Cypriots, by all accounts, are a resilient people; more resilient than people recognize, and yet, one wonders why this small island has never enjoyed peace. Disraeli, the first Jewish minister of Britain, described Cyprus to Queen Victoria in 1878 by stating that: “this jewel of the Med is the key to western Asia” and wanted to formulate the island as a “defensive dyke”. Those words describe precisely the very reasons as to why Cyprus has been geopolitically doomed and in constant turmoil. Like a wake of ravenous buzzards, everyone wants bits of its entrails.
Today, Cyprus is not only a vital military ‘defensive dyke’ but is also a financial centre attracting billions worth of transactions. This economic miracle has provoked envy and even resentment in some EU member-states, but primarily Germany. Subsequently, the recent discovery of vast quantities of natural gas – estimated at €500 billion if not more – has exacerbated the urge to move against a vulnerable Cyprus; the island has suddenly become the ideal trophy.
Unfortunately, the Cyprus government failed to read the danger signs until it was far too late. On the near-verge of bankruptcy, it was obliged to approach the Euro-Group lenders for a bailout. Last year, it was established that a staggering €17 billion was needed for Cyprus to remain in the eurozone. Troika jumped at the opportunity to test its ‘innovative’ radical new program devised under a shroud of secrecy. Advocated by both Germany and the ECB they put into action a most devious plan against the island and cunningly gave their ‘approval’ to a €10 billion loan – out of €17 billion required. Under pressure, Cyprus agreed to raise the rest in compliance with Troika’s strict instruction. The trap was then set.
Money laundering accusations soon began to spread around the world to scare off investors and the slurring continued with a vengeance. Those unfounded accusations of money laundering – mainly directed against Russian investments – were fervidly debated in EU parliaments but especially in Germany where an election climate existed. George Soros, ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’, said in a speech last week that: “In the bailout of Cyprus, Germany went too far and Cyprus was a tremendous political victory for chancellor Merkel.”
The European Central Bank then tightened the screw up, forewarning that it would cut off all funding to the Cyprus banks and force its financial institutions into bankruptcy. The gloom and doom scenario sent shockwaves across the nation, fearing that Cyprus would be Troika’s next victims to experience a similar fate as Greece. It was to be worse than that!
The EU-Troika finally announced its most devious plan ever: to raid peoples’ bank accounts. In fact, loans suggested for Cyprus were specifically drafted to provide EU-Troika dominion over the island’s affairs with one aim in mind; to exploit and control not only the entire nation but also its natural gas. Troika’s Mnimonio was certainly not like a typical loan agreement. It was to be a long-term sovereign financial commitment to last as long as 30 years and could not be cancelled or repaid until its maturity date. Meanwhile Troika was given the right to dictate national policies that are sacrosanct to a sovereign nation. The result of that clever but illicit Troika manoeuvre – an economic dictatorship (or colonial capitalism) has been introduced for the first time against another EU member-state. In a sense, Cyprus has become a test case and a guinea pig.
Euro-group chief jackal, Jeroen Diisselboem, revealed EU-Troika’s long-term objectives at a press conference. He stated: “Troika’s decision on Cyprus was a ‘template’ of things to come and for how other Eurozone countries in trouble will be dealt with in the future.” The news of robbing peoples’ bank accounts has send shock waves across the world recognizing that depositors’ money will no longer be safe in banks. In Spain and Portugal, people held mass demonstrations in solidarity with Cyprus fearing they were next in the firing line.
Never before were a group of inglorious bankers granted absolute dominion over of the affairs of a nation for a simple loan. In the case of Cyprus, the transfer of the right to dictate policy to those EU economic jackals will prove disastrous for many years to come. Many renowned economists such as Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, advised that: “Cyprus should leave and abandon the Euro immediately in order to save its economy.”
Raising money under the terms of Troika will for certain cause chaos and misery for thousands of citizens, increase unemployment, trigger a mass exodus of young professionals to foreign lands, investors will take off, while industry will stagnate and be crippled by high interest rates and home repossession will hit the roof to no end. Cypriot politicians believe that this kind of misery inflicted against the people is “a price worth paying to retain the Euro”. This is madness! Sadly, that is precisely what Cypriots will have to look forward to in the future; austerity and more hardships as long as Troika controls the reins of power.
Yet, a misguided Anastasiade’s coalition government wasted no time to express its preparedness to sign the Mnimonio agreement. Within a few days of winning the elections, on March 16 2013, he hastily committed the nation – a complete U-turn from his election promises. Without hesitation he accepted Troika’s entire rescue package and agreed to raid 40-50 per cent of people’s savings and bank accounts. The issue was never debated in parliament and neither was it put to the vote under the terms of a referendum. Elected dictatorship has not only been imposed in Cyprus but it’s also being supplemented by economic dictatorship; a double whammy.
The cycle of deceit continued. No sooner had the government given its full commitment but the predetermined figure of the rescue package surprisingly jumped to a staggering €23 billion within a few days. It is now feared that this amount will double by the time Troika applies its final master-plan against Cyprus and does so strategically, just like peeling an onion – bit by bit – so the tears and hurt will not pour in buckets.Cyprus now needs to find €13 billion rather than €7 billion. Obviously, the government will raise that from additional crippling taxation and selling all, like the gold reserve, which George Soros called Cyprus ‘idiots’ for doing that.
Before this financial abyss is over, Cyprus will also face new blackmailing tactics from Troika; the right to influence, demand and impose its own political solution to the Cyprus problem based on some kind of a pseudo-federation. The trap of Troika’s geopolitical and economic colonization of the island will then be sealed shut.
Historically, Cyprus has entered a dangerous new era and will never be the same ever again. The future looks ominous and it will take a strong decisive leadership with a great foresight and vision to steer it through the maze of land mines set by others to destroy its mere existence as a republic. For Cypriot standards, that is a rare commodity indeed. Disraeli was right. This Jewel of the Med will never enjoy peace, not unless a miracle happens, and yet; sometimes people do make miracles.
* Andreas C Chrysafis is the author of ‘Who Shall Govern Cyprus – Brussels of Nicosia?’; ‘Porphyra in Purple’; and ‘Andartes’. All books are available from good bookshops, amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, Kindle and reputable Internet. sites. Other published articles can be found on Google under ‘Vanishing Cyprus’ or ‘Andreas C Chrysafis’.