She is absolutely right, neither Greece nor any other European country needs to be a member of NATO because NATO is like a parasite to these countries and to survive it sucks their funds out of their budgets to create jobs over the Athlantic and to serve as a occupaing force around the Globe with soldiers and funds from European countries. NATO should be desolved because the World does't need agressive alliance.

Living in the 21 cetury with military budget out of the propotion draining our funds away for stupid armarment out of a fear that someone will attach us, it is little kids game. If as a member of NATO shouldn't we be protected by it and spend those billions of dollars in social programs for the welfare of all Greeks and make everyone better off socially? That's why Europe needs just one single European security where every country in the continent will be protected equally and their teritorial integrity and souverinity guaranteed and most of those billions of dollars every country spends for defence will be spend for social programs for tha benifit of the humanity. What is Europe waiting for?

we prefer russia instead of the bullshit to extract our oils from the rich aegean sea!!!thats all the reasons that they want to "hit" greece.the reason is only because of geopolitic reasons!!!!nato are you ready to leave greece???you should to....!!!you ve done a lot.....!!!!!

“It’s not only the defense budget for buying weapons for Greece, it’s money we spend to send soldiers elsewhere… why do we need Greek soldiers in Afghanistan?” =================== Part of being satrap and enslavement by the civilized or the so-called international community.

To Kostas, I am from Yugoslavia and what you have just said echoes the words of the deseased Yugoslav President Marshal Tito who was very strong proponent of your idea that nations should not be spending their wealth on military armernment fear each other but on socila programs for the welfare of the humanity as a whole. We all need badly a non-disciminatory single European security to put an end to all Wars. I wish that materialises sooner rather than later.

Ellada (Greece) is in trouble now because USA (primarily) and also UK are in financial limbo (trillions of euros in debt). One way out of debt for US/UK (this is an over-simplification though) would be to devalue their currencies, but this cannot be done for variety of reasons. Another way out is to declare their own (little) debtors delinquent, collect money and so pay off a part of their own dues -- hence current "crisis" with Ellada. In the whole process Germany is just a mediator. The blame is not entirely on US/UK since Ellada borrowed indiscriminately some years ago (or was duped or otherwise coerced into it -- remember Olympics 2004?) and then their government spent even more indiscriminately. However, a hundred billions here and there, even if collected, cannot make up for the hundredfold amount owed. The US/UK debt appears ominous and potentially more dangerous for the world than the their peace-loving, global nato exploits.

I give it to this bloggers. Indeed I agree with you!! Why should you be in Nato? Make the Americans pay more for the bases. Stop being in Afghanistan and sell off those expensive arms or don't buy more. You guys makes sense. These fat cats cant have a cake and eat it as well. Tell the politicians to drive small cars instead of those big Merc's

Since the take-over of Greece by the United States in the late 1940s, after throwing out the British and provoking a vicious civil war between the traditional right-wing ruling-class and naive idealistic communists, the country has been forced into the status of a province within the European branch of the American Empire. In common with other formerly independent European nation-states, sovereignty has been steadily drained from the country through the past sixty years by the usual American methods: 1. Debt to U.S.-controlled financial organizations (IMF, World Bank) 2. Compulsory payments into a military alliance (NATO) 3. Permanent occupation by American military (so-called "bases") 4. The induction of American puppets as national leaders (regardless of party affiliation) 5. Supervision by non-elected "Councils" or "Organizations" (usually for "security") 6. The consequent reduction of national politics and media coverage to public discussions of voting patterns, government over-spending or undefined "corruption". My understanding is that Greece came into its present indebtedness by buying weaponry it didn't need and cannot pay for. Does any reader have detailed information on this matter? And in the midst of financial crisis the pattern is being repeated. The claws of imperial greed dig ever deeper, while the people are continually lied to by their leaders and imperial masters... Pity Europe. The degradation of Greece will soon repeat itself in other countries.

"Greece, with over $400 billion of debt, spends more of its GDP on the military than any other EU country." No. That would be France, then the UK, then Germany, then Italy, then Spain. The countries that spend the most are those that are the largest in population (though it is notable that Germany ranks 3rd despite having about 20 million more people than either France or the UK). What is true is that Greece spends a greater part of its GDP per capita on defense than any other NATO or EU country, but it is incorrect to just say GDP because that refers to the absolute number rather than the rate. But, at any rate, Greece does spend more on defense per capita than even the US does (it is interesting to note that nonetheless Greece, the US, and the Russian Federation all rank from 25 to 29 in defense expenditure per capita worldwide rather than at the tip top). So what makes it different than other NATO states such that it would spend this much money? Foreign influence from NATO? Implausible because Greece would be like many other countries in NATO in that respect. What pushes Greece above and beyond the others is probably the legacy of being on the doorstep of the USSR and Yugoslavia and the present reality of being right next Turkey. And then once you have a big indefinite budget item in place, whether it be social welfare or defense, so many people become reliant on it that it becomes politically very difficult to reduce or do away with it even once it becomes far less justifiable than it once was. At any rate, the military threats to Greece are no longer what they were, and it should adapt accordingly to its present crisis by slashing its defense budget down until it is somewhere from mid-tier per capita for a NATO country or else even somewhere near the bottom if need be. This will cost jobs, but so have the other cuts.

@ kosta kosta you want us to be protected by who? Shouldn't we Greeks protect are selfes or should we depend by other countries tax payers to protect us?,.....the deal with the ships was long before the crisis hit and its great that Greece won't abandon them ,....the neighborhood that Greece lives in is not a safe one we have war planes from a neighboring country flying sometimes on a daily basis over are islands us a provocation and when Greek planes go up to intercept them they go back to there own territory they do it us a provocation, go tell the people from those islands that Greece dosent need a strong defence , am Greek and i say yes we need a strong defence,.... in Greece you have leftist parties and unions and they are against the IMF and loans but i get the feeling what they care about is exploiting the difficult situation in Greece for there own benefit,... now Greece send a handful of soldiers in Afghanistan in a moral support to the United States for the 9/11 attack now if Greece removes them they would not be missed at all by the Americans because the numbers of Greek soldiers is insignificant, Greece doesn't send its Army abroad to fight foreign wars ,....second Greece has an independent foreign policy just like during the Iraq war when European countries were tripping over each other to send troops to Iraq Greeks were saying that this is not a just war ,...or the independence of kosovo when Greece was coming under pressure from U.S and some European governments to recognize kosovo Greece didn't ,..,....ok we kick NATO out of Greece and then what would that make us more safe?...Greece has cooperation with all countries even the prime minister of Turkey has been invited to Greece to strengthen business, culture and overall cooperation between the countries and that's a good think, Greece has strategic partnership with Russia in all fields ,.....we are going to get out from this crises just like Russia did. maybe this was are wake up call...

The entire civilized world is swimming in insolvency. There is no need to point fingers any further than yourselves everywhere. We all live above our means, there is no utopia of universal health care and guaranteed employment and especially this insane and mathematically unsupportable pension idea that sprang up in the affluence of post WWII and was the brainchild of the bankers! As is just about every greed based lifestyle structure created and embraced by modern populations. And these are not just US banks, this is old money that stretches back through the Rothschilds and the Bank of England et al. The US Federal Reserve is not a government agency although it controls the government, it is a consortium of bankers created under the tutelage of the Bank of England. They and all the central banks are tied together, actually all run by Goldman Sachs alumni (look it up, there is an excellent video on youtube, it is truly scary). By happily allowing ourselves to be sweet talked into bad borrowing deals with visions of sugarplums at the end of the rainbow, WE are the fools that let them slowly get into every position of authority they now soak us by law. It is high time to push the rest button. Luckily for us in the US our forefathers wrote it right into the Declaration of Independence that it is our moral OBLIGATION to tear down a government of tyranny. I wish you luck across the pond, this isn't gonna be easy but it will once again be a shining light for the rest for the world. You need to throw the bums out but you have to get realistic about life and realize that there just isn't any free or any such thing as an entitlement, except for the liberty to try to keep your head above water.

Accepting help from the IMF is the kiss of death for economic prosperity in Greece . Why do they want to be enslaved by world " banksters " ? Would it have not been a better choice to just suspend all foreign debt for five years and restructure the economy internally ? This would make the wealthy wait for their payments and give the Greeks a chance to improve their own infrastructure for the average citizen .

Akropolis, No matter how strong defence Greece has, considering its wealth and size, Common European Security will be much stronger and undisputed because it will give security to all States indiscriminately and the planes flying over the islands will not be able to scare Greek people any longer, because they will not be permitted to fly. It would be similar like USA where all 52 US States are covered by a single security guarantees and instead of spending billions of dollars in defence we can spend those money in social welfares for the benefit to people. Wouldn't you like to see something like that?

Greeks have every reason to get angry. How not to get very angry when the austerity drive fails to reduce the exorbitant defense expenses? As a member of the EU, which nation does Greece alone need to defend itself from?

Kosta I'am all for common European security, but nothing wrong with Greece having its own strong defense to. When the chips are down the only real friend a country has its is own army.