Published: March 15, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War: Greek President on Two Day Visit
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - Mediterranean - Aegean Theatre: Athens - Tripoli; Greek President on Two Day Visit - Accompanied by Business Delegation and Deputy FM
Night Watch: TRIPOLI - Greek President Karolos Papoulias has arrived in the Libyan capital for a two day visit, accompanied by a delegation of business representatives of- oil, gas, shipping, banking, construction and telecommunications. It is the first visit by a President of Greece to Libya in 37 years, since the takeover of the country in 1969 by Colonel Moammar al- Gadhafi that year, overthrowing King Idris.
President Papoulias is to meet with Col. Gadhafi and with the new Prime Minister Baghdadi el-Mahmoudi. The presence of the Greece Deputy Foreign Minister indicates there will be some planning of strategic-military, international cooperation as opposed to the U.S. - EU. Athens never agreed to the bombing of Serbia in 1999 by NATO since Greece and Serbia follow the same Orthodox ritual. Last summer Greek and Turkish units conducted joint maneuvers in Kosovo.
During the first phase of the war in the former Yugoslavia, 1991-95, an article mentioned Serbia had the best weapons contacts among the new states in the divided country. It was mentioned during one of the winters in the early 1990's when there was a pause in the fighting due to the weather. The article mentioned that Belgrade even received weapons from Tripoli. I suspect the Libyans involved were not just trying to raise some extra income but they, as did Tehran, realized the Balkans can be used as another front to oppose both the US and European Union, even if it means supporting Serbia and other non-Muslim people. Bosnian Muslims also received weapons support despite NATO's embargo against them.
Athens is probably the frankest dialogue center in this war, World War III, 1994-2007. They obviously want to see an end to the military and dictatorial occupation of the former Yugoslavia led by Brussels and Vienna.
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