Freedom , Justice, Equality, Sovereignty Gone.....

Petrus Romanus Update

Cyprus bailout crisis: panic replaces anger as bankruptcy looms

'It's worse than a war. At least in a war you know who your enemies are," said Thanassis Iracleous, standing behind a till as he discussed the escalating crisis in Cyprus. "On Friday they were our friends," railed the pharmacist, whispering the word "German" in the same breath. "The very next morning they were suddenly our enemies."

As wars go, the bespectacled Greek Cypriot is having a good one. Relatively speaking. On Thursday, six days into the island nation's worst economic debacle in decades, Iracleous was still accepting credit cards and customers were still walking through the doors of the chemist he runs in the heart of Nicosia. But it is not clear how long he will be able to keep this up.

That is more than can be said for most retailers in Cyprus, the latest frontline in the eurozone's ever bloody conflict of sovereignty and debt. With the country's solvency hanging by a thread in the wake of the Cypriot parliament's overwhelming rejection of the tough terms attached to financial rescue from the EU and IMF, panic has gradually replaced anger and the shock born of the brutal realisation that bankruptcy is no longer an abstract concept.

"Today, suppliers began demanding payments in cash," said Iracleous, shaking his head incredulously. "Almost no one is accepting credit cards or cheques any more because everyone is saying that come Tuesday the game will be over. Our banks will have closed."

Societies fending off default descend into chaos by stages. Poverty hit Greece after successive rounds of austerity. Over the course of three years of tumult and despair, helplessness followed hopelessness.

In Cyprus, the former British colony that prided itself on its spectacular economic recovery nearly 40 years after Turkey invaded and seized the island's northern third, the descent has been more dramatic for being faster still. Locals speak of a situation worsening "by the hour". In towns across the island's southern sector, the panic spawned by uncertainty was underscored on Thursday by the long queues outside banks as fearful depositors rushed to withdraw cash from ATMs. "The radios, today, were full of talk that next week Laiki may not exist," said Kypros Kyprianou, standing patiently in line outside a branch of the bank on Diogheni Akritas, one of the capital's major avenues. "I'm waiting here till I get my cash," he continued.

"On Saturday, ATMs were giving out €800. Now you can't get more than €400 and already I've been in line for over a hour because the machine is only dispensing €40 at a time."

A 38-year-old carpenter, Kyprianou is proud that all 56 of Cyprus's MPs resoundingly rejected the bailout deal which, in an unprecedented step, stipulated that ordinary depositors pay part of the bill. "We are not like the Greeks who just sign up to whatever these people [the EU and IMF] dictate," he boasted. "We can say no."

But ever since the eruption of this latest stage of the crisis, the carpenter has been out of work. "There is no liquidity. The market has dried up. I was meant to get a deposit for a big project on a house on Saturday and it just fell through," he said, "just like that."

Vassos Pratziotis, a graphic designer who like Kyprianou is now withdrawing cash on a daily basis, says what is most worrying is that nobody knows what the future will bring. "There can't not be a solution," he said, drawing on a cigarette. "The problem is we have no idea what it is going to be. I'm very afraid that Laiki will collapse because the bank is my firm's main client and for several months we haven't been paid."

Food shortages are not in evidence. But in a worrying sign on Thursday major chains reported that suppliers were beginning to reduce produce and even withhold goods if payments weren't made in cash. "Many are insisting that we pay up front," said Andriana Anisia, manager of a branch of the local supermarket co-operative Green Tree. "People are clearly panicking. Today, our milk supplies came and they were inexplicably thinner. Who knows what next week will bring?"

Britons who have retired to the island are also expressing alarm. In Nicosia many could be spotted similarly rushing to banks to cancel transfers of their pensions from the UK. "Our biggest worry is that the whole banking system is going to collapse, not just one or two banks," said one, Francis Colley. "I called my pension fund and they said they are very concerned about the situation in Cyprus. Very, very concerned."

The streets of Nicosia have fallen eerily quiet with the intensification of the showdown. Uncertainty over the financial lifeline is such that no one has much appetite for anything, locals say. "Even if you have work, your mind is somewhere else," said Pratziotis. "Everyone is numb, really, with worry."

In his pharmacy, Iracleous, like many Greek Cypriots, laid the blame squarely with Berlin. "It's very simple. It's all about money," he said. "In this case Germany wanting to control the Russian oligarchs who have invested in our banks. If they leave Cyprus, which is what Merkel wants them to do, they will have to go somewhere else. Germany will be the top of that list. What we in Cyprus have learned is that you have to be very careful of your friends."

The Guardian

Pope Wants to Partner With Islam to Tackle Poverty

Pope Francis urged the West on Friday to intensify dialogue with Islam and appealed to the world to do more to combat poverty.

The new pontiff made his appeal in an address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, sending a message through them to the leaders of the more than 170 countries with which the Vatican has diplomatic relations.

Speaking in Italian, he also made another impassioned appeal for the defense of the poor and of the environment, saying richer countries should fight what he called "the spiritual poverty of our times" by re-forging links with God.

"How many poor people there still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure!" he told the diplomats in the Vatican's frescoed Sala Regia.

He urged them to help keep religion central in public life and promote inter-religious dialogue as a catalyst for efforts to build peace.

"In this work (peace building), the role of religion is fundamental. It is not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God," he said.

"But the converse is also true: It is not possible to establish true links with God while ignoring other people. Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, said he was grateful that many Muslim religious and civilian leaders attended his inaugural Mass on Tuesday.

"Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented to take up," he said.

He underlined the importance of protecting the environment when he explained why he had decided to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, who is associated with austerity, help for the poor, and love of nature.

"Here too, it helps me to think of the name of (Saint)Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another's detriment," he said.

Charisma

India tests BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

On Wednesday, March 20, India conducted first-ever tests of the supersonic cruise missile "BrahMos", designed for deployment on board submarines, officials with BrahMos Aerospace said.

The missile was launched at 14:10 local time (12:40 MSK) from a submerged position off the coast of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal. The tests were successful: the rocket is ready to be installed on submarines, the tender for the purchase of which has already been placed.

Company officials did not rule out the possibility of installing missiles on Russian-made "Amur-1650" submarines developed by the Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (CDB ME) "Rubin" - the company will also take part in the tender.

BrahMos missiles is capable of attacking targets at a maximum distance of 290 km, at an altitude of 10 meters above the ground. BrahMos is already in service with Indian Navy.

Pravda

'The size of the US national debt’s amazing' :Ryabkov

The amount of the US national debt is amazing, to put it mildly, and it is unclear which ways should be found to reduce the debt burden”, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said during a press-briefing in Moscow. 

In view of this the diversification of BRICS currency package would be useful, he added. Voice of Russia correspondent Polina Chernitsa reports.

Moscow remains concerned despite a change in US missile plans

Moscow is not yet ready to assess a change in the US missile defense plans, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said during a press-briefing in Moscow. “The news surely deserves attention…yet it is too early to assess it either positively or negatively”, the diplomat said. Last week Washington announced that plans to place missile interceptors in Eastern Europe are being abandoned and that interceptors would be placed in Alaska instead. “We view this primarily in terms of our national security interests. Meanwhile, we remain concerned over the issue,” Ryabkov said.

Moscow is going to examine the proposal offered by the U.S. concerning its missile defense plans in Eastern Europe, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said during a press-briefing in Moscow, the VoR`s correspondent says.

Mr. Ryabkov confirmed that both sides are interested in continuing the talks, and said that Moscow is satisfied with the way the talks with Washington on utilization of outdated weapons were going on.

He, however, added that the agreement the two countries reached on the issue is no longer up-to-date and should be focused more on projects in third countries.
Voice of Russia

UN to Probe Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria

NEW YORK, March 21 (RIA Novosti) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that the United Nations will open an investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria as soon as possible.

Ban said at a media briefing at UN headquarters in New York that the investigation would focus on a specific incident brought to his office’s attention by the Syrian government.

The Syrian authorities accused opposition militants on Tuesday of deploying chemical weapons in an attack near the northern city of Aleppo that state media reports claimed at least 25 lives and seriously injured more than 100.

The rebels have denied the allegation and instead accused the Syrian military of launching a Scud missile with a chemical warhead.

Ban said his “announcement should serve as an unequivocal reminder that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity.”

The mandate, mission composition, and operational conditions of the probe still remain to be decided, Ban said.

Russia has already volunteered to provide specialists for the UN investigative mission.

“We proposed, in principle, that if we find a good Russian expert [on the issue], he should be included [in the mission],” Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said on Thursday.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said in a statement on Thursday that Washington “welcomes” the probe and “supports an investigation that pursues any and all credible allegations of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria.”

“We demand the full cooperation of the Assad regime in particular, as well as Syrian authorities throughout the country, including by providing full and unfettered access to all relevant individuals and locations,” Rice said.

Speaking during his visit this week to Israel, US President Barack Obama said that any use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces would be a "game-changer” for his administration.

RIA Novosti