Greece 2012

[rob in cal]

The Nazi connection is ironic in that it was Italy's foolish invasion of Greece (from their bases in Italian occupied Albania) that sparked the German invasion.  Hitler wanted to prepare for the invasion of Russia, and getting involved in a sideshow war in Greece was the last thing he wanted to do, but without Germany's help, the Italians would have suffered a hugely embarassing defeat, and the loss of prestige for Mussolini would have weakened his regime. A further irony was that Greece's leader Metaxas, was considered a somewhat fascist.  He died during the war against Italy (before the Germans got in).  Germany would have prefered a neutral Greece and wanted peace and quiet in the Balkans while it geared up for its war against Russia.

[rob in cal]

If a non-ND government is formed this would be a case of the largest party not participating in government, I wonder when the last time that has happened in Europe.  If they didn't have the ridiculous seat bonus, I'm guessing it would be fairly likely that they wouldn't be able to form a coalition but I wonder with that seat bonus if they will have enough seats to form some weird coalition.