![\"Above](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Trump-EPA-320x200.jpg?v=1737743144\")
\n <\/source><\/picture>\n
US President Donald Trump boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, January 24. [Al Drago\/EPA]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Let\u2019s keep calm. This is basically what is needed here in Athens now that US President Donald Trump is back in power. There is no government in the world that is not scrambling right now to find channels of communication with the new administration, people with whom they can talk. Everyone is trying to guess what Trump will do on crucial issues, like tariffs, the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, the American presence in Syria. There are no easy answers because Trump literally loves to be considered unpredictable. He is thrilled with the idea of talking casually to journalists, dropping various \u201cbombs\u201d that monopolize the news.<\/p>\n
But it will take time to see who Trump 2.0 will ultimately be. If we learned anything from his first term, it\u2019s that people in key positions change suddenly and very quickly. Let\u2019s not forget how many national security advisers he got through in his first term. I was impressed when, while chasing an interview with one of them, his assistant ended up sending me an email to arrange a time: \u201cThis is on the assumption that we will all be in this office tomorrow.\u201d And indeed, the interview never took place because the adviser in question lost his position in the meantime.<\/p>\n
It will also take time for the new secretary of state or the national security adviser to establish themselves in their positions. Traditional decision-making mechanisms are in a chaotic state as officials have either been dismissed or are anxiously waiting to see what will happen to them.<\/p>\n
Greece, fortunately, is not in the position of either Denmark or Panama. We do not have a burning issue to discuss, nor to negotiate the future status of the Corinth Canal or any island. Turkey has issues because it wants American forces to leave Syria and also wants return to the F-35 fighter jets program. The two governments are already in contact, but Congress will continue to play a crucial role in this relationship.<\/p>\n
Athens has a lot of preparatory work to do but without haste. Trump is not a president who is interested in listening to Greece\u2019s legitimate concerns about the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. His question will be, \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for me?\u201d The answer is not easy because it could develop into a bargain that we do not want to get involved in. For all these reasons, there is no need to rush to a meeting with Trump or anyone else.<\/p>\n
It is urgent to map the new political scene in Washington and to devise a strategy that, when necessary, will put us on the radar of the new president in a positive way, as is the emergence of a new leadership of the Greek diaspora that will ensure that there is a serious lobby in the US. The Orthodox Church no longer has a role to play and we should have realized this a long time ago. Individual dynamic personalities exist, but they do not constitute a lobby, while sometimes they lobby more aggressively against each other.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s wait and see how things will develop and let\u2019s not go looking for trouble by rushing into things\u2026 Because in cases such as these, you only ask for things when you know what you\u2019re going to hear from the most powerful leader on the planet. Which is not the case in our case.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n