PARNU, ESTONIA. Enno Kuusmets is a sturdy Estonian who at age 77 has experienced tough times. Enno Kuusmets at Parnu’s bus station Born four years before the Soviets took over in 1940, his homeland in southeast Estonia was soon occupied by the invading Germans. His father was forced into the Wehrmacht. Enno remembers soldiers digging trenches in his yard as the Germans retreated from the … Continue reading Bare Bones Life for Estonian Pensioners
Thessaloniki, Greece. The Galerius Arch has been the eastern gateway into this pulsating port city since it was built in 299 A.D. commemorating the Roman emperor’s victory over the Persians. The thoroughfare passing beneath the arch—the Via Egnatia—is even older. It dates from 146 B.C. and extends 400 kilometers from the Adriatic town of Durres across the mountains of Macedonia and then south to this … Continue reading Thessaloniki: Heart of Macedonia
Thessaloniki, Greece. Some years back, I wrote that the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington was Davos on the Potomac. It is, but it is much more. Held two out of every three years in the IMF headquarters city, it is a much larger and more important gathering than the World Economic Forum. Marco Annunziata of GE, formerly the chief economist at … Continue reading A Stunning Lack of US Support for the IMF
Barry D. Wood 