The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attended on Wednesday 12 March 2025 the book presentation event “The sea is a road. For the Greek seafaring of yesterday and tomorrow” authored by Simos P. Palios (in collaboration with Makis Provatas).
During the event that was held at the Amphitheatre of Eugenides Foundation, addresses were given by Sir Efthymios Mitropoulos – Honorary Secretary General of the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Thanos Dimopoulos – Professor of Therapeutics – Hematology – Oncology, former Rector of the University of Athens, as well as by Mr. George Kotsyfis, Technical Manager of “Diana Shipping Services”. Moreover, a recorded speech was broadcast by Mr. Stamatios Krimizis, principal investigator on NASA Voyager 1 and 2, Supervisor Office of Space Research and Technology.
On the part of the military leadership, the event was attended by the Chief HNDGS General Dimitris Choupis, the Chief HNGS Vice Admiral Dimitrios – Eleftherios Kataras and the Chief HAFGS Lieutenant General Dimosthenis Grigoriadis.
The presentation was introduced by the Minister of National Defence, who stated the following:
“It is a great pleasure to be here today. However, I have got to be honest with you; I will not and I cannot be objective. When you present a book, you have to keep a distance both from the author and from what is described therein. I am not keeping my distance from the author.
On the contrary, I am emotionally biased towards Mr. Palios, with whom I have been connected over the last few years. Not through a joint venture or anything else. I have been connected with what he does for the country. Especially, with what he does lately for the Hellenic Armed Forces. That is the reason why some of you may wonder about the presence of our Country’s Military Leadership here today.
Mr. Palios, along with other important people announced at the end of last year but also with more people already this year, assists with the common cause of creating a solid Defence in our Country.
Of course, he has done and offered so much more than this.
I would like to refer to the book, since I do not want to take any more of your time. It is an interesting book, it is “sweet”. First of all, it describes what I would call “the Greek dream”; there is the “American dream”, but here it is all about the “Greek dream”.
A kid from Chios makes his first steps; his father is a captain. He describes the sinking of his father’s boat north-west of Madagascar in a very nice way. He refers to the German captain of the submarine that sunk it without any hostile sentiment at all. He simply describes the facts. He also describes his relationship with his father; his father’s strictness partly towards him and partly towards his crew. He refers to a characteristic incident involving an officer – member of the crew, who instead of wearing shoes with laces, he was wearing slip-ons, called “pasha style shoes” in the book. And the captain reprehended him sharply and of course, the question is raised: Why? And the captain thinking wisely, says: because if you wear slip-ons when you have to close the hatch cover in the hold and you lose your shoe, you will be after your shoe instead of making sure you’ll close the hatch cover”.
Mr. Dendias also said with regard to Mr. Palios’ contribution to the Greek society:
“But in my opinion, what is extremely important is his worship for the Greek scientist, since it goes beyond the narrow framework of the human being and refers to his/her beneficial impact on the society. For the Greek Scientist specifically, who has been abroad and excels and who tries to reconnect with his homeland in any way he can, believing that this is where the enormous potential of Hellenism for the future lies in many ways.
Either through the Biomedical Research Foundation in which he is involved, either by advising the younger generations to “become scientists”. His advice is neither to become a ship-owner nor a banker, but to become a scientist.
But also he has a clear understanding that science is not something vague; it is art for art’s sake, science for science’s sake. It is something that has to be brought into the service of humankind and within his own set of values, into the service of the Country”.
The Minister of National Defence concluded:
“Concluding, I will allow myself to tell you that Mr. Palios is a very sweet person; but importantly, he is a good Greek”.
