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Europe
Security airship guards Athens; Greeks moan about security
2004-07-30
I thought I read about this on Rantburg before, but can't find anything in the archives.
Beneath the blue skies of Athens, an odd droning noise this week has prompted many a harried commuter to look up and squint into the sun. Above their heads, cumbersome but quiet enough to creep up unawares, is a 200ft airship - its unspoken motto: "Eat at Zorba's" "You are being watched." In a country where memories of the 1970s military junta are still fresh, and suspicion of authority is common, the airship is not seen as some novelty attraction. While some of the foreign athletes and VIPs heading to Athens for next month's Olympics have voiced concerns about safety precautions, locals are beginning to wonder if security measures have gone too far.
Feel free to relax security and accept the consequences. Just let us get our atheletes outta town first.
The list of defence gadgetry is formidable: Patriot missile batteries to shoot down rogue planes, high-speed coastguard vessels to sink terrorist boats, special sensors to detect lorry bombs and, today, a battalion of specialist Czech troops arrives to focus on any possible threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Which of course don't exist.
It is not so much the high-tech, high-cost, anti-terrorist systems that have irked locals. Rather it is the surveillance - city-wide, round-the-clock and in pin-sharp detail - that has provoked discontent. Leading the snooping is the airship, brought in as the final link in an observation network that will co-ordinate and direct 70,000 security officers on the ground. In the 13-seat gondola beneath the helium blimp, monitors display images from super-sensitive cameras that can work in pitch darkness. Chemical detectors sweep the air for any signs of gas attack. On the ground, a network of 1,300 fixed cameras keeps a beady eye on street level around potential targets such as Olympic venues and the Greek parliament. Police will even know when swimmers decide to take a dip near the port of Piraeus - where cruise ships will accommodate thousands of VIPs - thanks to an underwater sensing system. Meanwhile, a new law has given the authorities greater powers to tap phone calls.
Posted by:Bulldog

#20  Can the Rantburg national technical means squad get Aris and Bro. set up with blogging laptops and free range wireless connectivity for the event?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal   2004-07-30 7:40:52 PM  

#19  Hell Aris, put 'em on. Introduce him to you blog pals!
Posted by: Shipman   2004-07-30 7:12:16 PM  

#18  Uzo bad. They used it as a means of torture in my college days. One step better than Tequilia and Underberg but it was a small staggering step at that. Give me Jager, or give me death!
Posted by: Yank   2004-07-30 5:29:25 PM  

#17  Bulldog> Not sure what the root cause of that may be, but I'm betting nationalism's to blame. Death of nameless Albanian workers less media-worthy than what Greek ones would have been. Certainly I've not noted any media ever making a fuss about such work accidents.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-07-30 5:02:07 PM  

#16  It is not so much the high-tech, high-cost, anti-terrorist systems that have irked locals.

Yeah, it's the plumbing.
Posted by: Formerly Dan   2004-07-30 1:32:26 PM  

#15  And, mhw, I've not been aware there's been any fiscal disaster. Sure, we had to pay 5 or 10 times more in security than Sydney ever did, but that couldn't be helped given 9/11.

Small humanitarian one, though. The construction worker death toll is fourteen times that of Sydney's. That's inflation for you, I guess.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-07-30 1:04:47 PM  

#14  We'll be seeing alot of airships guarding our borders in the future. Techspheresystems has a manufacturing facility in Columbus, GA (home of Fort Benning) creating airships that fly above wind currents. Lower than satellites, higher than balloons or blimps. Easy to service and out of range from any missiles. Awesome aviation inventions being introduced almost daily. www.techspheresystems.com
Posted by: Frank   2004-07-30 12:48:10 PM  

#13  Shipman> My brother's coming to visit during August, so I doubt I'm gonna have as much time in the Internet as I do now.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-07-30 12:31:09 PM  

#12  Aris are you dial up? RantBurg is depending on you for a first hand account of the good the bad and the uzo.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-07-30 12:08:26 PM  

#11  In regards to the Airship, I had posted a link about it here: http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.asp?HC=Main&D=2004-07-20&ID=38621

And BH, the "arenas" have been built -- please try to be accurate in your condemnation of Athens because it messes my mind when nationalistic annoyance is intermixed with my annoyance at factual innaccuracies.

And, mhw, I've not been aware there's been any fiscal disaster. Sure, we had to pay 5 or 10 times more in security than Sydney ever did, but that couldn't be helped given 9/11.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-07-30 11:47:06 AM  

#10  That's a nice airship they've got there. At least, it's a nice airship on calm days. On windy days, however, it has to stay on the ground. Lots of windy days in Athens this time of year.
Posted by: Patrick Brown   2004-07-30 11:44:12 AM  

#9  In the US, ethnic Greeks are among the wealthiest groups. However, perhaps due to socialism, Greece itself is one of the poorest countries in Europe.
Posted by: mhw   2004-07-30 11:39:15 AM  

#8  concur yosemite....athens is truly a cesspool....a dirty city in a two bit - almost third world country....if it weren't for the acients (and athens glory was in the 5th century B.C) they would have nothing to be snobbish about...
Posted by: Dan   2004-07-30 11:09:33 AM  

#7  heres a few snippets of how their website tries to sell their city.... www.athens2004.com

from "Athen's Guide/Children's time":
Large cities are never a children's paradise, and Athens is no more child-friendly than any other metropolis. However, even in a city like this, where the air is polluted, the pavements are narrow and the recreation facilities sometimes outmoded, children will always find a way to escape.

from "Athen's Guide/Life & Style":
It is not easy to figure out a non-conformist, unruly and liberal city like Athens.

On the one hand, there are antiquities literally scattered all around them, making Athenians particularly snobbish as regards monuments. They move around and have constant access to an open-air museum, which means they are not easily impressed by a pile of ancient marble.

from "Athens Guide/Beaches":
The free beaches (by far the majority) do not charge admission, but take a different toll of the user: that of greater distance and weekend traffic jams

And un the "Athens Guide/Whats On" all the topics are only available in Greek!

Dumbasses - no wonder nobody wants to go there!!!



Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2004-07-30 10:49:21 AM  

#6  All of this will be useless if they continue to have power and phone outages.

Ahhhh Greece, mediocracy at its best! Have you guys ever read the olympic website - they put down their own city! I'll go get some examples...
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2004-07-30 10:33:17 AM  

#5  The fiscal disaster of the Olympics in Greece may well end the rediculous competition of cities to host this event.

Similarly, the DNC in Boston is going to make cities think twice about hosting political conventions.

All to the good.
Posted by: mhw   2004-07-30 10:14:44 AM  

#4  Sounds like some pretty sophisticated technology they've deployed there... now if only they can get that arena built.
Posted by: BH   2004-07-30 10:11:30 AM  

#3  raptor

The story posted here said we were shoving the 400 SOF operators down Greece's throat to provide protection for the U. S. Team. Greece objects because their constitution prohibits foreign troops from packing in country. So everyone agreed to say it is not going to happen.
Posted by: Mr. Davis   2004-07-30 9:05:03 AM  

#2  
#define checkist

Why are you worried, commrade? If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

#undefine checkist

Stay safe, Aris. I hope nothing interesting happens.
Posted by: N Guard   2004-07-30 8:49:07 AM  

#1  Heard a news snippet a week or so ago that Greece has requested 400 U.S Secial Forces(that is alot of operators).
Do you know anything about this,Aris?
Posted by: raptor   2004-07-30 8:20:45 AM  

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