Bin Landen and the U.S.A(What you sow is what you reap)

A newspaper article from the time when Bin Landen was the "good guy"

He was the scion of one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families, a billionaire's boy who went to prep school and studied civil engineering.

But driven by fear that Islam was under siege, Osama Bin Laden rejected a career in his late father's construction empire to become an architect of terror.

In his 54 years, he proved to be a man of contradictions.

He welcomed America's help in the 1980s while he was a mujahedeen guerrilla battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan, only to declare war on the U.S. a decade later.

He spawned the deadliest attacks on U.S. soil, yet fancied himself an avenger of terrorism - a victim, not a perpetrator.

"The terrorism we practice is of the commendable kind, for it is directed at the tyrants and the aggressors and the enemies of Allah," he said in a 1998 interview with ABC reporter John Miller.

Born in 1957 in Riyadh, the 17th of Muhammed Bin Laden's 50 children, Osama was 11 years old when his father was killed in a plane crash.

He was raised by his mother, Alia Ghanem, and his stepfather in a strict Muslim family.

He attended the Al-Thager Model School, an elite boarding school in Jeddah, where he got a British-type secular education mixed with Islamic teachings.

Biographers have traced his violent activism in the name of Allah to his teachers at Al-Thager.

While studying civil engineering and economics at King Abdulaziz University, Bin Laden became a disciple of the Muslim Brotherhood and Abdullah Azzam, founder of the Hamas militant group.

From 1986 to 1988, he raised money for the mujahedeen and fought alongside guerrillas battling to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan with America's help.

His alliance with the U.S. was brief. In 1988, he founded Al Qaeda with a goal of stomping out Western influences in the Arab world.

When U.S. troops used bases in Saudi Arabia to quash Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Bin Laden bashed the Saudi government for being on the wrong side.

His politics got him branded as a threat in his home country and booted from the Saudi kingdom in 1991.

Within years, he would become an official enemy of the U.S., implicated in the 1993 truck bombing at the World Trade Center that killed six people.

"The call to wage war against America was made because America has spearheaded the crusade against the Islamic nation," Bin Laden said in the ABC interview.

Resigned to a life as a global fugitive, Bin Laden's Al Qaeda attacks became bigger and bloodier:

- The 1996 bombing of a U.S. military housing complex in Khobar in Saudi Arabia killed 19 Americans.

- The 1998 truck bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224, including 12 Americans.

- The attack on the Navy destroyer Cole in 2000 in Yemen's Aden Harbor killed 17 sailors.

- And the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

Hiding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bin Laden - who had at least four wives and 10 children - managed to elude capture.

On a series of videotapes and audiotapes, he taunted the U.S. about his diabolical acts, vowing never to be taken alive.

On Sunday, at the age of 54, he got his wish

text source:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/osama-bin-laden-transformation-rich-saudi-scion-u-s-ally-public-enemy-1-article-1.140411

Vasili Arkhipov : The man who saved the world

Vasili Arkhipov

It isn’t everyone who manages to literally save the world. Vasili Arkhipov did just that, and he did it so quietly that nobody in the West knew a thing about it until he was dead.

In 1962, Vasili Arkhipov was serving as the executive officer aboard the Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine B-59. On October 27, the B-59 was cornered in international waters by eleven US destroyers, which began dropping depth charges on what they presumed was a blockade runner headed for Cuba.

Cornered and left to assume that World War III had begun, the B-59′s captain and political officer decided to launch the nuclear-armed torpedo they carried for just such an eventuality. It goes without saying that the US would respond badly to a nuclear assault at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Unfortunately for the senior staff of the B-59, and fortunately for literally every other living thing on Earth, a nuclear launch required the assent of a third officer—Vasili Arkhipov.

Using a combination of logic and shouting, Arkhipov—who held the same rank as the B-59′s captain—persuaded his fellow officers to surface and return home. Reading about the incident in declassified files many years later, Robert McNamara said “we came very close. Closer than we knew at the time.” The Soviet files were only released in 2002, four years after Arkhipov’s death.

Read more at http://all-that-is-interesting.com/five-people-changed-course-history/2/#lC7oLrjGa4bt6abI.99

The Greek captain of the early U.S navy.

 George Colcovoresses

George Colvocoreses (Γεώργιος Κολβοκορέσης) was a Greek-American officer of the US navy.He was born on 22 October 1816 in Chios, descended from a noble family.During the Chios massacre by the Ottomans he was caught by the Turks along with his 2 sisters and his mother.His remaining 6 simblings were all killed.His family's property was destroyed and confiscated.

His father,with the assistance of American missionaries,achieved to release him when he was 8 years old and sent him to Baltimore in U.S.A.There he was adopted by the lieutenant Alden Partridge who was the founder of the American scientific and military academy(nowadays university of Norwich) which was the first private military educational institute in U.S.A. In 1831 he graduated and was accepted in the ranks of the American navy.In 1832 he was appointed as a recruit and in 1836 he served in the frigate "United States" which was part of the U.S naval unit of the Meditteranean which would later become the 6th fleet.From 1838 until 1842 he served in the research team of the U.S.A in the Pacific Ocean.His impressions were illustrated in a book that he wrote bearing the title:Four years in a Government Exploring Expedition.

The outbeak of the American civil war found him fighting for the North.On January 29,1862. He was captain of the frigate USS Supply and achieved to capture a transport ship of the South which was carrying war supplies.In 1864 as captain of the warship Saratoga he was distinguished  in many naval missions.In 1867 he retired with the rank of the captain.
George Kolkovoresis was assassinated on June 3,1872  at Bridgeport of Connecticut while waiting for the ship for New York.Initially his death was attributed to suicide. The case is still unsolved today.He got married twice and had 4 children.
Three of his descendants followed a military career. His son George Colcovoresses reached the rank of admiral and his great grandson Alden  Colcovoresses became a colonel.
In his honor a sea strait in the Piugit canal of Washington state was named Kolvos passage and a gulf in Antarctica was named Colcovoresses bay

 George Colcovoresses' grave

Προς τιμή του, ένα θαλάσσιο στενό στον Πορθμό Πιούτζιτ της πολιτείας της Ουάσινγκτον ονομάστηκε «Πέρασμα Κόλβος» (Colvos Passage), καθώς κι ένας κόλπος στην Ανταρκτική (Colvocoresses Bay).

People who refused to die

Through history humanity has exceeding a lot of times its limits.Here are some examples of people who either from luck ,duty or desire to live succeeded to survive through lethal circumstances.

Hiroo Onoda

Hiroo Onoda

A Japanese soldier who remained in a Philippine jungle for 30 years after the end of WWII.

On December 17, 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda left for the Philippines to join the Sugi Brigade (the Eighth Division from Hirosaki). Here, Onoda was given orders by Major Yoshimi Taniguchi and Major Takahashi. Onoda was ordered to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare. As Onoda and his comrades were getting ready to leave on their separate missions, they stopped by to report to the division commander. The division commander ordered:

You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.

Onoda took these words more literally and seriously than the division commander could ever have meant them.

Onoda remained in the jungle along with his comrades for 30 years. During these years all the others died except him. When he was found, he refused to believe that Japan lost the war. He needed to hear it from his commander himself. Thus his commander, a booksheller travelled to the Philippines to order Onoda to surrender.

Poon Lim

Poon Lim

A WWII castaway in the Atlantic ocean. He was on a British navy ship which was sunk by a German U-boat. He survived on a raft for 133 days!

On April 5, 1943, after 133 days in the life raft, Poon Lim neared land and a river inlet. A few days earlier, he had known that he was close to the land because the colour of the water had changed; it was no longer the oceanic deep blue. Three Brazilian fishermen rescued him and took him to Belém three days later.

Steven Callahan

Steven Callahan

He survived for 76 days inside a life-raft having consumed only 8 glasses of water and 3 kgs of food.

Uruguayan air force flight 571

15 passengers of the flight survived for 72 days after their plane crashed on the Andes mountains.They had to feed from dead passengers in order to survive.

Slavomir Rawicz

Slavomir Rawicz

He was a Polish lieutenant who was imprisoned by the Soviets.In 1942 he escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked on foot along with six other persons through Siberia, Gobi desert and Tibet to reach British India.

Juliane Koepche

Juliane Koepche

A German Peruvian school student who fell from a height of 10.000 feet(3.2 kms) and survived. Her plane was hit by a thunder and broke up, she survived the fall perhaps because she was strapped in her seat and somehow it buffered the crash.The real adventure would start after the fall as her glasses were broken and she was in an unhospitable jungle.She followed the survival principle her father taught her. She followed a water stream that eventually led her to civilization.

 Leonid Rogozov

Leonid Rogozov

A Russian scientist in Antarctica. He carried out an apendectomy on himself.His condition was urgent and the nearest research station where he could ask for help was 1600 km away. With the help of a driver and a meteorologist who were giving him surgery tools and holding the mirror he removed the appendix after a 2 hours long self-surgery.

It's the geopolitics st*pid!

From time to time i post interesting articles that don't have to do with history but with the present time. But the present too can be arguably considered history in the making. Anyway, i found this article in euobserver written by a Polish pm concerning the Greek recession and the importance of Greece for the Eu contrary to the Eu heads statements that a Greek collapse is not going to affect anyone else rather than the Greeks.

 The eurozone decided to grant Greece a second bailout, but this does not mean that the country received a wallet full of money and that the risk of default is gone. Greece and its political elites need sober determination to implement socially difficult reforms also after the April elections.

The Union has once again demonstrated its solidarity with Greece and the fact that it is demanding to supervise the effectiveness of its aid does not surprise. We cannot perceive the presence of EU experts in Athens in terms of loss of sovereignty.

The situation is serious. Without EU support and further tranches of financial help the country's default is certain and the return of the drachma would bring about a much deeper crisis.

The danger lies, however, not just in the financial aspect of the Greek crisis, but also in its potential geopolitical consequences, in particular the possible destabilisation of the South-East flank of the European Union. We must not forget that all this is taking place very close to the hot spots of the Middle East, the Arab countries of North Africa and the still unstable Western Balkans.

Given its geographical location, Greece is a crucial transit country for EU energy supplies coming from the Black and the Caspian Sea basins. It is a key element of the EU's energy security strategy - the Southern Corridor, which is to bring about oil and gas supply diversification, a reduction of EU's dependence on Russia and a decrease in energy prices.

Greece is at the same time a country favoured by Russia, as we have seen many times in the past, most notably recently when Russia cut supply to energy-starved EU, it increased the supply to Greece above the contracted volumes. It cannot be excluded that in the case of helplessness or ineffectiveness of the EU, Russia could offer help which would go much further. The same goes for China which is already the owner of the Piraeus port.

Greece is not only a member of the EU, but also of Nato. Its army and navy consume 4.3% of its GDP and are a crucial component of the military and maritime balance in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The country is also the warden of the longest EU border of the Schengen area, and one which struggles with strong migration pressure from the South. Destabilisation in Greece would mean it not only leaving the Eurozone, but also withdrawing from the Schengen.

A weakening of democracy in Athens, with the possible military involvement to maintain order in the worse of foreseeable scenarios, would be catastrophic for the European Union and its image in the neighbourhood - both the south and the east - as well as in the world.

In particular, it would damage the perception of EU's role as the stability guarantor and a democracy exporter. Hence the long-term consequences of a lack of resolution of the Greek crisis would go beyond the purely financial and economic aspects, and would be grave geopolitically as well.

We need therefore to leave behind the prevailing, predominantly accounting-like approach to the Greek debt. We need a political solution, with the geopolitics kept very much in mind.

The evil - in the form of the indebtedness crisis in Greece and elsewhere - has transpired. The lessons for the future have been learnt and acted upon through the 'six-pack' and the fiscal compact, both of which will now further change the Union's order.

Greece, whether with the euro or the drachma, remains a matter of European responsibility and solidarity. Notwithstanding the trespasses of the Greek and others, we are now confronted with the most serious test of the credibility of the European construction. Withdrawing the support for Greece can spark off further reduction in the scope and depth of the European acquis. Should it fail to bring results, it will have an impact on the future doctrine and the practice of European solidarity and cohesion.

Hence it is important and necessary to prescribe a treatment which is protective and preventive, and not a crude amputation. This is not only about Greece. We have to save Europe from the dangers and the potential consequences it is now facing, on a political level not just on an economic one.

If the situation gets out of control it could easily and profoundly affect European security. This should be part and parcel of the European cost-benefit analysis as well as its strategic reflection. One would dare to say, travestying and turning around former US president Bill Clinton's phrase: it's the geopolitics, stupid!

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski is a Polish member of the European Parliament, a former president of the foreign affairs committee and a vice-chair of the European People's Party

source:http://euobserver.com/7/115533

The region of Macedonia in 1908

I found a really interesting article in one of the national geographic magazines i have in my bookcase.It is written in 1908 so there are some historical inaccuracies in it but it is still interesting to read.

Some notes about Macedonia

A Greek at the port of Thessalonika
All the images of the post are from National Geogaphic

The wider region of Macedonia was for centuries a crossroad of nations and civilizations. Its fertile lands and natural harbours attracted many national groups which came into conflict for this land.


For many years the christians of Macedonia were considered as the most unfortunate and miserable populations of Europe.Although they numbered 4 to 1 in relation with the Muslims, they were never able to unite against the sultan because more than anything that was Ottoman they hated each  other mostly.The christians of Macedonia were Bulgarians Greeks Serbians and Vlachs.Until the last summer the Greeks had plans to annex Macedonia, the Bulgarians wanted to dominate the area by Bulgarisation , the Serbians were seeing Macedonia as an opportunity to have access to the Aegean and the Romanians thought that they should maintain some influence on the area.

moments of daily life in Macedonia.

The rivalry between the ethnic groups of Macedonia spread devastation and desruction. Bands of Bulgarians and Greeks commited atrocities to anyone who politically opposed them.And anytime there was a conflict between an ethnic group and the ottoman authority the other ethnic group sided with the Ottomans.


Now all this has changed. Hatred and rivalries have been put aside for the common interest which is freedom.All the ethnic groups decided to participate in an experiment and unite with the Young Turk movement which plans to overthrow the Ottoman sultan. The basic term of this alliance would be the all the nations of the empire would be considered equal by the constitution.

Christian girls of Macedonia. Their outfit betrays their religion.

The Macedonian nations were the ones that had a major role in this revolution and to them owe the rest of the nations of the Ottoman empire their relative autonomy.The joy of the people for having now a parliament and a constitution was such that they were forcing the christian and Muslim priests to hug each other in the middle of the villages.


The propaganda by various ethnic groups of Macedonia had positive effects on education.The Greek Bulgarian Serbian and Romanian schools that operated under the tolerance of the Ottoman goverment because they boosted the division between the nations offered to the agricultural population a high level education which couldn't be achieved if education was controlled by the Ottomans. At the big towns the students had the chance to receive higher education and in some cases music and artistic education by professors from Vienna and Budapest.

A Turkish old man looking suspiciously at the camera

Macedonia is outstands because of the beauty of its landscapes.Many of its mountains surpass 3.000 meters in height and are covered by beautiful forests.In the ancient times it was a notorious land and kingdom but after so man centuries of bad administration its ancient monuments are lost. Nowadays it's mandatory for the archaeologists to make studies about Macedonia as they may discover the ruins of its glorious past. Thessalonica for instance, has more christian monuments than any other city in Greece.There are many great monuments built by Romans and Greeks. The presence of a minaret on the side of each one tells us of their current usage.

A view of Thessalonikas landmark. The white tower.

In Thessalonica there is the Saint Sophia church built by Justinian just like its notorious sister in Constantinople.Nowadays it operates as a mosque.However a big fire four years ago and a recent earthquake have rendered the building obsolete.The Rotunda which is today a mosque was built by emperor Trajan following the architectural pattern of the pantheon in Rome but in a smaller scale and was dedicated to the Cabeirian gods.Indoors it is decorated with mosaics that belong to the pagan temple as there are no traces of christian modification.

A villager making turkish coffee in a village in Macedonia

Between the Rotunda and the sea is the area of the hippodrome where Theodosius the last emperor of the unified Roman empire gave the order for one of the bloodiest slaughters in history.Although he was a fanatic christian and according to ancient writers a charismatic leader , in this case he didn't act with logic.In order to punish the citizens who  uprose against the decision of the emperor for the arrest of a chariot racer, he invited them  to the hippodrome to watch a spectacle. The spectacle was themselves, 7000 citizens of any age and gender were slaughtered with a barbaric way.




source: National Geographic Greece, September 2003

100 years of history in a nice video

Firstly i wish a belated happy new year to everyone! 

I am posting a very well made video which shows the main events in world history that happened the last 100 years.By watching this you are going to make a time travel from the sinking of the Titanic to the World wars and the main events of the first decade of the new millenium. It's also a nice way to refresh your historic memory.