A state that pretends

The city of Volos and the villages of Mount Pelion in central Greece were hit by severe floods on Tuesday afternoon. Furthermore, as early as Tuesday, or possibly even before, staying informed about areas at risk from upcoming severe storms could have been as simple as tuning in to weather reports on television. However, the Civil Protection authorities only sought assistance from the armed forces on Thursday morning.

A few hours after the request for help, the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA) posted photos on the X social media platform (formerly known as Twitter) depicting an army bulldozer transporting residents of Palamas, a village near Karditsa. The post said, "We are everywhere." I presume the instruction given to the bulldozer crew went along the lines of "Rush to Palamas to rescue people and capture some photos on your mobile phones for social media....