Having It Both Ways

Greece these days seems to be of two minds about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Though Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou has questioned Greece's place in the alliance, the country remains a member in good standing. Indeed, a government spokesman said last week that Greece would take part in NATO's surveillance of Eastern Europe by U.S. AW ACS radar planes. Under Secretary of Defense Antonios Drosoyannis called it "one of the most advantageous deals that Greece has gotten out of its alliance with NATO." That was surprising, since Papandreou has often declared that his country faces no threat from the Warsaw Pact. One clue to the inconsistency is that Turkey has already joined the AW ACS program, so Greece evidently did not want to be outdone by its neighbor and traditional enemy.

Lest NATO get the wrong impression, Papandreou last week also declared that his government differed "on all points" with the alliance's condemnation of the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 last year. Though Papandreou did not condone the Soviets' action, he said, "It is now a fact that [the plane] was carrying out a spying mission for the American CIA."