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| Europe |
| Europe's Vanishing Calm |
| 2018-06-08 |
| AVIGNON, France -- The Rhone River Valley in southern France is a storybook marriage of high technology, traditional vineyards and ancestral villages. High-speed trains and well-designed toll roads, crisscross majestic cathedrals, castles and chateaus. Traveling in a Europe at peace these days evokes both historical and literary allusions. As with the infrastructure and engineering of the late Roman Empire right before its erosion, the continent rests at its pinnacle of technological achievement. There is a Roman Empire-like sameness throughout Europe in fashion, popular culture and government protocol -- a welcome change from the deadly fault lines of 1914 and 1939. Yet, as in the waning days of Rome, there is a growing uncertainly beneath the European calm. ...Free speech is increasingly problematic. It is more dangerous for a European citizen to publicly object to illegal immigration than for a foreigner to enter Europe illegally. Elites preach the idea of open borders. But people on the street concede that they have no way of assimilating millions of immigrants from the Middle East into European culture. Most come illegally, en masse, and without the education or skills to integrate successfully. ...The world quietly assumes that the rich and huge European Union cannot and will not do much about unscrupulous Chinese trade practices, radical Islamic terrorism, or Iranian and North Korean nuclear proliferation. Such problems are left to the more uncouth Americans. That unspoken dependency might explain why many Europeans quietly concede that the hated Donald Trump's deterrent foreign policy and his economic growth protocols could prove in the long term a better deal for Europe than were the beloved Barack Obama's lead-from-behind and redistributionist agendas. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #12 (.....grammar. Delete hi). Bloody fone! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-06-08 22:52 |
| #11 I suppose I could blame my failing Grammer and spelling on Herb. Hi |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-06-08 22:46 |
| #10 Herb, UK is, indeed, a part of the EU, and Theresa May would like that to continue. And, POM actually IS an acronym, but only in certain circles. |
| Posted by: Clem 2018-06-08 22:31 |
| #9 Throw money! That will ensure equilibrium! I doubt it... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-06-08 16:05 |
| #8 Yes they exist because of US security guarantees but that's not the point. If they didn't have the German economic engine the thing would have collapsed long ago security guarantees or not. Depending upon the Germans sucking it up and taking it forever doesn't seem a wise plan. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2018-06-08 16:01 |
| #7 POM's = British? POM isn't an acronym so I'm not sure why you capitalized it. "Pommie" meaning English person comes from an Australian context meaning immigrant from England, not the UK. Are you Australian? Moreover using the possessive seems incorrect in this context. Britain gets a pass because they're not part of the EU and they're one of the few allies that pulls their fair share of the load. The rest of them can go to the Devil, the ungrateful freeloaders. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2018-06-08 12:43 |
| #6 I'm assuming your adding the feckless POM's to your numma 5 Herb. If not, why not ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-06-08 12:18 |
| #5 EU exists (not works) because of American security guarantees. They do it all, for free, and the American taxpayer gets the bill. Then they go out and protest against the Americans for being baby-killing savages for having a military. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2018-06-08 11:46 |
| #4 EU works because the Germans are work-aholics wracked with guilt. Eventually one or the other will break and the lazier and more independent minded countries will peal off. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2018-06-08 10:15 |
| #3 our money. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-06-08 09:15 |
| #2 "This worked really well when other people printed out money..." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-06-08 09:15 |
| #1 "The European Union, the best idea yet from people who have a long history of bad ideas." |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2018-06-08 08:38 |