On Washington’s trouble-dotted map of Europe, long-struggling Greece has become an unexpected bright spot.
In defense and security, energy investment and business development, the country that for years embodied European crises is increasingly a constructive partner for the U.S., as well as neighboring allies.
Liquefied natural gas shipped from the U.S. unloads at giant new storage tanks near Athens. High-tech U.S. companies including Microsoft Corp. , Pfizer Inc., Tesla, Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. over the past three years have opened or announced local investments, entering a market long overlooked by corporate America.
Meanwhile, as U.S. relations with Turkey have soured, Greece has become the Pentagon’s new hub for moving troops through the Balkan and Black Sea regions. Athens and Washington in October expanded their mutual-defense agreement to make the pact open-ended, ending a longstanding requirement of annual renewal.
The warming ties are notable because they began about five years ago under a far-left-led Greek coalition and have accelerated under the current center-right government. In the U.S., Greece has won bipartisan support through the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations.
Today, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis backs U.S. positions on Russia, tipping away from Athens’ longstanding openness to Moscow, and has made Greece less welcoming to Chinese business. The U.S.-educated Mr. Mitsotakis is also helping Washington’s drive for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean region by strengthening links with Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Read more: wsj
