    The membership of the European Union, the subsequent
introduction of the euro and the seemingly endless flow of
credit that came with these "privileges" provided the region
with a temporary illusion of increasing wealth and new-found
prosperity. Today it knows that none of it was real, or earned;
it was all borrowed. It's time to pay up but there's no money
left. It needs to be borrowed. From the European core and its
banking system.   What sets Cyprus apart from the other victims
of Brussels' expansion hunger is the timing. The country
(actually only the Greek-Cypriot 59% of the island of Cyprus)
was only allowed entry in the EU in 2004, and it didn't
introduce the euro until 2008. At that point, total bank assets
were already well over €80 billion, or a very unhealthy 450% of
GDP, and kept on rising with a vengeance. Four years later, in
early 2012, the EU/ECB/IMF troika forced €4.5 billion in losses
on the Cyprus banking system through the haircut on Greek
sovereign debt. Now, one year after that, the