The German news magazine Spiegel has revealed a French plan to sell Greece up to four new warships – on credit. It is valued at around 300 million euros, even though Greece is struggling to meet its current massive debt obligations.
Marshall Auerback, a global investment strategist at Madison Street Partners, says that the news reveals the hypocrisy prevalent in the higher ranks of the EU leadership.
“On the one hand, the Greeks have been criticized for being lazy profligates scrounging on the backs of the other countries, and yet here we have the French offering them subsidized arms and shipments,” he told RT. “But God forbid that the Greeks should spend any money trying to supplement the [spending] of their people.”
Economic analyst and international lawyer Nick Skrekas, on the other hand, believes that Greece has no choice, given the unfriendly neighborhood in which it lives.
“It’s not really a question of whether we want to scale back [the spending], it’s whether we can scale back,” he explained. “There is a threat, and it’s a persistent threat of militarism and expansionism from Turkey.”
Skrekas argued that Turkey’s new doctrine of promoting moderate Islam in the region poses a threat to his country.
“That isn’t something that Greeks determine, that’s something that Greeks have to deal with,” he said. “It is a defensive posture that we take, and let’s remember: We aren’t bordered by Switzerland or the UK, or Sweden… we live in quite a dangerous region.”