50 Years Ago Today
I AM NOT AMBITIOUS: (From an article by Greek Rally leader Marshal Alexandros Papagos, a week before the elections): At the time when, having soberly evaluated the situation and my own responsibility to the fatherland, I decided to become involved in politics, I was not driven by the ambition to become prime minister. And that is self-evident, because I was repeatedly offered the post of Prime Minister and always refused it. Moreover, I have served the country in the military field and received more honors and distinctions than anyone else in modern times. Hence the title of Prime Minister would not have offered me anything more. However, the die was cast and I decided to enter politics when I was convinced that my refusal to do so amounted to desertion. Georgios Vlachos was one of the few people who knew of my recent inner struggle, and so I make it public today in Kathimerini, because he is absent and his eloquent pen can no longer summon Greeks to the struggle. I want to lay the foundations for new and peaceful paths for Greece. This is my great and sole ambition. NEA ESTIA ON VLACHOS: Nea Estia today published a series of articles about the late Georgios A. Vlachos. The leaders of the largest democracies are feverishly seeking corrective steps. The Bush administration seems to be opting for a flight forward, resorting to an aggressive liberalism as demonstrated by its decision to make a drastic cut in income tax. In Europe, where the threat to social cohesion is much greater, as reflected by the recent outbursts in Gothenburg and Genoa, there is no consensus on policy. France’s center-left government is suddenly placing its hopes on the implementation of a 35-hour working week and is examining the possibility of taxing stock market transactions, while even the liberal-minded weekly The Economist raised the issue of reviewing the Maastricht criteria and abandoning the stability pact.
