CM Regular Columnist

Six months ago, at the end of Iran’s presidential election, I finished an article by speculating that the long-lived theocratic dictatorship in Iran may be a lot closer to ...

Last month, we threw away more than 18 gigawatt hours of solar power – enough to power the average Cypriot household for nearly 2,000 years. This process, referred to as ‘curtailment’, is where ...

As the old year gives way to the new and a new American president is about to come to power with a mandate to make America great again (MAGA) it ...

By Charles Ellinas Developments in Syria have been precipitous and momentous. Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that deposed al-Assad last Sunday, has ...

Cyprus’ credit rating was recently upgraded from Baa2 to A3 by Moody’s. The double upgrade reflects, firstly, the improvement in the country’s fiscal indicators. Public debt has fallen ...

By taking fixed deposits at the second lowest interest rate in the euro area at an  average of 1.8 per cent and lending part of these funds at the third highest ...

The irony of the overthrow of the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad last Sunday is that he fled to Russia as a refugee after he turned his people into refugees and ...

One of the key subjects discussed at the Sustainable Future conference organised by Politico in Brussels this week was how the Green Deal will pan out under the new European ...

Last week President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter for offences of failing to disclose he was a drug addict to obtain a gun, tax evasion and any federal offences ...

Arrest warrants were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on November 21, 2024 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes ...

In the immediate years after the Cyprus financial crisis of 2012/2013 there was a compelling need to stabilise government finances with austerity and banks with credit restraint, however, such policies have ...

Donald Trump’s refusal to engage in a smooth transfer of power during the interregnum in 2020-21 pales into insignificance compared with President Joe Biden’s sabotage of Trump’s ...

COP29 has completed its first week with some successes, but also with a series of controversies. France’s top climate official is not going to COP29 in Baku after Azerbaijan’...

A large number of countries are facing increasing problems with pension sustainability and adequacy. To address this challenge, some European countries have adopted a three-pillar framework, which is based on: ...

I have read with interest the latest book by Chrysostomos Pericleous called “Leaders Inferior to Circumstances”. The book covers the last 20 years of Cyprus’ political history. The author openly criticises ...

There are rights recognised as enforceable human rights and there are rights that are informal and unenforceable. The right to die which is no longer a crime in many countries ...

By Charles Ellinas Much has been said about Donald Trump’s return to the American Presidency and his likely impact on world politics. The bewildering mixed-bag of views is a ...

In a previous article, we referred to the economic challenges faced by the EU. Some analysts and reputable media express the view that Germany is currently the “sick man of ...

The Cyprus government’s budgets for 2025 to 2027 presented to the House of Representatives in October 2024 constitute business as usual with just a mechanical updating of the government finance estimates for 2024. ...

In democracies people get the leaders they deserve Standards in public life have reached rock bottom in the US and UK. A convicted felon is poised to win the US ...

It has been over two-and-a-half years since ExxonMobil last drilled in Cyprus’ EEZ, but the company is about to come back. In an interview earlier this month the minister of ...

If you believe the British government (which you should never do), a new agreement will bring justice for the people of the Chagos Islands, who have lived in exile for ...

Antonio Guterres is probably the best UN secretary-general since Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden who was killed in an air crash trying to bring peace to the Congo. Guterres’ attendance ...

At present, global interest appears to be focused on geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East and the evolution of interest rates in the US and eurozone, as well ...