by What were two American generals looking for in Athens?
One is General EA David Petraeus, with decorations from Iraq and Afghanistan, and he is no ordinary soldier. He participates, now that he is retired, in an international investment group, the KKR Global Institute, which detects possible investments for American funds, and he came to our country specifically for this purpose. The other American is Admiral Stuart Moons and is commander of the Allied Forces Interbranch Command based in Naples. Well, they mainly discussed Greek-Turkish issues and of course how NATO will help Ukraine militarily.
A missed call…
You may recall that a phone call was scheduled last Tuesday between the defense ministers of Greece, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, and Turkey, Hulusi Akar, to establish a new moratorium in the Aegean Sea. I don’t know if this will happen before the elections, but what is certain is that so far the phone call has not been made. Although the two sides do not announce the reason for the postponement of the phone call, in Athens they believe that the restoration of the provocative rhetoric by the Tayip Erdogan for the “blue fatherland”, but also of him Cavusoglu, which again raised the issue of island sovereignty. The truth is that Akar, who was waiting for the phone call from his Greek counterpart, avoided making aggressive statements, but Athens felt that he was “covered” with provocative statements from its president and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs. On the other hand, the meeting with the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister, Mehmet Kemal Bozai, which was scheduled for Saturday by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Costas Fragogiannis, that was exactly the goal he had. Keep communication channels active. The appointment was at Delphi and the agenda was open. The only thing that was certain, however, were questions about Erdogan’s health.
“Left Fellowship”
And now I would like to talk to you about the much heralded “leftist camaraderie” and how it is perceived in Koumoundourou. It turns out that the cross and the election are also there above all else. Therefore, I learn a lot about what is happening in various areas regarding internal party hazing, e.g. in Athens A, where the duo plays Dimitris Tzanakopoulos – Nasos Iliopouloswhile opposite is the old guard, Nikos Philis And Nikos Voutsis, who also support him Nico Manio who left the Cyclades. Heavy battles are also taking place in eastern Attica, where the prefectural government is controlled by his sister Alexis Tsipras, Janet Tsipras, who is also its secretary. So there the presidential system supports him Vangeli Antonaro who is also allied to him Christos Spirtziswhile various people are complaining about all this, like Nassos Athanasiou And Georges Karamerosbut also the Panos Skouroliakos. I spotted another interesting case in Chania, between Pavlos Polakis And Giorgos Stathakis. And since I am talking to you about Crete, let me tell you that in Chania SYRIZA sees the first place, but the situation in Rethymno and Lassithi is problematic, while a derby will be held in Heraklion, where the candidates will also have to Alexis Tsipras And Nikos Androulakis, who is also from the area.
The two contradictions of PaSoK
I don’t know if you noticed, but in the pre-election rallies of PaSoK, where the party’s program for the new generation and social housing was presented, it was mainly older people who participated. “We present our positions for the younger generation to an older audience” was the remark made by party officials, embarrassing those who presented the program. This was, they say, one of the contradictions of PaSoK. The other contradiction, even greater, which remains unresolved for the moment, are the two images presented by the party, in the Region and the large urban centers. The messages reaching Harilaou Trikoupi from the Region are optimistic and say that the party’s percentages will be higher compared to the 2019 elections. On the contrary, Elkanopedi’s electoral hole is still gaping. If it doesn’t close, it’s likely to swallow the double-digit rate target.
The Tsuni prophecy for Gazprom
A lot of news came out of Delphi, but one made a special impression on me. When the American ambassador George Tsunis he said that Greece’s contract with (Russia’s) Gasprom expires in 2026 and that it is then expected that Russian gas will be replaced by LNG from the United States. Once again an American made the news…
A deputy minister of the European Bank…
While everyone is now racing in the hunt for the cross, for election and… for re-election (since we will probably have double elections), there are some government officials (of those we usually call “technocrats” ) who seem to have organized their next moves a bit more systematically. One of them is the Deputy Minister of Development Yannis Tsakiris, who, I must point out, had a long term in the European Investment Fund, of the European Investment Bank group, starting in 2006, before taking up the post of deputy minister in the Mitsotakis government. From what I learn and as Maximou confirms to me, the technocratic vice-minister is preparing for a total reset at the European Investment Bank, which will very soon be looking for a new leadership (president, vice-president, board members), as his second term comes to an end Werner Hoger. According to the same information, Mr. Tsakiris was destined for high, even very high, levels in the upper echelons of the management of the European Investment Bank. And you don’t call such a thing bad for the country.
… and secretary to a minister
The other government official who I hear is preparing for something good (provided, of course, that ND wins the election and Mr. Mitsotakis remains Prime Minister) is the Secretary General of the Ministry of Labour, George Stamatis. And he was one of the government officials that we haven’t heard from, but all sources tell me he’ll be one of the people we hear more about after the election.
