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Date sent: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:08:36 -0700
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From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: GREEKS TORN OVER THEIR NATO ROLE
The National Post Wednesday, April 21, 1999
GREEKS TORN OVER THEIR NATO ROLE
Polls show overwhelming opposition to the bombing.
NATO official lauds Greek government for its
continued support in the face of domestic pressure.
By Brian Murphy
Athens — For NATO member Greece, the main showdown isn't
with Yugoslavia. It's within.
Public opinion in the country is almost totally united against the
air attacks. Greeks worry about being ensnared in a wider Balkan
war and find kinship with Serbs as fellow Christian Orthodox,
whose leaders often promote age-old paranoia about losing ground
to Muslims and bowing to the West.
The Greek government has so far managed to balance between
domestic dissent and alliance obligations, but with the attacks
showing no sign of easing, that may become harder.
Escalating the air campaign could mean using Greek bases.
Ground action in Kosovo would likely bring convoys of soldiers
and troops through the northern port of Salonica en route to
Macedonia, a corridor that has already been closed once by anti-
NATO protesters.
Greek officials say they will not contribute any forces to attack
Yugoslavia. But if public protests block even logistical support, the
question would ring louder: Is there a place in NATO for an
unreliable ally?
"If Greece, because of public opposition, can't handle its NATO
obligations in this case, there could be some wider fallout," said
James Ker-Lindsay, an analyst at the Royal United Services
Institute in London. "They could face some serious credibility
issues with other NATO partners."
Other Balkans nations desperate to join the alliance -- including
Romania and Bulgaria -- could emerge as NATO's new regional
operational points if Greece balks at full co-operation. Albania may
find itself contentedly ensconced as an undeclared NATO
protectorate.
Protest rallies are held nearly every day now in Greece, allowing
Greeks to revel in nationalism and U.S.-bashing reminiscent of the
days before the big U.S. military bases closed in the early 1990s.
Several times, riot police have been called out to protect the
U.S. embassy. Last week, demonstrators temporarily blocked a
French military supply convoy near the Macedonian border.
Some polls show opposition to the bombing running at more
than 95%. Sensing a huge potential audience, an Athens theatre
troupe quickly put together a show lampooning NATO as a
bumbling, Nazi-like power.
Clerics have also helped stoke the anger. The leader of the
Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, called the
NATO attackers the "pawns of Satan."
The protests -- many organized by Greece's Communist party --
are spilling over in the military. On Sunday, a navy lieutenant was
taken into military custody for refusing to take part in a NATO
deployment not directly linked to the attacks.
Costas Simitis, the prime minister, was curt when asked about
military dissent. "They go where I tell them to go," he said.
Constantine Karistinos, a researcher at the Institute for
International Relations in Athens, said: "Greece is part of the West.
Its role has been established. But some voices still scream that . . . it
doesn't belong alongside Western Europe and America. The
Kosovo situation has enlarged this divide."
But NATO appears ready to give Greece some leeway. A top
NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, lauded Greece
for "holding up very well . . . despite the domestic pressure."
Forcing the Greek leadership to pick between its NATO
obligations and pro-Serb public sentiment could create a
government crisis and bring unwanted disruptions in the alliance.
The Associated Press
[PEN-L:5743] (Fwd) GREEKS TORN OVER THEIR NATO ROLE
ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224] Thu, 22 Apr 1999 00:11:57 -0500
