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I have to wonder whether the reason that this is happening now is because its an austerity measure.

Greece spent $13.9 billion on defense in 2009. The deficit is around $36.5 billion.

Making peace with the Turks is quick way to allow the Greeks to cut military spending, and pour that money into the budget deficit hole. Greek military spending is by far the highest in the EU. In 2008, Greek spending was 3.6% of GDP.  The highest in the EU.  The second highest was the UK at 2.5% of GDP.  By way of comparison, Spain spent 1.2% of GDP in the same period.  Cutting Greek spending to Spanish levels would return around $9 billion in funds to be spent.

Well, maybe austerity has had one benefit.  

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Mon Oct 25th, 2010 at 01:08:04 PM EST
I don't think this is it. After all, part of austerity was INCREASING their arms buys from both France and Germany. That helped them secure support. Rather, the factor here is leadership, a worldly Greek premier and a Turkish premier that has repeatedly scored victories against the military and legal system.
by Upstate NY on Mon Oct 25th, 2010 at 11:17:05 PM EST
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I'll believe it when they talk about signing something. But I agree on the leadership.

Of all the ways of organizing banking, the worst is the one we have today — Mervyn King, 25 October 2010
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Oct 26th, 2010 at 04:31:49 AM EST
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