Ioannis Michaletos

Tobacco product smuggling and an emerging industry for the production of imitation and low-quality cigarettes are cash crops for organized crime syndicates.

Greek, Cypriot, Serbian and Croatian business owners are in talks with Russian counterparts on the subject of large-scale investments in housing, leisure and entertainment complexes in various locations.

Greece’s maritime tycoons are investing heavily in Liquefied Natural Gas tankers as they are confident that global trade is soon to boom.

It is roughly estimated that over the past 6 years around 500,000 – 700,000 people have arrived in Europe from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Maghreb, Iraq, Syria, West Bank-Gaza, Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, Yemen, Mauritania, Somalia.

Turkey has been investing considerable resources in expanding its reach both in the Islamic and in the Western world.

Greece has historically enjoyed a qualitative advantage over Turkey until the early 1990s, at which point Turkey increased its joint training program with the US and Israel.

The issues of heroin trade and illegal immigration in Southeastern Europe alarm local and international authorities.

Greece’s financial and political weakness brings with it the inevitable redistribution of prime national assets, wealth and interests to multinational corporations influenced by, and influencing, foreign governments.

With the world banking system heavily involved in the crisis many speculate that Greece will eventually default, spreading the crisis further into other European and world countries.

Pipeline competition in Southeastern Europe is ongoing, and last-minute surprises remain a possibility.