You can't make moussaka with pasta and tomatoes

It's something of a tradition in Greek politics that embattled prime ministers make lousy cabinet reshuffles. We saw it in the fatal shakeup by conservative leader Antonis Samaras in the summer of 2014 and had a fresh taste of it Tuesday.

Everything has an explanation. Political spinmeisters recommend overtures to the populist right or left, to anything that will presumably help a party narrow the gap in opinion polls. Meanwhile, the inner-party equilibrium grows fragile with time, which means bigger compromises, as the share of disgruntled officials is growing bigger - and potentially more damaging.

Another key problem is that any prime minister who is under pressure wants to bring recognizable figures on board. It is something that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras could have achieved after the 2015 elections. Back then he enjoyed a fresh mandate, his power was...