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If we could change the famous saying "all roads lead to Rome" to "all eyes are focused on Athens", we would hit the bull in the eye. The media interest and not only is from the eastern to the westernmost points of the world is focused on Greece and particularly on the Greek Parliament which is expected to vote on the austerity plan after several hours. It depends on the vote whether the country will receive the fifth bailout tranche or will go insolvent as a result of which there will be disastrous consequences not only for Europe but for the world economy as a whole.
 
In its leading article the online edition of the British media network The BBC published the call by Prime Minister George Papandreou to vote on the austerity plan as it is the only way to bring the country back on its feet. Commenting оn the yesterday’s clashes between demonstrators and police the correspondent Malcolm Brabant determined them as the "the worst trouble the square had seen since December 2008, during the riots following the murder, by a policeman, of Alexis Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old schoolboy.."

"Greece braces for riots as crucial vote loom" is the title of the article on the CNN website. The author of the article describes the yesterday's scenes of violence on Syntagma Square and the warning of Commissioner Olli Rehn, that the vote on the austerity plan is the only way out of the crisis, because the EU has no Plan B to avert default.

"Riot police fire tear gas at protesters in Athens ahead of parliamentary vote on Greek austerity measures," is the comment of the British television skynews on the clashes between protesters and police.

"Protest violence before key Greek austerity vote" is the title of the global news agency Reuters, which publishes dozens of pictures of heavy fighting, during which citizens and police officers were injured.

All international agencies, including the Arab media giant al-Jazeera are broadcasting the developments in the Greek capital live from the hotel roofs and from the square where the clashes continue today, but on a smaller scale. The situation in Athens is the first in line the "World" news category on the website of the Japanese National Television NHK.

"Greece faces ‘suicide’ vote on austerity" is the title of the head article of the Financial Times, which is accompanied by photos from yesterday's clashes.

"Greece is about to hold an epic yard sale," states the article of Wall Street Journal and also that "For the taking: four wide-body Airbus jets, a state lottery, a state horse-racing concession and sports book, stakes in a casino, several ports, a national post office, two water companies, a nickel miner and smelter, a munitions maker, electricity and gas monopolies, a telecommunications operator, shares in a half dozen banks, hundreds of miles of roads, a defunct airport, old Olympic venues and thousands of acres of land, including magnificent stretches of Greece's famed coast." The author of the article claims, "That wasn't what Greece had in mind when it began wrangling with other euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund for a second dose of bailout money."

But the "rescuers" of the country hope it will raise 50 billion euros by 2015 by selling off government goodies. According to the author, selling-off of state assets will not be easy, because of the "Obstacles abound, including unions hostile to selling state-owned companies, citizens opposed to the privatization of state-owned land and a bureaucratic labyrinth that has long thwarted would-be developers. To make matters worse, many of the available properties have already been offered for years, with no takers." The author says that "Since 2000, Greece has netted some €10 billion from privatization. Now it must do five times that much in less than half the time."