Alexis Papachelas

Whoever claims that the culture of absolute political correctness never prevailed in Greece must have lived somewhere else for the last 50 years.

As the world becomes more dangerous and unpredictable by the day, we are trying hard to prove the maxim of one very experienced observer of all things Greek: That Greece never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Most prime ministers in the post-dictatorship period have wanted to come to some form of agreement with Turkey. Konstantinos Karamanlis certainly did, Andreas Papandreou made a solid effort at Davos, Konstantinos Mitsotakis thought of it constantly and Kostas Simitis pursued it systematically. Among the younger generations, it was on the agenda for Kostas Karamanlis, but George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras became wholly engaged by the management of the economic crisis. Alexis Tsipras – and his foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias – wanted an agreement but prioritized the name deal with Skopje, leaving the government with no political capital to address the Aegean. The current prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, came to power with a clear aim to resolve Greek-Turkish differences, believing that this could also be an important part of his legacy.

The following conversation with Petros Molyviatis may have taken place 20 years ago, but it could just as well have been yesterday. This is not only because the agenda of Greek-Turkish relations has been shaped since the 1970s, with the fundamental differences that emerged back then remaining unbridged – and Turkey persistently adding new ones. It is also because the veteran diplomat, now aged 96, has always had a way of analyzing situations that stands the test of time.

We wonder, sometimes, why people don’t care about what’s going on in the world around them or why they’re happy to get their information by running their finger down their phone’s screen every once in a while.

The Acropolis Museum, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), the Thessaloniki Metro: three important projects that constitute landmarks of a modern and evolving Greece.

American foreign policy may have fallen victim to excessive political correctness, to the “woke” culture. Let me explain: During the Cold War, Washington did not choose its friends and allies based on who upheld human rights and protected minorities; its priorities were devoid of such concerns, driven purely by geopolitical expediency. This is why the US had such close ties with the Greek dictatorship, disregarding its brutal suppression of democratic rights.

A lot has been written about Donald Trump’s choice for the next ambassador to represent the United States in Greece.

There are certain things that unmistakably remind you that, no matter how far this country has come, it still partly belongs to the Third World. These may be “small” things – things we barely notice, perhaps because we've grown too accustomed to them.