I have the flu. I don’t know if it is the “novel” (swine) flu or the “normal,” i.e. seasonal, one. The doctor says a mouth swab would tell us for sure, but that means a trip to hospital and a $200 fee. I am willing, thus, to take my chances here at home.

Staying in bed has its advantages. I hook up the laptop and begin catching up with the things I normally do on weekends. I feel miserable though. Aches and pains and eyes burning despite copious amounts of eye drops. Doctor says if fever persists beyond three days with medication, then we will need to reassess the picture.

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We have just emerged from the first anniversary of the shooting of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the 15-year old who was dropped by a police officer’s ricochet on December 6, 2008.

The PASOK government had sent out at least 10,000 police to make sure last year’s devastating riots did not replay. During three days of violent demonstrations last week (Friday, Saturday, Sunday,) the same police as last year, when Greece was nearly torn apart by the hooligans, appeared more energized and prepared to do what they are supposed to do. Unlike last year, throngs of violent rioters were rounded up and brought in for ID checks. Scores were eventually booked for various criminal offences. Among those rounded up, there were dozens of kids, some as young as ten. Some parents are being charged with neglecting to properly supervise a minor! Extraordinary!

I can’t say whether the police’s “determined” stance was what averted wider trouble or that our usual anarchists decided not to challenge the “socialists” in power full blast. Whatever the case may be, the anniversary passed without a major blowout, although, still, parts of downtown Athens suffered again serious damage. Some glaringly obvious tactical “adjustments,” mysteriously avoided in the past, seemed to work quite nicely over the weekend: surrounding university buildings tightly with police stopped the hooligans from occupying these buildings as it is customary during the bouts of insurrection we now regularly suffer. Of course, the obvious was not implemented until an earlier attack on the old Athens university main building, by the so-called “black block” of anarchists, resulted in the hapless rector of that august institution ending up in the ICU with a concussion and a heart attack, after he was assaulted and stomped to the ground by the invading hoodlum mass.

avalancheDon’t think for a moment that the hoodies, punks, street thugs, and other fringe elements weren’t in their usual destructive mood. They were. But, one tiny notch of added police “mobility” appeared enough to contain their thirst for destroying what they could lay their hands on. Which leads me to reconfirm what I always believed to be true: the Greek street riot problem can be dealt with very effectively if police — with all their poor training, lack of resolve, and spineless leadership — are allowed to go after the rioters with a bit more than just standing around passively to be targets for rocks, petrol bombs, planks, and a hail of abuse from the street terrorists.

Unfortunately, and for all the protestations of the “human rights” crowd, violence can be dealt only with violence. For far too long, here in Greece, we have surrendered our safety and public peace to the whims of lawless street bands working in close association with leftist parliamentary elements. Both the so-called SYRIZA party, a confused bunch of cross-eyed far left groupings, and the Communist Party constantly agitate with thinly-veiled calls for violent action against the government. While the communists are “smarter” in not associating themselves directly with the street anarchists, and even missing no opportunity to grill SYRIZA publicly over lack of ideological “purity,” long the domain claimed exclusively by Stalinists, SYRIZA has few such qualms. Its members, including some who occupy seats in parliament, are routinely out in the streets supporting and aiding and abetting rioters involved in attacks on the police and smashing other people’s property and exploiting their parliamentary status to let criminal elements walk free. I doubt that in any other organized country these two political parties would have been allowed to carry on with their subversive actions, whether they were in parliament or not, with the complete immunity they enjoy here in Greece.

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Otherwise, this country is taking a beating because of its bankrupt economy and the first signs that its implosion might affect the “stability” of the euro zone. In the last two days both Standard & Poors and Fitch delivered painful body blows to this wobbling “full EU member” over its ballooning deficits and sovereign debt, with Standard & Poors placing Greece under “CreditWatch Negative” and Fitch downgrading Greek long-term ratings to BBB+ from the previous A- notation.

The Papandreou government of course refuses to face realities and continues with its flapping about. Instead of seriously contemplating the severe contraction of the public sector, the main source of Greece’s long-term malaise, it is tap dancing around “measures” aimed not to provoke the wrath of powerful special interests, almost all of them associated with the lifelong security and tenure of the occupying army of “public servants”. Meantime, signs of bankruptcy are now palpable, with paying out pensions in question as early as next summer, and with unemployment skyrocketing past the officially recognized 10-11 pc and toward 20 pc by the beginning of 2010, because of mass layoffs assuming the speed and fearsome volume of an avalanche.

There is always a time of reckoning in everything. For far too long the Greek Don flowed quietly, sustained by insane borrowing and a massive case of collective denial surrounding both government and the “electorate” of this country. But, suddenly, the Don is running into hard-to-breach dams.

The next act promises mayhem.