The strange and curious story of Mr. Basil Coronakis and his NewEurope.EU web site

by Bruce Gorjanski, Seattle, WA

NB: I wrote this article 42 days ago, one day before the death of Basil Coronakis, as declared on his web site, Www.NewEurope.Eu. As an Orthodox Christian myself, I did not publish it for 40 days out of respect for the Holy Tradition. However, after 40 days — it’s a fair game.

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As I am sitting in my living room in Queen Anne, Seattle, overlooking the Space Needle, I suddenly remembered that I wrote an article on Medium.com, about a year ago, debunking the untruths of a certain Mr. Basil Coronakis, who owns the NewEurope.EU web site. Some of the positions that Mr. Coronakis stakes out on his web site, as pointed in the previous article, seem very close to the positions of the outlawed, criminal Ultra-Right Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn/Chrissy Avgy political party, a banned and convicted criminal organization in Modern Greece (Greece Golden Dawn: Neo-Nazi leaders guilty of running a crime gang — https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54433396 ).

Since I have plenty of time on my hands, and the Seattle weather has gone bad, I have decided to browse through Mr. Corononakis’ curious and strange web site, Www.NewEurope.EU, and debunk and expose all the lies and frauds that Mr. Coronakis is putting forward. There is quite a lot, so I expect this is to take my entire Friday — time well spent! :-)

Mr. Coronakis seems to have a “doppelganger” by the name of “Alec Mallky”, who signs many of the articles about N. Macedonia (some are signed by “NewEurope” which seems to be yet another Mr. Coronakis’ pseudonyms) — so I will treat all the articles on Macedonia by all of these alleged “persons” as if they were written by the same man. Also, Mr. Coronakis seems to have anglicized his name, as many Modern Greeks seem to do (like George Michael), but I will use here the original spelling of his name, Vassilis Kouronakis.

Let’s dive in into the strange, curious and sometimes sordid content of Mr. Kouronakis’ online property, NewEurope.EU:

In his article “Welcome to North Macedonia” (https://www.neweurope.eu/article/welcome-north-macedonia/) Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“And much like New Yorkers and New Zealanders are described in a two-word moniker, New Europe will describe the country’s citizens as North Macedonians, hoping to avoid the term “Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia” as spelt out in the Prespes Agreement. We hope our journalistic colleagues will refrain from shortening the adjective to a one-word term...”

What Mr. Kouronakis does here is usually called “Wilful Blindness” in the United States of America, and it is usually a felony (allegedly). The Prespa Agreement clearly states that the nationality of Ethnic Macedonians will be called just “Macedonian”, and the Ethnic Macedonian language will be called just “Macedonian”. The phrase “citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia” was obviously meant to be used only within the Prespes agreement as a point of clarification, not for any practical communication purposes.

In the same vein, going along with Mr. Kouronakis’ statement above, the author of this article will use the traditional Turkish Ottoman name for the modern country currently called “Hellenic Republic”/Modern Greece which is “Yunanistan”, and the population of said country will be referred as “Yunanistani”, as it was customary during the 400 years when it was a Turkish Ottoman colony (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Yunanistan) — which is much, much longer than this “country” has been independent.

In his article “North Macedonia in Limbo” (https://www.neweurope.eu/article/north-macedonia-in-limbo) /Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“Since early 1992, after the country declared its independence during the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, under the name “the Republic of Macedonia” it entered into a dispute with neighbouring Greece, which refused to recognize it under that name because its northern province was, for more than two millennia, named “Macedonia”.”

Mr. Kouronakis demonstrates his abject ignorance here by choosing to be “wilfully blind” to some basic historical facts:

1. Fact One: The country of Modern Greece/Yunanistan has existed only since 1822. No “two millennia” by any measure, or is Mr. Kouronakis ignorant of basic, 3rd grade math?
2. Fact Two: The “Aegean Macedonia” (“Greek Macedonia” today) was conquered militarily by Modern Greece only in 1913. The estimated population of that area at the time was less than 30% Ethnic Greek and over 50% Ethnic Macedonian (the rest was Ethnic Jews and Ethnic Turks). The Chronology of the Modern Greek/Yunanistani Conquest of Aegean Macedonia (Greek Macedonia) is clearly presented here: https://vmacedonia.com/history/macedonians-in-greece/chronology-of-the-rule-of-greece-in-aegean-macedonia.html
3. Fact Three: The Modern Greek state (sometimes fascist, like during the Metaxas and “The Generals” regimes) and government refused to call Aegean Macedonia as anything “Macedonia” until 1988, when it was obvious that Former Yugoslavia would fall apart and the equal federal constituent member, Socialist Republic of Macedonia, would gain full independence and sovereignty. The very name “Macedonia” was forbidden in Modern Greece/Yunanistan before 1988 from ever being uttered on the threat of the famous Greek punishment of being forced to drink used motor oil by Greek cops (allegedly). The University of Thessaloniki (Solun/Salonika are the historic names of this city) was renamed “University of Macedonia” in 1988. The Thessaloniki Airport was renamed to “Macedonia Airport” about the same time. Allegedly.

Further, in the same article, Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“Three decades of isolation from the international world order as a result of the backwards mentality of the ruling elite of the country, which, instead of taking the opportunity and the momentum of the times to propose a Swiss-type confederation with Greece, has opted to forge ahead with a losing battle for three decades. That was the best way the North Macedonian nomenklatura could maintain in power with all of their privileges and uncontrolled institutionalized corruption”

This appears to be a “Projection” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/projection) on the part of Mr. Kouronakis. The statement “North Macedonian nomenklatura could maintain in power with all of their privileges and uncontrolled institutionalized corruption” could be applied best to the dilapidated and rotten Modern Greek/Yunanistani nomenklatura, which have tried to desperately hold onto power by becoming outright Nazis/Fascists (1930s and 1950s), Communists (1940s), Pseudo-Democracy (1960s and 1970s) and finally EU’s permanent parasitic “Common Leach” species (“Annelida Hirudinea Voulgaris”) since the 1980s. Allegedly.

In the same article, further down, Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“No matter what the differences are, the four good neighbours of North Macedonia — Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece — will sit like good friends around a table with a map and split Skopje’s territory. Their main problem, if there is one, will be where to locate the check-point where the borders of the four new landlords will meet.”

Another typical rage-y Psychological Projection from Mr. Kouronakis. No NATO-member country was ever partitioned and will ever be (lest NATO shalt perish). Despite all your education and your personal web site, NewEurope.EU, Mr. Kouronakis, you seem to hold on desperately for these last straws. N Macedonia will never be partitioned; it will never be divided again. The current territory of N. Macedonia is the smallest it has ever historically been. It can only grow from now on. Allegedly.

Further down in the same article, Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“This will be catastrophic. Indeed, the more I remember what my family friend, the late Greek Foreign Minister Michalis Papakostantinou, said at the time of the UN interim agreement: “If that country did not exist, we Greeks should have invented it.””

Mr. Kouronakis, I hate to break it to you (may you Rest in Peace, of course), but this is the truth: your family friend Papakostantinou was a nobody. The only reason why he got a ministerial position, in any government, was because of corruption and nepotism. Papakostantinou’s words, thoughts or ideas are relevant to nobody sane, and absolutely nobody today cares about what he said, drank or did. He was just another corrupt, incompetent Balkan politician with a personal political and financial agenda. May he Rest in Peace, too.

In “Greek Foreign Minister Dendias chasing shadows in Skopje?” (https://www.neweurope.eu/article/greek-foreign-minister-dendias-chasing-shadows-in-skopje/) Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to North Macedonia August 31, for a hastily scheduled official visit to the country while his own capital was otherwise preoccupied with a poorly managed government reshuffle.”

This statement shows Mr. Kouronakis’ hostility not only towards Ethnic Macedonians, but towards all progressive forces in Modern Greece. It is obvious that Mr. Kouronakis hates the Hellenic Left, lead by Mr. Tzipras, the only remaining Greek politician with any common sense. However, Mr. Kouronakis goes even further by hating everything that doesn’t conform with his beloved (allegedly) Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn/Chrissy Avgy ideas and concepts. The fact that vitriol poison is also directed towards the current Greek government, which is quite right-leaning and not very friendly to us, Ethnic Macedonians, further might indicate that Mr. Kouronakis’ sympathies are even further to the right, maybe even with the extreme-right.

I have an excellent proposal for the current Macedonian Government (whichever-that-might-be):

Kindly invite President Erdogan of the Turkish Republic to build two (2) military bases in N Macedonia. One south of Monastiri, the other south of Gevgeli. Both bases would have multiple Bayraktar drone launch pads along with the appropriate long-range radars and anti-air defences, of course. Since both N Macedonia and the Turkish Republic are NATO allies, such move, as building of these two bases, could not possibly be seen as anything else besides a friendly gesture between two long-time friendly nations, Makedonia and Turkiye. As soon as these bases are completed, the entire territory of Continental Modern Greece/Yunanistan will be laid open like an ancient chessboard. The Modern Greek/Yunanistani Far Right could possibly adopt a very different rhetoric towards their own Ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece, in such a case.

In “Bulgaria and North Macedonia continue tussle over language” (https://www.neweurope.eu/article/bulgaria-and-north-macedonia-continue-tussle-over-language/), Mr. Kouronakis writes:

“One does have to ask whether a country such as North Macedonia that has so many fundamental disputes with various neighbours over language and identity concerns could theoretically resolve its problems by possibly acknowledging that much of that structure was indeed some form of political construct, something progressive intellectuals in North Macedonia have privately acknowledged but politicians cannot.”

Again, Mr. Kouronakis seems to be practising (subconscious?) “Astral Projection” here. How many “fundamental disputes” does Modern Greece/Yunanistan have with its own neighbours, particularly with the Turkish Republic? Also with Albania: border delineation, Northern Epirus, Ethnic Rights of the Arvanites Ethnic Albanians in Greece? But even with the other neighbours, Greece has only problems. With Bulgaria, for example, it is only a matter of time when the Bulgars come for their “Whitesea Thrace” that belonged to them after the First Balkan War (allegedly). And what then? I am really curious to know which immediate neighbour Greece doesn’t have some kind of “fundamental” problem with? Even the Italians hate the Greeks (allegedly) and they only share a sea border.

During the Ottoman Era (500 years long, half a millennium) the originators of the Modern Greeks/Yunanistani were not even considered a real ethnicity, but a religious “millet”, which is how the Ottomans used to rule the multi-religious/multi-ethnic subjects in their huge empire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet_(Ottoman_Empire)). This “millet” in Ottoman Turkey does not directly translate into modern ethnicity because “millets” are, by original definition, multi-ethnic. Conversely, there is no more glaring example of a “political construct” in Europe, as Mr. Kouronakis mentions the concept above, than the “Modern Greek”/Yunanistani nation.

Unfortunately, old codgers like Vasillis Kouronakis and Mikis Theodorakis are incurable and incorrigible. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. These people have been poisoned by the Neo-Hellenic Pseudo-Superiority Propaganda and are refusing to see what the country of Modern Greece/Yunaninstan has become — an unimportant shadow of a shadow, yet another Balkan backwater. These old codgers cannot be re-educated; they just need to be waited out to die out (of natural causes, of course). Change comes with time.

Since this article has become too long (TLDR;), I am going to stop here.

The bottom line is:

Modern Greece/Yunanistan in 2022 is just a shadow of the country it was even just 25, and definitely 50 years ago. Modern Greece/Yunanistan is pretty much irrelevant on the European and World Stage as a Foreign Policy actor. It has devolved into yet another Balkan backwater, a status it has desperately struggled to cancel for most of the last century, but to no avail. Greek Foreign Policy is largely irrelevant to the “International Community” and Greek/Yunanistani wishes matter only when there is a “Bigger Picture” and even then — not that much. Modern Greece/Yunanistan will do what the “International Community”/United States tells it to do, and it is also going to do its best to persuade itself to be the most happy it could possibly be about it.