Greece, US renew "strategic cooperation" agreement
Greece and the US enjoy a long political-military cooperation tradition that first emerged in the late 1940s, when Hellas struggled to subdue a communist insurgency, 1946-49. Since then the world has gone through mind-boggling changes. In the wake of the collapse of the USSR, and the emergence of a “polycentric” global system, Greece and the US further strengthened their politico-military ties to meet the risks of constantly shifting strategic sands in the Eastern Mediterranean, in particular. Erdoganist Turkey’s emergence as an aggressive, expansionist, revisionist, fundamentalist Islamist country has added a distinct sense of urgency in US-Greek relations.
The idea of a more nuanced and specific, goal-oriented, US-Greek “strategic cooperation” took shape in the mid-2000s, with the aim of further integrating Greece into America’s global politico-strategic system. The steadily deteriorating situation in the Middle East and, specifically, Syria’s disintegration, further energized Greek-US security cooperation, whose latest expression has been the recent arrival of permanent US military presence in northeastern Greece, only a stone’s throw from a Greek border that is the first line of European defense against a shrill, militaristic, warmongering, fundamentalist Islamic Turkey.
In a broader global strategic sense, this Greek-US convergence causes unavoidable politico-security ripples. Such energetic expansion of Greek-US strategic ties, for example, is almost certainly causing long faces in Moscow. “Tsar” Putin should be (justifiably) dissatisfied with expanding US military presence so close to the mouth of the Dardanelles—Russia’s only access to the Warm Waters. Similalry, Greece has become, by her own commissions and omissions, a growing Chinese strategic-economic “asset” in Peking’s plans for global domination. China now controls the port of Piraeus and constantly expands her economic and strategic footprint in the country, with Greek governments watching nonchalantly (mainly motivated by the country’s now permanent bankruptcy and her concomitant anemic hopes for a real and robust economic recovery). Greece trying to juggle China and the US simultaneously appears a shaky proposition, at least as far as I am concerned.
Greek commentators have rushed to welcome this latest step in strengthening US-Greek ties as a definite “security guarantee” vis-à-vis Turkey’s Hitleresque wet dreams in the Aegean. Again, I’m a bit skeptical about such enthusiasm. Both the US and NATO have been traditionally (and in-your-face) reluctant to burst Turkey’s bubble at the permanent expense of Greece’s long-term security. Let’s wait and see then before we pop the cork and start clinging the crystal champagne glasses.
Greece, US Sign Renewal of Mutual Defense & Cooperation Agreement (Video)
Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias and US State Secretary Antony Blinken signed the five-year upgraded renewal of the two countries' Mutual Defense & Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) on Thursday.
The two ministers signed the MDCA in a special ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin diplomatic reception room in the Harry S. Truman Federal Building, at the headquarters of the Department of State.
The five-year renewal will allow Washington to invest in Greece strategically and geopolitically, said Greek diplomatic sources.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the signing of the Greece-US Mutual Defense & Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) in a statement on Thursday.
The premier said that the signing of the five-year upgraded agreement "seals the quantitative and qualitative upgrade of Greek-American relations." It is also "a resounding vote of confidence in Greece as a pillar of stability and security in our troubled region," he added.