Do you think the EU should keep Cold War buffer state Greece around?

2015-07-02T06:49:34-04:00

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB [login to see] [login to see] [login to see] [login to see]

The Greek Crisis Is About More Than Money

In The Wall Street Journal, Robert Kaplan write that Greece was critical to the Cold War policy of Soviet containment. It is no less so in the age of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jul 2 at 2015 6:53 AM

2015-07-02T06:53:26-04:00

That is a tough question. The damage that Greece has done to the EU is unbelivable. To save the EU from total economic collapse I would kick Greece to the curb. If greece wants to jump in bed with Russia let them. Look what happened to Russia's economy.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 2 at 2015 7:06 AM

2015-07-02T07:06:55-04:00

This is tricky.

You can't run a "Federation" or "Confederation" (I realize the EU is unique) like a Business. You can't expand, realize you made a bad acquisition and then cut it loose later.

The EU "roughly" parallels the US. Imagine if all of a sudden we said... Sorry Ohio, you're just a drain on resources, we're going to have to let you go. That wouldn't work.

When the EU accepted them in, they accepted the obligation of "for better or worse." I know it's sinking good money after bad, but when you make partnership agreements like this, you do succeed and fail together.

On the flip side of that, the EU has a very valid point of "Greece will sink the entire ship" which my response is "Failed model." If you have 30~ countries, and you can't support one (not the largest one), then the model doesn't work. Change the model.

Response by SGT William Howell made Jul 2 at 2015 7:26 AM

2015-07-02T07:26:24-04:00

What benefit could possibly come from keeping Greece around? With the exception of the gyro Greece has contributed nothing of value to humanity since before Christ.