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Copyright Helen Cochrane & Nicholas Leonard 2017
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It's important Trump heals the wounds. Because I backed that at 4 in the speech market.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-15/
He'd come across as not-very-convincing triple-agent.
Trump doesn't respect gove, farage and the brexiteers - he sees them as pawns who can be played.
If you think the EU is an undemocratic superstate wannabe and that it's apparent desire to damage a member state that has democratically voted to do its own thing is a malign act - then no. It looks like in future we'll be a bit closer to the USA and a bit further from the EU. Good.
President Truman gutted the Whitehouse interior and had it rebuilt, while Nixon installed a bowling alley. No doubt Trump will add something tasteful, like a gold plated Jacuzzi, time will tell.
United far from going down to 8/1 have gone up to 20/1!
He certainly has a soft spot for Farage, it was Farage who helped lift his campaign at that rally in Mississippi when it was at a low ebb
https://twitter.com/politicalhackuk/status/820891791708876800
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!
I do hope we get another Oscars thread from you, that was very impressive last year.
Don't forget that in places like France less than a fifth of people have a positive view of Trump.
http://veteransforbritain.uk/wordpress/?p=119
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/09/the-eu-does-not-preserve-peace-in-europe--instead-it-has-brought/
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2016/05/eu-not-nato-has-brought-peace-our-continent
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/david-cameron-eu-nato-war-in-europe-letters-a7022806.html
http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Truth-Beyond-Price/Was-Europes-Peace-due-to-NATO-or-the-European-Community-Letters-to-the-Telegraph-442235
http://europe.newsweek.com/brexit-boris-johnson-david-cameron-security-nato-eu-457370?rm=eu
Portraying Trump and the whole political phenomemon across the developed world as 'childish' is itself profoundly childish. Remember Einstein's definition of insanity. It's time we tried something different. Something that ordinary voters can feel connected to.
So FUCK YOU helen Cochrane and Nicholas Leonard.
2. I wish I was a psychologist because I could then identify more formally the phenomenon whereby Leavers, who after all have told us all they want "is a common market" a la 1975, now wish harm and failure on the EU.
But I am also struggling to follow the logic whereby a weak, divided EU somehow, in its weakness, decides to further disadvantage itself (and of course "the EU" is, rather, 27 individual countries) by rolling over on behalf of the UK. Much more likely is that they will play harder ball.
If ever there was a time in recent history where we NEED our EU allies this is it
We could be facing disaster
This argument was seen on here all the time, and directly goes against Prez Trump's apparent direction.
What I argued was that it was both; it is self-evident that countries with strong mutual interests will find war a less attractive proposition, and stronger countries working together to protect the interests of smaller countries deters aggression.
Many large wars have started in the past when larger countries start to pick militarily on smaller ones. The EU gives those smaller countries economic and political strength; NATO gives them potential military strength.
And protecting those small countries is to the advantage of us all, as small, local wars can have an annoying tendency to spread.
NATO has done sterling work in enforcing peace in Europe
The author's point is that Nato has enforced peace while the EU has kept it.....
The equivalence is often made between supporting withdrawal from the EU and the UN/NATO/WTO, and other international organisations, but there isn't one and we don't.
My point is that dealing with 4 or 5 similarly sized individual nations in Europe is favourable to the UK. That would require a break up of the EU, something that would not bother me in the slightest.
And as for who is telling whom to piss off, yes of course there is some tactical positioning before negotiations. But they are the club which we have just left and hence I see their "piss off" as more: "these are the rules if you want entry".
However, given the bullshit that has been spouted by both sides, we must be charitable. A cursory reading of any of Guido's comments threads, or anything from the Express will provide ample proof that there are plenty of utterly deluded Brexiteers.
So far this year, it's been comforting to see that the EU is showing signs of recovery. There's every likelihood that they will be finally starting to prosper just as we enter our next recession. Assuming both sides don't actually pull up the trade drawbridge, that could be useful cushion and promote a quicker UK recovery than would otherwise be the case.
We probably need to create a taxonomy of Leavers. I do agree that there's a tranche that actively want the EU to fall apart, for what reason, I cannot fathom.
Russian MPs try to decriminalise domestic abuse. You can abuse your spouse and kids, but only once, and only a little bit:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-duma-parliament-decriminialise-domestic-violence-tradition-parental-authority-battery-abuse-a7523461.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38595993
Interestingly, this appears to be against Putin's wishes.
Boy oh boy is there waste in the MoD, but we're something like short of: RN (5-6 escort capital ships, and about 8-10k sailors), RAF (3-4 squadrons, and about 5k personnel, and maritime surveillance aircraft) and the army about 25k men short. Plus a chunk on R&D.
I'd have thought we'd need c.25 escort ships, 2 carriers, 8 subs, 4 strategic subs and 100+ F35s for our fleet. 6 strike squadrons and 8 for home defence. And about 105,000-110,000 men in the army to have fully flexible strategic options, plus meet our existing standing commitments.
Our logistics and supply arm is probably ok.
If we're not willing to do that, we may as well give up and just have a minimum home defence force because at the moment we are trying (and failing) to do everything on the thinnest of shoe strings, and doing little of it well.
It is January I suppose.
I like most have no idea where all this is going and Trump does not provide confidence or re-assurance. However, I would imagine the EU and in particular the Commission know they are waking up to one of their worse nightmares. The President of the US is anti the Commission and pro the Nation states in a big way.
How is he going to influence the French, Dutch and German elections this year. It is not too much to imagine chaos will reign in Europe which, though I now want to leave, is not a very good place to be
I'm willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, but it's clear that his major early agenda will be domestic, looking to shore up jobs in the US. He's also got every right to be upset with those in NATO who don't meet the commitment they signed up for. My one concern is for the F35 program which is providing the planes for the new UK carriers.
Oh, and the media will always take the piss out of politicians, that's their job and it's a good sign of healthy democracy. Trump's going to have to get used to Alec Baldwin's mug every Saturday night for the next four years. Satirists will double down if they get a reaction.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2V8TO6y0IR4
The question, taking a longer term view, is what is the best situation for the UK, and what policies are likely to achieve that.
I would argue that a peaceful, prosperous Europe would benefit us. It would be a market for our products and would be a natural ally to us. That may or may not involve the EU, but I think the idea that the collapse of the EU would have no negative consequences for the UK (even if just a dramatic increase in the influence of Russia) is naive.
Maybe. Maybe I'm just feeling emboldened by the excellent run of recent political events. Those of us with an instinctive distrust of authoritarian controlling political elites and their contempt for Joe Average have experienced a spiritual liberation. The fear and horror liberal lefties are feeling these days is what the rest of us have been feeling for 40 years. Maybe I'll a thousand 'Deplorable Me' t-shirts printed up. They'd sell well.
In terms of Ireland, you'd have to work hard to find a country that's benefited more from EU membership. They've almost weaned themselves of the UK's economic tit.
Their risks are really around the content of any future treaty (we talked about corporate tax harmonisation a couple of days ago). Post Lisbon and all the ensuing shenanigans there has been little appetite for a new treaty - I wonder if that will change post-Brexit?
Someone whining about a mild cartoon does it for me.
You and I agree on most things, and I'm looking forward to the next few years as you are - but a sweary 9am rant at those who choose to contribute a piece to this site was probably the wrong side of the line.