Daily Archives: October 28, 2021

Burning coal, oil and natural gas accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions. If we are to have a 50 per cent chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 C, more than 83 per cent of Canadas oil reserves must stay underground.

Yet the newly re-elected Liberal government, which has put climate change policy at the centre of its agenda, is planning a long life for fossil fuels. Instead of keeping them in ground, the Liberals have committed to capping and reducing emissions from the sector and then offsetting any remaining emissions by 2050.

This would allow an indefinite future for fossil fuel production in Canada. It would require massive public investments in carbon capture and storage and create dubious accounting schemes that would move emissions off the books but not stop them from being produced.

Through the Corporate Mapping Project, my colleagues and I have been investigating the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry in Western Canada. This research shows that the industry only survives the politics of the climate crisis if it convinces politicians that net-zero will work and a future without fossil fuels is especially bleak.

But keeping 83 per cent of Canadas oil in the ground doesnt mean turning the tap off over night. It means winding down the industry using our skilled trades while also building out new lines of work that will remediate the land and focus on taking care of one another.

Much of Canadas oil must stay in the ground because Canadian oil is harder to reach most of it is found in oilsands in northern Alberta, making it hard to extract, process and transport and heavier than the light sweet crudes being produced in places like the Middle East. On a per barrel basis, Canadian oil produces more greenhouse gas emissions, costs more to extract and fetches a lower price on international markets.

In an era of climate action, Canada is attempting to keep its industry, which accounts for roughly five per cent of the countrys GDP, afloat through huge public subsidies estimated at between $2 billion and $63 billion per year. But the mirage of net-zero oil production is blind to the full life cycle of oil-related carbon emissions it does not consider the emissions produced by consuming oil and gas, only those associated with producing the oil.

Read more: Climate change: ditch 90% of world's coal and 60% of oil and gas to limit warming to 1.5C experts

The oil and gas that is produced in Canada will be burned domestically and internationally in combustion engines and gas-fired power plants. These scope 3 emissions, which can account for upwards of 90 per cent of the emissions associated with the complete life cycle of oil and gas, will no longer be tolerated in jurisdictions around the world trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Phasing out fossil fuels does not mean turning off the tap tomorrow. It does mean that todays production is the peak, and that from here on out extraction and infrastructure must decline over time, reaching close to zero production by mid-century.

This leaves time to plan appropriately and support fossil fuel workers and their communities in an orderly transition. If we start now, we have time to wind down one part of our economies while ratcheting up others like renewable energies, environmental remediation, energy efficient housing and low carbon work in the caring professions, including elder and child care, health care and education.

In fact for every dollar spent, the number of direct and indirect jobs created in these sectors far exceeds those in oil and gas extraction.

Some economies will be disproportionately affected Western Canada and Newfoundland will feel the brunt of the effects. They and rural areas will need more support and attention.

There is significant debate about what an orderly phase out of oil and gas could look like. Some suggest the industries should be nationalized, so as to stop their powerful tactics of denial and delay. In this scenario Crown corporations would preside over the wind-down, shuttering the most costly and emissions-intensive production first, and investing the proceeds of oil production in the remediation and reclamation of oil infrastructure sites.

Over time, the public corporations would transition from extracting oil and gas to cleaning up oil wells, mine sites and pipelines, keeping fossil fuel workers employed using their existing skill sets.

A recent study looked at how California might limit fossil fuel production to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When the state stopped approving new permits for oil wells, the natural rates of depletion of existing wells would cut production 70 per cent by 2030 and substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions globally.

Perhaps the most significant challenge in winding down the industry is how to clean up its vast infrastructure while ensuring that the public is not left to pay for it. Oil and gas companies often lease land for their infrastructure or to access their mineral rights where the surface is already being used for other purposes, such as farming and ranching, parks or private dwelling.

My research on rural oil-producing communities in Saskatchewan regularly turned up disgruntled landholders who were dealing with unremediated well and battery sites, and small pipelines. This infrastructure can leak oil, gas and salt water, affecting crops, emitting potent greenhouse gases and contaminating surface and ground water.

Read more: The growing cost to clean up abandoned and orphaned wells

The number of inactive wells wells that are not producing oil and need to be cleaned up has grown precipitously in the past decade, and municipalities and landowners are complaining of unpaid property taxes and surface leases.

The Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project highlights that the liabilities of the Alberta industry alone have been estimated at $58 billion to $260 billion. With only $1.5 billion held in securities, governments need to plan now for how they will recover the cleanup bill.

Governments could create public reclamation trusts, funded by increased oil and gas securities, royalties and taxes, that would employ oil and gas workers to clean up the industrys infrastructure. By remediating the land they would be building the groundwork needed for the next economies.

See more here:

How Canada can leave 83 per cent of its oil in the ground and build strong new economies - The Conversation CA

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A car has been linked to the suspected murder of north Queensland mother Rene Latimore, whose body was found on a rural property near Mackay in August. Ms Latimore was reported missing from Koumala, south of Mackay, on August 18 and her body was found 11 days later. Police have released few details about the case but she's suspected to have been murdered, with homicide detectives trying to track down a car linked to her death. They released photos on Thursday of the car travelling on Schirmer Rd, Koumala, on the evening of August 9. "Anyone with information regarding this vehicle or information in relation to Rene's death are urged to contact police," detectives said in a statement. Police have also appealed for anyone who had any form of contact with Ms Latimore in the months before her death to come forward. Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said last month that the property where her body was found belonged to Ms Latimore's family for "quite some time". But he said it was recently sold and the family was yet to vacate the site. The property is more than 240 hectares and consists of grazing land, dense bush and rainforest. Australian Associated Press

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A car has been linked to the suspected murder of north Queensland mother Rene Latimore, whose body was found on a rural property near Mackay in August.

Ms Latimore was reported missing from Koumala, south of Mackay, on August 18 and her body was found 11 days later.

Police have released few details about the case but she's suspected to have been murdered, with homicide detectives trying to track down a car linked to her death.

They released photos on Thursday of the car travelling on Schirmer Rd, Koumala, on the evening of August 9.

"Anyone with information regarding this vehicle or information in relation to Rene's death are urged to contact police," detectives said in a statement.

Police have also appealed for anyone who had any form of contact with Ms Latimore in the months before her death to come forward.

Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said last month that the property where her body was found belonged to Ms Latimore's family for "quite some time".

But he said it was recently sold and the family was yet to vacate the site.

The property is more than 240 hectares and consists of grazing land, dense bush and rainforest.

Australian Associated Press

Excerpt from:

Car linked to Latimore murder in north Qld - Daily Liberal

What the former cricketer impulsively said in a TV interaction was nothing but truth, something Pakistanis would talk about in private conversations

File image of Waqar Younis. AP

Everyone is shocked. No, he cant say that, says a friend. Later gaining her composure, she exclaims, How can he say such things? He always seemed so non-fundamentalist-type. This has been the reaction, ranging from utter disbelief to outright rage, on Waqar Younis recent statement. The former Pakistani cricketer said in a television interaction that the best thing for him was to watch Mohammad Rizwan offernamazin front of Hindus during the T20 World Cup match against India.

There were others in Pakistan who said far worse things than him. For a Pakistani commentator, the victory was the end of kufr. And the countrys Interior Minister saw it as the victory of Islam! But none hurt the Indian psyche more than Younis bouncer, though equally distasteful was the reaction of a few Indian liberals who saw Team Indias humiliation as Prime Minister Narendra Modis Waterloo moment. One such 'liberallunatic', who happens to be the national media coordinator of the Congress, went to the extent of asking the Bhakts: Hows the taste? She later gave a lame excuse, saying her tweet wasnt meant for cricket!

Be that as it may, the big question remains: Why are we so outraged by Waqar Younis statement? Yes, its an atrocious comment, especially coming from one of the finest cricketers of his time. But arent we talking about Pakistan which, to use Sir Vidia Naipauls term, is a kind of religious ecstasy, something beyond reason Its fantasy land, where the fundamental rage is against its own past, where history has become a kind of neurosis. No wonder the land which should have prided itself in being the birthplace of the worlds oldest civilisation we call it the Saraswati Civilisation; they may in their jingoism retain its Harappa and Mohenjo-daro nomenclatures officially recognises Mohammad bin Qasim, the Arab invader who attacked Sindh in 712 CE and killed and enslaved the very ancestors of the people who are eulogising him today, as the first citizen of Pakistan!

But why go that far back in history to understand that Pakistan is not a normal state? This is a country that was not created out of blood and sacrifice of freedom fighters but by dubious collaboration with the British and hence the slogan of that era:Hans Ke Liya Hai Pakistan, Lad Kar Lenge Hindustan. It was created in the name of Islam, but its Qaid-e-Azam loved to drink alcohol, eat pork, smoke 50 cigarettes a day, and dress like an English gentleman. In the early 1970s, it was a socialist Prime Minister in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who introduced radical Islam in the country a trend which gained momentum under Gen Zia-ul-Haq. Then, there was Benazir Bhutto, believed to be one of the most liberal Prime Ministers of that country, who presided over the Talibans first rise in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

General Pervez Musharraf did not blanch at whiskey, danced when the mood was upon him, as Steve Coll describes him in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book,Ghost Wars, and yet he believed firmly in the necessity of the Taliban. And today, it has a prime minister who blames fahashi (vulgarity) for the rise of rape and sexual violence in that country, but according to his biographer Christopher Sandford, he visited all the famous nightclubs in the UK and Australia, and would love to meet and court women.

Pakistan remains an enigma for the world. Ask the Americans. They know they are being cheated, and still they come back to her (Pakistan) knowing well that she is in love with another man (China). And that she is just after his money! But we Indians should have known Pakistan by now. How much more blood has to be shed by our people and jawans to realise that theres nothing neighbourly about that country. Pakistans existence is based on anti-India-ism. You remove that hatred, and the very rationale of its existence goes away. And the fundamental basis of that hatred is religious. For them, we are Hindus. And Hindus are treacherous people.

We are shocked because we still havent fully comprehended the true nature of Pakistan. Shatrubodh is very important. We first need to realise who our enemy is. Only then will we be able to prepare ourselves better against them. Pakistan doesnt have any such dilemma. One just needs to read the works of C Christine Fair, one of the best minds in Pakistan who has spent a long time in that country to understand its psyche. In her 2014 book,Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Armys Way of War, she explains how the Pakistan Armyan institution looked up with a lot of admiration and awe in Pakistansees itself not just as the protector of Pakistans territorial frontiers but also its ideological frontiers.

According to Fair, the Army views its struggle with India in existential terms. For Pakistans men on horseback, not winning, even repeatedly, is not the same thing as losing. But simply giving up and accepting the status quo and Indias supremacy, is, by definition, defeat. As a former Chief of (Pakistan) Army Staff explained to me in 2000, Pakistans generals would always prefer to take a calculated risk and be defeated than to do nothing at all, she says.

This mindset explains Pakistans continued support to terrorism in India. This also reveals why that countrys Interior Minister could see Pakistans win over India in the T20 World Cup match as the victory of Islam! By that explanation, werent its previous 12 losses the defeat for Islam? But Pakistanis dont and wont see that way. In their fantasy world, being defeated is not defeat. For them, doing nothing against the enemy is defeat! This also explains why India must be prepared for a perpetual state of warfare, overt or covert, with Pakistan. For us, the real problem is the idea of Pakistan.

Former Ambassador Rajiv Dogra shares an interesting anecdote in his bookWhere Borders Bleed. He quotes one of his friends asking a Pakistani minister what his greatest wish was during his ministerial tenure. The minister stretched both his hands in front of him, opened his palms facing skywards and said, If God were to grant me a wish I would ask him to place a nuclear bomb each on my palms. Then with a satisfied smile, he turned his palms downwards and added, One I would drop on Bombay, the other on Delhi.

This is the story of India and Pakistan. What Waqar Younis impulsively said in a TV interaction was nothing but the truth, something Pakistanis would talk about in private conversations. Just like the minister and his wish to nuke Bombay and Delhi. Truth often comes out in an unusual manner. The real shocker is not what Younis said. The real shocker is why we are so shocked about it!

Read the rest here:

Why are we shocked by Waqars Namaz bouncer? Thats how Pakistan thinks about India - Firstpost

The Canadian government's stance has long been that no one could have possibly known how quickly the security situation would deteriorate in Afghanistan, but an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate reveals it had plenty of warning.

With the U.S. military's evacuation from Afghanistan this summer bringing America's longest war to an end Afghan interpreters and mission staff who had worked alongside the Canadian Armed Forces were left at the mercy of the Taliban, who considered them traitors for having assisted Western allies.

The Fifth Estate obtained more than 200 pages of documents, reports, interpreter's biographiesand support letters as well as 45 leaked emails sent to Canadian cabinet ministers and their staff, well before the American pullout, making the case to rescue those Afghan nationals.

"They had so much time to act on this, and they didn't," Robert St. Aubin, who worked as a legislative assistant in the House of Commons, told The Fifth Estate.

"And then when they did act on it, they did it in such a convoluted and complicated, untransparent and such a bureaucratic, cautious manner that it resulted in ... thousands of people being left behind."

When Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan ended in 2011,soldiers left behind local Afghans former interpreters and mission staff who helped them navigate the country they had landed in nine years earlier.

Canada never made written commitments, but there was an understanding among interpreters and veterans that those who had risked their lives to assist Canadian efforts would be taken care of.

In February 2019, the office of the Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP at that time Don Rusnak took notice of a local veteran campaigning to bring interpreters he had worked with in Kandahar to Canada and wrote to Immigration Canada on their behalf.

The documentation was comprehensive including letters of commendation from the Canadian Armed Forces, along with letters of intimidation from the Taliban. However, the response Rusnak's office got from the government was underwhelming.

"I don't want to say that they didn't care," St. Aubin, who was working for Rusnak, told The Fifth Estate. "But it was that they didn't seem all that interested, right? It just seemed like another immigration case to them."

In the 2019 federal election, Marcus Powlowski, a medical doctor from Thunder Bay, won the Thunder Bay-Rainy River seat for the Liberals and the interpreters' file landed on his desk. He continued reaching out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on their behalf.

"You'd think that a person who's essentially a war hero an interpreter who essentially is a veteran himself you'd think he'd be given some help," said St. Aubin, who then started working for Polowski. "There was nothing. Absolutely nothing."

The exchanges between Powlowski's office and the immigration minister at the time,Marco Mendicino, began in February 2020 and went on for months, without any apparent result.

Powlowski told The Fifth Estate it wouldn't be politically wise for him to discuss his emails.

WATCH | Warningswere sent to the immigration minister's office:

By that point, eight months had passed since the U.S. government's negotiations with the Taliban, which were aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing American troops home.

The Taliban were gaining strength and other Canadian veterans were also getting urgent requests from former colleagues and friends trying to get out of Afghanistan.

"They are begging for help and claiming Canada has forgotten them," Polowski wrote to Mendicino in October 2020.

By November 2020, more groups joined in raising the alarm.

Abdul Hakim Azizi worked as an interpreter in 2010 and did over a hundred missions with the Canadian Armed Forces.

Since people knew he had worked with Canadians, he said it put him in serious danger for possible retribution from the Taliban.

In late December 2020, 17 Liberal MPs signed a letter sent to Mendicino and Francois-Philippe Champagne, then the minister of global affairs, supporting Powlowski in his efforts to help Afghan interpreters. The following week, another seven members signed the same letter.

Still, it seems nothing was happening, or if it did, it wasn't known to Powlowski.

In March 2021, after several email exchanges, Powlowski again wrote directly to Mendicino, saying: "I am getting somewhat frustrated with the lack of movement on this file. It will look very bad for our government if one of these people is murdered while waiting for our government's response."

Mendicino responded via email 20 minutes later.

"We'll schedule a call so I can give you an update, and then we can take it from there," he wrote.

They met a few days later, giving a glimmer of hope to Powlowski, St. Aubin and the interpreters they were in touch with. However, nothing changed, according to St. Aubin.

"It's a tough situation," said Azizi. "Where's the... humanitarian help or things that we do for people?

"It's not about living in Canada or living in Afghanistan, it's about humanity."

In April 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a complete U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Two weeks later, the Taliban started its full offensive.

The next month, Powlowski wrote one last email. He addressed it to Mendicino, other Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers including Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan at the time, using their personal email addresses.

He wrote thathis office was getting numerous emails from Afghan interpreters who had helped the Canadian military.

"Almost all of them are moving from house to house in order to escape the Taliban. Many have sent us copies of death threats from the Taliban." he wrote.

"I have to say, I am getting really pissed off at our government's lack of action on this," he added. "Forty years from now, will there be another prime minister apologizing yet again for our failures to do what is so obviously right?"

According to documentation obtained by The Fifth Estate, he didn't get a response from any of the recipients.

In an interview with The Fifth Estate, Mendicino said he remembers the letter.

"My thinking was that it was a priority, that we needed to keep an open line of communication with MP Powlowski, as we did."

Others had also noticed the government's apparent inaction and were getting worried.

Among them were three retired CAF generals David Fraser, Denis Thompson and Dean Miller, who wrote their own open letter to Mendicino asking "the government to take decisive action and bring our interpreters to safety in Canada."

By June 2021, the Taliban gained control of nearly half of Afghanistan's district centres and in the areas they captured, there were reports of violent retribution against those who had supported international forces.

It would still be more than a month before Canada announced a fast-tracked immigration process for Afghan nationals who worked for Canadian troops and staff.

At a news conference in Ottawa on July 23, 2021, Mendicino acknowledged that the risk of retribution from the Taliban was grave, adding that people who worked with Canada, as well as their families, are often subject to intensifying threats of violence, torture and death.

"Not only does Canada owe them a debt of gratitude, we have a moral obligation to do right by them," he said.

It had been at least a year and half since Polowski had first reached out to Mendicino's office, in February of 2020.

WATCH | A harrowing journey to the Kabul airport:

Although the program offered hope, Fraser said it shouldn't have taken a crisis to get people out.

Frustrated by Canada's lack of action, Fraser, along with a group of volunteers private individuals who included retired military officers, veterans, diplomats, aid workers and journalists across Canada and abroad started using their own time, connections and money to move Afghans to safety.

"We have a humanitarian crisis where we've got to get people out fast, and the government doesn't work fast," Fraser said.

WATCH | Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino on the Afghanistan campaign in August:

Since the summer, the volunteer group says, it has moved more than 300 Afghan interpreters and staff over land, eventually bringing them to Canada. They've gone from a hundred names to more than 2,000 applicants and their families and are spending $10,000 a day on food, lodging and security all funded by donations.

It's not just Canadians who are part of this citizen effort. From the ground in Afghanistan, and upon landing in Canada, former interpreters have joined the ranks of the volunteer-run mission to help get others out.

When Wali was still in Afghanistan, he was approached by the executive director of Aman Lara (the name means Sheltered Path in Pashto) a non-governmental organization that is also the volunteer group's operational arm. (CBC has agreed not to use Wali's real name because he fears for the safety of his family who is still in Afghanistan.)

Wali worked as an interpreter from 2009 to2011 and had been trying to leave the country since 2014. But he said "there was no way" to leave.

After navigating theprocess of applying for the special immigration measures program put in place for interpreters, Wali arrived in Canada on Sept. 2, 2021.

Since then, he has been working out of the basement of Aman Lara's makeshift offices in Ottawa. Along with other former interpreters, Wali spends his days communicating in Pashto and Dari with those stuck in Afghanistan who feel that Canada is their only way out.

"I have suffered a lot to get out of Afghanistan," he said. Now that he's out he feels it's his duty to "help my colleagues who used to work with me."

Kynan Walper, Aman Lara's operations officer, said such efforts are critical work the group can't do. "They're doing what our government should be doing."

In an interview with The Fifth Estate, Mendicino said: "I think it is incumbent on any responsible government to embrace the goodwill of volunteers who have the relationships on the ground.

"I do believe that it is too early to render a final judgment on the success of this operation."

However capable the network of volunteers is, they cannot issue documentation. And after months of operations, the group's funding is running out.

Although Mendicino told The Fifth Estate the government is finalizing funding for the volunteer group, at the time of publishing the group had not received any government money for the safe houses.

Last week, the group began issuing eviction notices to many of the Afghans taking refuge in the volunteer-run safe houses and who are still waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

Walper saidhe gets emails all day from Afghans who are "in complete terror" because of how dangerous things are.

"It's dire, our financial situation," Walper said. "We can't do this without the government. It's the only way this is going to work in the long term."

View original post here:

Canadian government urged to rescue Afghan interpreters long before American withdrawal, leaked emails reveal - CBC.ca

The Greek National Anthem is one of the most recognizable anywhere in the world and it is the longest of any such song, written by the countrys National Poet, Dionysios Solomos. Credit: Public Domain

The Greek National Anthem is one of the most recognizable anywhere in the world and it is the longest of any such song, written by the countrys National Poet, Dionysios Solomos.

Its title is (Hymn to Liberty). It was written as a 158-stanza poem in 1823 on the Greek island of Zakynthos and printed one year later in Missolonghi.

The Solomos poem was inspired by the brave men who fought in the Greek War of Independence and Greeces incredibly long, rich history.

In 1865, the King of Greece, George I, visited Corfu and heard the islands philharmonic band performing the first three stanzas, which had been set to music by the operatic composer Nikolaos Mantzaros.

The King was so impressed that he ordered the bands music to be played during official events; thus the Hymn to Liberty instantly became the National Anthem of Greece.

Beginning in 1966, it became the National Anthem of Cyprus as well, after a decision by its Council of Minsters.

The Hymn to Liberty deals with several themes from the War of Independence others from the long and illustrious span of Greek history.

The poet presents the goddess of liberty and recalls the past martyrdoms that occurred during the history of the country and the revolt of its slaves under foreign rule as well as the joys of being a Hellene.

Solomos also speaks of the the disdain European rulers had for Greece and the contemptuous indifference of the Greeks for their pro-Ottoman stance.

In stanzas 35-74 of the Greek National Anthem, the poet describes the battle and the fall of Tripolitsa, the Turkish capital and stronghold of the Peloponnese.

Stanzas 75-87 speak of the Battle of Corinth and the destruction of the mighty army ofDrama Ali in Dervenakia.

The first siege of Missolonghi in 1822 and the drowning of the Ottomans in the river Acheloos are described in stanzas 88-122 of the song.

The courageous naval engagements of the War, mainly the burning of the Turkish flagship near Tenedos, are described in stanzas 123-138, as well as the Turks barbarichanging of Gregory, the Patriarch of Constantinople.

In the Epilogue (139-158) of the Greek National Anthem, the poet advises the former fighters to rid themselves of their harmful discord and petty differences and urges the powerful of Europe to allow Greece to be fully liberated.

1. I do know thee by the direfulcutting edge of thy keen swordI do know thine eye stare irefulcounting fast the lands restored

2. Thou camest forth off the departedGreeks who died and lived for theeand like erstwhile stoutheartedHail oh hail thee Liberty

3. There inside thou wert stayingreticent, embittered toofor a summon thou wert prayingtelling thee come back anew

4.That good day was always tarryingevery thing was mute aroundfor oppression was scaringand by slavry they were bound

5. Woe is thee! Thine only solacesitting lone telling with sighglories past when thou wert awelessand recounting them to cry

6. And awaiting the invitingliberal strong voice to darethine one hand the other smitingout of sorrow and despair

7. saying will, ah! will I neverraise my head from these lorn wilds?From above replies as everwails, chains, fetters of all kinds

8. Then thine eyes thoudst lift up weeping,hazy, full of tears and red,on thy dress unendly drippinggobs of Greek blood vainly shed

9. With thy clothes blood-soaked and reekingI would thou kepst on sneaking outto the foreign countries seekingfurther hands both strong and stout

10. All alone thou hadst departedand thou camest back all alonefor the gates will not get partedwhen tis need whos knocking on

11. Others on thy bosom cryingbut they offered no respite,others help with words supplyingbut were fooling thee on spite

12. Others, woe! by thine misfortunewere delighted and would bray,go away to join thine orphans,go the obdurate would say

13. Now thy feet homewards toiland they overswiftly rollon the rock or on the soilwhich thy glory do recall

14. Overlowly it is bowingtriple-wretched thy sad head,beggar. door to door whos goingand their life a weight too dead

15. Aye, but now theyre counterfiringall thy seed with urge and mirth,and theyre seeking firm, untiringeither victory or death

16. Thou camest forth off the departedGreeks who died and lived for theeand like erstwhile stoutheartedHail oh hail thee Liberty

17. When the sky beheld thy gumption,who, for the oppressing brute,in thy motherland with kindnessnourished flowers both and fruit,

18. was relieved, and it startedan infernal blare to pour,and to thee response had dartedRigas battle crying roar

19. Each one of thy lands have called theewarmly greeting thee with wishand the mouths are shouting boldlywhat the heart wilt not dismiss

20. Yells that reached the stars in heavenfrom Ionian islands too,loads of raised hands keep on wavingshowing how their cheer was true

21 although chained and separatedeach one with a slick decreeand their forehead decoratedwith Deceitful Liberty

22. Heartily pleased and affectedwas the Washingtons free landand the chains had recollectedthat detained her on remand

23. From his castle he is roaringjust like greeting what is doneand his mane he shakes stormingthe Lion the Spaniard one

24. He was startled in his quartersEnglands furious beast who hathsent to the far Russian cornersloud the growling of his wrath;

25. with a posture clearly showinghow much muscle hide his arms,in Aegean waves hes throwingan inflamed stare that alarms

26. Through the clouds above he spots theetoo the Eagles eye while hiswings and claws are growing doughtyon Italian carcasses

27. and against thee he turns hostile,since forever hating thee,squawks and squawks the bloody foe whiletrying to impede thy spree.

28. Yet thou thinkest about nothingelse than where thou shouldst go first,thou repliest not, nor dost somethingfor all those who have thee cursed,

29. like tall mountain which is lettingthe brash filthy water flowto his feet and just there settingthe foul scum that soon will go,

30. which is letting the strong whirlwindhailstorm too and heavy rainto strike on with their harsh whippingits eternal peak in vain

31. Woe to him! Oh woe to him whofatelorn will be found abreastthy keen sword and hath a whim tostay and put it to the test

32. The foul monster is now thinkingthat hes missing his stray cuberst hes cringing then hes springingand hes craving human blood,

33. now hes running through all forestsmountains, fields, ravines and earth,where he stood or passed the harvestshorror, desolation, death.

34. Horror, death and desolationeverywhere thou hast passed toofor it brings thee indignationenmy sword unsheathed to view

35. Behold, the walls that stand tall yonder,Tripoli the loathsome pit,judgements both and terrors thundernow thou wishst to cast on it

36. Victories against the felonsfilled the eyes with grit and grin,blind to their inundant weaponsand to their war cheering din

37. Shaking fists at thee and grindingteeth they try to show their scads.Hearken thou not to the frightningmyriads, men and callow lads?

38. A few mouths and fewer eyeswill remain you open, shame,to bewail for the demiseof all lifes the woe shall claim!

39. They come forth and started clashingsparking battles lightning glutmuskets loading, firing, flashingsword blades glisten, thrash and cut

40. Whys the fight already ending?Whys there also scanty blood?I behold the foes ascendingto the castle swift they scud.

41. Count! Theyre numberless the cravenwho are running for their life,they prefer their backs shot gravenlest they stay and taste the knife

42. Stay locked in, well soon advance there!Wait until you sure attrite!Wait, the end is coming, answer,in the darkness of the night!

43. They responded and the battlestarts and sets the place afireridge to ridge the buzz and rattlesounding turbulent and dire

44. I can hear the muskets ploppingand the swords that clang beneathI can hear the axes choppingand the grinding of the teeth

45. Ah, what a night this was, itfills the intellect with dread!There was nother sleep nor pausingsave the bitter of the dead.

46. The time and the place of action,the ado, the screaming folk,the extreme cruelhearted passionmarking war, the rising smoke,

47. the loud blasts, the dark and hazysetting pierced by fiery bursts,closely representing Hadeseager to receive the curs,

48. waiting for them. Countless shadowsshowing, naked on their feet,daughters, elders, laddies, widows,babies hooked still to the teat.

49. All pitch-black tis now swarmingblack the sepulchred sad crowdlike an acrid pall of mourningon the deathbed, a dark cloud

50. Lashings, lashings massed unalteredsprouting from the soils backstage,all of them injustly slaughteredby the rampant turkish rage

51. Many as the ears cradledupon harvesting the fields,almost all these parts were tangledcovered with these tragic yields

52. Here and there throughout the bustlehazy starlight stirred the flockas they headed to the castlein a deathlike silent walk

53. Likewise at the plains below indensely vegetated woods,each time the half moon is throwinglittle pale light that dilutes

54. in the winds, that softly rustlethrough packed branches stripped of leaves,the dim spots quake and jostlewhere the offshoots touch their peers.

55. With their eyes they keep on glancinground to find the pools of blood,in the blood theyre wildly dancing,their hoarse growlings turn to flood

56. and cavorting they are bunchinground the Greek ferocious bandsand the valiant breasts are touchingwith their lifeless wintry hands

57, This benumbing touch is goingdeep inside the inner partsletting out the grief theyre stowingleaving merciless the hearts

58. Thus tis horrifyingly growingthis pernicious fighting dance,like a squall unruly blowingin the lonely seas expanse

59. High and low theyre striking madly,each and every hit they landtis a hit severe and deadly,without need for second hand

60. Every body sweating, churningas if from within its soul,sick of hatred fiercely burning,strives by any means to soar

61. The beats of the heart are thwackingin their breasts slow and miffedand their arms whenever smackingare two or more times as swift

62. For all them there is no heaven,nor high sea, nor even ground,for the upper world and netherconcentrate in their surround

63. The excitement and the furyare so stark, as both sides striveresolute, that makest thee worryno man will be left alive

64. Behold the misry cumulatedin these hands that rip life threads!On the earth fall mutilatednumerous legs, arms and heads,

65. scabbards, swords and baldrics,sculls severed or slit in two,brains lay strewn all over watry.steaming guts the bodies spew.

66. No one would pay even noticeto the slaughter just a bit,they all forge ahead atrocious.Stop! Enough! When will you quit?

67. No man deigns to leave as optionsave for when he shall lay done.They dont feel at all exhaustionas if they have just begun

68. Now the curs are getting fewerAllah they are yelling loudbut the Christian lips are truerfire fire is their shout

69. Lionhearted they are batteringfoes hard, screaming always firethe flagitious thugs are scatteringscreeching Allah they retire

70. Fright and dust clouds in all quarterspainful sighs, the helpless cry,all around faint moans and horrorsand all over people die

71. Oh how many! Yet the lead shotdoesnt echo in their ears.all now laying where the dead rotwhen the fourth dawn sheds its tears

72. River the blood of the slaughteredturning the ravine to slue,and the innocent grass wateredwith mens blood instead of dew

73. New dawns breeze, how effervescent,thou no longer blowst acrossto the foul-believers crescentblow thou, blow thou to the Cross!

74. Thou camest forth off the departedGreeks who died and lived for theeand like erstwhile stoutheartedHail oh hail thee Liberty

75. There behold the fields of Corinth,but suns light does not get throughon the planetrees tisnt pouringor on vineyards, waters too

76. In the easeful aether, startling,not a carefree sound would fleet,not a fifes jovial warbling,not a lamb would only bleat.

77. Thousands of soldiers rushinglike the waves unto the shore,but thy stalwart braves are dashing,they keep count not anymore

78. Oh three hundred Spartans raise yeon this land return anewand your children proudly gaze yehow much they resemble you!

79. Oer your braves the lot are shaken,by their blinded stride apacebarred in Corinth they were takento hide out and shun the chase

80. Sends the angel of destructionfamine and disease who takeshape as skeletons and action,walking side by side they rake,

81. lying on the grass and heavingthey were dying everywherethe forsaken wretched leavingsof disaster, flight, despair

82. Thou divine and unfading,capable of any deed,Liberty, now gory, aching,in the valley is thy tread.

83. In the shadow strung togetherI see them too a row of pearls,dance the virgin throng forever,hand in hand the Grecian girls,

84. choral their step, their voice bracing,eyes erotic full of flair,in the breeze divinely wavingcurls of black and auburn hair.

85. My soul rejoices with the savoury,in the breasts of every one,milk of freedom and of bravery,that will feed their unborn sun

Link:

The Greek National Anthem and its Meaning - Greek Reporter