'Mazi' with our Sponsors
March 5, 2026 Kalimera Mazi Readers
If it feels like the world got louder this week, that's because it did. Drones over Cyprus. Warships dispatched. A spy detained near Souda Bay. Greece is navigating one of the most turbulent geopolitical moments in recent memory - and doing it with F-16s, frigates, and a foreign minister who just left the White House calling relations with Washington the best they've ever been.
But it's not all geopolitics. This week we've also got a 13-year-old from Long Island getting a kidney, a Greek girl in New York going viral for doing her laundry, and a man who was orphaned at three in Soviet Central Asia and now holds 58 patents in Houston.
Greece is complicated, the diaspora is thriving, and there's never a dull week.
A big thank you to the sponsors who make Mazi for a Minute possible each week: North Shore Farms, Limani Restaurant, Divani Collection Hotels, Aria Hotels – La Divina, Sand Castle, Parklane Resort & Spa Limassol, and Ethnikos Kirikas / The National Herald. We couldn't do it without you.
Now grab your kafé and let's get into it.
ECONOMIC ESPRESSO
Greece Moves to Give Its Diaspora a Real Vote, and Real Seats in Parliament
Global and U.S. Market Pulse
Diaspora Power: Greece's parliament approved mail-in voting for Greeks abroad in national elections, along with a dedicated three-seat electoral district exclusively for the diaspora. Prime Minister Mitsotakis called it a reform long overdue, invoking the 1862 elections when expatriates first won the right to vote and stand for office.
CROSS-ATLANTIC CURRENTS
Greece and the U.S. Are Building Something and Everyone Wants In
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Bilateral Boost: Greek Foreign Minister Gerapetritis emerged from a 50-minute meeting with Secretary of State Rubio calling the bilateral relationship at its "highest possible level," with a new Strategic Dialogue round set for Athens this year. The American Hellenic Institute follows up with a Zoom forum on March 10 bringing together Chamber of Commerce leadership to assess what that partnership looks like in practice.
Greece's New Man in Washington Makes His NYC Debut
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Diplomatic Debut: Days after presenting credentials to President Trump and meeting Secretary of State Rubio, Greece's new Ambassador to the U.S., Antonis Alexandridis, sat down with Greek-American media in New York for his first informal exchange since arriving in Washington.
What Every Greek-American Property Owner in Greece Needs to Know
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Tax Traps: Prominent attorney Giorgos Milonogianis walks through the most costly mistakes Greeks abroad make on taxes, inheritance, and property transfers - starting with one that catches nearly everyone off guard: changing your tax residency in Greece is not automatic when you leave.
Greek State TV Calls on TNH
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
On ERT: TNH's co-Publisher/Editor Eraklis Diamataris joined ERT's Forcé to weigh in on how Americans are reacting to the war in Iran.
The American School That's Been Feeding Greece's Future Since 1904
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Agri Tech: Founded by an American who believed students learned better in the fields than in classrooms, the American Farm School in Thessaloniki introduced pasteurized milk to Greece in 1935 and today trains the next generation of farmers with drones, smart greenhouses, and precision agriculture tools.
Where Greek Identity Stops Being Abstract
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Heritage Greece: The National Hellenic Society has sent over 1,000 Greek-American college students to Greece through Heritage Greece, and the waitlist keeps growing. A $10 million endowment fund is now in the works to make sure the next generation doesn't miss its turn.
A Father From Halkidiki Is Fighting for Time
Insights from Greece, Cyprus and America
Urgent Appeal: Vasilis, a 43-year-old with a rare and aggressive kidney cancer, has been traveling between Switzerland and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas for treatment his family can no longer afford.
HELLENIC HORIZONS
The Greek Girl in New York that New York Already Knows
Greek & American Business Highlights
Mundane Magic: Angeliki Tamvaki came to New York to act, started filming her empty apartment and Target mattress, and ended up with a following that stops her on the street in Astoria. Her content is mundane by design, and that's exactly why it works.
Orphaned at Three in Tashkent, Now Holding 58 Patents in Houston
Greek & American Business Highlights
Exile's Rise: Konstantinos Zamfes was separated from his mother on the frozen plains of Soviet Central Asia, raised in orphanages among Spanish and German children, and went on to become one of the world's leading geologists in the global energy capital.
A Greek Kitchen Grows Up, Right Next Door
Greek & American Business Highlights
NextGen: Fifty years after his family opened Dedham House of Pizza, George Panagopoulos is launching MEZŌ Mediterranean just steps away, a modern counter-service concept built around slow-cooked Greek classics, generational recipes, and the kind of hospitality that made the original a neighborhood institution. Bouzouki nights are already on the calendar.
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COMMUNITY NEWS
A Retired Teacher, a PhD, and a Brutal Murder in Astoria
Diaspora in Focus
Shock: George Dourdounas, 75, had just earned his doctorate and was planning to teach at the college level when he was found stabbed to death in the hallway outside his Astoria apartment. A 48-year-old fellow Greek-American neighbor has been arrested and charged with his murder.
Elias Is Getting His Kidney!
Diaspora in Focus
Match Found: After months of searching, a living donor has been found for 13-year-old Elias Manolis, the Greek-American boy from Franklin Square whose story TNH first broke in November, his surgery is scheduled for March.
TNH Has a New Home Online
Diaspora in Focus
Relaunch: The National Herald's redesigned website went live went live on February 28, bringing faster load times, better navigation, and access to the full historical archive of Ethnikos Kirix going back to 1915. A new business directory for the US and Greece is also part of the launch.
Leadership 100 Has a New Executive Director
Diaspora in Focus
Transition Time: Fr. Panagiotis Papazafiropoulos, currently Director of the Archbishop's Office, will take the helm at Leadership 100 on June 1, succeeding longtime Executive Director Paulette Poulos. He is the brother of Bishop Nektarios Papazafiropoulos, chancellor of the Archdiocese.
"Two Orthodox Peoples Fighting, For What Reason?"
Diaspora in Focus
War Tragedy: In an exclusive interview with TNH, Albania's new Archbishop Ioannis called the Russia-Ukraine war "a great human tragedy" ahead of his keynote address at the Holy Cross conference honoring Archbishop Anastasios.
Ten Years Since Michael Jaharis, and His Legacy Still Echoes
Diaspora in Focus
Legacy of Giving: A memorial service in Brookville marked a decade since the passing of one of the Greek-American community's greatest benefactors - a man who sold a pharmaceutical company for $4.2 billion and gave much of it away to Byzantine art, Orthodox theology, hungry children in Greece, and the ancestral village on Lesvos his family never forgot.
Melbourne Goes Greek
Diaspora in Focus
145K Strong: Some 145,000 people turned out for the 38th Antipodes Festival, the largest Greek festival in the global diaspora, and Melbourne's Lonsdale Street delivered. One dancer lasted nearly two hours in the Zorba-off. She won a trip to Greece.
When a Billionaire's Letter Ended Newsom's Romance
Diaspora in Focus
Memoir Revelations: California Governor Gavin Newsom's new memoir reveals a relationship with Greek-descent actress Sofia Milos during his post-divorce years as San Francisco Mayor, one that ended after a handwritten letter of concern from one of his most powerful political financiers.
Malliotakis Stays on the Map
Diaspora in Focus
GOP Win: The Supreme Court blocked a ruling that would have forced a redraw of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis' Staten Island district before the 2026 elections, handing Republicans a key win in the national redistricting battle.
Can AI Teach Greek, and Should It?
Diaspora in Focus
AI Paradox: A Professor Emeritus of Hellenic Studies at Holy Cross sees artificial intelligence as a useful tool for Greek language education and a genuine threat to it at the same time. His sharpest observation had nothing to do with technology.
Chicago Gets a New Bishop, but Not without Debate
Diaspora in Focus
Synod Tensions: The Ecumenical Patriarchate elected Archimandrite Dionysios Anagnostopoulos as Bishop of Zynopolis and Auxiliary to Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago, but not before two synodal hierarchs voiced reservations, and Archbishop Elpidophoros issued a pointed warning of his own.
The Man Who Rebuilt a Church from Ruins
Diaspora in Focus
A Tribute: One year after his passing, Orthodox leaders from across the world converged on Boston to honor Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, and the tributes were anything but routine. His successor called him "the man of resurrection," and the numbers back it up.
The Small Gland That Can Break Your Heart
Diaspora in Focus
Our New Medical Column: The thyroid controls your body's engine speed, and when it misfires in either direction, your heart pays the price. The good news: a single blood test can catch it, and treatment is often straightforward.
Pancyprian WIN Celebrates Its 2026 Woman of the Year
Diaspora in Focus
Great Neck Gala: Eftihia Pylarinou-Piper, Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce President and Red Apple Group Senior Vice President, will be honored at the Pancyprian WIN annual gala on March 8 at Leonard's Palazzo in Great Neck.
Four Years In, a Greek Voice From Kyiv Sizes Up the War
Diaspora in Focus
Ukraine's Greeks: Alexander Khara, a Diaspora Hellene and Director of the Center for Defense Strategies in Kyiv, tells TNH that genuine peace remains out of reach, and that the Ukrainian Greek community, much of it centered around a Mariupol that no longer exists, has paid a devastating price.
Crete Comes to Staten Island
Diaspora in Focus
Full House: Kritiki Filoxenia packed the Katsoris Center for its 33rd annual dinner dance, with live musicians flown in from Crete and three generations of dancers on the floor. The president noted the hall could have held even more.
FOOD & CULTURE
Greece Recovers Nazi-Era Photos of the Kaisariani Massacre
Tastes and Traditions Explored
Historic Recovery: Two weeks after the images surfaced on a Belgian online auction site, Greece's Ministry of Culture has secured the full photographic collection documenting the execution of 200 Greeks by Nazi forces on May 1, 1944. The 262 photographs are now property of the Greek state.
Lenten Table: Two Greek Rice Dishes and a Green Juice Worth Making
Tastes and Traditions Explored
Recipe of the Week: Spanakorizo and lachanorizo, spinach rice and cabbage rice, are two quietly satisfying Lenten staples that come together with little effort and a drizzle of good olive oil. A detoxifying green juice rounds out the trio for anyone looking to reset alongside the fasting season.
Greek Filoxenia Meets Latin Flavor on the Upper East Side
Tastes and Traditions Explored
Eva Explores: Casita of Brooklyn, the beloved Greek-Latin cafe from husband-and-wife duo John and Jenn Kastanis, has crossed the bridge into Manhattan with a new Upper East Side location, complete with a periptero stocked with imported Greek and Latin products.
Ancient Greek Playwrights Had a Lot to Say, and Most of It Was Lost
Tastes and Traditions Explored
Book of the Week: A Bard College classicist has translated surviving fragments of Athens' lost plays into English verse for the first time, rescued centuries ago by a father who copied them down to instruct his son. The book comes out May 5.
Greek Cinema Is Coming to Both Coasts
Tastes & Traditions Explored
Film Festival Season: The San Francisco Greek Film Festival runs March 14-21 for its 23rd edition, bringing 33 films from Greece and Cyprus to the Delancey Screening Room and screens across the US and Canada. The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival follows with its 20th edition May 26-31.
ECONOMY & SOCIETY
Caught in the Crossfire, Again
Snapshots of Change
Cyprus Targeted: A Shahed drone slipping past state-of-the-art RAF radar in the dead of night marked the first attack on Cypriot soil since Turkey's 1974 invasion. For an island that spent decades trying to stay neutral, the bill for its geography may finally be coming due.
Greece Is All-In on Cyprus Defense
Snapshots of Change
On Alert: Two Greek F-16s scrambled from Paphos on March 4 to intercept a suspicious object near Lebanese airspace, even as Athens announced it was dispatching two frigates and additional F-16s to the island following drone attacks on British bases. Defense Minister Dendias traveled to Nicosia personally to coordinate.
Spy Suspect Detained Near Greece's Most Strategic Naval Base
Snapshots of Change
Security Alert: Greek intelligence flagged and monitored a 36-year-old Georgian national of Azerbaijani origin for weeks before detaining him near the Souda Bay naval base in Crete. The case has been handed to the Counter-Terrorism Service as Greek security forces operate on heightened alert across the country.
Three Years After Tempi, Greece Faces Its Railway Reckoning
Snapshots of Change
Tempi Anniversary: Prime Minister Mitsotakis marked the third anniversary of the Tempi train disaster, which killed 57 people, by outlining sweeping rail reforms and confirming that the trial of 36 defendants begins March 23. Full signaling and the European Train Control System are set to be operational on the Athens-Thessaloniki line by summer.
Varoufakis Charged for Admitting He Once Took Ecstasy 36 Years Ago
Snapshots of Change
Podcast Prosecution: Greece's former finance minister is facing prosecution for "promoting and advertising drugs" after recounting a single ecstasy experience from 1989 on a podcast aimed at Gen Z. The New York Times picked up the story, and Varoufakis is calling it political prosecution.
Greece's Oldest American College Just Applied to Become a Full University
Snapshots of Change
University Bid: The American College of Greece, founded in 1875, has formally applied to establish Deree as a recognized university under Greek law, in partnership with Rhode Island's Roger Williams University. If approved, students in Greece will be able to earn an American university degree without leaving the country.
Crete Has Become Europe's Busiest, and Deadliest, Migration Corridor
Snapshots of Change
Surging: Even as irregular migration to Europe fell by 26% in 2025, Crete saw arrivals triple, with some 20,000 people making the treacherous crossing from Libya. Frontex is now deploying Israeli-built Heron 2 drones over the Libyan Sea and is bracing for a spring surge.
Mitsotakis Takes On the Opposition with a Eurostat Number
Snapshots of Change
Power Prices: Responding to accusations that Greece has Europe's most expensive electricity, Prime Minister Mitsotakis told parliament that Greek household tariffs in the first half of 2025 were 21% below the European average. He credited a deliberate energy policy shift away from Russian gas and toward renewables and LNG infrastructure.
Greece's Highest Criminal Court Seals Golden Dawn's Fate
Snapshots of Change
Convictions Upheld: A unanimous appeals court panel upheld the 2020 convictions of 42 Golden Dawn members, confirming the neo-Nazi party's designation as a criminal organization. Party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, currently out on parole, was among those whose sentences were confirmed.
TRAVEL & CONNECTIVITY
Greece Stands Ready to Evacuate Its Citizens From the Middle East
Expanding Horizons
Repatriation Plans: With airspace across the region closed and Greek travelers stranded as far as Qatar and the UAE, Athens has activated ten emergency consular hotlines and is fully prepared to repatriate citizens the moment flights can resume. The government meanwhile pushed back on reports of a threat to Souda Bay.
Cyprus Airspace Closes Mid-Flight, Aegean Turns Back
Expanding Horizons
Cyprus Crisis: An Aegean flight to Larnaca was forced to turn around mid-approach on March 4 after Cyprus temporarily closed its airspace for security reasons, the latest ripple effect of the escalating tensions in the region.
GOINGS-ON: MARCH 5TH - 18TH
Spotlighting some upcoming community events:
NEW YORK, NY – A special International Women's Day discussion and reception will be held at the Consulate General of Greece in New York celebrating generations of amazing leaders with a distinguished list of featured speakers (March 6) DRACUT, MA – The Messinian Greek Dinner Dance takes place at the Four Oaks Country Club (March 7)
NEW YORK, NY – Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum (KKJ) hosts the monthly evening program Torah & Taverna Night (March 7)
LOS ANGELES, CA – Neuroprotective Greek Herbs: Bridging Neuroscience and Cultural Heritage, a seminar organized by Anastasia Tsingotjidou of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, takes place in 314 Royce Hall on the UCLA Campus (March 7)
ASTORIA, NY – The Federation of Dodecanese Societies of America celebrates the 78th anniversary of the Unification of the Dodecanese with Greece beginning with the Divine Liturgy, Artoklasia and Doxology at St. Demetrios Cathedral followed by a commemoration and cultural event in the community’s Petros Patrides Center (March 8)
GREAT NECK, NY – The Pancyprian Association Women’s Initiative Network hosts its annual Gala, honoring 2026 Woman of the Year Eftihia Pylarinou-Piper, President of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce at Leonard’s Palazzo (March 8)
NEW YORK, NY – ‘Agnes Varda’, a comprehensive retrospective of the pioneering Greek-French filmmaker’s work, will run for three weeks at Film Forum in New York (March 13 to April 2)
ONLINE – The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture presents the West Coast Hellenic Book Club featuring ‘The Jasmine Isle’ by Ioanna Karystiani, translated by Michael Eleftheriou (Europa Editions, 2006) (March 14)
ASTORIA, NY – The Hellenic Film Society (HFS) presents ‘Wishbone’ directed by Penny Panayotopoulou, screenplay by Panayotopoulou and Kallia Papadaki at the Museum of the Moving Image (March 15)
NEW YORK, NY – The Hellenic-American Cultural Foundation presents Homer: Memories of a Modern Epic Bard - Themes and Heroes in The Iliad at 150W17TH with Stathis Livathinos, a leading Greek theatre director. A reception will be held after the event where the attendees may meet the speaker. (March 18
NEW YORK, NY – The Consulate General of Greece in New York, in celebration of International Women’s Month, proudly presents the group exhibition Euclid’s Finite to Zeno’s Infinite: Hellenic-American Women Artists, curated by Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos (thru March 31)
THROWBACK HEADLINES 🗞️
The National Herald Archive
Digitalization thanks to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)
March 5, 1987
Athens Refused to Receive Weinberger (The Greek government declined a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger amid tensions over American military bases in Greece and broader disagreements within NATO)
Turkish Air Raid in Iraq
Drosogiannis Predicts Dramatic Rise in the Drug Epidemic
Reagan Defends Wife Nancy: “She’s No Dragon” (Reagan was joking about the press portrayal of Nancy Reagan as strict or controlling)
Reagan Proposes FBI’s William Webster as New CIA Director
Former Junta Prime Minister Papadopoulos to Testify on Cyprus
Kyprianou in Athens for Consultations with the Greek Government
Seven-Month-Old Nikolakakis in Urgent Need of Liver Transplant
Fourth Ecumenical Congress of Agents Concludes in Athens
🇬🇷 GREEK WORDS/PHRASES OF THE WEEK
Μου έβαλε τα γυαλιά
Moo EH-vah-leh tah yia-lee-AH
Literal: "He put glasses on me."
Meaning: Someone outperformed/outdid you
-
Παρέμβαση
pah-REM-vah-see
"Intervention"
-
Διαπραγματεύσεις
thee-ah-prahg-mah-TEFF-sees
"Negotiations"
📸 PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Full Moon Over the Heroes of Salamis
The “Worm Moon,” the full moon of March, sets behind the Monument of the Salamis Fighters (Salaminomachoi) on Salamina Island on March 3. The monument honors the ancient Greeks who died in the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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