The twists and turns of leaving the top job
Politics is a rough old trade and never rougher than when the electorate evicts the British prime minister from his official residence at 10 Downing Street. The moment the leader of ...
Eni asset disposal – impact on Cyprus EEZ
By Charles Ellinas
Eni, the Italian multinational energy company, published its ‘Capital Markets Update’ on 14th March focusing on ‘a distinctive strategy to address the challenges and opportunities of the ...
Government policies benefit the few and neglect the many
Under the current Cyprus government its policies are increasingly serving the interests of the few rather than the needs of the many.
This is particularly the case in the management ...
Britain is a nation of gamblers
Napoleon Bonaparte famously called Britain a nation of shopkeepers. Britain seemed more like a nation of gamblers after the betting scandal last week.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gambled on ...
Is it the end for the European Green Deal?
Implications of Euro-elections on European energy
The headline in the FT following the June elections in Europe was: ‘Europe’s green backlash – Rightwing advances in EU parliament (EP) elections will ...
The bigger game: Israel and Saudi Arabia vs Iran
Gaza, IDF, Hamas, Netanyahu, famine, terrorism, genocide, and on and on: the loud, incessant clatter of local issues and tactical moves almost drowns out the low, grinding noise as the ...
Democracy and observing human rights are not always compatible
The Refugee Convention was intended as a temporary expedient and not as a vehicle for permanent settlement elsewhere
Like it or not the tilt to the extreme right in elections ...
Stop the ‘Munich’ analogies: we’re not heading for a ‘great war’
Scarcely a week passes without some media pundit or attention-seeking historian warning that a Great War is nigh. As always, there are enough signs and portents around to make that ...
Shrinking European working age population: immigration matters
The population in many areas of the world including Europe, Japan and China is ageing at a rapid rate because of declining birth rates and people living longer. In fact, ...
Attorney-general the watchman of the public interest
The problems the auditor-general is facing reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago with the late Rustem Tatar Cyprus’ first auditor-general 1960-63, and father of the ...
European elections at a crossroads
By Ioannis Tirkides
This moment in the European elections is very different from the last one, five years ago. The starting conditions are different, the challenges are different. The priorities ...
A little hope on climate change
It was technology that got us into this global climate crisis, and it will be technology that gets us out of it. Specifically, technology that lets us go on living ...
How impartial can the UN in Cyprus really be?
Unficyp should have asked Turkey and UK to foot their bill as well as Cyprus and Greece
By Fahri Zihni
The United Nations (UN) has three key principles for its ...
The economic gap between the EU and the US is widening
By Andreas Charalambous and Omiros Pissarides
The US and the EU face common challenges, including escalating geopolitical turmoil, climate change, digital transition and taming inflation, while, at the same time, ...
Could a convicted felon become US president?
Why did Trump not take the stand and be cross-examined in front of the jury?
The paradox about Donald Trump’s conviction on Thursday for falsifying business records is not ...
Will UK election be an extinction-level event?
“Why did he do it? We were all told it would be the autumn and we were hoping by then we could turn things around. It is very perplexing,” said ...
LNG import blues
This is becoming the recurring theme of all major projects in Cyprus. Almost invariably they all run into problems, run out of time and costs sky-rocket. The antiquated methods employed ...
UK ELECTIONS
Both Labour and Tories lack ‘the vision thing’
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walked a few steps to a lectern outside his official residence at 10 Downing Street in London last Wednesday to announce that he was calling an ...
Crunch Time for Netanyahu?
It has not been a good week for Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu, chief decision-maker in the war in the Gaza Strip that has already cost at least 35,000 ...
South African election: the fall of the ANC
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born,” wrote Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci in 1929. “Now is the time of monsters.”
Gramsci’s remark is being ...
As wealth inequality rises in Cyprus both people and democracy suffer
It has profound socioeconomic effects, as well as political consequences in shaping the outcome of elections and policies
Cyprus is a wealthy nation; but that wealth is very unevenly divided. ...
A new world order really is in the making
The beginning of the end of Pax Americana
President Vladimir Putin of Russia on a state visit to China declared a new era in international relations. Well, he would say ...
Thought experiment: buying the Palestinians out?
Last week a despairing reader asked me if the solution to the ‘Middle East Problem’ might be to throw money at it: just buy the Palestinians out. Offer every Palestinian ...
Aphrodite blues
This is the second time this year I feel compelled to write about the development of – or lack of – the Aphrodite gas field. This is the fifth attempt made by ...