There is a difference between “taking advantage of others” and exploiting them and enslaving them. Giving Niger 5% for their uranium was beyond exploitative… And a true example of why the West is being hated. We Greeks are the ones who set the foundations for the Western culture and we may have a chance at least ideologically to reset them. We were never an exploitative, hegemonic power. The cantral part of our culture was peaceful: navigation and trade for the past 3-4000 yrs. Our superiority was always cultural and we were always accepting other nations who learned how to live peacefully and follow laws and principles- not attacking others by barbarian force. The West never understood the essence of our civilisation and remained mostly barbarian. For example, We civilised both the Russians and the Germans about 1000 yrs ago. The Russians adopted our culture deeply – they still do live by hellenic principles. The Germans were civilised only superficially – they adopted our science and philosophy and laws. But they remained deeply barbarian, blindly following a leader like an horde, and in many ways, they still are barbarian. The rest of the West proved until very recently,last year, their exploitative nature. The West has to come back to following laws and principles and not their own “rules based order” where they set the rules to benefit themselves as they exploit other and they impose their own order. This game is over.

FYI, one thousand years later Greek islanders still today hate the Crusaders more than they hate the Turks. This fact alone should give you and all of us a pause…

A couple minor points to consider:

1) The material benefits you reference are doomed to end at some point in the future, with 33 Trillion in debt and mounting…unless something happens. It’s great that you enjoyed material wealth, but will your children and grandchildren enjoy anything? The history of Rome is well-known, and the war machine cannot infinitely stop a weakening of the US dollar hegemony that we have benefited from.

2) If democracy is the goal, the West still hasn’t achieved it very well…Canada is a masterful recent example of “hidden fascism and dictatorship” with what they did to the truckers who were protesting (seized their bank accounts, etc), and they way they prosecuted clergy who dared to exercise their “freedom of religion” by opening their Churches during a lockdown…most European countries are equally fascist in their legal structures, with high concentration of power in a centralized government (and police) that can “command and execute” without the people being able to negotiate or react. But they are used to it…they don’t know any different. Switzerland is a rare example, and so was Iceland in the way the people reacted to the banking crisis. Germany might have some potential if the local states exercised more power. In the United States, fortunately the States still have some decentralized power to resist central government overreach, and that’s a good thing for getting closer to “democracy”.

3) Russia has never been a democracy…they’ve always either had a czar or a communist dictator. Concentration of power upon a single individual is part of their culture and history. It seems to work for them, so if we don’t like it, it really doesn’t matter in the end, does it? Calling Putin a dictator isn’t a surprise in this historical light. However, advocating for something that “works” for others to be imposed upon people that historically haven’t had this “democracy” is imperialistic behavior…but for what purpose exactly? NATOs dream of colonizing Russia by influencing their leadership (like Yeltsin)…if you succeed in colonizing Russia (like you did with Greece and others via the EU / IMF / World bank), you don’t have to “negotiate” Russia’s wealth or influence…you can grab it for yourself…that’s unfortunately what the Ukraine situation summarizes behind the scenes…and that “grabbing” tendency (NATO expansion, etc) is exactly what Putin has been saying for 25 years to the West is his “red line”…it’s exactly what was discussed in Yalta 80 years ago…why is everyone acting so surprised by this reaction? He’s been open about his “red line”. The notion of “the people of Ukraine can decide what they want” is hypocritical in light of the 2014 coup that was staged…we know that the population of that country is split in two camps on both religious and alliance grounds…civil war that broke out in 2014 in Donbas was fully expected, and so was the escalation to this “proxy war”. If JFK were president, the Ukraine escalation would not have occurred…were Nuland, Obama (2014), and Biden smarter than JFK when he diffused the Cuban missle crisis?

4) John F. Kennedy had no problem diffusing the Cuban missle crisis by not making “grandiose comments” in front of the media, and picking up the phone and respecting the “enemy”. That’s what made him a great leader, in my opinion. That’s exactly the opposite of what happened in the weeks prior to the 2022 escalation in the Ukraine. Big statements, sabre rattling, posturing in front of cameras, and ultimately leaders around the world painting themselves into a diplomatic corner where now they can’t “save face” because of the grand-standing, that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people…ego is great, isn’t it?
In stark contrast with JFK, egotistical maniacs like Nuland don’t respect even their own allies (remember her famous leaked phrase “%&$* the EU” during the 2014 coup in Kiev?), and have no qualms about causing millions of deaths around the globe in order to promote their agendas and increase their lobbyists’ own wealth (how many died after the convincing speech about “weapons of mass destruction” that never existed in Iraq?). Yet, nobody went to prison for that war crime. That’s not democracy, it’s hypocrisy….

Rhetorical questions is not the way to deal with the issue. Millions of immigrants came to this country many years ago for quite different reasons the new ones come. Our grandfathers wouldn’t come here of America was socialist. Have no doubt that if things keep going downhill America will be socialist soon. And life would have answered your rhetorical questions. Playing games with words is not the way to evaluate a situation.

Nick, you continue to demonstrate your lack of understanding of history. You mention that the greeks were a peaceful non-hegemonic people. Have you read the Iliad ? I assume you don’t consider King Phillip and his son Alexander as non Greeks. They were militant conquerors. Finally, are you familiar with the massacre of the Latins and the Nika riots?

Even 2400 yrs later, Alexander’s name, “Iskander” is pronounced with love and respect anywhere from Egypt to Tajikistan where “Alexandria the Last” was built. In the three centuries after his death hellenic culture, peaceful cosmopolitanism, dominated the known world and on the foundations of stoic philosophy gave rise to Christianity. If you ignore these basic facts and you get stuck on Nika then what can I say? By the way, the most trendy discussions today are about stoicism… Hopefully we can take advantage of the interest and try to get humanity out of the current mess.

Lambros… “Yesterday it may not have been called “Sick” what you and U.S government do , and Tomorrow it may not be called “Sick”, but today it is called Sick!” While Nick and Markos admit what White Supremacist Protestants and Jewish Zionist of the U.S Congress and leaders like Winston Churchill , George Bush Jr, lyndon Johnson, lindsey Graham ,Victoria Nuland, Blinken , Madeline Albright , Clinton family have done to humanity, you and they will not admit it! What you do admit ..that it is more important for you , to surrender economic, political , and military sovereignty of the Nations of the world and America , just to have the right and freedoms to make money to feed your family! Lambros , you are wrong , I did not migrate like you from Sparta, Greece to America, My Great Great Grandfathers did in 1895! Therefore , I am a 4th generation Spartan, and 100 % blood Spartan roots…and Lambros it is not in my DNA to surrender my country to the Persian empire of lies ..but to defend it ! Your “love it or Leave it ” Mantra is reserved for Cowards ..who only care about themselves , not there fellow man as required by our lord and Savior ! Did Native Indians and Blacks leave America despite being oppressed by the very Sick Evangelical and Protestant “Sons of liberty” of America and Britain ! Do you think my Great Grandparents came to America or any of the Europeans to escape what the Protestants rulers were doing to Indians and Blacks in America! Some were orphans comming to America with their Uncles , some were family members who could not afford to bring all their children and wives , and just coming to America to find a job ..and that is it! And what did they get from America ..endless Wars fought by my family in Europe , on the beaches of Normandy and the jungles of Vietnam! But what they did accomplish was to make a 4th generation Greek American ..a “Made in Sparta, Greece Orthodox Greek American family, rather than a “Made in America” Greek Orthodox Family who doesn’t give a crap about what we do to other people of the world, just as lone as we have a job and make money!
So , Lambros you still have not answered my question ..and don’t tell me what Russia or Greece did yesterday or tomorrow ..what have Putin done to the world today in Europe , Middle East and Asia or against Greece or America? By the way Lambros ..you don’t have to tell us who you are ..we all know who you are

Nick, please quit stating that that Christianity is founded in founded on stoicism. Christianity is founded on Jesus Christ. In 1 Cor. 13:11 St Paul makes it perfectly clear” there is no foundation that can be laid than Jesus Christ” – not stoism. And I 1 Corinthians 1 he states” we preach Christ and Him crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles(Greeks)”. Undoubtedly, Hellenism is foundational to Western civilization and influenced the apostle Paul. Jesus probably was not influenced by hellenism and probably did not know Greek.

Without the three centuries of Hellenic philosophy preceding Christianity and especially stoicism I doubt there would be the foundations for its formation – leaving aside the deity issue for a moment. Jesus in many ways was a Hellenized Jew like the majority of Jewish intellectuals of the time. Like the “70” who translated the Old Testament into Greek in Alexandria.

hey Nick
I liked your reply to John Kaloudis.
It even rings a bell. You and I had such a conversation a week ago. Only you were in the opposite camp by blaming Alexander as a barbarian conqueror. While I argued exactly what you are now saying to Kaloudis.
I feel vindicated that my advocacy for the truth is taking root on this site.

Having said that, in more modern times, after the end of the byzantine empire, which was an expanding entity, until it became too weak and began contracting, then, the Greek world was almost extinct. No military power of its own. Consequently, it could not colonize anyone. After Greece became independent, the Greek state was too weak still to contemplate colonization. The only thing it could do, is attempt to unite the unredeemed Greeks of the Ottoman empire. And it did that, by expanding its territory plus the exchange of populations. After that period, WWII and the civil war, which weakened Greece further, plus the trend of decolonization of the other colonizing nations, signaled the end of imperialism as it was up to that time. Now, imperialism is of another stripe.

Nick, you need to keep me on if you want your blog to improve from the likes of the usual offenders.

BTW. can I reply to Marko’s long winded reply? Please, let me know. And did you see the article about Elpidoforos warning exapsalmos owner to clam up, or he’ll sue him?

You have it all messed up. Greek “colonization”started over 1000 yrs BC in the Black Sea – the Gooden Fleece myth. But it was not the same type of colonising the Westerners did the last 5-6 centuries…. I never said Alexander was a barbarian conqueror and then you ask me why your comments are spammed.