An apparent car bomb was defused outside of Citibank’s headquarters in Athens, Greece. A makeshift explosive device was found in the trunk of a stolen vehicle parked outside the bank.

Police in Athens defused a “powerful” makeshift time bomb on Wednesday outside the Greek headquarters of US banking group Citibank, a police source said.

The bomb, consisting of a clock and explosives packed in gas cylinders, was hidden in the rear of a stolen car parked outside the Citibank building in the northern suburb of Kifissia.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, the police source said.

Lest you do as I did and jump to the conclusion that the global economic recession might have something to do with this, the AFP assures us that this isn’t a rare occurence. In fact, it’s pretty regular.

Banks in Greece are routinely targeted by suspected anarchist groups that usually employ Molotov cocktails and gas cannister bombs.

Police have been investigating a spate of arson attacks in Athens and Thessaloniki last week against newspaper offices, senior justice officials, a university professor and a prominent opposition lawmaker.

On Tuesday evening, four hooded men opened fire at cars parked outside a Greek television station in Athens before fleeing on motorbikes. The station is run by a publisher who also owns a newspaper hit in last week’s attacks.

Good Lord. There’s something wrong when a westernized country (or any country for that matter) doesn’t see anything abnormal about a car bomb placed outside a major bank.