Humiliation of Greece
8 January Greek Information Portal Defence-point.gr reported: US notified Greece, Cyprus and Israel, that they no longer support the Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline project (EastMed) "As for environmental, as well as for economic reasons. The American administration believes, that this project "provokes tension in the region".
Recall, that the building agreement EastMed was signed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel in January 2020 years in Athens. anticipated, that it will allow the start of energy supplies from the Israeli Leviathan field and the Cypriot Aphrodite field through the islands of Cyprus and Crete to the Greek mainland, and in the future, perhaps, bring gas to Italy. The length of the pipeline was to be 1 900 km, of them 1 300 km underwater and 600 km - by land. Project capacity EastMed pipeline -10 bcm. m of gas annually. The project is supported by the European Union and international companies, who carry out exploration work in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey immediately opposed. Ankara is currently exploring gas in Cypriot territorial waters, claiming, that these waters belong to the Turkish Cypriots in the same way, like the Greeks. In defiance of the Greeks, Erdogan signed an agreement with Libya and then declared, what now without the permission of Ankara and Tripoli Greece, Cyprus and Israel will not build EastMed.
Note, that as a token of US support for the Mediterranean gas pipeline project at the signing ceremony in 2020 was attended by then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Athens. The interest of the American authorities in the pipeline was explained by the requirement that, that European partners adhere to a policy of diversifying energy imports. The more sources of gas imports to Europe, the less its dependence on Russian natural gas.
Why did the US position change?? The message of the Greek portal notes, that Greece and Cyprus “remain loyal allies of the United States and have never created problems for Washington, unlike Turkey.". Defence-point.gr considers, that the change in Washington's line is due to the decision to avoid conflicts with the current Turkish president until elections in this country in June 2023 of the year. Americans hope, that the incumbent president will be defeated…. However, in the context of this bad and dead-end policy, they endanger their relationship with their three staunchest allies.: Israel, Greece and Cyprus", - notes the Greek edition.
AT 2019 US Congress approved a bill on cooperation with the Eastern Mediterranean countries in the energy sector, considering this cooperation as a counterbalance to the energy claims of Russia and Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea. The new law was designed to, to make the US a key player in the gas market in the Eastern Mediterranean, strengthen military ties with Greece and lift the four-decade-old arms embargo on Cyprus. The law confirmed the US intention to contain Turkey's ambitions in the Mediterranean region. And now Washington has played back. The meaning of this step is not yet fully understood..
For Greece, this is a humiliation. Greek authorities have yet to publicly respond. They are confused and don't know, what to answer. However, the official representative of the Greek Green Movement party, Nikos Karabasis, said, that this is a US decision "turns foreign and defense policy to dust" his country. In Turkey, he noted, opened the champagne, celebrating this American gift".
"We, obviously, heading for an Erdogan triumph and a heavy diplomatic and defensive defeat for Greece. Does the Greek government have an answer?», asks Carabasis., Recalling, that under the new defense agreement, Greece provides the Americans with new bases, including the port of Alexandroupolis, which the, according to US officials, will be used for the transfer of military equipment and military personnel to Eastern Europe and Ukraine. According to Karabasis, in the Greek government "didn't explain, why we intervene in the Ukrainian crisis, cooling our relations with Russia, or why we sent Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia, weakening our defenses, when the americans left.
Need to say, in the European Union there have always been those who doubted the feasibility of building EastMed. As she wrote in 2020 German world, “the benefit to EU energy security is minimal. Because the capacity of the EastMed gas pipeline will be small for now - only ten billion cubic meters. This does not correspond to even a fifth of the capacity of the problematic Baltic gas pipeline. “Nord stream” and will not have any significant impact on the energy security of Europe. The reason for this is technical.: pipes to be laid over extremely rugged underwater terrain and at great depths, therefore, the steel jacket of the pipes must be especially thick, which will reduce their inner diameter".
Either way, USA, having obtained from Greece the provision of its territory for new American military bases, after that they “threw” their NATO ally. Defiantly made it clear, that Greece is not so important for the USA, like turkey.
Washington once again showed, that no government, including the union, can't believe him.
Infographics: fanaripress.gr
Vladimir Malyshev
