IN DEPTH | eKathimerini.com (2024)

ANALYSIS

Voters in North Macedonia head to the polls on Wednesday for the first round of presidential elections, in a test vote that could define the country’s EU perspective. The tiny Balkan country changed its name in 2018, after signing the Prespes Agreement with Greece, in a process set to […]

ROBERT KAGAN

He was born in Athens, the son of Donald Kagan, a prominent classicist and expert in the history of the Peloponnesian War. However, Robert Kagan did not follow his father’s academic path, but instead worked at the State Department under the Ronald Reagan administration, as a speechwriter for the then secretary of state George P. Shultz, and a member of the United States Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff, before ending up at the Brookings Institution as a senior fellow and as a regular analyst for the Washington Post.

SOCIETY

In December 2016, the first graduates of the newly established program Introduction to Muslim Studies, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, sat down to study Islam, an emerging world which, in one way or another (positive or negative), we find before us and must learn to “read,” away from stereotypes and prejudices.

IN DEPTH

First stop: “See that house at the end of the green slope? The man who owned it kept the area as it was, untouched, refusing to sell it no matter how much he was offered. Now it’s passed on to his son, who’s selling it for 1.5 million euros.

ANALYSIS

Inside the barn on the flat fields of the northern Netherlands, Jos Ubels cradles a newborn Blonde d’Aquitaine calf, the latest addition to his herd of over 300 dairy cattle.

ANALYSIS

A decade ago, Greece was in the throes of a devastating debt crisis marked by years of austerity, hardship and unrest. Now, officials and investors say 2024 could be the year its rebound is finally complete.

SOCIETY

Under an overcast sky on the Greek island of Lesvos, Afghan asylum-seeker Safika placed a red rose on the grave of a refugee who died trying to reach Europe. The tombstone read “unknown.”

ANALYSIS

Christos Kaltekis, born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, a city renowned for its vibrant Greek community, wishes to relocate to Greece.

DIANEOSIS SURVEY

Tapping into the values and beliefs permeating Greek society, a survey by the Dianeosis think-tank shows that the return of economic insecurity, the consequences of climate change and the demographic issue are seen as major threats to the country’s future.

ENVIRONMENT

The sole resident of Kerasia, on Mount Papikio in Rodopi, has been observing the changes to the village’s river since the 1980s. “We used to hear the Aspropotamos roar. Now it’s gone quiet.”

ANALYSIS

It’s been more than a year of calm waters between Greece and Turkey and suddenly tensions seemed to have flared up again.

NEWS

A large global survey issued on Friday showed a surge in despair and disillusionment with established politics, particularly among young American men, the only US population group to turn more conservative over the past decade.

ANALYSIS

When Tina Kyriaki saw Marina Satti’s video for Greece’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, it made her mad. Very mad, in fact. “My first thought was that we were gouging out our own eyes,” the founder of Alternative Athens tells Kathimerini, quoting a Greek proverb.

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says his country is in favor of the European Union adopting qualified majority voting when making decisions on certain foreign policy matters. Concerning the war in Ukraine, he notes that both sides are exhausted and that countries need to increase their support toward Kyiv.

SOCIETY

The Stars of David adorning the balconies along the top of the building catch the first glimmers of the dawn light as worshipers pass through the gates of the historic Yeni Cami, or New Mosque, for morning prayers.

IN DEPTH

Army sergeant Christos Giannakidis was planning to have a second child when Greece’s debt crisis exploded last decade, straining his finances and erasing hope of extending the family.

ZSOLT DARVAS

New EU fiscal rules are set to bring about greater relief for Greece but will also demand increased efforts, according to Hungarian economist Zsolt Darvas.

POLITICS

Seeking to tackle the rise in cases of bullying, the government has announced a series of preventive measures which include, among others, stricter penalties for students for acts of violence at school and parents’ co-responsibility for their children’s actions.

IN DEPTH

His political career lasted over half a century; it was full of crises, scandals, even an assassination attempt. But some of the most dramatic passages in the memoirs of Wolfgang Schaeuble concern Greece.

IN DEPTH

Kostas Karapavlos is standing in the middle of the hall. The 180-year-old wooden floor creaks with every step he takes. He shows us portraits and old family photos on the walls – his great-great-grandfather was Ioannis Kapodistrias, first head of state of independent Greece.

ANALYSIS

“Today is truly a historic day for Turkey, a rare day of hope for our democracy and a new day for our country’s political scene,” 29-year-old Can Bucak tells Kathimerini English Edition in the aftermath of Sunday’s local elections, his voice slightly cracking but still beaming with enthusiasm.

ANALYSIS

Newly re-elected Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has emerged as the main challenger to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s reign. But in some ways, he is following in the footsteps of the Turkish leader who ran the city in the 1990s.