Greece's transatlantic expectations

It has always been useful to check the Greek-American print media as an alternative insight into U.S. and Greek relations. Some with a publishing life more than a century old, have enough professional aptitude, giving us useful information to complete the puzzle.

That was the case of an exclusive interview published last Saturday by the Ethnikos Kyrix (National Herald, New York), a historical newspaper of the Greek-American community, which retains its prominent position 102 years since its foundation.

The interview with the new U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, was given to the paper's publisher/editor, Antonis H. Damaris, "at the café of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan."

I picked up some interesting points. One was Pyatt's specific reference to the importance of the Souda Bay in Crete (the NATO and Greek Air Force military base) for both the U.S. and Greece. "For us, it is more important than ever before because of what is happening in the Eastern Mediterranean," he said.

Another point is the positive light under which Ambassador Pyatt and presumably the American administration view the work of the Syriza-led government of Alexis Tsipras. They seem to think it has made real "progress" in trying to "get Greece out of the woods."

Ambassador Pyatt, who assumed office in September 2016, had emphasized the importance of economic stability and growth in Greece as he had claimed the target of his country's strategy concerning Greece is to see this Mediterranean nation as "a pillar of stability after economic recovery."

The Californian born ambassador whose previous post was in Ukraine, was in New York last week to try to promote Greece to American investors as a country on the way to a speedy economic recovery....