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In just a week Greece will referendum itself over its place in the geopolitical picture of the planet. GRReporter offers you the short essay of the writer, Nikos Dimou, published in protagon.gr. Nikos Dimou is known to the Bulgarian readership with his book On The Unhappiness Of Being Greek.

Yes, the game is up.

The visions of Alexis, the acrobatics of Varoufakis, the fairy tales of Flambouraris, the deconstruction of Baltas, the Soviet fetish of Lafazanis.

The game is up with "For the first time (rule of the) Left"

With its launching - as an act of separation - the referendum splits Greece from Europe. This is a splitting game.

After the referendum we will find ourselves in a different Europe. Regardless of the result.

If Syriza wins, we will suddenly wake up in a country, which is poor, marginalised, and belonging to the third - or rather, the fourth, world. Let the government claim (to avoid scaring people out of their wits) that we shall remain in the euro. The government may want that just as much, but will the euro want us in return anymore? Without borrowing, without ELA and the European Central Bank, we won't be able to hold out. I am not sure whether we will be able to print drachmas at all.

If SYRIZA loses, it won't be able to stay in power. The government of national unity failed to materialise: therefore we will have elections. With what money? Who will pay the salaries and pensions in the meantime? Will there be banks? And what kind of government can come out of today's political scene?

Alexis Tsipras has shot himself in the foot. Heroic gestures are spectacular, but they tend to leave tragedies behind. Alexis in the role of Leonidas. "Come and take them" (this is the famous phrase of the Spartan King Leonidas in reply to the Persian king Xerxes when the latter demanded,  "Hand over your arms", before the Battle of Thermopylae) and glorious defeat.

What an inspiration this referendum is! A lose-lose game. Whoever wins, we all lose.

We are wading into uncharted waters. Only one thing is certain. Everything is changing.

The game is up.