Costly Red Sea lessons haunt new effort to protect Strait of Hormuz
The Western allies trying to negotiate a way to protect the Strait of Hormuz for energy shipping face a stark reality: a similar effort in the Red Sea that started ...
Our View: What is the point of the National Council?
If anything marked the meeting of the national council on Monday, it was its low-key nature. It proved a non-event, raising the question of why President Nikos Christodoulides called it ...
The war on Iran: A series of miscalculations
Still not four full weeks into the war, and already Donald Trump’s “short-term excursion” – decapitate the Iranian regime with a surprise attack and impose harsh terms on the defeated ...
Our View: Understandable that election candidates ignore law on spending
What is the point of investigations into the expenditure of candidates during an election campaign, given that everyone exceeds the limit set by the law? Most candidates show complete disregard ...
Lionel Jospin, former French prime minister defeated by the far right, dies at 88
At 8 p.m. on April 21, 2002, voters learned the shock first-round results of France’s presidential election. For the first time in the Republic’s history, a far-right candidate – Jean-Marie Le ...
Energy security in southeast Europe and the East Med
Undoubtedly the war in Iran has upended the way we view energy security and its impact is global, including on southeast Europe and the East Med. That was the subject ...
Request for a clear public position and parliamentary initiative on wildfire preparedness
An open letter to President Nikos Christodoulides from fothkia.com
We are also addressing the media because we believe that prevention, accountability and the protection of human life are not ...
War in the Middle East and its impact on the global economy
Recently, the global economy has faced severe challenges, notably the pandemic, the Ukraine war and disruptions in global trade. Currently, it is once again confronted with a new and rapidly ...
A perfect storm is brewing of Trump’s own making
While the war in Iran shows no immediate signs of ending, the world’s attention rightly remains focused on developments in the Gulf. That, however, does not mean that time ...
The UN Charter on self-defence has been conducive to maintaining relative peace
History repeated itself as farce at the White House last Thursday during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for talks with President Trump at the Oval Office.
As ...
Tales from the Coffeeshop: A ‘frank and open’ discussion on the bases, Prez style
PREZNIKTWO has embraced a new cause that is certain to win him many brownie points and give his flagging approval ratings a much-needed boost. He will raise the issue of ...
Our View: Sympathy for farmers, but livestock culling is the only way
It is impossible not to feel sympathy for the livestock farmers, who are faced with financial ruin as a result of the rapid spread of foot and mouth (FMD) disease ...
Michelin chef Andreas Mavrommatis dies, aged 69
By Daphne Prodromou
Andreas Mavrommatis was the first person who spoke to me on the very first day I set foot in the vast and chaotic Jussieu amphitheatre in Paris ...
Our View: Union veto undermines healthcare and democracy
Union rule is alive and well in Cyprus. The overwhelming majority of our politicians, be they lawmakers or government ministers, will always go out of their way to keep the ...
Our View: Fire readiness needs smarter strategy, not bigger payroll
Some work has been done by the authorities in preparation for the fire season, the House environment committee heard on Wednesday, said the fire chief Nikos Longinos, who was recently ...
Our View: Perceptions, not performance, drive approval ratings
Opinion polls dealing with how people view the way the government is carrying out its job are not reliable indicators. This is because people’s responses are primarily based on ...
In war, the ordinary people always pay the piper
Lebanon’s 1975 war saw refugees enter Cyprus; chaos in Syria saw more people seeking asylum. Another influx followed the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. Cyprus had no involvement in these battles, ...
Our View: State has no duty to bail out tourism sector
It did not take very long for the calls for state support for tourist businesses to start. The Hoteliers’ Association (Pasyxe) started complaining about a fall in bookings within a ...
Our View: It defies belief that Trump wants to drag his Nato allies into war
After more than two weeks of Operation Epic Fury, the largest US intervention in the Middle East since the Iraq war in 2003, it remains unclear what President Donald Trump goal ...
Iran war only exacerbates Cyprus’ underlying economic challenges
Even before the outbreak of the war on Iran the Cyprus government faced profound challenges including the need to protect the living conditions of lower income households, to undertake investments ...
Nato: if not now, then when?
By Chrysovalantis Andreou
For the past week or so there has been a tense atmosphere both within Cypriot government circles and internationally regarding developments in the Middle East.
At the ...
Iran: the paradoxical logic of victory in an asymmetric war
Wars do not all share the same definition of victory. In what are commonly called asymmetric wars – conflicts between opponents of vastly unequal power and resources – the logic is almost ...
US has a history of war against Iran and killing innocent civilians
In war truth is the first casualty except for the US war on Iran on February 28, when the first casualties were primary school girls killed in their classrooms in southern ...
Tales from the Coffeeshop: Leather jackets and livestock crises
THE QUESTION anyone with half a brain asks, is why our authorities had not started vaccinating sheep, goats and cows when the outbreak of foot and mouth disease was reported ...