Allies and fantasies

Some Greeks have this persisting fantasy that Orthodox Russia will always be on Greece's side. It is a very convenient fantasy that is exclusively based on the two countries' shared religious tradition. It is, of course, a fallacy. 

Even Turkey's decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque did not seem to move officials in Moscow. President Vladimir Putin might have said that the move had sparked an outcry in his country, but the official reaction, in the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, was that "this is Turkey's domestic matter, which neither us nor anyone else should meddle in." The Russians, in other words, chose to duck the issue.

In the inevitably wild world of geopolitical interests, religious dogmas and ideological credos go out of the window.

The current alignment between Turkey and Russia in the Mediterranean crisis appears to...