GAITHER STEWART, SENIOR EDITOR
Tsipras in better, more credible days before his party’s ascension to power. Having substantially dissipated the unity and backing of the masses through hesitation and betrayals, he finds himself now looking at the increasing probability of an old-fashioned coup.
(Dispatch from Rome)
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]taly’s major daily newspaper, La Repubblica, today reported the suspicion that some European Union (EU) governments are plotting to substitute the Leftist Greek Leader, Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza Party, with a Rightist “government of national unity” in the same way George Papandreou was eliminated in 2011. (The growing number of persons who object to the Left-Right terminology might try to come up with a better term for Tsipras’ Left Syriza Party and the euphemism of the Right “government of national unity” which here means far right and a government compliant to European Union demands to drain the very last drop of blood from Greek workers.)
According to La Repubblica, many Greeks believe (secret?) meetings reportedly taking place in Brussels today recall the 2011 events. Substantiating their suspicions was the arrival in Brussels of leaders of the far right Nea Demokratia, Pasok (once leftish party, no longer even that) and To Potami, thus strengthening also the suspicion that the EU after 5 months of hard negotiations with Tsipras and his Syriza does NOT seek agreement with Greece and Greek economic reforms, but instead wants to bring Greece to the very edge of the abyss and force it to a change of government. (May I call that a coup?) The EU—manipulated by the USA—is of course uncomfortable with this Left (or however one prefers to define this strange political force within the Rightist EU like a Trojan horse.) In any case, in new elections the opposition would compete under a Pro-Europe banner and most likely win.
Unless the Greek left fights, and finds some unity, it will be swallowed by the foreign-supported right, if not the military.
This reading of the EU-Greece relationship is speculation today. However, Alexis Tsipras himself seems to suspect something in the air. Yesterday he twitted about someone working against him for other interests. The fact is that in the last 5 months the Left government in Athens has quite naturally alienated potential allies in Europe. For his Syriza is left, despite malicious slander that he is not of the left at all, so that in he case of the Syriza Party one may truly wonder what it takes to merit the title “left”.
Especially North European countries have lost patience and are tempted to let Greece default and leave the EURO zone.
Calmer voices in Athens call for prudence and patience and that a compromise will be found. After all, the millions of EUROS of difference between Greek and EU positions is nonetheless much less than the billions of damages a disorderly default would mean.
Gaither Stewart serves as TGP’s senior foreign correspondent, based in Rome. His forthcoming novel, Time of Exile (Punto Press), completes his Europe Trilogy. The volume is scheduled to appear in the fall.
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