Kristatos and the monks

It might seem like an inpenetrable fortress in the film, requiring super-human climbing skills from a septegenarian Roger Moore, but the ascent is fairly moderate. Agia Triada is one of six monasteries in the Meteora range in north west Greece, base for villain Kristatos in Bond film For Your Eyes Only, but more importantly the spiritual home to monks since the 11th century. Rather than relying on shoe laces or using Q's latest gadget, it required a 30 minute climb via a path carved into the side. Another monastery is the Varlaam, founded in the 16th century, by an anchorite monk, where you can buy incense, CDs of Byzantine music, and a short book "what is orthodoxy?". The Meteora region is stunning, no doubt: a range of rock pillars that dominate like giant granite collossus on the edge of the Hellenic plain. At dusk, monastery bells sound off in sequence, humbling the inhabitants of the town below. The monks themselves were naturally elusive. The largest of the monasterys - Megalo Meteoro - is a complex of living quarters, kitchen, refectory (where preserved plates, goblets, candlesticks are on display). This monastery has a larger museum than the others, with wider Greek history, in particular military atire and paintings from the Balkans wars (1912-13) and the campaign against the Axis (1940-41). A Nazi soldier is seen falling down from a pillar, these monoliths were totally impregnable once. The museum also holds Byzantine scripts of early philosophers: Plato, Aristotle. To round it all off, the in house ossuary holds nearly 100 human skulls.

http://www.greecetravel.com/meteora/monasteries.html

The birth of democracy?

So to truly maintain the historic side of this blog, I have travelled to the birthplace of modern intellectual thought, where advances in science, democracy and philosophy put down markers for the whole of western civilization. Pretty impressive eh? Well I will fail to encapsulate the whole magnitude of Athens' history, partly due to my limited time here - partly due its lengthy importance to Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires that spanned 2,000 years. The Parthenon, built in the 5th century, towers over the city, as a flag bearer for democracy - Athenian democracy. Considering western Europe has had this source of democracy for 2,500 years, we should be hasty when analysing other parts of the world who have experienced it for a mere 25 years. Like modern day democracy, the Greek model was not flawless. Whether this implies that it is a fallible ideology like any other or that it requires maturity is an interesting question. Fukuyama may have it as the final answer, but man's corruption will corrupt any ideology no matter how perfect it is. I will be visiting the Parthenon tomorrow and I will tell you whether democracy is an ideology for all history or one of purely temporary and modern success....well, Athens like democracy is a bit of an evolving building site. Thankfully they completed their 2004 Olympics schedule on queue (London 2012 take note) but sound of construction is quite prevalent. None less than at the top of the Acropolis, although it is only re-construction, the works there show that supposed perfection will be damaged, deliberated over and rebuilt. Democracy needs re-construction they say. So towering over Athens, surrounded by the white roofed pastures, the Parthenon tries to rise above modernity but is also reliant on it for preservation.

Trident - the reckoning

So the inevitable renewal of the Trident missile system - supported 409 MPs to 248 by the House of Commons - has updated Britain's nuclear deterrent, protecting us from 21st century threats, investing billions and giving no reason for any rogue state to suspend their nuclear programmes. On the face of it and with strong arguments, renewal makes sense: Britain is a potential target for any nuclear nut, we live in uncertain times, proliferation exists in many respects unchecked, and our status internationally depends on it. Britain is not a demoralised South Africa of the late 1980s or a coerced Libya of 4 years ago; we are Great Britain, former colonial overlords / the United States right hand man / a watchtower for global governance. Most states would consider Britain a naive laughing stock if it gave up something oh so powerful. Renewal was never going to be unrenewed, but at same time renewal or non-renewal isn't really the issue.

Historians will probably pinpoint about 2 or 3 years post Soviet collapse as a point where something approaching unilateral nuclear disarmament was possible. That window is long gone, French tests in the mid 1990s; Pakistan - India nuclear brinkmanship; North Korea's status seeking detonation; the list will continue. Pandora's box, doomsday countdown, armageddon: destruction has plenty of spiritual evocativeness - peace is a quaint lost snapshot of wishful thinking.

Besides this doom, the politics is also cagey: Blair relies on Cameron; Brown will rely on Cameron; Campbell relies / will rely on the Labour backbenchers. The electorate will rely on whoever has the finger on the button to not do the wrong thing. Blair has another tick on his legacy card. Any angle make this situation seem worse.
For the record, I oppose all nuclear weapons and any means, intention or capability associated with them. But I sadly admit that this is something that is going to be lived with and coped with rather than diminished. I am looking for some solutions, any suggestions welcome. As if this isn't bad enough, an even greater crisis has just erupted - Blue Peter admits that it lied to its viewers over the result of a phone-in competition. If the bastion of youth TV educationalism cannot be trusted then what future does mankind have?