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From: vassos@utcsrgv.UUCP (Vassos Hadzilacos)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: US control of NATO
Message-ID: <718@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Jan-85 16:19:56 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.718
Posted: Tue Jan 29 16:19:56 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 29-Jan-85 16:42:47 EST
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 83

> Another interesting fact is that American military aid to Greece and
> Turkey is fixed in the ratio of 7:10.  If the US were free in this
> regard, Turkey would be receiving far more aid than Greece [...]
> Am I to draw the conclusion that the Greek government exercises
> control over the US government because they have successfully
> pressured the US into following an alternate policy? [...]
> Apparently, people like you are willing to equate pressure
> with coercion [...]

When an elephant is "applying pressure" on an ant, yes I tend to view
that as coercion. I consider it evident that the relationship between the
US and Greece is not equitable.  If you don't, I'll be happy to provide
evidence.

> Your beef is with the politicians in Athens, not in Washington.

Well, for better or worse, no one tried to defend the decisions of
the politicians in Athens in this newsgroup. Someone tried to defend
the decisions of the politicians in Washington and that's what I was
responding to. Moreover, whatever my beef with Athenian politicians,
it was the "politicians in Washington" (some of them, anyhow) not those
in Athens who saddled my country with seven years of bloody, fascist rule.
This weighs on my mind too -- and I have no apologies for this "subjectivity".

> The loss to American interests resulting from continued Turko-Greek
> hostility is far greater than any possible gain from the
> weakening of a minor non-aligned power [i.e. Cyprus]. [...]

I am afraid you missed the point, so let me repeat it. First, no
US "interest" was "lost" due to continued Turko-Greek hostility (yet).
Greece is still in NATO, the US and NATO bases there are alive and well.
(I must say, things aren't as good for the US gov't as they were during
the years of the junta, but hey -- can't have it all.) Weapon sales
(and I mean sales, not "aid") to both countries are soaring.
Second, the "gain" to US "interests" does not lie in the weakening
of a "minor non-aligned power", but in the passing of an extremely
strategic island to the US "sphere of influence".  Hell, the US can't
have their bases in Cyprus today. If the island was partitioned between
Greece and Turkey they would. [A few minutes' flight from Lebanon. Not bad!]

> Your view of American priorities is quite self-serving
> (and contradictory); on the one hand you argue that NATO is a vehicle
> for the advancement of primarily American interests, yet on the other
> you claim that the US is supporting the division of Cyprus, which
> seriously weakens that vehicle.  

I'll skip the "self-serving" business.  Suffice it to say that what
I'm interested in discussing is the correctness of my view on
US priorities -- my psychological motivations for holding that view
isn't a subject I care to debate in net.politics.
Concerning the "contradiction". There is none: on the one hand NATO _is_
a vehicle for the advancement of US interests; on the very same hand
the US is supporting the division of Cyprus while seeking the optimal
type of division -- one that will not just FORCE any Greek government
out of NATO. I don't see any contradiction here; apparently neither
does the US gov't.

> Finally, if Cyprus were reconstituted and a general settlement of
> outstanding Greco-Turkish disputes were reached, the political
> position of the Greek government would be weakened, as they would no
> longer be able to blame their shortcomings on the US and would not be
> able to reap the benefit of nationalist feeling directed against
> Turkey.

This is something that only someone totally oblivious to the realities
of Greek politics could concoct. Any Greek government that succeeded
in bringing about a stable and just solution to the Cyprus situation,
would have guaranteed its election and re-election until, at least,
the millenium.  The one thing the present Greek government is guilty of,
is recanting on its pre-election promises to rid the country of the
US domination that has caused much blood and tears since 1947.

Vassos Hadzilacos.

PS: An incident that recently arose sheds intriguing light
to the question of what sort of interests Greece's participation
in NATO serves. In the NATO War College, in Rome, and in the presence
of Greek officers, a seminar was held developing a scenario whereby
a leftist gov't is elected in Greece, resulting in a coup d' etat by
the Greek army...
[Oh, I can't stand all those radical pinkos who, through naivete or
malice, just can't bring themselves to accept the simple fact:
NATO was set up to defend Freedom and Democracy.]