The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Asked him if he had read The Man in the High Castle and what he thought of Japan and Germany winning WW2 as that was also fiction.
EU watch
- Thread starter TopCat
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Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Not to mention Kurt Steiner nearly assassinating churchill, and the Titanic being raised
gosub
~#
A data ‘black hole’: Europol ordered to delete vast store of personal data
EU police body accused of unlawfully holding information and aspiring to become an NSA-style mass surveillance agency
gosub
~#
Phillip Roth book. Cousin is a bit of an expert on himMy future son in law in an attempt at bonding with me once asked me what I thought about the period in the States when Lindenburg became President. He had of course confused a fictional novel with reality. This article is pretty much on the same lines.
Faced with Covid, Europe’s citizens demanded an EU response – and got it | Luuk van Middelaar
The pandemic finally brought into being a European public, as we discovered that our health is a common concern, says political theorist Luuk van Middelaarwww.theguardian.com
tim
EXPLODED TIM! (Help me!!!)
Because the Good die young. In SouthEast Asia quite a lot of the Good died directly as a consequences of his policies.
JimW
支那暗杀团
Still partnering with Libyan border forces despite abuses: Migrant abuses continue in Libya. So does EU border training
At least good old Blighty has no part to play in these many wars
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
The EU has accused Belarus of sending asylum seekers to destabilise the EU
gosub
~#
EU says second referendum could be an 'important democratic safeguard'
The bloc also advised that all possible steps should be taken to avoid disinformation, foreign interference and funding irregularities.
www.thelondoneconomic.com
Back in the day when UK was in the EU and things like Art 50 were being sorted out. Main concern was that counties would use Art 50 as some sort of divaesque negotiation tactic to get a better deal. Tbf to UK, that didn't happen. Seems more likely with a double referendum lock
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gosub
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The Impossible Suddenly Became Possible
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the West’s assumptions about the world became unsustainable.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
It's like Maginot never lived
ska invita
back on the other side
First para: "As it turns out, nations are not pieces in a game of Risk."The Impossible Suddenly Became Possible
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the West’s assumptions about the world became unsustainable.www.theatlantic.com
Not sure how she came to that conclusion. Thats exactly what it looks like to me. With the emphasis on risk
gosub
~#
Prime Minister Trudeau called ‘dictator’ to his face in blistering speech in European Parliament
It wasn’t the response Prime Minister Trudeau was hoping for. In fact in a career filled with humiliations on various international trips, Wednesday’s speech at the EU in Brussels has …
www.todayville.com
I see he and Johnson arent welcome at EUROPEAN Council meeting today though Biden is. I get why Johnson likiening Ukraine to Brexit . I read a tweet when that was announced saying proved UK was spent internationally . Except UK did a lot of k8t and training while Germany sat on its hands for stuff that had German components . Glad EU has woken up but would have been a fait a complete without UK US.
Trudeau not probably helps him given his Nazi gibe during convoy and Ukraine s Azov battalion
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Some news for the rejoin campaign to digest
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
Much as it validates many of my concerns about the EU, making me a somewhat reluctant remainer, I think it's important to note that this kind of stuff has always been swirling about in the EU, and little of it ever comes about.
All of it would have to be voted on, repeatedly - not least because it's all new treaty stuff - and it would be subject to many vetos.
Also worth pinging who is blowing the trumpet - Verhofstadt is an absolute nut on the subject, and he is well out of sync with the national governments on this. The French might make noises, but they are never going to give up their vetos. Everyone else's, sure - but not theirs...
All of it would have to be voted on, repeatedly - not least because it's all new treaty stuff - and it would be subject to many vetos.
Also worth pinging who is blowing the trumpet - Verhofstadt is an absolute nut on the subject, and he is well out of sync with the national governments on this. The French might make noises, but they are never going to give up their vetos. Everyone else's, sure - but not theirs...
Those things are only bad if you don't want to see a United States of Europe. I personally think a Federal Europe would be a good thing.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Perhaps you could outline the status of the conference and the likelihood of its proposals ever coming into effect
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
The conference was the final stage of a proposal agreed by both the European Commission and European Parliament two years ago . Its brief was to look at the medium to long term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to its policies and institutions.
The final report ( 325 recommendations to achieve 49 objectives across 9 themes apparently )from the Conference will be presented to the Presidents by the three Co-Chairs. Then at some stage, it should go to the European Parliament. The two right wing groupings, the European Conservatives and Reformists group and the Identity and Democracy group walked out and refused to endorse the proposals. The remainder representing the majority in the Parliament voted unanimously to back the proposals.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Why do you want to see a United States of Europe ?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
A European grouping of peoples could be no bad thing. But anything based around the current set of states can never be anything more than another repressive institution. We need to move beyond the state
Because I think Europe is probably doomed to irrelevancy otherwise, and being subject to manipulation by the US, Russia, China, and probably India in future. In fact it already is a bit like that.
Compared to 20 years ago, our daily life is far more dominated by US companies than even before - Google, Amazon, Netflix, Meta/Facebook. This is reflected in how in 2007, UK per capita income was higher than the US, but now it is less than 2/3s. A similiar trend is Europe-wide.
One European country is currently being invaded by Russia and there is a possibility of another (Moldova) as well and perhaps an additional conflict in Bosnia instigated by Russia. This isn't a problem which is likely to go away and having an EU Army is preferable to being in NATO.
European countries also run a massive trade deficit with China. I think a more coherent and common economic policy would help with this, as well as countering increased US economic dominance.
And from a socialist perspective - the response to neoliberal globalisation isn't a return to the nationstate, but for more internationalism. I have no illusions that a European federation will be a socialist state, but it will create the conditions for a common European socialist movement, and will be no harder to reform than individual capitalist states - in fact it will be easier to reform because it will have less need to fear capital flight. Western European states protecting workers rights may lead to outsourcing to lower paid Eastern European states, but if there is a federal European state this would be less of an issue.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Being as America is dominated by American companies how come these companies haven't had the same impact on American per capita incomes that you suggest they've had here? And maybe the EU/UK relative decline is down to eg a decade of fracking in the us and more than a decade of (at least in the UK) abysmal economic policies which have seen the millions of public sector workers reduced to c.4/5 of their pre-financial crisis wages, in real terms
I didn't say it was a cause of it, I said it is a symptom.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
It may be a symptom. It may not be a symptom. You don't seem to me to adduce enough actual evidence to support your conclusion
gosub
~#
EU defense force passed treaty under Blair. Political will on it comes down to whether EU parliament will give it the budget
No I don't really know for sure what the relationship is tbh. Just an opinion. I think it is probably related in some way - that there are few major European tech companies emerging in the last couple of decades compared to American and East Asian ones is probably not unrelated to a comparative decline in wealth - but I haven't really looked into it in detail.
ska invita
back on the other side
that is an interesting point (about capital flight) i havent heard before
how would it " create the conditions for a common European socialist movement"??
my optimistic/naive thought is that the EU is composed of the governments of the states within it and if key countries (Germany, France etc) go left together at some future point then the EU can also be reformed.... not totally impossible Id imagine....but unlikely for endless reasons
The EU is, like the WTO, from its founding, "a project of deregulation and redistribution of wealth to the wealthy"
Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism by Quinn Slobodian (a europhile) is good if dry on this. Hayek, Mises and others, and their reaction to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
That it'll "create the conditions for a common European socialist movement" is optimistic. But never say never
Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism by Quinn Slobodian (a europhile) is good if dry on this. Hayek, Mises and others, and their reaction to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
That it'll "create the conditions for a common European socialist movement" is optimistic. But never say never
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