I've just been reading Francis Fukuyama's wrongly maligned The End Of History And The Last Man. The final 'Last Man' section asks how satisfied we will actually all be with secure liberal democracy. On the uprisings of 1968 I quote:
'Those students who temporarily took over Paris and brought down General de Gaulle had no rational reason to rebel, as they were for the most part pampered offspring of one of the freest and most prosperous societies on earth. But it was precisely the absence of struggle and sacrifice in their middle class lives that led them to take to the streets and take on the police. While many of them were infatuated with unworkable fragments of ideas about Maoism, they had no particularly coherent vision of a better society. The substance of their protest however was a matter of indifference; what they rejected was life in a society in which ideals had somehow become impossible.'
The Guardian front page is what we were talking about earlier. It is a hypothetical based on the EU blocking non AZ exports. All the reports this evening have restricted the suggestion to blocking AZ (only) exports of undetermined nature.
This is entirely consistent with the EU complaining consisently about AZ not meeting their delivery targets (and them claiming that they are in breach of contract for doing so). They have no logical grounds (given where they have pitched their tent) to pivot this to targeting companies, such as Pfizer, which are hitting their delivery targets.
I know. I wasn't arguing about the facts of the "EU ban". I was just pointing out that this is going to be huge news.
The EU has got a big splash in UK media, and that will spread.
Maybe. Or it just makes the Guardian look stupid for splashing on the "wrong" story.
Probably find their later editions change.
This is definitely not the "wrong" story. This will be headline news tomorrow on TV. Guardian and FT just got there first; fair play to them for good journalism
The story in the Guardian is about banning Pfizer exports, and a crippling blow to the UK vaccine rollout. The actual story and proposal is about blocking AZ exports (and there are strong doubts expressed whether this will have any impact on the rollout (i'm attracted by the theory that this is UK attempting to replace thh 5m doses from the Indian setback) and about whether the latter amounts to anything other than tokenism).
Unless something changes, it's clearly the 'wrong' story, both in facts about what the EU is proposing and consequences for the UK.
No, we just don't know, The EU has already explicitly threatened to block "vaccine exports" to the UK, Given that this must mean Pfizer (only AZ ingredients, if anything, go EU>UK) we need to be concerned. Very concerned.
Today the EU is obviously briefing British journalists that they might just go for precursors, OR they might do the whole Pfizer thing. Is it brinkmanship? The Nixon strategy? What?
This is not the wrong story. This is THE story. It threatens to blow up the UK/EU relationship for a decade or two. It is monumental.
Arguably, just by putting this story out there, the EU has fucked its reputation in the UK, even with many Remainers, for a loooooong time. Because it comes after all their other insanities. It can't be dismissed as a one-off
What do you mean - "the EU is clearly briefing that they might go for banning Pfizer". There is no such briefing at all as far as i can tell. The Guardian story doesn't claim such briefing. It is a hypothetical projection of what would happen if they did, but there is no indication (as confirmed by all the subsequent stories) that they will.
The FT story is that Johnson has been ringing around certain EU capitals to check that a Pfizer block isn't going to happen. He seems to have been reassured on that point.
When this kicked off a few days ago the talk was about a blanket ban on vaccine exports.
And now it isn't. It appears. Von-der-Leyen is flailing about all over the place.
The vaguely saner elements have realised that attempting to block Pfizer exports, a company meeting its EU delivery targets, because of dissatisfaction with what is happening with AZ would be... even more counterproductive than escalating the dispute purely with AZ. And Belgium aren't on board with it. And would bring down serious displeasure from the US as well. And that's before you factor in that the UK have genuine leverage with Pfizer in that we supply them with their key ingredients.
Sometimes people really should focus on the reality, and not the rhetoric.
Comments
'Those students who temporarily took over Paris and brought down General de Gaulle had no rational reason to rebel, as they were for the most part pampered offspring of one of the freest and most prosperous societies on earth. But it was precisely the absence of struggle and sacrifice in their middle class lives that led them to take to the streets and take on the police. While many of them were infatuated with unworkable fragments of ideas about Maoism, they had no particularly coherent vision of a better society. The substance of their protest however was a matter of indifference; what they rejected was life in a society in which ideals had somehow become impossible.'
The vaguely saner elements have realised that attempting to block Pfizer exports, a company meeting its EU delivery targets, because of dissatisfaction with what is happening with AZ would be... even more counterproductive than escalating the dispute purely with AZ. And Belgium aren't on board with it. And would bring down serious displeasure from the US as well. And that's before you factor in that the UK have genuine leverage with Pfizer in that we supply them with their key ingredients.
Sometimes people really should focus on the reality, and not the rhetoric.