EDITORIAL

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 23 December 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

On December 22 a powerful bomb exploded outside the Athens Court of Appeals. The blast disintegrated the glass façade of the building and caused damage to surrounding apartment buildings. Fortunately, there were no injuries. Police believe the bomb was the handiwork of the so-called Group of People’s Fighters, one the dozens of such obscure terrorist cells populating Greece’s dark underbelly...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 10 December 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

It is still unclear how exactly the Erdogan visit to Athens on 7-8 December was arranged. Some reports claimed the Turkish president “invited himself” and the Tsipras government simply went along. Other news stories spoke of “meticulous” Greek diplomatic preparation as part of an effort to “clarify” Greek-Turkish relations at a time of heightened regional tensions, Erdogan’s daily verbal sniping at European governments, and deteriorating relations with the United States...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Ακαδημαικός Σύμβουλος)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 3 December 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Greek politics is an eternal source of macabre entertainment. Following the collapse of the military junta in 1974, and the Cyprus tragedy, Greece supposedly entered a “democratic” phase. The exercise proved anywhere from incomplete to disastrous...Read more

Mediterranean Security in the Age of Crisis

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Ακαδημαικός Σύμβουλος)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 12 November 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

The Mediterranean Sea, cradle of civilizations, is frothing with instability, violence, illegal immigration, and rapidly advancing criminalization. Its southern littoral has been transformed into an open wound as brittle lawless “states” disintegrate, or are near collapse, and corrupt politics, religious fanaticism, and aggressive tribalism offer plenty of opportunities for criminal enterprises and, more recently, Islamic terrorism. Looking at the map there isn’t one single state that may be termed “stable” or “secure” or both on the southern rim of the Mediterranean basin...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Ακαδημαικός Σύμβουλος)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 5 November 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Nothing is more permanent than the temporary
Greek proverb

Greece is in its seventh year of an economic collapse of unprecedented severity in postwar European history. Victim of her own political corruption as well as “united” Europe’s permanent identity crisis, mixed with unresolvable differences between North and South, Greece has ended up in the role of the perpetual lab animal in addition to the unenviable status of a country with her sovereignty smashed by creditor invasive demands for “supervision.” ...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Adviser)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 20 October 2017

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

It is now an almost universal admission by observers, high and low, that Turkey’s relations with the West are moving south fast. After decades of feeding the myth of Turkey being the “bulwark” of Western interests in the Moslem world, the Western allies discover that Ankara is far less attuned to Western ways but fully committed to authoritarian Moslem religious politics under the sultanic Recep Tayyip Erdogan...Read more