omg! yikes!

chew, just before taz responds (I am Greek so I 'm following the story), it seems that there were no victims in the attack which happened in Athens. Thankfully dear taz is in Thessaloniki 600 km away.

Yikes indeed. Stupid kids playing with guns, I bet.

Hope the bunniez don't change their minds about an Athens meetup in the fall!

Of course, now that I think of it, mr taz is in Athens, but I am sure he is okay as there were no injuries. Revolutionary Struggle, what fucking coward idiots. Makes anyone who was ever part of the Left in Greece so embarrassed.

But there has long been a bubbling undercurrent of intrigue in Athens, and paths of lots of shady characters cross there. If Moussad and Syrian and Iranian intelligence alone let go all the flats they maintain, the rental property market would collapse. Add in the American, Russian, German, French, British and Chinese intelligence operatives tooling around on any given Tuesday, to say nothing of one time Yugoslavians and people with mailbox drops in Kabul or Karachi, and it starts to look like Beirut and Cairo in the late 50's, but with more cars.

I thought of Taz this morning when I read the story. So the Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility? I learned a tiny bit about them this morning while doing a bit of Googling after I read the initial story. I think they are the same extremists who were responsible for bombings before the 2004 Olympic games.

Thank goodness nobody was hurt.

Carmina glad you are ok - I knew there was another mechazen in Greece but I couldn't remember who. You must be excited at the prospect of the Taz' arrival in Athens. :D

chew, I am in NY actually, but thank you for the interest.

well, paul I would favorite your comment if I could. thank you for the humor.

But the sad story is that Greece is the country of the absurd and the endless contradiction. The perpetrators have absolutely no ideological background (not that that would justify any such action) and if asked I bet the best they can come up with is "We are against the war in Iraq". So are millions on the planet of course, you morons. But, hey, they got hold of a rocket and hid in an empty street early in the morning and shoot off. Such random violence is usually effective but is cowardice. There is nothing heroic or remotely admirable in it. Of course their fucking little brains cannot comprehend that. At the risk of injuring passers by, cause they knew that nobody would be in those rooms so early in the morning. I mean, what the fuck?

In 2002, there was a terrorist organization (November 17th) that got dismantled --probably by chance-- and after 20 years of action, with several victims -many times it wasn't even clear why they picked certain victims, even. Everyone thought that a Baader-Meinhoff or Red Brigade type of organization would be revealed. You know, ideologists who were fighting the system, who were fighting after all those who supported the junta in Greece during the 70's, with deep knowledge of political situation and analytical thought, you know?

Well, guess what. These bozos were arrested who could barely blurt a full sentence out, let alone an idea! They kept accusing one another and trying to evade justice (well, all except one). It was so comical to the point of tears.

What can I tell you. I am sorry.

Hi, kids! I'm okay, of course!

It's funny - our Thessaloniki place (where I am now) is directly across from the British embassy. I mean - pretty much a direct line from our balcony to their windows. We are always joking about being snooped on from CIA/MI6/et al (whenever I hear weird noises or beeps, I talk to them out loud - "Hey, guys - what's up? Long time, no see!"). Then the second place that V. looked at in Athens was very, very close the American ambassador's house/grounds... We thought that it would be pretty damn amusing if we ended up living there.

But, I could do without the drama. When there are demonstrations here (esp. Iraqi war demonstrations) they usually spend some time in the square in front of us at the British embassy. Usually they are very peaceful, but we've had to close our windows against tear gas a couple of times.

carmina, I'd favourite your comment. This sort of shit pisses people on the Left off everywhere, I think.