MAIL CALL

Michael Meyer should not forget that ancient Greece gave the world not only the Olympics but also democracy ("A Gold Medal for Brutality," Aug. 9). While he insists on some minor negative aspects of the Games, he forgets that the Olympics started as an institution in ancient Greece, which had a highly developed civilization where citizens debated current issues, and where the first-ever banking transactions took place on big tables called trapeza (now the modern Greek word for "bank"). At that time, Anglo-Saxons were nothing but brutal barbarians. These days the brutality takes place on a different level: among ruthless American and multinational corporations that try to squeeze out every single drop of profits for the benefit of their modern "barbarian" owners, whose measure for everything is not the "man" (as in ancient Greece) but money.
George Koumparellis
London, England

Ouch! I bet many readers will tell you that there has never been such an event as "the 1933 Games in Nazi Germany." A country cannot host the Olympics. The correct expression must be the Berlin Olympics, or the 1936 (not 1933!) Summer Olympic Games of Nazi-era Berlin. Just as the current games were not Greece's, but those of Athens.
Gerard Lepine
Paris, France

Greece, a European Partner?

Strong unions, economics and especially partnerships are built not on handouts but on principles, values and deeply rooted institutions--all seemingly almost nonexistent in today's Greece ("A Bridge to Nowhere," May 10). More important, it is the right mentality and attitudes that shape new partnerships and the mutual respect stemming from them. Greece unquestionably lacks all these, a feeling widespread not just in the EU offices in Brussels but among those who live and work here as well. Even more disappointing is the lack of any vision vested in these qualities as the country has been scorched for more than 20 years by corruption on an epidemic scale, an inefficient public administration and the inept use of public funds. In today's competitive environment, Europe cannot afford the luxury of wasting its efforts on building "bridges to nowhere," let alone paying for them. After 20-plus years of membership in the EU and tens of billions of euros in subsidies, Greece remains a marginal "European" partner whose contribution to the Union seems to be the most expensive "what-not-to-do" manual.
Thomas Papalexiou
Thessaloniki, Greece