The wildfires sweeping across Greece are not merely a natural disaster. They are a tactical failure laid bare. As of today, 18 thousand hectares have been consumed, with the front line stretching 30 kilometres east of Athens.
The Hellenic Fire Service is losing ground. Two firefighting aircraft have been grounded due to mechanical failure, and high winds are fanning the flames faster than ground crews can contain them. This is a logistics breakdown, not an act of God.
The question is: where were the preventive measures? Where were the aerial assets when satellite thermal imaging detected hotspots 72 hours ago? The answer is a familiar one: bureaucratic lethargy and underfunded readiness.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Turkey offers drone surveillance, but NATO allies hesitate. This is a textbook example of how a state's resilience is tested not by the size of the threat, but by its own capacity to respond. Greece is failing that test.
The strategic pivot now must be to mobilise EU civil protection mechanisms, but the clock is ticking. Every minute of delay means another hectare lost to a fire that, in cold analysis, was entirely predictable. The military term is 'flank vulnerability.
' Greece is exposed. And the enemy is weather, but the weapon is incompetence.
