Thank you for the front line report. One of the things that keeps me coming back to this site is that you get a wide variety of geographies and points of view.

I think you have lived through national turmoil twice now. Weren't you still in the former Yugoslavia when it blew all to hell? And now in Cyprus. The world seems like one powderkeg after another. You are not far from the Middle East, which has been ready to blow for a long time and has never seemed closer than now.

Have an enjoyable weekend anyway. That's my plan.

>>
>>Have things settled down in Cyprus? According to news reports it was pretty bad about a month ago.
>
>We are not like Detroit yet, but things are not looking good :(
>On the surface everything is still looks the same; typical Cyprus summer with beaches full of tourists, brand new expensive cars all over the place
>(more then ever!), people having fun. Below the (still shiny) surface, things are not that good looking;
>Unemployment is on the rise (for the first time in recent history there is indeed real unemployment), fear, uncertainty are prevalent feelings.
>Number of small businesses are shutting their doors as people stopped purchasing anything but real necessities.
>
>On the top, politicians are busy singing usual populist songs, playing blame games, but foremost covering their own arses for all the fraud,
>theft and corruption that has been going on for years which eventually landed us in this whole mess. Name of game now is to survive politically
>previous disaster so they can facilitate another! {g} Hence, future exploitation of newly discovered oil/gas reserves leading to new disputes in the region...
>I am scared to even think about it.
>
>I really wander how come there were not any substantial revolts/riots going on so far. Perhaps great majority is still well fed and did not lose much or any money during banks collapse in march. Those who did have huge money deposits and suffered haircut over insured amount (with many sad stories of
>hardworking/honest people being caught in the same net) are not really revolutionary types ;-)
>
>Problem is that many small/mid businesses were hit on their current accounts from where they were to pay off salaries, suppliers etc.
>Some SMBs were closed and many had to do layoffs as business came to almost standstill at some point. Right now due to tourist season
>things are slowly moving again but we will see what will happen coming September/October. Next 6-7 months are projected to be worse then ever.
>
>All wandering eyes are now on Cyprus. If we don't end up in total disaster, so called 'bail-in' (rob all bank deposits) might become script for solving other
>debt crises as well. Nothing to worry if your country do not have huge public debt {g}, otherwise watch out your wallet!