President WAS responsible

[Brian Ellis]

You will remember that in July, we had a massive explosion on the island that killed 13 and injured 60-odd but also destroyed the nearest power plant, supplying 55% of the nation's electricity, creating chaos with island-wide power cuts.

An official report, published today just over an hour ago, has blamed the President of the Republic for a large part of the responsibility for our 11/7 disaster. The initial reaction has been satisfaction over the report. I hope to be able to read the full 600 pp document ASAP.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/president-was-responsible-keeping-explosives-mari-polyviou-concludes/20111003

[Dr Mordrid]

Was he there at the controls, or are they saying he directly created conditions that made an incident inevitable? Decisions made 5 layers deeper in bureaucracy shouldn't count.

[Brian Ellis]

He was at the controls.

1. He directly ordered the explosives to be confiscated and removed from the ship at the instigation of Hillary Clinton
2. He personally ordered that the Navy take charge of them
3. He tried to get the UN to take charge of them, which was refused
4. He tried to offer them for sale
5. He tried to negotiate with Bash'em Assad to take them
6. He refused to attend any of the funerals of the deceased
7. He refused to meet with any of the victims' families
8. He refused to issue an apology
9. He retired to his country cottage and has rarely been since in public since the explosion
10. He has, in the public's eye, behaved like an abject coward
11. His popularity rating was about 70% a year ago but slid to about 45% before the explosion (clumsy handling of the country's economy); now it is less than 20%

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangel...Base_explosion which is fair and impartial but not updated to include today's 643 pp report or its conclusions

Edit:
BBC Report:

Cyprus President Christofias blamed for navy base blast
Cyprus' Vasiliko power station, damaged by a blast at the nearby Evangelos Florakis naval base in July 2011 The blast and subsequent fire badly damaged the nearby Vasiliko power station

The president of Cyprus has been blamed by an official investigator for negligence leading to a huge explosion that killed 13 people in July.

Polys Polyviou told a news conference that President Demetris Christofias bore a "serious, and very heavy personal responsibility" for the blast.

He said the way decaying munitions were stored at a navy base next to a power station was "completely irresponsible"...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15150755

[Brian Ellis]

A straw poll on a Cyprus forum gives the following results:

Should the President resign?
Yes
88% [ 66 ]
No
8% [ 6 ]
Don't know
0% [ 0 ]
Couldn't care less
4% [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 75

However, he apparently has no intention:

Christofias: I have no personal responsibility for incident



President Demetris Christofias has denied personal responsibility for a deadly munitions blast in July, saying a state-appointed investigator who had blamed him had no evidence.

"The President of the Republic categorically denies that he has personal responsibility for the incident," he said.

"This conclusion (by the investigator) is not substantiated by evidence or the material which was submitted to the board of inquiry. On the contrary," Christofias said in a statement.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/christofias-i-have-no-personal-responsibility-incident/20111003

Yet it was he who named Polyviou to lead the investigation which clearly blamed him personally. He is behaving like Assad, Gaddafi, Mubarak et al. I only hope that this does not lead to a 'Cyprus Autumn' for democracy to re-assert itself.

[Dr Mordrid]

Sounds like seppuku would be more appropriate

[Brian Ellis]

He has certainly committed his political seppuku and that of his party AKEL (right wing communist).

[degrub]

We can send a US governor , presidential wannabe , that is big on personal responsibility to run the show.......
PLEASE !

[Brian Ellis]

We can send a US governor , presidential wannabe , that is big on personal responsibility to run the show.......
PLEASE !

No, thanks!!!