Irrational-Sather-Classical-Lectures/dp/0520242300<br /><br />Reading it you'll understand why Christianity found a fertile ground in our Hellenistic lands and perhaps you'll find your self curious for his next significant opus:<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Pagan-Christian-Age-Anxiety-Constantine/dp/0521385997/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8<br /><br />Trust me it will be an eye opener!<br /><br />Afterwards you can continue your studies by reading up on the history of Greek language and literature, which is actually by far our truest and most meaningful connection to our Ancient world: Greek and … Roman.<br />One of the best on the field is:<br /><br />http://ins.web.auth.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=266:istoria-ellinikis-glossas&catid=47&lang=el&Itemid=126<br /><br />I can't recommend it enthusiastically enough! <br /><br />You'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that you can read everyday-use papyri from Ptolemaic Egypt (a much more important centre of Hellinismus at the time than Athens), without any previous training, and you'll be flabbergasted to discover that probably we wouldn't be speaking Greek nowadays or we would be speaking a very different, cut-off variation as, say, French are to medieval Latin, had it not been for the Church after 1204; there wouldn't also have survived almost anything from the Greek literary Corpus (safe from some annotated but very altered and truncated Arab translations of Aristotle)had it not been for many very learned an d industrious monks! <br /><br />As for me, I'm an atheist (not a cowardly atheist, i.e. an agnostic that Christians righty abhor) and although I identify as Leftish most of the time (unless I have to listen to one speak for a great big time) I can never forgive Greek Left for in the past taking a page from the most pseudo-scientific and dishonest European books in order to vilify Byzantium ! Oh yes! They loved Ρωμιούς but hated Ρωμαίους!<br /><br />Incidentally, did you know that briefly but passionately during the 19th century the Church of the Greek Kingdom also spat on Byzantium, wanted to cut ties with Constantinople and turn itself essentially into Protestants?<br /><br />In the end! Rejoice! We're much more resilient, cosmopolitan, complicated and interesting than you previously thought!<br /> <br />PS> Why not try also that old but always good:<br /><br />https://www.skroutz.gr/books/235296.eisagogi-stin-elliniki-palaiografia.html<br /><br />Lykinos <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-38149336988087672352018-03-18T20:02:04.661+01:002018-03-18T20:02:04.661+01:00Lykinos/Lykine:
The way you explained it created ...Lykinos/Lykine:<br /><br />The way you explained it created new conflicts for me. All of a sudden I feel much closer to the German position on Ancient Greece and that's a tremendous self-awareness moment because it makes me a lost German child who is fighting against its own people. Never would have thought that such calamity would befall on me; to be discovered to be German in my views after all.<br /><br />Let me just explain. For starters, I am a born Greek who immigrated to the US at the age of 24. My children both born on American soil are Greek-American or Colombian-American if you want to bring their mother into the picture (whose family ancestral name is traced to a German town close to the Austrian border).<br /><br />So, my views are not typical Greek-American; in fact, I would call them very atypical of Greek-American views. Greek-Americans use the Greek church as an identifier and I, on the other hand, want nothing to do with it.<br /><br />My reasoning is very simple:<br /><br />1. To be Greek means to be a person of reason and science.<br />2. The Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium/Orthodox Church is a form of complete darkness (faith-based construct) which is in direct conflict with science and reason, hence by definition anti-Greek.<br />3. If you call me Romios (or Rum as the Turks call us) then I would probably be deeply offended.<br />4. An empire which issues the Edict of Thessaloniki, whose only purpose is the forceful conversion of classical Greeks to Roman Christian citizens has nothing to do with Greek values. In my opinion, it has everything to do with anti-Greek values and as such is rejected on purely logical grounds.<br />5. This incredible and highly abnormal stronghold a foreign Roman religion (which you know as Christianity) has on the modern Greeks is the source of all troubles for Greece. If you want to truly reform Greece you need to start with the Greek church. Its vast real estate holdings need to be confiscated by the state, its sizeable tax bills need to be enforced and its freeloading on state salaries need to stop yesterday.<br />6. There is no way for Greeks to ever prosper as a nation if their notion is that their true capital (which according to the false religion is Constantinople) is the only European capital still remaining under occupation. This fact alone paralyzes Greeks into inaction and fatalism. It makes us victims of a continuous trauma.<br /><br />Not that it matters, but you sound as a member of the Left which considers being a Romios as the only form of true Greece because the Ancient Greece staff is for the nationalists and fascists?<br /><br />Kleingut, help me, please. Are there any openings in Germany for me? At least as a German slave I would still be allowed to hold high notions of Greece while reminded daily that I am nothing similar to my ancestors. I might even have a fighting chance versus being swallowed by the eastern tendencies which although familiar are still alien to the Greek spirit.<br /><br />Dean.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-355475500767157012018-03-18T19:21:57.259+01:002018-03-18T19:21:57.259+01:00Not so fast. The Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzanti...Not so fast. The Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzantium) is not Greek. It has the appearances of being Greek due to the spoken language and unending affinity of Rome towards everything of Greek origin. And if you consider the EU as the modern manifestation of the Roman Empire then this is where our roads part because I can't tolerate being a Roman slave. <br /><br />Dean.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-31915397740284662992018-03-18T15:46:31.275+01:002018-03-18T15:46:31.275+01:00@Lykinos
You are right. I now remember reading tha...@Lykinos<br />You are right. I now remember reading that the term "Byzantine Empire" was a post-fact invention and not used during the time of the Empire. And if memory serves well, it was the Philhellenes who created the theory that the people who lived in the borders of today's Greece were direct descendants of the ancient Greeks. That didn't come out of Greece at the time. And regarding Makedonia, I remember reading that at the time when everybody (Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, etc.) was fighting for a piece of what is today Greek Makedonia, the people living there had no national identity feelings. The felt their obligation to the Church and the local War Lord. And when they were interviewed whether they felt like Greek, Bulgarians or Turks, they were scared and answered "we are Orthodox".<br /><br />It was good of you to remind us that, in the final analysis, what we are seeing in today's Europe and South Eastern Europe is really an outgrowth of the Roman Empire. First the Empire split between East and West, then the West disappeared temporarily and re-surfaced with the strange name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (which a Habsburg eventually dissolved in 1806) and the East went into the direction of Byzanz.kleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-67215312353992159762018-03-18T15:31:48.627+01:002018-03-18T15:31:48.627+01:00No, Dean. The decision which foreign investor to f...No, Dean. The decision which foreign investor to favor is Greece's, and only Greece's. Now it may be that only shady investors like Savvidis line up to purchase Greek asset but in that case Greece should have the courage to simply say no. Except for Cosco, I have not yet seen any other foreign investor that I would have accepted as a foreign investor.kleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-14070905980816232782018-03-18T15:28:36.181+01:002018-03-18T15:28:36.181+01:00You are right.You are right.kleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-82389544649402530962018-03-18T15:23:40.399+01:002018-03-18T15:23:40.399+01:00Kleingut:
How do you suppose that the profits of ...Kleingut:<br /><br />How do you suppose that the profits of a layered organization based in Russia would ever result to beneficial tax for Greece because Savvidis is a Greek resident?<br /><br />The profits will be rolled over into new ventures and no one will ever see a penny of taxation from such deals.<br /><br />I take it it was just a sarcastic comment.<br /><br />Dean.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-315625216591534872018-03-18T15:16:46.179+01:002018-03-18T15:16:46.179+01:00L.:
I think we have a classic catch 22 here. Who ...L.:<br /><br />I think we have a classic catch 22 here. Who created Savvidis and other Savvidis like opportunists<br /><br />"Under the guise of performing a house-cleaning of the Greek economy, Brussels will continue to push the relentless privatization of assets that has afforded oligarchs like Savvidis the cover for quiet state capture."<br /><br />Dean.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-40870135785103091162018-03-18T14:26:54.932+01:002018-03-18T14:26:54.932+01:00To Dean on March 17, 2018 at 3:41 PM
Part 2
As fo...To Dean on March 17, 2018 at 3:41 PM<br /><br />Part 2<br />As for Hieronymus Wolf, that aforementioned German, he invented "Byzantium" as a means to deny this reality stripping the Eastern Roman Empire of its historical heritage so that he can claim "Romanitas" (and even "Latinitas") for his emperor, i.e. the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation that famously "was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" nor… of the German Nation, I would have added! Now, the reason this falsification caught on - aside from past grievances between East and West - was that claiming to be the rightful heirs of the Imperium Romanorum was something that almost all European states used to do, from Paris to Moscow, in order to justify their expansionism. The most, if not successful, at least innovative, were the British who took that tired old notion and transformed it into that of the still going Western world , where they initially placed only their dearest selves, begrudgingly the French and the most… exotic and comically oversexualized Italians! In fact, their little grouped expended or shrinked according to the each time prevailing imperial interests and ideology. Last but not least, the Germans after they realized that the Roman label would not stick they fancied themselves the new and improved Greeks (!) before settling for being the natural conclusion of all the best ancient civilizations have ever produced throughout the world before finally settling once and for all in the fatherland! <br /><br />Given all that, I always find it sad to hear Greeks repeat all those long debunked and yet still circulating calumnies against "Byzantium". Something tells me you're one of those people who also believe Byzantium "killed" Ancient Greece, probably ignoring or finding a way to side-step that almost none of those famed Greek written monuments would have perished had it not been for those Greek-speaking medieval Romans… Again, there is a long and interesting history behind these ideologically conceived great narratives of European historiography who worked hard to make Byzantium synonymous with "byzantine" (the worst offender being Gibbon) and the reason Greek intelligentsia sheepishly adopted these dishonest stories, but I don't have the time to expand upon and besides part of it is covered in the link I provided. For my part, the best aphorism I've ever read about Modern Greek identity is the we are "romanized Hellenes or Hellenistic Romans" (ρωμαϊκοί Έλληνες ή ελληνιστικοί Ρωμαίοι)! <br /><br />PS. You're right nonetheless about the unmerited and wholly displaced appreciation of Greek nationalists towards Russia, who has always acted as any other Great Power would. The Church is to blame.<br /> <br />Lykinos<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-66260096835535011452018-03-18T14:25:23.377+01:002018-03-18T14:25:23.377+01:00To Dean at March 17, 2018 at 3:41 PM
Part 1
Altho...To Dean at March 17, 2018 at 3:41 PM<br /><br />Part 1<br />Although I may understand where you're coming from (Greek-American), fact is your take on Byzantium is completely screwed up! Since I wouldn't know where to begin with that, I'm just leaving you with this:<br /><br />http://www.friesian.com/decdenc1.htm<br /><br />I know it's a rather long and heavy read, not strictly scientific (not peer-reviewed) by a rather peculiar (to say the least) writer but it remains adequately researched and most importantly benefits from the charm of an outsider looking in and being astounded by the "conspiracy" he uncovers! (Although his "discoveries" are in fact widely recognized and discussed amongst historians, albeit as a relatively recent development of the 80's and onwards - even Wikipedia has somewhat caught up.) <br /><br />Allow me a couple of points: Macedonia as an administrative region of the Roman Empire has always been fluid, same as the province(s) of Greece. Empress Irene or not Skopjans would have latched onto the name and identity anyway because they had need of it when they first became independent in the early 90 and perhaps they still do.<br />I'm speaking of the Roman empire because there has never existed a thing such as a "Byzantine Empire" at least not until the middle of the 16th century when a… German came up with name remembering that the ancient city of Byzantium used to stand where the City (Πόλη) is. In fact a "Byzantine" on the streets of Constantinople would have most probably never heard of this "Byzantium"-thing, he would have called himself first a Christian and then a Roman (Ρωμαίος and eventually Ρωμιός)and he would have denied being Greek, at least as far as ca. 1204 when he would have find himself opposed to the barbarous Φράγκους or Λατίνους (mind you, they never reserved the term "Roman" for these western invaders…) - although the people concerned with identity questions, i.e. the intellectuals, would have long before that recognized that of course Hellenismus is theirs as their θύραθεν παιδεία (their non religious education and cultural reference) which they funnily enough considered vastly superior to the Latin, i.e. classic Roman one! <br /><br />To be continued...<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-1209464675552538392018-03-18T08:00:05.719+01:002018-03-18T08:00:05.719+01:00Good for Greece! A lot of taxes are coming Greece&...Good for Greece! A lot of taxes are coming Greece's ways when someone makes so much money. After all, Savvidis' residence is Greece and wherever the residence is, worldwide income is taxed. The government will soon be flush with cash!kleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-57764359670247030202018-03-17T22:39:50.166+01:002018-03-17T22:39:50.166+01:00You are the expert, I am the more, more than that ...You are the expert, I am the more, more than that really, superficially, looking in on what needs expert on matters. More nitwitty looking in on matters.<br /><br />But the new CEO connecting to the enterprise, while German, is clearly connecting to Zurich superficially and there to a Swiss Eguity enterprise.<br /><br />[I do have peculiar shifts between German and English on my keyboard lately, this does not happen usually. ... would need to ponder what could cause this]<br /><br />anyway, really superficially, and I certainly had never any reason to check or for that matter register in Switzerland to get more detailed information. In the larger Kohl affair, as in many other cases I did in fact respect their work. Never mind where they ended over here. Or for that matter how it ended for the respective judge to take charge of it:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.monetas.ch/htm/684/en/Personendaten-Ruediger-Schmid-Kuehnhoefer-Feusisberg.htm?ident=PyXimEYIQR9TN0ir4YBd2LviwzrDmkNYzMtGmrxauAs%3D" rel="nofollow">via Monetas Swiss: Piz Ventures Capital AG</a><br /><br />Maybe Lennard knows how real or present they are really. Didn't check IP's.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-52317842516367428052018-03-17T18:50:49.334+01:002018-03-17T18:50:49.334+01:00I worked in Munich from 2003-10 running the German...I worked in Munich from 2003-10 running the German operations of an Austrian bank. Munich is full of private equity firms and I thought I had known or heard of most of them. Deutsche Equity Invest GmbH had never appeared on my radar. As I said in my article at the time, this is a most curious outfit. When you now tell me that one of their principals had a Treuhand background, my suspicions get worse. Many of those who dealt with Treuhand were quite corrupt and made tons of money by stripping East German assets.kleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-25935826115991144172018-03-17T18:11:37.646+01:002018-03-17T18:11:37.646+01:00Kleingut: I realized you added the link to the Spi...Kleingut: I realized you added the link to the Spiegel later, at least I don't recall it was there at the time.<br /><br />But they do a good dive and cover in Munich, if you look at the papers in the German Handelregister.<br /><br />There you realize the different firms you'll find online. But it is really hard to grasp without context. Or a closer look. No any usual partnership contract present other then a shift to get partners in the invest region. I surely would like to see the real files in Munich. Seen dubious matters that had one angle there. Like Shelf-Corporations sold there for corporation burial. But that was clearly more the criminal field. This is, I guess, highly professional.<br /><br />Von Mellenthin is clearly still connected with Goetz and Partner. At least at least one document he signs with a CEO in the larger Swiss link suggests that. What's interesting is that he started out in the Treuhand, eastern German sell-out.<br />LeaNder<br /><br /><i>https://www.handelsregister.de</i><br /><br />If I were journalist located in Munich, I'd take a closer look at the folders. Including Goetz and Partners.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-16845182808886736972018-03-17T16:06:09.138+01:002018-03-17T16:06:09.138+01:00That may well be your last comment on the matter a...That may well be your last comment on the matter and it's perhaps for the best since you first moved the goalposts and then repeated the mix-ups of your previous comment. <br /><br />By the way, since you don't follow Balkan sources, and leaving aside your Greek friends, you will be surprised to find out, if you ever search for, that there is an extended bibliography in Greek or by Greek scholars on the treatment and mistreatment of minorities in Greece. So you're pushing at open doors, at least when it comes to this rather elevated level of discourse. As for the general public, people there are certainly less enlighted, but, while disappointing, this is hardly yet another of your Greek "failings", since I know fully well from personal experience that this is also very much the case in US, UK, France, definitely Austria (where absolutely everything goes especially during electoral campaigns) and - despite very loud claims otherwise - in Germany itself!<br /><br />(I put the "failings" inside quotation marks since I'm not sure what is point where this "woke" statement: "but at least we're talking about it", begins to sound like grotesque boasting and ridiculous hypocrisy, especially when coming from powerful nations…)<br /><br />LykinosAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com