Merry Xmas!!! (From The Country That Doesn't Give A Damn)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Greece's MPs voted today (those of them that were awake and lucid) for a second time in the presidential election.

168 voted in favour, not enough to elect the new president.

As usual and expected, the stock exchange plummeted.

As expected, the politicians continue their bickering, indifferent to the havoc they are creating.

Unfortunately, they don't give a damn. Or they don't know worth a damn. Mostly, both. Greek MPs are notorious for not reading the texts they are discussing. Rumour has it and internal Parliamentary sources seem to confirm the rumour that more than 60% of the MP in the Greek Voule who voted in favour or against the loan agreement and the attached memorandum had not actually read the text they voting.

 Greece may be in dire straits, but the political catchphrase in Athens remains: what? Me worry???? (Never!)

Why worry: politicians have amassed their wealth, they are set for life (or think they are), they have nothing to fear.  If it all fails, there is always Switzerland...

Presidential Elections in Greece:the triumph of personal expediency!

SO, what else is new? 

Greece's parliament (300 strong, for a population of ~10 million... not bad) voted 160 in favour of the presidential nominee. Not enough to instate a President.
Ridiculous people playing dangerous games: if Greece does NOT elect a President, general elections must be held.

All of this comes at a moment where the country is struggling to exit recession and move onto the tenuous path of recovery. Yet, Greece's members of Parliament and their entourage (media, advisers, cronies and the like) spend their time analysing and speculating -- not one giving paying attention or, at least, mentioning what would be good for the country for once.


Yet, when viewed from the point of view of Greek politicians', this lighthearted approach is understandable:
Greece's politicians and their cronies are well fed. Reportedly, many have amassed wealth and connections that guarantee further affluence. Most have no clue of how the world around them operates, what the market is and how business is conducted. Most have never held a proper job.

So, when a crisis like the present one hits them, they are blissfully unaware of the dangers or the repercussions of their actions; why should they, after all? They are comfortably off, their monetary needs are taken care of, they get a decent pension (better than decent: around  7k / month + extras) and... who cares if the Athens Stock Exchange dropped by 28% in just three days? They are not exposed and they do not understand what it is to be captive -- so they cannot feel it. They have no idea.

Their world is a theoretical world, or conceptual for those who have the gift to conceptualize, and nothing more; reality has to do with their home, their friends, their constituents and the favours they owe others...

Except for the actual wealth, the affluence: no theory here, that is one is for real. All public money.


Greece's politicians and their cronies: Never have so few owed so much to so many.

Emotions run rampant: Greek politicians bickering with nary a care for their country. Yet again...

It is well known that Greece has been in 6years recession  and is, on paper atleast, exiting the recession as of the 3rd quarter 2014. While "the end of recession" is not something to take to the bank, the general business atmosphere is much better than it was two years ago.

Greece's coalition government was scheduled to nominate a candidate for the presidency at the end of the 1st quarter of 2015. Instead, in a sudden move, mostly incomprehensible or as the Economist notes, a "gamble", Greece's Prime Minister, A Samaras, moved the election 3 months forward to this week.
The Eurozone granted a 2 months extension to the loan programme which was normally due 31st December.

Greece's PM, A Samaras, exiting. Fortunately for Greece, it is not the Eurozone he is leaving, just the Greek Voule -- temporarily

In Greece, the President is voted into office indirectly through the Voule (parliament). The office has few executive powers, so the President is seen as a figure of unity and of course, the ultimate representative of the country worldwide. In this respect and with a single exception (a nonentity named Sartzetakis), all of Greece's  Presidents had done their best to forget political hue and focus on the nation.
So it is not the President but the procedure of instating which the point of contention between political parties. To be instated at the first vote, the nominee has to reach a 2/3 majority or 180 out 350 MPs. If that fails, the country can be led to elections. In Greece no single party has enjoyed such luxurious majority, so the choice of President has always been a matter for bargaining, bartering and petty bickering.

And bickering is where it's at now even though the dire financial situation does not allow for political instability.

But who cares? Obviously not Greece's elected representatives.

The main opposition, Syriza, your usual '60s type "down with everything and everybody else" self-proclaimed left-wing party, had intimated that it will block the vote. The party contends that it is making a point: not to support the "people who brought the country into this mess". Considering that most of its supporters come from Pasok, an erstwhile ruling "socialist" party, this puts them in the same basket. (This same party has declared that it is other peoples fault the country is indebted, that it will raise taxes, lower taxes, review the civil service, re-instate the civil servants' lost income...)
 
The left-wing Dimar has openly declared it will not support the nomination. Likewise for the right wing Golden Dawn. Both of these parties are blocking the vote as a matter of political principle rather than rational rationale.


Independent MP's are being flirted with to cast their vote, one way or another.


The candidate is a man called Stavros Dimas, European commissioner for the Environment and Minister for Foreign Affairs (briefly), a lawyer by trade. At the onset, an OK candidate, good personality, has impact and some work experience. BUT, let not the quality of the candidate for the job influence the vote!


So here we are, waiting for the 17th when the first vote will take place...
And yet, by all standards, Greece is bafflingly lucky. As Stephen Pope put it in a recent contribution to Forbes magazine, commenting on the Eurozone's decision to extend the programme by two months to accommodate the latest news from Greece,
"Once again to those outside of the Eurozone, it is baffling how a sovereign nation that should never have been allowed into the Euro in the first place…which should have left the Euro in 2010…has again been rewarded for failing to deliver its side of the bailout bargain by being allowed more time to comply."

Quite so.
Especially for a country whose inhabitants have seen their taxes grow by 35% in 6 years,  the disposable income fall by 47% and private sector unemployment soar to 25.7 - 26.4% (the ministry of labour is not sure which of the two applies).

So, the good part is that Greece and its presidential election are in the news-- and publicity is always good it is said.

The bad part is, it's all for the wrong reasons.


Again, Greece's inhabitants deserve better than their politicians.

"Help, I feel I'm sinking..."

I was speaking to a friend this W-E aboutwhat I think is the rise of loneliness in the world, despite (or in spite of) ll the communication devices we have at our disposal.

HE was much more positive. "You have access to so many people on line. Even the words of a perfect stranger could provide enough comfort. Even if words alone don't mean much, the fact that someone takes the trouble to write them proves we are not alone."

I would like it to be so, but I'm not so sure. I googled the phrase and not much came up in way of support; of course, much of the correspondance will have been done through private messaging I expect.

However, back to the brass tacks: "sinking" usually means something went wrong beforehand.

A stranger can hardly put right whatever went wrong. Often, the only person who right the wrong is the sufferer; I think this is because many of the wrongs are either a matter of perception, or matters that require personal presence and action.



Of course, it would be nice to have someone take the matter in their hands and tell us that it's going to be OK. And regress to childhood....





Which may be better than resorting to temporary chemical relief from the problem -- which does not solve the problem per se.

Don't let the flame go out

We don’t want your medical tourism business

An article by Dr Constantine Constantinides of healthCare cybernetics that appeared in the IMTJ looks at the resentment factor in medical tourism.

We don't Want Your Medical Tourism Business...
We have known for some time that several hospitals in Ontario, Canada have been providing care on a “for-profit basis” to people from outside Canada and generating millions of dollars in revenue.
But in November 2014, we read that the (Liberal) Canadian Government had taken steps to put the brakes on medical tourism into Ontario, and that this was greeted as welcome news by the coalition of health organisations that had been calling for the government to end the practice.
But why should this be “welcome news”?

The Canadian “Directive” on medical tourism

In 2014, Minister of Health, Eric Hoskins issued a letter to all Ontario hospitals requesting that they not market to, solicit or treat international patients with the exception of international patient activity related to a hospital's existing international consulting contracts. Back in 2012, Dr. Hoskins’s predecessor, Deb Matthews, had warned hospitals that they could only treat international patients in non-emergency cases if no public dollars were used, no Ontario patients were displaced, and all the revenue generated was spent on hospital services for Ontarians.
Hoskins also pledged that the Ministry of Health would work with relevant hospitals on a framework to ensure compliance with the outlined principles and requirements. In the interim, he asked hospitals not to enter into new international consulting contracts that include the treatment of foreign nationals in Ontario.
So, what motivated this move? For me, the move was motivated by the medical tourism resentment factor.

The Asia incident... disruption of a medical tourism industry event

I seem to remember reading (in 2014) about placard-wielding protesters who disrupted a Medical Tourism Congress being held in a prominent Asian medical tourism destination. The Asian protesters were likewise ill-disposed towards the idea of medical services being offered to international patients.
Like their Canadian counterparts, the Asian protesters were apparently opposed to any scheme that turns health into a “for-profit commodity” to be bought and sold, especially if it involves providing export quality healthcare services to foreigners.

The resentment towards “inbound” medical tourism…  

In 2009, I briefly addressed the benefits and losses (for a destination) associated with the provision of medical tourism services in an IMTJ article (Medical tourism: The Resentment Factor and the (beneficial) Ripple Effect).
We know that medical tourism development delivers benefits for a destination and its “providers”. But some feel that, at the same time, the provision of medical tourism services is associated with “loss”, at least for a sector of the population.
The medical tourism resentment factor, in essence, refers to anger felt and expressed by locals towards the practice of treating paying foreign patients at local hospitals.
The resentment to inbound medical tourism is primarily fueled by the feeling that scarce healthcare resources are diverted away from the poor “entitled” locals and channeled to rich “unentitled” foreigners.
When it comes to inbound medical tourism, the following issues cause resentment:

• Export quality healthcare services, provided exclusively to foreigners (inequality).
  
• The subsidizing of medical tourism development and promotion with taxpayers’ money (taking from the poor to give to the rich).
  
• Internal brain and resources drain (diversion of human and technical resources away from the locals and channeling them towards foreigners).
  
• Healthcare services “free-loading” (e.g. unentitled foreigners making use of free public healthcare services as experienced in the UK’s National Health Service)
  
• Unsavory practices (such as the trade in kidneys, which discredits the country)

________________________

On the other hand, other countries can be thankful, even if they do not express these thanks in any manner -- Germany for instance. Germany has by far the highest turn-over in Medical Tourism in the EU. The fact does not seem to have had effects on the quality of medical services offered to the national population.
In other countries, it might even help raise the standards for the population as well; the fact that a country is selling medical tourism presupposes the existence of quality medical services among other things. As the level of services offered to medical tourists expands, such service level may become more accessible to the population as well.
Hopefully. 
India could be the example here...

Consumerism And The Surge of Luxury Brands In Greece -- A Thing Of The Past?

 Attending various to-do's, bashes, and even official occasions in Greece, I noticed that all (within experimental limits of error) of the indigenous population always sported at least one piece of garment from a luxury brand.

I wondered at this near-religious propensity...

Many fast-moving mass consumption products here -- but there's also Rolls et alia. You get the drift.

I put aside the obvious reasons: upmarket branded apparel & accessories are well made; more often than not they are original, look good, and are always very -- or outrageously -- expensive. That is to say, one can easily acquire other items that do the same job for much less -- minus the logo, of course.

So, I focused on the logo.
In and of itself, the logo alone did not furnish sufficient explanation for the "rite of the brand". Humongous sales at every social nook & cranny: I was assured that a few years ago, every woman, girl, and her aunt, had a DK or two in her wardrobe, including those living in the remotest villages in Crete.

Could it be a matter of taste -- but then again that point of view did not wash; Not only is it a fact that contemporary Greeks are far from being stalwart proponents of elegance and refinement, it is also a fact that the fastidious choice in stentorianbranded excellence did not extend to other items and habits including, at times, personal hygiene.

And then I hit upon it -- or a friend did and I followed.
He said, people buy XYZ because they they do not like who they are and wish to be like someone else. That someone is wearing a BurbXYZ coat; ergo, by donning one of same, I become identical to said someone.

Existential problem, solved.

This viewpoint not only adequately explains the phenomenon, it also provides invaluable insight into contemporary Greek psyche. "With a label I am someone to be reckoned with; without it, I am just myself, i.e. no-one."

Viewed thus, the erstwhile hordes of buyers outside the Burberry's etc outlets make sense. From a personal point of view, it is a confirmation of oneself, asserting one's existence and success; from a social point of view, one asserts oneself and confirms being part of the exalted circles of Burberry owners, thereby dispensing the need to learn manners,how to eat, or how to welcome a guest at one's home -- indeed, how to decorate one's home to receive guests.
And, from a financial point of view, simply buying a Hermes scarf beats going to finishing school: it is much cheaper, faster, and it keeps out the cold.

A bargain!

So, I do not think the importance of luxury brands has fallen in Greece; it is only the money that makes the difference.

The "Troika" to Be Pulled Out of Greece?

Or, that's what is rumoured in numerous publications including the Irish Independent.

Putting national pride aside, that's bad news for Greeks and other inhabitants of the country.

So far, the (very) few reforms have been implemented either because the "troika" put their foot down -- which is rare -- or because the "troika" suggested and served as the scapegoat.

A photo of the 3 "reps" together in Athens

Without the Troika, who will be the one to uphold common sense in Greece? Certainly not the Greek politicians -- they haven't produced an inkling of communality since the advent of time... The main opposition party is still harping about leaving the Euro zone (and the EU) and having the country live happily on its own -- they probably have not caught on to the existence of the internet yet.


So what are the poor Greeks to do? They will be left to the merciless mercy of hungry predators who have 5 years of austerity-experience under their belt and they have thereby discovered a very dangerous truth: that Greeks have proven very tolerant in the name of "we have to survive and there is no money". They have not seriously questioned the barrage of nuisance taxes that has wiped out much of the middle classes. They are likely to accept any pillage that they are victims of as... "financial fate".


And, dangerously enough, there may be less and less Greeks will be able to do about it: if you are in power in Greece and you wish to do something that is reprehensible in some way, all you need to do to make it acceptable is legislate:
 Let us not forget that Greece is probably the only country where giving "presents" to civil servants is legal. And politicians are not liable for anything. By law.



Meanwhile the rodents will be chewing away at the spoils and dancing happily knowing they are safe from public fury, creditors' supervision, and annoying legal constraints...

Are You Thinking of Dying in Greece? Don't.

Don't... for any number of reasons, most obvious being that we want you here, with us, beside us, in our lives...

Here is another, less obvious reason:don;t die because you are in Greece.

It is very  bureaucratic nightmare to die in Greece; what's more and perhaps worse for your friends & family, you can only be decently buried if you are Christian and cremation is out of the question. Also, death & ceremony are very expensive, costing upward of Euro 5k for a service, ceremony and...
then, you have the 40 days and, to be sure, a three years burial.

Eh???

Yup, three years is all you get. At the end of which, your loved one is EXHUMED and the remains thrown away, unless you pay further for something to be done... such as store the remains in a small container that you have to buy.

Yup, death is good business -- but obviously not for you OR your family. Apart from the emotional strain...


Unfortunately, the above is not a scene from an episode of the successful erstwhile series of skeletal ilk*; it is, as the wonderful Father Iakovos** once said, "a gruesome view of what reality is..."
Having been there I can testify to that - as can many others.

So, be smart. Die elsewhere.
How about in France? You can die in perfect dignity; people you never even met pay their respect; no-one is hurried out and the personnel are gentle. And, of course, you may even opt to rest at Pere Lachaise, with Jim Morrison and many others.

But whatever you do, you deserve to rest in peace, we all do.
So steer away from Greece of today.


*  "Bones"
**Father ("Pateras") Iakovos is an Orthodox priest and spiritual guide. In the tradition of orthodox priests, he is wise, uninhibited, and unusually clear-sighted. Father Iakovos and others like him show us what decent people are like and are a joy to be with.

The End of The Age of Comfort

I just got the news that a very close friend has not long to live. He is 60 and healthy -- other than the stage 4 cancer.

It is not the futility of the thing or the fact that these things happen only to others or not at all; it is the feeling of helplessness that descends upon me like an ugly,  itchy, dark & heavy blanket thatI know I can never shake off: I just have to live with it, until it dissipates, or I metabolize it, or I reach my personal fulfillment -- in which case I will have transcended the blanket... Unlikely although I bet that is what my friend is hoping will happen to me.

It is a situation where I cannot find something wise, or smart, or essential, or anything worthy of anything, to say.

As it has been said countless times, planning for the future is a futile exercise unless you are a young person or a large corporation. And of course any plans we had made with our friend our relegated into our past as historical trivia from back then, when things were much more comfortable.

Things were in place, then; people were alive and healthy, things ticked according to plan and if not, in a polite, accessible and foreseeable manner. Life ticked along well, none of the wheels in the life machine were out of place and all things needed to get better now and then was a small adjustment.

Now everything is upset; people one counted upon, the short-list of friends, the reliable few we had chosen to grow old together...

I know that one has to find comfort in life itself, life is its own underpinning.

Easier said than done! For now, we are living the end of the age of comfort...

Corruption: Have You Noticed? Why Do You Tolerate It? Nothing You Can Do, Eh...

Corruption is news nowadays. Even Adidas, a sportswear designer and producer, claims to be "concerned" at allegation of corruption within FIFA -- FIFA being a major client of said Adidas for over a decade...
As political decision makers, allegedly at the forefront of the purported "corruption scene" (should some such actually exist...), scamper to denounce the practice and vociferously proclaim their allegiance to the fight against corruption, the rest of us sit around busy forgetting, talking about, and generally doing absolutely nothing about it.

Why is that?
Obviously for some, having their hand in the till is their God sent right. So we will leave them out. For the rest of us, it is a cause of indignation, anger, sadness, whatnot -- yet, there is no action.

I think it can only be one of two things:
 a) Hope that one day it will be our turn (at the till)
 b) Helplessness: the hollow feeling of being able to do nothing about the matter at all, accompanied by fear that any action can engender retaliation.

It is probably b) much more than A. And I understand peoples' concern... The alleged leaders of corruption are, at the same time, the people who make the laws -- or break them, as it were. Having lived in a country that investigated its President on alleged misconduct as well as in a country that enacted laws that protect past corruption, and allow civil servants to be bought, I understand the concern... especially in the latter of the two.
By the way, both of the aforementioned are EU countries-- in case you wondered...


Yet, each and everyone one of us is involved, in one way or another, directly or indirectly,with cases of corruption. We may all be victims or bystanders, or both, but we have a story to relate. And most of us have some sort of proof to offer... So offer it!

I say, USE THE INTERNET:

Furthermore, to help you hide, disappear, keep your anonymity, enlist the help of the neighbourhood geek. They are usually quiet, generally very helpful, and amenable when the cause is good.

What are you waiting for?
Your turn will never come

European Elections... Greek Style

Just a bit of trivia...

Which Greek politician received the most votes in the recent Euro-elections?

Mr Manolis (Emmanuel) Glezos, hero of WW-2, and now 91 years old. Mr Glezos has a fear of flying and it is unlikely he will visit the Euopean parliament -- i.e. his workplace -- any time soon. Frankly, at 92 he probably has many, much better and more pressing things to do...

Mr Glezos in 2007

Mr Glezos is a nice man and, given his age and experience, a wise one with many stories to tell. European politics probably isn't one of these stories. Or, if it is, it certainly is not one of the noteworthy ones compared to the rest!

So why did he score the highest?

The fact may be interpreted in countless ways.Here are a few:

0) Because in Greece people are used to voting and have been, on & off, for the past 2,400 years. So they vote for whomever they like, for any reason whatsoever!
1) Because voting for him is a reward for his symbolic bravery against the German Nazi invaders;
2) Because people in Greece vote emotionally, not rationally?
3) Because voters felt there was not much choice of "decent" contenders presenting themselves...
 4) Because the act of voting is not directly or causally related to the actual job at hand -- but a prize as it were. (see 2 above)


Question: would contemporary Greek voters vote in the same manner if it were the position of centre attacker for their favourite FOOTBALL team -- even if that person knew nothing about football, and was 92 years old?

One may speculate that it would  serve the country and Mr Glezos much better if voters took some time to think about the job at hand as well as the personality and the past experience of the person they are voting for... and offer Mr Glezos a meaningful distinction that he deserves!


Being a MEP is not a prize; it is a function. And a temporary one at that.

Being Miserable: A Safeguard?

Two friends were sitting yesterday, on a ledge overlooking a small field, gazing into the distance, talking.
One turned to the other:

"What a beautiful day!"

"It is beautiful. But I see clouds forming over on the right."

"Why are you not happy, insouciant at least? You are alive, you have a job, children... and there are no clouds over us - yet."

"I am worried. I am alone, I feel uncertain about my ability to cope with everything on my own. I'm not afraid of dying -- it's getting there that's scary: how to afford to get old nowadays, on my own..."

"Yes, but still: now you are alive, you have children, you have a job... You could be happy, for a moment... Grab the moment"

"Maybe I am afraid of being content just in case it is snatched away from me the next moment..."

"Why would someone snatch away from you what is... Your situation is not transferrable, so there is nothing in it for anyone..."

"Think of it this way: happiness is attractive and someone will want to take it away, pinch it. On the other hand, who would want to steal misery. Being miserable is safe: you don't risk becoming unhappy, you already are! You are safe!"

"Getting Away With It, ...(NOT)...Messed Up: That's the Living..."* Greek Politicians' Latest Motto.

The Greek government is pushing through legislation at amazing speed, which promises to hold "...people in office unaccountable directly for misdeeds perpetrated during their tenure...". What this means is, the Greek government is exonerating anyone and everyone who has perpetrated a crime: in Greece, purportedly these are financial, i.e. corruption. That includes central administration and local communities...


H*ll of a deal!

The beauty of all this is that it is under the radar, all the radars in fact! In particular, very much under the international community's radar.

The unfortunate part, for the Greek people that is, is that Greece's politicians caught on to a very significant fact: as long as they keep the international community and, particularly, the lenders happy, they can do anything they like in national affairs because the latter are just that: national. Who is to question the laws and regulations of a sovereign state? They can do whatever they like using the most obvious process of democracy: enacting laws!

Who is to stop them?




Had Greece been a dictatorship, or in some sort of newsworthy crisis (think Ukraine), the spotlights would be on -- but it's none of these, fortunately as it were...






TO listen to Greek politicians speak about the crisis, financial figures, growth and budget balancing, you'd think that they understand nothing about the crisis and know nothing about financial figures, balancing a budget, growth policy, and you'd probably be right.

One thing they do know, however: when in doubt, revert to "Save Our Skin" mode.
Enact a law that exonerates everything and everybody: after all trials & tribulations the Greek population has been through without making as much as a dent in the armour, nothing can stop a bit extra...

On the more patriotic side, in SOS mode all of Greece's traditional politicians, the union bosses and the civil-service cronies are united as one!

*Lyrics from the song of same name by British band James .

What a Great Small Speech!

In a less-than-seven minutes' address, Stephen Fry (known for his many interests and talents, not least of which for me, a roaring funny comedian!) put together the right amounts of argument, emotion, and sentiment to produce one of the most impressive speeches in favour of returning the Parthenon marbles back -- to the Parthenon (or a 2 min walk away).

Fry has always struck me as an all-around "nice chap", even though I only know him from the screen, i.e. although I've never actually met him I feel a certain compatibility in any number of matters (including our near identical age).

It was an Intelligence Squared debate on the subject of the friezes the then British ambassador (Thomas Bruce*) pinched from Athens with the Ottoman invaders' pecuniary blessing. the 11th June 2012 at an  at Cadogan Hall, but I missed it at the time and it was only brought to my attention recently.

Here is the short video, somewhat distractingly subtitles in Greek -- but then again, that's the language they speak where said marbles come from!

Enjoy.

* Tommy Bruce is better known by his more illustrious title, Earl of Elgin. He was a prankster at school.

"How (...) we feel as Greeks"? Or Rather, "How We Feel About Greece..."

Peter Economides is the evangelist for re-branding Greece, i.e. Greeks, i.e. showing them for what they really are, as opposed to what others and they themselves think of themselves -- miserable, loser-minded and not surprisingly lacking in self-confidence. Let's hope that many join his bandwagon.

I admit that Peter is addictive and, having listened to him last W-E I looked him up. He is into people and so am I. And being addictive, he has no side effects, other than good ones, so I can say that Economides is good for you, especially if you're Greek.

At one point in one speech, speaking about self-realisation and how one communicates (works on "branding") and he says: "we have to describe /show, Who we are, where we come from, where are going, how we doing it, why..."

The unfortunate answers to a mostly silent majority of Greeks nowadays is "I don't know anymore, from Ancient Greece, I don't know, fortuitously, den variese (oh well, let's not bother...).

Economides points to Greeks who stand out because they shed the constraints of a miserable, depressive, attitude and acted.

These very successful Greeks that stand out because they have genius, resilince, they wanted to do things, and were not afraid to do them against all odds and demons...

The challenge is to rally the silent majority as well; get them out of the rut and into the sunlight -- of which there is much to have in Greece.

For very many years I have felt that a lot of Greece's misery hinges upon the misery of the Greeks and it comes as a great relief that a public figure such as Economides also makes this point.

I.e. the fundamental question is "How we feel, as Greeks"

I will answer that question as well I can through my experience.

First, a small story that may offer more than any of my own analyses and conclusions. There was a very popular and heated discussion -- subject-related heat, not controversy -- on huge special interest site (diy, music & audio) 7-8 years ago. It attracted responses by the minute, as usual, 24/7 and the attendance was impressive as well: industry designers and figureheads were following.
Two of the active posters in this discussion were Greek - apparently as their residence indicated and confirmed later. One young in his 20's, one in his early 60's. Some altercation took place between them, and one responded in scathing tones -- such that it created a lull in the discussion and one other contributor, from Norway and another from the US, both very senior, chipped in to placate what had become an personal affront. The US poster noted that it was just a discussion, an exchange of opinion and of objective info and we are all, at the end of day, friends here -- not only, but we share a common interest! The Norwegian went further: he posted something along the lines of ".. you are both from Greece, a prestigious and very important country, and this is a very international site, so in a way you are representing the country..."

The young poster's response was shocking and saddening and ultimately very revealing: "I have nothing to do with that country, it doesn't represent me, I don't want to have ties..."

The guy was 27 years old at the time, Greek.

I think he said what many Greeks think. And when they do, it is the Administration they think of, the politicians they think of and ultimately, the impression these people give to the outside world. And they say, that's not me!
They say, I am not a genius, not a self-starter, not crazy pioneer -- but, neither am I a thief, lazy, con man, hypocrite, etc. I too am entitled to a country where negativity, corruption, inefficiency... do not prevail!

They say, "as I see things, it is an insult for me to have a GREEK NATIONALITY for all that that represents; yes I am Greek, but I don't want to be linked to "Greece" the brand. I am Greek but not a citizen of Greece...

How can Greeks pull themselves out of this rut???

Re-branding The Political System -- and Politicians?

In a recent speech on Branding, Peter Economides, the branding guru, mentioned the need to "re-brand" Greece. During his speech, he also mentioned that there is a crisis in Greece, but the crisis it is not exclusively Greek -- but it is a global crisis.

It got me thinking.

{By the way, it was the first time I heard Economides speak on brands, branding, and re-branding. And re-branding a country, no less!


What if the crisis is because we are tired of the old, greying, brands many of us live in? Our political systems, our politicians, our democracies and pseudo-democracies...

Do we need to re-brand our political system or at least re-brand our political  procedures and processes?
What if people are no longer buying the "political brand" any more: the people and the processes and procedures?

Economides points out that "brand is what people think of you" or, simply put, your reputation. "Branding is the process of managing what people think of you".
Useful, easy to remember and nifty definitions: clear and to the point.


In terms of politicians, the brand erosion is not very surprising. Look at what we had and what we have now. Take Churchill, for example. Whatever you may think of Winston Churchill, no-one can really ignore him.
In other words, Churchill was a strong brand and he delivered. In fact, you can tell many things by just looking :

Churchill, left; Stalin, right; Roosevelt, middle.

Churchill's cigar was his logo. As was his drinking -- part of his branding, perhaps.

Now compare these guys with the mediocre, featherweight politicians of today -- I will not choose any, to each his or her own.

Or, how about bankers?

Compare and contrast, say, Giannini (Bank of America) with anyone current; how inventive is the current one?

Compare and contrast JP Morgan, or Warburg or Rothchild, or J Merrill with what we get today; think of Merrill's ten commandments. That was back in 1949..

Of course, there is one revolutionary concept in recent years: microcredit. prof Muhamad Yunus' Grameen Bank. That was revolutionary. It still is.

But for the rest: nondescript, unremarkable, indifferent -- and except for exceptionally high incomes, that is!

Meant to be a random "institution"

Methinks the brand has lost its luster; to paraphrase our friend Economides, maybe the political system, our fundamental institutions and related personalities, have lost their reputation -- i.e the brand was lost somewhere along the historical way.




So, on a more positive note, is our way out of the global crisis just a matter of reviewing and re-branding our political and financial institutions and their minions? 

Is it just a case of urgent rebranding?

Let's call Economides!

Health Tourism: The First International (Integration) Conference In Greece

A very interesting conference on Health Care (In Greece) took place On Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd Feb 2014. It was a very rewarding get together of very interesting people from Greece and abroad; the information presented and exchanged was refreshingly pertinent as well... the programme says it all.


The conference was conceived and largely organized by Heathcare Cybernetics' (hCc) CEO, Dr C Constantinides.
The implementation and operational support came from Zita Congress

Dinos Constantinides who, as his name does not indicate, is South African (his Greek language skills are perfect by the way) is the EMEA pioneer on this subject.

Not surprising that he succeeded in bringing together an impressive roster of speakers...

A few quick pointers, gleamed from this get-together:

Health tourism (HT) is a new business - or, should we say, it is only just been recognised as an Industry in and of itself. It is growing, but not vertiginously; Germany is the leader in Europe and grosses 0.9 bill from HT. Singapore is doing well grossing ~0.5bill.


Few countries are working seriously in branding themselves as Health Tourism (HT) destinations; nor surprisingly, countries that are known to offer medically advanced services are leading at the moment: Germany, Singapore.... But they are not alone -- as others are investing and catching up.

You have to brand your country in order to become a HT destination, slowly and after a gestation period.

Greece is, at present nowhere near discovering its own HT "personality", branding.
Interestingly enough, mythology has a God of medicine and, of course, Hippocrates was Greek...

In other words, one of the first centres of official practice of medicine in the world was in Greece!


Modern day Greek authorities know little (if anything) on the subject -- but there seems to be interest and, as often happens in the beginning, a lot of misinformation circulating official corridors and crowding ministers' in-trays.

Greece can offer technologically advanced medical infrastructure in the private sector, albeit in small numbers.

The level of medical practitioners in Greece is exceptionally & surprisingly advanced -- surprising given visibly and apparently low tech and mediocre level of services offered in the Public Sector.

Greek legislation is restrictive to the growth of HT at the moment - but there is hope in the future (e.g. day clinics are forbidden in Greece, etc)

The Tourism part of HT is advanced in Greece and Tourism studies are very good.

Recruiting in the HT sector is typically towards destinations abroad (both doctors, nurses and hospitality professionals).

My personal conclusion:
Very well focused and razor-edge communicated Boutique Operations stand the best chance of growing HT in Greece at the present time & the near future.



This was one very important conference; it also was very rewarding for those who attended. The presentations material is worth investigating!

Excellence: a trendy word, which retains a meaning after all. Thanks to a few inspired people...

Until a forward thinking partner from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) came up with a way to turn the word into a trendy, hot biz-speak noun, and write 2-3 bestsellers upon it, the use of Excellence had been limited to academia and the occasional adverbial remark as in, "great, excellent!" followed by, "Thank you".

Excellent has gone a long way since then, showing its high potential by blooming into a concept: "excellence". Accordingly, "excellence" became the subject of many a (oft heated) discussion and monographs as well.

Throughout the times, excellence, loosely approached, has meant "better than very good". It's one step higher, as in, good, very good, excellent,. It becomes "exceptional". Very good is repeatable whereas excellent is the exception to very good: it is even better.The idea behind the word seen as a concept is, how about if this excellent were something to strive for, i.e. repeatable as a way of doing things rather than as a result of having done thing and achieved a certain result (better than "very good", as it were).

Accordingly and often nauseatingly, lots of server space has been wasted on writing and speculating about this - and much of this is best left where it is -- in well-deserved obscurity. However, every now and then a point of view appears that goes beyond stereotype to embody its own merit.

One such statement -- point of view, if you will -- on the concept that attracted my attention for its simplicity came from the CEO of Agna Group, Mr Vasil Naci (aka Vassilis Natsis): "Excellence is an attitude, a mindset, an action, a philosophy. It is an asipration..." This embodies, in fine, most of what most others have had to say on the subject. That is nice: rather than speculate and philosophize, Mr Naci actually writes what he believes and knows about it and, as these things are wont to be, it is short. Because, presumably, he knows well what he believes and he uses the word to exemplify his belief. We appreciated this. We also appreciated the fact that this is not the standard stereotypical CEO pronunciamento, the boss pontificating to the minions accompanied by appropriate fanfare: it is just a sentence and a half contained in a limited circulation booklet edited by the Agna Group's own Leadership Academy and intended, presumably, for internal consumption.

I would beg to agree as well as differ slightly from the (undoubtedly inspirational and inspired) Mr Naci.

I would say that "excellence" is, indeed, an attitude or a day-in day-out way of doing things; but the way I would put it is, "constant improvement for its own sake".
In this sense, excellence presupposes a personal life-philosophy of believing in what you do well, for its own sake -- i.e. not expecting recognition and praise from any other than yourself.

It is difficult to be alone, though, is it not?

Maybe not, because loneliness is a state of the mind; as a friend once told me, "when you are alone you are with together with everyone, when you are with one person, you are only with that person..." (Margarita Xanthakou, anthropologist )

Public Image Under Public Scrutiny -- How Critical (Is the Scrutiny?)

Is the answer: it depends on the Public? Or maybe, how trusting is the Public in question without falling into conspiracy theory territory?

Mr Jack Martin, CEO of Hill & Knowlton Strategies, a communications & PR company, asserts that the Public has definitively established itself as a pivotal parametre in corporate or political success -- specifically, the trust of the public. 

The idea is that the internet has brought information (as well as misinformation) to the home, immediately, and raw - unedited by the subject of this information, that is. And leaders can count of 24x7 media scrutiny. Thus being the case says Jack Martin, you have to be straightforward and transparent; communicate directly rather than through an intermediary. And this is a good thing.

I would agree, wholeheartedly. I would also agree that gaining and maintaining the trust of the Public is primordial, and that it is a good thing...

Only, the public is still (?) very partisan; could it be that building and maintaining trust can be manipulated just as efficiently today as,say, in the '30s when Dr Goebbels effectively invented and launched grand scale media advertising and political PR campaigning?

I think it can: after all, the global reach of information and the access to global information today does not mean that the media channels cannot do their own editing. They do.
National TV is still very influential, not only in countries where I-Net home penetration is low and, don't forget, few people check their news online from independent sources. For that matter, how dependable are independent sources, anyway?

In the '30s, the centre of the world was the square where Hitler was scheduled to appear in midst of music, fanfares, and the like. My father had some experience of this and it was, in his words, fascinatingly done - people were in a trance.

I don't think that things are much different today, despite the internet...

There is, however, one major difference between now and then: misinformation. It is slowly dying -- as we know it from Hitler to present day politicians.

Why? Because anyone can check on line the veracity of any purported fact reported or claimed by any speaker!

Misinformation is the trade mark and favoured bait for Public consumption, used by politicians and
authoritarian regimes. It would seem that they will have to find a new method -- or block access to the internet, or certain sites on the Net.

Not a moment too soon!

Happy New Year! Oh, and by the way, do you trust your politicians???

Answer: of course not.

In a recent survey, Gallup discovered that trust in government has sunk "to a new low" in South Europe. Not surprisingly, Greece fares the lowest.

I would upload a photo to illustrate the element of non-suprise, but google has decided I should no longer do so: whenever I click on the link to choose files, it defaults to google docs -- so, no cigar...

Anyway, one he point I would like to make is that the news about South Europe's politicians' ratings is not all bad news; some of it is good.
I have met few politicians and many of the few I have met are either Greek or French. Some are English (as in GB but not N. Irish, Scots or Welsh). All of the people I have met have been pleasant, a bit over the top, and silly. Some of them are arrogant: all of the Greek ones and one or two of the French ones. All displayed varying levels of gravitas, the English ones less so than the rest, the Greek ones topping the list of pseudo-seriousness.

All in all, not attributing much credibility to politicians can be seen as a measure of, wisdom is stretching it, maturity. And maturity is welcome, especially when it right-sizes the importance of adolescents playing adults -- which is what most politicians are and do.

In the same way one would not give much credence to a 3rd Reich documentary on the Jewish race nor take the ensuing political analysis at face value... thus, it is not wise to give much more than entertainment value to the things our politicians say and do.

Especially what they say.

Case in point: European MP J. Swoboda recently made a comment on abolishing "Troikas" because, in his opinion, they have failed in whatever role assigned to them. Because this is not "democratic".Quite. And revert to the failed governments that brought them into the countries after said governments sank said countries beyond recovery... presumably that is democratic, in Mr Swoboda's opinion.

While pretending to run a country without being part of the elected reps of that country is not on the apparent agenda for most of our countries, hence the Troikas of this world are there, officially,  to "consult" and not manage.However, even if this were the case, one can wonder at the obvious import of admitting officially that you need external support to stand on your (two) feet again (i.e. the Troika) because you have made a sorry mess of it all -- and mortgaged the whole country in the process.


I.e. the actions of Greece's politicians indicate that they pay only lip service to the woes of their country's inhabitants; they are portrayed as either squabbling between them or spending their time in inane public proclamations or bandying chaff and exchanging inane platitudes in Parliamentary sessions -- those that are there and awake, that is.That is, Great entertainment value, little else.

No wonder Gallup attributes 14% trust level in Greece to government and leaders alike.Gallup are polite: what they are not saying is that 86% of all Greeks have no confidence in their country's management team: too bad Greece's stakeholders can't get rid of them and appoint the best talent in the market. Who'd need a Troika then?