Europe

[Azrael]

[AzariLoveIran]

[Sparky]

Iran? Elsewhere.

[AzariLoveIran]

[Endovelico]

[noddy]

[Rhapsody]

Any comments from our UK compatriots?

[Endovelico]

[AzariLoveIran]

[Marcus]

[Rhapsody]

[Endovelico]

Rhapsody,

If Europe was the whole world I believe we could very well live in harmony without any political union. The trouble is that there is a world beyond Europe whose interests can conflict with ours. The US, China, India, the Middle East, have interests which will negatively interfere with our own. Therefore we cannot afford living in that simple neighbourly manner which so much appeals to you. We need to have coherent policies on foreign affairs, defence and economics, which would be very difficult to achieve without some form of political union. Without such coherent policies we will be vulnerable and dependent on other nations will and policies, and our way of life will be endangered. We are very much alone in the world on what concerns human rights, and we may not be able to preserve and defend them, for us and for others, if we remain disunited. We need to be strong, without being aggressive.

Those who fear an European political union say they fear for democracy. But all European nations are democratic, so why should we fear an undemocratic Europe? I agree that we must make all European institutions democratic in their make-up and in their functioning. The European Parliament already is elected and functions in a democratic manner, but we must make sure that both the Commission and the Council are equally representative. For that we must get more involved in the European politics, not less. And we must stop fearing our fellow Europeans. Mentalities are still diverse throughout Europe, but I no longer fear any people's intentions. As someone once said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself..."

[Sparky]

European democracy means running elections and referenda again and again until the desired result is achieved. It means telling sovereign nations when they can or cannot hold elections. It means giving convicted criminals the right to vote. It means states having a tiny percentage share in their own destiny. It means crooked unsigned accounts for over a decade. It means treasure squandered on pop concerts and dog massage in an era of austerity.

Mr Farage is certainly having too much fun to be a serious politician, but some of what he says is plainly the truth. The Euro certainly hasn't led to stability; 2nd rate economies such as Ireland's and Greece's have binged on the credit they gained from finding themselves armed with a 1st rate economy's currency. Their inability to use interest rates or currency devaluation to help manage the consequences of their economic folly has certainly made things worse for them.

[Endovelico]

[AzariLoveIran]

[AzariLoveIran]

[Rhapsody]

[Marcus]

[AzariLoveIran]

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QE 2.jpg (65.3 KiB) Viewed 713 times

Hillary .. order that , America's lunch is in danger.



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[AzariLoveIran]

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[Endovelico]

We are witnessing in Europe the largest scale swindle ever. Countries like Portugal, Greece or Spain have a major problem which is a heavily unbalanced trade, which is at the heart of their indebtedness and difficulty in meeting out debt payments. None of the austerity measures taken are directed at this problem, so that in one year time they will all be worse off than now. To start solving this problem you must balance trade, by law if necessary, limiting imports to the value of exports. Instead of assisting those countries tackling their trade problem, Germany is forcing Ireland (and soon Portugal) to take loans from the European Emergency Fund, and then charge them nearly as much as the international markets (over 5% interest). This isn't aid, this is exploitation. For comparison purposes notice that the ECB is charging only 1% interest to banks borrowing money from it .

There is a concerted effort to create panic among the peoples of those troubled countries in order to have them accepting cuts in salaries and higher taxes, so that governments can pay their bailouts of banks. We are quickly going back to the 19th century situation, in which workers were heavily exploited. All this will lead to a social explosion of a magnitude only equalled by the 1789 and 1917 revolutions. If this doesn't stop quickly, there will be blood running in the streets of Europe.

[Caskhades]

[YMix]

[Rhapsody]

There will be no EU, no EU-North, EU-South and not even a long term West, when the banking system is not reformed and made healthy part of society.

It is actually rather amazing that in our democracies zillions of issues and their subtleties are being analyzed, debated, calculated, morel & ethical sides of things pertaining to fairness and social cohesion weighed, re-analyzed, debated again in the next round of elections and so forth. All limbs, organs and physiology being out there in the open for management, maintenance and cure in case of illness.

But Lo and Behold! one particular system and its physiology has escaped the scrutiny of the democratic process, the controls, the intelligent participation of the people, of all people, maybe the most important of them all: the Financial Blood Stream that transports the energy and oxygen to the furthest cells of the organism.

We have been slowly cooked into the idea that the financial blood stream is a mere technicality, a simple plumbing systems that is maintained by local Jo the Plumber who will solve any problem when you just give him a call. Not worthy to be high on any political agenda. This neglect is now blowing back in our faces. We invited a parasitic subsystem to evolve, consisting of politicians and bankers who destroyed the mechanism of healthy and responsible capitalism that is normally protected from these criminals via appropriate rule and effective controls, plus being part of the democratic process.

[Hans Bulvai]