By Adrian Croft and Kylie MacLellan

NATO demanded on Thursday that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine as US President Barack Obama and his Western allies vowed to support Kiev and buttress their own defences against Russia in the biggest strategic shift since the Cold War.

NATO leaders made clear at a summit in Wales that their military alliance would not use force to defend Ukraine, which is not a member, but planned tougher economic sanctions to try to change Russian behaviour in the former Soviet republic.

The two-day meeting was marked by the most serious east-west standoff since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, as well as alarm at territorial gains by Islamist insurgents in Iraq and Syria.

Western officials voiced deep caution about Kremlin talk of an imminent ceasefire in a five-month-old armed revolt by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, timed just as NATO was meeting and the European Union was preparing new sanctions.

Previous such statements had proved to be “smokescreens for continued destabilisation of Ukraine”, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after the 28 leaders met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

“We call on Russia to end its illegal and self-declared annexation of Crimea,” Rasmussen declared. “We call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine and stop the flow of arms, fighters and funds to the separatists. We call on Russia to step back from confrontation and take the path of peace.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the West was prepared to lend weight to those demands with further sanctions but also to talk to Moscow about a political solution.

Poroshenko, whose forces have suffered a string of setbacks in the last week, told reporters he would order a ceasefire on Friday if an agreement on a peace plan to end the war in eastern Ukraine is signed at talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk.

“The only thing we need now for peace and stability is just two main things: first, that Russia withdraw their troops, and second, to close the border,” the Ukrainian leader said, adding he was cautiously optimistic about Friday’s peace talks.

A NATO military officer said Moscow had “several thousand” combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles operating in Ukraine. The Kremlin denies it has any forces fighting alongside the rebels.

The White House said Obama and leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy agreed on the sidelines of the summit that Russia should face “increased costs” for its actions.

French President Francois Hollande said tougher EU sanctions, due to be adopted on Friday, would depend on events in the coming hours. Diplomats said there was little chance of them being derailed, even if a ceasefire were signed.

The NATO leaders also discussed how to tackle Islamic State militants who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria, posing a new security threat on the alliance’s southeastern flank, and how to stabilise Afghanistan when NATO’s combat mission there expires at the end of the year.

Poroshenko’s forces were battling to cling to the key port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, which is vital to Ukrainian steel exports. Explosions were heard close to the city, halfway between Crimea and Russia.

The Ukrainian leader sought arms and training for his armed forces from Western partners as well as political support against Russian President Vladimir Putin. He hinted that several NATO countries had agreed to provide lethal or non-lethal military equipment but gave no details.

RUSSIA WARNS

Poroshenko avoided public talk of reviving Ukraine’s bid to join NATO which had reopened a rift among the allies. Obama said in Estonia on Wednesday that the door to membership would remain open to states that meet NATO standards and “can make meaningful contributions to allied security”, but France and Germany remain opposed to admitting Kiev, fearing it would exacerbate tension with Moscow and could suck them into a war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined Moscow’s opposition to Ukraine joining NATO, warning that attempts to end the country’s non-aligned status could harm security. He accused the United States of supporting “the party of war” in Kiev.

After a week of defiant statements from Putin, Lavrov said Russia was ready for practical steps to de-escalate the crisis and urged Kiev and the rebels to heed ceasefire proposals put forward by Moscow on Wednesday.

As more than a decade of inconclusive NATO-led combat operations in Afghanistan draws to a close, marked by a solemn ceremony at the summit on Thursday, the alliance is refocusing in part on its core task of defending its territory.

Leaders will announce the creation of a “spearhead” rapid reaction force on Friday, potentially involving some 4,000 troops, that could be sent to a hotspot in as little as two days, officials say.

Eastern European NATO members, including Poland, wanted NATO to station thousands of troops permanently on their territory to deter any possible Russian attack.

But NATO members have spurned that idea, partly because of the expense and partly because they do not want to break a 1997 agreement with Russia under which NATO committed not to base significant combat forces in the east.

Instead, leaders will agree to pre-position equipment, fuel and ammunition in eastern European countries with bases ready to receive the NATO rapid reaction force if needed.

The Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the only parts of the former Soviet Union to be admitted to NATO, fear Moscow could meddle in their affairs with the same rationale it applied in Ukraine – protecting Russians. All three have significant Russian minorities.

So far, Western military support for Ukraine has been mostly symbolic. NATO leaders approved a package of support for Kiev, pledging trust funds worth some 15 million euros ($19.4 million) to improve Ukrainian military capabilities in logistics, command and control and cyber defence.

A dozen countries will join an exercise in Lviv, Ukraine, later this month, co-hosted by Ukraine and the U.S. Army.

RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP

NATO suspended security cooperation with Russia in March after the annexation of Crimea but the leaders stopped short of severing frozen political ties in hopes of a future thaw.

France, which has faced fierce pressure from Washington and other NATO allies to halt the sale of two helicopter carriers to Russia, said on Wednesday it would not for now deliver the first of the warships due to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Hollande said the deal was not cancelled or suspended, but a ceasefire and a political settlement were necessary for delivery.

What NATO leaders will agree to do to help Iraq combat Islamic State militants is less clear. Rasmussen said the allies would consider seriously any request from Iraq for assistance in dealing with the growing insurgency by Sunni fighters.

The alliance as a whole is highly unlikely to follow the U.S. lead in staging military strikes on Islamic State, NATO diplomats say, though individual allies such as France and Britain might do so. NATO could revive a mission to help train the Iraqi armed forces that it halted in 2011, diplomats say.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday stressed  the importance of reaching a lasting settlement in Cyprus at a time of great turmoil in the region.

He also said that the solution of the Cyprus problem was a strategic priority for the UN.

In a written statement issued after a meeting with his newly appointed Special Adviser for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide, Ban said that at a time of great turmoil in the region, it was “more important than ever” to reach a lasting settlement in Cyprus for the benefit of all Cypriots.  Eide is due in Cyprus on Friday.

“The long-overdue solution to the Cyprus problem constitutes a strategic priority for the United Nations and the international community,” he said.

Ban said he hoped that the important gains achieved to date would be preserved “as the sides move decisively towards structured and results-oriented negotiations, as called for in the [Joint] Declaration”.

According to the statement, Eide’s appointment illustrated the United Nations determination to continue supporting the parties to arrive at concrete results in the coming phase of the negotiations.

Ban noted that Eide was assuming his functions at a promising moment in the Cyprus peace process, and expressed his expectation that, as the leaders prepare to enter the next phase, “they will show renewed dedication and courage to build on the principles outlined in the Joint Declaration”.

By Nick Mulvenney

The headlines have focused on Bryan Habana’s 100th test and a new Wallabies halfback partnership but it is in the maelstrom of the forward battle that Saturday’s clash between Australia and South Africa is likely to be decided.

The Springboks go into the match at Perth’s Subiaco Oval leading the Rugby Championship after two narrow victories over Argentina, while Australia remain winless after a draw and a 51-20 pummeling at the hands of the All Blacks.

McKenzie responded to the humiliation at Eden Park by reshuffling his backline but the six-two split in favour of the forwards on his replacements bench is perhaps a better indication of the sort of match he is expecting.

Scrumhalf Nick Phipps and flyhalf Bernard Foley, the fulcrum of New South Wales Waratahs’ Super Rugby triumph, will start a test together for the first time after McKenzie abandoned his experiment with Kurtley Beale at number 10.

It will be the performance up front, however, that is likely to determine whether Australia can secure a first victory against one of the traditional southern hemisphere powers since McKenzie took charge.

If McKenzie had any doubt about South Africa’s approach to the match, they were dispelled when Heyneke Meyer made six changes to the team that squeaked past Argentina 33-31 in Salta.

Adriaan Strauss came in at hooker alongside Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira in the front row, Victor Matfield slotted back into the second row and Morne Steyn returned at flyhalf in place of the dropped Handre Pollard.

Strauss wins his place ahead of Bismarck du Plessis because of his discipline, strong scrummaging and accurate throwing-in, while Matfield remains an almost peerless ball winner at line-out time.

MAUL INTO SUBMISSION

With Steyn’s booming boot ready to target the corners and punish any Australian indiscipline within 50 metres of their line, South Africa look set up to monster their opponents at the set-piece and maul them into submission or penalties.

Despite the hammering the Australia pack took in Auckland, McKenzie made only one enforced change to his forwards with James Hanson, his fourth choice at hooker, replacing the injured Nathan Charles.

Australia will be looking for one of the increasingly frequent “good days in the office” at set piece and hope to get the upper hand in the back row battle for breakdown supremacy against a less experienced Springbok loose trio.

Captain Michael Hooper can be expected to be as tireless as ever at openside, while the abrasive Scott Fardy at blindside and number eight Wycliff Palu need big games to be sure of retaining their starting spots.

Palu especially needs to show the sort of form with ball in hand that he did in the French series earlier this year and in that quest the selection of his Super Rugby team mate Phipps could be a big help.

The lively Phipps presents a greater threat than the demoted Nic White around the fringes and has shown great aptitude for getting his big ball carriers moving over the gainline.

Strauss’s selection means the fiery Du Plessis will be rested when the benches are cleared for the last 20 minutes, while loose forward Warren Whiteley will also be champing at the bit to get on the field and win his first cap.

McKenzie has offered former skipper James Horwill a chance to revive his career off the bench but Australians hope he is not left regretting the absence of Will Skelton if a Springbok maul is rolling towards the try line with seconds to go.

Teams:

Australia: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13-Tevita Kuridrani, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Rob Horne, 10-Bernard Foley, 9-Nick Phipps, 8-Wycliff Palu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Scott Fardy, 5-Rob Simmons, 4-Sam Carter, 3-Sekope Kepu, 2-James Hanson, 1-James Slipper

Replacements: 16-Saia Faingaa, 17-Pek Cowan, 18-Ben Alexander, 19-James Horwill, 20-Scott Higginbotham, 21-Matt Hodgson, 22-Nic White, 23-Kurtley Beale

South Africa: 15-Willie le Roux; 14-Cornal Hendricks, 13-Jan Serfontein, 12-Jean de Villiers (captain), 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Marcell Coetzee, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements: 16-Bismarck du Plessis, 17-Trevor Nyakane, 18-Marcel van der Merwe, 19-Lood de Jager, 20-Warren Whiteley, 21-Francois Hougaard, 22-Pat Lambie, 23-Lwazi Mvovo

By Martyn Herman

The memory of the opening 45 minutes of England’s brief World Cup adventure in steamy Brazil when Roy Hodgson’s young cavaliers tore into Italy with joyful abandon now seems like a figment of the imagination.

Despite that encounter in Manaus ending in a rather undeserved 2-1 defeat, the mood afterwards was upbeat with talk of new dawns and an England side packed with pace and movement that could only get better.

A subsequent defeat by Uruguay and a stultifying 0-0 draw with Costa Rica meant England returned crestfallen, although they were spared the usual media backlash, probably because a thrilling tournament was providing other distractions.

The long period of goodwill Hodgson has enjoyed hitherto in his reign appears to be running out, however.

Wednesday’s 1-0 win at home to Norway in a dire friendly played out in a half-empty Wembley stadium was greeted with a chorus of disapproval and for the first time Hodgson is beginning to come under attack from media and fans alike.

The clash with a limited Norway side was supposed to be a fresh start before a routine-looking Euro 2016 qualification campaign begins in Switzerland on Monday.

Instead, it highlighted just how far England’s stock has fallen. Lacking creativity, self-belief and saddled with an archaic 4-4-2 system after halftime, Hodgson’s side looked exactly what they are – a mediocre international team.

From the all out attack against Italy, Hodgson’s side were hesitant in possession and lacking rhythm while the manager himself appears to have gone on the defensive, both tactically and with his spiky demeanour.

“Don’t hit me with statistics,” Hodgson barked at journalists who pointed out that England had managed only two shots on target – one of them Wayne Rooney’s successful penalty.

EXCESS BAGGAGE

“We can’t get rid of the baggage,” Hodgson added in British media on Friday. “We can’t change the fact that we’ve had a bad World Cup. We can’t play those games against Italy and Uruguay again but I think you have to give me the entitlement (the right to do the job) at least.”

While the link-up play between Liverpool duo Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge offered some bright moments, Hodgson is hardly blessed with a raft of exciting talent – no so-called golden generation about to break through.

The paucity of the depth of real international class in English football was evident in Hodgson’s assertion that “the fact of the matter is we haven’t got many more.”

“There are four or five very good players who are not here because of injury,” he said.

“Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw in defence, Ross Barkley and Adam Lallana in central midfield. There are people like Jon Flanagan at right-back. We have long-term injuries with Jay Rodriguez. They are youngsters.”

True, but none of the names he reeled off are established internationals and have only a smattering of England caps between them and virtually no experience in the pinnacle of world club football, the Champions League.

There was a weariness to some of Hodgson’s comments following the Norway match – an echo of some of his predecessors such as Graham Taylor, Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, all of whom came under attack from the media at various times during their spells in charge.

His view of the game appeared at odds with that of most observers who feel England are regressing.

“If we’d have played badly, if a lot of players had had really poor performances, if the quality of our passing and movement was nothing like I wanted to see, if our defending wasn’t as compact, aggressive or organised as it was for long periods, I’d be the first to say so,” Hodgson said.

“But I’m not going to say it’s that just because we had a bad World Cup.”

All is not lost for Hodgson but the warning signs are there after a meagre seven wins from their last 18 matches – a run that has seen them drop to 20th in the FIFA world rankings.

Adopting the kind of siege mentality Hodgson appears to be slipping into usually alienates the trigger-happy media.

Another poor performance against ninth-ranked Switzerland on Monday would give plenty more ammunition to the snipers and leave Hodgson facing his first real crisis since taking over from Capello shortly before the Euro 2012 finals.

The Kurdish Party of Democratic Union (PYD) yesterday issued a plea for aid in the form of medicine for refugees in the Kobane Canton in Western Kurdistan/Northern Syria.

Salah Eddin Ali, PYD representative in Cyprus, said the region has had a large inflow of refugees from Syria and neighbouring countries and lacked the resources to provide proper aid due to embargos and border issues.

It is estimated that 50,000-60,000 refugees have fled to the region to escape radical Islamist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra who have been launching attacks.

The Kurdish state is doing its best to provide for the refugees, but they are in dire need of aid, he said. To help please Tel: 25 106 821.

By Stefanos Evripidou

DISY MEP Christos Stylianides will be the next Cypriot in the new EU Commission headed by President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker, it was revealed on Friday.

Following a series of interviews with each of the member states’ candidates for Commissioner, Juncker yesterday sent a list of Commissioners-designate to the current head of the EU Presidency, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, with Stylianides included on the list.

President Nicos Anastasiades had submitted two candidates for the job of Cypriot Commissioner: Stylianides (former government spokesman and current MEP) and Demetris Syllouris (MP and head of the government’s junior partner EVROKO).

Juncker chose Stylianides to replace Androulla Vassiliou as Cyprus’ representative in the 28-member Commission.

Vassiliou entered the Commission under outgoing President Jose Manuel Barroso in 2008, taking over the Health portfolio. Two years later, she was appointed EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

Until Friday, the only sure name in the new Commission that will run from 2014 to 2019 is its president, Luxembourg’s Juncker, who was elected to the post by a strong majority of 422 votes in the European Parliament plenary session on July 15, 2014.

More recently, the European Council in agreement with Juncker appointed Federica Mogherini from Italy as a Commission vice-president and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The next steps now are for the EU Council to approve the list, after which Juncker will announce the distribution of portfolios and the way he intends to organise the work of the next European Commission, probably by Wednesday.

The commissioners-designate then have to pass traditionally quite gruelling hearings in the relevant European parliamentary committees.

Once the European Parliament has given its consent to the entire College of Commissioners, including the president and high representative, the European Council then formally appoints the European Commission, which starts work on November 1.

According to an unconfirmed report by EurActiv.com, Juncker plans to shake things up a bit in the Commission, splitting certain portfolios, removing others and creating new posts. The report has Juncker getting rid of the high profile post of Commissioner for Enlargement, an ominous signal to EU candidate country Turkey if true.

EurActiv also has Stylianides linked with a new post for Internet and Culture. However, a government source told the Cyprus Mail that nothing was certain yet, adding that the government’s preference is for the Cypriot commissioner to get a more “hardcore” posting.

Juncker’s Commission, as it now stands, has nine women, and a strong dose of political personalities, including five former prime ministers, 13 former ministers, six incumbent Commission members and a number of former MEPs.

Regarding political persuasions, 14 Commissioners-designate hail from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), eight from the Socialists and Democrats, five from the liberal ALDE family, and one is a British Conservative.

The proposed list of Commissioners-designate for the next Commission, in alphabetical order, are: Vytenis ANDRIUKAITIS (Lithuania); Andrus ANSIP (Estonia); Miguel ARIAS CAÑETE (Spain); Dimitris AVRAMOPOULOS (Greece); Elżbieta BIEŃKOWSKA (Poland); Alenka BRATUŠEK (Slovenia); Corina CREŢU (Romania); Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Latvia); Kristalina GEORGIEVA (Bulgaria); Johannes HAHN (Austria); Jonathan HILL (United Kingdom); Phil HOGAN (Ireland); Vĕra JOUROVÁ (Czech Republic); Jyrki KATAINEN (Finland); Cecilia MALMSTRÖM (Sweden); Neven MIMICA (Croatia); Carlos MOEDAS (Portugal); Pierre MOSCOVICI (France); Tibor NAVRACSICS (Hungary); Günther OETTINGER (Germany); Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ (Slovakia); Christos STYLIANIDES (Cyprus); Marianne THYSSEN (Belgium); Frans TIMMERMANS (Netherlands); Karmenu VELLA (Malta); and, Margrethe VESTAGER (Denmark).

By Alan Baldwin

Electrical gremlins held up Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix practice on Friday after the Mercedes driver had lapped more than half a second quicker than anyone else in the morning session.

The Briton, who retired from the race in Belgium 12 days ago after team mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg hit the back of his car, missed an hour of the afternoon running as mechanics replaced sensors on his car.

Hamilton was still fastest overall on the day, with a best time of one minute, 26.187 seconds set before lunch. Rosberg was top of the afternoon timesheets with a best of 1:26.225, just ahead of his team mate.

Jenson Button, Hamilton’s former team mate at McLaren, was second fastest in the morning in 1:26.810 with Rosberg – who has never been on the Monza podium – pushed back to third in 1:26.995.

Hamilton is 29 points behind Rosberg in the championship with seven races remaining and is determined to claw his way back against his German rival, who was punished by the team for the Spa collision.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in both sessions with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas fifth in the second practice after a quiet morning. Button was sixth for McLaren, who last won a race in 2012.

Red Bull’s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, last year’s winner at the ‘cathedral’ of Italian motorsport, was sixth and seventh while Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo was 16th and 10th.

Ricciardo, as good as Italian to many of the home fans and chasing his third win in a row, was sidelined for some of the first session with a power unit problem.

At the slow end of the field, Spanish driver Roberto Merhi made his debut appearance at a Formula One weekend and lapped faster than regular race driver Marcus Ericsson in the other Caterham.

Merhi handed the car back to Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, returning after being dropped by the team for Spa, for the afternoon and rest of the weekend.

Spanish reserve driver Daniel Juncadella also had a stint with Force India while Frenchman Charles Pic was handed compatriot Romain Grosjean’s Lotus for the session.

The health services said on Friday that a batch of water contained in plastic dispensers had been recalled following a series of complaints from consumers.

After conducting tests on the water in question; Blue Diamond, it was found to contain the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa,a common bacterium that can cause inflammation and sepsis.

The ministry has recalled the water because it does not comply with the microbiological criteria for bottled water set up by legislation, it said.

People are being asked to avoid drinking the water and return it to the place of purchase.  As a precautionary measure the ministry is asking those in who have other batches of this water to hold off consumption until cleared.

The premises and the remaining batches of the bottle water are being investigated.

The infected batch comes in 15-litre plastic containers with production and expiry dates of 08/26/2014 and 26/11/2014 respectively.

Water supply to Nicosia and the surrounding regions will be cut off at night temporarily due to the diversion of supply from the main pipeline to a number of villages in the district whose supply was deemed unfit for consumption last week.

The Water Development Department (WDD) on Friday called on the public to limit consumption. It said supply would be cut from 6pm to 7am every other day.

Last week, the supply to Ayia Varvara, Alambra, and Pera Chorio-Nisou was deemed unfit for human consumption. Natural erosion had caused part of the underground pipes’ protective layer to break off and enter the water supply. The section of pipe is 2.3 km long and must be replaced, which could take weeks. In the meantime, water is being diverted to the villages through the central Tersefanou-Nicosia pipeline.

Nicos Zambakides, the director of the Nicosia Water Board said yesterday: “We are working with the WDD, and if they can send more water we will not need to have to shut off the water at night.  As of right now we are receiving 46,000 cubic metres of water and we need 55,000 cubic metres so in situations like this we need to preserve water.”

By Stefanos Evripidou

GREECE AND Turkey have “real differences” over each side’s view of how the Cyprus problem could be solved, it transpired on Friday after Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Wales.

The meeting, requested by Erdogan, lasted 50 minutes. The new Turkish president thanked Samaras for being one of the first foreign leaders to call and congratulate him on his election.

According to Greek public television, Erdogan told the Greek premier: “We are friends and neighbours and we need to strengthen our cooperation for prosperity and stability in the region.”

For his part, Samaras underlined to Erdogan that one should not, through actions and statements, create a climate which poisons bilateral relations. He made specific reference to the infringements and violations in the Aegean and called on Erdogan to fully utilise his influence to avoid tension in the region.

On Cyprus, Samaras said Greece fully supports the initiatives of President Nicos Anastasiades, adding that the peace talks needed further encouragement to proceed.

He reportedly highlighted that UN Security Council decisions need to be implemented in full, and that a solution must be in line with EU laws, reminding Erdogan that the Cyprus Republic has acceded in full to the European Union.

The Greek premier made special reference to recent statements by Erdogan during his visit to the occupied areas, where he spoke of a solution of ‘two founding states’. The Turkish president had also called on Greece to take on its responsibilities as a guarantor power in the peace process.

Samaras argued that such statements undermine the talks and the prospects of a solution.

However, according to reports, Erdogan stuck to his position on two states, triggering a response from Samaras who reiterated that Cyprus is a member state of the EU.

“Well Mr President, we are facing a real problem, a real difference,” Samaras reportedly said.

State doctors have called off threatened strike action after a meeting on Friday with Health Minister Philippos Patsalis.

The minister had agreed to meet with the state doctor’s union, PASYKI when they threatened to go on a strike last month unless their demands were met.

They objected to the extension of their retirement age from 65 to 68.

The “humiliating amounts” they receive as overtime pay, was another problem they wanted to discuss.

At the meeting, they were told that the ministry was able to secure €800,000 to cover their overtime pay, which is less than half of the €2 million they were asking earlier in the year, but PASYKI head Maro Kontou said that the union agreed to the amount.

“More study is needed on the subject of overtime,” Patsalis said after the meeting.

On the retirement age the minister said that it was an issue for parliament and that it would be discussed.

He will meet the doctors union again in ten days, he said.  The minister also briefed PASYKI on developments in the National Health Scheme

The new Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide arrived on the island Friday afternoon.

He met President Nicos  Anastasiades and later Turkish Cypriot Leader, Derviş Eroglu.

Following his discussions with both Leaders, Eide announced that he would chair a Leaders meeting on 17 September, 2014 at the Good Offices Mission in the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia.

By Steve Keating

Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Croatia’s Marin Cilic rocked the tennis world with stunning back-to-back US Open semi-final upsets on Saturday, sending two all-time greats Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic out of Flushing Meadows.

On an extraordinary day that will go down as one of the most surprising in grand slam history, 10th seeded Nishikori denied Djokovic a fifth straight trip to the final when he toppled the world number one 6-4 1-6 7-6 6-3 on a sweltering Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Then, before a disbelieving crowd had fully absorbed what they had just witnessed, 14th seeded Cilic sent a new round of tremors across the US National Tennis Center by sweeping past 17-time grand slam champion Federer in snappy one hour, 45 minutes.

When the dust had settled the year’s last grand slam was left with a final no one would have predicted between Cilic, who missed last year’s tournament sitting out a doping ban and Nishikori, the first Asian man to ever reach a slam final.

Adding to the magnitude of Saturday’s events, Monday’s final will be the first grand slam title decider without either Rafa Nadal, Federer or Djokovic since the 2005 Australian Open when Marat Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt.

“I think it’s exciting for the game to have different faces from time-to-time,” said Federer when asked about his thoughts on a Nishikori-Cilic final. “At the same time, I think people still enjoy seeing the guys they have seen for a while or often in the big matches.

“But I think it’s definitely refreshing to some extent. It’s big for Croatia and big for Japan I guess on some level, especially on sporting terms and tennis terms.

“Everybody who gets to this stage of this kind of a competition deserves to be there because they have put in the work and they hoped for the break and this is it for both of them. I hope they can play a good final.”

Certainly it will not be the marquee final fans and television executives had hoped for.
Between them, Federer and Djokovic have won 24 grand slam titles, including six US Opens. Nishikori and Cilic have won none and had never before been beyond the semi-finals of a grand slam.
Despite the lack of a big name, the final should be an entertaining one between the big-hitting Cilic and the no-quit counter-punching Nishikori.

“It’s going to be special day for both of us,” said Cilic. “Opportunity for both of us to win a grand slam, to be a part of the history. It’s going to be definitely huge emotions on the court.
“We have different game styles.
“I think I’m going to have to just focus on my game…and to try to serve well. I think it’s going to be a good sort of tactical matchup for the final.”

Certainly no one worked harder or longer for their place in the final than Nishikori.
In a remarkable display of endurance, the 24-year-old Japanese followed up punishing five-set wins over third seed Stan Wawrinka and fifth seed Milos Raonic with an even more extraordinary effort, grinding down Djokovic in two hours, 52 minutes.

Nishikori arrived on Saturday looking fresh despite having played the latest finishing match ever at the US Open on Tuesday in the fourth round against Raonic, when he walked off court at 2:26 a.m. local time.
Two days later, the Japanese was forced to go the distance again, out-lasting Wawrinka in a four hour, 15 minute battle.

In total a tireless Nishikori logged 11 hours 16 minutes of court time in his last three matches.
In contrast, the powerful 6-foot-6 (1.98 m) Cilic wasted little time in blasting past Federer to record a first win over the Swiss master at his sixth attempt.

Federer had no answer to his opponents’ booming service game and heavy groundstrokes as Cilic completed the win with three aces and a sizzling backhand winner up the line as he served a love-game to close out a startling afternoon of tennis.

By Constantinos Psillides
EXPECT TO see some unusual and wonderful sights at the European University Cyprus next Saturday as the first ever Cyprus Comic Convention – or ComicCon – takes place.

Local comic book artists, video game developers, card games players and film buffs along with fans and other enthusiasts will get together for a full day of celebrating their love for everything nerdy and geeky.

The Cyprus ComicCon, according to one of the organisers, will be modelled after similar ComicCons that have sprung up all over the world. The event will also feature a number of local artists.

“We want this to be a celebration not only of the ninth art itself but of every culture and subculture surrounding it including fantasy, science-fiction, anime/manga, video games and more recently TV shows and movies as well as cosplay,” a statement from the organisers said.

Cosplaying – short for costume playing – is one of the famous activities taking place at a ComicCon, where some of the most dedicated fans create and don costumes depicting their favourite characters. Cosplayers in recent years have elevated this activity to a performance art, designing and engineering increasingly more elaborate costumes.

“We have over 100 cosplay entries. Who knew that there were so many comic book fans in Cyprus?” one of the organisers told the Sunday Mail enthusiastically.

Among its many attractions, this year’s ComicCon features known comic book writer Neil Gibson, author of Amazon’s Kindle best selling graphic novel Twisted Dark.

The convention will also include 30 local artists all practising various forms of comic book art including one local indie video game developer, eight shops selling a variety of merchandise including comics, graphic novels, video games, board games, collectible card games, posters and t-shirts, a series of panels and talks on such topics as creating comics, gaming and trading card game tournaments and a mini film festival featuring a full schedule of short films including Cyprus’ first superhero movie, Whispers

The event is organised by Tasos Anastasiades, comic book artist and professor at the EUC, Peter Anders Hvass, OtakuCy society & events, Antonis Aristodemou from the Ant Comics store, Christos Ellinas from Gamers’ Boulevard stores and Tony Michaels, an avid collector.

According to a press release, the five of them “have been striving for years to build a solid and active community behind geek/otaku/gamer culture in Cyprus”.

The first ever Cyprus ComicCon will take place on September 13, at the European University Cyprus. Entrance is free for all ages and the event runs from 10a.m till midnight.

By Evie Andreou

AN AWARD-WINNING innovation promising to provide sustainable energy at highly competitive prices is being introduced to the island.

‘Lloyd’s System’ collects and stores solar power that it is used to turn water into steam, which in its turn is used to produce electricity.

“It is a very advanced technology that produces energy round the clock, and it is autonomous. It doesn’t require any support from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus [EAC] like wind turbines or photovoltaics,” said Andreas Ioannou, CEO of the company Alfa Mediterranean Enterprises Ltd.

In July, the company won the ‘NER300’ competition for innovative renewable energy technology, organised by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.

The company is in the process of creating a concentrated solar power system plant with 300 module towers with solar receivers in the Doros-Limnatis area in Limassol that it is estimated to produce 172GWh per year.  GWh is a unit of energy representing one billion watt hours and is equivalent to one million kilowatt hours.

The whole project is estimated to cost €175 million, €60m of which comes from the grant given to the company by the European Investment Bank as a prize for winning the competition.

Ioannou said that construction of the plant would begin in November and that they expected to start producing electricity in 2016 at 45 per cent capacity and by the end of 2017, all modules would be installed and the plant would run at 100 per cent capacity.

The electricity produced will be sold to the EAC for €0.1375 per KWh, which is 40 per cent cheaper than what EAC currently sells electricity, according to Ioannou.

“It will open the road to much cheaper electricity,” he said.

Ioannou said the system had many advantages compared to wind energy and photovoltaics, mainly because it would be 100 per cent autonomous, translating to no extra costs for the EAC.

Wind turbines and photovoltaics rely on weather conditions to produce electricity making it more costly, Ioannou explained.

He said that standby staff and turbines on average cost the EAC an extra €0.08 per KWh for photovolatics and €0.17 per KWh for wind turbines, raising the utility’s total cost of support to an average €0.40 and €0.33 per KWh respectively.

“Too high prices for the utility and the public to pay,” Ioannou said.

The plant will be able to provide energy on demand 24 hours a day because it has the capacity to store solar power.

Each module consists of a 24-metre high tower with a solar receiver containing a quantity of graphite, and is surrounded with a number of heliostats.

The system, which is designed to make the most of the sun, uses custom designed software to enable heliostats to follow the path of the sun and direct its rays onto the solar receiver.

Heat is stored and when electricity is required, water is turned into superheated steam after it is introduced into heat exchangers embedded within the graphite.

After it is directed to a common manifold and attuned to the required temperature and pressure, steam is passed to a turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.

According to Ioannou what makes ‘Lloyds System’ ideally suitable for arid and dry areas with limited supplies of fresh water is the fact that the water used to create steam is re-circulated through the system. The system is environmentally friendly.

“It does not create any greenhouse emissions or other unwanted waste material from its operation,” Ioannou said.

He added that it uses no chemicals or batteries and it poses no threat to its surroundings, and that birds flying above the towers are unaffected by the sun’s rays reflecting from the heliostats.

The company has a study estimating that with a €2 billion investment, the plant could produce 1000MW of electricity for 30 years, more than enough to cover the island’s energy needs, without even buying fuel.

“The system is ideal not only to cover the island’s electricity needs but we can also export electricity at a very competitive price to other EU countries,” Ioannou said.

He said that among the EU’s 2020-2030 strategic goals was to connect all EU member states with a grid, allowing them to cooperate and transfer electricity between them. Cyprus will be connected through the island of Crete to Italy and from there to the rest of Europe.

By Jean Christou

THE introduction of the National Health Scheme (NHS) will likely bring drugs prices somewhere in between today’s private prices and what is achieved through government tenders, according to Richard Bergstrom, Director General of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

Bergstrom was in Cyprus on Thursday for a meeting with Health Minister Philippos Patsalis. After the meeting, the minister announced a 10 per cent cut in drugs prices as of next year in line with a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report that cited Cyprus as being among the most expensive countries in the world for medicines.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail, Bergstrom said that in principle, EFPIA does not think that governments should control prices for medicines that are not paid for by public money.

“Historically we have accepted these price controls for the private market in Cyprus, as Cyprus does not have enough public provision of medicines,” he said in a written Q&A. “The private market ‘compensates’ for the lack of public funding,” he added.

Bergstrom said he had wanted to meet Patsalis to hear about his reform plans.

“Cyprus is the only country in the European Union without universal health care. Therefore inequalities in access to medicines are bigger than in other countries,” he said.

He said that during the last two years no new medicines had been added in the public side of the Cyprus health care system. “And many of the other medicines are in practice not available either,” he said.

“People with money, now can buy medicines in the private market, but even for them it is not possible to carry the cost of the newest medicines. Cypriot patients have limited and unequal access to new medicines.”

He said the current reforms were an excellent opportunity for the country to “merge” the private market with the public market. Cyprus, he said, has the chance to build state-of-the-art system for medicines with clever co-payment, managed entry schemes for rapid introduction of new medicines, and for e-health.

“It is likely that prices will be somewhere in between today’s private prices, and what is achieved through government tenders. With introduction of reimbursement for all citizens, individual patients should overall pay less when they go to the pharmacy,” Bergstrom added.

Commenting on the WHO’s observation that Cyprus and the Czech Republic were the only EU member states that rely on foreign list prices to set domestic generic drug prices, the EFPIA chief said every country had a different model.

He said some countries use tenders and some require pharmacists to substitute to the cheapest version while others had a ‘formula’ for how prices should down after a patent has expired.

“The [Cyprus] government should continue to make sure that only high-quality generics are on the market,” said Bergstrom. “The co-payment model, that has to be developed for the new healthcare system, can also be defined in a way to encourage the use of generics,” he added.

The WHO report said Cypriots were leery of generics and that Cypriot generic drug prices were among the highest in Europe, coming in at around 80 per cent of branded names. By relying on the list prices instead of transaction prices in other countries, the Cypriot consumer was vastly overpaying for generic drugs, it said.

Coupled with the brand awareness issue, this had led physicians to potentially over-prescribe on-patent, expensive products with no fear of financial or non-financial penalties. “It is essential to break any financial relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical manufacturers or the pharmaceutical supply chain,” said the WHO report.

Recently, KEFEA, the Cyprus Association member of EFPIA, announced that pharmaceutical companies would be obliged to disclose transfers of value to healthcare professionals. Bergstrom said while it was important for pharmaceutical companies to collaborate with healthcare professionals and to educate them about new scientific findings, the system needed to be more transparent “so that people will not suspect anything inappropriate”.

By Constantinos Psillides

COMING up with a name for a company, a band or pretty much anything is hard enough. Having said name hijacked by a group of extreme Sunni jihadists, forcing you to reconsider rebranding is downright frustrating.

When people nowadays hear the name “Isis” their mind’s eye doesn’t generate a picture of the Egyptian fertility goddess but of a group of militant extremists, named ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria; a group responsible for heinous crimes, including public beheadings and ethnic cleansing.

BBC news reported recently that a number of companies and even people were thinking of changing their name, just so others don’t think they are affiliated with the extremists; a confusion that usually leads to hate mail and abusive language.

There even exists a company named Isis in Cyprus. A representative from the Isis fertility clinic in Nicosia told the Sunday Mail that they had no plans to change the company name. “We haven’t received any threats or hateful comments. We are named after the goddess of fertility which is appropriate since we are a fertility clinic. Re-naming is not in our future,” said the representative.

Others weren’t as lucky. According to the BBC report, a US mobile payment company had to change its name to avoid confusion, while a defunct “post metal” band named Isis had to change its Facebook page to “Isis, the band” because people thought they were affiliated with the extremists. The musicians reported that people send them messages on Facebook saying that they were reluctant to wear t-shirts with the band’s name in public in fear of being associated with the militants.

High-street retailer Ann Summers had to issue an apology on September 1, following the launch of their lingerie line named after the Egyptian goddess. “We acknowledge the unfortunate timing of this product launch in our store windows, however we in no way support or condone any act of terrorism or violence. We apologise for any offence caused,” said a spokesman for Ann Summers, following a flood of comments from people pointing out the unfortunate mistake.

By Stefanos Evripidou

NEW UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide arrived in Cyprus on Friday with a “very strong personal mandate” from the UN Secretary-General, but who is this man from Norway and how did he end up in the ‘diplomat’s graveyard’?

Eide was appointed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon last month to replace Alexander Downer who bowed- or more likely skipped- out of the scene last April. The first choice replacement, former US and UN diplomat Lynn Pascoe, was effectively vetoed by the Greek Cypriots.

Lisa Buttenheim, the UN’s deputy adviser, managed to keep the peace process alive in the intervening period, but Ban’s comment that Eide was taking over at a “promising moment” seemed a bit of a stretch even for the undying optimists out there.

Even Eide, in his first exchange with the local media, indirectly adopted the widely held view that progress in the talks since last February’s joint declaration has ranged from minimal to negative.

However, Ban appeared to put the “long-overdue” Cyprus solution on a new footing on Thursday when he described it as a “strategic priority” of the UN and international community, pointing out the great turmoil in the region made it “more important than ever” to reach a lasting settlement.

It is the rapidly changing regional developments- both the chaos permeating through the Middle East, the Ukraine crisis and the recent discoveries of natural gas- that have got a leading member of the international community, the United States, more interested and involved in the peace process.

US Ambassador John Koenig recently stated that America was looking forward to working with Eide on the Cyprus problem. But go back a few years, and US officials were not entirely sure how to read the Norwegian diplomat.

Before serving as defence minister and then foreign minister between 2011 and 2013, Eide worked as deputy defence minister for Norway’s Labour government, headed by Jens Stoltenberg, who incidentally takes up the post of NATO Secretary-general next month.

According to US diplomatic cables from 2008 and subsequently leaked by WikiLeaks, Eide played an influential role in the Norwegian government’s decision to purchase US F-35 warplanes from the Joint Strike Fighter programme, instead of the Swedish Saab Gripen, in a multi-billion dollar sale by US defence contractor Lockheed-Martin.

The cables, written by then US Ambassador to Oslo Benson Whitney, paint a picture of a “powerful politician” who punches above his weight and has ambitions to work in UN peacekeeping or the EU.

The American diplomat found Eide to be amenable to US interests, though not entirely reliable, noting that some US officials found him to be “weasily”.

In one diplomatic cable, dated July 21, 2008, before Norway had made its crucial decision on the US fighter jets, Whitney describes Eide as “one of the most experienced and influential government figures” in Norway, despite his deputy minister portfolio at the time.

The ambassador rightly predicted that his ties to the Norwegian foreign ministry, think tanks, NGOs and the UN would result in either a ministerial position in a future Labour government (he got two) or a high-ranking UN or EU position.

“In his relations with the Embassy, Barth Eide has been difficult to characterize. Barth Eide is a skilled and subtle interagency player who is largely pro-U.S. but should not be trusted to reliably uphold U.S. interests,” said Whitney.

The US diplomat found Eide to be “helpful” on several important issues, such as helping to prevent a Norwegian veto of NATO plans for missile defence, intervening on “touchy real estate issues” affecting the sale of land to the US government for the construction of a new embassy building, and pushing for Norwegian deployments to Afghanistan.

Whitney acknowledged that on several occasions Eide gave the Embassy “good advice” on how to approach the Norwegian government.

“However, some very senior U.S. officials have felt that he has been hard to pin down on several issues of concern and characterised Barth Eide as ‘weasily’. Senior Norwegian officials, with strong pro-U.S. instincts, have also told the Embassy in private that Barth Eide is not to be relied upon to promote U.S. priorities,” said the ambassador.

Whitney pointed out that a key test of his inclinations would be the Norwegian defence ministry’s recommendation on which fighter plane to purchase, the US F-35 or the Swedish Saab Gripen.

Norway eventually chose to purchase over 50 US fighter planes, at a cost of US $10 billion.

A diplomatic cable dated October 29, 2008, suggests Eide gave private signals to the US government that the F-35’s would win the bid before an official announcement had been made, though the Norwegian government denies this.

It transpires from the cables that the US put great importance on Norway’s decision to purchase the fifth-generation fighter planes as approval or rejection would have a significant impact on whether other NATO partners and allies would also put in orders.

As it turns out, the US now has orders for F-35s from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK, and with more planned from Canada, Israel, Japan and Korea.

Six years have passed since those cables were written and a lot has gone on in the world.

Compared to the usual fare WikiLeaks has given us, the cables are not exactly ‘scandal’ material, though they do establish a basis for the relationship between the new UN envoy and the US, now considered to be in the driving seat on the peace process.

Eide is portrayed as a professional, capable operator with significant knowledge on peacekeeping who leans towards the Americans and is a committed European with a pro-NATO bias.

The fact he was appointed, not elected, to his posts suggests he may not be the kind of charismatic or flamboyant peacemaker Cyprus has been used to in recent years. But he is seen as someone serious who can cut to the chase in a careful manner, avoiding offensive remarks without avoiding what is difficult.

As one observer put it: “I don’t see him solving the Cyprus question. But who can?”

By Patroclos

AS THE long-playing foreclosures pantomime that we have been watching for the last month was not over at the time of writing this yesterday, we decided to declare our establishment a foreclosures bill-free zone, for the first time in weeks.

We are certain that not many customers will be writing in to complain about this omission as we are perfectly aware that our continual references to the bill, over the weeks, would have bored and annoyed them. Writing about it every week is tedious and soul-destroying and I would be ecstatic never to have to write another sentence containing the word foreclosures.

However, knowing what the losers in the legislature are capable of, I cannot really make any promises that the Coffeeshop will remain a foreclosures-free zone in the coming weeks. We can only pray that everything will have been sorted today, and the protectors of the poor and vulnerable members of our society will find another worthy cause that would allow them to market their compassion and social sensitivity.

But I would not bet on this happening, because I suspect the foreclosures bill will not lose its exploitation value overnight.

MAKIS Keravnos’ reign at Hellenic Bank came to an end, after a nine-year stint, on Monday when the bank announced that he would be stepping down as CEO, “following mutual decision and consent”. What the bank’s announcement omitted to mention was the size of the pay-off given to Keravnos in order for him leave his job by mutual consent.

There was no way the foreign investors, who had put hundreds of millions into the bank and controlled 45 per cent of the shareholding, would have left their investment at the mercy of an apprentice banker who had got the job because he had good relations with the Church and the backing of the Central Bank governor of the time – Ttooulis Ttoouli.

Only in Kyproulla could a man, with zero banking experience, zero experience of senior management and zero experience of the private sector, wake up one morning and take over as the CEO of a bank. The Church had hired an apprentice banker and an apprentice chief executive to run Hellenic, in the hope that he would learn banking on the job. The main qualification he brought to the job was a boundless arrogance.

Interestingly, before being appointed, while still serving as finance minister, he had settled a tax dispute between the State and the Church which was rather favourable to the latter. But gone are the days when Church called the shots at Hellenic and the contraction of the priests’ shareholding meant that their chosen one’s day were numbered, by mutual consent of course.

MEDIA economics pundit Archbishop Chrys, did not buy the nonsense about mutual consent, indirectly admitting that Keravnos was pushed out. A day before his departure was officially announced Chrys, rather sadly, said, “those who have the majority wish to exercise it.”

He lamented the fact that the Cypriot banks had fallen into foreign hands, saying that it was “the incompetence of many” that had caused this. Was this an admission that Keravnos had been an incompetent CEO? He mentioned nothing about the incompetence of those who had appointed a man, who knew nothing about banking, in charge of the bank. (Then again, experienced bankers had been in charge of Laiki and look what happened to that bank).

The only reason the Archbishop was opposed to foreign ownership of the banks was “because there remains an unresolved national problem, and Cypriot banks are a necessity, now more than ever.” In fact, the national problem may have been the reason Keravnos was appointed in the first place – he may have known nothing about running a bank, but on the Cyprus problem he was an uncompromising, hard-liner.

APART from the national problem there was another benefit to Cypriot ownership of the banks, said the pundit in black robes. Local owners focused on helping the Cypriot people, said Chrys. “The difference between us, once majority shareholders in Hellenic Bank, and the foreign ownership is this: we tried to serve our people and did not work for profits.”

THERE is one vacancy that the departed CEO of Hellenic could apply for although the pay would be just a fraction of what the bank was paying him – Commissioner for Public Reform.

After the departure of Irena Georgiades from the post – to become chairperson of Hellenic – three months ago the government has been struggling to find anyone to replace her. It had apparently approached two retired, senior public employees but both showed no interest. The offer I made, a couple of months ago, to take on the post has been ignored.

This must be the first public post that nobody wants. Normally, when there is a vacant public post there are hundreds of people brown-nosing politicians, offering their wives and begging media help in order to land the job. But nobody wants to be Commissioner of Public Reform, because they do not want to be abused by Glafcos Hadjiklamouris and his henchmen who will fight every attempt to curtail public servants’ privileges.

Everyone in Kyproulla hankering after a public post, apart from the money, social status and publicity want an easy life – to do as little work as possible and be loved by the people they deal with. The Commissioner of public reform would not only have to work, but as a reward would be hated by 40,000 public parasites.

MOST commissioners’ jobs do not involve any work at all. Take for instance the job of Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, which was recently vacated by Kate Clerides. This is a job for which you are paid close to €90,000 a year plus state car, to do next to nothing.

This post has been reserved for someone who had always been very good at doing nothing – Fotis Fotiou, who was obliged to step down as defence minister (another state job that involved minimal work) when DIKO left the government. Ever since then, prez Nik has been looking for another state post to offer Fotiou, even considering creating a new post for him – head of the national security committee.

Commissioner of Humanitarian Affairs is the ideal post for a liability like Fotiou. In this post he would have very little to do but still feel important and cause no damage to the government as he had done as defence minister.

INTERESTINGLY, the Commissioner for Volunteerism (yes, there is such a state job) Yiannis Yiannaki, unencumbered by the spirit of volunteerism he is supposed to serve, has been pressuring the government to raise his wage which at 30 grand is only half what the Commissioner for Equality (yes, we have one of those as well) is paid and just a third what Fotiou would be receiving for dealing with non-existent humanitarian affairs.

I think the Commissioner of Volunteerism should be receiving no pay for his work to set a good example and encourage people to do volunteer work.

THE EMBASSY of the expanding Russian Federation sent a strongly-worded letter to Politis describing an article by columnist Costas Constantinou, as “completely unacceptable” and urging him “to avoid unfounded accusations and fantasies and not to give us absurd and worthless recommendations”.

It also said it had noted that “the thirst for accusations and fantasies is a common characteristic of Mr C. Constantinou and Mr M. Drousiotis”. Most readers would have guessed by now that the Embassy was complaining because the columnist, a few days earlier, had the nerve to criticise its announcement/letter attacking Drousiotis and his book.

Constantinou described the announcement as “blatant intervention” in another country’s affairs and reminded Ambassador Osadchiy that in Cyprus there was freedom of expression, in stark contrast to Russia where the media were suppressed and journalists had been murdered. If the ambassador did not approve of this he should return to his country or ask to be posted to Minsk which was run by a Moscow-approved dictator, he wrote.

It was not surprising that the embassy, for decades accustomed to being worshipped by naive Cypriots, took great offence, accusing Constantinou of “anti-Russian rage and of overstepping every acceptable moral boundary.” The letter also adopted a didactic tone, telling the writer that “democracy does not mean the freedom to insult all those who disagree with him when he has not other arguments.”

This was a touch hypocritical, considering the embassy had used this tactic in its letter about the book, insulting Drousiotis because it disagreed with him and had no other arguments.

OUR ESTABLISHMENT is considering writing a letter of complaint to the Russian ambassador, because he never wrote to us to tell us off for all what was written last Sunday. Was this because he does not take our establishment seriously or because the output was not as offensive as that of Politis?

Admittedly, we did not tell him to go back home nor did we bring up the freedom of expression practised in Russia, but we did say that Osadchiy was “behaving like some Soviet overlord posted in the DDR or Bulgaria during the time of the Warsaw Pact, issuing instructions to errant locals…” Why did he not take offence? Should we have mentioned that ridiculous embroidered, military jacket he wears at official functions instead?

We will leave our bitterness for being so provocatively ignored aside and focus on how right we were to describe him as a Soviet overlord. The letter to Politis giving lessons on democracy, freedom and correct behaviour showed that our assertion was neither an unsubstantiated claim nor a fantasy.

WE HAVE heard from two completely different sources that the attack on Drousiotis, although presented as a Russian embassy document had been written by an Akelite, which would make a lot of sense if it were true.

It would explain all the nonsensical sermonising about “the scientific methodology of historical research and the principles of historical study and impartiality,” as well as the reference to the forged letter, supposedly written by the NATO General Secrteray Joseph Luns in July 1974, which had been used by our House of Representatives as conclusive proof that the coup and invasion were a NATO-US conspiracy.

Once again, the embassy advertised its hypocrisy by substantiating its claim of NATO-US involvement with a document that only a moron would think was authentic. And this was in an announcement slamming an author for allegedly not substantiating his claims. Only a dim-witted Akelite, well-versed in the scientific methodology of historical research, could have been responsible of such commendable double standards.

THE DUD document – an allegedly top secret letter from NATO chief Joseph Luns to the US Secretary of Defence – about which we wrote in July last year, featured such appallingly bad English it could only have been a shoddy Photoshop job that could not have fooled anyone with half a brain.

The two line letter featured the following line: “We agreed with Mr Sisco for supporting the Turkish army during the landing, as well as, in the violent expulsion of Makarios.”

It fooled our deputies and journalists who, despite having a whole brain, saw this as triumphant confirmation of their anti-West prejudice and gut feeling that NATO and the US had orchestrated the coup and invasion of ’74. These certainties were shattered a couple of weeks ago by UK-based researcher Fanoulla Argyrou.

Ms Argyrou wrote to NATO in Brussels, asking its archives department to confirm the authenticity of the letter. The response from a NATO archivist was that “the document is not considered authentic. The evaluation was based on a number of criteria, including the signature and the codes which were not compatible with NATO coding.”

In an article in Simerini, in which Ms Argyrou dropped her bombshell, she noted that the NATO ‘document’ that the House Committee on the Cyprus file, used to place the responsibility for the coup and Turkish invasion on NATO “is not genuine document of the organisation.”

THE RESEARCHER wrote to EDEK former deputy Marinos Sizopoulos, who had been the chairman of the committee in charge of the Cyprus file investigation, to break the bad news to him.

Ms Argyrou naively believed that Sizopoulos needed to know the truth about the document included in the House investigation file, especially as she had heard him citing it on radio shows as conclusive proof of NATO’s sinister role in the coup and the invasion.

Sizopoulos told her that the document and many others had been obtained from a Greek source, he did not name, and asked “why had NATO not reacted” when it was publicised? He also said that it was possible “Luns did not leave a copy at NATO.”

If Luns did not leave a copy of the damning document at NATO, where did Sizopoulos’ Greek source find it? Had it burgled Luns’ house?

THE GOVERNMENT’S Action Plan for a Cyprus Digital Strategy (2015-17) that was approved by the Council of Ministers this week was welcome news. It was about time Cyprus took the big leap into the digital age that had passed the state sector by for a number of reasons, many of which still exist. However it is positive step that the need for e-government has finally been recognised by the authorities and a decision has been taken, at least in principle, to implement it over the next three years.

Past experience has taught that whenever a government announces some ‘strategy’ the chances of it being implemented are rather slim. We have been hearing about the five-year strategy for tourism for decades now, but the five years invariably pass with nothing being done. So much so, that one commerce and tourism minister, memorably declared, more than 10 years ago, that his tourism strategy would be with an “emphasis on implementation”. This emphasis has still to be detected.

This is why it is difficult not to be sceptical about the government’s Action Plan, even if 75 per cent of the funding will come from EU sources. After all, the reasons that prevented previous governments from even toying with the idea of digitalisation still exist. First, public employees are opposed to it because they are adverse to change and, more importantly, their union is aware that digitalisation would, in theory, make many workers redundant. The government was correct in pointing out that its action plan would lead to the creation of new jobs but if properly implemented it should also ensure a significant reduction in public sector jobs, which is the main reason full digitalisation was never given serious thought.

The other reason that has prevented digitalisation is the incompetence the state services display in undertaking big and complex projects. Worse still is their inability to hold tenders procedures that are not beset by legal problems. There have been cases of tenders’ procedures, for the supply of software and computers to the state sector, dragging on for so many years, by the time the contract was awarded the computers that had been ordered were obsolete. It is standard practice for failed bidders to appeal against the tenders’ procedure in the courts, which might not issue a decision for a year or two. In some cases a new procedure has to take place followed by a new appeal to the courts by the losers, after a decision is taken.

To a large extent, these cases are won on technicalities, usually because there might be mistakes, inconsistencies or omissions in the tender specifications prepared by public employees. There have been times when the specs had been written, in a way to favour a specific supplier, justifying the ensuing litigation. If the government does not address this problem, digitalisation will not be completed in 10 years, let alone in the three it had set as the time-frame.

It is essential that the management of the project is taken out of the hands of the state sector if digitalisation is to be implemented over the next three years. A firm, with expertise in digitalisation of government services must be brought it in to handle the entire project. It should prepare the implementation plan, draft tenders procedures, evaluate them, carry out the consultations with the suppliers that are short-listed and finally decide to whom the contracts should be awarded. Public employees cannot be trusted to manage such a complex project in a competent and fair way and neither can the Tenders Board, which is controlled by the political parties.

This is a multi-million project and suppliers would use every means, including dishonest ones to take a piece of the action. Perhaps the EU, which would be funding 75 per cent of the Action Plan, would send some of it technocrats and experts to supervise, if not manage the project. Relying on foreign assistance might not seem like the way forward, but our own officials have messed up so many big projects it would be foolish to give them full responsibility for the digitalisation action plan if we want it implemented over the next three years. Nobody likes foreigners coming and telling us what to do, but if the strategy is to have an emphasis on implementation, there is no alternative.