The Greek debt problem is not new.

It has been there for a while.

In the interim, Greece and Germany traded favors. Greece received political support and Germany received huge orders from Greek on armaments and other projects.

Were Germany actually concerned about corruption and oligarchy in Greece, one place to begin nipping the Greeks in the bud would be: stop bribing them to buy your stuff.

This doesn't mean that Germans are to blame for Greek corruption, but the Germans certainly should not act surprised.

When you look at the banking crisis continentwide, a lot of dirty behavior seems to be tolerated by these leaders.