In a broader sense, it matters little who placed the bomb only a few paces away from the two presidential guards posted to watch over the Tomb, thus putting their lives in imminent danger. It is certainly important to eventually capture the physical perpetrators of this act of grave dishonor and insult upon all of Greece's war dead; it is, no doubt, imperative to satisfy the need to bring to justice the cowards in the shadows, who spat upon the gravestone of those who died in battle in order for our modern “angry” hoodies to come to possess the natural ability to breathe today. What is though even more fundamentally important is to face – and defeat – the reality of inaction, obfuscation, and conscious avoidance that has always dominated this country's nominal counter-terror policies.
The current spate of brave words is of course yet another manifestation of the “bark but no bite” practice that has consistently underpinned the Greek “anti-terrorist” campaign since 1975. The record speaks for itself. The “great” success of “breaking up” the 17 November terror group in 2002 has already faded under the realization that it was luck, rather than iron-fisted anti-terror ops, which brought to justice apparently only part of that terror group's full organization – with several of those convicted already out of prison on a variety of legal excuses anyway. The December 2008 riots, which caused havoc in Athens and other Greek cities and towns, and cost this country in excess of €1.5 billion in wrecked property, lost business, and looted goods, have passed un-investigated by our so-called “security” services and without the slightest intervention by Greek justice, whose “independence” and supposed unfailing steel-plated will Greek politicians miss no opportunity to laud in their monotonous, typecast remarks to mass media.
Violent anarchists, street arsonists, and youth terror gangs, now used to raiding downtown locations in broad daylight to destroy property and terrorize peaceable passers-by, remain untouched, unpunished, and as defiant and provocative as ever. Prominent terror suspects over the years have basked in positive publicity, stroked by politicians and congratulated publicly by “progressives” and other “democrats” as freedom fighters devoted to protecting the liberty of all Greeks. Only too recently, a self-confessed member of a bomb-exploding gang, with a 20-year long string of “dynamic actions” behind it, delivered lengthy political harangues in court – and walked out of the room a free man surrounded by approving friends and “comrades” apparently ready to carry the bomb-making-and-exploding torch of the “fight for freedom” into the next generation.
These are all surreal phenomena. Greece is perhaps the only country in the European Union, and the Western world in general, with such a tolerant “democracy” unable, and, often, unwilling, to do the minimum to defend the credibility of its institutions and provide its citizens with the basic protections expected from organized non-Third World states. Pushed around by vocal minorities; dictated upon by organized interests; hostage to all kinds of creatures of partisan carpet haggling and nepotism; and doing everything in their power to prove themselves below minimum expectations, Greek governments continue on a road of “democratic politics” that are, on closer scrutiny, neither democratic nor, indeed, politics.
The January 9 bomb explosion was followed by some extraordinary words of ill-placed defiance about how Athens will remain an “open” city, not to succumb to “militarization,” despite the terrorist threat. It is not more police that we need, we were told, but rather less policing. While the immediate aim of such imprudent statements is obvious – i.e. to cull favor with the populist and left-wing communities – the message broadcast otherwise is one of continuing refusal to recognize the domestic terror quandary for what it truly is and get down to business to eliminate it.
Unfortunately, if the past is any yardstick, little, if any, determination exists among our governors to do the things they need to do to stop the bombers. They appear comfortable and in perfect sync with the practice of “bark but not bite.” The question that remains, in a broader, “global” sense, is though this: can Greek society afford to accept this stance as the terminal line of “defense” against the wreckers and continue to approve, at the ballot box, those who practice it?