There’s No [Easy] Exit
Not an European scholar or sage. Have tried to pay attention to the Brexit question across the pond, but unsure how well I have done so. Generally, however, it has struck me that, given real problems either way for the Brits, the best choice was to stay in the EU.
Really, there was a definitive majority to join then, so what is the plan now?
Tell me why the secrets have disappeared
cover up the traces of wasted years,
the traces of wasted years
…
build it up
alibies for the damned
hide away
don’t ever reveal your plan.
So, what is the plan now for the always diminished, but oh so egotistically adventurous Brits, given they are woefully short on empire and hegemonic power? Oh so much like the terminally behind the queue United States?
Isn’t that a lesson the US ought not heed? If not decades ago, maybe finally now?
The UK may be leaving the collective, but do they really have an exit plan? The number of modalities in which they simply cannot have a great and immediate plan are too number to plow through.
There is no easy exit. Despite the vote in the UK. Germany and France make it clear this is not easy.
Lock it up,
standing behind closed doors
give it up,
no hiding place anymore
The value of the British pound and stock prices in Asia plummeted as financial markets absorbed the news.
I don’t know how it is going to be in the UK going forward. But if the vote is what it looks, the Brexit has definitively occurred, the only question now is what happens.
On the whole, pretty scary proposition, and the effort to get there seems much like the brain dead Trumpian movement afoot here in the States; i.e. shortsighted, uninformed and stupid. Hope I am wrong.
But here we all are, on both sides of the pond, looking inordinately stupid and shortsighted.
The world is being consumed by Trumpalos and Juggalos.
There is no exit.
[If you don’t know this band in the video featured, you should. They are The Angels, and this song is perfectly prescient for today even if from long ago.]
Certainly it was a difficult decision to make. But one can acknowledge that there were some good arguments for Leave. Many say it was down to immigration and racism, but others note that Britain really had lost (to Brussels) control of much of its law. In any event, we’ll all stop back in fifty years to see who was right, unless that’s not necessary because we know better than they do what’s good for them.
Certainly doesn’t bode well for people who live by polling data.
There are probably a parallel group of Trump supporters out there who don’t want to raise their hand in support of Trump, but will probably go privately pull the lever for him.
We are living with the results of a too comfortable electorate here in Kentucky with our new Fuhrer.
The sad thing is zoo many people on the Left AND the right will unfortunately have to vote for HRC.
If she’s what will save us maybe it’s too late to be saved from ourselves.
Happy Friday!
quote:”If she’s what will save us maybe it’s too late to be saved from ourselves.”unquote
Not so fast. It still remains to be seen what Comey and Lynch decide to do, now that absolute proof has been disclosed that Clinton and others broke the law with impunity.
http://observer.com/2016/06/the-coming-constitutional-crisis-over-hillary-clintons-emailgate/
No matter what, this debacle will prove once and for all whether rule of law is or isn’t a myth, and whether a two tiered justice system will remain in place along with Hillary as POTUS. As for Comey.. he’s finished one way or the other, and Lynch may be against the wall if Comey passes the indictment ball to her. I’m just hoping they’ll indict her, and Bernie steps up to the plate. Although, when pigs fly comes to mind. Insert two rolling eyes smiley here.
Bull. Shit.
Did you score some killer weed?
Boris Johnson has said it well. And his words just so happen to describe, also, many aspects of the US government–whether we need a revolution (a la Trump) or just some real transparency, debate, and accountability.
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“Because in the end this decision is about the people, the right of people in this country to settle their own destiny. The very principles of our democracy, the rights of all of us to elect and remove the people who make the key decisions in their lives. And I think that the electorate have searched in their hearts and answered as best they can in a poll the scale the like of which we have never seen before in this country. They have decided it is time to vote to take back control from a EU that has become too opaque and not accountable enough to the people it is meant to serve.”
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Love your musical selection, by the way, thanks.
Recent opinion polls have shown that the EU is even more unpopular in France than it is in the UK. And it is not very popular in Italy either where an anti-EU movement one 19 of 20 mayoralties on the weekend.
It is hated in Greece and Portugal and, with good reason, by the Plain People of Ireland (as Myles used to call them). As to Spain the election is soon. In Germany sentiment is about fifty fifty. Or was before this game changing vote. Oh and the Czech Republic established diplomatic relations today with the Peoples Republics in Donbas.
The wheel’s still in spin…
I should add, for Bmaz’s benefit, that no, I haven’t scored any either.
Is killer weed legal in the EU? Perhaps need another referendum?
The value of the British pound and stock prices in Asia plummeted as financial markets absorbed the news.
CAC (France) down 6.2%
DAX (Germany) down 6.8%
NIKKEI (Japan) down 7.5%
S&P500 (US) dowm 3.5%
FTSE (Britain) down 3.2%
Who is really getting hurt by the “Leave” vote?
Pity that many of those “leave” votes were inspired by decades of Tory-led austerity. Enhanced wealth for those living on estates in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. No libraries for those in Andover or Huddersfield. More money and fewer restraints for the City. Privatized housing, sports centers, transport cafes, rail lines, health services and schools. Britain has no exit plan. Means testing for everybody.
Exit will cost hundreds of billions of pounds and consume Parliament and Whitehall for a decade. Paying for it will mean more austerity, and more money for those situated so as to profit, whether from going, coming or staying. Neoliberal Britain. What’s not to like? Attlee and RA Butler must be laughing and crying while spinning in their graves.
I wonder if there’s a tie-in between those decades of austerity – and burgeoning inequality – and the ideological, rhetorical and physical violence of of the anti-immigrant right. The latter inspired much of the “leave” vote. It is the sort of outcome wealth elites favor: it keeps the have nots fighting each other while ignoring the haves. Just as it did in New York and other large cities here.
bmaz wrote: “…but do they really have an exit plan?”
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Silly question! Of course not. Those in charge of the UK government were also the ones arguing that the UK should NOT leave. So why should those NOT wanting to leave create a plan FOR leaving?
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bmaz wrote: “The value of the British pound and stock prices in Asia plummeted as financial markets absorbed the news.”
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The markets will get over it. Just as they have managed to get over much worse things. The financial markets are like a flock of pigeons. if you give them a scare they will fly up in a panic. Once they get over their panic, however, they will settle back and return to feeding again.
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bmaz wrote: “On the whole, pretty scary proposition, and the effort to get there seems much like the brain dead Trumpian movement afoot here in the States; i.e. shortsighted, uninformed and stupid.”
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First of all, telling people they are stupid is NOT the way to win their support or change their minds, let alone win their votes. A more likely outcome is that it will get their backs up and make them more determined to defy you.
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It is also what they would probably expect to hear from the kind of Establishment types whose vested interests are what what they are opposed to. That anti-Establishment theme can be seen in the current US election campaign as well as the British Brexit one and you are not going to make it go away by treating those with anti-Establishment views in the kind of disdainful fashion you are exhibiting here. All that does is merely confirm their prejudices. In particular that Establishment types have a born-to-rule mindset which makes them think that THEY know everything while those with views opposed to theirs are unintelligent Neanderthals from a former age.