>1. An attempt to soak the rich (especially the Russians) - but to give it a whiff of respectability they decided they had to soak everybody

Too little to be gained.

>2. An EU trial balloon. It's easier and less damaging to contain unrest and riots in Cyprus than it would be in Spain, Italy etc.

Although I'm sure there are many reasons and influences I think this could certanly be one of them. This is testing the waters of how a country might exit the EU. It's a tiny country of no impact to the EU in general. An experiment in EU exit.

>3. A Lagarde & Co. trial balloon. Basically the same idea but to gauge applicability worldwide, not just in the Eurozone

I don't think so. There are too many countries where this is simply inconceivable.



>4. Brinkmanship by the EU and/or IMF - Greece and Spain may be "too big to fail" but maybe Cyprus isn't; how far can ordinary people be pushed by the fear of failure?
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>5. ??
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>No doubt both the EU and IMF have plenty of staff with direct experience of the causes and effects of bank runs. It's not as if they don't know what they're doing, and the likely consequences. But, they're going ahead anyways. Why?
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>- are they testing the resiliency of the worldwide banking system?
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>- are they trying to put a $ value on one of the "priceless" pillars of the financial system?