>From Wikipedia: "Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek two-party system is dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND) and the social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) Other significant parties include the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Popular Orthodox Ralyy (LAOS). The current prime minister is George Papandreou, president of PASOK, who on October 4, 2009, won with a majority in the Parliament of 160 out of 300 seats."
On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 2:04 PM, david buchanan <[email protected]>wrote: > > Platt said: > ...Since then, SOM has become an "end in itself" and is "screwing > everything up," evident as today's socialist Greece goes down the tube with > other European countries blindly following the same morally-vacant SOM > downward path. > > > > dmb quotes: > Here is some actual Greek political history. As you can see, that country > has been ruled by the right and by the military since world war two and has > successfully kept the moderate left out of power and outlawing the communist > party altogether. > > > For decades after 1945 the politics of Greece "were largely outer-directed: > external factors played a major role in affecting her security and > stability." [2] Greece found itself dependent upon the United States for > financial and military support and the United States became extensively > involved in the affairs of Greece in order to promote its strategic > interests in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. The end of World War II > coincided with the beginning of the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949, the > protagonists of which were the pro-Western government in Athens and the > communists. > The war of independence in the early nineteenth century and the National > Schism during World War I caused important cleavages in Greek society. These > divisions could not, however, compare with the savagery of the Civil War > which prolonged the agonies of the World War II occupation. The old conflict > had been between Venizelists and anti-Venizelists, generally speaking > between republicans and monarchists. But now this conflict was enhanced by > an even more important division, that between communists and anticommunists. > [3] The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan significantly helped the > government to defeat the communists whose supporters, Yugoslavia and the > Soviet Union, eventually discontinued their assistance. > The Civil War was costly not only in terms of people and money but also > because it delayed reconstruction after the end of World War II. The outcome > of the war involving Greeks against Greeks was high inflation, serious > economic depression, and a cost of living that was so high that 1.5 million > people were near starvation. At the end of the Civil War, the Greek > government was directly assisting about 34 percent of the population through > the military, government employment, pensions, and refugee relief. [4] > "Perhaps more important in the long term, the military as an institution > acquired the position of national savior and remained a major drain on the > national budget (with military and security personnel numbering nearly > 250,000) as well as a significant political player. Even more important, the > defeat of the communists also meant that the moderate left lost its > opportunity to be a legitimate participant in parliamentary politics. The > possibility of forming a political party > with a mass base and a modern ag enda was delayed for a generation." [5] > With peace re-established, the people of Greece and the ruling class wished > for tranquillity and political stability. New elections were called for > April 1950, but what followed was not political stability but a nightmare > due to the number of governments formed in the next two years. 1952 marked > the beginning of a new era in Greek politics characterized by a stability > unparalleled since the beginning of the Modern Greek State. Between 1952 and > 1963, Greece had only two Prime Ministers (Field Marshal Papagos and > Constantine Karamanlis), in contrast to the pre-1952 period when half a > dozen governments a year was not unusual. The government was in the hands of > the Conservative Party. In addition, when the conservative government fell > in 1963, it was replaced in power after a constitutionally conducted > election by another party--a rare occurrence in Europe, outside of Great > Britain, since 1945. [6] Even th > ough the traditional political parties of Greece emerged intact from the > Civil War, it was the Right which was the beneficiary of the defeat of the > Left because of the "outlawing of the Communist party of Greece, the > polarization of the electorate and, above all, the emergency legislation > which lay the foundations for the paraconstitution and the > institutionalization of the anti-Communist state in Greece...." [7] > Anticommunism became the ideology of powerful ruling groups, [8] and > arrangements were made to neutralize the Left and to ensure the political > dominance of the Right. > _________________________________________________________________ > The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with > Hotmail. > > http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5 > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
