Thanos Davelis

The upheavals across the Middle East over the past year and a half - with the collapse of Assad's regime in Syria taking center stage now - mean that the incoming Trump administration has a new chance to reshape the region. This raises important questions for Greece, which sits at the crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, and is at the heart of a number of regional initiatives.

Prof Evanthis Hatzivassiliou joins Thanos Davelis to look at the story of Cyprus and NATO - a story that begins with the creation of an independent Cyprus and a 1959 "gentleman's agreement" - and break down what lessons we can take from this history as Cyprus explores new ways to integrate with the transatlantic alliance today. 

With the incoming Trump administration preparing to take office in over a month, countries like Greece and Turkey are trying to work out what this will mean for the region and their ties to Washington.

While Greece and Turkey's foreign ministers are working to lay the groundwork for a key summit between Prime Minister Mitsotakis and President Erdogan early next year, there are growing concerns that progress in resolving differences in the Aegean Sea is proving all but impossible.

In 2016 European leaders treated Trump's win as an aberration, something to ride out. Eight years later, European leaders are now trying to gauge what a second Trump presidency will mean for the continent.

Endy Zemenides, the executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, joins Thanos Davelis to look at why the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is a chance to reopen the door to the brief era of regional cooperation that was being celebrated before October 7th, particularly the 3+1 mechanism between Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and the US.

A few days ago, on October 12th, Athens celebrated 80 years since the liberation of the city from a brutal Nazi German occupation that left its mark not just on Athens, but on all of Greece.

Last week Turkish President Erdogan set out on a tour of the Balkans, visiting Albania and Serbia. The tour kicked off in Albania, with Erdogan gifting a number of drones and inaugurating the largest mosque in the Balkans - which was funded by Turkey. The second leg took him to Serbia, where Turkey made a diplomatic comeback in 2017.

Tom Ellis, the editor in chief of Kathimerini's English Edition, joins Thanos Davelis to break down his latest analysis in The Greek Letter, highlighting how tensions in Greece's neighborhood and uncertainty around the world mean diplomacy has to go hand in hand with a strong defense policy, highlighting the decision for a Greek "Iron Dome."

Over the summer we've read about issues of water scarcity on Greece's islands, many of them struggling to find ways to meet demand during the summer - especially as tourists swarm to the islands.