The Greek government has deployed a lot of populist and nationalist rhetoric, and eurocrats seem shocked. But the miracle is that this hasn’t happened until now.

A few years ago, debtor-country governments might have gone along with austerity in the real belief that it would pay off in the form of a strong recovery. But the alleged technocrats of Brussels have lost all credibility on that front. Furthermore, while center-right governments are in some cases managing to hold on politically by posing as the only people who can do the painful but necessary stuff, center-left parties that take on the role of agents of austerity have imploded, in some cases essentially disappearing from the scene.

That said, as I’ve noted before, individual politicians — center-right especially, but center-left in some cases — may do OK personally even if their policies are wildly unpopular; they can become fixtures at Davos, look forward to appointments at the Commission or other European institutions. This has, I’d argue, acted as a deterrent to feeding the populist backlash voters are ever more ready to endorse.

But the current Greek government isn’t center-left, and its leading figures are never going to reemerge as Davos Man. For them, success must come in the form of support from their own voters rather than an international elite.

I’m not sure whether creditor governments understand this. Sometimes it seems as if they are expecting Tsipras to cave any day now. Other times it seems as if their plan is to turn Greece into an object lesson of what happens if you don’t go along. Most likely, there’s a lot of fuzzy-mindedness all around. But this is getting dangerous.