EU Spectacle
The word spectacle is carefully chosen, since this is what the current drama of which Greece is the symptom, not the cause, has become. It no longer bears any relationship to coherent democratic leadership or process of governance in a workable political and currency union. The cancellation at a moment’s notice of a summit of all EU leaders is extraordinary.
There is a problem with Greece, but it is not that difficult to solve. Indeed this blog working alone would be able to negotiate a workable solution. What is proving impossible is to find an acceptable solution, because the institutions normally established to process decision making at national and international levels are not there, or there in such abundance nobody can detect who is in charge. And to make matters worse the structure of the currency itself is unsustainable as it lacks a treasury and a finance minister answering to an elected government. A committee of finance ministers at loggerheads, elected by only one member state in each case, on conflicting mandates and to differing electoral timetables will work only in the good times and becomes dysfunctional under pressure.
So all we know at this moment is that Greece may or may not go bust tomorrow, the euro looks more like an impediment to growth than an engine of it, and the reputation of the EU as a coherent political union is severely damaged. Beneath that a big gap is developing between the north and the south of Europe, between the politicians and their electors everywhere and between those in the eurozone who want to stand firm to high principle even if it brings the whole thing down, led by the Germans, and by those who feel pragmatic reality demands compromise, led by France and Italy.
At the heart of of this crisis now engulfing the whole EU are three violated principles. You cannot have a democratic political union without an elected forum from which all authority flows. You cannot have a currency which cannot be printed. You cannot have capitalism which does not permit debtors to go bust. The first is violated because the whole EU is wrongly configured. The last two are rescinded because Germany says No.
message 1551:
by
Linda
(new)
Jun 04, 2016 09:56AM
The world can't move on in the fashion you are talking about. There is very little international law that is enforceable. If it is not enforceable, it doesn't mean much. As far as all this fancy talk preventing the next world war, what really prevents it is having a superpower like the US. Britain has that status from 1815 to 1915. That is what really caused the First World War --- Britain didn't prevent it. Germany was rising. It couldn't stop Germany all by itself. If the US falls and declines then you will have WW3. The UN and the International Court of Human Rights have nothing to do with it.
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What you mean is that the news media and publicity gives Middle Eastern Groups a chance to get noticed. And when the War on Terror retreats to being mere words and fancy phrases and turning in upon your own population I agree it doesn't do much good. What helps to foster terrorist groups is a War on Terror that isn't really a war at all but is an exercise in isolationism.What might be more interesting to debate is whether the creation of the internet is going to bring about the end of democracy and the strengthening of totalitarian states in western Europe and even the US. When individuals get too much power there is the perception that there is too much disorder. People demand that the government crack down. Totalitarianism advances. Democracy retreats.
Why didn't Britain stamp on Ireland? Why did it permit the Irish to act that way? If I were Britain I would never have given Ireland its independence. Nor would I have tolerated later on when Irish crazies bombed cars, streets, and shopping centers in England.As far the US, that is where the state of Ireland picked up and fled to. From what I understand the Irish here were funding terrorism back in Ireland and when the US cracked down on terrorist funding after 9/11 it cut off all funding to Irish terrorists, too. I don't think the US government supported Irish terrorists. Individual citizens of Irish descent did.
Yes, I consider Ireland something of an illegitimate or even Pirate State. It should not be part of the EU.
Turn Left to Power: A Roadmap for Labour sounds perfect for my blog. Do you want me to post it there? Ditto on Facebook? Remember I need material especially on weekends. i suppose it details what you think is unfair about the present economic model. Is it possible to come up with solutions for individual countries? Do you think the economic model is worldwide? Or do you think there is that much variation?
How did you become a founding member of the SDP? Or is that in the book, too?
75 sounds very nice right about now. Only a week or two ago we had a high of 80 and we ate lunch outside. I was complaining that the lows at night were still too low, sometimes still in the 50s, and I wanted it to be a little bit warmer. (You have to remember that the humidity right now is extremely low. Yesterday it was 5% so that 80 here when not in the sun can feel cool). You have to be careful what you wish for. 110 doesn't feel cool no matter what the humidity. The worst thing is the glaring sun. We have solar shades in the house to filter it out. Lawrence of Arabia didn't have any such thing I'm sure. I bet you have never seen a solar shade. I should send you a picture.
Yesterday afternoon I snapped a photo of my indoor thermostat telling me that it was 110 outside. You can see it for yourself. I should send it to you. It makes it seem more real.
What is this about “bottles of watery Elixir sold by con men from the backs of wagons in the Wild West”? You must mean the American West. What does that have to do with Europe or whether England leaves the EU? I’d be curious to hear about this. Do you mean a commercial on TV? Online? How is it illustrated? Is it a video? Can you send me a link?
It almost sounds as if you suggest that England adopt the euro as its currency. Is this what you think? Is this possible? Would the British want to give up their own currency for something run by the Germans? This seems like a fantasy. Just think! You wouldn’t be able to have the Queen on the currency anymore.
“First I had not previously recognised Gove, Boris and their friends as underclass” —- What does this mean? Why is Boris the “underclass”? Is this what he is saying? Is he saying that Britain is the underclass in the EU or would be treated as such? Apparently nobody in Europe thinks like the Americans. Here nobody to a man would want a currency controlled from abroad. In fact, it would probably be unconstitutional and would be struck down by the courts. I think it is a dangerous concept. If some foreign country controls your currency, they control your economy, too, and maybe your politics. You lose your independence. Does anybody over there say this?
Why was it never put to a vote? If the Brexit is put to a vote, why not adopting the euro? Also why do you think that your economic woes are due to your currency? You say you owe more money to the rest of the world than any country except the US. Those might just be the economic habits of Britons. It is not like the economic habits of Germans. That might make you incompatible with the Euro Zone and the EU. When my friend Gertrude talks about economics in the US or Britain she calls them "Anglo-American conditions". She acts as if she thinks that is foreign.
Obviously I have read Wild West yarn. I even live in the Wild West near the OK Corral and Wyatt Earp. I'm about 75 miles from Tombstone. I'm in the same town as Old Tucson Studios where they used to film John Wayne Westerns. But I would like to see the analogy to British politics. If there is a British TV commercial I would like to hear it. That's why I asked for a link.
I am sure that Boris, the PM, etc are all part of the Old Boy Net. I am sure that they went to Oxford and Cambridge. That was not what I was referring to. I wanted links or references to what Boris had actually said that makes it sarcastic to say what you said about "underclass". Gary and I actually watched the entire Rumpole series as well as Yes Minister and other programs like it. I took modern British history in college, and I was an English major and graduate student as well. I even visited England on various occasions. We have a nodding acquaintance in Tucson with a former professor of Russian who is a member of the Atheneum.
Britain knows how to deal with migrants and immigrants just like the US. I wouldn't go so far as to call Britain a nation of immigrants in the same sense of the US, but it's the next best thing over there in Europe. This all has to do with the founding of capitalism in Britain, Adam Smith, etc. Just like the English language, the British economic system is the one the rest of the world has now adopted, too. The Continent doesn't know how to deal with migrants and immigrants, and it could cause real problems in their countries. Again Anglo-American conditions.
Professor Garrard is the Russia professor. He likes to talk about being a member of the Atheneum. He stays there when he is in London. It saves him money. He stays there for free because he is still an Oxford don who migrated to Tucson because of the weather and taught Russian at the University of Arizona. He talks all the time about the British class system. He has dual citizenship. By the way, does your daughter from Australia have dual citizenship? Does she vote in both places?
You are up to date and like to keep up with current events. So does Gary. But I have always liked the past better. When I was in eighth grade my teacher, Joanne McKenzie, gave a spelling test. We traded papers to correct them. The kid who had my paper raised his hand in puzzlement. He said I didn’t write down the spelling the teach dictated but something else. The teacher said I had given the British spelling, sometimes the archaic British spelling. She gave me credit because the words weren’t misspelled but were British. I had been reading Tom Jones. My ninth grade teacher went crazy when I wrote compositions with long, long sentences like Marcel Proust from the year 1900 or thereabouts. She wanted short sentences. Later on a teacher said I had to come to terms with the world in which I lived, not the world of the past. I’ve always been a pre WW1 kind of gal.
I have posted the German translation for Captive at the Berghof chapter 1 on my website under Installments. I will send you a link. I don't know if you can read any of it. I certainly can't read much.
Have you ever thought of entering the Goodreads giveaway for Captive at the Berghof part 1? That is open until July 15. It is a paperback edition.
We are working on the recording for Captive at the Berghof part 1. Gary read it aloud. We sent the recording to a technician who somehow got it to conform to the requirements for audible on amazon.com. This is all much more complicated than it needs to be
Did you know that there are apes at the Rock of Gibraltar? They live in Gibraltar? They have quite a long history there. They are called Barbary Macaques just like Barbary Pirates. Do they have apes at Ibiza or on Mallorca? I don’t associate monkeys with the Mediterranean. Do you?
Is this what you meant by the people in the British Empire being used to wild animals of the exotic variety? Is this why you don't like King Kong? Apparently the British army used to take care of the apes in Gibraltar. Now some naturalist society does.
I have been looking at photos of these apes or monkeys or macaques at Gibraltar, and it is unbelievable. It makes you appreciate how close Gibraltar is to Africa. You associate apes with Africa but not the Mediterranean. Have you ever seen the Rock of Gibraltar?
This is my Facebook and blog post for today if you wondered why I was suddenly interested in apes at Gibraltar:Barbary Macaques —-What Do They Have To Do With Edward Ware Thrillers?
Cheops Books, LLC is always investigating new settings for its thriller novels in the Edward Ware Thriller Series. So far the novels have encompassed a wide variety of settings both here in the US and abroad. Dora’s and Edward’s travels go all the way from San Diego on the West Coast to Yellowstone National Park to Chicago in the Midwest to Dora’s home base in Pittsburgh to their rendezvous point in New York City to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Edward’s home base is Ware Hall just outside Salisbury on the edge of the New Forest. He and Dora have an apartment at the Savoy in London. They have visited Germany many times on diplomatic missions. Edward’s army base is Mid-East Headquarters in Cairo. He had been on duty in Jerusalem. He has fought with Lawrence of Arabia in the Syrian Desert.
Where can they go next that is someplace not yet mentioned? Cheops Books has been investigating a tiny outpost of Great Britain in the south of Spain just across the straits from Morocco in North Africa. It is called Gibraltar, more famously the Rock of Gibraltar. It is a very exotic locale with several tribes of apes that inhabit the rocks called Barbary Macaques. Could one of these macaques be of help to Dora and Edward on the run from the long reach of Hitler and Nazi Germany? You can never tell. Read on and get the news about what happens next with the Edward Ware Thriller Series. Check out http://www.edwardwarethrillers.org and this blog.
That's the one kind of wild animal I don't have in my backyard --- apes or monkeys. I don't think any of them occur in North America. There might be some in South America. I'm not sure. Maybe they are in the Amazon Rainforest. But they are certainly not in the Sonoran Desert. I can only imagine what the bobcats would think of them. About a week ago I saw another one of them. I should have asked him.
It all started when you introduced me to Ibiza with your spectacular photos, especially the one from the balcony of your son's flat or condo. I thought of a way for Dora and Edward to take their boat there when they were fleeing from Hitler. I looked at the geography of the Western Mediterranean. I looked up Palma, Mallorca. Then I discovered Gibraltar and the apes. Especially considering that the British have an outpost there, it seems more interesting all the time. I supposed they must use British pounds instead of euros, right?
There is supposed to be a Monkey World in Staffordshire. Have you heard of it? Been to it? It is inhabited by free ranging Barbary Macaques. Some sit on benches next to the visitors. There are tons of photos on Pinterest.
There is supposed to be a Monkey World in Staffordshire. Have you heard of it? Been to it? It is inhabited by free ranging Barbary Macaques. Some sit on benches next to the visitors. There are tons of photos on Pinterest.
Thanks! We will need it. But it really is much more complicated than it needs to be. We listen to the tapes ourselves and don't hear any noise in the background, but the technician somehow hears it and sees what impossible to discern thing it is that audible objects to. Gary is the narrator.
This particular movie is an adult movie, I think. They managed to avoid the young adult label by using the Beauty and the Beast motif and adult themes. I thought it was terrifying with the build up of suspense to the point where you actually meet Kong. Then there was another build of of suspense when Fay Wray escaped from King Kong with her love interest. Then again there was suspense when Kong was tied up in a New York theater and broke loose. Of course at the end of the movie there is more suspense. The script was quite a feat. I never could write a supernatural story that didn't turn out to be young adult. Monsters, ghosts, etc don't mix well with adults for the most part. This movie is an exception that proves the rule.
Fidelity claims that the worldwide markets are going down because they are concerned about the Brexit vote next week in Great Britain. They say that the leaves are 10 points ahead of the remains. Is that true? What have you heard?
Another reason I go on and on about monkeys and apes is that I have always been interested in primate behavior. When I was in grade school I remember doing a report about Jane Goodall and all the research about primates and what they are capable of doing. I thought it was interesting that one of the gorillas had a pet cat named Coco. The gorilla even took care of the cat. Fascinating.
This is one of my super liberal positions. I believe in animal rights. Especially when it comes to primates they should have extra consideration, perhaps food and shelter. Nor should they be locked up in zoos.
So they call them Gib pounds. How interesting! And they are printed in Gibraltar itself by the Governor. if they are really pounds, though, you should take them in England. It's not fair if you don't. I suppose the custom started many years ago when travel wasn't so far and the army was garrisoned there for months or years and had to have a currency.
Is it really that important that you stay in the EU in order to stabilize the markets? Now you think it is like Lehman Brothers? I don't really understand financial markets. But if I remember in 2008 at least in the US, Lehman was the tip of an iceberg. It exposed a whole sector of the economy here having to do with real estate that was under financed or not put together right. All sorts of loans on houses went bad. You had all sorts of houses "underwater" where the loan on the house was bigger than what you could sell it for. There were massive foreclosures. People abandoned houses. I know at one point the street at Wallen Ridge was half deserted. Arizona was one of the worst states for having houses underwater. House prices went down and still haven't fully recovered their values as of say 2005, 2006, or 2007. I know in September of 2007 the house next door to us sold for about $222,000.00 To date that remains the highest sales value on that street. (Tucson prices for housing are less than the national average because of oversupply). However, recently one house sold for about $190,000.00 so prices are recovering. Brexit could do all this? Why? Just because of psychological shock?
Is this Brexit crisis covered in your book? Or did you leave it out because it would date your book too much? At any rate I bought your book Turn Left on Amazon Kindle. Gary is starting to read it today.
That doesn't sound fair either. If the Scottish print pounds they should be legal tender all over the British Isles. Why should individual people get to veto money and currency? Isn't that up to the government? If the government says you must take it, you must take it. Right? Otherwise everybody in the British Isles could print his own money.
You say few people use notes. What about tourists? I know in Germany everybody wanted euros and they wanted cash. Lots of places didn't take credit cards or debit cards. Are you saying that England is more like America in that respect? I use cash in America and people look at you as if you are funny. I'm a cash kind of person.
If England does vote to leave the EU, you should write a book called Brexit: Now What? Also if they do vote to leave, does it take effect immediately? The next day? Is there some ceremony? Does England have to sign off on a document? Does the Queen? If the vote is too close, will there be a second vote?
Do they have such a right? If they are selling something, don't they have to accept legal tender for a debt or a purchase? In other words, if you are in a restaurant and you go to pay the bill, you can't refuse their cash if it is legal tender. There could be a law suit if they do. Besides, what if the restaurant patron didn't have anything else to pay with? Would they arrest him for not paying his bill even though he offered legal tender? That doesn't make any sense. And what if an ignorant American tourist went to Scotland and then came back to England with some of their bills. They would be astonished if someone in London didn't take the bill or the change. By the way, does this Scottish thing about printing their own money apply to minting their own coins as well? What about Gibraltar?P.S. Do you take the euro in England? I didn't notice it.
I don’t know what you are talking about. Suddenly I see a post called Orlando, and I think that somebody in your family went to Disney World. I thought that maybe your daughter from Australia went to Florida next. Then I saw your post announcing a dreadful atrocity, and I am totally at sea. I’ll have to ask Gary. Has another nut case decided to shoot a bunch of people?
Would you believe that for the first time ever yesterday we were driving around in an electric car? It was the Nissan Leaf. Gary was test driving it. We thought that was really neat to see the electrical cord that you could plug into your house to recharge it in your garage. On the dashboard was a display that told you how many miles you had to the next charge. I've got photos. I should send them to you.Have you ever driven in an electric car?
The term monsoon is borrowed from the British experience in India. It's not really the same thing, but it does rain. There are thunderstorms from time to time. One year it rained every afternoon. That was a record monsoon. As far as the rain barrel goes, one rain barrel is a very token thing. What we really need is to install gutters on the carport and have them empty into a giant rain barrel that costs about $800.00 instead of $80.00. And then you have to somehow (I don't really know how) hook that up to supply lines and pumps that serve as a drip system for the plants in the yard. Or at the very least you have to hook up the giant tank to a hose with a spray nozzle so you can water plants that way. All this helps to lower your water bill. Supposedly plants like rainwater better than tapwater.P.S. The thing to do for electrical usage is of course to get solar panels put on your roof or in your yard. The elementary school beside us has lots of solar panels. I should send you a picture of what it looks like. Actually it is not very aesthetic and rather ugly. To get one put on this house would cost about $25,000.00. How about that?
If Cameron has such power, why doesn't he just cancel the referendum or at least postpone it? That would seem to be the simplest solution, now wouldn't it?(If the US has a referendum which it can't because it wouldn't be constitutional, but if somehow it did, exactly what would happen when would be spelled out in advance.)
From what you say, it sounds like Cameron will muddle through no matter what. If he wins even by a narrow margin he will claim victory and do nothing else. If he loses, he will say something like we are studying what to do next and it will all peter out. He will engage in manipulation and negotiation. He will put a face on things, and in the end he will do exactly as he pleases. This is why I was complaining before that your "government" , meaning the PM and his ministers, is way, way too powerful. In the 30's it was almost deciding unilaterally against the will of the common people to turn Britain pro-Hitler and pro-Fascist.
What is this about a British member of Parliament being murdered? This sort of thing reminds me of your novel.
How can you suspend campaigning? How is that legal? That is like suppressing free speech? Obviously free speech is dangerous, but it is the cornerstone of democracy. Democracy is dangerous. That is why a lot of the world population likes dictatorships like Russia. It is perhaps why you see crazy killings in the US and very little reaction in the way of changing things internally inside the country among the core population. America reacts usually to EXTERNAL threats. It is rabid about isolationism. America invents manifold evils but only at the border checkpoints and at international airports. If a few people get shot campaigning, unfortunately that is par for the course.Back in 1968 Robert Kennedy was running for President and was assassinated and killed in June. Nobody suspended the Presidential election because of it. The Democratic Convention in Chicago that year was wild with newspaper reporters getting carried out by policemen. But the campaign went on and Nixon won.
I think actually suspending campaigning might be a political tactic to suppress debate and free speech. The politicians could be taking advantage of the situation. It is unfortunate somebody got killed but they exaggerate the danger just to make sure that debate ends. Could this be what is really going on????
This is also why nobody in America should pay attention to the terrorists who recruit idiots inside the country to commit violent acts. That would be giving in to the bad guys. They would then succeed in repressing democracy and free speech. Nor should you stop trying to fight them with the military. That, too, would be giving in.
I think I will put the post on my Facebook Page and on my own website later today. After all, I bought the book. In fact, I will say that to introduce the post for Turn Left.
Even that probably wouldn't be done here. They would have a few moments of silence. They would mention it in speeches, but the campaigning would go on. If there was an election coming up (no referendums here), they would have no choice. Nor could the election itself be postponed. No politician would have the authority to order such a thing.All I am saying is that a certain level of violence seems to go hand in hand with democracy, free speech, etc. You can't avoid it. And it doesn't all have to do with terrorists. Some people are just insane and seek publicity in any way possible. It's some sort of psychosis. I don't suppose you have read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, the modern Japanese novelist. I read it in high school when I was a fan. It was about the psychology of a "terrorist" who burned down an ancient Japanese temple. Mishima really knew what he was talking about. He ended his own life in a strange protest event where he committed suicide in a ritualistic, bizarre Japanese fashion complete with samurai swords.
