The international summits in our day and age are representations of public relations. They confirm agreements that have been arranged behind the scenes.
One such glaring example was the restoration of relations between the USA and Communist China in the early 1970s. Before the Chinese President Mao and American President Nixon went public, many months of secret negotiations between their associates had taken place.
Even Henry Kissinger, the so-called magician of diplomacy, had secretly visited Beijing to complete the agreements.
This case, a supreme example of secret diplomacy, is catalytic proof of how to play the international political game – say one thing, mean another and do something else.
The hope from the recent trip of the Greek Prime Minister to Russia is that some of what was discussed will be implemented.
In foreign affairs policy there cannot and must not be any “permanent friendships” and “exclusives”. After all, international political relations are influenced and overturned even over technological purposes. Let us remember the story of the American bases in Greece, which were abandoned after Washington deemed them to be useless! The big brother from the 1980s simply had no use for the plot of land in Nea Makri. Greece was loosing its geographic value. Nowadays, after recent developments, Greece’s geopolitical position has assumed a different value.
At least after all these developments, we can hope that Moscow will reduce the price of natural gas that we are paying at present, which is the highest in Europe.
Even if that happens, it will be something!
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
