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posted by mrpg on Friday October 06 2017, @02:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the nation-state-is-over dept.

Some of the great moments of history sneak up on businesspeople. Two years ago, Britain looked to be Europe's most economically rational country; now its companies seem to be rolling from one economic earthquake to another, with Brexit looking increasingly likely to be followed by the election of a near-Marxist prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn.

Looking back, two things stand out. First, there were some deep underlying "irrational" causes that business ignored, such as the pent-up anger against immigration and globalization. Second, there was a string of short-term political decisions that proved to be miscalculations. For decades, for example, attacking the European Union was a "free hit" for British politicians. If David Cameron had it to do over again, would he really have made the referendum on whether to stay in it a simple majority vote (or indeed called a vote at all)? Does Angela Merkel now regret giving Cameron so few concessions before the Brexit vote? Would the moderate Labour members of Parliament who helped Corbyn get on their party's leadership ballot in the name of political diversity really do that again?

Now, another rupture may be sneaking up on Europe, driven by a similar mixture of pent-up anger and short-term political maneuvering. This one is between the old West European democratic core of the EU, led by Merkel and increasingly by Emmanuel Macron, who are keen to integrate the euro zone, and the populist authoritarians of Eastern Europe, who dislike Brussels. This time the arguments are ones about political freedom and national sovereignty.

Eastern Europe's gripes are nothing a little anschluss couldn't cure.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Sulla on Friday October 06 2017, @07:32PM (1 child)

    by Sulla (5173) on Friday October 06 2017, @07:32PM (#578263) Journal

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-04/eu-defends-spain-s-right-to-use-proportionate-force [bloomberg.com]

    “It is a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes requires the proportionate use of force,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “Respect for the rule of law is not optional; it’s fundamental.”

    I really love the idea of "proportionate use of force", really a shame that all these Catalans choose to hold illegal ideas and votes and protested peacefully. Did not realize that beating people was proportionate to peacefully protesting. Guess its just because I don't understand Democracy.

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  • (Score: 2) by aim on Monday October 09 2017, @08:05AM

    by aim (6322) on Monday October 09 2017, @08:05AM (#579181)

    Are you misunderstanding that phrase on purpose, i.e. trolling? That's the very critic right there - the violence was disproportionate, this was the very message sent to Madrid, and most probably the reason for those apologies.