Constantine Karamanlis

The European Union's public and firm support toward Greece and Cyprus is of historical significance. I'm not sure whether it will have any practical impact. This will become evident in the coming days and weeks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is unpredictable and, unfortunately, Greek-Turkish ties have accumulated a lot of negative energy over the past few months.

As efforts intensify to resolve the decades-long name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Panos Kammenos, the leader of Independent Greeks, the right-wing populist junior partner in the leftist-led coalition, dampened expectations and revealed cracks in the government after reiterating that he would never back a solution including the word "Macedonia."<

Cooperation between Greece and the United States has gradually strengthened over the last two centuries, starting with US President James Monroe, who in 1822 stated "a strong hope is entertained that the Greeks will recover their independence," through Barack Obama's "Zito i Ellas" (Long live Greece), to Donald Trump, who said that the Greeks "have been loyal friends and allies."

Alexis Tsipras's visit to Donald Trump's White House, which was marked by the Greek prime minister's effusive praise for his host and the US, marks a new chapter in the traditional game between Greece and its allies - the United States and the European Union.

As any minister, current or past, will be the first to admit, Greece does not have a functional state apparatus. Foreign technocrats working on the Greek bailout program were shocked by the state of the country's state sector, which is a far cry from European standards.

The greatness of a political leader is not determined by whether he tells the truth or not.

A true leader is one who is willing to go against the tide of public sentiment because he believes he is doing the right thing for the country. This is the kind of individual that goes down in history as a great political man.

A ripple of excitement swept through the calm as Brigitte Bardot stepped onto the beach wearing a tiny bikini, high-heeled sandals and an enormous sun hat.

Statesman Constantine Karamanlis had a favorite cabana and in the evenings would order a whisky followed by a meal of one boiled egg, a plate of steamed zucchini and grilled fish.

Greece has always been a fortunate country because at times of major crises its leaders were capable of shining on the international stage.

Just two days prior to the New Democracy (ND) leadership elections, conservative main opposition leadership candidate Vangelis Meimarakis wrote an open letter to members and friends of the party.

He writes:

Greek men and women,

New Democracy men and women,

An unusual leaked CIA document that has been around since 2006 has been doing the rounds on the Internet in recent hours, trending on Twitter as #Karamanlis_gate.