THE LOCAL children of Mother Russia had their world turned upside down over the last week when the country they so lavishly praised for its supposed principled stand on the Cyprob decided to behave like Turkey, first recognising breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and then launching a full-on military invasion.
It was a big shock for the host of self-righteous cheerleaders of Russia in the media and the political establishment being obliged to publicly condemn the aggressive actions of the country they claimed always supported Kyproulla, because it had a policy of cultivating and encouraging opposition to a settlement.
After the recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, parties grudgingly issued mild condemnations, without mentioning Russia by name. Edek whose leader, Dr Sizo, is one of Mother Russia’s most devoted disciples, put the blame on Nato, which, it said, “should not cause instability in the region.”
The presence of 130,000 Russian troops a few kilometres from the Ukraine border were not mentioned because it was Nato that caused instability in the region. Only Disy referred to Russia by name and issued an unequivocal condemnation.
Meanwhile Prez Nik, who usually issues presidential announcements about incredibly trivial issues stayed silent. He had the excuse that he was on an official fun visit to Dubai so it was left to Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who was in Paris, to say something on behalf of the government on Tuesday morning.
PREZ NIK did not want to have anything to do with the sanctions that were going to be imposed on Russia for the recognition of the breakaway regimes by the European Council that was to meet on Thursday night.
He announced he would be represented at the summit by Greece’s prime minister as he had more important business than taking part in an EU meeting dealing with the threat of war in Europe. On Thursday he was scheduled to address a business forum at the Dubai Expo 2020 where it was Cyprus Day.
It was reported that he couldn’t find a flight to get him to Brussels on time. Were private jet pilots on strike in Dubai or was his own private jet at the mechanic? He got a lot of stick on social media on Wednesday for his decision not to attend the summit, so on Thursday, with the Russian invasion in full swing, he told the CyBC hack accompanying him he would try to get a flight to Brussels.
He even condemned the invasion without mentioning the name of the country that was the aggressor. He was almost apologetic for having to condemn Russia’s invasion.
“It is with great disappointment we are watching everything happening, with the violation of international law and we can’t as a country but condemn the actions that violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent country,” he said without mentioning who was doing the violating.
THE POLICY of equal distances that only a few weeks ago Nik was accusing the UN of was adopted by him. In his comments to the CyBC, he added that “what is worrying are statements that suggest a further expansion of war operations.” Who was making these worrying statements he did not reveal, but he could have been referring to the war-mongering Ukrainians.
On his arrival in Brussels, he threw caution to the wind and actually mentioned Russia by name, but not verbally. He tweeted, “we express sadness for the Russian invasion which violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” He must have been hoping his friends in Moscow don’t read his tweets.
He wasn’t even one of the leaders at the Council who reportedly objected to cutting Russia off the SWIFT financial transactions system. Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides made this clear in a tweet that was not on the same wavelength as his boss, openly referring to the “unlawful Russian military action in Ukraine”.
“In the name of EU unity and solidarity to the Ukrainian people, Cyprus has not objected to any EU sanctions including cutting Russia off SWIFT,” he tweeted, commendably, distancing himself from his boss.
ANOTHER devotee of Mother Russia, arguably its most loyal, Nikos Christodoulides, like his former boss, avoided saying anything about Ukraine for as long as possible. He obviously did not want to upset his friends in Moscow so he completely ignored Monday’s recognition of the breakaway regions.
He also ignored the actual Russian invasion for as long as he could. On the day the invasion started, the prospective presidential candidate posted a picture on social media of himself and his wife over her birthday cake. Stung by criticism over his failure to say anything about Russia’s invasion, he decided to appear on Sigma TV on Friday and apologetically condemn the invasion.
It was like he was reciting an abstract theory at school. He mentioned no names, but spoke of the need for “universal condemnation of such actions that violate the sovereignty of a third country and can no account be accepted; and cannot not be condemned by the international community and at domestic level.”
For the 10 minutes he was on telly he did not mention the word invasion, referring to ‘developments,’ ‘actions,’ or ‘what is happening in the Ukraine’ while the word Russia was only mentioned in connection with gas supplies to the EU. It was as if he did not know that Russia had carried out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He could just not bring himself to say that Mother Russia had invaded a sovereign state. Such commendable loyalty to Mother Russia by the guy who wants to be president will have been noted by Moscow.
THE DEVELOPMENTS in Ukraine, as Nikos would say, have at least taken the coronavirus off the news. TV news is now all about Ukraine and Covid, which is suddenly not such a big deal, is only getting a minute or two of coverage.
Even the ubiquitous celebrity epidemiologists and know-it-all members of the scientific team have disappeared in the last few days. Of course, they have been replaced by another batch of experts, who have been brought into the limelight – the so-called diethnologi. This is how international relations professionals are called in Greek and if there was a literal translation they would be known as ‘internationalologists’.
They are a bit less sure of themselves than the epidemiologists but they have one thing in common – they are also purveyors of doom and gloom, but they have one advantage. Their predictions are not based on scientific data, which means they have better chance of getting things right.
THERE is a joke organisation, known as the Pancyprian Peace Council which is a branch of World Peace Council, set up in 1950 by the Soviet Union in order to carry out its anti-West propaganda in the name of peace and love. Although the Soviet Union has disappeared the World Peace Council has survived, maintaining its anti-West agenda.
Last Sunday the Pancyprian Peace Council staged a demonstration outside the British Bases in Akrotiri to protest against the arrival of four Typhoon jets flown here to be closer to what was happening in the Ukraine. Council president Tasos Costeas condemned the “participation of the British Bases in war preparations in the wider region.”
Why had the Peace Council, if it is so committed to peace, not organised a demo outside the embassy of Russia which had gathered 130,000 troops on its borders with Ukraine and was threatening to invade? Were the four Typhoon fighters a bigger threat to peace than the Russian army?
On Sunday the Pancyprian Peace Council, which has since condemned Russia’s invasion and called for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, will hold an anti-war protest in Nicosia’s Eleftheria Square. The Russian embassy must still be out of bounds for a former Soviet organisation, in contrast to the bases which are the ‘go to’ venue even when Russia is threatening war.
THE GREAT right-wing humourist PJ O’Rourke passed away the week before last. As tribute to his libertarian anti-state world view, here are some of the opinions he expressed over the years.
‘The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.’
‘Giving power and money to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.’
‘Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.’
‘There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.’
‘There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL convertible.’
‘The minute somebody joins a committee… they immediately suffer from committee brain. They become wildly over-enthusiastic, over-optimistic, over-pessimistic. Committees turn people into idiots, and politics is a committee.’
‘Let’s reintroduce corporal punishment in the schools – and use it on the teachers.’
‘Seriousness is stupidity sent to college’
