Tectonic shifts in Europe’s natural gas trade and prices
Natural gas prices in Europe have been rising for most of 2024, as a result of increasing gas demand, and are still rising, especially in the aftermath of the ending of ...
Welcome to ‘Uncharted Territory’
New Year is when we do the accounts for the year, and the bad news always gets top billing: how many wars are going on, how big were the natural ...
New Year, new you? How to actually stick to your resolutions
December 31st; the last day of the year, and you’re feeling optimistic about the year ahead. You make a bold resolution: “This year, I’m going to exercise regularly ...
Conflicting Cyprob demands are sides of the same coin
The surrender of sovereignty over the whole of Cyprus is an existential obstacle that no Greek Cypriot leader could surmount
In his traditional Christmas homily Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus expressed ...
Socio-economic inequalities between countries
The award of this year’s Nobel Prize in economics to Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson highlights a fundamental aspect of the global economy, notably inequality between countries. The three scientists ...
Iran: is it finally the end of the line?
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 ...
Playing Monopoly this New Year? So is our energy ministry
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 ...
US international relations under Trump 2.0
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 ...
Impact of developments in Syria on energy
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 ...
What does Cyprus’ Moody’s upgrade mean?
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 ...
Cyprus banks unwilling to fund development
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 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 ...
Trump’s policies will have short and long-term economic effects
The election, for the second time, of Donald Trump in the US signals important geopolitical changes and is expected to impact the global economy decisively.
Currently, the US economy presents ...
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 ...