US Is Once Again Cyprus' Enemy

Ever since President Anastasiades intentionally undermined the country’s relations with Russia by placing a 10 billion euros, or more, levy on Russian bank deposits in Cypriot banks, Cyprus has found itself completely isolated. The U.S. strongly supports a political tactic that is catastrophic for the island’s financial status — a levy on deposits that is opposed by Berlin and supported by the Cypriot president.

In general, the American tactic aims to discreetly undermine the German leadership and the euro. Washington is more interested than Berlin in ruining Nicosia’s relations with Russia. Americans are completely uninterested in the Cypriot economy or the Cypriot banks. They wouldn’t by any means want to have Cyprus reaching out to Russia for help as a way of solving its financial issues, nor to have Moscow respond to Nicosia’s cry for help. That would bother Washington — not for financial but rather geopolitical reasons.

The explanation is rather simple. If the Kremlin rescued Cyprus’ banking sector and economy from the Germans’ memorandum, Russia would ask, in exchange, to get involved in the energy sector — meaning having gas exploration rights in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

That would create a major disturbance in the current situation, keeping in mind that everything related to Cypriot natural gas is under the full control of Israel and America. The upcoming turmoil would not be limited to the U.S. energy sector. If the Russians were involved in Cyprus’ natural gas, it would be reasonable for Nicosia to consent to provide facilities to Russia’s naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. It would be even more possible that Cyprus would not only provide basic facilities, but offer military bases as a concession to the Russians, especially if Moscow loses its naval base in Syria when the Assad regime in Damascus is overthrown.

American capitalism is generally affected by the bank levy decision, but Washington is thrilled with the fact that the Russian depositors will lose chunks of their money, as ordered by Germany and served by Anastasiades. That way, Russian involvement in Cyprus’ natural gas is eliminated and there is no point in having a Russian military presence in Cyprus. Everything goes according to American interests in the region, thanks to Germany and Anastasiades himself.

The U.S. obviously benefits from the break in Nicosia and Moscow’s relations. Will Cyprus benefit from that? Not under any circumstances. And it is not only the loss of Nicosia’s long-time ally, Russia. With Cyprus isolated and financially weakened, under the German yoke, Americans can play major geopolitical games in the Near and Middle East without the fear of generating a problem in Cyprus.

However, the U.S.’ plans — organizing the last details of an Arab invasion to overthrow Assad and supporting Israel so as to manage air strikes against Iran — do certainly need Turkey’s participation. So if the Turks demand it, the White House will throw Cyprus into the lion’s den. In that case, no one will support the Cypriots, as no major power will benefit by keeping the Cypriot democracy as it is.

With respective differences taken into consideration and obviously without getting historic events confused — such as the coup in Cyprus on July 15, 1974, that was organized by the U.S. and which offset the Soviet Union’s interest in objecting to the Turkish military invasion on July 20 — today N. Anastasiades undermines Cyprus’ relations with Russia, which leads to Moscow being uninterested if Cyprus falls into the lion’s den — Turkey.