Gunmen Set Fire to Microsoft’s Greek Headquarters(mashable.com)
mashable.com
Gunmen Set Fire to Microsoft’s Greek Headquarters
http://mashable.com/2012/06/27/microsoft-greek-headquarters-fire/
9 comments
The thing I've always had in the back of my mind regarding Greece's current woes, is that, despite being the cradle of democracy, the parthenon, the diaspora etc... they're just a short boat trip away from Northern Africa. And beyond that, just subsistence Africa, the Sahara etc. They may have the trappings of a "Euro" country at the moment... but things could quite concievably get way worse for them and a lot closer to their neighbours than it's easy to imagine.
And the US is right next door to Mexico and South and North Korea are, well, you get the point. Geographical proximity is not an accurate economic indicator. Also, Africa is not some homogenous blob of poverty.
I have a feeling most grown men there do not have families.
> "This kind of violent activity tends to become more prevalent and audacious when grown men and women can no longer provide food and shelter for their families."
I doubt there's much overlap between "people who would commit armed extortion against a giant company" and "people who can't feed their families".
This isn't a crime of desperation, it's a crime carried out by organized criminals who have been in the business for a long time.
I doubt there's much overlap between "people who would commit armed extortion against a giant company" and "people who can't feed their families".
This isn't a crime of desperation, it's a crime carried out by organized criminals who have been in the business for a long time.
planetguy: during periods of extreme economic suffering, there is an increase in all kinds of criminal activity as many people are driven to desperation -- regular folk as well as professional criminals.
Consider the case of the US during the Great Depression, which "brought a rapid rise in the crime rate as many unemployed workers resorted to petty theft to put food on the table. Suicide rates rose, as did reported cases of malnutrition. Prostitution was on the rise as desperate women sought ways to pay the bills. Health care in general was not a priority for many Americans, as visiting the doctor was reserved for only the direst of circumstances. Alcoholism increased with Americans seeking outlets for escape, compounded by the repeal of prohibition in 1933."[1]
Some of the most audacious criminals in US history, like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, rose to fame during the Great Depression of the 1930's.
[1] http://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
Consider the case of the US during the Great Depression, which "brought a rapid rise in the crime rate as many unemployed workers resorted to petty theft to put food on the table. Suicide rates rose, as did reported cases of malnutrition. Prostitution was on the rise as desperate women sought ways to pay the bills. Health care in general was not a priority for many Americans, as visiting the doctor was reserved for only the direst of circumstances. Alcoholism increased with Americans seeking outlets for escape, compounded by the repeal of prohibition in 1933."[1]
Some of the most audacious criminals in US history, like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, rose to fame during the Great Depression of the 1930's.
[1] http://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
I'm truly baffled by what they were protesting, here. I'm no MS fan, but I haven't heard of any particular ire pointed at them for anything, much less the troubles Greece is going through now. Was this just a wanton act of petulance?
I think it'll be hard to guess unless more evidence surfaces. With a machine gun, gas canisters, etc., it sounds pretty organized, not a random splinter group of angry students or anything. The "mass" left movements (KKE, Antarsya, various squat-based anarchist groups, etc.) tend not to carry out military-style armed actions like that, and are more into the mass marches with Molotovs and rocks. There could be a smaller group that chose MS as a convenient target (probably it was less well protected than banks or government building are). But even those, when they do something "big", tend to try to make a PR stunt out of it, e.g. unfurl a big banner on the front of the building and spraypaint slogans. This looks more clinical in a way, which makes it look more like a pointed threat than a protest.
With the current high unemployment and general anger, there are a lot of questionable groups in weird webs of entanglement in Athens, so could be other things as well. There are some violent right-wing groups who might be coming from nationalist rather than leftist reasons (out with the foreigners/etc.), or it could be something apolitical like organized crime. The latter is getting bigger as groups of desperate people are looking for any way to make a living; in particular, many people suspect that some football-hooligan "ultra" groups have morphed into criminal syndicates. They're also sometimes associated with the Golden Dawn neo-Nazi group, though it's never quite clear how much of that is politics versus money versus general not-very-precisely-directed anger.
(As a side note, Athens vs. everywhere else in Greece are almost completely different places these days. Even as half-Greek I would be careful where I went in Athens right now, but the rest of Greece is much different.)
With the current high unemployment and general anger, there are a lot of questionable groups in weird webs of entanglement in Athens, so could be other things as well. There are some violent right-wing groups who might be coming from nationalist rather than leftist reasons (out with the foreigners/etc.), or it could be something apolitical like organized crime. The latter is getting bigger as groups of desperate people are looking for any way to make a living; in particular, many people suspect that some football-hooligan "ultra" groups have morphed into criminal syndicates. They're also sometimes associated with the Golden Dawn neo-Nazi group, though it's never quite clear how much of that is politics versus money versus general not-very-precisely-directed anger.
(As a side note, Athens vs. everywhere else in Greece are almost completely different places these days. Even as half-Greek I would be careful where I went in Athens right now, but the rest of Greece is much different.)
Could be a false flag operation designed to discredit one side or another.
I doubt this is a protest.
Either it's criminal violence targeted at the company (the protection racket hypothesis seems likely at this point) or it's something designed to destabilize the government even further. This second idea is less likely because, if that's the intention, a government building would be the target.
Also, the damage to the building itself seems rather minimal. The entrance is completely destroyed and some repairs may be required in the wiring, but the structure seems unaffected. I guess fire suppression systems worked as designed.
Either it's criminal violence targeted at the company (the protection racket hypothesis seems likely at this point) or it's something designed to destabilize the government even further. This second idea is less likely because, if that's the intention, a government building would be the target.
Also, the damage to the building itself seems rather minimal. The entrance is completely destroyed and some repairs may be required in the wiring, but the structure seems unaffected. I guess fire suppression systems worked as designed.
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There exist in Greece a few (2-3) groups of anarchist activists, mostly consisting of idiots from 17-30.
Random targets like this are not uncommon. It's not like they know what the fuck they are doing anyway or have any coherent plan. It's mostly banks, but foreign multinationals have also been targeted in the past. Even Apple's authorized dealers IIRC. So don't read too much into the target --it probably just means it was convenient and unprotected enough for them to attack more than anything.
Think Anonymous level IQs (ie not that high), but with guns and bombs instead of computer. This is known, because some of those groups have been busted by the police, and they were indeed as described above.
Random targets like this are not uncommon. It's not like they know what the fuck they are doing anyway or have any coherent plan. It's mostly banks, but foreign multinationals have also been targeted in the past. Even Apple's authorized dealers IIRC. So don't read too much into the target --it probably just means it was convenient and unprotected enough for them to attack more than anything.
Think Anonymous level IQs (ie not that high), but with guns and bombs instead of computer. This is known, because some of those groups have been busted by the police, and they were indeed as described above.
Greeks would rather crash a van into MS headquarters than actually pay for a copy of Windows.
According to other news reports, this is just the latest in a string of attacks on American companies in Greece. McDonalds, Citibank, and Starbucks were hit in Athens. If this continues, you might see multinationals scale down operations or even close up shop in Greece, adding to the unemployment ranks - just what the Greek economy does not need.
Didn't pay protection perhaps?
Someone turned off the firewall!
They were trying to end of life IE6 in Greece.
Too brazen to be Mac users.
Now that's what I call a flame-war.
Greece is truly in the midst of a Great Depression. According to official statistics published by the Greek government, the country's rate of unemployment is now nearly 22% -- that is, one out of every five people looking for a job can't find one; and more disturbingly, the unemployment rate for young people is 53% -- one out of every two can't find employment.[1]
[1] http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9V87S5G0.htm