What it did do, however, was confirm the assessment—or at least the gut feeling—that we can’t look to the Americans to resolve our differences with Turkey.
Turkey is our business.
It beggars belief that many of the political forces in our country refuse to take that on board, particularly the smaller ones. And those others that behave as though Greece were a superpower in an economy-sized package.
There’s no doubting that public discourse tends toward nonsense and displays a penchant for the grandiose.
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But at its crux, it’s far too simple a point for anyone who genuinely wants to grasp how others view us to miss.
Unless they want to actively avoid a much-needed lesson in self-awareness.
The question is whether they actually give a damn about any of this? I’m not always sure they do. Because if they cared, but still talked as they do, it would call their cognitive abilities into question or imply an all-encompassing ignorance of these matters.
How else can we explain their talk of offering “earth and water,” of providing a “backdrop for far-right views,” or “a visit that badly compromises the Government.” That’s the language and the mindset of another world, a bygone era.
Obviously, the American Secretary of State was conveying his own views at the Pnyx—certainly not ours, the government’s, or the opposition’s. That goes without saying.
It is also a given that his message is of interest because it is the product of the policy of a major power with which we coexist within an alliance. Not because we agree or disagree with him.
Rubio announced in the clearest possible way the imposition of a logic of power which, even if unappealing, is at least a clear-cut position.
The difficulties arise when this power cannot be imposed without destroying the planet, as it is currently threatening to do in the Persian Gulf.
Otherwise, many fine words were spoken and even more pleasantries exchanged, as is customary on such occasions.
But it is also true that Greek-American relations are healthy and beset by no major problems. And I suppose this is what the American Secretary of State wanted to highlight most of all.
From all the polite exchanges, however, I will retain the (in my opinion) clear message that Turkey and Greek-Turkish relations are our own affair.
A useful clarification. I just don’t get the impression that everyone understands it, let alone accepts it. And so we find it impeding almost every step we take.