[ALBSA-Info] Anti-Americanism displayed

[Agron Alibali]

The National Herald: U.S. Ambassador in Greece 
Catches Whiff of     
          Anti-Americanism (T. Mihas, 30-31/03/02)                                       
                                                                                         

U.S. Ambassador in Greece

Catches Whiff of  Anti-Americanism


By Takis Michas

Special to The National Herald(30-31  March)


It is becoming increasingly hard being the U.S. Ambassador in  Athens
these days. No sooner had the dust settled from an incident in  February when
the U.S. Ambassador Thomas Miller was forcibly prevented from  visiting a
high school in Athens than a new incident happened that underlined  once
again that nothing has really changed in Greece during the last two  decades.

This time the ambassador was prevented from taking part in a program  
of tree planting which was supposed to take place over one hectare of land  
next to the St. John Kareas monastery on Mount Hymettus on the eastern  
outskirts of Athens. The program envisages the planting of trees over a  20-hectare
area laid barren by forest fires.

In a hastily convened  emergency council session a day before the event
was to take place, the  council of the eastern municipality of Ilioupolis
adopted a resolution  declaring the presence of the U.S. Ambassador 
undesirable.
The resolution  sounded in both tone and substance more like an Al Qaeda
proclamation issued  in Kandahar than a statement originating by the
municipality of a NATO  country.

"We consider" the statement read "the U.S. primary responsible for  the
ecological destruction of the planet and consequently no  hypocritical
initiative like the attempted tree planting can dupe the people  of
Ilioupolis. We consider the presence of Mr. Miller a provocation to
our people who have condemned the U.S. crimes in the Balkans and in the
world.

The historic memory of our country does not allow us to forget the
criminal interventions of the US in our national issues. The Ambassador of  the 
US is unwelcome in our city and we ask him to cancel his  visit."

According to Kathimerini columnist Stamos Zoulas the act of the
municipal council of Ilioupolis could claim a "Guinness World Record  in

irresponsibility, absurdity, and ludicrousness." Unfortunately, 
however, the incident is also a manifestation of some more worrisome long term
political trends.

What was thus particularly interesting about the event  was the fact 
that the decision banning the visit was unanimous. It was  supported not only by
the representatives of the Communist party but also by  the local
representatives of both the governing PASOK and the conservative  New Democracy
parties.

This fact supports the case that contemporary  anti-Americanism in 
Greece is no longer an exclusively left-wing phenomenon  but can be found
increasingly among the Greek conservatives and the  Orthodox
clergy.

Once again public reaction was muted. Neither the  government nor the
main opposition New Democracy party publicly condemned the  incident. Nor 
did they take any steps to distance themselves from the  perpetrators of the 
act.
Both parties could, for example, immediately expel  from their ranks the
local politicians who supported the resolution. This  would send a powerful
message to the society that such acts henceforth would  not be tolerated by
Greeks.

When I asked Ambassador Miller whether he was  surprised by this lack
of official reaction he said, "I have been in this  country three times 
and very little surprises me. I have a lot of families,  children and colleagues
here at the embassy whose intention [in planting  trees] was 100 percent 
pure and it is very hard to explain to them why we, as  guests in this country,
have met this kind of response."

Let us note that  within the time span of the last three months the
U.S. ambassador in Athens  has been forcibly prevented twice from carrying
out routine diplomatic public  relations functions. To the best of my
knowledge nothing similar has happened  in any other Western European or NATO
country. But then again talking about  Greece as a NATO country and comparing 
what is happening in Greece with what  is happening in other countries 
belonging to the NATO may be misleading,  because, with the exception of Dora
Bakoyanni from the New Democracy party  and George Papandreou from PASOK, one 
would be very hard pressed to find any  other leading Greek politician who could
be said to be a true "atlanticists."


* Takis Michas is a journalist living in  Athens.<bigger> </bigger>
(See attached file: pavlid.vcf)



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