The Greek Minister of Defense Panos Kammenos is in the United States, having a series of meetings with U.S. government officials, including the U.S. Armed Forces. Kammenos' visit consists a follow-up of similar meetings held in New York 10 days ago by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Foreign Minister Kotzias.
The major characteristic of Kammenos' meetings in Washington DC is the effort of the Greek government to strengthen its role as the "flag-bearer" of US and NATO imperialism in eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, seeking a deeper involvement in the extremely dangerous inter-imperialist competitions.
Yesterday, Kammenos met with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs as well as with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense James Mattis with whom they discussed issues of closer military collaboration between Athens and Washington.
According to a statement by the Pentagon, Mattis and Kammenos confirmed the "longstanding defense relationship between the United States and Greece", while the U.S. Secretary of Defense expressed his gratitude to the SYRIZA-ANEL government for its "continual support" of the U.S.
Mattis thanked Athens for allocating military bases to the US-NATO forces- such as the Souda naval base in Crete- and he praised Greece's commitment in spending over 2% of the GDP in NATO military expenditures. Recently, the Greek government signed a $1.5 billion agreement with the United States over the technological upgrade of F-16 fighter aircrafts.
Furthermore, the U.S. Secretary of Defense thanked his counterpart for Greece's "recent actions [...] to fight the Russian malignant activities in the region", while the two agreed that they will continue maintaining a common stance against Russian interference.
From his side Panos Kammenos, proving the SYRIZA-ANEL government's willingness to serve the US-NATO interests, said that it is important for Greece to "develop U.S. forces [...] on a more permanent basis, not only in Souda, but also in Larissa, Volos, Alexandroupolis and- why not- in Karpathos island in the near future".
Kammenos, who was accompanied by the U.S. ambassador in Greece Geoffrey Pyatt, also paid a visit to the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command- aiming at a more intensive co-training between U.S. and Greek forces- as well as to the headquarters of the notorious defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
According to a statement by the Pentagon, Mattis and Kammenos confirmed the "longstanding defense relationship between the United States and Greece", while the U.S. Secretary of Defense expressed his gratitude to the SYRIZA-ANEL government for its "continual support" of the U.S.
Mattis thanked Athens for allocating military bases to the US-NATO forces- such as the Souda naval base in Crete- and he praised Greece's commitment in spending over 2% of the GDP in NATO military expenditures. Recently, the Greek government signed a $1.5 billion agreement with the United States over the technological upgrade of F-16 fighter aircrafts.
Furthermore, the U.S. Secretary of Defense thanked his counterpart for Greece's "recent actions [...] to fight the Russian malignant activities in the region", while the two agreed that they will continue maintaining a common stance against Russian interference.
From his side Panos Kammenos, proving the SYRIZA-ANEL government's willingness to serve the US-NATO interests, said that it is important for Greece to "develop U.S. forces [...] on a more permanent basis, not only in Souda, but also in Larissa, Volos, Alexandroupolis and- why not- in Karpathos island in the near future".
Kammenos, who was accompanied by the U.S. ambassador in Greece Geoffrey Pyatt, also paid a visit to the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command- aiming at a more intensive co-training between U.S. and Greek forces- as well as to the headquarters of the notorious defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
