Tom Ellis

As Greeks, we always choose the path of peace. The rule of law has been and will continue to be our compass. It is in this light that over time and across political parties we have always focused on diplomacy.

All serious Greek politicians, as well as opinion makers who influence views on Greek issues both at home and abroad, essentially support dialogue and the peaceful settlement of disputes with Turkey. Whether and when this dialogue should take place and what form it might take has to do with the behaviour and intentions of the Turkish leadership.

What is certain is that steps toward rapprochement cannot and will not be taken in an environment of aggressiveness or under threats. This self-evident principle is understood by everyone, including those third parties who encourage both sides to “figure things out”. Ankara should also realise it.

Unfortunately, we are constantly bombarded with threats from the other side of the Aegean which are made even more outrageous by the fact that they come from what is theoretically an ally. The most recent example is the spokesman of Turkey’s ruling party, Ömer Çelik, who a few days ago again threatened Greece, saying that “it is playing games that are beyond its size. We warn Greece. This game you are playing can be turned into a Greek tragedy”.

For its part, Greece states at every opportunity that it wants peaceful coexistence. It does not seek tension, let alone conflict. It is something that everyone understands, including Turkey.

Successive Greek governments, led by figures of various ideological orientations, have sought to improve Greek-Turkish relations.

Throughout this process, there is another important parameter that may not be recognised to the extent that it deserves. And this is none other than the Hellenic Armed Forces. Their readiness and ability are admirable. And we may not – and rightly so – shout about our military might, but it exists and it proves itself every day – at sea, in the air and on land. And anyone who chooses to ignore it will bear a significant cost.

In addition to the obvious diplomatic activity and the prime minister’s constant communication with most leaders whose countries play a role in the region – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi – and the foreign minister’s visits to Vienna (to meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo), Jerusalem, Cairo and Nicosia, there was also an immediate, widespread and highly effective mobilisation of the Armed Forces.

The experience, professionalism and morale of the crews of the country’s warships have a multiplying effect on the operational effectiveness of the Navy, which meets the challenge of the dangerous phase we are facing, to a large extent covering gaps that have been caused by the long and deep economic crisis.

Experts praise the Navy for its rapid, restrained and structured activation in this latest period of tension. It was one of these cases where the human factor made the difference.

With the Navy’s full strategic development and the correct tactical manoeuvres by Greek ships, Turkey’s Oruç Reis survey vessel was not allowed to carry out its work and collect information from the seabed in areas where Greece, based on the provisions of the law of the sea, claims the exclusive right of exploitation.

We avoided escalation, but we proved that we are there, capable of causing damage if the other side exceeds the limits and crosses the red lines. The Greek government focuses on diplomacy, respects the role, influence and decisions of international organizations and welcomes any well-intentioned mediation initiative.

At the same time, in the management of the dangerous situation with Turkey the deterrent power of the Hellenic Armed Forces is an extremely useful tool.

(A version of this article was originally published by Kathimerini and reproduced by permission.)

Former US Vice President Joe Biden has formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination to be their candidate for president. He described the upcoming election as a “battle for America’s souls.”

Joe Biden formally accepted the US Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday on the final day of the party’s convention.

The 77-year-old former vice president called for unity in his speech, which closed the four-day convention.

“I want to be America’s president,” he stated in an impassioned speech, saying he would represent all people, not just those who voted for him. He described the election as a “battle for America’s souls” and vowed to end “this season of darkness for America.”

“The days of the US cozying up to dictators are over,” he added.

Coronavirus front and center

He also vowed that his first priority as president would be “dealing with this coronavirus.”

“The tragedy of this virus is that it could have been avoided,” Biden said.

He implied mandatory mask-wearing would be brought in at a federal level under his presidency.

The convention was held online owing to the pandemic which has claimed over 170,000 lives in the US.

Former presidential nominee hopeful Kamala Harris made history on Wednesday when she accepted the nomination to be vice president.

Read more: Opinion: US Democratic convention kicks off without a bang

Former rivals back Biden

Comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosted the fourth and final evening of coverage of the convention, which included a tribute to the late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis.

Former Democratic presidential nominee hopefuls Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar also spoke to publicly endorse Joe Biden and encourage people to vote.

Key among the themes of the convention was a focus on the use of mail-in ballots, which President Donald Trump has criticized.

Trump took to Twitter to express his disapproval of Joe Biden’s speech, writing “he will never change, just words!”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has chaired a regular meeting of the Security Council on August 21.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said that the Armenian military’s victorious defensive actions against the July Azerbaijani offensive in Tavush Province proved that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has no military solution, and that it’s time for Baku to accept this.

“We adopted the new National Security Strategy in the last session, and it is noteworthy that shortly afterwards this document’s viability was recorded. After our previous session the well-known Tavush battles took place – the victorious battles of Tavush – and we must note the following: during the entire preceding period Azerbaijan had adopted a stance whereby it was presenting the non-initiation of a military solution to the NK conflict to be a concession for both Armenia and the international community. And during this entire period of time we were calling upon the Azerbaijani leadership not to speak to Armenia from positions of force, language of force, and that it is a futile rhetoric. And inherently the July victorious battles proved this and proved that the Karabakh conflict doesn’t have a military solution. I think it’s time for the Azerbaijani authorities to accept this.”

The PM noted that if the conflict were to have a military solution then the people of Artsakh can note that they have solved the issue a long time ago.

“It is highly important to note that Armenia’s stance in the Karabakh issue remains constructive, and our position is that indeed, the NK conflict must be solved through peaceful negotiations, and inherently this has always been the position of the Republic of Armenia, moreover – regardless of the lineage of governments and authorities.

Pashinyan emphasized that the other factor which is recorded in the strategy and which manifested itself very quickly is Turkey’s destructive policy in the region and globally.

“I believe that Turkey’s destabilizing and destructive activity causes significant concerns and worries among our partners in the Middle East, the Eurasian region, as well as the European region. This is an agenda which is already developed, and our actions in this agenda must also become the subject of highly important discussions at the Security Council, the government, the foreign ministry, and we will discuss issues connected with this during today’s session also,” the PM said.

PM Pashinyan emphasized that the Republic of Armenia is able to deal with its security challenges.

“At the same time, we must put a task before us to further increase the level of manageability of the security environment with every week, every month and every year. And the Security Council is the working format where this kind of issues must be discussed and solved,” the Armenian PM said.

City of Akron, Ohio First, you came to destroy American decency. Next, you came to destroy American institutions. Now you’re coming to destroy the American economy and heartland jobs. Luckily you seem to fail at everything you do.

After President Donald Trump’s call to boycott Goodyear tires over their policy limiting the wearing of political apparel by employees at work, officials in Akron, Ohio, where the company is based, were quick to hit back, according to KHOU 11.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan replied directly to the president, condemning his statement and using a GIF of Ohio native LeBron James.

A day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer felt the glow of the virtual spotlight at the Democratic National Convention, it fell briefly Tuesday on another Michigander, 27-year-old state Rep. Mari Manoogian, D-Birmingham.

Tapped along with 16 other rising figures in the Democratic Party to give the opening speech of the convention Tuesday night, Manoogian, an Armenian American who is the youngest woman serving in Michigan’s Legislature, criticized Trump for not having a plan to respond to the threat of coronavirus and praised Joe Biden for trying to bring people together rather than divide them.

“Joe knows we can never let hard times turn us against each other,” she said in a prerecorded message that was interspersed with those from the other speakers, which included members of Congress, state legislators and others. 

Michigan state Rep. Mari Manoogian, talking Biden health care proposal and plan allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices

Manoogian also got the honors of responding to comments by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, praising Biden for plans to boost health care access, lower the cost of prescription drugs and improve the Affordable Care Act, by leading a brief chorus of, “That’s a big F-in deal.” 

The previous night, social media picked up on how Whitmer was caught voicing an expletive on a live microphone just before her live speech to the convention. 

In her remarks, Manoogian also was part of a voice-over recalling Biden’s roots growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She also did a brief shout-out saying Democratic policies will help boost “small business owners, like the ones whose shops and restaurants line the streets of Birmingham, Michigan.”

She also said Michigan legislators are working at “banning business practices that have exploited workers and cost them hundreds of millions in lost wages” and hit on a key theme of the Biden campaign in the state: his role as former President Barack Obama’s vice president and that administration’s decision to help restructure General Motors and Chrysler, moves that many have credited with helping save the domestic auto industry in 2009.

“When the auto industry was going under, Joe stuck his neck out to protect it,” she said. She later added, “He understands that leadership means fighting for the people who built this country.”

Manoogian had earlier told the Free Press that she was “fairly shocked” to be chosen to speak. Her great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s to escape the Armenian genocide, and Manoogian is the first Armenian American woman to serve in the Michigan House. 

She previously interned for the late U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn; worked with the Council on Foreign Relations; assisted former Ambassador Samantha Power at the United Nations, and worked at the U.S. State Department.

She is not related to Alex Manoogian, the late founder of the Masco Corp. who donated the mayor’s official residence to the city of Detroit.

AOC, past presidents, some Republicans, an entertaining whip around 57 states and territories to nominate Biden. An elevator operator and more.

Former presidents, ex-secretaries of state and a New York elevator operator provided some of the high points of Tuesday’s second night of the Democratic National Convention — but it was Jill Biden who stole the show.

Here are some of the most notable moments from Night 2:

1. Jill and Joe

Speaking from the high school where she used to teach, Jill Biden closed the night by talking about her relationship with Joe Biden and the pain they’ve shared over the years.

“How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole: with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness,” she said. Her husband joined her in the classroom at the end of the speech.

“You can see why she’s the love of my life,” he said.

2. Past presidents

In their separate remarks, former President Jimmy Carter focused on Biden’s positives, while former President Bill Clinton focused mainly on President Donald Trump’s negatives.

Carter, 95, recorded a message saying “Joe has the experience, character and decency to bring us together and restore America’s greatness.”

Clinton ripped Trump for bringing “chaos” to the Oval Office. “Just one thing never changes — his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there,” Clinton said.

3. AOC

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York raised eyebrows with her brief appearance in the proceedings when she seconded the nomination of Biden’s former rival Bernie Sanders for president, a vote that is required for any candidate who crosses the delegate threshold during the primaries.

“In a time when millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment and lack of health care, en el espíritu del pueblo and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for president of the United States of America,” she said.

She later congratulated Biden on winning the nomination on Twitter and called for victory in November.

4. Former secretaries of state

Colin Powell, a Republican who served under President George W. Bush, never mentioned the current president’s name but said the nation must chart a new course abroad, while John Kerry, a former Democratic presidential nominee, was more direct.

“Donald Trump inherited a growing economy and a more peaceful world, and, like everything else he inherited, he bankrupted it. When this president goes overseas, it isn’t a goodwill mission. It’s a blooper reel,” Kerry said.

5. An unlikely friendship

A digital video focused on the long friendship between Biden and the late Sen. John McCain, a former Republican nominee for president and Trump nemesis. It was narrated by McCain’s widow, Cindy. “They would just sit and joke,” McCain says in the clip. “It was like a comedy show sometimes to watch the two of them.”

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Investigators were asking for the public’s help to identify suspects seen on surveillance video breaking into San Francisco’s KZV Armenian School and vandalizing the campus with hateful graffiti.

At about 1:40 a.m. on July 24, surveillance cameras captured a group of four people jumping a fence and entering the Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School, located at 825 Brotherhood Way, police said.

The suspects then vandalized the school’s walls with graffiti, writing anti-Armenian messages, while the two other suspects acted as lookouts.

The graffiti was discovered the next morning and reported to police. Investigators have classified the case as a hate crime.

The incident has stunned the local Armenian community, who claimed the act was related to a current dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“That very hatred is coming home and impacting us, our community, our school children,” said Haig Baghdassarian of the Armenian National Committee of America.

School is not in session because of summer break and the coronavirus pandemic, but the Armenian community is still furious and worried.

“When people ask why is the Armenian genocide still relevant after 100 years, this is just one clear example of why,” Baghdassarian told KPIX 5.

KZV principal Grace Andonian handed over campus surveillance video along with leftover spray paint cans to the police.

“I am very overwhelmed. I am in shock. I am so sad to see this kind of hate messages written on the walls of a school where children learn,” Andonian told KPIX 5.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact police’s 24-hour anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to text a tip to TIP411 with “SFPD” at the beginning of the message.

LANSING – A state representative from Birmingham says she was shocked and thrilled to be invited to be part of Tuesday’s keynote address to the Democratic National Convention.

State Rep. Mari Manoogian, D-Birmingham, is one of 17 Democrats nationwide identified by the party as “rising stars” and “powerful and diverse voices from the next generation of party leaders,” who will jointly deliver the keynote.

Manoogian, 27, who is in her first term in the state Legislature and is the youngest woman serving in either chamber, said Monday she is proud to represent her home town, her state and Armenian Americans.

“I was fairly shocked that I was given this amazing opportunity,” said Manoogian, who previously worked at the U.S. State Department and the United Nations and interned for the late U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn.

Manoogian said she will talk about the importance of supporting the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket for reasons such as ensuring affordable, quality health care and lowering the costs of prescription drugs.

She has already recorded her remarks, which are expected to be edited and combined with video clips from the other 16 speakers to produce a joint keynote address.

Under the theme, “Leadership Matters,” Manoogian will be joining former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, and former Ohio state Rep. Kathleen Clyde, among others, between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

“I am just so grateful for the opportunity,” said Manoogian, who is not related to Alex Manoogian, the late founder of the Masco Corp. who donated the mayor’s official residence to the city of Detroit.

The first Armenian American woman elected to the Michigan Legislature, Manoogian’s great-grandparents came to the U.S. in the 1920s to escape genocide in their home country, according to her state House biography.

Manoogian has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

A Detroit sports fan, Manoogian enjoys figure skating, reading, traveling and spending time with her family.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was a finalist to be Democratic presidential candidate Biden’s running mate, was scheduled to address the convention Monday night.

Former first lady Michelle Obama gave a powerful takedown of the Trump administration during her prime-time address on the first night of the Democratic National Committee Convention.

“The job is hard,” Obama explained. “You can’t fake your way through this job.”

She explained the awful example adults are setting in Trump’s America, noting many of the troubling events of 2020, from adults who won’t wear masks to the gassing of peaceful protesters.

If we want to end the chaos and division—and keep alive the possibility of progress on the issues we hold dear—we’ve got to vote for @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris like our lives depend on it. Register today by texting VOTE to 30330. https://t.co/xPu5o0SYLJ

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) August 18, 2020

She addressed her famous line, “When they go low, we go high.”

“Going high is the only thing that works,” she argued. “Going high means taking the harder path.”

“Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” she declared. “We have to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend upon it.”

She urged voters to request an absentee ballot “tonight.”