IF THE CYPRUS economy could have been saved through publicity gimmicks, misinformation and propaganda we would have been boasting a budget surplus and an unprecedented growth rate by now. The communications game is after all the only thing AKEL and its government engage in with a degree of competence and know-how. Their technique may be crude, but it is their only method of deflecting attention away from the big responsibility they have for state of the economy... 6 comments

 IF THE CYPRUS economy could have been saved through publicity gimmicks, misinformation and propaganda we would have been boasting a budget surplus and an unprecedented growth rate by now. The communications game is after all the only thing AKEL and its government engage in with a degree of competence and know-how. Their technique may be crude, but it is their only method of deflecting attention away from the big responsibility they have for the state of the economy... Read on

THE unprecedented rise of the far right in Greece in last Sunday’s election has succeeded in raising enough alarm here in Cyprus to prompt President Christofias to comment that the economic crisis is strengthening radical parties across Europe.Fears of a rise in nationalism locally have been heightened by the potentially explosive mix of economic recession, rising unemployment and increasing racism, with local immigrant support groups saying that they fear foreigners will be on the receiving end of any nationalist surge. ... 15 comments

THE ELECTION result in Greece was another indication of why the country is in the mess it is in today. Nothing that happens there is an accident or without an explanation. With such voters and such politicians there was not a chance the country could have avoided its current, tragic predicament... 6 comments

CREDIT rating agency Fitch put the whole of the eurozone on notice yesterday that were Greece to leave the currency bloc as a result of its current crisis, the remaining countries could find their sovereign ratings at risk. Fitch mentioned Cyprus in particular. It said it was likely to put all euro area ratings on negative watch if Greece were to leave and that those countries which currently have a negative outlook on their ratings would be at most immediate risk of a downgrade.It said those countries were France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus  Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia and Belgium... 6 comments

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias yesterday sharply criticised  Greece's ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party, calling its election gains a pillaging of modern Greek history.Cyprus, Greece's closest ally, usually avoids involvement in Greek domestic politics but inroads made by the nationalists touched a raw nerve on the island, ethnically split between the Turkish north and Greek south for almost four decades.Golden Dawn, which won seven per cent of votes in Sunday's inconclusive election, is the first far-right party to enter parliament since the fall of the Greek military dictatorship in 1974. That dictatorship instigated a coup in Cyprus which triggered Turkey's invasion... 8 comments

THOSE who had argued against Greece holding elections this year were vindicated by Sunday’s results that saw the populist, anti-bailout parties on both sides of the political spectrum take the majority of votes cast. Once elections were called, there could only have been one outcome - a strengthening of the parties opposed to the deeply unpopular austerity measures imposed on Greece by the Troika... 9 comments

GREEK voters have dealt a serious blow to the fragile political consensus that has kept Europe's currency bloc intact through more than two years of crisis, rejecting the austerity-for-aid policies that have shielded the country from bankruptcy and a euro exit.Greece's vote, combined with the victory of Socialist Francois Hollande over incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in a French presidential election, will raise pressure on Europe's paymaster Germany to pursue a more growth-oriented approach to the crisis.But it is far from clear whether Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose insistence on tough deficit reduction in vulnerable southern euro members is popular in Germany, will take more than symbolic steps in that direction, even after Sunday's elections... 3 comments

THE island’s biggest parties, main opposition DISY and ruling AKEL, yesterday traded accusations over who was to blame for the damaging exposure of Cyprus’ second biggest lender to Greece.Among the Cypriot banks, the Popular Bank is the most exposed to Greek sovereign debt and the subsequent write-down in its value.It may need some €1.5 billion to recapitalise.DISY deputy chairman Averof Neophytou laid the blame at the feet of President Demetris Christofias.Neophytou said his party alone had the political courage to raise the issue of the bankers’ responsibilities.Neophytou wondered who drove HSBC out of Cyprus and brought in the Popular Bank’s previous administration... 1 comment

LAST week's guilty verdict by a Greek court against four members of now-defunct Helios Airways for the 2005 crash could generate complications for the ongoing legal process here, say legal circles; although no one, including the Attorney-general, seems to be quite sure about the ramifications.The August 14 crash of flight ZU522 was the deadliest aviation disaster in Greece and Cyprus. Helios Airways' Boeing 737-300 slammed into a hillside at Grammatikos, near Athens, killing all 115 passengers and six crew.The trial in Greece – the site of the crash -- began in December 2011, shortly after a three-judge criminal court in Cyprus had acquitted – by majority decision - all five defendants charged in connection with the charge... 2 comments