The Greek patient - I don't know what it is, but it just hit the fan

Old habits die hard, and old aversions even harder. By 2009, tensions were running high.

There is a strong suspicion that a thwarted assassination attempt on Karamanlis had been planned by a Western intelligence agency (most likely the CIA ... go figure). This plot was broken up shortly before a planned meeting between Karamanlis (Greece), Putin (Russia) and Paranow (Bulgaria). Greek intelligence maintains it was all part of a plan to destabilize Greece. This assassination attempt was flanked by kidnappings of major Greek industrial figures, widespread demonstrations and "terrorist" attacks (local bombings). Also in 2009, a scandal involving the transfer of ownership of an alleged historical Greek monastery on Lake Vistonida sprang up. It was an exchange of the monastery for prime real estate in Athens. The connection was Karamanlis' press secretary, but it could have been a set-up, too. In 2011, the abbot of the monastery was arrested and indicted on fraud charges in relation to the deal. Karamanlis was on the ropes, but the pressure was increased. He called for mid-term elections, though he had little chance of winning, and a mere two days before the elections in 2010, two bombing attacks were carried out at two Karamanlis campaign events. Naturally, he lost the election, but he also resigned his leadership of his party and disappeared from politics.

Enter the new Prime Minister (PM) of Greece, Georgios Papandreou, whose biography is more than interesting: born to an American mother in Minnesota in 1952; studied at Amherst College receiving his doctorate in 1979; two years later, he was a Greek citizen and member of the Greek Social Democratic Party; from 1999-2004, Foreign Minister; but, in 1992/93, he was a Fellow in the Center for International Affairs at Harvard.

He took office in October 2010. His first act as PM was to renege on his campaign promise to raise the welfare rate, which most likely got him elected in the first place. Only 14 days after the election, though, his newly appointed Finance Minister "discovered" that the actual Greek deficit was not 6% of GDP as the former government had maintained, rather 12-13%. How he was able to figure that out before even settling into his office is a mystery to everyone. Papandreou then decided to "come clean" in Brussels and denounced his own government and country for defrauding the EU. And this is how the crisis was kicked off. But it doesn't stop there.

In January 2013 the Chief Statistician at the time of the "fraud" was indicted. This was one Andreas Georgiou, whose own biography is worth reviewing: alumnus of Amherst College; PhD, University of Michigan; 1989-2010 worked at International Monetary Fund (IMF) overseeing various programs. In other words, it was a man from the IMF who was able to "discover" the Greek accounting discrepancies before actually entering office, and at least one member of his staff has testified that she was directed to misrepresent data. I don't know about you, but this all comes across as rather fishy.

To top it all off, Papandreou, Mr. I'm-So-Sorry in Brussels, negotiates a multi-billion rescue package only to announce he will put it to a popular vote (due to all the strings that are attached). This is nothing that anyone wants to happen (except for maybe the Greek people), and the next thing you know, we've got elections again.

But it doesn't stop there. More next time.