Andreas Papandreou

"Though due to my age I have withdrawn fro public affairs, the interview two days ago of Turkish-Cypriot leader Akinci with Ta Nea forces me to marshal my forces and speak again,» said famed composer and left-wing icon Mikis Theodorakis in an opinion piece that was widely discussed

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis has warned that given the heightened tensions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Ankara may try to set up a military clash as it did when he was PM in 1996.

Simitis succeeded a dying Andreas Papandreou after his resignation in mid-January and within days Turkey sent commandos to land on one of the two Imia islets that belong to Greece.

So many people seem to have reached breaking point, slammed physically and mentally by exhaustion. The pressure on the people of a country that is bankrupt on so many different levels is calculable in megatons; more so because whatever light may be shimmering at the end of the tunnel is constantly being blocked out by toxic and torpid forces.

Tuesday, February 5 marked the centenary of the birth of Andreas Papandreou, Greece's first socialist prime minister and an extraordinary figure of 20th century European politics. Whether in or out of office, Papandreou dominated Greek political life for a generation.

Like it or not, we are firmly at a point when the all-powerful political leaders and parties of the type that emerged in the wake of World War II and up to 2010-11 are a thing of the past.

Anyone involved in politics needs to have a strong stomach and plenty of patience.

Up until very recently, members of the Athenian elite were often heard complaining about New Democracy's leader: "Kyriakos [Mitsotakis] doesn't have what it takes. He must say more populist things, tell a few lies, it's not that bad." 

The Greeks have a strong Mediterranean, and short-tempered, character. This has often become evident in the past, particularly on foreign policy issues. It is a strange thing.

The journalist, author and former PASOK minister Yiannis Kapsis died on Monday morning. He was 88.

He was editor in chief of Ta Nea daily newspaper from 1974 to 1982 before serving as deputy Foreign Minister in the socialist government of Andreas Papandreou until 1987.

The first round of voting this coming Sunday to elect a leader for the "new center-left party" - as everyone is calling the coalition that will emerge from the process - is basically the first step in an effort to glue back together all the different pieces that resulted from the fragmentation of the socialist PASOK party.

I was recently reading about a foreign diplomat who got to know the late Greek prime minister Andreas Papandreou very well when he came to Greece for the first time in 1961. The two men were discussing Greece's economic outlook and the sectors of the economy that offered the best prospects at the time.