eu helps itself to savers money

[WDB124066]

Was there late last year and there was a lot of talk in and around oil then, off the South Coast.

The Turks in the north have got nine (I think) pipelines bringing gravity feed water from the mountains on the Turkish Mainland to Cyprus, then, get this, on to the Middle East as a Water for Oil exchange program. Parts of it are under construction now....

Cyprus | Water Pipeline | Turkey

 

[nick mercedes]

So the plan wasn't a complete failure after all.

Cyprus rejects bailout deal leaving eurozone facing fresh crisis | World news | The Guardian

Cyprus says no, but if they reopen the banks there will be a run.

Talk of them leaving the eurozone, sick of being bossed about by Germans.

The end of the EU?

 

[trapperjohn]

Cyprus to become an official Russian State? We not the Northern bit anyway.

 

[nick mercedes]

Cyprus to become an official Russian State? We not the Northern bit anyway.

You may find the the crisis helps lead to some sort of reunification, after all the Turkish economy is booming and the Russians seem to see Cyprus as a handy offshore bank.

 

[Palfrem]

There is now talk of giving Russians some shares in offshore oil in exchange for supporting the banks.

Interesting how they get some potential real value when the banking citizens of Cyprus were to be offered pretty well worthless bank shares.

Maybe if the citizens got "free" oil shares...?

 

[trapperjohn]

It would be a major step forward if it happened. Who stole what off whom and how you settle differences would be a huge hurdle. Famagusta back as a vibrant town would be magic.

 

[WesLangdon]

isn't the underlying reason that the Cypriot Govt holds too much Greek debt and has had to take several EU sponsored haircuts on this already

 

[balge]

Have to wonder how much the Russian Navy would pay for a warm water harbour...and the Cypriots would love a big friend to scare the Turks off...

 

[Dryce]

Have to wonder how much the Russian Navy would pay for a warm water harbour...and the Cypriots would love a big friend to scare the Turks off...

It's big news when the Russian Navy actually go to sea these days.

They can't afford to do that very often.

Our depleted Navy might not look that much in numbers but our boats and ships probably spend more total time at sea than the Russians. We work our hulls a lot harder.

 

[nick mercedes]

It's big news when the Russian Navy actually go to sea these days.

They can't afford to do that very often.

Russia is hardly short of money??

 

[Dryce]

Russia is hardly short of money??

You'd be surprised.

A bit of cronyism here. A bit of oligarchy there. A dab of corruption and not quite the democracy we're used to.

End result is a Navy that doesn't go to sea very much and an air force that doesn't fly very much.

 

[balge]

They're getting richer every winter though...and the more gas they control the richer they get...

 

[nick mercedes]

They're getting richer every winter though...and the more gas they control the richer they get...

And the americans still think they won the cold war...

 

[WDB124066]

America has it's own reserves coming on line soon, should do a lot to dig it out of the situation it now finds it self in...

 

[Dieselman]

America has it's own reserves coming on line soon, should do a lot to dig it out of the situation it now finds it self in...

Maybe.

 

[markjay]

So will Cypriot banks ever reopen?

And if they did, will they survive the day?

 

[markjay]

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/21/cyprus-prevent-run-banks-crisis

 

[balge]

Russians seem to throwing a bit of weight around recently though...

Russian aircraft have skirted British airspace 18 times in two years - Telegraph

Russia launches largest naval drills in post-Soviet history - English pravda.ru

A naval base in Syria - who knew...if Assad goes and the new boss there doesn't like Russians for any reason, they will need a new base in the Med...

Cyprus to ask Russia for financial help; banks won't open before Tuesday - NYPOST.com

 

[Harrythedog]

Russians seem to throwing a bit of weight around recently though...

Russian aircraft have skirted British airspace 18 times in two years - Telegraph

Russia launches largest naval drills in post-Soviet history - English pravda.ru

A naval base in Syria - who knew...if Assad goes and the new boss there doesn't like Russians for any reason, they will need a new base in the Med...

Cyprus to ask Russia for financial help; banks won't open before Tuesday - NYPOST.com

Which all may bode well after all for Cyprus as the Yanks, sorry NATO, won't allow that to happen

 

[Dryce]

Russians seem to throwing a bit of weight around recently though...

There's a difference between a military that is generally operational and active and one that has numbers but doesn't do much.

It's not just down to funky looking weapons and occasional one-off deployments and sorties - it's down to logistics, training, maintenance, and operational culture.

It's not news when NATO forces do their regular exercises - because it's pretty normal. If the Russians conduct major exercises it's newsworthy because in the last decade or two it's no longer normal.

The media miss this because it's not as obvious to them as a Bear rumbling down towards the North Sea once in a while or a Soviet fleet meandering down to the Mediterranean once a decade.

UK Navy is small but still regularly deploys east of Suez. UK, US, France still maintain SSBN deterrent patrols and keep SSNs on patrol. The Russians with a notionally larger navy don't seem to come anywhere near this level of activity.