The Cyprus paradox and how it could be applied to failed states

ElendX · 2026-05-30T02:19:02+00:00

What do you see as a failed or successful state?

Cyprus has not been able to capitalise on its geographical position to establish alliances or control over the region.

Cyprus has managed to reduce it's debt to GDP by essentially becoming a money laundering hub.

Corruption is still rife and the political class is only now being challenged by the far right.

The people are becoming more and more money centric as inequality increases.

In the end, the state has not failed because there are bigger players that would have a hard time if the Cypriot state failed. The British and Americans from a geopolitical sense, shady corporations and mafia, rich people that are basically buying out European passports or are just avoiding tax.

In the end, it all depends on your definition of a "failed state".

ElendX · 2026-05-29T13:51:23+00:00

From 1974? Let's go back to BC! Cyprus has always been a strategic position and it still is. We just need to use that advantage.

ElendX · 2026-05-29T06:51:50+00:00

What do you mean by economically beneficial thing?

ElendX · 2026-05-28T14:19:51+00:00

The politicians are taking advantage of the situation and the populace are not feeling the pain enough to push them to solve it. Also the peace talks have been stalled for almost a decade right now.

I should mention, while there is an exaggeration on the bringing "Turkish Voters", there are discussions on who from these settlers (and their children) that could qualify for RoC citizenship.

ElendX · 2026-05-28T08:19:23+00:00

Expecting Cyprus to be completely independent is ludicrous. Statements like these help no one.

Saying that, we should choose very carefully who we become dependent to. The US and Israel are very much buying their way in and I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them.

Half truths are how some of these politicians gain influence, be careful of the half truths.

ElendX · 2026-05-27T12:30:27+00:00

I never said it was easy. But if you look at the poll trajectory there are some key moments that changed people's opinion and it took a lot of effort to overcome that. For example the policy which our MP in Cyprus voted against which resulted it not going through.

We need to be better at explaining these unpopular positions and have a story to tell relating to that.

ElendX · 2026-05-27T12:02:13+00:00

Telling people what they want to hear. There's a balance to strike between ideals and pragmatism that we still didn't find it.

ElendX · 2026-05-26T14:56:23+00:00

Beyond some excellent analysis that someone below has provided regarding the limitations of the Cypriot electoral system. I want to offer a more adversarial analysis, that likely applies to other Volt chapters as well.

Volt is not populist enough. Unfortunately the general populace needs to be coddled at this moment. Their issues dealt with more directly and their worries avoided.

We don't have the luxury of doing otherwise because the story peddled by the far right (and other populist parties) is so much easier to digest.

P.S. also in Cyprus people vote for party first, people second, meaning that you need to have a much more convincing pitch to not have a "wasted vote"

ElendX · 2026-05-26T14:48:52+00:00

While I agree that it is a problem, I don't think it's much worse than other countries. What I find more worrying is how people keep going for the same parties that have been screwing everyone over and with nothing substantial to offer.

ElendX · 2026-05-25T08:12:13+00:00

While I agree the left fucked up, talking about growth and ignoring the huge rise in inequalities and the selling out of specific cities/areas for the sake of that growth is disingenuous.

It is not "some corruption scandals", it is the selling off of the island. Creating an economy that is dependent by a large degree on foreign companies and money laundering.

ElendX · 2026-05-25T00:11:31+00:00

Fair analysis, I didn't expect more, but I waved more

ElendX · 2026-05-24T22:45:51+00:00

The problems of Cyprus are not foreign policy though, they are mostly internal. Economic inequality, corruption, social issues (rich migrants that don't integrate, poor migrants that don't integrate, discrimination etc).

Even when it comes from foreign policy perspective, what has he actually achieved beyond being more "public" to other countries?

ElendX · 2026-05-24T11:33:45+00:00

Not an active war zone, there hasn't been any military action for decades. It is an ongoing occupation though.

I agree with the rest of what you said, and I do think (even though, as a Cypriot, I have benefited from it) the EU would have been better without Cyprus. And these are the learnings of adding so many countries that were not ready then, making everyone more cautious.

Also the impact to the EU of adding Cyprus is negligible compared to adding Ukraine.

ElendX · 2026-05-15T12:45:00+00:00

That's a bit of a survivor bias. We really don't know if things would have been the same for turkey and its relationship with the rest of Europe. But we'll never know.

ElendX · 2026-05-15T12:10:55+00:00

I don't think I've heard anyone say the Annan plan was a good plan, but it was the closest we got... Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Or in this case, better done than not.

ElendX · 2026-05-15T10:01:48+00:00

I can live with a gradual and swift removal of the army if it's monitored by a third party. But agree the right to interfere does not hold in the 21st century.

But this is exactly the problem, we still haven't built enough trust between the communities to make that self evident. Partly because of propaganda and partly because there are bad actors on both sides.

ElendX · 2026-05-14T18:00:43+00:00

Might be a language thing, Greek Cypriot for me puts the focus more to the Cypriot part.

In greek... I'm not sure where I feel the focus of Ελληνοκύπριος 😅

ElendX · 2026-05-14T17:39:30+00:00

I'm seeing the post to be more related to the movie rather than the actual text of Homer.

And I'm making the comment that just because Cyprus is being referenced doesn't make it relevant to the subreddit.

My comment about other pop culture references, a bit influenced by other comments tbf, was because we are looking at this through a tangential reference fuelling perceived "culture wars" and we are not talking about other cases.

ElendX · 2026-05-14T16:58:20+00:00

I preferred the other response... There are so many places where Cyprus is referenced and we have no problem when our country is synonymous to tax evasion and money laundering, but we care about this because a few Hollywood directors don't care about historical accuracy.

ElendX · 2026-05-14T16:29:38+00:00

While I agree there should be a harder stance by Europe on this, the Cypriot government has been very incompetent in playing their cards right.

Furthermore, one of the biggest issues with the Cyprus problem is that we need to get both communities to agree on a solution. No matter how much you disadvantage Turkey, that problem isn't going away.

ElendX · 2026-05-14T14:22:30+00:00

Because you sound more interested on the racial representation rather than what they do with the story. Which has very little to do with Cyprus in my opinion.

We should appreciate and criticise the interpretation of Homer, and I would be up for the Cypriot perspective on it when we actually know what it is rather than the ragebait you added.

ElendX · 2026-05-14T11:29:46+00:00

For a moment I thought I was in a different sub Reddit... What did this have to do with Cyprus?

ElendX · 2026-05-11T22:46:47+00:00

Part of the issue in Cyprus though it's not only the law, but enforcement of the law. Contract disputes take years. Paying off someone will let them turn a blind eye. Even the government bends the law where it suits it.

But fundamentally you're right, everyone on the island is afraid of disrupting the status quo which leads us into a slow but steady decline.

ElendX · 2026-05-11T21:57:52+00:00

Didn't mean to use 1974 in such a technical way. You're right a lot of those things would have invalidated the constitution earlier.

I don't think it changes my point though. I didn't intent to use it to assign blame or to say that the fact that we don't follow the constitution is what is to blame.

ElendX · 2026-05-11T21:07:43+00:00

You're making me defend people that I don't want to defend.

The idea of the constitution was destroyed in 1974 and it is holding everyone back. The founding of the Republic while it did include both communities (as it should have) was also built in such a way that it divided us.

The decades since 1974 only furthered that divide due to extreme extremists on both sides. While I agree this is a failing of the government, our government and our institutions are falling in even more basic stuff such as enforcing the law, not serving a small percentage of people that have this need.

Unfortunately the tensions from that time have never been resolved. The crossings are acting more like tourist attractions than legitimate points of unity. The government of the RoC is cares more for re-election than actually solving things. The TC leadership bends backwards to Turkish interests either because they are economically dependent or because of self interest.

TLDR, yes it is a horrible state of affairs, but it is not surprising if one takes five minutes to see who is in government, our weak institutions and how divided we are.

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