State Department Acting Chief of Protocol Michael Karloutsos said the White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras has brought the traditional allies even closer.
The irony is that Tsipras’ Radical Left SYRIZA’s pre-election platform before winning the 2015 elections was opposed to NATO and American military interests and other US influences for Greece, but he has since warmed to overtures from Washington.
The meeting, during which Trump was jubilant that Greece would, as he said, pay $2.4 billion for upgrading F-16 fighter jets and bring jobs to Americans but not Greeks, was said to have pushed Washington closer to Athens, Karloutsos told Kathimerini.
He was at Tsipras’ side for much of the Premier’s Washington leg of his US visit, welcoming the Greek leader at Andrews Air Force Base and sat in on his meetings with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Karloutsos said he sees genuine American investment interest in Greece and noted that discussions between the two sides also focused on energy and defense, stressing that Greece’s position in Washington is strengthened by its cooperation with Israel and Egypt.
Also noting his own very different ideology to Tsipras, an atheist, and calling on the Greek Prime Minister to show the “proper respect” to the Greek Orthodox faith, Karloutsos said that the Diaspora will always be ready to help Greece, regardless of who is in power.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Rennett Stowe License: CC-BY-SA
Source: thenationalherald.com
