Ready for prime time?

Currently on a visit to Greece, the schedule of US Senator Bob Menendez in Athens features the typical lineup of meetings with relevant officials, a series of "exclusive" interviews, and analyses of the legislation that he and Senator Marco Rubio just introduced. Yet the central focus of this trip should be whether Greece is ready for the role the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act envisions for it.

Watching the Greek press parse one provision or another in the legislation, it seems that much of Greece is missing the main point: For the first time since the Truman Doctrine, Greece may be gaining "linchpin" status in the United States. Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, understands this. In reaction to the Menendez/Rubio legislation, he noted that the "US has long considered Turkey ...