A boring country

I am under the impression that sometimes Greeks are terrified at the thought of Greece becoming a boring country. We have this irresistible urge for quarrels and divisions, and embarking on adventures that are reminiscent of the past. Alas, in the past 49 years, Greece has become an almost boring European country. Sure, we have been through a lot: the unchecked populism of the 1980s, which is responsible for many present-day failings; several Greek-Turkish crises; periods of political turbulence and intense polarization; a bankruptcy that brought the country to the brink of a euro exit.

And that's not all. All that Greece went through since 1974 seems like a very innocent and refined version of what this country went through for the first three quarters of the 20th century. For almost 50 years, democracy has been firmly established in the country, the political system is...