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The Winning Strategy
In this article I set out a four-pronged strategy that would maximize the chances for the Democratic party to win the November 2020 presidential elections. The article briefly analyzes the surprising victory of Donald Trump in 2016, his efforts to dismantle all the policies of his predecessor, and his eventual move towards an illiberal democracy following the failed attempt by Democrats to remove him from office through the impeachment process. I conclude that the Democratic strategy should not focus on policies and lofty issues but, instead, should stress Trump’s mendacity, ignorance, immorality, ineptitude and psychological instability. You may read the…
The Scourge of Gun Violence
In a Letter to the Editor in the Washington Post on March 29, 2018, I argue that the March for Our Lives demonstrations are unlikely to be effective, unless students and young adults convince the voting members of their own families to withdraw support from congressional candidates who have hitherto backed the gun lobby. You may read my brief Letter here.
My Teacher, Janet Yellen
Much has been written recently about the current Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, who after a highly successful career at the helm of the Central Bank, will be replaced in February by president Trump’s new pick, Jerome Powell, a current Fed governor. In US and international media Yellen has been described as “superlatively qualified”, “extraordinarily effective” and as a person who “can be tough, [but] also warm and compassionate and a good listener”. In nominating Mr. Powell as her successor, President Trump himself called Yellen “absolutely a spectacular person”.
Let me add another dimension to her professional talents, less…
Why Some Stay Silent
In a Letter to the Editor published in the Washington Post on October 15, I argue that the analysis of the Harvey Weinstein scandal would be incomplete without an analysis of the social class that shrugged off the sexual harassment allegations against Donald Trump and voted for him in the 2016 US presidential elections.The same article appeared online on October 13 under the title “There Is a Culture That Accepts Men’s Abuse of Power”.
Europe Owes More to a truth-teller in Athens
Published in The WSJ, August 22 2017
Creditors have been too timid in their support for the statistician who corrected Greece’s books. Few debacles in recent memory better represent the moral collapse of modern Greek society than the persecution of Andreas Georgiou. This endless ordeal is the culmination of failure at multiple levels of stakeholders, not least of which being the European institutions that have repeatedly bailed the country out over the past seven years.
From 1997 to 2009, a succession of Greek governments provided false data to the European Commission’s bureau of statistics, Eurostat. This led to three years of…
Essays
Charting the Future Now: European Economic Growth and its Importance to American Prosperity
On March 10, 2017 the Atlantic Council, an influential think tank in Washington D.C., launched a groundbreaking report under the above title, ahead of the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.The report, part of the Atlantic Council’s EuroGrowth Initiative launched in 2016, analyzes how Europe can best address short-term responses to populist concerns, provide medium-term deliverables, and chart a long-term plan for better integration. The main contributors to the report were Dr. Anders Aslund, Dr. Thanos Catsambas, Prof. Steve Hanke, Dr. Andrea Montanino, and Ambassador Earl Antony Wayne. Andrea Montanino, director of the Global Business and…
Partners in Crime: The Destructive Role of the Greek Media during the Economic Crisis
Published in NewEurope, November 7 2016
The notorious interrelationship of vested (and frequently illegal) interests among the Greek political elite, entrepreneurs, and the barons of the Greek media is well established. There is perhaps no field that better illustrates how deeply ingrained clientelism is in Greek political culture than the media sector.
Politicians, media moguls and entrepreneurs have long been operating as a ‘triangle of power’, where business and political interests are intertwined in what has aptly been referred to by the Greek name diaploki (entanglement). What form did this diaploki take? For decades, Greek politicians would provide support to their favourite media…
The Greek Economic Crisis: Myths, Misperceptions, Truths, and Realities
An academic article covering the period from the beginning of the crisis in 2009 through February 2016 was published in the March 2016 issue of the journal Mediterranean Quarterly.
Invited Lecture at Yale University
At the invitation of Prof. Stathis Kalyvas, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science and co-chair of the Hellenic Studies Program (HSP) at Yale University, on November 18, 2015 I gave a lecture entitled Myths and Realities about the Role of the IMF in the Greek Crisis: A View from Within.
The HSP (http://hsp.macmillan.yale.edu/), which covers a wide range of activities such as conferences, films, lectures etc., is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the advancement of Hellenic Studies. I am grateful to Prof. Kalyvas and Dr. Paris Aslanidis for the invitation and for organizing this event, as well…
The “honest compromise” is a Dishonest Negotiating Tactic
One of the neologisms of the Syriza government is “honest compromise”. It is related to the term “political solution”, which predates the Syriza administration. Both terms are typically used when Greece nears a deadline for the disbursement of an installment under the bailout program in effect at the time, and they both mean the same thing: Renegotiation of an earlier commitment. This is not an “honest compromise”; it is a dishonest negotiating tactic. The reasons are straightforward:
The Greek negotiators try to re-negotiate a commitment that was agreed with the international creditors relatively recently and, in any case, before an upcoming review…