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[Doctor Gollum]

https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/03/29/cyprus-an-unsinkable-aircraft-carrier-no-longer

This popped up and made interesting reading...

Nothing controversial about that, apart from some inaccuracies.  Yes, any Western base on "foreign soil" will mean risk for the country that base is in during conflict, but that works both ways, although in this case, the UK Cypriot bases are actually British soil*


*until such times as the wet dream of a PM we have decide to return the bases to Cyprus, and rent them back for £100b a year...

There's that of course

It popped up on my Google feed. I hadn't really considered how modern Cyprus came about, so found it an insight into the island rather than being a point of controversy

And it's nice to see different takes on things from a non UK perspective sometimes...

[TheBoy]

Given its very strategic location in the east Med, much like Malta's further West, it has been invaded more times than we could mention, or even know about. Romans, Greeks, Ottoman, Byzantine, Brits. They've all had a piece of it

In living memory, it was British (as part of the Empire), then made it's own sovereign state, bar the 2 UK bases, then a bit of a coup in the 70s caused some concerns with the Turks, who promptly tried to invade.  They only managed to invade the north, and so we have a Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - not universally recognised by all countries - and Cyprus being the rest, excluding Akrotiri and Dhekelia which are the 2 bases. And a UN line between them, as the UN think this is a good hoot, and a great place to get sent.

As part of this, there was a bit of India/Pakistan type separation, with the Greeks being moved south and the Turks being moved North, despite them previously living side by side happily until this point.  Additionally, Turkey active migrated people from Turkey to Cyprus to re-enforce their hold on the territory, which has caused ongoing friction, more so on the eastern side it seems.

[Doctor Gollum]

Ta

For reasons that make zero sense to anyone outside our operations department, we stay in Nicosia when we fly to Larnaca. The commute is a bastid, especially after a 4 am wake up, but it does afford the opportunity to cross the border just because you can

[TheBoy]

I would imagine hotels, even crew rooms, are expensive in the tourist hotspots.

Nicosia is the only (official) crossing point

[Doctor Gollum]

I would imagine hotels, even crew rooms, are expensive in the tourist hotspots.

Nicosia is the only (official) crossing point

Commercial consideration such as consistent pricing and availability would make sense, but this is BA we're talking about, so just as likely that one skipper really liked the hotel when they stayed 15 years ago and now we're stuck with it

Although it's a nice hotel, with ice cold Keo, so not really complaining 

[TheBoy]

Can't beat a pint or 2 of Keo.  It does, however, taste much better overlooking the sea.....

[Sir Tigger KC]

Just out of interest after reading these posts about Cyprus I had a gander at Google maps.

I always imagined that Akrotri and Dhekelia the two British sovereign base areas in Cyprus were just military bases, but they are both substantial chunks of territory. 

Which shows Starmers stupidity in neglecting their defence and giving the Cypriots an excuse to start chuntering about their status. Of course the EU have weighed in in Cyprus's support as well.   

[TheBoy]

I think it comes to around 3% of land mass.

[Sir Tigger KC]

I think it comes to around 3% of land mass.

I'm sure that the Republic of Cyprus would love to gain sovereignty of those two nice chunks of real estate and lease the bases back to Britain for a nice bit of wedge! Shall we say £110 million a year? 

I'm also sure that Starmer would think this is perfectly reasonable and would happily agree to pony up! 

[TheBoy]

Well, as it's 2 bases, maybe the Cypriots should hold out for £200bn....

[Sir Tigger KC]

Well, as it's 2 bases, maybe the Cypriots should hold out for £200bn....

Good point!    He'd still happily pay it!     

[STEMO]

Thought I'd do one of those youtubey things that everyone seems to like:

https://youtu.be/CscI8qAW7tM?si=m4fRoJNlkC91XKA9

[Varche]

So there is a con flab of 35 countries ( excluding the US) over how to keep the Straits of Hormuz open. It will be interesting to see how that pans out in the coming months. At least Iran hasn’t got any missiles or nuclear materials after they were “ obliterated” . I don’t think anyone learnt much last night from Trumps address to the nation.

The one person who has done well out of this mess is NettingYahoo. It is his war really but he got the US onboard to help. He is committing genocide and land grab and getting away with it.

[Doctor Gollum]

Genocide? Really?

Land grab?

Have you been watching the BBC again?

There's been several occasions over the years where the Palestinians have been offered various deals regarding recognised land etc. The Palestinian response? Kill every Jew.

Israel has been playing Whackamole since 1947

Rutland has more of a legal status than anything that might be considered to be Palestine

If there's anyone who is actually responsible for the situation, it's the people at the table when the State of Israel was formally drawn up.

[Varche]

According to Wiki ( yes I know funded by the BBC)

As of 21 February 2026, at least 75,227 people (73,188+ Palestinians and 2,039+ Israelis) have been reported killed in the Gaza war.   Seems a bit one sided.

The Balfour agreement . Yes it was unilaterally agreed by the Brits . The Zionists welcomed it.Still not enough though for them? The sad reality is that mankind ( men) cannot live in peace. It is in our nature apparently. We will only have peace when we have a world government undoubtedly run by the Chinese. Then we will look back and say how marvellous things could have been in the 2020’s.