The Dirge of Cyprus

A state, especially in the modern form of the European welfare state, depends on effective mechanisms for arbitrating and resolving social disputes. It is these mechanisms that, as the turmoil surrounding Cyprus has shown, the EU lacks.

PRINCETON – Europe can choose its own musical accompaniment to its latest crisis. In Berlin, 50 Cent’s “All Things Fall Apart” has just had its premiere, so that soundtrack might be appropriate. Or the continent can reach back to Giuseppe Verdi, born two hundred years ago, whose penultimate, and probably greatest, operatic achievement starts on the coast of Cyprus with a storm of fantastic violence and the opening words of its hero, Otello: Esultate, rejoice! The war has been won; but Otello’s achievement is later destroyed by his jealousy.

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