Alexis Papachelas
The leftist government is exempt from any kind of inhibitions or guilt. If everything going on today – out in the open or behind the scenes – occurred during a New Democracy or PASOK government, there would have been a universal uproar – with the left at the forefront of course.
MPs are getting transfers or deserting their parties – depending on how one sees it. Parties are unraveling via aggressive mergers. Different embassies are making recommendations to lawmakers as to what to vote. Only the political intrigue of the Greek royal palace of previous decades is missing.
Citizens are becoming more cynical
Where is all this leading to?
Citizens are becoming more cynical. They are looking on, speechless, at the unfolding developments and are finding it difficult to understand what is going on. What is considered an anomaly has become routine. Yet again, citizens see that they are not getting what they voted for. Everything is allowed. We are literally in the political era of “anything goes.”
Tsipras is constantly mutating and has no problem with devouring friends and allies. Of course he takes his time severing Gordian knots, and this is costly both to him and the country – as was made abundantly clear in the tragic first half of 2015.
Nevertheless, the “political graveyard of Tsipras’s victims” is growing in size as time goes by.
Alekos Alavanos, Zoe Konstantopoulou, Yanis Varoufakis, Panagiotis Lafazanis, Nikos Kotzias and Panos Kammenos are all names linked to turns made by Tsipras. Not constrained by any limits, he is attempting to surprise friends and foes. This tactic, in tandem with the image of the “bad boys” who feel no shame before anyone, is causing fear and/or a defeatist admiration.
All this, however, has an expiration date. And even the most experienced political gamblers always find themselves faced with defeat at some point, as they run out of hidden and obvious aces. Time in politics is ruthless.
One thought in particular is a cause for melancholy and anger. If Tsipras had invested all this political talent, the energy, hours and meetings, in order to prepare himself to govern adequately, efficiently and with relative meritocracy, we would be in a much better state today. Unfortunately, all this was spent with the sole purpose of eliminating opponents and remaining in power.
This, by the way, is the only thing that the Greek university auditoriums prepare you for.
