In the last 48 hours:

  1. Another bomb exploded, this time outside the General Secretariat for Information (see the article in Greek). Police believe this was yet another gift from the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, the group that has claimed responsibility for the bomb in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on January 9.
  2. There were reports that police expected an armed attack on the Athens police headquarters. The building is located on one of Athens’s most busy avenues, right next to the appeals court. According to press news stories, police are implementing a “perimeter security” scheme similar to that which was in force during the Olympics in 2004. Some reports speak of armed patrols in neighboring streets and a preemptive prohibition of parking all around the city block occupied by the police HQ.
  3. This morning (Saturday, January 16), Kalashnikov-armed robbers attempted to stop an armored van carrying the proceeds of a big toy store in southern Athens. The three security guards locked themselves in the van, trying to thwart the attack. Shots were fired and the driver was hit in the head — the round easily penetrated the “bulletproof” glass of the windscreen. He was later pronounced DOA at a nearby hospital. He was married with two children.
  4. Farmers in northern Greece are again pouring out with their tractors to cut traffic on major roads. Under the circumstances, their interference with communications and the damage they’re causing to the already moribund economy should be treated harshly. But who’s going to do it?
  5. The euro is getting knocked because of the Greek debt crisis! I always said that the Greeks may be few, but have their way of corrupting the many!
  6. Our European “partners” have no patience left for George and his finance minister puppeteer, Papakonstantinou, otherwise known as “robas” (a colloquial Greek expression that is attached to someone who is generally not a serious person, a clown)…
  7. … but then again, Mr. Trichet of the European Central Bank thinks that Greece leaving the euro zone is an “absurd hypothesis”…

And the world goes round and round…