Foreign News: Odyssey of Mr. Diamantopoulos

Last week another Greek completed a trip that made the Odyssey seem a beeline. This voyager was Christos Diamantopoulos, Greek Minister to Russia, who was asked to leave his post when Russia withdrew diplomatic recognition of Greece as a gesture to her then friend Adolf Hitler. His departure was finally arranged after Hitler invaded the U.S.S.R.

Mr. Diamantopoulos, routed to Athens via Siberia, found the tedious ten-day train ride much duller than Odysseus' wanderings. From his window he saw no Sirens, Circes or Cyclopes, only desolate sidings and troop trains drumming west.

This week, stopping at his first island, Japan, Mr. Diamantopoulos wondered...

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