The road back to Damascus for Syrian refugees
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 ...
The future of the Green Deal under the new European Commission
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 ...
Hunter Biden’s pardon simply continues a long tradition
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 ...
ICC fugitive Netanyahu to challenge war crimes arrest warrants
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 ...
Cyprus government and banks selfishly hoard wealth
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 ...
Biden had no democratic mandate to escalate the war in Ukraine
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: success and failure in first week
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’...
The pension framework is in need of reform
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: ...
Cyprus should join Nato’s ‘Partnership for Peace’
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 ...
In whose hands? The right to die or the right to assisted dying
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 ...
Donald Trump’s foreign policy plans
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 ...
Is Germany the sick man of the EU?
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 ...
Self-serving Cyprus budgets yet again
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.
...
The UK, the US and scoundrel leaders
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 ...
ExxonMobil is back in Cyprus
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 ...
Chagos Islands: no happy ending
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 ...
Guterres working hard to unravel tangled Cyprob knot
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 ...
Changing economic policy in China could have decisive global impact
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 ...
Regional disruption of energy security in uncertain times
This is based on my presentation at Atlantic Council’s ‘Regional Conference on Clean and Secure Energy’ that took place earlier this week.
Every international meeting, be it the COPs, ...
Selling ‘golden passports’ should remain unlawful
Recent legal opinion on citizenship at EU court should be ignored
It seems selling ‘golden passports’ was lawful after all. On October 4, 2024 Anthony Collins, an Advocate General in the EU, ...
The EU at a crossroads and the Draghi report
The EU is currently undergoing a critical period, mainly due to economic stagnation, lagging behind the US and China in the field of technology and insufficient progress in the battle ...
Netanyahu invades Lebanon: only two outcomes are possible
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has launched his invasion of Lebanon. As usual in the opening stages of Israeli incursions into that fragile country, the signs and portents look ...
Management of Cyprus economy impoverishing many households
In managing the Cyprus economy, decision-makers focus on real GDP growth and whether the government is generating surpluses. Indeed, government officials backed by the European Commission, the IMF and numerous ...
UK’s deal on Chagos Islands a satisfactory compromise
Britain will hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while retaining delegated sovereignty over Diego Garcia, a joint British American military base Britain withheld ...