DELIGHTED by the recent royal birth to Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Cyprus based children’s book author, Jonathan Ayre, sent two of his books, The Tiger Who Wasn’t! and Hatty And The Hard Beans! as presents to Prince George.

The books are the ongoing adventures of a vegetarian tiger called Hatty, and Jonathan was inspired to send them because of Prince Charles’ well known passion for organic food and the environment.

“I thought my books would be great for Grandad to read to his new grandson,” Jonathan said. “But I really didn’t expect to hear back from KensingtonPalace so quickly.”

The royal envelope arrived in Jonathan’s mailbox just two weeks after he sent the young prince his books.

Inside was a warm note of thanks on behalf of the family, and a royal photo.

“We were thrilled,” said Jonathan, “Especially my own young children. After all, I wrote the books for them – and now a real prince has signed copies!”

Hatty Books Ltd, is based in Nicosia and deals with the local publishing and worldwide distribution of Jonathan’s books (website www.hattybooks.com).

A new fully-interactive book app of The Tiger Who Wasn’t! is now available on iPad and Android.

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By Patroclos

SOMEONE had some fun at poor old Patroclos’ expense last week, spreading rumours about foreclosure proceedings by the bank because of our establishment’s non-performing loans.

The only reason for last week’s closure of the Coffeeshop was that Patroclos was suffering from a non-performing brain and was advised by his personal banker to take a sanity-restoring break, cutting all links to the nut-house and avoiding any mental activity for at least a week.

It was a very enjoyable experience and gave him an insight into how many of our politicians, who suffer from the incurable version of this disease, make their decisions. It also helped him understand why people vote for AKEL.

As a word of warning, customers should be told that sufferers of a non-performing brain have no way of knowing if they have fully recovered so please show a little understanding if Patroclos displays any Akelite symptoms today.

THE MEDIA seized the chance to report a rare, feel-good, positive story last week, making a big song and dance out of Noble Energy’s plan to start running a natural gas production test at the Aphrodite-2 well.

It would take Noble a few weeks to establish the quantity and quality of the natural gas, but the drill stem test (DST), as it is known, showed that we were moving a step closer to the goal of becoming a regional energy hub.

Given the dearth of good news in the last year, media euphoria over the ‘flaring’ of the well, was inevitable. ‘Flaring’, or lighting up, the well gives clues regarding the content of the natural gas in the sea-bed. Hacks referred to this as the ‘lighting of the flame’ as if this were the Olympic Games.

AT 6.57am on Thursday, the Sigmalive website triumphantly reported that the ‘flame had lit up’. At 11.34am Phil’s web-site, Philenews also informed its visitors that the ‘flame was lit’. Natural gas champions Neoclis Sylikiotis and Yiorkos Lillikas issued joyous statements welcoming the lighting of the flame and the start of the Noble games. EDEK did the same.

By Thursday afternoon it was clear that the ‘lighting of the flame’ had not happened, with Tass News Agency reporting that it could take as long as a week for the flaring to be completed, a point confirmed by the commerce minister.

The start of the Noble games may have been postponed but the fun has already begun. Phil reported yesterday on its front page that the start of the procedure for the lighting of the flame “had whetted the appetite of the Turkish side”, with the hungry pseudo-leader Eroglu proposing joint exploitation of hydrocarbons.

BACK in the nut-house, the government’s submission of 14 bailout-related bills for approval by the legislature whetted the appetite of the political conmen of AKEL for some disgustingly cheap point-scoring.

The party of the non-performing brains decided to vote against the bills that would change the status of the co-ops, so it could pose as the defender of the kindly, but corrupt, credit institutions which helped poor farmers and workers. It even brought its sheep outside the legislature to make noises against the bills.

However its brilliantly cunning scheme, to blame the other parties for the restructuring of the co-ops, which, incidentally, comrade Tof had agreed to in the November memorandum, did not go according to plan, because the armchair warriors of EDEK also wanted a share of the glory in defending the co-ops against the evil troika. EDEK decided to voted against the two relevant bills and with the backing three independent, professional nay-sayers, they were defeated.

This meant the €1.5bn would not be released by the troika for the recapitalisation of Hellenic Bank and the co-ops which would either have to bail in depositors (the poor farmers and workers protected by AKEL) or go bankrupt.

In the end the co-ops were saved from their defenders, by the neo-liberals of DISY who changed half a dozen words in the bills and arranged a second vote, after midnight. All parties backed the two bills, which was shame because we would all have liked to have heard who AKEL would have blamed for the collapse of the co-ops.

IN GREEK, the continuous plundering of an organisation or company is referred to as ‘to megalo fagopoti’ which translates as ‘the big feast’. The megalo fagopoti was brought up on a morning radio show on which the guest was a senior ranking official co-op official. Told that co-op bosses had indulged in a big feast just like the bankers had done, he replied that their fagopoti was much smaller. “Ours was just a kebab, by comparison,” he said, with a note of regret in his voice.

So was the €10 million worth of unsecured loans granted to the family company of the head of the co-ops, Erotokritos Chlorakiotis just a kebab?

THERE will be no more kebab for the co-op bosses once the restructuring is completed. And the smile will be wiped off the human face of the co-ops with its anthropocentric ideology for good when they are brought under the supervision of the Central Bank and no longer be able to help people.

The human face of the co-ops is the reason they have capital needs of €1.5bn. Their kindly, kebab-eating bosses did not mind if customers never repaid their loans, considering it a success if they just collected some of the interest due. There were co-ops with as much as 90 per cent NPLs.

This must have been what inspired the Central Bank Governor, Professor Panicos, to say on June 28, last year: “The supervision exercised over the co-operative credit institutions by the Supervisory and Development Service of Co-operative companies is effective and secures the robustness, correct operation and development of co-ops….”

Will he carry out the same effective supervision now that the co-ops are under his authority, or will he have to follow instructions from AKEL to allow them to have a little kebab occasionally?

OUR BANKS also showed their human face in the last few years, but nobody has given them any credit for it. Laiki gave loans worth tens of millions to Vgen’s friends and associates who never bothered to meet their repayment obligations.

And the much-maligned B of C, according to a report in last Sunday’s Kathimerini, carried on giving loans worth tens of millions to developers (Aristo and Leptos), who had not made repayments on older loans of tens of millions, for years. Were the executives who took these decisions, from which the whole country is now suffering, promoting the human face of the BoC by being so kind to these developers?

THE BoC might show a human face to millionaire developers, but its poorer customers have been seeing a very nasty face. One of our establishment’s customers, struggling to make ends meet every month, went over his €800 overdraft limit by €300 a little while ago, and he has been receiving threatening letters from the bank ever since.

The latest letter was also sent to his friend that guaranteed the measly €800 overdraft, threatening him with legal action if the excess was not covered immediately. Until last year, the BoC was giving away hundreds of millions to insolvent developers, who could not make any loan repayments but it is now turning the screw on the little people that have exceeded their overdraft limit by 300 euro.

I bet it has not sent any letters threatening legal action to Leptos and Aristo.

THREE retired state officials, indulging in a megalo fagopoti at the expense of the taxpayer for years, have decided to appeal to the Supreme Court against the law that deprives them from taking multiple state pensions.

A law passed recently has deprived them of their civil service pensions, which they were receiving in addition to their state pension for holding official posts. They are Afxentis Afxentiou (former perm sec, finance minister and Central Bank Governor), Christodoulos Veniamin (former perm sec, interior minister and AKEL deputy) and Dina Akkelidou (former State Lab director, health minister and AKEL deputy).

Poor old Afxentiou is incensed because his state pension payments were cut by 50 per cent, drastically affecting his standard of living. He will now have to live on four grand a month instead of eight, a great injustice. We were paying Afxentiou a pension of 100 grand a year because as governor he helped put Cyprus on the world map as a money laundering centre.

Even more fascinating is the greed of Veniamin, who is now in his nineties and can have no use for all the money he is taking in state pensions. Why has he gone to court? Has he not taken enough of the taxpayer’s money in double and triple pensions all these years? Perhaps he wants to save some money for when he gets old.

WHOEVER said that DIKO chief Marios Garoyian is only interested in rusfeti, a share of the spoils of power and wind farms did not know what he was talking about. Marios also has a keen interest in international diplomacy.

Only the other day he prepared a proposal for resolving the Syrian crisis in a peaceful way, which he forwarded to our foreign minister, who was to present it at Friday’s informal meeting of EU foreign ministers that would have been attended by US Secretary of State. We do not know whether the meeting adopted the proposal which, according to Marios who has all the qualities needed by a world statesman, would benefit both world peace and the Cyprus republic.

SO FAREWELL Petros Clerides, who decided to resign as Attorney General a month before he was due to retire. Clerides was not the smartest AG we ever had, but he had one endearing quality – genuine modesty, which is not a very common trait among our top state officials. Winston Churchill’s remark about Labour PM Clement Atlee, seems appropriate for Clerides – “a modest man with much to be modest about.”

Staying on the issue of quotes will the old sea-wolf, who was described in yesterday’s Cyprus Weekly as “the late president Glafcos Clerides”, write to the paper to put the record straight? He could perhaps repeat Mark Twain’s response to the newspaper that reported he had passed away. “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

I AM USING quotes of famous people because after my non-performing brain incident, my personal banker told me to take it easy for a while. Here is what the country legend Willie Nelson said in support of disgraced American cyclists Lance Armstrong: “I think it is just terrible and disgusting how everyone has treated Lance Armstrong, especially after what he achieved, winning seven Tour de France races while on drugs. When I was on drugs, I couldn’t even find my bike.”

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EVERY rational person in this country knows that cheap populism, opportunism and irresponsibility were the main contributing factors that led the state to bankruptcy. Even when the red warning lights were flashing, signalling the danger of the impending economic meltdown, the Christofias government chose to ignore them, sticking to its poisonous populist values, taking the troika for a ride and thus preparing the ground for the annihilation of the economy that followed.

This populism and irresponsibility was evident again immediately after the first Eurogroup meeting when the political parties rejected the first bailout deal, thus paving the way for the second and much worse agreement the effects of which will be felt for years. Faced with the consequences of their short-sighted populism – poverty, unemployment and business closures – we would have expected politicians to mend their ways and adopt a more measured approach to things, for the sake of the country.

The farcical goings-on at the legislature on Thursday, however, showed that the politics of irresponsibility are still going strong, at least among the despicable demagogues of the Left and in particular those of AKEL, the party that led us to our current predicament. The opportunistic communists decided to vote against the government bills for the restructuring of the co-ops and for their placement under the supervision of the Central Bank so they could pose as the defenders of the co-op movement. They even organised a demonstration of a few hundred followers, protesting against the bills, outside the legislature during the session.

The opportunist communists had calculated that the rest of the parties would approve the co-op bills while they could pose as the only party resisting the diktats of the troika and defending the co-op movement. Alas, the populists of EDEK also wanted to cash in on this heroic resistance and also voted against the two bills which, with the support of three independent deputies, were defeated.

Approval of the co-op bills was a condition for the release of the second tranche of financial assistance – the €1.5bn for the re-capitalisation of the co-ops. Without the money, the co-ops would have faced the dilemma of bankruptcy or the bail in of all its depositors. This would have been the comeuppance of the populist camp, but neither the government nor DISY were prepared to let it happen, penalising depositors in order to teach the rabble-rousers of the legislature a lesson.

AKEL and EDEK should be grateful that they were let off the hook by the responsible stance of the DISY leader, who insisted on another vote, and the finance minister who came up with a face-saving solution – changing a few words in the introduction, while leaving the provisions of the bills untouched. All parties backed the ‘new’ bills, AKEL claiming that the cosmetic changes made to them was a big triumph over the government, when in fact nothing had changed. The pantomime performed by the political charlatans of AKEL – appropriately described as brainless by the Archbishop – had to continue till the bitter end, yet the truth is that if they had their way, the co-ops would not have opened again.

The government avoided making an issue out of the opposition’s brinkmanship, content that all the bills had finally been approved. This was a mistake, because people need to be constantly reminded of the scale of AKEL’s ruthlessness and dishonesty. They need to understand that this is the enemy within, ready to destroy the country if it thinks this could win a few hundred more votes. Building the strength of the party, at any cost, is the only ideology of AKEL which was perfectly illustrated in the five years of the catastrophic Christofias presidency.

There are no moral scruples when pursuing this ideology. It will try to fool people as it did on Thursday, when it tried to win political points, in the belief that the other parties would act responsibly. Its calls for an exit from the euro are based on the same line of thinking – it knows the other parties would do everything to avoid such a disastrous path, but it is happy to exploit it.

The government and the parties that have begun to acknowledge the harm caused by populism have a duty to the country to expose and openly condemn AKEL’s poisonous populism and its ruthless attempts to deceive people. Open confrontation is the only way to stop the harm AKEL is doing to the country.

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By Poly Pantelides

UNLESS THE antiquated system Cyprus inherited from its former colonial government is overhauled, the move to digitise court procedures will make little or no difference to the public, a member of the Bar Association has said.

Cabinet decided on Wednesday to invite tenders to digitise court procedures and improve the system by offering online services including the ability to file a case, submit documentation and monitor a case’s progress.

“This is a groundbreaking project aimed at helping to solve the chronic problems facing the courts, due to a large workload in handling various court cases,” deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said on Wednesday.

The justice ministry said all courts at all districts will be part of the project but the details, such as whether the public will have online access to systems, have not yet been fixed.

However, the procedural rules to which Cyprus’ courts apply date back to the 1950s and have remained more or less intact, with the island’s judicial system still following rules which were laid out almost six decades ago. The proposed changes do not tackle this aspect of the legal system.

Cyprus has been previously told, both from foreign visitors and by stakeholders who have to work with the system that it needs to modernise and speed up court procedures. One such call last year came from visiting US judge Virginia Kendall who warned authorities that a barrier to successful prosecution of human trafficking cases, for example, were delays, which could enable traffickers to bribe or threaten victims.

The courts’ digitisation project is expected to include useful changes such as tracking cases online. Lawyers will no longer need to travel to different cities to attend a hearing only to be told the hearing was postponed, and they won’t need to send to court to file a case.

A 30-year-old Nicosia-based lawyer said monitoring a case’s progress online would entail a more efficient use of her time. The lawyer – who asked to be anonymous – works at a smaller law-firm and needed to drive to and from Nicosia and Larnaca this week to file a case. The lawyer said it might take days and several trips to court between putting in a request for the file of a closed case and making copies to take back to the office. This is because for Nicosia district court, closed case files are kept in the suburb of Latsia, which a messenger visits once a day. If documents are lengthy, it could take days before a messenger makes copies. Digitising the system “won’t fix everything all of a sudden. But it will help the courts be more organised,” the lawyer said.

But the Bar Association’s Laris Vrahimis has warned that useful as digitisation might be for judges, messengers, and the registrar, they will do little to address deeper administrative problems behind procedures whose structure was laid out in 1954.

“The public’s problem is that it takes five years for a case to go through the courts,” Vrahimis said.

The whole procedure – “from filing a case to seeing it through the end” needs to change, he said. But that falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which has sole authority over the body of law that sets out the rules courts follow for civil procedures.

Cyprus’ legal system follow English practice and procedure but have been stuck on the 1954 version, laying out a process that was relevant to the colonial government of the time. Almost 60 years later, Cyprus still follows the same rules which have been subject to only minor changes.

“[Digitisation] changes need to take place on the backdrop of building better procedures,” Vrahimis said.

The Supreme Court’s former president, Petros Artemis who retired this June, said last November the justice system was in danger of collapsing if measures were not taken to reduce the time it took to process civil, criminal and administrative cases.

Even further back in 2006, a district court president described Cypriots as “trial-maniacs” turning to courts over trivial issues and minor disputes such as building permit disagreements. The current administration has said it will introduce administrative courts to alleviate the Supreme Court’s work load.

An indication of the slow pace of fundamental change is Vrahimis’ own initiative back in 2002 to set up a free legal portal providing an online inventory of Cyprus’ legislation and legal documents, including decisions from the supreme court and district courts. The state proved unable to provide the service so the Bar Association went ahead and launched CyLaw last year.

Vrahimis said efforts go back more than a decade to update the system based on the reformed civil procedure rules of the English system from the late 90s.

“Those efforts collapsed,” he said.

“The responsibility is solely with the supreme court which also carries the responsibility for the failure [to implement changes],” he said.

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A 50-year-old Larnaca man shot and critically injured a Romanian woman, 32, before taking his own life, police said on Sunday.

Christos Rossos is said to have shot the woman in the early morning hours, before shooting himself using a hunting shotgun.

Police said the woman was rushed to Nicosia general hospital in extremely critical condition.

Reports said the two had been romantically involved but she had recently broken off the relationship.

Officers were called to the scene at Oroklini’s Spyros Kyprianou Street at 2.55am.

Outside an apartment building, they found the injured woman in the driver’s seat of a car.

The 32-year-old had wounds to the chest and shoulder.

Near a second vehicle, some 10 metres away, police found Rossos dead with a wound to his chest.

“A hunting shotgun was found close to him.

The woman was initially rushed to Larnaca hospital where she received first aid and then transferred to Nicosia general due to the seriousness of her condition.

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World number one Novak Djokovic and number two Rafa Nadal set up a mouthwatering men’s singles final at the U.S. Open with victories in the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.

Monday’s U.S. Open championship showdown will be the third in four years for Djokovic and Nadal at the U.S. National Tennis Center after they advanced in contrasting fashion.

Top seed Djokovic sealed his berth first by overtaking gutsy ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in a heart-pounding 2-6 7-6(4) 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over four hours.

Nadal conserved his energy, dismissing eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-6(1) 6-2 to improve his career record to 11-0 against the Frenchman and his 2013 hardcourt record to 21-0.

The Spaniard, winner of 12 grand slam titles, won his only U.S. Open crown in 2010 against Djokovic, who claimed his Flushing Meadows title the following year against Nadal. Last year Djokovic was runnerup to Briton Andy Murray.

“Last year I didn’t have the chance to play on this court,” said Nadal, who was sidelined seven months due to a knee injury.

“To have the chance to play in the final Monday is just a dream for me. It has been two amazing weeks for me.”

TOUGH FINAL

Djokovic and Nadal are the most familiar of rivals and will be playing against each other for a tour record 37th time. Nadal leads their series 21-15.

“Novak is an amazing competitor,” said the reigning French Open champion. “His results say he is probably one of the best players I have ever seen. He’s a great champion and will be a tough final for me, but I hope to be ready for that.”

While Nadal took apart Gasquet in his semi-final, Djokovic got off to a slow start against an inspired Wawrinka and relied on his stamina to wear down the Swiss.

The tumultuous match included a warning for courtside coaching from Djokovic’s box, the mangling of a racket by a frustrated Wawrinka and a medical timeout for the Swiss for a strained thigh muscle.

It reached a crescendo at 1-1 in the fifth set on Wawrinka’s serve.

The combatants locked into a marathon duel that lasted 21 minutes and featured a series of fierce rallies and brilliant shot-making.

Wawrinka fought off five break points among 12 deuces before closing out the game on the 30th point with a service winner, and players earned warm ovations for their desire and skill.

“These matches are what we live for, what we practise for,” Djokovic said after reaching his fourth successive U.S. Open final.

“All the credit to (Wawrinka) for being so aggressive and playing so well. I’m just fortunate to play my best tennis when I needed to.”

HERCULEAN EFFORT

Djokovic said he had to regroup after that epic game.

“Twenty-one minutes. Wow,” said the Serb. “I was thinking whoever wins this game is going to win the match. I told myself I was going to have to fight again.”

The Herculean effort seemed to sap the last bit of energy from Wawrinka, who had earlier left the court for treatment of a thigh strain during the changeover when trailing 4-1 in the fourth set.

Djokovic held serve, then broke Wawrinka in the next game for a 3-2 lead and served out to win another classic encounter between the pair following their five-set struggle in the fourth round of the Australian Open, where the Serb closed out the decisive set 12-10.

“It was a great tournament for me,” said Wawrinka after his first grand slam semi-final. “Tough match, tough loss. I gave everything. I fought until the end. With this crowd, it was an amazing experience.”

Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka capped off Saturday’s programme by winning the women’s doubles title with a 6-7(4) 6-1 6-4 win over Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua.

World number one Serena Williams will take on number two Victoria Azarenka for the women’s singles title on Sunday in a tantalising rematch of last year’s championship decider.

That will follow the men’s doubles final with Austria’s Alexander Peya and Brazilian Bruno Soares facing Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and India’s Leander Paes.

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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix at a canter on Sunday to move 53 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in the Formula One championship after six victories from 12 races.

The triple champion, who celebrated his 32nd career win and third at Monza to boos from Ferrari fans, led from pole position with the possibility of rain – which never came – looking more of a threat than his rivals.

Alonso finished runner-up – 5.4 seconds behind – with Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who is leaving Formula One at the end of the season, taking third place in his final grand prix on European soil to deny Ferrari’s Felipe Massa a place on the podium.

It was Webber’s first appearance on the Monza podium.

Vettel now has 222 points to Alonso’s 169, with Lewis Hamilton – last year’s Italian GP winner who finished ninth for Mercedes at the fastest circuit on the calendar – on 141 with seven races remaining.

“Fantastic race,” said Vettel in a podium interview with former Ferrari champion John Surtees, to boos and whistles from the massed ranks of Ferrari faithful who flooded the pit straight with their red flags and shirts.

“But you can hear the difference when you don’t win here in a red suit,” added the German, who had to manage a tyre problem in his first stint and mechanical worries in the closing laps.

“We had problems with the gearboxes at the end, but I was OK because I had a good cushion and it was a fantastic win.”

Vettel took the first victory of his F1 career at Monza for Toro Rosso, an Italian team, and Sunday’s reception was far less enthusiastic with Alonso left in no doubt that he was the crowd’s hero.

“Second place is good, to have this podium ceremony which is the most spectacular podium of the year. Hopefully we’ll come back next year and have first place,” said the Spaniard, who had started in fifth place and behind Massa.

“I think we extracted the maximum from the car,” added Alonso, who has stood on the Monza podium in all of his four years with Ferrari.

The Brazilian, who was second at the end of the first lap with Alonso fourth, did his duty and let Alonso through without a fuss on lap eight once the Spaniard had passed Webber with a bold move that clipped the Red Bull’s front wing.

Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg was fifth for Sauber with compatriot Nico Rosberg sixth for Mercedes and Australian Daniel Ricciardo seventh for Toro Rosso.

France’s Romain Grosjean was eighth for Lotus, with Britain’s Jenson Button 10th to take a point for McLaren on a weekend in which the Woking team celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, who ended a 27-race streak in the points with a retirement in Belgium last month, had a first lap collision and suffered his second successive grand prix without a point after finishing 11th.

Driver and constructor standings after the Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza

Drivers Points 

1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 222
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 169
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 141
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 134
5. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 130
6. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 104
7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 79
8. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 57
9. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 48
10. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 36

Constructors Points

1. RedBull – Renault 352
2. Ferrari 248
3. Mercedes 245
4. Lotus – Renault 191
5. McLaren 66
6. Force India – Mercedes 61
7. Toro Rosso – Ferrari 31
8. Sauber – Ferrari 17
9. Williams – Renault 1
10. Marussia – Cosworth 0

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Serena Williams repeated as U.S. Open women’s champion by holding off a battling Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 in a windblown final at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.

Williams bounded in a series of joyous jumping jack leaps after Azarenka’s backhand sailed long on the second match point of a thrilling, two-hour 45-minute final that earned her a fifth U.S. Open singles title that took her total to 17 grand slams.

The big-hitting American, who turns 32 later this month, became the oldest U.S. Open women’s winner since tennis turned professional 45 years ago, eclipsing Australian Margaret Court, who was 31 years and 55 days when she won the title in 1973.

The triumph moved Williams to within one grand slam singles crown of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for a tie for fourth place on the all-time list behind Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19).

It had looked like it was going to be plain sailing for Williams after she won a difficult first set, boosted by a late break in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead and then served out a love game before racing to a 4-1 second-set lead.

Williams, who earlier looked confounded by the gusty wind that affected service tosses and the direction of bounces off groundstrokes and was muttering to herself between points, finally settled into a rhythm in the second set.

“The wind was unbelievable,” said the champion. “And it just got worse and worse and it never let up. But at this point you have to play under any circumstance.”

She claimed the 4-1 lead after Azarenka double-faulted three times in the fifth and her U.S. Open repeat looked a certainty as she begun to find her range on her imposing service game that saw her serve broken only twice in six previous matches.

But Azarenka was not ready to capitulate.

“I think it was raising from the first point, the tension, the battle, the determination,” the second seed said about the quality of the match. “It was really kind of like boiling the water. It felt from every point, it was rising the level.”

‘GREAT MATCH’

The Belarusian showed her fight and took advantage of a string of Williams errors to break right back for 4-2 and rode that momentum.

Twice Williams served for the match, at 5-4 and again at 6-5, but Azarenka rose up to break the American’s serve and force a tiebreaker.

Williams took a 3-1 lead but Azarenka won five of the next six points to seize a 6-4 advantage and sent the match to a third set when Williams belted a backhand long to lose it 8-6.

“I think I got a little uptight,” Williams said about squandering her chances. “I wasn’t playing smart tennis. (But) you have to keep fighting for everything.”

The third set stayed on serve until the fourth game when another double fault, her seventh of the match, sank Azarenka and handed Williams a 3-1 lead.

With the stadium crowd roaring their support for the home favorite, the American broke Azarenka two games later for good measure to make it 5-1 before she claimed victory when the Belarusian sent a backhand long on the second match point.

Williams blasted 36 winners in the match against 17 for Azarenka, and blasted nine aces against just two for the Belarusian, who won an impressive 10 of 15 points at the net when she stepped up the pressure on Williams.

“Victoria, you played unbelievable,” said Williams at the trophy ceremony.

“What a great match and what a great person. Vika is such a great opponent, she’s such a great fighter. It was never over until match point,” added Williams.

The top seed collected the $2.6 million top prize and pocketed an addition $1 million bonus for having won the U.S. Open run-up series of tournaments.

Azarenka said she had been beaten by the better player.

“It is a tough loss. But the best player deserves the win today. I gave it all again this year,” said Azarenka, who lost 7-5 in the third set to Williams in last year’s final.

“We gave it everything we got.”

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By Stefanos Evripidou

IF TURKEY wants to solve the Cyprus problem, as the most powerful party in the equation, it needs to launch a charm offensive on Greek Cypriots, who are currently in a completely weak position, said regional conflict analyst Hugh Pope.

In an interview with Hurriyet Daily News, the Turkey-Cyprus project director for the International Crisis Group (ICG) said Cyprus was one of the most peaceful places on earth and yet “remains a pain in everyone’s neck”.

“No one has been killed in nearly two decades. De facto, what we have is a partition. It is not recognised, Greek Cypriots remain aggrieved, Turkish Cypriots remain isolated, and Turkey remains unable to have proper relations with the EU.”

The Istanbul-based analyst argued that time was not playing into anyone’s hands. The Greek Cypriots think that as EU members they can get Brussels to force Turkey to accept their version of a peace settlement while Turks think because they are a big country everyone will force the Greek Cypriots to cave in to their demands.

“The two sides don’t understand each other. If Turkey really wants to put this problem aside, it has to change the nature of the discussion and one of the ways is to reach out to Greek Cypriot [public] opinion,” said Pope.

Commenting on the Turkish view that President Nicos Anastasiades is “dragging his feet” in launching talks by focusing on the near economic collapse of the country, Pope said he had no choice.

“But he has to. He has a shipwreck of an economy. Greek Cypriots are being pushed around by the EU.”

The ICG analyst said Anastasiades and those around him have a “much more realistic position than the public” on solving the Cyprus problem, but Turkey is showing no patience.

“Ankara has no empathy for the situation Anastasiades is in,” he said, adding of the new Greek Cypriot leadership, “These people are traumatised not just by the nationalist narrative and economic disaster, but also by the fact that there is no room in Greek Cypriot politics to take this brave mood in opposition to established public opinion.”

The only way brave steps could be taken by the Greek Cypriot leadership is if “Turkey is seen as a trusted partner by their community”.

Pope, who has been at his post since 2007, before which he served as a foreign correspondent for Wall Street Journal, described Turkey’s ruling AKP policy on Cyprus as “a terrible failure”.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to implement the additional protocol, requiring Turkey to open its ports and airports to Cyprus Republic ships and airplanes, in exchange for the start of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations.

After refusing to implement the protocol because the EU failed to open direct trade with the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey gets half of its negotiations chapters blocked over Cyprus.
“This is a terrible failure of AKP policy. With the EU policy, which is the most important relation for Turkey in the outside world – Turkey ran aground because of Cyprus,” said Pope.

Solving the Cyprus problem is not just about supporting the UN peace process, but also about winning the trust of the Greek Cypriots, he added.

“When you are the Greek Cypriots and they have no power, when you are negotiating with a huge power like Turkey, you will watch what their track record is. They watched how

Armenian negotiations crashed in flames mainly because Turkey changed its mind. That was really frightening for Greek Cypriots; they’ve got one chance to solve this and they have to trust the partner on the table.

“They are watching this Kurdish process with huge interest; is Turkey a peacemaking government, or are they just seeking an opportunity to gain some time and then start the war again. They are watching this issue as a life-and-death issue for them.”

Pope argued that if it comes to the point where Greek Cypriots are ready to “make a divorce agreement with Turkey”, they can only come to that conclusion if they trust Turkey and feel it is no longer a threat to them.

As the most powerful party in the equation, it is up to Turkey to set a good example.

“It is always the most powerful party that should set the tone. It is at the moment you are powerful that you can give concessions, when you are weak you can never give concessions, and currently Turkey is powerful and Greek Cypriots are completely weak,” said Pope.

He added: “It is time for Turkey to start a charm offensive, but the fruit will not come tomorrow or next month, but in a year or two or three.”

Asked whether Greek Cypriots gained self-confidence and a culture of compromise after joining the EU, Pope said most view the EU as a disaster right now.

Referring to the Eurogroup’s March decision on the eurozone’s first ‘bail-in’ bailout, he said: “They were not expecting this. They feel humiliated by the treatment of the Europeans,” adding, “I suspect that there is an element of punishment for the Greek Cypriots by the EU.”

The analyst said after Cyprus joined the EU, “the Greek Cypriots used every leeway over the EU to try to punish the Turks, just like the Greeks did in 1980s and the 1990s”.

While not saying anything openly, it reached a point a few years back where EU officials felt sick of Greek Cypriot actions and the way they would be representing Russian points of view.

“The Greek Cypriots tested everyone’s patience. But they did not realise they were doing it.”

The lack of support for Cyprus in Europe during the financial crisis is partly due to the way the Greek Cypriots abused their position in getting into the EU, he said.

“Basically they blackmailed their way in – they failed to respond to the very legitimate requests of Turkish Cypriots, for instance, for direct trade.”

While the EU could not do anything at the time, “it is remembered”, said Pope.

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By Eleni Messiou

Yialos in Greek means a bay, or the seashore and how fitting a name for this charming local restaurant, spectacularly facing the picturesque bay at Pissouri.
The first thing that strikes you as you walk up the staircase and onto the airy first floor veranda facing the sea, is how unpretentious the place is. The furnishings are traditional and the veranda is softly lit at night with small lanterns. The nostalgic 1940’s Greek music playing in the background creates the perfect backdrop for a relaxing, enjoyable evening.

Yialos really is a traditional Cyprus taverna and has not gone to any lengths to present itself as something more than this. The menu offers a wide range of dishes that take advantage of locally sourced, fresh ingredients ranging from fish, a full range of meats, pulses and vegetables and a refreshing range of seasonal fruits. The restaurant even sports its own vegetable patch that produces many of the vegetables and fruit on offer.

The traditional values of hospitality and good quality honest food, are immediately apparent when you meet owners Demetris and Aristos. They’ve been working the restaurant since 1987 and their pride and energy on the job is undiminished. They could be seen rushing up and down between kitchen and clients, always available and willing to assist and converse with the clientele. We loved that feeling of the social, relaxed service and by this time the wonderful smells coming out from the kitchen had worked on the appetite.

Simple things well done are almost always what people enjoy most. The home made dips of tarama and tahini accompanied by char grilled village bread were almost divine and really fronted what turned out to be a wonderful meal of excellently executed local dishes that included fried and grilled fish, prawn saganaki, mouth watering kleftiko, tavas and a range of other dishes that kept coming. The chips that were hand cut and freshly fried to a golden crisp – always a sign of a diligent and proud restaurant owner. The salad was made from freshly picked tomatoes and cucumbers from the owners’ nearby veg patch.

If you are not in the mood for a meze the menu features a decent variety of hot and cold starters ranging from €5-8, a large variety of fresh fish such as red mullet, snapper, sardines, squid and octopus (€9-€15), Cyprus specialties such as tavas, mousaka and dolmades (€10-12) and a variety of grilled meats (€9-13). To our pleasant surprise the menu even hosted a decent vegetarian section as well as children’s choices.

Yialos really is a pearl well worth making the effort to visit. The menu held no real surprises but almost everything we tried tasted great. Add to this the friendly and welcoming attitude of the staff, the airy location, the sound of the sea and you have a great prospect for a wonderful lunch or dinner.

The restaurant is open both for lunch and dinner from 10am until late in the night. Off-season pricing is already in place to offer more value to what was already great value for money.
Tip: Call ahead of time and book table number 12 at the edge of the veranda, you will probably not want to get up for quite a few hours. Should you have a few too many to drink, there are also some apartments for rent right below the restaurant.

VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALTY Local cuisine
WHERE Yialos Restaurant, Ithakis 1,Pissouri
CONTACT 25 221747, 99 467117, 99 473141, yialostavern@hotmail.com

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By Stefanos Evripidou

CYPRUS CANNOT afford another failure in efforts to solve the decades-old division of the island, said President Nicos Anastasiades yesterday.

Speaking at the Presidential Palace during a ceremony to receive the credentials of a number of new ambassadors to the island, Anastasiades said a Cyprus solution remains the government’s first priority.

“We are ready to examine inventive ways to carry the process forward to ultimately achieve the re-unification of our country. The recent appointment by the government of Cyprus of a negotiator of the Greek Cypriot community illustrates our approach towards carefully preparing the ground for result-orientated negotiations and highlights our efforts to reach at last a settlement, the reunification of our country and a common European future for all our citizens,” he said.

“We cannot afford another failure,” he said, adding that the substantive involvement of the EU in the new round of peace talks was desirable.

The negotiations must be “properly and thoroughly prepared” if they are to bear fruit, he said.

A solution must come through the UN process and be based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and on the values and principles of the EU.

The settlement must serve, above all, the legitimate interests of the Cypriot people as a whole and not that of any third country, he added.

UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer was due to arrive on the island yesterday to hold a series of meetings with the leaders of the two communities and their respective appointed negotiators.

Downer was scheduled to hold separate meetings with Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Osman Ertug yesterday.

Sources told the Cyprus Mail that Downer will host a dinner for both negotiators today while tomorrow the Australian will meet separately with Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

The UN special adviser will be keen to sound out the two sides on how they want to go about starting a new round of peace talks- both in terms of procedure and substance- after Eroglu cut short the previous round last year with former president Demetris Christofias in protest at Cyprus taking over the helm of the EU presidency.

A key issue will be how the two sides interpret the document of convergences and divergences recorded between 2008 and 2012 that Downer gave to both sides.

The talks are expected to start around mid-October.

Meanwhile, the new coalition ‘government’ in the north between the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and the Democratic Party (DP) announced their positions on the Cyprus problem last Friday in a manifesto.

According to the manifesto, the new coalition will follow a proactive policy aimed at making the voice of Turkish Cypriots heard in the world and “their just demands and expectations correctly understood by the international community”.

The new partnership will work in close consultation with Turkey on peace talks and follow “an active policy in the direction of reaching a federal agreement which includes the equal sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriot people, their political equality and the continuation of the guarantees”.

In the event that peace talks fail, the new ‘government’ will mobilise all possibilities for the Turkish Cypriots to be united with the world, said the manifesto.

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE GOVERNMENT was at pains yesterday to stress the role of Cyprus as a centre of “stability and peace” in the region, following media reports of British, Turkish and Syrian war planes flying over Cyprus.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides and Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou both tried to play down fears whipped up in the media over fighter jet movement over the island, highlighting that Cyprus is a safe destination and a centre of stability and peace, particularly during peak summer tourism months.

The Daily Mail wrote on Sunday that two RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled from Britain’s RAF Akrotiri air base in Cyprus last week to urgently investigate Syrian planes that had crossed into international airspace.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that unidentified planes legally crossed into Cypriot skies from the east of the country last Monday, triggering the rapid response of the British military jets.

The unidentified planes were believed to have been Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24s, a heavily-armed fighter bomber that can reach Cyprus from Syria in just 15 minutes, said the Daily Mail.

A spokesman for the UK MoD said the unidentified aircraft were flying legally in international airspace and no intercept was required.

However, the behaviour of the aircraft allegedly led Turkey to scramble two F-16 jets from their base in Incirlik, Turkey, to support the investigation.

The Sunday Express wrote that Syria sent jets to taunt Cyprus, quoting an RAF source saying: “It seems that this incident may have been a case of a goad-and-probe sortie by a Syrian air force acting more brazenly than ever after recent inaction by the West.”

While Britain’s House of Commons ruled out any military action by its armed forces, the UK is still involved in “non-kinetic” operations, focused on electronic counter measures, monitoring Syrian air force movements and communication intercepts gathered at the British ‘Pluto’ signals base on Mount Olympus in Troodos, wrote the Sunday Express.
Meanwhile, local daily Phileleftheros yesterday reported that a French frigate was seen anchored southeast of Larnaca. It also claimed that French and American planes were using Akrotiri airbase.

According to the Daily Mail, Akrotiri, one of Britain’s largest overseas bases, is home to more than 1,300 personnel, and was used in the air campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya in 2011.

In a written statement, Stylianides reiterated yesterday that “Cyprus is a safe destination”.

“It is a centre of stability in the region with an important and active role in the field of providing humanitarian assistance and facilities to foreign citizens, who seek a safe shelter in cases of crises in our region.”

The country has proved in the past that it can play a stabilising and humanitarian role in the region of the southeastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, he added.

The spokesman clarified that any assistance Cyprus gives will be clearly limited to humanitarian efforts, adding that it has been given assurances that “under no circumstances will it constitute a base of military operations or a target of attacks”.

Responding to questions on the issue, Fotiou echoed similar sentiments, saying: “We are taking all the necessary measures.”

“Currently we are focusing on the humanitarian aspect of the whole issue, with a view to help and provide facilities to citizens of foreign countries who wish to use Cyprus” in the event they flee from Lebanon or Syria in the near future.

“If Cyprus was not a safe destination then it would not be chosen by all the countries which have asked for facilities to evacuate their citizens,” said Fotiou.

The minister noted that Cyprus is still in its peak tourist season, and called on people not to panic over foreign press reports.

Gathering outside the US embassy in Nicosia, the Cyprus peace council and opposition party AKEL and its youth movement, EDON, on Monday night protested against plans for US military strikes on Syria.

Protesters, carrying ‘Hands off Syria’ signs and chanting anti-war slogans, lit up candles to form the peace symbol.

Representatives of the protesters handed out a document to an embassy representative, in which they asked “for the people of Syria to solve themselves the issue of democratising their country” and to stop direct or indirect interventions in the country.

They also asked the US to stop using Cyprus as a base of operation for its wars, and respect Cypriots’ wish for peace.

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EFFORTS TO explore and exploit hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean has opened up new opportunities for further enhancing strategic relations between Egypt and Cyprus, said President Nicos Anastasiades yesterday.

Speaking at the Presidential Palace where he received the credentials of new Egyptian ambassador Heba Salaheldin Elmarassi, Anastasiades said: “The strengthening of our bilateral relations in energy matters, with particular emphasis in the field of hydrocarbons, will have positive effects in terms of ensuring the economic development and prosperity of the peoples of both countries, thus fostering peace and security in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

He added that cooperation in the field of hydrocarbons could also serve as a catalyst for broader cooperation on a regional level.

Regarding the current political turmoil in Egypt, Anastasiades expressed his belief that the Egyptian people will successfully embark on a transition towards a fully-fledged democracy, abiding by the rule of law, respect of pluralism and the rights of all.

“Our sensitive and conflict-fraught region is in need of Egypt fully assuming its pivotal role in the Arab world and actively contributing to efforts towards achieving peace and security in the Middle East,” said the president.

For her part, the Egyptian ambassador said: “We shall never forget the support and solidarity of the government and people of Cyprus for the legitimate demands of Egyptians for freedom, dignity and social justice.”

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By Elias Hazou

AN OFFSHORE natural gas production test at the Aphrodite-2 well should get back on track by midweek, a senior official said yesterday.

Charles Ellinas, chairman of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company, said that crews aboard a drilling platform – anchored in Cypriot waters south of the island – were working to repair a glitch which has temporarily stalled the production test.

The drill stem test, as it is known, had been scheduled to start last Thursday but was put on hold due to a mechanical malfunction.

Noble is reportedly reviewing its options: either to repair the technical problem or replace the spare part that failed to operate. The US company has the spare part on hand if necessary.

Noting that such glitches are not out of the ordinary, Ellinas told the Cyprus News Agency he has received assurances from Noble Energy – operators of the offshore gas prospect – that the production test would be up and running by the middle of this week.

A drill stem test (DST) is a procedure for isolating and testing the pressure, permeability and productive capacity of a geological formation during the drilling of a well. The test is an important measurement of pressure behaviour at the drill stem and is a valuable way of obtaining information on the formation fluid and establishing whether a well has found a commercial hydrocarbon reservoir.

As part of the DST, a flame was expected to be ignited at the rig, a process known as ‘flaring’. Flaring gives clues as to the content of the natural gas in the bedrock.

It’s understood the faulty equipment is a valve on the drill column, or pipe, that transmits drilling fluid to the drill bit. The column is now being retracted (from a depth of about 5.7km) to replace or repair the valve. The repairs are necessary to stabilise the pressure before fluids can be pumped to the surface. Once that is done, the next phase is flaring.

Once flaring gets underway, it’s set to last about a week. Gas samples will then be sent to Noble’s labs in Houston for analysis, and preliminary findings on the hydrocarbon content should be out two to three weeks later. Calculations on the quantity of the gas – gleaned from data on fluid pressure and flow – take longer.

The production test at the A-2 well is part of appraisal drilling in the Block 12 concession. The field has a gross mean average of 7 trillion cubic feet (200 billion cubic metres) of natural gas with an estimated gross resource range of 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet.

Officials have said that proved reserves of 6tcf would be necessary to monetise the prospect.

Over the past couple of weeks certain media outlets have been rife with speculation that the quantities of gas within Block 12 are substantially lower than initial estimates.

Citing its sources, Kathimerini claimed on Sunday that the prospect is now thought to hold anywhere from 3.5 to 5 tcf.

Last week energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said the government would be making its plans depending on the quantity of gas discovered.

“We are ready for all scenarios,” Lakkotrypis said at the time, though he did hasten to add that a “disappointing scenario” was not possible.

The minister’s somewhat evasive comment fed into the conjecture over the quantity of gas, with the paper hinting that Lakkotrypis was trying to cover all the bases – just in case.

Sources tell the Mail, however, that the guesswork is unfounded. They said moreover that Noble has been trying to trace the source of the rumours.

The same sources – who wished to remain anonymous – said the speculation likely grew out of statements on the possible need for a second appraisal well at the prospect.

But additional appraisal wells are not carried out because initial assessments may be unsatisfactory; they can likewise be carried out if results exceed expectations.

The sources cited the example of Israel’s Leviathan field, where Noble – having revised upward its reserve estimates from an initial appraisal well – went on to carry out more appraisal drilling.

“Bottom line: you could find more gas and still go for a second appraisal,” said the sources, adding that the purpose of appraisal work is to narrow the gap of the estimates.

And given that the Cyprus prospect covers approximately 40 square miles and the morphology of the bedrock needs to be analysed, a second appraisal well would not be unusual, the sources pointed out.

They also drew attention to the fact that months ago – well before the start of the appraisal drilling- Noble chairman and CEO Charles Davidson told a conference there was approximately a 30 per cent chance for a second appraisal well.

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CYPRUS is vulnerable to “major restructurings” of its debt over the coming years, Moody’s Investors’ Service has said.

Financial news portal Stockwatch reported last night that Moody’s had issued a note which continued projecting Cyprus’ debt to peak at about 140 per cent in 2016, an estimate higher than that of its bailout programme.

“…Cyprus’ very substantial economic and financial challenges threaten public finances sustainability and may necessitate further debt restructurings”, Moody’s was quoted as saying.
Moody’s said the island’s economy would continue to contract with the recession continuing for another two years. It also said they had a “limited expectation” of offshore gas fields contributing to growth.

Moody’s said Russia’s agreement to restructure its €2.5 billion loan to Cyprus saved the government some €160 million, an estimated reduction in interest expenses of less than 1.0 per cent of the country’s 2012 GDP over 2013-16.

“Cyprus’ Liquidity Benefits from Russian Loan Restructuring, but Re-Default Remains Probable”, Moody’s said.

“The Russian government’s loan restructuring agreement moves Cyprus closer to meeting the burden-sharing measures mandated in the adjustment programme underlying the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (i.e., the Troika) bailout,” Moody’s said.

Russia agreed in late August to reduce the interest rate to the loan, made in late 2011, from 4.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent until 2016, and to reschedule repayment from 2016 to eight semi-annual instalments of the same size from 2016.

The decision reduces Cyprus’ financing needs in 2016, reducing the risk of a liquidity shortage immediately after the troika programme ends.

But Moody’s added that troika’s adjustment programme originally assumed repayments of the Russian loan would take place later, during 2018-2022, a more favourable schedule than the one agreed on.

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By Gwynne Dyer

THE psychodrama in Washington grows ever more bizarre. John Kerry, the Secretary of State, hyperventilates about the disasters that will ensue if the United States does not bomb Syria – but President Barack Obama, having said last year that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” that Syria must not cross, persistently sabotages Kerry’s case by giving voice to his own sober second thoughts.

According to Kerry, the decision that now faces the US Congress is about “Hezbollah, and North Korea, and every other terrorist group that might ever again contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction….They want to see whether the United States and our friends mean what we say. It matters deeply to the credibility and the future of the United States and our allies.” But Kerry’s boss is not sure.

Having gone right to the brink of action, Obama suddenly handed the decision to attack over to Congress. As the Hamlet of the Potomac confessed: “I could not honestly claim that the threat posed by (Syria’s President Bashar) al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons on innocent civilians posed an imminent direct threat to the United States.”

Well, of course not. The use of poison gas in a Middle Eastern civil war does not mean that North Korea or anybody else is going to use it on Americans. And how do you deter terrorist groups from using poison gas (if they have any) by bombing Syria? They don’t even have any territory that could be bombed.

Obama has devoted a lot of effort to curbing the threat of nuclear weapons, and rightly so. He is wrong to see poison gas as a comparable threat: it is horrible and illegal, but it really isn’t a “weapon of mass destruction” in the same sense at all. On no occasion have chemical weapons killed as many people as an average night’s bombing of a German or Japanese city in 1944-45.

Obama should never have staked his presidency on the success of a punitive attack on the Syrian regime. He cannot now repudiate that threat, but he seems intermittently aware that it was a grave mistake. So from time to time he tries to derail the process that he himself has set into motion.

The cost of getting this wrong is not just some local excitements in the Middle East, like Syria’s ally Hezbollah launching missiles at Israel in retaliation for US strikes on Syrian territory. It is the risk of a US-Russian military confrontation, and there is nothing at stake here that justifies that.

Russian objections to Obama’s plan for unilateral military intervention in Syria are routinely dismissed in Washington. Moscow is just trying to protect its only major ally in the Arab world, goes the US argument. It is cynically denying the clear evidence that it was Assad’s regime, not rebel forces trying to trigger an American attack on Assad, that used chemical weapons in the Damascus suburbs last month.

But in fact there is no clear proof of that, and simply asserting that it is true doesn’t make it so. Moreover, the Russians are genuinely alarmed that the US is planning once again to ignore international law in order to pursue its own goals, and they will respond if it goes ahead.

As the weaker power, Russia takes the United Nations ban on aggressive war more seriously than the United States. “The use of force against a sovereign state is only (permissible) if it is done for self-defence…or under a decision made by the UN Security Council,” said President Vladimir Putin last week, and “those who act otherwise put themselves outside the law.”

So when Putin says that “we have our plans” for what to do if the US attacks Syria, it would be wise to take him seriously. Those plans almost certainly involve supplying the Syrian regime with S-300 anti-aircraft systems that can shoot down the Tomahawk cruise missiles with which Washington plans to strike Syrian targets.

Russia announced on 4 September that it has suspended the delivery of S-300 missiles that Syria had ordered several years ago, and that no complete systems were yet in the country. But Syrian crews have already been trained on the system in Russia, and the weapons could be up and running quite fast if Moscow changes its mind.

“If we see that steps are taken that violate the existing international norms,” said Putin, “we shall think how we should act in the future, in particular regarding supplies of such sensitive weapons to certain regions of the world.” So if the Tomahawk missiles fly, the United States may find S-300 missiles taking them down.

Then, in order to suppress Syria’s air defences, the US will have to commit manned aircraft to Syrian airspace, and some of them will get shot down by recently supplied Russian missiles – and we will be setting precedents far more dangerous and long-lasting than some local use of poison gas in a country torn by civil war.

This game is not worth the candle.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries

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THE UNITED STATES has given President Bashar al-Assad one week to hand over his stock of chemical weapons. Failure to comply would lead to military attack, said secretary of state John Kerry yesterday, stressing the US administration’s intention to punish the Assad regime for the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war. This is assuming the approval of Congress and the Senate is secured by the Obama administration.

Kerry, who admitted he did not expect the Assad regime to hand over its chemical weapons stock, explained what form the US attack would take. He said: “We will be able to hold Bashar al-Assad accountable without engaging troops on the ground or any other prolonged kind of effort in a very limited, very-targeted, short-term effort that degrades his capacity to deliver chemical weapons without assuming responsibility for Syria’s civil war. That is exactly what we are talking about doing – unbelievably small, limited kind of effort.”

In short, America would respond to the use of chemical weapons with some wrist-slapping, which raises another question – what does it hope to achieve by an “unbelievably small” strike? According to Kerry, if no action was taken when chemical weapons were used, “you are giving people complete licence to do whatever they want and to feel they can do so with impunity.” If the Assad regime carried on killing its enemies with conventional means, the US would not consider taking action.

The truth is that President Obama is obliged to take action because he put his credibility on the line when he said that the use of chemical weapons was a red line for the US and threatened consequences. He cannot now turn a blind eye to their deployment, even if the consequences he had threatened failed to achieve anything in Syria. The last thing the US would want would be to weaken the Ba’athist regime to such a degree that the rebel groups, some with close links to al-Qa’eda, would take over.

In contrast to Libya, regime change cannot be an objective in Syria, because nobody would want jihadi rebels controlling the country’s chemical weapons stock. This explains why Kerry spoke of an “unbelievably small” attack as it would protect Obama’s credibility, without, presumably, administering a weakening blow to the Assad regime. The US would just be making a gesture, to show that Obama’s warning was no idle threat.

However, all this talk may be academic if Congress, which is divided on the matter, decided to vote against an attack. This could turn out to be a face-saving way out for the president.

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By Bejay Browne

NEIGHBOURHOOD watch patrols will take to the streets of Peyia in Paphos today in a bid to prevent an increasing number of burglaries.

According to Peyia community policeman, Spyros Pentaras, after a quiet summer, there has been an increase in the number of break-ins in the area. “We (the police) are working together with Peyia Neighbourhood Watch – PNW – to prevent an escalation in house burglaries. Prevention is always better than acting after the crime,” he said.

Pentaras said PNW input was especially valuable at the moment due to a shortage of police officers “The neighbourhood watch took the decision to start patrols as it seems criminals previously ‘working’ other areas have now moved into the Peyia district,” he added.

According to Pentaras, Peyia went through a quiet period of several months during the summer, but now thieves are again active in the area, targeting residential and holiday villas and apartments.

Colm Connolly, spokesman for PNW said: “Over the last five or six weeks the numbers of break-ins has increased.” It is now at least two or three a week, he said.
“People are feeling anxious as a lot of these crimes area taking place when the homes are actually occupied,” he said.

Last week Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said police were launching a concerted two-month war on all forms of crime, both organised and non-organised. He said the public needed to feel safe again.

Nicolaou said information needed to be gathered faster and action plans developed more quickly.

Keith Allen, Chairman of PNW said: “This is the kind of information gathering that our patrols achieved in the past and which we hope to repeat. Our members won’t confront people acting suspiciously but will immediately pass on information to the police.”

Andy Vick, the scheme’s vice-chairman is a former member of the London Metropolitan Police, and he has undertaken the organisation of the street patrols. “With 650 households looking out for anything suspicious throughout the municipality, it will help to piece together a jigsaw of vital information for the police to use.”

A team of volunteers using double-cabin vehicles will monitor any suspicious activity. “In my experience, information and intelligence gathering, in addition to a police presence, is an essential weapon in combating crime.”

Peyia Neighbourhood Watch was the first such scheme to be initiated on the island almost three years ago. For administrative purposes, it is divided into 15 sectors, each with a coordinator and a deputy who liaise with householders about their security concerns and needs.

Allen said they had an excellent working relationship with the local police with whom they exchange information on an almost daily basis. “Together, we are determined to drive the burglars out of Peyia,” he said.

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THE attorney-general has suspended the prosecution of former Central Bank governor Athanasios Orphanides who was one of the defendants in a private criminal prosecution against members of the former Laiki bank brass in connection with the alleged mis-selling of bank securities.

The attorney-general, who has the authority to suspend all criminal prosecutions on the island, informed the court in writing of his decision.

The reasons behind his decision were not made explicit in reports, but the lawyers of former Laiki chairman Andreas Vgenopoulos and former Laiki CEO Efhtimios Bouloutas asked for time to appeal.

Clerides’ decision was announced during a hearing at the Paphos district court yesterday of a case filed by a resident of Polis Chrysochous claiming he was duped by Laiki bank into buying high risk, high-yield bonds.

Vgenopoulos and Bouloutas failed to show up and have not yet entered a plea.

Their lawyers asked the court to postpone the hearing to ascertain whether the way their clients were served the charge sheet had been lawful, but also to be given time to request from the attorney-general to suspend prosecution of their clients.

The court set a new hearing for October 30.

Also facing charges are Laiki (Popular) bank as a legal entity; former Laiki executives, Neoclis Lyssandrou, Christos Stylianides, Panayiotis Kounnis; and Kalia Efstathiou who used to work at a Laiki branch in Paphos. All four have pleaded not guilty.

Cyprus was forced to shut down Laiki as part of an international bailout agreement.

A number of bondholders in the island’s major banks claim they were duped into investing high-yield bonds without being informed of the risks.

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Where do you live?

I’ve been leaving here in Nicosia for the last 17 years.

Best childhood memory?

I am not a positive man in general and that’s why I tend to be hardly ever satisfied even when it comes to good memories…
Nonetheless one of my best childhood memories is when I was a five year old boy and I was living in a really small village called Mesonisi (a bit outside the Greek town of Florina). I will never forget the long walks from my family’s rural house to the graphic elementary school I had to go to. The fields, the scent of the fruits from the trees, the games other children took part in were my daily moments of happiness and carefreeness. Oh!

Most frequented restaurant and absolute favourite dish?
I usually love small traditional Greek taverns with a character of their own, in the Greek islands. Over the last few years I’ve been regularly visiting close friends in the small island of Lefkada. Whereas in Cyprus I still have a preference for taverns with traditional food but also I adore good Italian restaurants because I generally “venerate” the Italian culture etc. My favourite dish is traditional Greek cuisine but I love my mum’s homemade empty-peppers with rice and minced meat filling. I also go crazy for any type of Oriental sweets such as Baklava etc.

What food would you really turn your nose up to?
I would never turn my nose up to any food…because I am a food lover.

What did you have for breakfast?
A cup of tea, two slices of whole-wheat bread with some low-fat butter.

Would you class yourself as a day or night person? What’s your idea of the perfect night/day out?
Night person. My ideal night out would be in a good, quiet, elegant-chic restaurant with close friends or dear persons.

Best book ever read?
In my childhood and teenage years my absolute favourite books were Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Resurrection by Tolstoy. But in the last few years the best book I’ve read is of a famous French Mathematician explaining the contemporary scientific way of the methodology used for teaching math…but I really do not recall the author’s name or the title of the book.

Favourite film of all time?
Cyrano de Bergerac with famous French actor Gerard Depardieu, for two main reasons. Firstly because is a touching and ‘tender’ story and secondly because there are continuous poetic dialogues and lines-even when they duel and fence. Haha. Other films that I really enjoyed are all the versions made of the The Three Musketeers and Asterix and Obelix movies.

Favorite holiday destination? What’s your dream trip?
Hawaii. It was a trip I had some years ago for a conference but as I tend to combine work as well as some days for holidays in order to visit new places. My dream trip would be once again to go to Hawaii or to spend some quality time in the Greek islands.

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
As aforementioned I am a bit pessimistic and melancholic so I generally listen to old Greek traditional music. My favourite old-school Greek singer is Sotiria Mpellou and one of my favorite songs of her is Like an object I wonder around.

What is always in your fridge?
Fruits. Wine. Beer and MILK!

Dream house: rural retreat or urban dwelling? Where would it be, what would it be like?
Definitely rural retreat! I adore listening to the sounds of nature either from the sea or from the mountains. My dream house would be on a small Greek island or in Sicily, where I could read my books on the balcony and listen to all of those sounds.

If the world is ending in 24 hours what would you do?
I enjoy “solving” other people’s personal problems but especially my family members’ issues. So I guess for the world’s last 24 hours I would just try to solve all the personal issues of all of my relatives.

What is your greatest fear?
I am very stressful and anxious person so my biggest fear is that something bad could happen to any member of my family.

Tell me a joke…
Even though I usually have a really good memory, I do not have a good one in remembering jokes. I do recall though a funny personal story.
About 30 years ago I was with two of my closest friends in Mykonos for holidays. It was a very hot day so after I left the beach (alone) I went and sat on the riverside of a small stream. I was so thirsty from the extremely hot weather that I started drinking the water… but soon enough I realised that a sign next to me referred to the water as polluted and non-drinkable. In the meantime my two friends (worried about where I was) came to join me in actually drinking the water. I had already read the sign but nonetheless I let them drink without saying a word. As you can imagine as soon as they were done with the drinking I showed them the sign “Warning: Polluted water”. You can imagine what happened next…Hahaha

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