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EDITORIAL |
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Wasted opportunity in tourism
Greece spent a lot of money and went to a great deal of effort to the host the Olympics. It earned a reputation and began attracting a growing number of tourists. But it failed to make the best of this heritage.
Where to start? With the rotting «Olympic» infrastructure? The «Olympic» coastline of Faliron, which looks like a garbage dump? Popular island airports that are badly run and improperly maintained? The prices in Greece compared to the competition? |
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COMMENTARY |
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Greece in the 28th Olympiad
In antiquity, Olympiads used to be a measure of time for the Greeks, providing a fixed date in the endless rush of events. They would date events in relation to the four-year period between Olympic Games during which the event occurred. The start of the Beijing Games this coming Friday signals the end of «the years of the 28th Olympiad of the modern Games,» which were held in Athens in 2004. |
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EDITORIAL:AthensPlus |
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Broken from the start
For the past 10 years, during which Greece has had an immigration policy, the state has been anything but welcoming. Hundreds of thousands of people from many non-EU countries have suffered without reason, over and over and over again. But this has also served as a warning: Choosing to live in Greece is not all that it seems. Because, as foreigners will learn, on the other side of the fence is no paradise of sensible rules and just laws. They need only look at the current panic, in which 3 million Greeks were given just three months to register their homes and other property or risk heavy fines and even confiscation.
The procedures and the staff involved in dealing with immigrants display all the problems that plague everyone who lives here. Unreasonable demands are placed on citizens and foreign residents alike, whereas the state usually fails to honor even its most basic obligations. |
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