{"id":4431,"date":"2026-06-24T22:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/?p=4431"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:35:12","slug":"4431","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/?p=4431","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>THE <\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>CORRUPT &nbsp;BIRDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Konstantinos Konstantinidis \u2013 Amphiktyon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As if a thousand troubles were not enough,<br>now the &nbsp;Corrupt Birds have appeared as well.<br>Like the Harpies, they devour Phineus&#8217; food,<br>and they have now found lodging in Europe,<br>perched in a place of honor upon the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Currupt Birds are hard to drive away;<br>they snatch the wealth and trouble everyone.<br>They scented a &#8220;bribe&#8221; in Qatar,<br>where the cook lays out lavish feasts,<br>and straightway the Filthy Bird rushed for the tripe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the &#8220;naive Europeans&#8221; do not swallow such things;<br>they saw the grease upon the table.<br>Their laws pursue the bribe,<br>while here everything seems permissible;<br>Harpies and Filthy Birds have built a permanent nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Europeans set a trap for them,<br>a male and a female,<br>and caught them in the vise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now inside the cage,<br>without distinction and without shame,<br>the Corrupt &nbsp;Birds know neither conscience nor morality;<br>all it takes is a hefty bribe,<br>and every restraint immediately disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Greek Justice turns a blind eye,<br>while the Harpies and the &nbsp;Corrupt Birds build palaces.<br>Poor Phineus, unhappy soul,<br>tormented, hungry, and destitute,<br>is unable to protect his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He waits for a Katseli to crow,<br>to move the rodents and the Harpies to compassion<br>and save his little house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The law fears lest the Harpies shed a tear;<br>only the dictatorship, they say, kept them in order.<br>Everything then seemed to go according to plan,<br>but in the end they too went astray,<br>and the Restoration of Democracy brought disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now the people, helpless and alone,<br>stand at a critical crossroads,<br>before the &#8220;great&#8221; traffic controller.<br>They seek to find the proper path,<br>yet the Harpies mine every step they take,<br>to seize whatever they have built with blood and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Again they wish to eat his food,<br>to contaminate it and drive him far from his homeland.<br>They wish to devour all the goldfinches,<br>and if things continue as they are,<br>they may well make him disappear altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the food lay before him,<br>the Harpies snatched it away and defiled it.<br>The Corrupt &nbsp;&nbsp;Birds tormented him with their overpowering stench.<br>He chased them, yet they always returned,<br>and they brought Phineus to his final misery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then a Heracles appeared,<br>a mighty and renowned commander.<br>He pursued the Harpies across Africa<br>and as far as the Propontis,<br>and thereafter freed the homeland from the Filthy Birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then, so the myth relates, joyful Athena<br>celebrated the Panathenaea once more<br>with splendid festivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>(24 June 2026)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Amphiktyon \u2013 Lieutenant General (Ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis<\/strong><br>Writer \u2013 Member of the Society of Greek Writers<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amphiktyon Blog: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amphiktyon.blogspot.com\">http:\/\/www.amphiktyon.blogspot.com<\/a><br>Amphiktyon Official Site: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amphiktyon.org\">http:\/\/www.amphiktyon.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE &nbsp;CORRUPT &nbsp;BIRDS Konstantinos Konstantinidis \u2013 Amphiktyon As if a thousand troubles were not enough,now the &nbsp;Corrupt Birds have appeared as well.Like the Harpies, they devour Phineus&#8217; food,and they have now found lodging in Europe,perched in a place of honor upon the roof. The Currupt Birds are hard to drive away;they snatch the wealth and &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/?p=4431\" class=\"more-link\">\u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c7\u03af\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4432,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions\/4432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}