A Greek prime minister at the White House

The celebration held at the White House earlier this month to mark Greece's 1821 uprising against Ottoman rule was not one of the finest. The general atmosphere and the partisan slogans shouted by some attendants degraded rather than honored the event.
Not a single word was heard on Greece's role as a strategic ally in a difficult region of the world, while the references to the role and contributions of the Greek-American community seemed rather superficial. For someone who has participated in dozens of similar events, the feelings were disappointment and sadness.
Holding an event like this on Greece's independence at the White House is an important achievement that we must safeguard. The fact that it has been repeated every year for the past three decades is a victory of the diaspora. However, things can and should be improved. This would be to everyone's benefit: the...