Cyprus-Forum.com

[Black Cat]

Introduction

Following are a few short paragraphs which are taken from a little- known but very significant speech delivered by Tassos Papadopoulos in the US, at the Foreign Policy Association World Leadership Forum in September 2005.

Knowledge of this speech was kept from the public eye. In contrast to all the promotion in the daily news about the "significant activities" and "achievements" of the Head of State, this particular speech did not receive much attention. With good reason: It is full of truths. Unbearable truths.
Please have a look at the following excerpts from the speech, the "juicy parts".

Below, we share with you some information about the Why, Who, What, When, and Where regarding this particular speech by the President; the Foreign Policy Association itself; the increasingly illegal dimensions of the expanding relationship between the Government of Cyprus and the US Government.

These are the signs of the times; these are the actual forms in the flesh, embodied in our country by neo-colonialism and by the bestial Planetocracy which rules the globe.
they think they can master the beast - or do they just pretend to be thinking that?

The Best - actual text from the speech:

“We have signed all …International Treaties and Conventions on combating terrorism including the restitution of their primary sources of financing. We work closely with the Embassy of the US in Cyprus, whenever they have information about suspected persons, they only have to ask our government and immediately we expel any person who might be suspicious on the basis of information from the US.”
- Tassos Papadopoulos

Highlights - from the beginning of the speech:

“I would like to say that Cyprus and the United States have had all along, for many years, excellent bilateral relations which extend to multilateral relations. We have this close common cause, I believe we share common values, common aims and common goals. In this new era of globalization and the universal fight against terrorism, we stand by the side of the US and we work together in combating this serious threat to human civilization. We have stood by the US in its fight against terrorism.

"Let me say that the Republic of Cyprus, has granted to the United States, overflight and landing rights during the war in Iraq. We have opened our hospitals and harbours for American servicemen to come and stay in Cyprus. We have signed all twelve, today I signed the 13th, International Treaties and Conventions on combating terrorism including the restitution of their primary sources of financing. We work closely, with the Embassy of the US in Cyprus, whenever they have information about suspected persons, they only have to ask our government and immediately we expel any person who might be suspicious on the basis of information from the US. Most recently, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Iacovou, signed with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Treaty of the Proliferation of Security Initiatives. This is very important because in the first place, Cyprus is the sixth country with the sixth biggest fleet in the European Union, therefore since this agreement provides for the seizing of any ship under any flag, in order to prevent the movement of weapons of mass destruction. This I think is a great contribution that we make.

"At the same time, it should be mentioned that Cyprus is a member of the EU, it is the first member state that agreed to sign such an agreement because as you probably know there are many objections amongst other country members of the EU about granting such a right of another state to have vessels under the flag of another EU state.

"In all we hope that these relations with the US will be further improved and enhanced.”
- Tassos Papadopoulos

The rest of the speech is republished in our pages, if you want to read it in depth, right here:
Keynote Address: Tassos Papadopoulos
english-cyprus.indymedia.org/newswire/display/32/index.php


Why, Who, What, When, and Where

Why was this speech kept from the public eye in Cyprus and abroad instead of being drummed up as usual as one more of the "significant achievements" of our leaders?

Two sections of this article below, will address these concerns:
- What is the Foreign Policy Association? We have some good information about for you.
- Proliferation Security Initiative - what is it, why does the President mention it so proudly and is it true ...that it violates every international law?

But before we enter the "juicy details", please join us giving some thought to the immediate relevancy of the matter at hand, the political significance of the above quotes from the President's speech.

Are his statements enough to explain why the Crime Investigation Department of the Cyprus Police (widely known as CID on the island) has launched an illegal investigation at IndyMedia in violation of the Constitution? They did so after receiving a "request" for it by the US State Department via its Embassy in Cyprus. Does it matter to the Chief of Police that his orders to act against us are an act of treason, rendering his Police into an underling, a servile subsidiary of a foreign power?

Are the President's statements enough to explain why the Police have been attacking peaceful demonstrators outside the US Embassy in Cyprus and charging them with non- existent crimes and then telling the Judges in Court that it's ok "because these people are anarchists"? What about the brutal beatings, the torture and degradation to which these people were subjected by Police - documented and verified by the Republic's own Ombudsperson /Administrative Commissioner, who condemned these barbaric acts by the Police - are they part of what the President calls "excellent bilateral relations" between Cyprus and the United States?

"We have this close common cause, I believe we share common values, common aims and common goals", says the President. In other words, those of us in Cyprus who protest against the policies of the United States are enemies of both Governments. We disturb those "excellent bilateral relations".

We have established and documented a pattern of behaviour by the Police which fits precisely with the President's policy outlined in the speech:
Police members have been following, photographing, harassing, visiting, calling family members, and making threatening and malicious accusations at members of the independent anti-imperialist community in the last two years - more illegal harassment and violation of constitutional rights than ever before, in comparison to past decades. More specifically, targets of these illegal Police activities are socialists, independent communists, anarchists, autonomists and green feminists, pantheists and gay- rights activists who are politically active outside of the Parliamentary and authoritarian Party- dominated realms, mostly involved in building the independent anti-Imperialist networks. We are being selectively targeted by this Cyprus Government policy.

We have documented some of these cases, and are preparing legal action around them. But do the President's statements explain these actions? "We work closely with the Embassy of the US in Cyprus", says the President. "All they have to do" is "ask our government", "whenever they have information about suspected persons".

Cyprus IndyMedia has been specifically targeted by this policy. Our organization has filed a case with the Republic's Administrative Commissioner/ Ombudsperson about the illegal investigations against us and the harassment due to orders by the US Embassy (for those who need a reminder about our case, please see the link below).
Government Admits Investigation Against Indymedia Initiated by US Intelligence
publish.indymedia.org/en/2004/07/111547.shtml

The case of IndyMedia filed with the Administrative Commissioner/ Ombudsperson (Case File 2229/ 2005), charges that the country's top Executive Branch, all the way from the Presidential Palace, has generated a political climate in which it seems "natural" that the Government has given access to the US military forces to use for invading Iraq and for dominating the Eastern Mediterranean region. And that this political climate extends to the internal affairs of the country; those of us who oppose it are enemies of the State. Anything that the US Embassy desires regarding its political opponents in Cyprus, the Government of Cyprus will oblige. Its Will Be Done.

We see all that in the actions of the Police: the public relations officer of the Police admitted in the mainstream media that the US Embassy had sent then a document which initiated the Police actions against us, and this was confirmed by the Minister of Justice in writing. Now we see from the President's speech that these are not accidental or mistaken actions, nor "deviations" - they are derived directly from the new official dogma for the foreign and domestic policy of the Cyprus Government.

The fake Labour- Party, Akel, whose electoral power brought the Tassos Papadopoulos to office, still pretends it is the "party of revolutionary socialism" while it participates in power- sharing within the current Government, and it does not protest any of these crude Imperial policies:
"...the Republic of Cyprus has granted to the United States, overflight and landing rights during the war in Iraq. We have opened our hospitals and harbours for American servicemen to come and stay in Cyprus", says the President who rules with the blessings of Akel. If this is "revolutionary socialism" what is revolution? What is socialism? What happened to common sense? What happened to basic human values?

It is not a mystery then, that Cyprus was recently implicated as one of the countries revealed as participating in the network of client states facilitating the CIA torture plane flights. Prisoners of the US who were held and transported illegally, drugged and chained in airplanes landing at Larnaka and Paphos within the blessed "excellent bilateral relations" of our two countries, were shuttled from Cyprus to destinations where they were tortured and then "vanished".

It is not accidental that the US used the airport facilities in Cyprus to do this - they were invited: "...the Republic of Cyprus has granted to the United States, overflight and landing rights", said the President.

The night he was elected to office, Akel filled the streets with thousands of people partying and cheering, waving red flags and banners with the smiling image of Che Guevara, there was merriment and joy, cars honking their horns all night and fireworks. I kept thinking, "...Did I sleep through the Revolution? Did I just enter an alternate reality?" and then immediately "Glory be, the Red Army lives! Socialism is congealing before my very eyes", and again, "...my whole life I worked for this moment and now somehow ...I missed it?"

Why protest? Does it matter?
Has the President lost his mind? Has he sold out entirely to the global Empire? It's correct to worry about these things.

Some of us believe that somewhere deep inside, Tassos is still an honorable and honest man. He did not fight the British colonialists at risk to his life and his loved ones just to deliver the island to the pigs who operate the Pentagon. But "somewhere deep inside" is not good enough.

We believe he has fallen victim to the arrogant thinking which is very popular among many of the petty politicians in Cyprus. It's an old game, as old as the Empire: good- hearted, well- meaning people who think that they can use and manipulate the Beast "toward Peace", who end up being themselves manipulated and used in cruel and callous ways resulting in disasters for our people. And disasters for our neighbours. Over and over.

That sick and perverted political thinking leads to murderous practices and more violent death for all. It starts at the top, with the local ruling class, and it permeates down to the level of many activists and organizers of the politicized community.

But the answer is still yes, we need to keep on protesting, organizing, and to keep on underlining and undermining the insanity and injustice of it all because among some of these people - placed high and low - there is still the possibility of finding access to their Conscience. And whether we do connect with it or not, objective reality is still oriented in one direction: the global Resistance is winning. In the end, the Empire will crumble through Humanity's collective and organized actions, regardless of whether the ruling class and its allies and petty minions ever understand anything or not.

Some more thoughts on this:
"Unbiased information", anti-Communism, and the nature of the Beast:
tinyurl.com/a6dpd
or
64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:TK2xHFOm_L4J:cyprus-imc-english.nysindy.or indymedia "anti-Communism, and the nature of the Beast"&hl=en

Let's proceed to
- What is the Foreign Policy Association?
and
- the Proliferation Security Initiative


What is the Foreign Policy Association?
We have some good information about for you.

The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) is a medium- level "unofficial" institution of the US ruling class, situated at the rim of power where the US ruling class rubs its elbows with the global ruling class. It is not an institution with decisive influence such as what the Council on Foreign Relations holds (more on that particular group below). But it's important.

The Foreign Policy Association Board of Directors reveals membership from two of the most important corporate power structures identified by Lenin in his monumental work titled "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism". In it, he traces among other things the existence of two pyramids of power rooted in the ownership and control apparatus of global Finance Capital. One is identified with the JP Morgan power elite, the other with the Rockefeller elite. They are both represented on the Foreign Policy Association Board of Directors. It's more than a hundred years later - these people still rule the world.

The Foreign Policy Association's members of the Board of Directors are listed here - please notice the corporate affiliations:
www.fpa.org/info-url_nocat2379/info-url ... c_id=37464

Among others, speakers who have addressed FPA audiences in recent decades are Great Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, China's Premier Zhao Ziyang, India's Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Australia's Prime Minister Robert Hawke, the Soviet Union's Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard A. Shevardnadze, His Majesty King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho, Nicaragua's President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico, President Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina, as well as then-Governor Bill Clinton, Secretaries of State and Secretaries of Defense. Also, General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., President Jimmy Carter, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Congressman Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Donald F. McHenry, U.S. Ambassador to the UN. More on that in the Resources, at the end of this article.

It's simple. Policy makers of the US Foreign Policy Association have correctly determined that Tassos wants "to play in the big game".

Inviting him to the podium at the World Leadership Forum, is saying to him "we appreciate your understanding of how we like to play the global power game - we might consider you to become one of us". And this weakness in Tassos, who thinks he can manipulate the Beast, draws him to this insane relationship with the Empire, step by step closer to damage and destruction. Who will answer to the cries and wails of the Iraqi family whose house with all the children sleeping in it just got bombed by an automatic pilotless aircraft navigated by remote control through a complex system of electronics partly based in Cyprus? And not "just" bombed, but bombed by special invitation from our President?

The Proliferation Security Initiative
What is it, why does the President mention it so proudly and is it true ...that it violates every international law?

The Proliferation Security Initiative is among other things, an agreement between the Governments of Cyprus and the US to board ships "suspected of having ties to terrorism". What makes this agreement special is that it includes the "self- given right" to send forces to board ships in international waters where neither the US nor Cyprus have any jurisdiction according to every international law there is.

It is not a coincidence that there is widespread resistance by almost every country on earth to neutralize and to ban this type of agreement with the US. Shame on us for accepting it!

Tassos is no fool - he is a lawyer, don't forget - and he understands the simplicity of International Law. He acknowledges that he is aware of the "problematic" text in the agreements with the US, and said:
"...this agreement provides for the seizing of any ship under any flag, in order to prevent the movement of weapons of mass destruction.
"...At the same time, it should be mentioned that Cyprus is a member of the EU, it is the first member state that agreed to sign such an agreement because as you probably know there are many objections amongst other country members of the EU about granting such a right of another state to have vessels under the flag of another EU state."

All the other EU Member States so far refuse to sign an agreement like this with the US because it is illegal. How on earth does the Government of Cyprus and of the US give themselves the right to board or seize any ship on the high seas?

It is no wonder that this agreement has been called "legalized piracy". If you or I board a ship by force on international waters, it is piracy plain and simple. And the (just) punishment for piracy actually, which is imposed on the spot by people on their own defending their ships in international waters, is death.

The US Government is also aware that this is piracy, and if you care to read the official statement on it by John R. Bolton, who was then US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, and now Permanent Representative to the UN, United Nations, he admits it openly:

"The question of legitimacy also arises as the United States seeks to defend its national interests using novel methods and loose coalitions. For instance, one major new policy, the Proliferation Security Initiative (“PSI”).
"...PSI is an interdiction program.
"...we need the option of interdicting shipments to ensure this technology does not fall into the wrong hands. Properly planned and executed, interdicting critical weapons and technologies can help prevent hostile states and terrorists from acquiring these dangerous capabilities.
"...As PSI has been created, some critics have questioned its legitimacy, some actually likening it to piracy."
"Legitimacy" in International Affairs: The American Perspective in Theory and Operation
www.state.gov/t/us/rm/26143.htm

Bolton is not the only one who knows. In addition to Tassos Papadopoulos who is aware of the complications and illegalities of what he signed, the British American Security Information Council, in a document exploring the legality of the PSI in the face of International Law, states very clearly:

"In 1927, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) decided that, generally, vessels on the high seas are subject to no authority except that of the State whose flag they fly..105. Any assertion of a right to stop and search a vessel on the high seas is in conflict with this rule. If taken as an absolute principle, interdiction would be legal only when carried out by the target ship's own flag state. Most anticipated PSI operations on the high seas are likely to fail this test, since they will be undertaken by states other than the flag state. As discussed further in chapter 4, this may necessitate a change in international law."
It's all here:
Sailing Into Uncharted Waters?
The Proliferation Security Initiative and the Law of the Sea
www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/04PSI.htm
and especially Chapter 4, here:
www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/04PSI03.pdf

In fact, it's even simpler than all of that. The US Government knows that the "interdiction principles" are outside the law, and so as a part of the deal they oblige their partners in crime (the countries who sign the Agreement) to:

"Review and work to strengthen their relevant national legal authorities where necessary to accomplish these objectives, and work to strengthen when necessary relevant international law and frameworks in appropriate ways to support these commitments."
It's not Petros Evdokas claiming this but the White House itself on official documents. Right here:

The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
Proliferation Security Initiative: Statement of Interdiction Principles
www.state.gov/t/np/rls/fs/23764.htm

We used t o complain that the United States is the Mother of All State- Sponsored Terrorism. Now the US is becoming the Mother of State- Sponsored Piracy. Is there no end to the ruling class arrogant desire for world domination?

Well, there is. In the current phase, where the US Peace Movement is failing, the Iraqi resistance is filling the gap. The Afghani resistance is filling another gap. Mobilizations all over the globe are making it more and more difficult for the Empire to gain footholds.

But petty little politicians from Third World countries like ours who think they will "outsmart" the greatest killing machine in the Solar System are legion. Knock one down, another one takes their place. Petty, petty, petty.

How ridiculous can it get? A team of Cypriot Police from a "Special Interdiction Unit" on a ship in the Pacific Ocean trying to board another ship because the US Embassy says "they are operating a suspect vessel which might be a threat to US interests"? The Hawaiian liberation Movement will be right to kick their Cypriot asses, stuff seaweed in their mouths and sink them irreversibly to the transbeyond.

napalm1-cyprus.jpg
Mr. President, shame on you. Because you are not some ignorant, inexperienced politician. You know better because you are an expert at law, a Statesman, a long- term politician, and once, a long long time ago in a faraway galaxy you were also a freedom fighter. We expect better from you than to be kissing up the bottomless pit of the Imperial swine. Please have some self- respect, some respect for the people who are being butchered by US weapons now just as we were once butchered (and still our country is occupied by force of those US weapons), and please have some respect for all the people who voted for you who expected that you would act on your principles, not on the basis of a gambler's fascination with Pentagonorrea.

Petros Evdokas
petros (at) cyprus-org.net


* For more information on this aspect of our
editorial policy, please see:
english-cyprus.indymedia.org/mod/info/display/signatures

The Editorial Collective
- Cyprus IndyMedia english language branch
imc-cyprus (at) lists.indymedia.org
______________


Resources

US Council on Foreign Relations:
A ruling class institution with perhaps more influence than the Foreign Policy Association. Its members include senior government officials, members of the U.S. Congress, journalists, and corporate executives members.
www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html

They publish Foreign Affairs magazine, where the policies of the Empire are debated. Often, what we see actualized as global policy is found well in advance in the pages of one of its articles.
www.foreignaffairs.org/


More about the Foreign Policy Association (FPA)
www.fpa.org/info-url_nocat2379/info-url ... c_id=37073

Cyprus, US Sign Counterproliferation Shipboarding Agreement
www.balkan-info.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtm ... s/features

Perfect Logic - Insanity Rules
"...operations at this base also constitute one of the most important foundations of the global - and illegal - Echelon surveillance program. (For a quick evaluation of just how important the Troodos facilities are to the global Empire...):
www.burleehost.net/cyprus/Perfect_Logic.htm

[Black Cat]

From: http://english-cyprus.indymedia.org/

[lysi]

Tassos papadoupoulos has to do what the usa & britain tells him to do, he has no backbone he is gutless and will not make any progress. All he does is let the occupation carry on because he is not in charge of cyprus he is an american stooge.
All he seems to do is let the turks make money from the occupation ie letting people fly to larnaca airport then go to the north to spend there money on there holidays or to buy property built on stolen greek land, also he lets stupid greeks go to the casinos and brothels in the north to spend there pounds, why not build a casino in the free areas of cyprus ?
Why should the turks give back what they have stolen when they are making so much money out of the occupation.

[pumpernickle]

what is your political party of choice Lysi?

[Michael]

Tassos papadoupoulos has to do what the usa & britain tells him to do, he has no backbone he is gutless and will not make any progress. All he does is let the occupation carry on because he is not in charge of cyprus he is an american stooge.
All he seems to do is let the turks make money from the occupation ie letting people fly to larnaca airport then go to the north to spend there money on there holidays or to buy property built on stolen greek land, also he lets stupid greeks go to the casinos and brothels in the north to spend there pounds, why not build a casino in the free areas of cyprus ?
Why should the turks give back what they have stolen when they are making so much money out of the occupation.

I disagree Tassos is the best we got. Considering we are a divided country with a population of less than a million, he is fighting our corner well. Would you rather have those apes that would sell their mothers for a couple of acres in the occupied areas?

I do agree its time that movement across the border is stopped. As I said before, any Greek that spends a penny in the occupied area ( and I don’t mean that ) should be castrated !!

[Realist]

Why should Tassos have refused to sign, as said before we're a small island. Any needless poking of the sole superpower in the world would be suicide. I think he strikes a good balance, which is more then I can say about the politicians of DISY (openly part of the CIA) and AKEL (a bit more cautious but still on some other country's payrole).

I agree with the above statements, close the borders for goodness sake. How can we expect the world not to spend money there when we do it ourselves. Everyone's seen their homes, they've taken their pictures, all who are going now are spending money which keeps the regime going.