Greek Fire

I have been following the tragic news about the fires spreading across Greece. I am not a Greek American, but I have many Greek friends and I have gone there on business many times. I like the country very much. Sadly, over 60 people have died in the fires and people have been reduced to trying to beat those fires out with branches which then catch fire. Why the Prime Minister didn't IMMEDIATELY declare a state of emergency and commandeer every bull-dozer in the country to dig fire trenches and get every member of the military out fighting fires IMMEDIATELY is beyond me.

It appears that it is accepted practice for developers to intentionally set forested land ablaze. Why? Because Greek law prevents building on a great deal of forested land, but it doesn't say that once deforested by fire that it can't be built upon. A day or so ago it was announced that two people were arrested...a 77 year old woman who was cooking in her backyard and a 65 or 67 year old man who did do something rather suspicious, but is the government kidding? There were many fires, maybe 200, that were set simultaneously along a 12-14 mile stretch. An old lady cooking in her backyard?? How stupid do they think we are? Perhaps now that the story has become an international one, the Greek government will be embarrassed and get their act together. (My experience says that won't happen, but I can always hope.) Greece is a beautiful, beautiful country, but it is like a 3rd world country in many ways. The people desperately want to be part of the modern world, but they haven't been able to bring the culture as a whole into the 21st century. Here's a bit of irony: the Greeks tell the story of the burning of Smyrna by the Turks and legitimately want Turkey to acknowledge this, but now the Greeks are burning their own country down and they can't blame the Turks for this one (although there has been some talk about investigating whether the fires were started by "terrorists," but the implication is they mean non-Greeks, not greedy people who want the land to build on and don't care whether they murder people to get it.)

Nature will bring back the forests (if the land isn't paved over first) and I do truly pray that the best in human nature will bring Greece's politicians to their senses.