Rebuilding a strong foundation

It would certainly be convenient for Greece to sign some kind of "insurance contract" with a major power that would clearly stipulate its armed support in the event that we come under a military attack. There is no such thing, however, and it's high time we came to terms with that.

No matter how many weapons we order, how many military concessions we grant and deals we make, no major power will take on the responsibility of guaranteeing another country's safety and security. We tried such a thing after the invasion of Cyprus and achieved a very good statement from the United States in exchange for the lifting of the embargo on arms sales to Turkey. It appears that we were also close to such a statement from France, which, however, fell through. In both cases, though, we are talking about vague assurances, not explicit guarantees. The last time we had anything close to such a...