Greece's slow-motion economic train wreck is not just eroding the eurozone's flawed monetary union. Regardless of the outcome of this week's crisis meetings between European leaders in Brussels, permanent damage has already been done to the prestige of two entities that are key elements of the post-World War II settlement: the International Monetary Fund and the European Union itself.
Rarely have the leaders and institutions of the Western world looked so strategically inept as they have in their panicky and vindictive responses to the Greek crisis. The prospect of Greece being ejected from the EU, bankrupted and left to the tender mercies of opportunistic Russians, human traffickers and Middle East extremists should be beyond the realm of possibility. The fact it is not speaks volumes about the vacuum of responsibility at the heart of Europe.
