Selection: Michalis Katsigeras

AMERICAN STANCE: (From a front-page commentary in Kathimerini): “Although the flames from Christian churches burning in Istanbul and Izmir have shed plenty of light on the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, the US State Department does not appear to have realized just what that situation is nor how many risks it entails for all of us, but above all the interests of its own country. (...) The US State Department is “satisfied” with the measures taken by the Turkish authorities in the aftermath of the vandalism (of Greek property) and has called for “moderation” on the part of both Turkey and Greece. (...) If that is the way the US State Department feels, we are very sorry to say so, but we predict it will not be long before it bitterly regrets the way things will go in the region, perhaps even to the advantage of international communism (...) and to the detriment of the USA and the high ideals which it supposedly is supporting here with its Sixth Fleet, its airplanes and its dollars. (...) Let’s hope that our leaders do not hesitate to brief the US authorities in full.