President Joe Biden attended the NATO summit and did not meet with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis. Biden paid homage to the NATO alliance and asserted that NATO will protect all of its members. The fact remains however that Greece finds itself as the target of Turkish aggression, and NATO has absolutely refused to intervene on behalf of Greece.
Biden’s silence on Turkish aggression against Greece says much. Despite promises made to the Greek American community, Biden has no intention of supporting Greece. Being in NATO has never been to the benefit of Greece, and is in fact a liability and an obstacle to Greek independence and sovereignty. It should be remembered that the Greek community of Constantinople was ethnically cleansed from Turkey during the 1950’s and 1960’s without any protest or action by NATO.
NATO cannot be considered a defensive alliance. In 1974, NATO member Turkey invaded Cyprus which is not a member of NATO. In 1999, NATO waged an aggressive bombing campaign against Serbia for three months. The targets in Serbia were civilian targets and Serbia was forced to give up the province of Kosovo which was followed by the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian Christian population.
In 1998, Poland, Hungary, and the Czeck Republic joined NATO. A gradual expansion of NATO toward the Russian border began. In no way can NATO’s expansion be considered a defensive act. NATO is a war mongering alliance that should have been dissolved when its original purpose of countering the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact was fulfilled.
NATO stands in the way of Greek independence and sovereignty. Membership in NATO has not only not protected Greece from Turkish aggression, it has blocked Greece from forming alliances with countries outside NATO that might be in Greece’s interests. For example, last fall the Russians expressed support for the right of Greece to extend its nautical miles in the Aegean Sea.
Furthermore, Russia condemned the Turkish plan to open the beach of Varosha in occupied Cyprus to Turkish colonists. A Greek-Russian alliance could be in the interests of Athens but will not happen because Greece is part of NATO which is nothing more than the military arm of the American-European empire supported by liberals like Biden and neoconservatives in the Republican Party.
Greece and Cyprus presently stand against Turkey alone. The failure of Greek leaders to pursue a genuine independent foreign policy could prove destructive for Greece over the long term. Plans for an American Empire and war mongering are not to the benefit of Greece.
4 replies on “Biden And NATO Snub Greece”
Biden didn’t meet specifically with Mitsotakis, but his meeting with Erdogan didn’t go particularly well, either. The Turkish Lira which had rallied ahead of the summit is back to record lows against the US Dollar and near record lows against the EURO. Erdogan got nothing but photo-ops, no substance and no concessions from Washington DC. Despite the snub of Mitsotakis, US policy has changed dramatically from pro-Turkey to mildly pro-Greece. We need to exploit this, because Erdogan is not going to go away-and that works to our advantage.
While I would agree that the US is not longer as pro Turkish as in the past the problem is the US did nothing to help Armenia against Azerbaijan which Turkey actively supports. And the US has not directly told Turkey to back off threatening Greece and Cyprus.
I agree, US response to date hasn’t been acceptable. But at least they’re not gushing over Turkey’s every fart like they used to do in the past. The luster is off the Turks for the US foreign policy elites. A large part of that is Tayyip Erdogan and his barely concealed contempt for Israel, as many of the US foreign policy ‘elites’ are American Jews of strong Zionist beliefs. But, whatever the reason this presents an opportunity for Mitsotakis and Dendias to make some substantial inroads with America and the EU leadership. It helps that Erdogan is despised by most EU leaders and his FM Cavusoglu is an AKP stooge with little diplomatic finesse.
I agree there is much too hope for. I really do hope that Biden does help Greece.