Redux
Ever journey circles home
I love Coen Brothers films. Because of crime, and because they mix stupidity with power. Complete idiots murdering people while having the silliest conversations. They ramble, they brag, they explain themselves to strangers. And yet, inside their bubble, they are someone, they hold enormous influence.
That is exactly where my mind went when I watched the latest viral video allegedly showing figures close to the Cypriot presidency discussing money, access, and influence. My heart sank, but my brain travelled straight to Fargo.
Naturally, the first thought that sprang up was: “Oh God, not another This Is Cyprus video. The memory of the Al Jazeera investigation immediately returned. The undercover reporters posing as representatives of a fictitious wealthy Chinese criminal. The official, the businessman, the fixer. All explaining over drinks how a criminal could buy a Cypriot passport and, by extension, EU citizenship. For a price.
Second reaction: shock at things everyone already talks about in private. Third reaction: has absolutely no one learned anything?
Let’s list a few facts, things that happened and should have made some… wiser.
Fact one: strangers show up claiming to be investors interested in operations in Cyprus.
Fact two: instead of referring them to Invest Cyprus, the body actually responsible, you entertain them personally.
Fact three: you go out for drinks. Why on earth do you have drinks? Alcohol makes people talk.
Fact four: instead of listening, you explain. You brag. You flaunt your proximity to power: “He’s my friend”. “We talk all the time”. “I’m always at the fundraisers”. “I gave them 200,000, or 20,000”. Different numbers, same pattern.
Then we have facts for the “audience”, for us. We are fed narratives, and our response depends on who we are: our party, our tribe, our interests: Was it AI? Was it edited? Was that a montage of the bad guys’ schemes, bits cut together to show what they were planning? Then come the conspiracies: Zelenskyy was here, so it must be Russia. It was a day after the opening of Cyprus’ EU presidency, so it must be the Turks. Reason leaves the room.
No questions asked about the substance. Accountability? Why senior officials talk like this at all? Even the phrase “I am always present at charity events” alone, shouldn’t be enough to tell us something?
Lesson for the “usual suspects”, the men in the videos, the officials, the businessmen: talk less. Maybe you will not be punished, but in the public consciousness, you are finished. Profiles stain.
Lesson for the rest of us: the audience always knows.
You turn off the phone. You smile. It is a thoughtful smile. You shake your head, bite your lips, even talk to yourself. What kind of place do we live in? Life is hard. Money is always tight. You go to bed.
So! why do you not do something about it?