by The memories and revelations of American ambassadors about Greece are important not only for the historian of the future, but especially for the political present. Especially when one of them, Jeffrey Pyatt is acting assistant secretary in the Biden administration.
Newspaper “Estia”
Especially if they see the light of day only a few days before the election, as is the case of the book by diplomat Richard Jackson which contains the testimonies of ambassadors Thomas Miller, Charles Rees and Geoffrey Pyatt on their visit to Athens.
The book with the eloquent title “Far and Loved Ones” was published these days by the house “Estia”.
These testimonies highlight the American perception of Greece and the different assessments that exist across the Atlantic on the events taking place there, but also the obsession of the Americans for their own views which they generally want to impose.
It also highlights the “other” face of people like Geoffrey Pyatt who is not as friendly to Greece as his interlocutors in Athens thought he was when he was ambassador. Now he speaks rather with contempt and as if referring to a colony.
Thus, Alexis Tsipras is described as “voluntary” for his position on the Prespa agreement, which Payat points the finger at, although he recognizes that the incidents in Thessaloniki with tear gas have shown “how much dissatisfaction the agreement had cause”.
It specifically mentions:
“I think, looking back, that the Prespa agreement was a revolutionary act in Greek foreign policy and, as I want to tell everyone, even my New Democracy friends, a shining example of vision that I have tried to promote for two years, the vision of Greece as a pillar of stability. This Greece can be a source of solutions, not just of problems. This has been demonstrated by the Prespes and the Prime Minister’s willingness to support the political cost of the agreement.
For me, it was a proud moment of effective American diplomacy. I give a lot of credit to Zaev and Dimitrov while on the Greek side it was actually a Kotzias plan until the last act where Tsipras had to take responsibility.
“And Tsipras, to his great credit, recognized that this was a matter of historical legacy and that put Greece on the right path for the long term.
“The deal didn’t resonate in New Democracy, but I know almost all of these people are pretty happy that others have solved the problem for them.”
And he closes his reference to Alexis Tsipras with the dialogue he had with Barack Obama who, regarding the Cyprus issue, said: “I think that any conflict that started before I was born should really be resolved now.” Classic American approach that ignores the past.
On the other hand, Mr. Pyatt calls Kyriakos Mitsotakis a “messenger” when he talks about his communication with President Trump, a few days after his election. A phone call with Vice President Pence has already been reported, and the ambassador writes:
“I can only imagine what happened next: how the Vice President walked out of his office, walked into the Oval Office and said to President Trump: I just spoke to Mitsotakis, he has the very nice looking you should talk to him too my advice was don’t worry president trump is going to say what he wants anyway and you don’t have a better messenger than kyriakos mitsotakis so give him the phone and the rest will take care of itself.”
From the Trump-Mitsotakis meeting in January 2020 to the White House
Jeffrey Pyatt spoke at length about what he considers to be the achievements of his tenure that have to do with strengthening the presence of the United States and its military forces in Greece. It is said:
“We came to stop apologizing for Souda like we used to do before, but to strengthen our military cooperation. I am very proud both of how we have worked with several Greek governments on this and of the way we have enhanced the expanded Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement to include expanded exercises, continued deployments in Stefanovikio and operations we are conducting in Larissa.
“I had crucial talks with General Stefanis, then commander of the 3rd Army Corps, and with District Governor Tzizikostas. Where are the Americans? How did you disappear from northern Greece? they asked. “
And the ambassador continues:
“I am very proud that in my four years, we have achieved the historic first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to Thessaloniki. We are now expanding the State Department’s presence in Thessaloniki. We are adding more They said to Evan Kalpadakis at the PMO: I want the United States to be invited as an honored country in 2018. I went to the Hellenic-American Chamber and said what nonsense are they “Is it possible that China and Russia will go after the United States in northern Greece? I want our best companies to come to the 2018 Salon.”
The Annan Plan was the issue raised by Ambassador Charles Rees who sees its rejection as a blow to Greece’s strategy to align itself with UN resolutions. It is said:
“The failure of the Annan Plan in Cyprus in 2004 was a blow to this strategy. In practice, however, the Greeks did not take advantage of the channels opened up by earthquake diplomacy to solve airspace problems and continental shelf in the Aegean Sea. They felt that the Cyprus issue had to be resolved first. And so they lost the opportunity.”
Typical example of the superficiality with which the State Department treats the facts. Probably this comment convinces that Greece at that time exercised an effective national policy. It was then the government of Costas Karamanlis, which continued its national position and later in Bucharest.
Thomas Miller, the longest-serving diplomat in Greece and Cyprus, focuses on Imia and the 2004 Olympics. He is satisfied with Simitis’ tactics:
“Simitis did the right thing. He thanked us and was harshly criticized in Greece for that. He had just taken over and was just saying, ‘thank you for your help’. And of course my friend Richard Holbrooke n didn’t fail to say something like, “Another example that while Europe slept, the United States did aggressive diplomacy and solved the problem. The Europeans were freaking out, but Holbrooke had been saying that for years.”
As for the “narrative” of 2004, he writes:
“We unknowingly suspected the double books (that Greece had and) that later came to light. The total bill for the Olympics was around $10 billion. And we knew it wasn’t all balanced, it There were a lot of state enterprises. I repeat, Greece was basically a socialist state. And the main thing was to save jobs, not make profit.”
Reading these testimonies, it is easy to conclude in which direction the State Department wants to direct the situation. Towards a broad coalition government that accepts painful compromises. And for the creation of which the simple analogue of Mr. Tsipras, which Mr. Mitsotakis also left for the end of the four-year period, paves the way…
