Sorry for hitting everyone over the head with the “Brexit” stuff…but I have major pain issues today and I am depending on drafts to get the day done…….hopefully tomorrow will be a better day….
The big vote last week when Britain decided to leave the EU has brought about a wealth of speculation…..as usual Americans do not have much of an opinion basically because they cannot see the big picture just the momentary snap shot in the news….
This will be one of my last posts on the “Brexit” story…….I will try and present as much info as possible on this situation for those that may be interested enough to read……(like that would ever happen)…..
The United States remains the world’s indispensable nation — indispensable to international peace, security, and stability, and indispensable to safe-guarding and advancing the ideals and principles we hold dear.
Source: FPI Resources: Brexit’s Implications for the United States | Foreign Policy Initiative
This source has multiple sources to help understand the event….
Could this vote be the end of the United Kingdom?
While the results of last night’s Brexit referendum put a square majority of voters in favor of leaving the European Union, the vote split starkly across geographic regions, with Northern Ireland and every single district in Scotland voting decisively to stay. Ultimately it was England and Wales that carried the night.
That’s not necessarily the end of things, however, with Scotland’s First Minister calling the Brexit referendum “democratically unacceptable,” and vowing that the Scottish government would immediately move toward another independence referendum.
Scottish independence lost a vote in 2014, but at the time the narrative was that voting to remain within the UK was vital to staying in the EU, with the corollary that Britain might not let an independent Scotland into the EU. That argument was seen as a major centerpiece of the anti-independence movement. Just a year and a half later, remaining part of the UK has meant Scotland being dragged out of the EU against its will, and with the belief that Scotland was sold a bill of goods, the SNP is pushing to re-do the referendum on the basis of the new reality.
Northern Ireland might not be far behind, with the major Sinn Fein party calling for a vote within the region to withdraw from the United Kingdom and unite with EU member Ireland,. a long-time ambition for many in Northern Ireland at any rate.
Even tiny Gibraltar, which voted over 95% to remain in the EU, might be up for grabs, with Spain pushing for Britain to allow joint control of the tiny region as a way to keep the rock within the European Union’s economy.
But what about the rest of the continent? Who will follow and who will stay?
Brexit dominated the Greek media on Friday. After so much drama over Greece’s potential exit from the EU and its heroic efforts to remain in the bloc, it was British voters who elected to leave.
Following international trends, the Athens stock market plunged, and Greek tour agencies expressed concerns about whether the result would hurt the flow of British tourists.
(antiwar.com)
Source: After Brexit, could there be Grexit? – News from Al Jazeera
With the European Union still reeling after last night’s British referendum coming out solidly in favor of withdrawing from the Union, Euroskeptic movements elsewhere on the continent are gaining momentum, with calls for votes in several nations.
French presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen is openly threatening a “Frexit” vote if elected, saying she would push for negotiations to expand French sovereignty within the EU and, if unsuccessful, move straight on to leaving the union, saying Britain “is setting a precedent.”
If Dutch MP Geert Wilders has his way, the Netherlands would be the next to hold a referendum. Recent opinion polls in the Netherlands show a major in favor of holding such a referendum, and while there’s not an overall majority in favor of leaving yet, analysts believe the British departure will add to that movement.
Italy’s Northern League, another Euroskeptic group, is also calling for a law that would allow such a referendum to take place. The Italian constitution currently does not allow referenda on international agreements, so such a law change would need to take place before they could hold any sort of binding vote
(antiwar.com)
Speaking of the Netherlands……
The referendum result puts the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and the mainstream political parties supporting him in an awkward position. After Ireland, no country in the eurozone has closer economic and financial ties to the UK, with both nations favouring free trade and close relations to Washington. The Netherlands has huge investments in the UK and followed Britain into its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever and Elsevier are all successful Anglo-Dutch multinationals.
Please read and if you have any questions I will try and answer them as best I can….if not I have several regulars that have opinions on this situation and I am sure they will be thrilled to share those with you.
I am not a Guardianista fan…(slang / derogative)
As for Gibraltar, it is a Dump!
They can keep it….it is a ridiculous situation.
Give it back to the Spanish…they could well improve it….or at least try….
Good luck to the Spanish!
But they have primates there! LOL
You built The Rock ..and now you’re going to make the Spanish pay for it??? How about a Vote Trump! while you’re at it? (Hehehe) Your Empire stole it, ruled it, benefited greatly from it…and now “Off to the dustbin with you losers”?
People are calling this referendum a “victory for democracy”. But, when it comes to a democratic mandate…Gibraltar send a FAR, FAR, FAR clearer message to London than Britain send to the EU. Nearly a third (28%) of Brits stayed home to watch Benny Hill re-runs and those that did show up left a 50-50 vote at the polls….Shit, over 26,000 actually managed to botch their ballot and not get their vote counted. That’s how inept it all was. The only political “leader” that won over their own followers was Nigel Garage and his UKIP.
Meanwhile, 84% of “dumpy” Gibraltar showed up and 96% of them voted to stay in the EU. It don’t get closer to unanimous than that. You probably can’t get those kind of numbers for a “Do you like Page 3 photos?” referendum among hetero-males these days.
There is nothing worse than a bunch of ‘Little Englanders’ living on the Rock…
Read up about what this vote was really about…tits up to you!
politics is a ‘dirty’ game….and so is ukip & so the tories…
Try going to Benidorm and watch the English integrate. They can’t even speak the language. The vote holds..the North won it and most of them have been sidelined by successive governments for years….this is a class war..against the ‘elite’ nothing more, nothing less….and you talk about democracy?….pawns in a game…that includes the Falkland fiasco….and that neo con Thatcher…having the cheek to extend her hand to Pinochet….
just in..
“Former Pinochet general found liable for torture and murder of celebrated folk singer Victor Jara… … along with countless others and the involvement of the CIA..there is an old saying…and as a proverbial expression it’s half a millennium old. The older fuller form was curses are like chickens; they always come home to roost, meaning that your offensive words or actions are likely at some point to rebound on you.
This woman waited 43 years to secure justice for her slain husband http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/victor-jara-former-pinochet-general-found-liable-for-torture-and-murder-of-celebrated-folk-singer-a7106811.html
Yes 43 years….think on it.
And the dockers/unions ‘up north’ at that time refused to handle goods from Chile…kudos to them. Real people with a Real conscious..like a lot of people up North.
Allende still lives!
I do not forget.
The Rock built itself…..the Rock is not the problem..
The fallacy, and the failure of reformism By William Bowles http://williambowles.info/2016/06/27/the-fallacy-and-the-failure-of-reformism-by-william-bowles/ …
Read up about what this vote was really about…tits up to you!
What??? I heard Cameron passed a repressive “anti-porn” law. But I didn’t know this referendum was really about Britain leaving the EU so the Conservatives could ban pictures of tits altogether. Well, come to think of it, you Brits are…British! So, I guess the attack on anything sexual makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up. But there are a lot better reasons to leave the EU than that.
Yes. I did read up on this and I got about 63 million different answers as to what this was “really about”….which is problematic all on its own. I doubt it was the most popular motivation, but unquestionably the loudest response was “It’s about keeping the darkies out!” Aside from that, it was a clusterfuck of issues, conspiracies…and delusional dreams of unicorns. And everybody was sure their pet reason was the REAL one. For example, neither Thatcher, nor Pinochet were on the ballot. (Both of whom deserve even worse than what they did to others.)
I read the Leave campaign website and, aside from some comments on the NHS, it sounded exactly like the same old neo-liberal anti-tax, anti-regulation, pro-free-trade arguments. But with bizarre references to the strength of the UK military and a racist undertone scattered throughout. More specifically, they called for free-trade deals with India & China. Nope! Boris Karloff and his Leave buddies sure as shit didn’t win me over! If anything, they knocked me off the fence & toward Remain.
And neither did Corbyn convince me of either of his 2 directions. There’s NO excuse for that kind of disingenuous bullshit. “Vote Remain. Even though I’m not!” And I actually had some hope for him. I’d expect that kind of bullshit from Tony Blair.
“The vote holds..the North won it and most of them have been sidelined by successive governments for years”
The north won? No, Scotland voted strongly against it. (& Northern Ireland to a lesser extend.) After being blackmailed during the Scottish referendum that “leaving the UK would mean leaving the EU too”, the English fucked Scotland yet again by deciding to pull out of the EU themselves. Quick, somebody call Mel Gibson! Scotland’s been trapped in a far worse situation and for a lot longer than Great Britain has with the EU. “Freeedom!!!” indeed.
But what does the vote hold? It’s a sieve at best. It was NOT legally binding. If so inclined, Cameron’s replacement could just put the whole thing in a shredder. For example,
“Sorry, 51.9% isn’t enough.”
“Sorry, I think we need an 80% turnout.”
“Best 2 out of 3…No, 3 of 5. Okay, 4 of 7. Alright, 300 out of 500? For reals this time”
this is a class war..against the ‘elite’ nothing more, nothing less….and you talk about democracy?
And just what the fuck are you talking about? (Half the time, I have no idea.) You want class warfare instead of democracy? If so…(Spoiler Alert: The Upper Class Wins!)
The elite was on the ballot? Probably, but where? Actually, they were on both sides of the ballot…literally and figuratively. Political elites generally favoured Remain, even as some like Corbyn worked against his own position. The ultimate Media Elite, Rupert Murdoch, wanted Out. (Major alarm bell there!) But Economic Elites supported both sides. Why? Because ultimately, they win either way.
They win by staying in and doing nothing. (Common Market, City of London Exemption) They also win by leaving. They just have to expend some effort. (Buying elections, lobbying) But getting those regulation-free trade deals with soon-to-be-ex-EU members and unrestrained access to the virtual slave market in Asia will be MORE than worth it. And when the EU collapses, who is going to negotiate all those replacement trade deals in total secrecy? Brussels Sprouts, David Camerons, Tony Blairs & Gerhard Schröders, that’s who!
I don’t see any “victory” in any of it, just the potential for losing what’s left.
I see Welsh nationalists are also looking at a way out…..porn ban? What a waste of time that will be….clusterfuck is the best description yet….
May tomorrow be a better day chuq…
I can only hope….with enough meds it will be…LOL
I tweeted the opposing view…
Britain’s exit is a good thing for everyone: Opposing View
Cool
“Sorry for hitting everyone over the head with the “Brexit” stuff”
By all means. It’s an important topic with global implications. Mind you, 3 stories in the same day might “disperse the discussion” a tad too much. (But hey. At least it’s relevant!) My biggest objection is the use of that damn cutesy “couple name” terminology that only diminishes the importance of the subject.
But this particular variation of the EU topic touches on several reservations I had about the referendum….not to mention that it wasn’t legally binding. Great idea! “Tell us what YOU want, but we’ll do what WE want anyway.” Modern democracy in nutshell!
<b.1) Speaking of Shell…it and many other multi-nationals are drooling at the thought of not having to be bound by trade deals with pesky labour & environmental standards. They want the kind of American style trade agreements that force workers into a permanent limbo dictated by corporations. It’s all about maximizing corporate profits. No room for “common values”…or any value that isn’t a purely monetary one.
And that’s what the Brits are eventually going to wake up to. The Powers That Be are NOT going back to the days of a “national economy” where nation states determined things with the benefit of their own citizenry in mind. I got a better chance of getting a threesome with Scarlett Johansson & Angelina Joile by the end of next week.
They will use the First-Past-The-Post electoral system to get Majority power with minority of the votes (a-la Cameron & Canuckistan’s Stevie Herpes). They will negotiate standards-free trade deals with everybody they can. And Lefties beware. Tony Blair shows how easily even Labour gets New (World Ordered) when given Majority power.
2) Splitting the atom of an atomic power Once you break off a chunk of something, every chuck wants out. Canada has dabbled with this before. During our last Quebec referendum, Native groups, Montrealers (and others) demanded their own referendum to leave Quebec. Native lands literally power Quebec with vast surpluses of exportable hydro-electricity, so that was taken seriously.
Because the Scots got blackmailed to stay and then were “bait & switched”…Scotland is as good as gone! And that will drive the remnants of Britain further to the political right (See: last GBR election where Scotland left Labour for the SNP and gave Cameron an undeserved Majority)
Separatist momentum in Northern Ireland will grow too. And how could that ever go wrong? Hell, even those hard-to-understand Welsh might push to leave. And those even-harder-to-understand Doc Martin-ites in Cornwall may seek to revive their King Arthur “Tintagel glory” after they realize they aren’t getting billions of EU funding. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/26/cornwall-fears-loss-of-funding-after-backing-brexit
I look for Britannia to crumble further and further submit itself to the whims of corporations and the US Empire…which will make the EU (good or bad) look great by comparison.
I agree….sadly I have said in the past many Americans cannot see past their backyards…..I think it is a terribly important situation and will do what I can to try and help people understand….I agree the crumbling has started and shall continue….
Today’s run of comments on this subject brings a thought to mind, from our old friend Sam; he wasn’t necessarily speaking of politics, but, as with any good aphorism, it’s flexible, metaphorically…. This is particularly cogent given that many folks from different places seem to have opinions about other places…. so, it seems apropos to me….
“Don’t tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.”
— Mark Twain
I would say, people from a place might well have a firmer, and, more invested, opinion, than those who view the issue from elsewhere….
Twain also had a good one, cautioning us to “Consider well the proportion of things.”…..
There is so much bullshit, and so many different parties involved in this issue, there really isn’t much room for outsiders to have a valid opinion…. yet.
Besides… it’s politics, and, by definition, it’s poopadoodle, so what’s everyone getting so worked up about?
Sheesh.
gigoid, the dubious
gigoid, the dubious
Not sure why I signed twice… Must have been positive about what I said… I won’t sign this one to balance….
😉
All equations need to balance, right? chuq
*smile*
Yep. Q.E.D…..
Me? I am enjoying the panic….makes me sleep well chuq
I am glad someone is….though I confess, I knew it would happen…however. I underestimated the ‘vileness’
Shucks!
Yeah….the vile accusations seem to fly….it is fascinating to me since I am into international relations….
‘we’ at the moment are undergoing a very messy divorce….
🙁
There is what appears to be a ‘cultural revolution’ here..sound familiar?…cycles/patterns/chaos.
yes indeed…