Counter-Terrorism: The Real Greek Tragedy

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July 1, 2010: Terrorist violence by leftist radical groups is a growing problem in Europe. Largely unnoticed in media coverage is the high level of such violence in Greece. In the last two years, there have been 21 bombings or shootings, usually directed at the police or businesses, in Greece. There have been dozens of casualties, and hundreds of resulting arrests.

The disproportionate amount of such violence in Greece is largely due to corruption and poor economic performance there. Greece has the most dysfunctional economy in the region, largely due to widespread disregard for the law, and paying taxes. The government has responded by borrowing more and more money, and hiring more and more unemployed Greeks for useless government jobs.

Rather than look to themselves for the cause of the problem, and the solutions, many Greeks blamed someone else (the government, business, foreign governments and corporations and so on.) Recently, the Greek house of cards came tumbling down, when it was revealed that the Greek government had deceived the European Union to borrow more money than it could pay back. Greece was threatened with financial and economic retribution if they did not clean up their government and economic practices. The government agreed, but leftist radicals have threatened even more violence. "It's not our fault," say the leftists, and many Greeks still prefer to believe that version of reality.

 

 

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