Cyprus-Forum.com

[bizzybabe]

the sheer stupidity of what has happened and the impact long term and short term is not something that can be shrugged off ( Cypriot style) or ignored ( sega sega).

Most of Cyprus lax health and safety is an accident waiting to happen and is down ultimately to the head guy who has created this culture of anything goes.

Will this bring down the President? Or will he cling on, blaming everyone else?

[Sotos]

I would be happy to discuss this with other Cypriots. You are a foreigner so all I can say to you is: None of your business If you are British, American or Israeli then you should see the responsibility of your government on this problem since if it wasn't for those governments those explosives would never come to Cyprus. Please leave Cyprus out of your Imperialist war games with the Arabs!!

[bizzybabe]

Sotos: your soooo right! yes its never the fault of the Cypriots! nothing is ever their fault its always the fault of someone else!

The Cypriots are always the innocents whatever!

Even in the case of putting arms right next to a power station in what was pretty much giant ovens.... not their fault! Must be someone elses!

And your sooo right (!) i have no right to be concerned about this country.......i only live here and pay taxes, NI and contribute to the economy.... i've no right to be concerned how the country that i live in is run (!)

The truth is whether you like it or not: Cyprus is no longer Cypriot, and it will never be again. Most of the southern half of the island that you had left you Cypriots sold to who ever you could, all for the sake of a quick euro. This is a country full of different nationalities and we all should have a say in how its run.

[CBBB]

It doesn't really matter what you pay, unless you are a Cypriot your only political rights relate to your local municipality and EU representation.

So please leave it to us who can change the Government.

[Sotos]

Those who have a say are those who are citizens and who can vote. These are the people who also have more responsibilities ... like serving in the army for 2 years and then be reserves until they are 50. Foreigners in Cyprus are about 10% of population and those who have citizenship are probably about 1% ... actually those who have citizenship become Cypriots and are not foreigners any more. I didn't say that there is no responsibility from our government. They have a huge responsibility. But it is just not your business to decide about who should be the president of Cyprus... I paid 10s of thousands of euro in a country abroad where I was studying and nobody ever asked me anything about how the country should be run! And you think that Americans and their allies have no responsibility for what happened? It is them who forced Cyprus to take the explosives isn't it? If it was up to Cyprus then we would have just let the ship go to Syria. How could such explosion happen in Cyprus if the explosives were not in Cyprus?

[Jerry]

I would be happy to discuss this with other Cypriots. You are a foreigner so all I can say to you is: None of your business If you are British, American or Israeli then you should see the responsibility of your government on this problem since if it wasn't for those governments those explosives would never come to Cyprus. Please leave Cyprus out of your Imperialist war games with the Arabs!!

What a daft thing to say. Whatever happened to freedom of speech. Would she be allowed to comment if she was personally affected by the tragedy?

I'm a semi Cypriot, am I allowed to express my views on the subject? According to you, Sotos, the British are responsible but Brits are not allowed to comment. I bet if BB had condemned British involvement in this affair you would have welcomed her post.

Regardless of how the munitions arrived on the island once the ROC had taken possesion it was that country's duty to make sure they were safely stored.

[bizzybabe]

From Cyprus mail...

""In the many pages leaked, the US ambassador frequently reports on Cyprus’ rejection of the US’ offer to help handle the highly explosive material. In a diplomatic cable dated January 29, 2009, Urbancic notes that the US offered technical assistance to Cyprus.
A few days later, on February 2, the cable reveals Germany also offered help in the form of technical experts or even dispatching a vessel that could remove the cargo from Cypriot territory.
In the same cable, Urbancic referred to a phone conversation with the head of the diplomatic office at the presidential palace Leonidas Pantelides.
The ambassador noted that “if Cyprus were to confiscate the cargo with aims of disposing it, the USG (US government) would stand ready to lend technical assistance… Pantelides again demurred on the offer of technical assistance.”
On February 10, 2009, the US mission at UN headquarters in New York wrote greater involvement by the UN Sanctions Committee “might inspire Cyprus to accept one of the many offers of third-party assistance to dispose of the cargo”.
Three days later, Urbancic reports back to Washington that Pantelides clearly declined his offer of US technical assistance in determining the containers’ contents.
In fact, not only did the government not take up the American offer of expert assistance, at that point, they weren’t even sure whether they would use any expert advice at all.""


So much for the Cypriots trying to blame this on the UN, US or UK..... they refused multiple offers of help!

But no no no! Its not the Cypriots fault at all! ... its everyone elses (!) I tell you its this attitude that is at the bottom of this disaster.

[antifon]

To Jerry, bizzybabe & all other babes, it is in fact a compliment that you feel Cyprus so close to you that you express so freely about the way it is run (or not) and should be run. I fail to see the relevance of the points fellow Cypriots try to make. I can only attribute them to severe insecurity which unfortunately is a national trait.

bizzybabe, the correct answer is 'yes, he should ... but he won't'.

[bizzybabe]

Again from Cyprus Mail,

""But it never had to come to this. When the Monchegorsk was diverted to Cyprus in early February 2009, several countries offered to take it off the Cyprus government’s hands – Britain was prepared to take it to the bases, while Germany offered to have it removed. The government declined these offers for fear of alienating the Syrian government and Russia. A subsequent offer to take delivery of the cargo by France was also declined by Christofias, probably acting on Moscow’s orders.
Instead, the 98 containers of high explosives were kept in the fields near the Vassiliko power station, so the president could keep the Syrians and Russians happy. His ideological prejudices also played a part in preventing him handing over the containers to Western countries willing to take them and destroy the content. In fact, the National Guard could also have destroyed explosives, but Christofias refused to give the go-ahead, opting for his favourite policy – doing nothing.""

[Sotos]

How convenient that you missed the part where the Americans forced Cyprus to take the ship. Why didn't the Americans allow the Syrians to take their weapons? Why did they force Cyprus to take these weapons? Why did they want to make Cyprus complicit in destroying Syrian weapons and destroying our relationship with Syria? You see no fault in the American Imperialist war games? Seriously?