Originally Posted by Garbatellamike

What Eric reads it as:...

Originally Posted by Red Eric

I think we can all see who has the problem with reading by now

Originally Posted by Pulaski

But that was done to stop Greece becoming a Russian satellite, which was quite likely as my recent reading of a book on the Crimean War explained, because Russia became a self-appointed protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman empire, including notably the Greeks. In this era, the mid 1800's, the seeds of the Balkan war of the 1990's were sown.

I have now moved on to reading The Ottoman Endgame, which plugs the gap between the Crimean war and WWI.

Originally Posted by Garbatellamike

.... is it age catching up with you...

Originally Posted by Red Eric

Is it safe for you to be thinking about numbers again so soon?

Originally Posted by Red Eric

As someone else has pointed out, no Greece forum, hence posting here where nobody'll read it, however....

Are we watching history in the making here? The new Greek government appears to have made significant headway in at least getting acknowledgement of the fact that they have ideas for change.

That comes as a breath of fresh air after years of the extremely unpleasant austerity experiment. Obviously, they're not being openly welcomed on all sides but they've made a good start.

Could this lead to general adoption of a different approach, a bit of relief for the other bailed out nations in the short term and perhaps a brighter future for Europe later on?

Originally Posted by Garbatellamike

perfectly mate - I'm quite good at hard sums ...

Originally Posted by Red Eric

Oh well, as long as you only do it for a hobby, I suppose that might be OK Easy on the percentages, though

Originally Posted by Red Eric

As someone else has pointed out, no Greece forum, hence posting here where nobody'll read it, however....

Are we watching history in the making here? The new Greek government appears to have made significant headway in at least getting acknowledgement of the fact that they have ideas for change.

That comes as a breath of fresh air after years of the extremely unpleasant austerity experiment. Obviously, they're not being openly welcomed on all sides but they've made a good start.

Could this lead to general adoption of a different approach, a bit of relief for the other bailed out nations in the short term and perhaps a brighter future for Europe later on?

Originally Posted by Garbatellamike

What are your views on the original post given what has subsequently transpired?

Originally Posted by Red Eric

I still think there should be a separate Greece forum, even though I was wrong about nobody reading that post.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

But that was done to stop Greece becoming a Russian satellite, which was quite likely as my recent reading of a book on the Crimean War explained, because Russia became a self-appointed protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman empire, including notably the Greeks. In this era, the mid 1800's, the seeds of the Balkan war of the 1990's were sown.

I have now moved on to reading The Ottoman Endgame, which plugs the gap between the Crimean war and WWI.

Originally Posted by Red Eric

And what?

Originally Posted by bigglesworth

Thanks for the books - already ordered (from Amazon)

But (IMHO) it goes back a bit further than that I think Colonel. Faultline of the old Western and Eastern Roman Empires. Defence line of Europe against the Ottomans for centuries. Gates of Vienna. Collapse of Constantinople. etc etc.
Makes Orban and Hungary's fears on immigration a bit more understandable.
French histories of the Byzantines are very different (much less sympathetic, if that is the right word) to English and German. A largely forgotten but crucially important part of European history. Blood has a very long memory.