The India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is not just another infrastructure project. It is a multilateral network of railways, ports, energy interconnections, data networks and, in the future, hydrogen infrastructure, which aspires to reshape trade and energy flows between India, the Gulf States and Europe.
For Greece, IMEC is more than an economic opportunity. It is a strategic challenge and at the same time a strategic opportunity, as the country aspires to become the main gateway of the corridor to the European Union.
From the Entente of World War I, the “Abraham Accords 2020” (Between Israel and Arab countries), to Thucydides’ Cythera, from the Monroe Doctrine to the modern confrontation over the Straits of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the hydrostrategic security of the Middle East, History constantly repeats the same fundamental lesson.
Alliances are not just words in joint statements.
It's military power. It's control of resources and their flows. It's deterrence. It's infrastructure. It's sea lines of communication. It's energy, economic power and, ultimately, political will.
At the NATO Summit, Turkey attempted to present itself as an indispensable player in Western security. Undoubtedly, its geographical location gives it significant value. However, geography alone is not enough.
Real power is judged by who can keep sea lanes open, protect critical infrastructure, ensure the smooth operation of energy and trade corridors, withstand the pressures of hybrid warfare, and turn deterrence into a strategic outcome.
The Eastern Mediterranean is not a regional sea.
It is one of the most important geopolitical hubs of the 21st century.
The Aegean is not the edge of Europe.
It is one of its main gates.
IMEC is not just a commercial corridor.
It is a tool of geopolitical influence.
Water, energy, ports, data cables and shipping are no longer just technical or economic parameters.
They are factors of national power and, in many cases, conditions of national survival.
From Sparta, which was alarmed when Athens captured Kythera in 424 BC, to modern China, which considers Taiwan a crucial element of its maritime security perimeter; from Germany, which feared encirclement by the Entente, to Iran, which attempts to strategically utilize the Straits of Hormuz and the Red Sea, History repeats the same timeless lesson by different means:
Whoever controls the flows controls the power.
For Greece, the conclusion is clear.
A strong naval presence is required.
Strategic resilience is required.
Critical infrastructure protection is required.
Alliances with real content and active participation at the tables where the new global architecture of security, energy and trade is being designed are needed.
Because in the 21st century, sovereignty is not only protected at land borders.
It is protected in ports.
In submarine cables.
In the strategic straits.
In energy infrastructure.
In desalination plants.
In data networks.
In the sea corridors.
And in the seas.
As Thucydides reminds us:
"Great is the state of the sea."
Perhaps today this phrase is more relevant than ever. Because in the 21st century, power is not measured only by the size of armies, but also by a state's ability to protect the flows that sustain its economy, security, and national sovereignty.
Does Greece meet the basic principles to ensure its survival into the next century?
Does Greece's leadership have the strength and ability to steer it through the storms that are brewing safely, or do they need corrections?
Does the Great Lycurgus have successors or does Ephialtes triumph again?
PHOTO By Unknown – High quality scan from: https://www.svd.se/a/WLV0nK/hade-knappast-platsat-om-jag-inte-varit-svensk-menInformation: https://scalar.usc.edu/works/henry-v/media/entente-cordiale-postcard.1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=179752002 https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
