Greece and aggression

Greece gave Europe life, and it will also kill it. This seems to be the conclusion made in all the alarming comments on the latest parliamentary elections in that country. One of the reasons why the Greek events are of interest to Ukraine is this: why is a country that invented democracy not supporting a country that is saving this democracy now? For Greek politicians and society are by and large befuddled by Putin’s propaganda.

Ukraine has been paying too little attention to its South-European partners, focusing on such heavyweights as Germany, the UK, and France. The ostensible reason is: why should we deal with, say, Greece if the German government is keeping it on a short leash over its bailout obligations. The special point of the latest Greek elections is that the new government may get rid of this leash. The coming of the Alexis Tsipras-led far left Syriza party to power may prompt Greece to revise its Eurozone membership and reject the EU-imposed austerity measures, which will have serious consequences.

Old-timers say the EU has been trying so far to abide by a gentleman’s rule: the politicians of one EU country do not interfere into the election race of another. Until recently, they managed to observe this tacit arrangement. But, as long as Syriza was gaining popularity, everybody showed the signs of anxiety     – the Greeks heard criticisms from the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. Tsipras himself confesses half-jokingly that some of his fellow party men call him “serial killer” because he has aptly cleared the way to leadership by disposing of Syriza’s founding fathers. The ability of a new star of European politics to walk over corpses cannot but scare the moderate and rational politicians of “Old Europe.”

What does this have to do with Ukraine, you might ask? Maybe, the Greek left-wingers will not dare withdraw from the Eurozone and stop the bailout cooperation, but they are sure to bare their teeth in the question of continuing (or, more likely, discontinuing) sanctions against Russia. They will have to show at least some results of their work in the next few months to the Greek grassroots most of whom hate the “neoliberal European Union which only helps the richest” and love the “high-principled Russia which curbs America’s imperial policy.” As early as March, the EU is expected to expand the sanctions imposed for the annexation of Crimea. Obviously, these sanctions will be expanded, but they are not as serious as the ones the EU is going to impose in June and July. Russia needs just one of 28 votes – even that of a defiant Greece – to feel triumphant. Unfortunately, the analysis of Tsipras’s statements does not allow considering him as Ukraine’s friend. Last May he went, cap in hand, to Russia, where he swore allegiance to that country and called on the EU not to recognize the new government of Ukraine because it comprised some “neo-Nazi elements.”

It may look rather strange to the uninitiated that Greece prefers a bad company. Seemingly, the blossom of European civilization began in that very country, with the EU being, by all accounts, a symbolic continuation of the democratization process launched in the ancient era. Still more incredible looks the Greeks’ approval of the Kremlin’s aggression, for Greece has its own, and not so much remote, bitter experience.

Firstly, the Greeks can recall July, 1974, when Turkey occupied almost a half of Cyprus. (Undoubtedly, this occupation is of paramount importance for the Greeks.) At a time when Greece was weak after toppling the junta, when Turkish and Greek Cypriots could peacefully build a single country, Turkey took advantage of the victim’s weakness and used “the military junta” as grounds for intervening and cutting off northern Cyprus. Does this remind you of something? There is no doubt that ideologists of Crimea’s annexation have copycatted the scenario and the interventionist vocabulary, but they did not take one thing into account: while there really was a military junta in Greece, in Ukraine it was invented by the Kremlin’s daydreamers. (Incidentally, there are enough experts on the Cyprus precedent in Putin’s inner circle, including Valentina Matvienko who presided over the Federation Council’s session which passed a resolution on intervention in Ukraine, served as Russian ambassador to Greece some time ago, has command of the Greek language, and received Tsipras in Moscow past year.)

Secondly, the Greeks, who saw a disastrous Nazi occupation during World War Two and almost a decade of the “black colonels’” regime, are supposed to know what true fascism or Nazism is. This experience should produce at least a grain of rationality in the Greeks. Unfortunately, the average Greek very easily falls for disinformation in the local media which usually draw information from Russian communists. A real scandal erupted a year ago in Greece – social websites displayed the “proof” of there being nazis in the government of Ukraine: a photomontage shows Arsenii Yatseniuk “Nazi-saluting” in front of the Maidan crowd. Naturally, the denial in a few little-known media was of almost no help. The Greeks are so much convinced that rebels are fighting nazis in eastern Ukraine that Dmitry Kiseliov’s programs seem to be also broadcast in the Greek language.

The Greeks have painted a simplified picture of the world for themselves, and their experience has played a nasty trick on them. The Greeks still recall with horror the homespun fascists (the colonels’ regime ruled the country in 1967-74) with whom Washington had a dialog. Supposedly, the Greeks got infected with Americophobia at that time. Accordingly, while the US supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the Greeks view this as manifestation of American imperialism, even though the Americans confine themselves to declaring their support in words only. When the Russians talk about a fascist junta in Ukraine, it quite fits in with the Greek viewpoint.

Thirdly, by contrast with most of the European countries, Greece has a very strong left wing, including radical leftists, of which the victory of Syriza is the amplest proof. (Incidentally, Greece may be the first in a series of other left-wing victories – for example, the Podemos party stands a good chance for victory in the Spanish elections to be held later this year.) But it can be explained even to the shortsighted leftists of the cradle of democracy where a true threat of neo-Nazism lies – it is surely not Ukraine. In our country, outright neo-Nazis are clearly not so popular as even in Greece. For example, Golden Dawn gained almost 7 percent in the latest elections. The leftists, who like bragging about a critical view of the world, also ought to pay attention to the following point: why does the attitude of the pro-Marxist Syriza to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine surprisingly coincide with that of the hated pro-Nazi Golden Dawn? In fact, their political views differ by all accounts, but they are the same in the Russia question. None of the Ukrainian officials stays in contact with representatives of neo-Nazi parties in the European Union, while the Russian political elites never stop embracing leaders of the National Front in France, Jobbik in Hungary, and Lega Nord in Italy. While this raises no questions among ordinary Greeks, EU countries’ security services might ask a question or two…

Very few will try to predict today whether Alexis Tsipras, 40, who has literally stormed into big politics, will keep his election promises. Observers point out: the more obvious the election victory of Syriza looked, the more moderate its representatives were becoming. (Contemporary European history knows a lot of instances when a young leftist took an abrupt swing to the right once he or she assumed a high office, the classical examples being European Commission ex-president Jose Barroso, German ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer, and NATO ex-secretary general Javier Solana.) Moreover, Alekos Flambouraris, a cofounder of Syriza, who has been watching Tsipras’s political growth since was a student protest activist in the early 1990s, said in a Financial Times interview: “He is willing to discuss and use his consensus skills to find solutions… He’s not going to hit his head against the wall.” Maybe, the survival instinct will tell the Greek leftists that staying in power requires a different level of rhetoric and responsibility. This will in turn help Syriza be more cautious in the choice of partners abroad.

Serhii Solodky is the first deputy director of the Institute of World Policy