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01 March 2003: "Greece: nation of traitors"

Today, I ran across an article in The Observer, titled "Greece faces shame of role in Serb massacre". After reading the article, shame is the least Greece deserves.

Much of the basis for this article is the publication of a book, Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic's Serbia in the Nineties by Takis Michas (of which you can read a review here), which charts the sympathy given to Serb nationalists like Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic in the 1990s by the Greek media, diplomatic support given by the Greek government, and more.

During the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, about a hundred Greek volunteers formed the Greek Volunteer Guard, which fought for the VRS (the Bosnian Serb Army); the unit took part in the overrunning of the Srebrenica "Safe Area" in July 1995, and a dozen members raised a Greek flag over the ruins of Srebrenica's Orthodox church. Given their location, it is no stretch of the imagination to suspect the unit took part in the massacres that followed the fall of the enclave. The "heroic" exploits of the Greek Volunteer Guard were widely reported in the Greek press, and the Greek government never made a move to stop them.

Of course, the Greek government had other things on its mind, such as busting UN sanctions by running goods to "Greater Serbia," including shipments of small arms and ammunition during 1994 and 1995. In the most extreme case, the Greek government supplied NATO military intelligence data to Serbia during the Kosovo crisis. Also of interest in this matter is how the Kosovo crisis was reported in the Greek media (this Guardian article from 19-May-1999, "Blind eye in the Balkans" sums it up nicely).

To me, the conclusion is clear: Greece, as regards its government and media at least, is a traitor to NATO, the EU and the United Nations.

What I really don't understand, though, is the following: the Dutch are still showering ashes onto their collective head for the failure of DutchBat III (in non-UN mode the 13th Infantry Battalion Airmobile, Regiment Stoottroepen) to defend the Srebrenica enclave (also, the survivors of the fall of the enclave are now demanding financial restitution from the Netherlands and the UN). But what is that failure compared to the active collaboration—and I use that word deliberately—of the Greeks in the Balkan wars?

Why can I not find any Dutch web pages documenting the complicity of the Greek government in the genocides of the 1990s, of the fact that hatred for the "infidel Turk" Bosniaks and Kosovars was sufficient reason to betray fellow members of NATO and the EU?

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes indeed, except that modern Greece doesn't even come bearing gifts; it just sucks up EU common agriculture policy money. The only good thing that can be said for Greece at the moment is that it still produces decent people like Mr. Michas and Ms Kondopoulou. It is unlikely Mr. Michas' book will make it into print in his own language.

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