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The new empires and Greece

06 April 2013 / 19:04:12  GRReporter
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The world is changing more than we think at a time when many people still believe that a united Europe exists, ignoring the reality, i.e. that a German Europe is being built. The Europe we knew is no longer there - in its place, a new empire is being (re) born and its centre is the old Prussia, with a capital city Berlin. Everything is decided there, of course, not according to “mutual” European interests, but according to German national desires. Today, nobody else is playing a role in Europe, and not even France, the heart of the post-war creation of the European area.

At the same time, many people are ignoring something else: attempts to revive an old empire and ally of the German one - the Ottoman Empire. The British newspaper The Guardian is not among those who do not pay attention. A few days ago, it described in a very interesting and thorough article Ankara’s attempts to revive the empire. Turkey’s saltatory economic evolution, its penetration in Balkan countries, the end of the Kurdish threat, the creation of a war machine that is stronger than ever before, its well-thought unions, are turning the country into something very different from the familiar. At a time when Greece is governed by hereditary political families - people who have never worked in their life, Turkey is run by one of the greatest political figures of our era at an international level: whether Greeks like it or not, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is exactly such a person. He is the man who gave the country its power, brilliance and the role it had only once in the past – during the strongest years of the Sublime Porte. At the same time, Russia is increasing its role in the international arena, and it is led by a great leader - President Vladimir Putin, who has managed to restore in his country its power and international influence that were lost in the first post-Soviet years.

These are the major players today in and around Europe.

Where is Greece today, exactly 100 years after the Second Balkan War? Will the new balance of power affect the results of the Balkan wars? No one can answer. It is certain that the disposition of powers in Europe is entirely new and old at the same time. Only this time, Greece occupies a very unfavourable position. The new reality left behind not only the results of the Second World War, but those of the First World War, too. Major players on the scene today are essentially large national imperial centres of old Europe, with the difference that the current distribution of powers does not include England (at least for the moment, since Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a gigantic armaments programme) and France which unfortunately has a minor role in German Europe. At the same time yet another important thing is happening that is more reminiscent of the old European world and contributes to the revival of empires: the USA is keeping some distance from Europe, due to its internal economic and geopolitical reasons related to other fronts - North Korea, Iran, etc.

Finally, the other big player, the fastest growing power in today's world - China keeps out of European affairs.

This is the picture today, in early 2013. Unfortunately, Greece is almost non-existent in it. It has no role, it is not heard and nobody asks it about anything. In the worst times of the economic crisis, the USA intervened in its favour against a very aggressive Berlin. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also intervened, at least in an explosive moment, in the relations between Greece and Berlin. Energetics is a topic that interests both Americans and Israelis, to some extent. It is of particular importance whether the dollar will remain the main currency in the sale of hydrocarbon emissions, or if it will be replaced by the euro. Beijing also intervened, just before the sudden visit of Chancellor Merkel to Athens. Sources say that China strongly supports Greece’s staying in the Eurozone, since it has chosen Greece as a commercial gateway to Europe. Merkel’s arrival is associated precisely with this Chinese intervention.

All of the above that has happened on the international diplomatic scene in the last three years does not change the main picture - that Greece is virtually powerless in the eye of the cyclone of a double crisis, not only a debt one, but also a crisis of the economic, political and administrative belonging to the German empire – without it being clear to whom it belongs geopolitically. This has never happened in the past and it is very dangerous. The danger is compounded by the fact that both Greece and Cyprus are not only important because of their geopolitical position, but also because of the new reality in the field of energetics.

That is, what Greece is experiencing today, 100 years after the Balkan wars, the scene they created is being rearranged now. National centres control events, old rivalries are coming on the stage again, as well as everyone’s national aspirations, including Greece, which is not exactly where Eleftherios Venizelos is taking it. It is alone now, it does not play a major role in some unions, it is entirely dependent economically and politically, to put it briefly – it is powerless in a world full of ambitious new powers. And that is why the Balkan wars are the starting point - they gave Greece, standing firmly next to Western countries, a large part of the legacy of the Ottoman Empire. Greece does not play that part any more.

Tags: redistribution of power Germany Greece empires Turkey Balkan Wars
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