Tanking markets send dire warning to Greece's new government

“Offering such deep reforms up front in areas where previous governments have failed is the best hope to secure a meaningful quid-pro-quo on the pace of fiscal consolidation and debt re-profiling,” says Christian Odendahl.

By contrast, Odendahl says, the worst thing Tsipras could do is to try to blackmail Chancellor Angela Merkel, especially over the Russia issue. Merkel has already faced down her own powerful export lobby at home to counter what she sees as an existential threat to Europe’s democratic order, and is likely to react badly to any attempt to undermine the bloc’s efforts to make Russia pay for its destabilization of Ukraine.