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Suppose Stalin changed his mind concerning Greece when he saw that the Normandy invasion was going to succeed. He would so generously help the communist guerilla in August 1944 through arms and technical advisors in a way that rapidly makes it the defacto government. The western powers never see any of this as they are focused exclusively on the liberation of France.

They would have basically said to the British upon arrival in october 1944 ''Thanks but no thanks we can manage our own''. This would have surely ruffled a few feathers in the western world after finding out that the USSR was behind it all but a world war had to be finished and now was not the time for sanctions. British presence is limited to a small military staff in Athens.

An understanding is made between the communists and the Soviets in 1946 to help the rebuilding of Greece through the arrival of military, engineering and agricultural advisors. In return, two 99 years leases are given to build a large naval base on an aegean sea island with a deep water harbor and another to build a large air and army base on the mainland. They are immediatly occupied by russian forces rolling in from bulgaria and half of the Black sea fleet moves its vessels there as soon as the naval base is barely operational.

Formal strong protests are issued from Washington and London to Moscow which fall on deaf ears. The Cold War officially starts from that point on. The british military staff is asked to leave after being said that they are no longer needed and no longer welcomed. The government in exile collapses after the nebulous death of the King George II of Greece in Egypt. Crete and Cyprus becomes home to the communist resistance and welcomes British troops.

Numerous intrigues by the western powers try to bring about the fall of the communist government in the next few years but it manages to hang on with the Soviet Union help. The lingering distrust between Greece and Turkey forces the latter to join NATO in 1952 which prompts Greece to join the Warsaw Pact upon its formation in 1955.

What is the resulting impact of having numerous Soviet land, sea and air forces on eastern mediterranean politics especially the Middle East?
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