Greece has tried to deal in a forward looking and realistic manner with the tensions before, during and after the internal crisis of the major western powers that erupted over Greenland.
It navigated through the dangerous minefield that has been created, with some diplomatic maneuvering, opting for a middle path between the two obvious dimensions of its foreign policy: the staunch support for the respect of international law and national sovereignty as well as its membership in the European Union on the one hand, and its close strategic alliance with the US on the other.
It performed a similar balancing act with respect to President Trump’s Board of Peace, noting Greece’s positive approach to the latter’s role specifically in Gaza.
In every instance the Greek prime minister, while acknowledging the rift, kept emphasizing the need for lowering the temperature and avoiding the slippery slope to a total rupture that would benefit no one.
All this is taking place at a point in time when Washington is taking steps that in essence are gradually distancing itself from NATO and is preparing to withdraw American personnel from multiple alliance command structures across Europe by 2029.
It will also diminish its presence in NATO locations within the US, including the Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Center in Norfolk, Virginia, where Greece participates alongside Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
As the Pentagon is turning its focus to the Pacific and Indian oceans, at the expense of the Atlantic which is seen as less critical for US interests, many structures connected with operations at sea are slated for reorganization, but for the time being, it is not contemplating a withdrawal from the NATO structures in Thessaloniki and Hania in Crete.
Finally, with respect to the purely American facilities in Greece, notably in Souda Bay, Alexandroupoli and Larissa, seen by experts and many influential voices in the Pentagon and in the Congress as playing a pivotal role, they act as a critical link in the operational field encompassing a wide region of global interest and geopolitical antagonisms that extends from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Middle East and North Africa.