Political landmines

"Sport is health, communication and entertainment, it is there to unite, not divide people. At the end of the day, yes, soccer is important, but fewer taxes, more jobs, good hospitals and good schools are much more so," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers in Parliament on Thursday.

The discussion may have been about the extension of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement between Greece and the United States, but the recent developments in Greek soccer were a matter of significant interest.

Mitsotakis tried to mitigate the negative impressions created by the government's handling of the issue, by its decision to amend a law rather than apply it as it was. The government's official announcement said it was acting against the threat of "social division," when in fact it was reacting to the fear of orchestrated violence from the organized armies of...