Dr. John M. Nomikos
(Director)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr


The end of the Cold War more than a decade ago created a world in which the relative stability between the two superpowers has disappeared. During the Cold War, a country’s every action was conducted in the light of the adversary relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. As the possibility of a major power declined dramatically, large military organizations with the primary mission of fighting interstate war became somewhat redundant.

Nikolas Stylianou
(RIEAS Research Associate, Security Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Although migration is not a new phenomenon, the issue of illegal migration has gained a place in the top of the security agenda of the West. The rise of illegal migration to the top of the security agendas of the Global North took place especially after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Since then illegal migration has been through the process of securitization and often constitutes the epicenter of governmental policies and decisions. This article seeks to address illegal immigration in Cyprus, public debate around it as well as its implications on Cypriot state and societal security.

What makes a prime minister, who has a commanding majority in parliament and only a year ago was swept to power by a landslide, announce he will declare early elections if his party’s candidates fail the test in municipal and county elections?

The answer can be very simple... or it can be impossible to pinpoint.

Greek prime minister George Papandreou is the current case in point.

His PASOK party enjoys the conditions referred to in the opening paragraph.

On October 28, 2010, Greece celebrated the 70th anniversary of rejecting an Italian fascist ultimatum to surrender and mobilizing to oppose an Italian invasion that came through Albania. Ever since then, October 28 has been known as “OCHI Day” (‘Ochi’ means ‘No’).

On October 28, 1940, the Greek prime minister, Ioannis Metaxas, sent the Italian ambassador packing with a straight and sharp “No” when handed the Italian government’s demand for Greece opening her borders to the Italian forces. Within months, the Greek Army -- outnumbered, outgunned, and out-supplied -- had clobbered the Italian invaders so badly that Adolf Hitler had to rush to the aid of his disgraced Italian friend, Benito Mussolini, and crush Greece with his Wehrmacht.

The history of Greek-Turkish relations since 1974 is a succession of “adjustments” which, somehow, always point to one main strategic objective: the ditching of international treaties that nag Ankara (e.g. the Lausanne Treaty and the international convention on the Law of the Sea) and the formulation of a bilateral “good neighborly relations” regime which, unsurprisingly, observes and promotes Turkey’s “legitimate rights” in the Archipelago to the detriment of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Turkey’s “good neighbor and partner,” Greece.

George Papandreou may have been elevated to the darling of bankers, international loan sharks, EU “circles,” and “concerned friends of Greece” for his merciless wrecker’s job on Greek society but, domestically, he continues to sink in the quicksand called “IMF/EU memorandum,” a sinking that even the government-influenced mass media have a hard time concealing from the public.

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