Reflecting on Imia
Thousands of Greeks rallied to remember the deaths of 3 Greek soldiers who died in a border dispute on 2/2/96. More bloodshed was averted when the US stepped in and negotiated a truce based on the standing that nothing had changed. The land in question was a rock out in the sea called Imia.Or Kardak, it depends on which side of the border you're on. Or which side of the border the island is on…..Battling over a couple barren hunks of rock might seem silly to folks in the US but you have to draw a border somewhere. It's just that the borders in that area have changed and the bosses have changed so many times in the thousands of years people have lived in the area. That border isn't as benign as the Ohio - Michigan border either. It represents a significant ethnic & cultural border as well with religious differences preceding Christianity & Islam.Americans have no real cultural or ethnic purity. We might be European but that's about as pure as it gets and our history? At best, 500 years, The Turkish capitol of Istanbul, once a Roman city, was founded about 2,700 years ago as the Greek city of Byzantium. it's all just history of a land thousands of miles away for us but it's home turf for these guys.
I'm babbling now, but, can a nation with such a historically shallow culture as the US even be 'conservative'?