ENERGY BOOST SUCCESS (by Charles Ellinas). With the collapse of global oil prices, the question just over a year ago was ‘is this the end of the shale boom?’ A year later, technology and OPEC’s production cuts have breathed new life into the US shale oil industry. This revival has a global impact and is one of the factors keeping global oil and gas prices low, which also impacts development … MORE
 
THE ROLE OF EAST MED GAS IN THE EUROPEAN ENERGY SECURITY AND THE BEST CYPRUS GAS MONETIZATION OPTION (by Panayiotis Tiliros). Eastern Mediterranean (East Med) estimated resources including the Levantine, the cone of Nile and the Herodotus basin amount to 345 tcf (about 10.000 BCM) of natural gas and 3.5 billion barrels of oil. Consequently, the East Med … MORE
 
THE MIDDLE EAST: BACK TO BASICS (by Marat Yuldashev). The region of the Middle East is supplying us with top news headlines practically on daily basis, and unfortunately, most of them are of tragic nature. The frequency and scale of information coming from the region is so massive and diverse that many simply no longer follow them, and those who do discuss and focus only on the … MORE
 
THE EUROPEAN UNION, REFUGEE FLOWS AND INSTITUTIONAL INADEQUACY (by Soteris Kattos). A preliminary assessment of the long- term consequences of refugee flows on the European political terrain presupposes, first and foremost, a critical evaluation of the EU’S current conjuncture. What reigns at present in the EU is a neo-capitalist model of political economy. … MORE
 
MOTHERLANDS AS NATIONAL CENTERS (by Thanos Koulos). Since its early formulations, Greek national identity has been characterized by its self-perceived ambivalent position at the crossroads between East and West. This ambivalence has been mirrored in both Greek cultural identity (Tsoukalas 1994) and in the country’s foreign policy (Heraclides 1995). On the one hand, Greek identity has … MORE
 
THE GREEK-TURKISH CONFLICT AND THE LIMITS OF COOPERATION (by Victoria Pistikou). The academic controversy on whether trade promotes peace still exists between Realists and Liberals, since the latter argue that trade operates as a peaceful means, since it decreases the levels of insecurity and promotes peaceful relations, even between rivals. However, Realism offers a better … MORE
 
A SUICIDAL ORGANISM (OUR BANKING SYSTEM) (by Chris Alexander) I can’t remember the exact random chain of events that led me recently to come to be reading about programmed death in unicellular organisms, such as green algae, but apparently, programmed death may not have evolved accidently by a random genetic mutation resulting in cell suicide, on the contrary, … MORE
 
  POLITICAL MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION IN RELATION TO THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT OF CYPRUS AND THE FORTHCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (by Constantinos Constantinou). The political marketing war is well underway in view of the imminent presidential elections in the Republic of Cyprus. Admittedly, the political party leadership of the center … MORE