Swagger and gamesmanship

Turkey, the clever predictions of what may occur, are no use. All they achieve is to unite (to the degree that this is still possible) our deeply divided neighbor. When the aggressive eruptions are from people who devoted themselves like few others to creating division in Greece, it is clear that the situation becomes more dangerous. The answer to President Erdogan and the Grey Wolves is to isolate Turkey by example, not become tangled in the dispute. Because it is Turkey which has the opportunity and the motive to embroil Greece in dangerous adventures. But when politicians have built their careers on hyperbole, it is unnatural to expect them to handle issues that are complicated and dangerous. Past victories encourage all kinds of irresponsible people who think that these were granted to the Greeks because they were better, more beautiful, more deserving than their enemies – just as these politicians see themselves. They don’t recall that the same good, beautiful and deserving nation suffered defeats when its leaders misread the international balance of power and overestimated the country’s strengths, when they were swept away by the flow of things rather than making the necessary preparations – or, simply, when luck was against them. Whoever is in a position of great responsibility ought to respect those who depend on his actions and words – whether this be the people or the armed forces or a friendly country. Cyprus,