Cyprus

Aris Petasis* The Cyprus problem is a Russian problem as well. The current purblind negotiations, ostensibly between the two Cypriot communities (82% Greek and 18%...

The same forces which "predicted" and encouraged the July coup in Turkey are again in action. Michael Rubin, a neoconservative activist, connected in the past with Turkish Kemalists, has posted an article in the website of the ultra-hawkish American Enterprise Institute titles "Is a new coup in the cards in Turkey". Rubin's "prophecies" may not ne just "prophecies". They constitute also an indirect, still clear threat. Rubin and the AEI are anything but innocent observers. The same author has already written about the possibility of a coup in Turkey in March 2016, encouraging the Turkish army to go on with it.

By essentially denying the principle of popular sovereignty, it is also denying the principle of national sovereignty, the (relatively) independent character of the Greek state. Greece occupies a strategic place in the Eastern Mediterranean, on the route connecting Russia with the Mediterranean and Western Europe with the Middle East. Its independence was never completely tolerated by the British and then the American empires. Greeks were also suspected of leaning towards Russians, or at least this was the argument justifying the innumerable Western interventions in this country.

Jean-Claude Juncker’s 2016 State of the European Union address was clear in its analysis: the EU is at a critical juncture and has to become more effective to regain its credibility. But the solution needs more work. Crucially, it needs political will. And it needs an understanding of past failures – not least those that have inflicted harm on Cyprus since 2013.

The travails of Cyprus (population: 82% Greek, 18% Turkish) look never-ending: forty-two years of unbroken Turkish occupation (starting in 1974) of 37% of its territory and 54% of its shores and 40000 occupation troops poised aggressively on its territory at the time of writing. The occupied areas of Cyprus are basically run as a Turkish Pashalik (province) of

A new NASA study finds that the recent drought that began in 1998 in the eastern Mediterranean Levant region, which comprises Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey, is likely the worst drought of the past nine centuries. Scientists reconstructed the Mediterranean’s drought history by studying tree rings as part of

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, said that Western partners’ persistent attempts to speed up negotiations on Cyprus issue and push for a solution at all costs are unacceptable

Many analysts believe Turkey and NATO are on a collision course. One end of their argument hinges on the belief — apparently shared to an extent by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government — that the United States and NATO played a role in the unsuccessful coup attempt July 15.

On 7th July, following the example of the French National Assembly and Senate and four regional parliaments in Italy, the Cyprus Parliament passed a resolution calling on the government to work toward ending EU sanctions on Russia. The resolution was passed with 33 votes in favour. The 17 MPs of the ruling right-wing party DISY who were present abstained.

Within the next few days (on June 23. 2016) the Britons are summoned to decide on their stay in the European Union (E.U.) within the framework, besides, of the constant "reservations" the United Kingdom adopts as a standing policy on European issues