podlist.gr

The Greek Current
Καθημερινή

The Greek Current

Κυβέρνηση Νέα

A podcast on Greece, Cyprus and the region brought to you by The Hellenic American Leadership Council and Kathimerini. Hosted by Thanos Davelis.

επεισόδια 1404
διάρκεια 353 ώρες
συχνότητα κάθε λίγες ημέρες
επεισόδιο πριν
ηλικία
προσθήκη πριν

The case for expanding the US military presence in Greece and Cyprus

How can Washington best balance security interests in Europe and the Middle East while still prioritizing the Indo-Pacific? Expert Aaron Stein, who joins me today on our podcast, makes the case in a recent piece for War on the Rocks that the answer might be found in deepening the military partnership with Greece, one of Washington’s most important regional allies, as well as the Republic of...

Countering Turkey's escalating provocations against Greece and Cyprus

Earlier this week Turkey announced that its newest drill ship would set sail August 9th for a drilling operation “in the Mediterranean,” setting the stage for an escalation of tensions should the ship deploy to an area that falls within Greece or Cyprus’s EEZs. The announcement comes as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also upped the ante with Athens again this week, issuing a barrage...

Greek-Saudi relations in the spotlight as crown prince visits Athens

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Greece Tuesday to seal a number of agreements on energy, military cooperation, and in other fields. The visit comes as Greece has forged closer diplomatic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia in recent years as it seeks to build alliances and partnerships in the wider region. This was Mohammed bin Salman’s first trip to an EU country since the...

Wildfires and heatwaves: Are Greece and Europe ready for a hotter world?

Wildfires have swept across Greece, and major blazes have threatened protected national forests, homes, and livelihoods as authorities issued calls for evacuations. This is taking place amid a protracted heat wave that has pushed temperatures past 41 degrees Celsius in some places. Amidst these challenges in Greece, we also saw other parts of Europe face wildfires and record-breaking...

Erdogan remains a headache for the US despite Ukraine grain deal

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements Friday with Turkey and the UN clearing the way for exporting millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain, ending a standoff that had threatened food security around the globe. During the signing ceremony, Turkey’s President Erdogan played up his role as a statesman and Turkey’s role in mediating the agreement. Despite this deal, however,...

Are Greece and Europe prepared should Russia cut off natural gas?

The Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and the EU reopened this week, with deliveries slowly getting back to levels seen before the pipeline closed for maintenance earlier this month. This has allowed Europe to catch its breath, but the fear that Russia could use gas to blackmail Europe remains, and EU countries, including Greece, are preparing emergency measures should Russia decide to...

Greece prepares as Turkey announces new drilling operation in the East Med

On Wednesday Turkey announced that its fourth drill ship, the Abdülhamid Han, will launch operations in the Eastern Mediterranean in August, raising the prospect of heightened tensions with Greece and Cyprus. In the meantime, Greece’s Defense Minister traveled to the United States this week, where he raised the issue of Turkey’s revisionism in the Aegean, and took important steps to bring...

Why it's time for the US to completely lift the Cyprus arms embargo

While Cyprus has become a key US partner in the Eastern Mediterranean, there is still a partial arms embargo on Cyprus as US law currently prohibits providing Cyprus with US-made weaponry. The US only partially lifted the embargo a few years ago because of concerns over Cyprus’s links to Russia, which US lawmakers called on Cyprus to address. Cyprus has now fulfilled these requirements. Lifting...

EU opens accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania

This weekend North Macedonia’s parliament gave the government the green light to resolve a dispute with Bulgaria that paves the way for EU membership talks to begin. The deal would also unblock the start of negotiations for Albania, another EU hopeful. While this may lift Bulgaria’s veto over North Macedonia’s membership bid, there are still a number of hurdles before North Macedonia can join...

Putin looks to strengthen ties with Iran and Turkey at summit in Tehran

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where he will meet with the leaders of Iran and Turkey to discuss Syria. Much is at stake in Putin’s meeting with Turkey’s Erdogan, with the two leaders set to discuss a range of issues, including Turkish threats to launch a new military incursion in Syria. Putin is also looking to strengthen Russia’s relationship with...

Extremist dreams or official policy? Greece slams map showing major Greek islands as Turkish

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the ultra-nationalist MHP in Turkey and Erdogan’s junior coalition partner, recently presented a map of the Aegean that showed many Greek islands as Turkish, including Crete. The image prompted reactions from Greece’s foreign ministry and from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who tweeted the image and called on Turkish President Erdogan to clarify whether this...

Why it's time to guarantee Greece and Cyprus a qualitative military edge

Since the late 1960s there has been agreement among successive US administrations that Israel should have a qualitative military edge for the sake of regional peace and security. Now, as the Biden administration throws its support behind the sale of F-16 fighter jets to an increasingly revisionist and aggressive Turkey, is it time to apply this example to the Eastern Mediterranean? Expert...

Turkey's 'hostage diplomacy' and Washington's 'Stockholm Syndrome'

The US-Turkey relationship has been characterized by a steady attempt at “hostage diplomacy” on the part of Ankara, and its veto over Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids is the latest example. One devastating effect of this consistent use of “hostage diplomacy”, as HALC’s Executive Director Endy Zemenides argues in his latest piece in Kathimerini, is that the US government has developed...

Is Turkey's deal with Sweden and Finland a win for Erdogan?

Earlier this week there were many who anticipated that Turkey would stand by its veto over Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids. Instead, on Tuesday night we saw the three countries reach an agreement that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said addressed Turkey’s concerns, essentially paving the way for the Nordic countries to join NATO. After the deal was reached, we saw President Biden meet...

Tourists are flocking to Greece, but workers are in short supply

This year holiday bookings to Greece are skyrocketing, and many are hoping Greece could reach or even exceed the numbers from 2019, a record breaking summer. While visitors are returning to Greece en masse this summer, the country is struggling to find enough people to work in its vital tourism industry to cope with this increase in demand. Prime Minister Mitsotakis even described these...