In 1975, the victorious Viet Minh entered Saigon, the capital of the South, following a 30 year struggle against a range of international forces. For the first time, since its occupation by France in the late 19th century, Viet Nam was independent and no longer subject to the dictates of foreign powers.
However, while the lengthy [...]

The following is my translation of an article by Tasos Iliadakis, first published on January 25 2010 in the daily paper ‘The Country’ in Crete.

- all those who forget the past cannot have a future
A. The background
During the early 1940s, Berlin, in order to have financial means of securing its strategic objectives in the Balkans, [...]

A European country that scapegoats a Semitic people, persecutes defenders of human rights by stripping them of employment, and denies freedom of speech to Jews: surely a description of Germany during the Third Reich?
Yes, but unfortunately also a description of Germany at the outset of the 21st century.
In the wake of German Chancellor Merkel’s craven speech [...]

In the aftermath of an earthquake that devastated the slum-cities of Haiti, there has been a strong influx of foreign money and troops, apparently to help rebuild the poverty-stricken country. However, we should note that many of the countries that have been to the fore in expressing their altruistic intentions are those which are most [...]

Strikes and more strikes confront the social-democratic PASOK Government in Greece
Public sector workers, supported by many Trade Unionists from the private sector responded massively yesterday, Wednesday February 10th, to their Union call for a 24-hour strike in Athens. At the same time, leaders of the two Greek left wing organisations Syriza and the Greek Communist [...]

The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, in a ‘State of the Nation’ type TV appearance yesterday, Tuesday Feb. 2nd, announced three drastic new austerity measures that seem to have taken aback most  political commentators. These three measures had been dismissed as “unworkable” by the PM himself as late as last weekend and were certainly not [...]

The following is my translation of an interview with Mr. Meletios Apostolides, the Greek Cypriot architect whose family had been forced to abandon their house, orchard and land in Lapithos, north Cyprus in the wake of the Turkish military operation in 1974. Mr. Apostolides recently won the case against the Orams, a British couple who [...]

Today Haiti is most commonly known for being the poorest country in the ‘western’ hemisphere and a land wracked by destitution and despair. This picture has only been reinforced by the horrific consequences of the January 13th earthquake, 15 kms south-west of Port-au-Prince. While the media networks are falling over themselves to relay stories of [...]

Comparisons between Ireland and Iceland abound, but as recent events there show, the public response has been more vociferous to the injustice of the Icesave bailout. However, as political activist, poet, editor and member of the Icelandic parliament Birgitta Jónsdóttir shows here, Iceland is also like Ireland in that it is a small Island with [...]