Tag Archives: Cyprus
20 March 2014
U.S. Navy Seals have taken over an oil tanker that was seized by Libyan rebels who fled from a rebel-controlled Libyan port and managed to escape the Libyan authorities. There were no casualties during the operation, which took place in international waters off of Cyprus on the night of 16 March. According to the Pentagon Press Secretary, John Kirby, the seizure was authorised by the U.S. President Obama and requested by the Libyan and Cypriot governments. He stated that ‘[t]he Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company. The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of Es Sider.’
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Source: Reuters | U.S. forces seize tanker carrying oil from Libya rebel port
Source: The Guardian | US navy Seals take over oil tanker seized by Libyan rebels
Source: Reuters | Libyan port rebels say U.S. seizure of oil tanker act of piracy
Source: Reuters | Oil in seized tanker belongs to Libya's east: rebel leader
9 October 2013
Besides the almost 100 United Nations and chemical weapons experts that will be deployed over the coming months in a joint mission (with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), to oversee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that a staging area and support base will be established in Cyprus (due to the dangers on the ground in Syria), and that the UN contribution will primarily be for logistics, security, liaison, medical support, communications and administration.
Ban Ki-moon called upon UN member states ‘to offer their full support to the work of the Joint Mission including through the provision of financial, material, technical and operational assistance’ to carry out last month’s Security Council resolution on the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons material and equipment. In phase three (from 1 November to 30 June 2014), the joint mission will be expected to support, monitor and verify the destruction of a ‘complex chemical weapons programme involving multiple sites.’ In this phase, ‘it is highly probable that assistance by other Member States will be required in the areas of the provision of both technical and operational advice, support and equipment, as well as security and possibly other areas in order to successfully complete the destruction and/or removal activities within the allotted time’, according to the Secretary-General.
Source: UN News Centre | Ban seeks 100-member joint mission to oversee destruction of Syrian chemical weapons
30 September 2013
In an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, Eugene Kontorovich explains that the European Union knowingly and purposefully provides substantial direct financial assistance to settlements in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Kontorovich, professor at Northwestern University School of Law, argues that there is a contradiction between the EU position in regard to the occupied Palestinian territories and occupied territories in Cyprus. Whereas with regard to the former, the EU has stated that international law mandates its guidelines that prevent EU money from benefiting occupied Palestinian territories, with regard to the latter, the EU funds an occupied EU member state, without mentioning any international legal question about such funding.
Source: The Jerusalem Post | How the EU directly funds settlements in occupied territory
24 March 2013
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup has taken responsibility for a joint decision of all 17 ministers of the Eurogroup to impose a tax on depositors in Cyprus.
The Eurogroup is the group of finance ministers of the 17 states that use the euro. In response to questions in the European Parliament, Dijsselbloem said that the decision to impose the levy on small depositors ‘was not stopped by me because it was a compromise which brought together the different interests and the different goals that we share.’ He stated that ‘As the Eurogroup president, I will take responsibility’, but added that the levy was ‘a joint decision.’
Source: The New York Times | Negotiator New to the Game Takes Blame for Cyprus Failure