Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Greece have a problem with some very vocal, jingoistic political parties right now?Remember Germany
Golden Dawn, a literal neo-nazi party, consistently polls third (around 10-12%) and has a pretty strong street presence, though all of its MPs are in jail. ANEL is a "patriotic right" party which is in government as SYRIZA's junior coalition partner. And then there are also persistent rumors of generals/retired generals forming a new right-wing party, though that never seems to materialize. So the far-right certainly could come to power, though if it tried to invade any of its neighbors, it'd almost certainly get slapped down.
Hmm. Yes. I remember reading about Golden Dawn now. Scary stuff. I think if they did come to power, weather or not they turned Greece into a belligerent nation on the international scene would be irrelevant. Having such people in power would create quite a toxic atmosphere and that alone is scary. I am of the impression that when things become difficult, a lot of groups with extremist viewpoints tend to double down and for some reason, gain more support from the general populace. I'd hate to see that happen anywhere and Greece is no exception.So the far-right certainly could come to power, though if it tried to invade any of its neighbors, it'd almost certainly get slapped down.
Me too. A contact of mine in Greece, for what it's worth, is convinced that Golden Dawn holding any power is impossible, that the military dislikes them and that there would be a coup if they took power. He's a Major in the Greek army, though I believe with the way the Greek army is structure, that just means he's been in the reserve officer corp for a while and has fucked up; I don't know how much influence he has. But I'm hopeful.
There's a part of me that doesn't like the idea of coups. They often seem to create more problems than they solve. Thailand for example seems to have one every decade or so. The coup in Egypt created a new boss that was just like the old. I'm sure if I looked up even more examples of coups in the 20th and 21st century, I'd find a pretty poor track record.