50 Years Ago Today
ENTERTAINMENT: Athens Mayor Constantine Kotzias is working on details of the entertainment to be provided for the 13,000 men of the US Sixth Fleet which is to sail into the Bay of Faliron on November 9. WISHES TO THE USSR: The king’s chief courtier, A. Stathatos, yesterday visited the chargé d’affaires for the USSR in Athens and forwarded His Majesty’s best wishes for the country’s national day. BELOYIANNIS TESTIMONY: The trial by a special military court of the Beloyiannis communist group continued yesterday afternoon with testimony by the remainder of the accused. The last to testify was Beloyiannis himself, who did not deny being a communist but rejected the accusation that he wanted Greece to be under the Cominform. He also refused to answer questions from the royal commissioner about the massacres at Meligala and Kalamata. MITROPOULOS: New York, 7 – A concert was held in Washington last night in support of Queen Frederika’s War Orphans’ Fund, with the participation of the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dimitris Mitropoulos. However, the current global situation – the military campaign in Afghanistan and the possible contribution of European troops to ground operations – should not mislead us. The states that met at Downing Street will not comprise a hard core that will negotiate and implement a course toward a reinforced intergovernmental or federal cohesion. Despite the impression conveyed by the recent British initiative, the European balance of power has remained unaltered. The nature of the nascent Franco-German relationship remains the central challenge. And this will become a real diplomatic headache for Blair. In this light, the discontent of the Greek government should not be interpreted as a complaint voiced by a state that has been left out, but as move dictated by constructive European realism.
