Europe and the Greek disease
Key European governments are clearly trying to help Greece avoid bankruptcy.
These countries are not motivated by some kind of romantic philhellenism, but rather by the need to protect their own economies against the unknown and unpredictable consequences of a Greek default.
Many members of Greece?s political class believe that the prospect of bankruptcy can be used to blackmail the country?s international lenders or put pressure on them by violating the agreements it has made with them.
This, of course, is a very dangerous game.
Our populist politicians fail to realize the damage done by the stereotype of an inept and failed state which is merely being kept alive to avoid contaminating the other members of the European Union.
Moreover, it cannot be ruled out that Greece?s European peers will at some point reach the end of their tether regarding our tactics, or in fact fortify themselves against the threat of Greece?s own collapse.
