Who? Just about everyone. As the New York Times report reminds us, Cyprus sits on a bunch of boundaries: east/west, Europe/Russia. And one other little reminder:
It also has natural gas in the waters off its coast toward Israel. Nobody knows for sure yet how much — that may become clearer later this year when Houston-based Noble Energy carries out a new round of exploratory drilling.But just the possibility of significant reserves has raised hope in Brussels, and fear in Moscow, that Cyprus could help break the European Union’s dependence on Russian-supplied gas.
“There is a clear danger of this area becoming a platform for confrontation between East and West,” said Harry Tzimitras, director of PRIO Cyprus Centre, a research center in the capital, Nicosia....NYT
So far, Russia hasn't been able to establish itself in that market. But it wants in.
In talks last week in Moscow over a possible loan to Cyprus, Russia made clear that it expected a piece of the gas pie for its own companies, according to Cypriot officials and politicians.In Russia’s view, Cyprus, which already has two British military bases, a legacy of the country’s colonial past, would also be an ideal place to set up a small naval installation should the Kremlin lose access to Tartus, a Syrian port that risks being swamped by that nation’s civil war.
The Moscow talks yielded no deal and dashed hopes that Russia might ride to the rescue. But many Cypriots still view Russia as a useful counterweight to bullying by Brussels. ...NYT
Sheesh! A hundred years ago it was an archduke (who?) in Austria. Now we're looking at gas off the coast of Cyprus (where?).
Well, it's in the Mediterranean. For a Russian in particular that's a nice place to live. And indeed Russians do live there.
“This is all a dirty game to create a banking collapse,” fumed Yuri Pianykh of the Russian business association — aimed, he contends, at luring Russian money out of Cyprus to other European countries. He insisted the country had better safeguards to combat money laundering than many other European states and had been the victim of a German smear campaign. ...NYT
Russia v. Europe. Everyone thinks everyone else is trying to take advantage. And everyone is right.
