The Divided State of Europe

pepe

Celestial
Sign of the times and the EU.

Remember how the EU pointed the finger at Viktor Orban for firing tear gas at the migrants and pushing them back, why are they now backing Greece for doing the same thing with those coming through Turkey.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Sign of the times and the EU.

Remember how the EU pointed the finger at Viktor Orban for firing tear gas at the migrants and pushing them back, why are they now backing Greece for doing the same thing with those coming through Turkey.

Seems almost like a little too late type of thing, a foothold situation has already occurred in many countries of Europe, now they have to watch their backs too, not just the front gates...

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pepe

Celestial
Seems almost like a little too late type of thing, a foothold situation has already occurred in many countries of Europe, now they have to watch their backs too, not just the front gates...

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It annoys me to change the ethic after Merkel's open arms policy which then turned into free kitchens if they go home. It's gone I think, the globalists dream was taken too far and the recoil is on for years to come. The downfall of the EU I hope comes in time, not because of the want to destruct but because I want individual nation states to be free.
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
I am not very familiar with European politics but I watch Stuart Varney on the Fox Business Channel almost every day. He is a British expat who came to the US to become a journalist in the early 70's. He claims he left the UK out of disgust because it became a socialist state around that time.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

pepe

Celestial
This streamer makes me laugh a lot.


Ash appears on the BBC predominantly and has gone to another level, one I think she needs a slap for, by another woman of course and preferably from a minority so she gets the message.

Sickens me.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Hundreds of Yellow Vest protestors clash on the streets of Paris in anti-government demonstration as they defy ban on street crowds due to the coronavirus pandemic

Screenshot_20200314-164311.jpg

Violent anti-Government Yellow Vest protests continued in France today - despite a ban on street gatherings because of the killer coronavirus. A crowd estimated at around 800 gathered in central Paris to call for an end to President Emmanuel Macron's administration. By early afternoon fighting had broken out between elements of the crowd and CRS riot police, who fought back with tear gas and baton charges. 'There were 20 arrests for offences related to violent disorder,' said a spokesman the scene, in Boulevard Arago, close to Montparnasse station. It was the 70th Saturday in a row that the so-called Yellow Vests, who are named after their trademark fluorescent motoring jackets, have taken to the streets (pictured, protestors clashing with riot police).

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wwkirk

Divine
Hundreds of Yellow Vest protestors clash on the streets of Paris in anti-government demonstration as they defy ban on street crowds due to the coronavirus pandemic

View attachment 9081

Violent anti-Government Yellow Vest protests continued in France today - despite a ban on street gatherings because of the killer coronavirus. A crowd estimated at around 800 gathered in central Paris to call for an end to President Emmanuel Macron's administration. By early afternoon fighting had broken out between elements of the crowd and CRS riot police, who fought back with tear gas and baton charges. 'There were 20 arrests for offences related to violent disorder,' said a spokesman the scene, in Boulevard Arago, close to Montparnasse station. It was the 70th Saturday in a row that the so-called Yellow Vests, who are named after their trademark fluorescent motoring jackets, have taken to the streets (pictured, protestors clashing with riot police).

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Would it be wrong for me to wish illness upon them?
 

nivek

As Above So Below
EU clutches at bazooka to stop members going it alone on coronavirus

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is considering the drastic step of suspending nearly all incoming travel to the 27-member bloc to combat not only the coronavirus but also the “every country for itself” ethos spreading rapidly through member states.

The EU’s 27 leaders will hold a teleconference on Tuesday to discuss the proposal, which would cover 30 European countries — all EU member states except Ireland, plus the four non-EU countries that are part of the Schengen border-free zone.

But at least eight EU states have already taken matters into their own hands, unilaterally shutting out foreign nationals or partially closing their borders to one or more neighboring country. They include the EU’s biggest state, founder-member Germany.

Those decisions have left Schengen, a pillar of European free movement for 35 years, in tatters, for now at least.

French President Emmanuel Macron, a passionate integrationist, on Monday condemned the closures after a phone briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU officials.

(More on the link)


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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Hundreds of Yellow Vest protestors clash on the streets of Paris in anti-government demonstration as they defy ban on street crowds due to the coronavirus pandemic

View attachment 9081

Violent anti-Government Yellow Vest protests continued in France today - despite a ban on street gatherings because of the killer coronavirus. A crowd estimated at around 800 gathered in central Paris to call for an end to President Emmanuel Macron's administration. By early afternoon fighting had broken out between elements of the crowd and CRS riot police, who fought back with tear gas and baton charges. 'There were 20 arrests for offences related to violent disorder,' said a spokesman the scene, in Boulevard Arago, close to Montparnasse station. It was the 70th Saturday in a row that the so-called Yellow Vests, who are named after their trademark fluorescent motoring jackets, have taken to the streets (pictured, protestors clashing with riot police).

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they do like their protests, eh? here we do s**t like that after sporting events ....
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
EU clutches at bazooka to stop members going it alone on coronavirus

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is considering the drastic step of suspending nearly all incoming travel to the 27-member bloc to combat not only the coronavirus but also the “every country for itself” ethos spreading rapidly through member states.

The EU’s 27 leaders will hold a teleconference on Tuesday to discuss the proposal, which would cover 30 European countries — all EU member states except Ireland, plus the four non-EU countries that are part of the Schengen border-free zone.

But at least eight EU states have already taken matters into their own hands, unilaterally shutting out foreign nationals or partially closing their borders to one or more neighboring country. They include the EU’s biggest state, founder-member Germany.

Those decisions have left Schengen, a pillar of European free movement for 35 years, in tatters, for now at least.

French President Emmanuel Macron, a passionate integrationist, on Monday condemned the closures after a phone briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU officials.

(More on the link)


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This is why they build ships and submarines with watertight compartments. Better to all drown with a clear conscience, right?
 

pepe

Celestial
Very telling for the EU all this.

It shows that crisis doesn't pull them together to act as one as they run back to fight the fire. Nigel said this will be their beginning of their end.

Oversees donations and EU funding ? After all this bailing.

Nigel might be right on this one too.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
they do like their protests, eh? here we do s**t like that after sporting events ....

Yeah, these yellow vests had gone irrational. Now they are protesting for the sake of protesting.

One more reason to replace all the politicians with AI. World would be such a beautiful place without politics.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Coronavirus: Is Europe losing Italy?
Furious at their plight being ignored and over resistance to coronabonds, Italians’ sense of betrayal deepens

A year ago Carlo Calenda ran in European parliamentary elections in Italy under the slogan “We are Europeans”, a rallying cry to defend his country’s place in the EU at a time of rising nationalism. Now even Mr Calenda, a 46-year-old former minister and Italian permanent representative to the EU, is experiencing a crisis of faith in an idea he has spent a lifetime fighting for.

“This is an existential threat, I am not sure if we are going to make it,” he says. “You have to consider my party is one of the most pro-European parties in Italy and I now have members writing to me saying: ‘Why do we want to stay in the EU? It is useless.’” As Italy faces its most severe crisis since the second world war, with more than 15,000 deaths from coronavirus and its economy on course to suffer the deepest recession in its modern history, there is a rising feeling among even its pro-European elite that the country is being abandoned by its neighbours.


“A massive, massive shift is happening in Italy. You have thousands of pro-Europeans moving to this position,” says Mr Calenda, who leads the recently formed liberal Action party. Last month Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s softly-spoken 78-year-old president, and the man its establishment has relied on to safeguard its constitution and international alliances, warned the future of Europe was at stake if its institutions did not show solidarity with their country. “I hope that everyone fully understands, before it is too late, the seriousness of the threat to Europe,” he said in an evening television address beamed into the homes of millions of Italians.

Many in Rome now feel that unless bold action is taken by northern European countries, they risk Italy turning its back on the European project forever. There are already signs that Italian faith in the EU has been damaged. In a survey conducted last month by Tecnè, 67 per cent of respondents said they believed being part of the union was a disadvantage for their country, up from 47 per cent in November 2018. Donald Tusk, the former European Council president, told the FT the situation today was much more worrying than during the euro crisis — both politically and economically.

(more on the link)

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nivek

As Above So Below
German minister: Coronavirus crisis won't make Brexit easier

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the coronavirus crisis would not make Brexit negotiations easier, adding that Berlin would use its EU presidency in the second half of the year to ensure there is a “good result” for both the EU and Britain.

“Whether I think the extension of Brexit negotiations and the deadlines there are until the end of the year is good or not is irrelevant - the British government rejects that and made that clear again last week. It certainly won’t be easier given the coronavirus crisis,” he told a news conference on Friday.


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nivek

As Above So Below
French President Macron refuses to 'erase' history by removing colonial-era statues

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday declared his full support for the fight against racism, but refused to let his country take down statues of controversial, colonial-era figures.

Macron publicly acknowledged that someone’s “address, name, color of skin” could reduce their chances to succeed in French society. He called for assurances that everyone could “find their place” in society, regardless of origin.

Regarding calls to remove statues representing France’s slave trade or colonial wrongs, though, Macron said, “the republic will not erase any trace, or any name, from its history... it will not take down any statue.”

PFrance.jpg


Hundreds of demonstrators gathering on the Champs de Mars as the Eiffel Tower is seen in the background during a demonstration in Paris earlier this month.

The calls echoed similar demands in other countries, such as in the U.S. and United Kingdom, to remove statues of slave traders or Confederate soldiers who fought to preserve slavery.

“We should look at all of our history together” including relations with Africa, with a goal of “truth” instead of “denying who we are,” Macron said.

Following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, protests against racism and police brutality spread around the globe. The protests have since focused more on national concerns regarding both topics, and France in some ways has struggled to cope with it.

AP20165529801820.jpg

A demonstration against police brutality and racism in Paris this past Saturday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

As a measure to show a commitment to reform, France passed a national ban on the use of chokeholds and vowed to stamp out racism among police. Many members of the police force responded angrily, claiming such statements and actions painted officers across the country as white supremacists.

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French police unionists demonstrating with a banner reading, "No police, no peace," on the Champs-Elysee avenue near the Arc de Triomphe this past Friday in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The French culture minister recently denounced the decision to cancel a Paris showing of the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” as contrary to freedom of expression. He also criticized attempts to remove a piece of African art from a Paris museum dedicated to works from former colonies.

Sibeth Ndiaye, a close ally of Macron and a prominent black figure in current French politics, published an essay in Le Monde that called for France to rethink its colorblind policy, which was said to ignore race in an attempt to encourage equality.

“We must not hesitate to name things, to say that a skin color is not neutral,” she wrote. She called on the French to confront its history and find a “shared narrative” with former colonies.

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Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
Those statues should be respected.

We will never learn from our history if we erase it.

The same way we embrace social and cultural diversity, we should embrace the diversity of our history. One lesson keeps coming back from history, and that is that monolithic and brainwashed societies fail because they are too brittle when faced with inevitable social changes. Having a stomach to embrace diversity of one's own history reinforces idea that change is good. That makes a flexible and dynamic society that can take on any challenge.
 
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Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
This streamer makes me laugh a lot.


Ash appears on the BBC predominantly and has gone to another level, one I think she needs a slap for, by another woman of course and preferably from a minority so she gets the message.

Sickens me.


Agreed: "When in Rome Do as Romans Do".

She's sending an extremely negative message.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
France sends the army into Dijon as city is turned into a war zone by assault rifle-toting Chechen gangs mounting revenge attacks on Arab gangsters for beating of 16-year-old



Horrifying videos released on social media show well-armed masked men - who also brandish pistols - in the eastern city of Dijon, 200 miles from Paris. The hooded gang members (pictured left) are refugees from Chechnya - part of the Russian Federation which has been involved in two bloody independence wars over the past 26 years. 'Unrest has been going on for the past three nights,' a Dijon police source said on Monday. 'Chechen gangs linked to the drug trade and other criminal activity have mobilised to take part in battles with other gangs.' Military reinforcements were flooding into Dijon (inset bottom) after Chechen gangs were filmed firing assault rifles in the air as they prepared to carry out 'revenge attacks'. Inset top and right: Chaotic scenes in Dijon

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nivek

As Above So Below
Spain Becomes Europe’s Weak Link

The Spanish economy is suffering from a particularly bad resurgence in Covid-19 cases as well as its outsized exposure to tourism


Once a rising star of the European economy, Spain is on a path to becoming its problem child—and the latest example of why global investors should tread carefully around Southern European stocks.

This week, the latest readings of the purchasing managers index published by IHS Markit confirmed two trends. The first is that global manufacturing activity is recovering at a much faster pace than services. The second is that, among big developed countries, Spain seems to be in particular trouble.

The pandemic has made these polls of companies more difficult to interpret than usual. Still, they show Spain performing worse than its European peers, including Italy, which was the economic laggard coming into the crisis and was worse hit by the first wave of Covid-19 cases.


Spain has been unable to contain the spread of the virus. In the spring, officials took too long to act, only to later establish the strictest of lockdowns. Unlike Italy, the country then tried to return to normal too fast—its leader of health emergencies went abroad on vacation just weeks after advising against travel between provinces. Infection rates rebounded sharply in the summer, such that Spain accounted for one-third of Europe’s daily Covid-19 cases. Now, Madrid is one of the region’s hardest-hit cities, and new measures that directly impact the services sector have been enacted.

The structure of Spain’s economy, which enjoyed a growth spurt between 2015 and 2019, explains why it is at risk now. Tourism directly accounts for 12% of Spanish gross domestic product—more than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—and employs 14% of the population.

Official figures suggest that half of the one million jobs lost during the depths of the outbreak have already been recovered. But there are an additional 735,000 being propped up by subsidized furlough programs. Many are tourism-related roles that will probably disappear as soon as support ceases. The real unemployment rate is likely well above 20%, rather than the official 15%.

In the medium term, what is even more important for all economies is how much money consumers have once the pandemic is over. Reduced earnings could depress demand for years and even cause a double-dip recession. In the U.S., an expansion of unemployment subsidies and stimulus checks led personal income to increase more than 10% in the second quarter even as people lost their jobs. In Southern Europe and Spain in particular, by contrast, income losses have been very steep, Oxford Economics analyst Ángel Talavera has pointed out.

The reason is that these governments have been less willing or able to widen their budget deficits by opening their purses, despite support from the European Central Bank. While Oxford Economics forecasts a rebound in Spanish personal income in the third quarter, the economic gap with richer nations is likely to widen from here. European reconstruction funds will probably arrive too late—over the past week, governance questions have put the timing further at risk—and won’t fix Spain’s overreliance on relatively unproductive industries like tourism.

A big question for investors over the past few months has been whether to tilt their portfolios from the U.S. to Europe. The pain in Spain is a warning of the dangers involved.


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