Trump has made it clear he does not like the EU. He prefers bilateral negotiations. And like it or not, Trump is succeeding in his efforts to split the EU.
How Trump is Dividing the EU
It took Donald Trump less than a week to drive a wedge between the constitutionally weak Europeans. His travel ban applies to people with dual passports – except to those with dual British citizenship. It was a concession Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, managed to negotiate directly with the White House.
Angela Merkel assures Germans with dual citizens her full support, and promised to co-ordinate the position with other European member states. She said yesterday that Trump’s policy did not reflect her idea of the international co-operation and how to deal with refugees, but there was not even a hint of any action, or counter-action. We noted a comment by Italy’s new foreign minister, Angelino Alfano, that we should stop hyperventilating about Trump. What else can the EU do, having made itself totally dependent on the US for its defence?
The Conservative Party yesterday strongly rallied behind Theresa May and her pro-US position. It is becoming very clear that the combination of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump will simultaneously reposition the UK geo-strategically and economically, and weaken the EU. This is why we think the EU would be best served by agreeing a friendly Brexit as quickly as possible.
There is a growing number of signs that what is happening in the US constitutes a national and global regime change. The elevation of Steven Bannon to a full seat of the National Security Council tells us that more outrages are now very likely. We noted this Bannon quote, as relayed by the New Yorker.
“I’m a Leninist…Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
Four years of Trump should mercilessly expose the weaknesses of the EU.
The above viewpoint by Email from Eurointelligence. I believe they are correct.
However, Eurointelligence views the euro and the EU as good things. I view the euro as a failed project and the EU as a collection of massively overpaid statists best gotten rid of.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
the Soviet Union was governed by Marxist ideology and European Union ( general speaking ) has been governed by neo-Marxism . And this ideology is much worse .
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If what you wrote were an analysis, it would be a trivial analysis. However, it does not even rise to the level of trivia. It is merely an inane assertion having neither content nor meaning.
Let’s try it again. The Soviet Union was ruled (governed) by a party elite which, for most of it’s 70 years, was run solely for the benefit of that elite, hardly what Marx wrote about. Note bene: Perhaps you should read Marx some day.
The EU was ruled (governed) by a financial, rent-seeking, parasitical elite for its own benefit. Note bene: Perhaps you should read Adam Smith some day on rent-seeking parasites.
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“The Soviet Union was ruled (governed) by a party elite which, for most of it’s 70 years, was run solely for the benefit of that elite, hardly what Marx wrote about.”
Which, considering human nature, is exactly the result one should expect. Also, it is fundamentally evil since it relies on the theft from some to give to others via a government ultimately backed up with guns.
“The EU was ruled (governed) by a financial, rent-seeking, parasitical elite for its own benefit.”
Which, considering human nature, is exactly the result one should expect – free market capitalism evolving into crony capitalism. It becomes fundamentally evil since it relies on the theft from some to give to others via central banks ultimately backed up with government guns along with lower levels of direct redistribution also backed up with government guns.
If you haven’t read “The Machiavellians” by Burnham, have a look. That’s how the world actually works.
Second Thoughts on James Burnham
by George Orwell (1946)
http://www.telelib.com/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/essay/ShootingElephant/jamesburnham.html
Excerpt:
What Burnham is mainly concerned to show is that a democratic society has never existed and, so far as we can see, never will exist. Society is of its nature oligarchical, and the power of the oligarchy always rests upon force and fraud. Burnham does not deny that “good” motives may operate in private life, but he maintains that politics consists of the struggle for power, and nothing else. All historical changes finally boil down to the replacement of one ruling class by another. All talk about democracy, liberty, equality, fraternity, all revolutionary movements, all visions of Utopia, or “the classless society”, or “the Kingdom of Heaven on earth”, are humbug (not necessarily conscious humbug) covering the ambitions of some new class which is elbowing its way into power. The English Puritans, the Jacobins, the Bolsheviks, were in each case simply power seekers using the hopes of the masses in order to win a privileged position for themselves. Power can sometimes be won or maintained without violence, but never without fraud, because it is necessary to make use of the masses, and the masses would not co-operate if they knew that they were simply serving the purposes of a minority. In each great revolutionary struggle the masses are led on by vague dreams of human brotherhood, and then, when the new ruling class is well established in power, they are thrust back into servitude. This is practically the whole of political history, as Burnham sees it.
—–
Of course, Burnham was an elitist who believed in the rule of an oligarchy as a substitute for his former Trotskyite belief in the revolutionary mission of proletariat, but I believe his description above is mostly correct. Anarchists and all other political ideologues are fools because they fail to realize that every system will eventually evolve into some kind of oligarchy. The basics of why that is so – we are the fifth great ape, “apes with car keys” as I like to say. Until we biologically EVOLVE away from the fundamental “human nature” drives associated with that, expect more of the same.
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Thanks for that, Winston. Great link. Food for thought,,,,,no,,,,a feast for thought.
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Fifth generation apes, but the still basic Gaussian distribution. The lowest percentile is dumb as a door knob consumers, and nothing would induce it to open their mind. The highest percentile are either geniuses, or idiots savant: they can improve life or as sociopaths herd the sheep as they please. Without it, it’s cave dwellers forever. The nature would be thankful for that.
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Not quite correct Winston there is such a thing – often over looked as the Primitive economy. Over 50,000 yrs this evolved into an egalitarian economy that refused to allow domination of an elite beyond the lifetime of ‘leaders’. You can argue that the benefits we have today would not have arisen without some form of oligarchy but in the long run evolution does not care about temporary solutions.
Here is a quote from George Dalton… http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1525/aa.1961.63.1.02a00010/asset/aa.1961.63.1.02a00010.pdf;jsessionid=B58C585239D0087FF7B333CF64457A44.f02t04?v=1&t=iymh1we6&s=bfa10d9f89445acb616440d68e9d2b03dbe45d12
“With unambiguous meaning, therefore, one can talk about the “economic” system of Imperial Rome, of the Kwakiutl Indians, of the Benedictine Order of Monks, of 19th century England, or of Soviet Russia-meaning nothing more than the organizational structures and processes through which material goods are provided; one need not assume anything beforehand about necessary techniques, motivations, or specific types of economic organization.”
Who is to say a 50,000 yr culture rooted in Biology is not right against our 300yrs of Scientific/Industrial gains or the type gains from hierarchical organisation that steadily arose in the last 6000 yrs or so from farming. Evolution does not always go in one direction as our earliest forebears found out during eons of global challenges and natural disasters.
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LOL
I never tire of seeing the lengths that Marxists will go to in order to defend their failed ideology.
All communist/socialist states will evolve to be ruled by what you call a “party elite” – the “political class” who rise to power on the backs of those who actually work for a living.
They are evil specifically because they care for nothing but their own power and wealth.
And they have the nerve to call those of us who demand to keep more of our own money “greedy”.
There are too few streetlamps and not nearly enough rope.
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We now have corporations with turnover larger than many countries. We can view these as the new communists.
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There’s enough rope – it’s reusable.
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Did anybody have to do anymore than pick at the band-aids?
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The European commission seems to think they are above the law. A bunch of unelected morons are trying to steal the power over people.
Good luck with that.
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It’s exactly what I was hoping Trump might do as POTUS. Become an agent of overdue change. I think Trump is far smarter than he gets credit for. George Lakoff wrote Trump never improvises even if it sounds like it. He knows exactly what effect he wants. Beside, his border wall builds on a 2006 one which Obama and Hillary signed. His immigration order is built on existing restrictions. None of these are new initiatives, just delivered in Trump fashion.
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Of course he wants the EU dead. Every anti-EU candidate is compared to Trump. The EU is correctly seen as anti-Trump. Help your friends.. f*** your enemies… win-win.
…and Yes, having your defense in the hands of the U.S. gives Trump an Ace in the hole, but one that you know he has, and one you know he wants to play.
Anyone that wants to leave now has a huge leverage play with one phone call to 1600 Penn.
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Exactly. And he is forcing their hand. The outcome, while not certain, appears probable.
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Yep. This is Trump being Trump. He posits extreme – even false – negotiating positions for himself & his opponent. This creates ‘false’ concessions for both sides, which they are quite happy to trade/concede… while Trump collects most/all of the REAL concessions because he set-up the negotiation in a win-win proximity for himself at the very start.
Amazing that people (media, opposition) still haven’t caught on to Trump’s tactics… he wrote books about this stuff, yet he’s STILL able to gain the early advantage in every single negotiation on every issue that matters.
His statements + early moves RE: the UK and EU have already staked the win-win proximity for Trump, and now he can sit & watch the EU negotiate against itself. Genius.
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SHUT UP, mpower! Trump is negotiating for us! True it is amazing the other side hasn’t figured it out but let’s hope they never do.
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Reminds me of what Patton said about Rommel after he whipped him in North Africa: “I read your book!”
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…and apparently Dems can’t read (public schooling?), otherwise they would be dealing with Trump very differently right now.
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O/T – fruit pickers soon to be replaced too!
Soon there’ll be very little work for humans.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38808925
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Not ready for prime time Germ.
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Moore’s Law will expedite.
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Soon to be replaced by technology that grows and eats apples?
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It is simply getting more and more interesting. If Trump succeeds (I hope he does) it sure looks like it will be a different world. People who have had free lunch till now are no longer sure of it. Good.
It is all coming as a shock probably because no one expected him to act on his promises. But here we are. It is time.
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Is it a good idea to destroy this structure?? Destroying it will affect world trade and economic activity negatively. and Yes, the euro experiment has a lot of bureaucrats. A little more thoughtfulness about the consequences of this is needed.
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Every time a craftsman rebuilds he gets a little better at it.
A European union seems likely, eventually.
Germany’s next try might work better.
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Even now the EU is morphing,
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JW – your perspective betrays a belief in “reform” & “second chances” for failed bureaucracies & ideologies.
Never in history has a government or regime “reformed” itself for the better. Never.
I understand your fears & sentiments, but destruction is both necessary & inevitable. And sooner is ALWAYS better than later…
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Excess rigidity is the enemy of political evolution.
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No one can predict the outcome (God only knows) and it won’t play out over 6 months, will be years & years. Unintended consequences will abound.
Good luck to all people of goodwill, that’s all I can think to comment.
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I am a local kinda guy unless I cannot find what I need (usually computer parts, exotic wood, and aquarium or salt water gear). I order these on the internet. I think it is time we Americans think about America and stop buying into the globalist view. Globalist want our country to be no more.
I do not know nor will I predict what will happen but I am glad this administration is thinking about America. Europe gets a free ride for the most part on their own defense.
I wish we could bring our men and women home to be honest and let the EU spend some of their own money in their defense. Most Europeans I met in my journeys dislike their military personnel. I think it is time the EMU spent more on their own defense and stopped relying on the USA to provide it for them.
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The unintended consequence is that every time they do that it leads to slaughter. Every time. They are experts in Fascism, Nazism etc. Some of the zealots still exhibit similar characteristics like wishing to punish those wanting to leave the group.
Somethings never change no matter how much reprogramming is attempted.
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Every time Europeans made contact with a new civilization they subjugated and colonized it. Until they didn’t.
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The BBC worries me. It has a seemingly blatant Liberal political agenda, and we are getting non-stop ‘bad, nasty, horrible Trump’ mixed in with half truths and misrepresentations. For example we are told that Sally Yates was fired ‘after questioning the legality of his immigration ban’. No she wasn’t. She ordered justice department lawyers not to enforce the president’s executive order and imho Trump had no option but to fire her. She bloody well deserved it. Bottom line for me is:
a/ by issuing the order is Trump killing anyone? Answer No!
b/ by issuing the order is Trump torturing anyone? Answer No!
c/ by issuing the order is Trump ethnically cleansing people who are already resident in the US? Answer No!
d/ by issuing the order is Trump restricting the free movement of British people (I am British) either at home, in the US, or in any other country? Answer No!
Other than on those fundamental issues of human rights, I am not a US taxpayer, don’t get a US vote and have no reason to go poking my nose into the affairs of other nations … but OH ….. MY ……GOD …. !!!!! You should listen to the claptrap constantly being spouted by the Beeb. One day I am going to meet up up with the likes of the ever so assertive Huw Edwards and I will take great pleasure in telling him EXACTLY what I think of the shitty corporation he works for!
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Though half of western culture is on what people refer to as “the right”, western media members belong almost exclusively to “the left”. Why so?
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No BS, look at attendee lists for Bilderberg group meetings.
The line-up vs biased media is there.
BBC, FT, NYT etc.
Then look at the subjects covered when these people were invited.
I am convinced there are people behind the scenes pulling strings to achieve an agenda.
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In the U.K. there has been a notable change of tone these past 15 years or so. I suspect they, and the BBC in particular, are leaned on fairly heavily by the state. They relentlessly seem to parrot back what the establishment – not necessarily the government – wants you to believe. Investigative journalism is dead.
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Yes Roger, what is witnessed time and again is previously reputable news sources somehow converting to an outside (usually liberal) agenda, sometimes after being bought out, sometimes by establishment pressure.
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Sorry to hear investigative journalism is as dead in the UK as in the US, Roger. Seems the BBC is no more supportive of Ms. May than our lefty media supports Donald. Glad to have you posting here, keep up the news from the Other Side Of The Pond.
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As Eurointelligence stated, nor EU nor Germany seem to have appealed to the US expressing concern about their own dual nationals, to seek arrangement. Complain and protest, yes, and because that either protects them with an appearance or helps them escape the responsibility of dealing with the US openly. They have no face.
The press is completely loaded here now against Trump, and sniping at May and the UK continuously. The English press also, very hard put to find neutral or dedicated to defending the forming reality. The Guardian, which used to have some very good reporting, is now a continuous open, sometimes vicious, tirade. The beeb is clearly tainted though subtler.
Having been put through the attention of various European nationality controls, documentation, as British, as ‘EU citizen’, you would not believe. They treat their own far worse than immigrants, far worse than a simple visa ban or airport detention. The hypocrisy is disgusting. When people talk of fascism and Trump, and if you want to view modern democratic procedure as a form of fascism always, where only law protects the individual, well fascism in EU is the wrong type, where the leaders are not elected, where there are no effective legal guarantees, where the crowd are under one unaccountable boot and are dealt with as simply loyal or trash to the form of EU influence that manifests in that locality. Everywhere, the good will and service of local traditional authority has been corrupted, distorted and confused. Agencies or personel purposefully intervene across existing structures causing upheaval and distress, the channels for higher resolution are obscure to non existent, integration of standards nothing more than an empty illusion with thousands working endlessly to defend the ideal which is NOT reality, and can only be reality if a complete central dictatorship is established that eliminates national and local say.
Bring it down, it was NEVER chosen to be established this way, if at all, by the populations.
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Terrific analysis – I was born in Scotland; go home frequently for visits, the country is a disaster not just waiting to happen, but has already happened under the EU loving SNP with their inane idea of Independence for a country with limited resources, people, skills, industry, etc. Crazy illogical policies, bizarre rules and regulations, which, when protested against are immediately rescinded or put on the back burner “for more discussion”. I despise visiting Europe now – and have no desire to ever return. Most of the great European cities I remember from my early travel days are now dumps, graffiti, trash, beggars, coupled with indifferent or non-existent hospitality, shopping and other personal services from the natives.
I remember once asking a friend why the Scots make such terrible public and private service employees, waiters, clerks, department store staff, etc. No smiles, ignoring customers, no attempt to make the shopping or dining experience memorable, no “have a nice day”. her reply? “It’s a hold-over from the Colonial days, we’re used to people serving us and not having to serve them”.
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Thank you, and for the detail also which I could not have described better. As I have also lived and travelled extensively in Europe I can only back your description, an absolute disgrace. For most people it comes across as something that is unsavoury, but having personally experienced the depth of the destruction first hand, having been subject to the encroaching layers of attitudes in a very direct manner, from various sources ( legal, admin, political, bureaucratic etc.) , over the space of two decades, and having known what preceded them, I just shake my head.
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Fascinating developments – soon (1 – 4 months from here) we will know how much power the President of the US really has. IMHO not much but I will watch and learn.
Like most of these commenters here, they will learn a lot, too LOL
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Have you ever tried making a positive suggestion rather than just sniping?
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I wonder how bad things must get in the EU before the people install far right politicians who will leave the EU. They are gaining popularity but are not strong enough to take control. I suspect the EU will survive for a while longer.
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Reversing the EU pendulum to the right has already begun, and is gathering speed. It’s a processes, not an event.
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As long as each country’s elite can keep suckering the Germans out of loan money noone will ever repay,, precious few will want to leave the gravy train. Once the Germans wise up and realize the banksters, who profit from the idiocy, and Ebola are about even on the usefulness scale, it will all unravel.
For now, despite ballyhooing about austerity, peripheral debt is still growing in absolute terms. Meaning, money at least nominally flows from Germany to the rest. Once enough Germans realize they are the ones working while the rest just babbles and make empty promises, that will stop. And so will the EU.
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“I view the euro as a failed project and the EU as a collection of massively overpaid statists best gotten rid of.”
Maybe we will all get “lucky”, and these parasites will be tried and convicted of crimes sufficient to warrant the swift application of the death penalty. And I have the perfect method for their execution. Lock them up all together in one room and let them talk each other to death.
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Most people do not understand the real reason behind the creation of the EU.
It was to bring war-loving Germany into a group which controls and pacifies it. The Germans themselves wanted that and up to today are very reluctant to take control of Europe – in the meantime they have won WWIII (their first time win in 100 years) – the economical war as the export powerhouse to the rest of the world. Next step will be very frightening for France and others IF the Germans finally decide to build up there military strength to become a leader there, too.
Hard to imagine, most likely not and that why EU will muddle through for much longer than all these wrong predictionsI of sudden death.
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Not.
EEC was founded to eliminate trade monopoly and help avoid resource conflict. Germany was already pacified ‘forever’, the gesture of open trade managed by a bureaucracy funded by that trade for its position of oversight was the foundation of the larger structure.
Germany and France have done all they can to gain control of that structure, with Belgium enjoying the position of diplomatic seat.
You would have to look at Germany as a German to judge if it has won or lost, as other nations will do the same, not forgetting that the tale is not told yet. The Germans do not want to take open responsibility/blame for obvious reasons, a.k.a. there is some explaining to do + there is no public acceptance in Europe of a monopolar assumption of power.
Reluctance=suggestion, and the reply is clearer by the day, yet you state Germany as leader when in fact all that has been achieved is to make a majority of European countries leaderless, which is not clever at all .
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Europe is indeed leaderless… easy prey for whom ever wants to weaken/topple the experiment. Watching EU bureaucrats attempt to ‘manage’ their experiment has been painful enough. Watching them attempt to ‘rescue’ their experiment is downright excruciating.
My theory: DE will eventually leave the EU and attempt to ally itself (bilaterally) with Russia. The irony here is that Trump has already positioned the USA to preempt/control that turf.
Trump is 10 steps ahead of all these clowns… it’s embarrassing.
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Better off watching than being here where you are (litterally) the experiment, that I can tell, and you can also be sure that any US success will be labelled as being achieved by EU failure and loss. Care though, some of these people are REALLY nasty and won’t ever accept any defeat, their influence stretches to the US and they would prefer destruction rather than loss of influence and status to their opponents. Not a moment too soon for Trump or similar to be in power, I hope the tolerance and discipline his supporters showed towards their nation for the previous decade is rewarded.
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Trump’s parents were German. Maybe Trump is secretly allied with both Germany and Russia. Or maybe that is just my wishful thinking…
Both Merkel and Putin lived in East Germany when the Berlin Wall “suddenly mysteriously” fell on Nov 9, 1989 [Nov 9 is a very symbolic German date.] The next year Merkel was elected to the Bundestag and on her way to become Chancellor of Germany. Y2K eve Yeltsin suddenly resigned and Putin became President of Russia.
Here is one of Putin’s famous quotes from his autobiography:
“What amazed me most of all was how one man’s efforts could achieve what whole armies could not.”
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DE industry/population needs RU energy/gas. This dependency dynamic will only become more accute in the future.
IMO, a DE/RU alliance is inevitable because of the energy dependency dynamic + geographic proximity.
I have no idea how exactly the EU will devolve, but am quite certain that DE will not be left holding the bag, and DE’s next move will be TOWARDS Russia.
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I can envisage a militaristic Europe turning to slaughter again.
They have nukes via France, industrial complex via Germany and France.
Britain, not sucked into a rearmed German-French axis, will be a primary target once rearmament is complete.
Like kids with matches, the German axis is not to be trusted with armaments. The Russians know this too.
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Germany is composed of humans, most of whom have never seen war except elves fighting orcs on their phone screens. Very few have gone hungry. Very few have touched a gun.
Rank Country Guns per 100 residents
1 United States 112.6
4 Switzerland 45.7
11 France 31.2
15 Germany 30.3
23 Greece 22.5
35 Belgium 17.2
40 Luxembourg 15.3
It is not 1940.
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Remember back in November when Juncker urged EU members to quit having referendums because people will vote to leave? Trump is going to force that idiot into living out of a abandoned shopping cart in the not too distant future. He’ll probably fit right in to the lifestyle… Heck, it’s just a different kind of welfare system.
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Unfortunately that is unlikely as you will not believe the lengths they will go to to keep the show unchanged.
Seriously, unbelievable what they will do.
They will act behind the scenes in the most nefarious disgusting underhanded ways. Threaten, bully. It is a religion with its own Jesuit wing and teams dedicated to its preservation at all costs. Germany will support 100% for the sakes of their grandchildren, so I have heard.
One EU mouthpiece has alluded to the assignation of Trump – Die Zeitgeist editor.
They will stop at nothing, expect a push back, further media storms, tantrums, formation of anti-Trump allied groups both sides of the Atlantic etc.
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Until anyone comes into direct personal confrontation with, they won’t know properly what you are saying Fish. I was obliged to and found where and how they hit. I think only the word evil could be used as description , whatever it is actually meant to mean.
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Evil is a word I steered clear of but it is very apt.
Sorry for being melodramatic but there is a Satanic element. I have encountered some that chilled me to the bones and a feeling of dread overcame me.
I can’t explain where the feelngs came from. The vocabulary, demeanor, intent were all menacing. Very unpleasant.
Unless you encounter it it cannot be explained by my words.
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It is bad, and what you sense is not your imagination – we do not search for feelings of that nature, we just find them, and if we are unfortunate, they come to find us.
There are a lot of people working for good also, but no one can tell you who to trust or when , that is to your intuition alone – if it were not so then at this level the corruption of one would bring down the whole.
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I think the EU is toast. Dunno when? But when the typical German, Frenchie, Italian, or Spaniard has his life controlled by UNELECTED BUREAUCRATS in Brussels says a lot. It’s just gonna’ happen sooner, rather than later.
Would The Americans put up with Unelected Bureaucrats from Mexico, Paraguay, and Brazil telling us what Rules we have to live under……Naaaaaaaaaaahhh…..
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You forget, most have lived under Fascism or Nazism or Communism or a Junta.
Most would have probably had a family member in uniform at some time under/in one of those regimes.
You talk to them and few will admit to have family members ever support any of those regimes. Well someone did. They don’t see things the same way as others outside their bubble.
Living under an anti-democratic crony regime is no big deal to many.
It doesn’t concern them, they do as they are told, question little, believe the media.
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Well, Fish, you may be righter than we know.
After all, looking at the Arabs and Persians who do – and did – the same. They prefer autocratic “tell us what to do” leaders to the “freedom” that George Bush so mistakenly believed they would want and appreciate.
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The average German is age 46, or born in 1971.
The Berlin wall fell in 1989, when he/she was finishing high school.
Nationalism declined through his/her formative years into adulthood.
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Germany likes hiding (read: benefit) behind weak euro (compared to deutsche mark).
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Long live the Trumper! ! ! Don’t agree with all he wants but I sure like what I see him doing for America and these United States (even Calif.). The European Union was a “Bankster” operation from the git. The sooner those nations learn that and return to self Rule the better for all the world – Not saying there will not be some pain involved when they return to self rule but that’s what happens when you make a deal with the “Devil”.
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FYI, Bannon does not have a full seat on the NSC. He’s an invitee.
#Fakenews
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” His travel ban applies to people with dual passports – except to those with dual British citizenship. ”
________________
How about dual Israeli citizenship ??
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EU = Degenerate Weimar Republic
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America has tremendous leverage over the EU. And we finally have a POTUS who knows how to play the game and put American’s first. Finally! He will continue to play the EU nations against one another, one at a time, until the Union finally dissolves. No wonder the globalist elites hate him. He’s truly anti-establishment. And he does as he says. That garners respect.
Change, it is a comin’.
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What is with Mish lately? Why the Trump bashing?
First, Mish complains that Trump is shutting borders to illegal immigrants and “travelers” from countries that are known to harbor terrorists. According to Gallup polls, 57% of Americans support Trump’s plan — more than half — even if it is the 57% that the media a–holes prefer to ignore (that is why the media called the election wrong too).
Then he makes the claim (retracted later) that Trumps actions might not have been legal — despite very very clear laws stating the president has the authority, and almost need a reason. Dozens of commenters point out that the past four presidents, and both senators Obama / Hilary supported the same moves. Hypocrisy much?
And now Mish has a ridiculous headline suggesting that it is Trump (and not the fascists in Brussels) that are driving a wedge in the EU? Hello Mish??? Brexit happened before Trump even got the nomination. PIIGS were in the news years before that.
Many of us think Obama was the biggest jackass that ever visited the White House, never mind lived there… but we kept our criticisms to things he actually did (even he admitted such), and we didn’t have a partisan AG deliberately violate written law to make a stupid political statement. Obama was our President even if we didn’t like him.
If I wanted to read a bunch of half-assed partisan diarrhea about Trump, the established media (that everyone is tuning out) already provides that. Its trash that gives the National Enquirer a bad name.
I expect Mish to act like an adult American and stop this childish nonsense. If you don’t like Trump’s policies, fine. Plenty of people don’t. Ron Paul made some excellent points about why building a wall was a bad idea — but he didn’t attack Trump with partisan childishness, instead he pointed out there are many ways to better achieve the goals that at least 57% of Americans want.
If Democrats think they are going to get leadership positions by acting like impish two year olds…. they will find all their democratic “strong holds” looking more and more like Detroit.
Act like adults, stop tearing OUR country apart on purpose, and instead offer better ideas. Better ideas might silence Trump, acting like impish 2 year olds will not.
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Was thinking the same on the title accusing Trump. He does not need credit or blame for what he hasn’t done, and he does not need to be made out as being divisive. Sure, he would not be upset about EU disassembly, but his actions are US policy, and so far none meddle with European decision, the reactions are only representative of how divided European society and politics is.
The wedge is no more than the arguments that already exist within Europe , same as in the US there are those that agree or disagree with his approach. Don’t see how they can blame Trump, only that doing so is part of a strawman drive to discourage opinion itself.
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I think the rest of us noticed the same thing, Fred.
Mish hosts the blogsite. And he does provide some very useful and well researched information. I’ve learned quite a lot from him. And I appreciate the time he devotes to keeping us informed. So when I think he unfairly bashes Trump I try to brush it off and not pile on. I don’t expect to agree with him on everything. But I understand your frustration.
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I will say one thing, Fred.
Many blogs here have criticized the EU nations for enticing refugees to live in their societies and cause tremendous cultural problems and internal unrest and financial burden. OTOH the blogs appear sympathetic to the refugees coming to America and criticize Trump for blocking their entry. This confuses me since I haven’t seen an explanation for the divergent opinions.
I voted for Trump. And Trump is giving me what I expected from him. I couldn’t be happier with his performance. I’m unable to understand why anyone who voted for Trump would be dissatisfied. He’s delivering the goods that he promised us.
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Apparently my comments are now going into “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
I don’t have a problem with Mish criticizing Trump per se — but we are supposedly a nation of laws, and when the spiteful partisan attacks claim the USA itself as collateral damage, the partisanship is out of line
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I suspect Mish is playing the devil’s advocate.
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Playing the devil’s advocate without clarification confuses the reader.
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“And now Mish has a ridiculous headline suggesting that it is Trump (and not the fascists in Brussels) that are driving a wedge in the EU? Hello Mish??? Brexit happened before Trump even got the nomination.”
Trump was in Britain they day before (and after) the Brexit vote and made comments to the effect that Brits would be better off without the EU – opposite to what Hillary and Obama said.
To ‘drive a wedge’ means to cause a division. Trump is driving a wedge between Britain and the EU by making it easier for them to leave – they have been having trouble doing so, you know. Trump is also ‘driving a wedge’ between Germany and the states that have suffered as a result of Germany’s dominance of the EU (so far).
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The EU was driving itself apart long before the Brexit vote… David Cameron was forced to promise a referendum years before Trump threw his hat in the ring in the US. The PIIGS countries were insolvent long before Cameron was forced to promise a referendum.
If a person dies of cancer, technically the ultimate cause of death is that their heart stopped.
The EU is coming apart whether Trump likes it or not. Demonizing Trump over something he has zero control over is just partisan nonsense.
My issue is this: in certain political groups efforts to de-legitimize Trump… they are actually de-legitimizing the entire USA. Criticize Trump for things Trump does if you like (educated debates will actually benefit the USA)… but undermining the rule of law, and attacking the president out of political spite hurts the USA.
There are IMHO better ways to protect our borders besides creating a police state. There are pros and cons to Trump’s executive orders. Lets debate that.
The infantile partisanship is something we get too much of on TV already.
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“Demonizing Trump over something he has zero control over is just partisan nonsense.”
Neither I nor Mish is demonizing Trump for driving a wedge into the EU. The EU is a bad thing. Mish has said as much on many occasions.
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Germany has conquered Europe without firing a shot.
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Both Merkel and Putin lived in East Germany when the Berlin Wall “suddenly mysteriously” fell on Nov 9, 1989 [Nov 9 is a very symbolic German date.] The next year Merkel was elected to the Bundestag and on her way to become Chancellor of Germany. Y2K eve Yeltsin suddenly resigned and Putin became President of Russia.
Here is one of Putin’s famous quotes from his autobiography:
“What amazed me most of all was how one man’s efforts could achieve what whole armies could not.”
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Sure, they re-conquered europe… but they can’t keep/manage it.
So what have they gained?
A massive failing welfare state.
I believe DE is currently re-thinking their “place” in the world, and they are realizing that being the nominal power broker of a failed federal experiment is NOT the “place” they want for themselves in the future.
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$130k/year minimum salary for H1-B…now introduced in the House.
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