Greek American democratic congressmen and Lt Governor Tsakopoulos spoke to 400 members of the Community, at a teleconference organized by HALC

New York.- Vicki James Yiannias
“What I appreciate so deeply about Joe Biden is he’s been with our community from the very beginning. I know this not just personally and directly myself, but as many of you know, my father served for years with Joe Biden in the United States Senate, and they grew very close. I think they have a shared perspective on what our values and principles as a country should be, how we conduct ourselves around the world on the international stage, and that’s the kind of perspective that Joe Biden is going to bring as President of the United States,” said Congressman John Sarbanes, in the HALC-sponsored (Hellenic American Leadership Council) televised call, “Biden/Harris with Ambassador Nicholas Burns”. on September 8. Also participating were Lieutenant Governor of California, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada, and Congressmen Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and Charlie Crist of Florida.
Opening the call, Congressman Sarbanes thanked HALC and HALC Executive Director Endy Zemenides for bringing together a cohort of supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who was praised and upheld for his foreign policy capabilities, his affinity for and understanding of critical Greek and Cypriot issues, and his characteristics of empathy and openness.
“When I think of Vice President Biden, I think of somebody who has a really unique combination of empathy on the one hand, and experience on the other, and I think that is exactly what we need in this moment.” Sarbanes said that now, when so many people in America worldwide are in pain and under a great amount of stress, Vice-President Biden “feels that pain and understands what we need to do as a matter of policy to try and address it.” Noting that Aryanna Pressley, the new member from Massachusetts, has often said “people who are in pain should be the closest to the power,” Sarbanes stated his belief that Vice President Biden and Kamala Harris can accomplish this, that they would “pull people who are in pain to the power, to the policy, and make a difference for them. “ think this is why Biden struck a chord with so many Americans across the country, so I feel really good about where we are right now.”
But Sarbanes cautions against taking anything for granted. “We all know in politics that you can’t take anything for granted, and that’s why I think organizing, bringing together people in our community to make sure we share who Biden is, and what he has done for our community, is going to be so critical on the issues of concern to us… we have to make sure we’re doing everything we can to put someone in the White House who will be a true friend when it comes to the Greek and Cypriot American community.”
“At his core, Biden is someone who understands why we feel the way we do about important issues like what’s happening in Cyprus, what’s happening with the Ecumenical Patriarch, this provocative aggressive behavior in the eastern Mediterranean. Biden will be an ally as we move forward and try and address these issues, so I’m very excited about this,” he said, again cautioning that we can’t take anything for granted
Sarbanes was impressed with Biden’s appearance and actions at a meeting of leading figures in the Greek American community with members of the Obama administration at the old Executive Office Building in Washington in 2015, a time when incredible pressure was being brought to bear on Greece in terms of the economy that was under pressure around whether Greece should leave the Eurozone, “Greece was being bullied in many respects and the US was in a position to stand with Greece and help guide it through, to reinforce and support it.Joe Biden came in, he said and although his handlers told him he could spend 5 minutes with the group, he stayed for an hour “because he cares so deeply about our community and has these important relationships.”
Sarbanes introduced Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, who was US Ambassador to Hungary “at a very critical time under the Obama/Biden administration.” Now Lieutenant Governor of California,
“A leader in our community as her father and her entire family have been for so many years,” Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis knows what it means to stand up to strongmen and autocrats and so forth around the world… She understands the importance of diplomacy and what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can bring.”
Thanking Sarbanes, and EndyZemenides for bringing “so many Greek Americans from around the country together,” Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis had high praise for the Greek American members of the Democratic Caucus, being “so proud of the members of Congress who are of Greek heritage “ and expressing the “incredible honor” of being together with them. “You do us so proud. You punch above your weight every single day in Congress, standing up to Turkish aggression and fighting for liberation of the Cypriot people and bringing the voice of Greek Americans who in person-to-person connections with Greece understand the region very well.” She thanked them for their service to the country and for “making sure that our voice is heard… I’d also like to give a shout out to the others on this call who are working on the sub-national level working in State government; local government, members of city councils.”
In Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis’s estimation, the 2015 meeting in the old Executive Office Building was the source of the Greek American community’s relationship with Joe Biden.“Prominent Greek American citizens, clergy and politicians “really got to know” his foreign policy capabilities during his many-year Chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee” she said, “It is not an understatement or an overstatement to say that Joe Biden is very, very close to our community, feels a personal connection to us and knows our issues inside and out….He has spent time in the region and he is engaged again and again…” She iterated that she believes strongly that “Greece would very likely have been out of the Eurozone” without Joe Biden’s personal engagement in 2015
A friend to Kamala Harris since Harris first ran for District Attorney in San Francisco, Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis views her as a philhellene. Harris has “a very, very strong sense of honor, and of justice,”is a student of history, believes in the fundamental structure of American democracy, and in the fundamental principles of a strong NATO alliance and a secure world. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis looks forward to a Biden/Harris administration “where we will have many opportunities to engage the Vice President in the issues that are important to us.”
She related that Nancy Pelosi told her that “anywhere in the country she does fundraisers for members of Congress, every member has at least one Greek friend who is organizing and helping and fundraising for them… and I’ve just never forgotten that story. I just love it. And I think that’s really manifested in this group that has come together.”
Thanking Zemenides and HALC, Nicholas Burns, Ambassador to Greece 1997-2000 (now professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School), acknowledged the participation of Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada and Congressman Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and expressed pride in Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis’s work in California, also paying “tribute” to her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, “a great man,”
When Congressman Sarbanes asked him to participate in the televised call Burns said he accepted “in a minute, first, because I love Greece and value the United States-Greece relationship, and second, have such profound respect for Sarbanes, for his family, and for their service.”
“This is a gut-check election,” said Burns, who is highly regarded by Biden and his leading advisors,
“I think our government is heading in the wrong direction. We don’t have adequate leadership on the pandemic. We don’t have adequate leadership on getting us out of this recession. We have a national reckoning on race that all of us and all of us know what the right thing to do is. What the wrong thing to do is, and the president doesn’t have us in the right place, and I do believe we have a leadership crisis here at home.
“Most of my professional life has been spent on foreign policy, said Burns, who sees that in America “it’s not as strong as it was under other administrations, not as trusted. When the president of the United States embraces dictators like Kim Jong-Un, and Vladimir Putin, and Xi jinping, and yet he excoriates friends of the United States like Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Justin Trudeau, we know we have a problem. And we know we have to fix it, and November 3 is the time to fix it.”
He has been with the Biden campaign since March, April, of 2019, when Biden announced,” said Burns, who has known Biden for about 30 years, and fully agrees with the others on Biden’s high character: “He’s a man of faith. He’s a good person, a good human being.” Biden, he said, knows how to run the US government effectively–the job of the President of the United States… There’s nobody with greater experience, both on foreign and domestic policy in the Democratic party right now in the country to be that president that we need to make sure the government is working on foreign policy.”
Burns noted that he has seen Vice President Biden in action as have all of the members “and nobody knows the issues better, and certainly if you compare them to President Trump, there’s no question about that.”In his time in the Senate and when he was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and over the course of his Vice Presidency, Biden established excellent relationships with leaders across the board, said Burns, and “he knows that the United States needs to lead to support democracies and to support human rights when they’re challenged around the world. Biden in the presidency would bring this back, and that’s one of the reasons I’m supporting him.”
Having gone to Senator Paul Sarbanes and Senator Biden for confirmation as Ambassador to Greece, Burns knows “a fair amount” of what Biden feels about Greece. “I couldn’t have had two better sources of support in the United States Senate.”
Biden understands the Cyprus issue, as he has been in Congress from the early 1970’s, Burns noted, “He has been with the Greek people and the Greek State and American interests in opposing the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus since the very first day,” was the first vice president to actually visit Cyprus, was involved in trying to pull together plans to try to resolve the Cyprus problem, and has been an unstinting supporter on Cyprus, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its plight in Istanbul, and of Halki Seminary; “a very important voice speaking the truth from the United States with a forceful statement disagreeing vehemently with President Erdogan on converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque.”
Burns compared all of this to Trump’s great failings, such as his not even raising the issue of Hagia Sophia in a phone call from Erdogan that week and not taking the opportunity to object when both governments made lists of issues to discuss, of not mentioning the objectionable Turkish maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean attempting “to interfere with the rights of Greece and Cyprus rights to prospect for natural gas in their own sovereign waters.”
“Turkey has acted on an extra-territorial basis. That means they’re infringing on Greece and Cyprus’s territorial waters to prevent mining activities. We’ve seen statements out of the State Department
And that’s ‘good objecting’, but we’ve seen nothing from President Trump. Trump has not been a stand-up guy for Greece, but I know Vice President Biden would be, and what a remarkable relationship it would be if Vice President Biden is elected with the great young Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis. My view is clear; Joe Biden will be good for us as Americans. He will also be great for the Greek American relationship which is so important between our two countries.”
Our coverage of the discussion, which continues with Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada and Congressman Chris Pappas of New Hampshire , as well as questions asked following the discussion
Appear in the next issue of the Greek News.
24 Comments
Larissa
September 6, 2020 at 3:30 pmAll CLERGY should be left out of — the political swamp…They never took sides– why start now?
Larissa
September 6, 2020 at 3:32 pmALL CLERY SHOULD NOT GET INVOLVED– PERIOD
Margaret Karakas
September 7, 2020 at 8:29 amGreeks rallying behind Bidden? WOW! This can only be viewed as yet another piece of “fake news”…?
I guess, if you want a bunch of Defacto Presidents then go ahead and vote for Hidden Bidden as the CHIEF PUPPETEER in office. Personally, I would rather know who is REALLY in charge of running the country rather than have some 40 year establishment do nothing guy who is a sad mentally impaired Alzheimer patient, as a spokesman filled with carefully scripted words, a teleprompter from which to read and a media who can only throw “soft balls” to for questions, which have previously been fed to Bidden’s staff (the real Defacto Presidents), so that he can simply read the answers giving low information American voters the IDEA that he’s “in charge”.
Do you really HATE Trump so much so, that you would allow your EMOTIONS to get the best of you? Isn’t that rather immature and childlike? I think I know many teenagers less foolish…That you would vote based on a media distortion of a loud minority, manipulated narrative which seeks to shape public opinion rather than on sound policies? Isn’t that called PROPAGANDA?
A so called “Democratic” party which seeks only to serve the elitist few looking to preserve their kingdoms for MONEY and GREED? A swamp filled with a majority of people who are nothing but CAREER POLITICIANS who have ACTUALLY NEVER HAD TO EVER EARN A LIVING BY PRODUCING SOMETHING OF REAL VALUE TO SELL? Who seek to say “Do as I say, “NOT as I DO”? A complicit media filled with nothing but talking heads rather than the countless real doers, inventors and workers in this great country who are actually contributing to the GNP and success of the United States? A party which has done nothing to improve racial justice but INCITE RACIAL DIVIDE, INJUSTICE AND INEQUALITY?
So that you “Greeks” prefer to stay aligned with a party which has long said our country’s “best days”are now “behind us”? A party which goes around the world apologizing for being American? Isn’t that why our founding fathers boldly and bravely left their mother countries for in search of a better life? Oh I see, YOU ARE GREEK FIRST. NOT GOD LOVING AND FEARING CHRISTIAN AMERICAN PATRIOTS, who HAPPEN to be of Greek descent THIRD. That, my fellow friends is the REAL problem behind your blind vision. ETHNOCENTRICITY AND RELIGIOSITY is what motivates and keeps you stuck living in the past glory days of an Ancient country, civilization and culture called Greece, Byzantium and Hellenism. Remember, PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL.
Do you not realize that that we are created in God’s image as equals, but NOT all of us seek to live as Christ’s disciples which he call us ALL to do? It’s not by accident that not all of us are what your narrow view of what “successful” means. GOD has bestowed in each of us a unique set of giftings or callings and it is wise to remember that many are called, but FEW ARE CHOSEN.
I suppose also, you are the same group of Greeks who support the fostering and maintaining of the corruption within the GOA, the immorality within the church and it’s hierarchy, the financial crimes committed by the so called “mismanagement” and are the generous contributors behind the “St. Nicholas Shrine-MOSQUE”, so that your names can be enshrined on some plaque for all to see. Are you happy that Turkey has once again seized Agia Sophia, turned it into a MOSQUE AND IT THUS TRYING TO ELIMINATE CHRISTIANITY? That your “democratic” party aligns with Turkey’s ruling King Erdogan and Russia’s evil Putin who seeks to control the vast oil fields in the Mediterranean to only enriched their empires?
Yes, I see who you really are. God has commanded me to love thy neighbor, thus my prayer:
Father Jesus, I pray for the Holy Spirit to speak within the many of my brother’s and sister’s who chose not to live by faith and your commandments and covenants, by showing them that through seeking a relationship with YOU, that they may see Light where there is much darkness, Your glorious mercy and grace by the blood shed of the sacrificial lamb for life eternal. Lord I pray for their souls and their salvation. I pray for wisdom and discernment between evil and good. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Heather Georgiou
September 7, 2020 at 12:54 pmThe article states that Joe Biden has handlers. Anyone who has a handler does not think for themselves, does not make their own decisions, is not in control of their own life. These people clearly know that Biden is not in control of his personal or professional life, yet they think he can be in control of an entire country? Something is wrong with this picture.
Ace121
September 8, 2020 at 6:46 pmYou’ve got to be kidding!!
Joe Biden the corrupt lying, sleazy, poor excuse for a candidate?
You want more violence, more riots, more looting, more windows smashed, more police murdered by anti law & order thugs?
That’s what you’ll get IF Biden gets in!!!
a greek
September 10, 2020 at 8:36 amHA HA HA HA HA This article is a joke
Greek News
September 11, 2020 at 10:30 amOur Republican keen
Greek News
September 11, 2020 at 10:32 amIt’s very good to see polite and educated readers
Greek News
September 11, 2020 at 10:34 amThank you for taking the time to express your view. The article speaks about Greeks who support Biden. Not that all the Greek Americans support Biden
Nick Karakas
September 11, 2020 at 10:49 amOK, Panagia saves us. this broad based adoration of VP Biden should make even the writers of this article blush. If 1/10 of these words of adulation at my funeral were spoken, it would make me cry.
How can even Greek Americans overlook his character lapses in his dealings as VP with China and the Ukraine effectively causing his son to reap billions of dollars. Oh, and the riots causing the killings of innocent children and adults and the obliteration of thousands of businesses small and large as have happened in states “governed” by Democrats. Mr. Biden should embarass all members of his party by coming so late to speak to this chaotic outrage.
So if Greece and Cyprus is so important to the Democrats, then why was there no mention of this in their convention platform?
Nick Karakas
September 11, 2020 at 12:44 pmContinued from above:
Then Democrats, you have to consider his Alzheimer condition. Our nation cannot function with 5-10 minutes of sound bite announcements. Who would sit with him to guard and direct his discussions with foreign leaders? In the end, whose pronouncements would prevail, the VP’s or his “advisors”? Being President is a 24/7 kind of job, or at least that’s the level of commitment and seriousness with which DJ Trump approaches the position as Commander in Chief.
Our President has demonstrated event after event that his is equal to the level of being the right man at the right time to lead our nation for 4 more years.
Larissa
September 11, 2020 at 2:22 pmOur President,
(God love him or leave him-whatever– just nominated an American- Greek-Greek American to SCOTUS– )Why the crickets from the establishment? Had he been a democrat’ nominee-he would be now gracing all the front pages of Greek American media… Instead— CRICKETS…
Apples
September 11, 2020 at 7:02 pmPlease Archangel Michael save USA!
Don’t allow unstable, shallow Joe Biden anywhere near White House again;
he’s a lost soul who doesn’t really know What in Sam Hill he stands for;
though I hear in private, he may actually be a darling friend to a fave naive priest I know …
Shake My Head…
BUT for Joe Biden to be leader of the Free World you might as well let certified lunatics out of insane asylum. No diff. And don’t forget Truth of his victim Tara Reid, seriously molested by crazy Joe Biden while he was in Senate.
Trump’s past is mere school boy – locker room talk compared to Biden’s severe perversions that go worse than fondling every female in sight.
GO TRUMP!
Tasos
September 11, 2020 at 8:42 pmWhat did Biden and Obama do for Greece and Cyprus during the 8 years they were in power? All Biden is doing is pandering to the Greek American community for votes just like he panders to the black community. I am tired of being taken for granted by the Dems for 46 years since Cyprus was invaded. The Turks still occupy Cyprus. He used his position as VP to make his son rich. He is a pervert and a pediphile. I can go on.
Z!
September 13, 2020 at 5:51 amTHERE IS NO GOD IF BIDEN WINS!
Lord have mercy. It’d be tyranny of minorities destroying this country if feckless perverted psycho Joe Biden gets near WH.
Shame on stupid Greeks who live in selfish bubble; still thinking it’s 100 years ago refusing to see what is Reality here & Now!
WAKE UP Sheeple!
God Bless President Trump
Larissa
September 13, 2020 at 7:54 amUrging all bloggers to cancel NETFLEX …. you know why….
Larissa
September 13, 2020 at 7:56 amNetflex cancel—
Greek News
September 13, 2020 at 11:23 amI guess you think God should keep punishing America and the World by testing our faith with surviving Trump..
Let’s see. Do you think God endorses some one who suggests that men should grab women by their genitals?
So GFYS Trump’s friend
Apples
September 13, 2020 at 12:21 pmHaha – you’re funny GreekNews:
Please Be Discerning …
Trump’s locker room Talk was just that:
TALK —
& that sophomoric Talk was BEFORE being President!
Nothing, like creepy Joe Biden who was already politician who took aggressive ACTION molesting Tara Reid & dozens of other sleazy underreported acts by leftist media.
Bottom Line:
Liberalism IS a mental disorder.
Every single BLM rioter is a Democrat –
Every single anarchist, looting, murdering & burning down the town is a Democrat –
Every single one of them does NOT attend church,
heck, many are paid by George Soros –
We Need Law & Order President Trump!
John lucacos
September 14, 2020 at 8:39 amIf you support Biden you are not a Christian. The Democrats support Satan, they took God out of their platform, their lives. They kill millions of babies daily through abortion and pedophilia. In Gods name, dont call yourselves Greek. The turks are trying to destroy greece like the anarchists and socialists here. This is a struggle between good and evil. Wake up. Those women who accused Trump of sexual advances all eventually lied and were caught. Ask youself, am i on the side if good or evil. Choose wisely.
Greek News
September 15, 2020 at 11:27 amMr Lucacos, Greek News as every normal newspaper, writes stories about news and when necessary makes endorsement. These articles
about Biden are news articles, covering and event of Greek American Biden supporters.
There are also news about Secretary Pompeo and his trip to Cyprus and what he said about U.S. policy. No Republican called to praise us
and no Democrat to condemn us and try to intimidate us by emotional bulling, as you and many Republicans are trying.
Well, let’s make it clear Mr Lucakos. No, I don’t think you are a Christian. You are a hater; a hypocrite;
I will make a nice story Mr Lucakos, so for the whole community to see who Trump supporters are.
Greek News
September 15, 2020 at 11:30 amDear Apollonia, I will publish an article next week about how Republican are trying to intimidate newspapers. In the meantime, I will give you
my reply to Mr. Lucakos. It applies to you too. Have a nice day
Mr Lucacos, Greek News as every normal newspaper, writes stories about news and when necessary makes endorsement. These articles
about Biden are news articles, covering and event of Greek American Biden supporters.
There are also news about Secretary Pompeo and his trip to Cyprus and what he said about U.S. policy. No Republican called to praise us
and no Democrat to condemn us and try to intimidate us by emotional bulling, as you and many Republicans are trying.
Well, let’s make it clear Mr Lucakos. No, I don’t think you are a Christian. You are a hater; a hypocrite;
I will make a nice story Mr Lucakos, so for the whole community to see who Trump supporters are.
Stelios Tatsis
September 17, 2020 at 8:24 amThis article brought in my memory the song:
“ St’apostoli to. Koutouki…….”.
The only thing that was missing from Biden’s
Greek Tavern was the bouzouki.
Greek News
September 18, 2020 at 3:53 pmΜαλακίες στο τετράγωνο…