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 The last two are rescinded because Germany says No.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 1601:
by
Linda
(new)
Jun 18, 2016 02:44PM
Nationalism was the motive for the murder? Do you mean the assassin wanted Britain to leave the EU just because it was Britain and the MP assassinated wanted Britain to remain in the EU or something like that? At least it is good that the man charged with the killing will probably be taken care of for the rest of his life in some sort of confinement and not executed. I hate executions.
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That's what I was trying to say. Violence and democracy go hand in hand. You can't suppress free speech except the speech that cries fire in a crowded theater, that sort of thing, or the free speech that urges open and immediate violence INSIDE THE COUNTRY. I could get up tomorrow and proclaim that we should nuke every country from France to Germany to Russia to China, etc and easily get away with it. In fact, I can remember in 9th grade having debates in the classroom. One side was for nuking various countries (not Europe). The other side was for peace. But you couldn't debate nuking California or South Dakota. It would be against the law unless it was part of some sort of strange fantasy fiction or something like that. I wonder even about Canada since it is physically so close.That is really why violent nuts are par for the course in America. At the core it is because it is the most free country on earth. The limits on free speech are few and far between. All religions are allowed to practice here. You can't have referendums on whether Moslems can build mosques even when they are blowing up the World Trade Center. You can't restrict Jews and some of their eccentric practices which are unknown in Europe but common here because we both allow and encourage it. The Jews here were so comfortable with being Americans that they staged an open protest movement in Madison Square Garden against Hitler in March of 1933 right after he became Chancellor of Germany. Neo-Nazis are allowed to practice here. They even got permission to march through a Jewish neighborhood. The Jews couldn't stop them. And even if a Neo-Nazi assassinated a Jew --- here they are just white supremacists and are more likely to be protesting against Mexicans than Jews --- that wouldn't prevent other more peaceful Neo-Nazis from making anti-Jewish speeches in public and publishing them. This is all very anti-Europe, but then a lot of people came here because they wanted to leave Old Europe behind. Here I would believe it if some of the disaffected Jews became members of the Neo-Nazis.
You can see your book on both pages right now. It's getting more hits than my restaurant review.
Unfortunately it is the kind of message that is really purely academic. It is not the sort of thing that any politician would say aloud although they might reflect on it in private. No novelist would use it as a theme if they intended to sell any books except perhaps a literary novelist whose readers are all academics. (Literary fiction these days is the sole preserve of academics. It is no longer popular the way it was in the Victorian era). Order vs. Democracy. That's the way it is. That's why certain observers have thought democracy was chaotic and thus undesirable. Hitler was one of them.
This is one of the reasons that I think most women shouldn't be in politics. It's too dangerous. There are only a few women suited for the task. It would be hard to imagine such an assassin approaching Chancellor Merkel. She would freeze them cold. So would have your former PM Margaret Thatcher. Think back about the women in politics or affairs of state from yesteryear such as Queen Elizabeth 1, Katherine the Great, etc. It would be hard to imagine an assassin doing them in. They would do the assassin in first. Cleopatra was probably like that, too. If you see her coin portrait you can imagine it. Even your current Queen once entertained an assassin in her bed chamber and managed to deal with him herself until help could reach her. Only certain women have enough presence of mind to deal with a situation such as this.
I don't know if my view is just traditional about women or historic. I observe that there are women in government and some have been very successful. But most women would not be. The women who are the most successful are the ones who act more like men. In fact, they are colder and tougher than men (think of Helga von Wessel in my novels, though she is fictional). But if women are there acting like just women they will feminize everything. This would be disastrous if there was a war to conduct.When you tell me that the first ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland are women, I think they are not as serious and are probably second class. And I am a woman. I would not chose a woman as a lawyer or a dentist or to employ to do almost anything unless it involved taking care of children, the house, or pets, something like that. I don't think women in general have nuanced judgement at all. They just think of themselves, their friends, and act emotional. And I attended Bryn Mawr College, which is supposed to represent women's lib.
I sympathize with Margaret Thatcher not hiring women in her office or her cabinet or whatever. Women in general like to be the only woman around and frequently prefer the company of men. Men need other men the way dogs like a dog pack. But a lot of women would never feel lonely if they were the only woman they ever saw. They assume that most men will be deferential to them because they are a woman, and they will be in charge.
Your blog about Germany warns NATO shows why Germany does not see eye to eye with either Britain or the US. After all, it was on the other side in WW2! This goes back to the thing about Germany and Russia and their interconnected history, which is extraordinarily complicated and involved. Russia is the territory which Germany wants to control. During much of Russia's history, its most prosperous eras were the ones when Germany was much involved. At one time Poland took over Russia, and the Russians remember it in infamy to this day, though it was short-lived. But when a German ruled over Russia under Catherine the Great they gloried in it.
I have heard that the Remains are pulling ahead of the Leaves. Is that true? Is it out of sympathy for the murdered PM? Is that how the press is taking it?
I disagree about England being a "fully multicultural society". There may be more people living there from India than there were a few decades ago, but basically everybody is English. Being Anglican is favored, too. It's the national religion. Catholics aren't in favor --- that sort of thing. Just minor details like that.It's ridiculous to say that Great Britain has freedom of religion when you have a monarch who is the head of the Anglican Church in England. That just won't do. Same thing with MP's and PM's picking Anglican bishops as if somehow it were political.
And what about the Jews in England. Where are they?
I'm surprised England made a rule based on Mosely and his Blackshirts. They were silly fops.
You say there is very little racial tension. That's because there aren't that many races in England except Anglo. But what about class tension? What about the mob a few years ago that said off with your head to Prince Charles?
To say all the Scottish political parties are led by women sounds silly. It makes it sound as if the political parties in Scotland aren't very serious. I know Arizona and a lot of western states have more of a tradition of women in politics than Eastern states, especially a place like Virginia. Arizona has a lot of women governors, etc. I consider them not as serious.A woman pilot! I wouldn't get on the plane! That worries me in terms of Cunard. The Queen Mary 2 has two male captains. But one of the ships --- I don't know which one --- has a woman captain as one of the captains. I don't like that at all and don't approve.
Helga von Wessel as a femme fatale has to be a woman. But she is fictional, not real.
Have you ever talked to another woman about this subject? Some of them will just spout what they think they should say, but in private especially when they talk to other women they have attitudes similar to mine. A lot of women in general don't like other women. They don't trust them because they know how they think. In the novel Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell explains such attitudes and why Scarlett detests other women. In her case she considers them competition.
By the way, have you heard about all this mess on the P & O Ferries and delays on the motorway to Calais? Ferries have been delayed up to 30 minutes because of the migrants. This does not sound like a very good situation for tourists trying to make their way from France to Britain. It sounds even worse than the Brenner Pass situation. What is wrong with the French? Why don't they take control of the situation? Why do they allow such disorder? I can't believe the Germans or the British would put up with it. I know the Americans wouldn't inside the US.
I don’t think Napoleon would allow this migrant situation in France and that was 200 years ago. He wouldn’t allow migrants to attack ferries and stop traffic if there had been ferries and cars back then. Why would the French put up with it? Or do they care only about Paris?
Fidelity is assuming that the Remains have already won. They are advising their investors to think like that. The markets are operating on that assumption today.
You still have an official religion called Anglicanism since the days of Henry VIII. The PM or his office appoints bishops. That isn't modern. You say most people favor cutting the Church of England out of the State. But they haven't done it. You say that the monarch can marry a Catholic, but when one tried he had to abdicate. Tony Blair didn't think it proper to turn Catholic until he was out of office. It must still be largely unpopular. As far as Jews go, most of western Europe seems unsympathetic to the Jews. That's why they came to America. America has done more for Jews than anybody since the days of ancient Rome. As far as all the Moslems in Britain go, I bet most of them are from India and Pakistan, former colonies. But then Britain had areas of occupation in the Middle East, too. Still they are not very noticeable when you drive around Britain. I have not been in Britain much since I've been an adult, but I certainly didn't see any of them on either shore excursion. And I know during the time we were driving around Germany we were really impressed with how few people you saw who didn't look German. They looked like Thomasina Edwina Ware in my novel.Sometimes I ask myself why in modern times it has become such a virtue to mix the races and nationalities together when in the past they liked to remain apart and separate. I assume it must be capitalism that dictates it.
I contend that all women think this way no matter what their age or nationality. You just don't understand that they do. Nor do they explain it to you. Some may even THINK they think as you say. But in reality they are not introspective enough to realize that they don't.Your women's lib movement in reality consists of this: the economy. It has evolved so that people don't in general get paid enough any more. Nor do their wages increase in step with inflation. So they need two paychecks instead of one. Most women no matter what their nationality want to stay home with their kids and maybe only then return to a career. But with women FAMILY COMES FIRST. When my father was working at Bettis Atomic Power Lab they couldn't get women engineers. Nor could they get women who were willing to go on business trips. It was too inconvenient family wise. I belong to RWA, a writers organization. All the women no matter what their ages are always talking like this. At my alma mater, Bryn Mawr, there is a massive exodus of women from the legal profession to school teaching. It suits their schedules better. I was sending queries around to agents. I ran into one from my class at Bryn Mawr. She was closing down her agency. It interfered with her family life too much.
Obviously there are exceptions. But they are few and far between.
Is this the reason? Or is it that they don't pay attention to anything except Paris. Does the EU have riot police or troops? Can Merkel send somebody in to control mobs at Calais?
We will find out if Fidelity is right by tomorrow. But then today Fidelity is saying that a new poll puts the Brexit vote too close to call and may even favor the Leaves by 1 point.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. You might pass a bill in Britain to look modern, but then nobody acts in accordance with it. Brilliant! That really does sound like a British scheme. A monarch can marry a Catholic but then nobody does. Besides, I suspect that the monarchy is about to end after QE2. I can't believe that Charles will be King --- at least in the same way. Also as long as you still have a monarchy, how can Britain be all that modern? You talk about it as if it were California, home of liberals. (But even California has a strong conservative element).P.S. I thought the big reason Wallis Simpson was rejected was because she was an American.
Best blog post yet about Brexit vote.
Good luck with your Brexit vote. I'm writing this before I look at Fidelity.
Emotional is the best way to write. You strike a chord with others. You awaken their feelings. You could even inspire others. That's what Hitler, Churchill, and FDR did during WW2. It's been the way with politicians for ages.
That sounds disorganized. There should be some sort of central control. If the Germans were in charge I bet the migrants would not be rioting.
There are two Fidelity headlines today. One says, "Wall Street marches ahead as Brexit seen unlikely" and "Index shifts: Brexit vote could make Friday freaky on Wall Street". Do you have an exit polls? What are they reporting now?
The only thing I could say here is that all the European countries are pretty ruthless and sneaky compared to America which often acts idealistic and sometimes even naive. Have you ever read Henry James and his Portrait of a Lady? Isabelle Archer, the heiress, goes abroad and gets taken in by an adventurer. I think he was Italian. She becomes aware of how her new husband and his friends depend on her money to handle their own sorry affairs. Her husband even has an illegitimate child she has to take care of. Not until this minute do I realize that this is similar to Dora who ends up supporting and adopting Leopold. But Edward is a much more noble character with noble political goals. Isabelle Archer's husband isn't.
Sounds like a Thomas Hardy novel with all the fireworks and portents of things to come -- or maybe even a Turner painting. I'm talking about your colorful thunderstorm. But really, why is the Brexit vote so important? You act like England just declared war against Germany, and it is September 1939 all over again. As I said, I am sure that England will continue to trade with Germany and use the North Sea as a trade channel.
This morning Fidelity has an article about "dollar liquidity". I have forwarded it to you. What on earth is "dollar liquidity"? I have never heard about it before. Why should the US Stock Market react so adversely to a Brexit vote? To me it doesn't make any sense. I have some money invested in my favorite dividend fund right now. We will see if the managers of the fund have the sense to temporarily put the investments in cash.
Edward was definitely a British Empire type just like Churchill. But unlike Churchill he was not half-American. He just had an American wife.
Because of Carter conceding the election in 1980 just about as soon as the evening news started, rules were passed that you were not supposed to release all these election polls while voting was still going on. But nobody here pays attention to such things. But here politicians don't make much difference. Ergo nobody can make such a big deal about who wins and loses. And certainly when you vote on issues like remain or leave, what can America leave? You can't have national referendums here. It is against the law. You can't do it here.
I think Britain should get a Constitution. What you tell me about Britain makes it sound unstable compared to America. Maybe Britain is more stable than the Continent. But that isn't saying much. Not that I mind the PM resigning. But you know what I think about Scotland being allowed to negotiate with the EU separately. California would never be allowed to do that here. If you are part of Great Britain, you are part of Great Britain. You can't secede. You have to obey the law. You need more CENTRAL CONTROL. Even the EU needs more central control to deal with the migrants. I know people think of the Nazis, but they have to get over it. The EU is sometimes called "the United States of Europe". But you can't imitate the freedoms without the central control.
One thing that puzzles me: Why would your tiny village vote one way and London vote another way? Gary says that London voted to remain. The rest of the country voted to go. How does that make any sense? I couldn't see that in the US in any election. England isn't that big a place geographically. How could people be so Balkanized?I've been writing a novel about 1933. I'm impressed that even back then and even back in 1907 and 1908 before WW1 Americans were trying to drive across the country. The Lincoln Highway hadn't even been built until 1913, and they were trying to figure it out anyway. Lots of them wrote journals and letters, and it was amazing. Americans like lots and lots of space. They think of it all as their space. They move around all the time. They couldn't possibly be Balkanized by geography. And this is important in the laws and traditions of America. It is reflected in the way things developed. It has even inhibited the development of dialects.
You would think that people would be zooming up and down Britain in their cars all the time. But then you say they don't have enough roads. Too bad. That could make all the difference between a unified Britain and Scotland going its own way.
This business about supporting banks is the current economic model. I don’t understand it either. But lots of traders and economists have PH.Ds where they learn these theories about fighting inflation and fighting off depressions and recessions using these methods. Whether they ultimately work, who knows? That’s why it gets so much attention. They think industries like steel are old-fashioned and they probably want to get rid of them. They are probably closet environmentalists after the California model. They like high tech, the financial industry, and things like that where they don’t have to get their hands dirty.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania would be a good model for people in the Midlands whether the steel industry used to be in Britain. Pittsburgh has discontinued its steel industry in recent decades and replaced it with a huge health care industry as well as high tech and computers led by Carnegie Mellon University. There are also defense contractors in the area such as Westinghouse. Why can't the Midlands follow this model?
Besides, what could the US vote to leave? The UN? NATO? It doesn't make any sense.
Yes, England is Balkanized. If people in Scotland can still remember they are Scotland at this point of history, they are Balkanized. If people in Wales can still bother to try to speak Welsh, they are Balkanized. If Ireland can still want to be an independent country separate from Great Britain, they are Balkanized, too. By now and for the past hundred or hundred and fifty years or so people should have moved around enough that they forgot that they were Scottish, Irish, or Welsh. They should think of themselves as citizens of Great Britain by now. There are so few miles in Great Britain that it is impossible to understand how they can vote separately or think they belong to different countries.Also the lack of a Constitution causes these problems. Scotland should not be allowed to leave. Ireland should not be allowed to leave. Wales should not be allowed to leave. Your idea that somehow this is democracy to have the right to leave the Union is insane. You are confusing democracy and freedom with chaos. That sort of chaos will cause you to lose your freedom in the end. You will be taken over by somebody else who is less chaotic and more unified.
Why would you want to become a German citizen? Move to Germany? Take German lessons? You could move to Virginia instead. Then you wouldn't have to take language lessons. The quota for British immigrants is never filled. You could just become an American citizen and leave Europe behind. My grandfather, E. J. Bognar (really Bogner), who was a first generation American, never liked Europe. He expressed many of the opinions of Winthrop Benley in my novels. He refused to visit the place and never had anything good to say about it.Why does Britain want to be part of Europe? And why do you say only old folks think this way? I don't get it at all. As far as trade with Germany you can do it anyway. What benefits does being an EU member give the average Briton anyway? I really, really don't get it. But then I don't live there, and I am an American. Americans of any age and any background would not want to be part of another country. If Americans yearned in large numbers for the benefits another country was giving out, Congress would vote to give it to them here.
One of the biggest blunders in your history? Don't you give it too much weight? Surely it is a much humdrum matter than that? And why do you have a lame duck government? If Cameron has resigned, why hasn't he disappeared? Why haven't they chosen another PM?
One of the biggest blunders in your history? Don't you give it too much weight? Surely it is a much humdrum matter than that? And why do you have a lame duck government? If Cameron has resigned, why hasn't he disappeared? Why haven't they chosen another PM?
We have been forced to order galvanized hardware cloth to drape around the chain link fences. It comes in 24 inch by 100 foot sections. It will take quite a few rolls to enclose the backyard and keep out the lizards. We have postponed it up to now because it is such a gargantuan task. Of course it has the side benefit of keeping out jackrabbits who are feeding on our plants. The Gila Monster is one of only two venomous lizards to occur in the world. The other is in Mexico and close by.
What does the British Commissioner in Brussels do? Why does that leave London exposed? Exposed to what? Why is that bad?
Scotland is crazy. They belong to the British Isles, not to the Continent of Europe. Boris says there are four nations: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. All of them are too small to remain apart. Why can’t they work out a Constitution instead? It seems like your country wants to preside over its own dissolution.
That was the example I gave Gary yesterday. I said Churchill stepped in during May of 1940 when Neville Chamberlain resigned. I asked why Cameron wasn't gone, gone, gone. I do not know what you mean by they get three months to elect a new leader because they are the governing party. Why did "they" come up with that rule? Who are "they"? Parliament? It sounds self-serving. That's why I said your "government" is too powerful, meaning the PM and his cabinet or ministers.
Why do you need EU citizenship to go to Germany? I was in Germany last summer. I'm certainly not a member of the EU, the Common Market, or anything like it. Couldn't you go there if you had a passport?
I agree with your "Political Meltdown" blog. Britain needs a Constitution. If it did, by now it would have a new PM and a new Cabinet, in other words a new government. It wouldn't be mired in three months of a messy situation. After all, even Germany has a Constitution nowadays.From what Gary tells me a lot of Britons were reacting against opaque legislation from Brussels. I don't know quite what this means. What kind of legislation? Why would you need legislation from Brussels? And besides, it must be a front. Brussels by itself can't make legislation. Belgium is too small and relatively insignificant. I was there last summer. Part is Flemish, the leading part I think. Wallonia is French. It must be Germany behind the scenes. The Germans themselves would not want legislation from a foreign country either. And for Britain to have legislation imposed on it by Germany within living memory of WW2 sounds so insane that it has no precedent in history.
This will be very complicated to deal with. We don't know what caused the snake to be at the door. We can only theorize. Was it after insects? But insects are attracted by lights inside. Was the rattlesnake attracted by light? That doesn't make sense to me. I just contacted the Tucson Herpetological Society that studies amphibians and snakes, etc. The Herpetological Society website says that Tucson is a mecca for people who study reptiles. Thrilling! They call it the 100 Mile Circle around Tucson where there are no fewer than 108 types of reptiles and 26 amphibian species. Yes, and they are all in my backyard!!! I will send you my photos and my video later.
I'm glad that you think Scotland is a different country with a different heritage. But it is still too small to be a separate country. It should become part of Britain as if it were a state in a union. Ditto with Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland, Wales, etc. They should all be parts of Great Britain no matter what their heritage or background. United we stand. Divided we fall. It should be something like that. It doesn't matter if you think Scotland isn't worth all the trouble. You need the land area if nothing else. Besides, the English should move there and set up towns and cities that resemble small Londons all over the British Isles so that each location forgets its own heritage and becomes one unified whole of the same thing.That is the American model. No one in Europe can seem to imitate it, though I heard somebody in Luxembourg call the EU the "United States of Europe". The problem with Europe is that everybody is Balkanized and can't seem to forget his own background and heritage and what makes him DIFFERENT from his neighbor instead of what makes him the SAME as his neighbor. They let religion, language, customs, background get in the way of unification. Unification means a better economy and power. That was the whole idea of the EU to begin with.
If you want the benefits of traveling from state to state without visas, etc, and want to act like a real country, you have to get a constitution and become a country with a unified political system and unified laws. If Europe wants to be unified you have to imitate ancient Rome and get one big empire or country. You will probably all have to start speaking English, too.(Remember the bilingual thing in Canada doesn't really work). Empires and countries tend to favor one language. Religion can remain a matter of private choice just as it is in America and just as it was in ancient Rome. You will have one currency and one economic system. But you will also have one government. This has eluded Europe through most of its history.
How does what you say below jive with Germany being the real moving force behind the EU? I always think of the euro as being the German mark, not the British pound. I think of the British pound as a separate currency.If the states blame Washington, they cannot secede from the Union. They can't get out. But when Americans blame Washington, the reaction isn't to exit, it's to avoid politics and politicians all together or to set up a local organization or group to handle the problem themselves. In other words they seek a non-political solution to the problem.
You've got to forget all this remember history stuff. That is odd coming from me. All I do is think about history, but that is history in fiction --- not in reality. In reality you've got to put your history aside once in awhile and forget that you are Scottish or English or whatever and get it all together. This small country stuff doesn't work in the long run. In the short run it may seem to work. But unfortunately I think it works only for one reason. The United States is presiding over western Europe in terms of military stuff. It provides an umbrella of protection. But if the US were not to do that anymore and retreat into extreme isolationism the way it was doing between the wars or if the US ceased to exist for some reason and Europe was left to itself, it would become very vulnerable as a collection of small states.Only Germany seems to sense this somehow, but Germany is alone.
Who are the Federalists in the EU? The Germans? I have always thought of the EU as a German thing. Then it makes sense that Britain would lead the opposition as they did in two world wars. For some reason Britain and Germany are always at odds with each other.If you are ever going to get over all this Balkanization, you have to move about Europe as if it were one country. People from one country have to be able to settle in another, work there, etc. But with the language differences I don't know how this is possible. Traveling in Europe makes one realize the importance of language. It is really profound.
