Nisyros Dialogues - Thomas Miller: Mitsotakis knows how to negotiate with Trump

Greece's prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis knows exactly how to negotiate with the Trump government, said former US ambassador to Greece Thomas Miller at the Nisyros Dialogues on Saturday evening.
Miller, ambassador to Athens 2001-2004 and Special Coordinator for the Cyprus Negotiations 1997-1999, was speaking on a panel on "Geopolitics of the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Road to India" moderated by journalist Athanasios Ellis.
He said that he did not have any connections to the Trump government and in reality very few people did, while the government does not exercise a traditional foreign policy. Anything he did as a career diplomat for three decades went out the window, as the Trump government does not operate like governments in the past. Rather, it is a personalized foreign policy by a president who has cut off the National Security Council and refuses to appoint career diplomats as ambassadors, Miller said. On the other hand, Donald Trump prefers powerful people like Putin, Xi Jinping, and Erdogan, "which is not good for Greece," he said. For Trump, everything relates to deals.
The former ambassador to Greece expressed concern that Trump could focus on the Eastern Mediterranean area and believe he can reach a deal. This would not necessarily be bad for Greece, and he knows that the Greek-American community is very powerful, therefore he would think twice about upsetting it.
Speaking specifically of the Greek-American community, Miller clarified that it is powerful in Washington, and will find ways to do things, both with any president and with Congress, as the Greek-American and American Cypriot community have a say in the United States, he added.
The Nisyros Dialogues took place on the island of Nisyros from July 3 to 6 and were under the auspices of Greek President Constantine Tassoulas and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This year's theme was "The Eastern Mediterranean in the Vortex of Geopolitical Changes".