EU Incompetence leading to further breakup?

Two strong women, Angela Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen, in their wish to strengthen the European Union and establish it as a successful and robust All-European body, have achieved the exact opposite.

 

Merkel wanted the procurement of Covid vaccine to be a European project. However, neither von der Leyen, who was preoccupied with Brexit throughout the year, nor anyone else in the gigantic EU bureaucracy has any experience whatsoever in large-scale procurement. Invariable, they were just chickenfeed for the tough negotiators of the Pharma industry. Moreover, the 27 countries were not in agreement as regards to the different vaccines, price, technology and liability, thereby slowing negotiations down. The result is FAILURE.  Big time failure. Death causing failure.

 

Merkel should not have pushed for it and von der Leyen should not have accepted it. Lessons must be learned.  Before it is too late. Otherwise, Britain will not be the last country to leave the EU.

Hungary

Kick them out. And they can keep all their Goulash.

The EU brought in former Communist-bloc dictatorships and then spent billions trying to help them democratise. Some of these countries are evidently not interested. In that case, they should be made to leave. Now.

Our tax money should stop funding that despicable dictatorship that has been brought in and voted for by the population of Hungary. 

They could form their own bloc with Poland and Israel for instance and enjoy that trip. Until then, that country should be boycotted by any decent European.

united Kingdom – What Now?

He did it. He won by a landslide. The papers are full of analysis and predictions. What will he be like, now that he’s got that all-enabling majority? Where is Britain going? What about Scotland? Ireland? united Kingdom?

In all of this, we should not forget the underlying facts: Britain is where it is because of a nationalist and xenophobic drive, led by Nigel Farage and his enablers, succumbed to by a weak Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron, who produced a half-baked referendum, followed by Theresa May and a Tory party, the deceitful message of which it was that 51.5% of the vote reflects “the will of the people”, a notion that turned into a mantra of the political class. All this was nurtured by a Brexit pushing populist press. Then there is the interesting question of foreign meddling (Putin?) and the personal interest and whims of a few mega-rich individuals who finance such campaigns.

The deed is done. Will it be good for Britain? Nationalism and Xenophobia are bad. Full stop. They go hand-in-hand with racism and antisemitism. And they have all been given a free run. From this point of view, the whole process has been extremely bad for Britain.

Will it be good for Britain’s economy, for people’s standard of living, for the quality of their lives? I think not. Time will tell.

What is it be: Leave the country? Build a bunker and store food and medicine? Pray? Meditate? It’s the time of the year and it will probably just end up with drink and be merry.

EU ELECTIONS

At this time when Putin from Russia and Steve Bannon from the USA are working to break Europe up – it is in all our interest to strengthen our still democratic and liberal European home. If you have a vote: GO and VOTE. We do not want to end up as a Putin Russia or a Trump USA.

Vote for a pro-European party: in the UK this is not easy, and the best bet is to vote for the Liberal Democrats. In Germany, there are more choices. So take your pick and VOTE.

EUREKA

I finally know what must have happened: this misunderstanding between Greece and the EU, in which it turned out that Greece fed the EU with false data, that enabled it to become a member if the EURO, whilst continuing to run the country, as it always has. It is all in the language. Today’s politicians and civil servants, did not take Greek at school, as one did in the old days. 

You see: the Greek word “Neh” does not mean NO, but YES. On the other hand, the Greek word “okhi”, contrary to what one would have guessed, does not mean OK, it means NO.

You can imagine that I was curious, when I walked by a shop, with a big sign ONAN.

It turned out to be a betting shop. You know, a place where people are enjoying themselves but which – at the end – bears no fruit.

I was even more curious to find this spray can in the drugstore:

Unfortunately, the shop assistant was unable to explain what exactly PUBEX does. Nor did he quite understand my question whether it could be used by both men and women.

Pathetic British Prime Minister offering services to Trump

Theresa May is hoping to build up the same kind of a warm relationship with Trump, as Margaret Thatcher had with President Reagan. Reagan and Thatcher saw eye-to-eye on economic neo-liberalism and shared an aggressive anti Soviet-Union drive.

It took some time, but now, the Soviet Union’s successor, which calls itself Russia, is successfully pushing back the West. It should be clear that this has been allowed to happen under Obama’s watch.

Putin is systematically weakening the Western blocks: he was instrumental in bringing Trump to power, thereby ensuring that the USA will be run by an inexperienced and irresponsible cabal. He is trying to help in breaking up Europe and is, for example, funding Le Pen’s fascist party in France. In all likelihood, Putin’s apparatus will intervene in Germany’s coming elections, to get rid of Mrs. Merkel – the only world class politician standing up to him.

This is war.

Trump is – as he likes to remind us – a dealmaker. To do deals, it is best, to have many small and weakened counterparts, rather than a strong opponent. This is where Trump and Putin share the same goal. They both want to break up the EU.

Back to Britain: Pathetic Brexiter, Mrs. May is seeking friends, and to that end she has just sent Trump a present: she came out with strong criticism of Secretary of State Kerry’s speech about Israeli settlements. Pathetic like an old toothless w****, that offers services, which younger and stronger ones will not stoop to, she hopes to attract Trump’s favour.

The Johnson Suicide

It has very quickly become apparent – not only to the remain camp – that the leaders of the leave campaign have irresponsibly misled and lied and thereby led the country in a downward spiral to a frightening unknown.

The unexpected outcome of the Brexit referendum has opened an interesting discussion about how to avoid following the wish of the majority (albeit a slim one) as it was expressed on 23 June. The referendum would not have taken place at all, had we had a responsible adult in Great Britain and more than anything else this is what we are lacking now: a charismatic politician to responsibly lead the country out of this mess. A Churchill or De Gaulle would have been right for the occasion.

Some have suggested calling a general election, but the parties need a trigger to clarify clearly what their positions on Europe are. And here’s my suggestion:

Going out with a bang would establish Boris Johnson forever as a truly tragic hero. Books, plays, even operas would be written about him, were he to commit suicide. 

He would need to leave a suicide note addressed to his followers, explaining that the whole Brexit idea was a terrible mistake, his miscalculated bravado, for which he apologises to the British people. He would add a suggestion that Parliament be dissolved and new elections be called, in which the competing parties would clarify whether they are IN or OUT.

The ball (?), Boris Johnson, is in your court.

Yellow Card for Poland ?

The Polish government has announced that it will make referring to Nazi concentration camps that were situated in occupied Poland as “Polish concentration camps” punishable. Where will the offenders be sent?

The Poles have for a long time, rightly objected to the fallacious referral to the Nazi camps as Polish. However, we should not forget that many Poles were virulent and sometimes even murderous anti-Semites. Indeed pogroms took place after the war had ended, in which Poles killed Jews who were trying to return to their homes in Poland.

Moreover, considering the exceptionally high level of anti-Semitism still to be found in Poland: 45% in Poland compared to 16% in Germany and 11% in the UK, the Polish government should perhaps concentrate its resources on fighting anti-Semitism and educating its own population against racist xenophobia.

Worryingly, the current administration, as well as public and media sentiment is going wildly nationalistic. Is there a way of sending Poland out of the EU until they start behaving again? Countries such as Poland should be shown a yellow card. Perhaps even a red one.

I want some EU money too

The Vatican has recently announced that new LED lights are to be installed in the Sistine Chapel. There are benefits all round: the new lights will produce less heat than traditional light bulbs so that it will be possible to better illuminate the chapel and we will all get a better view of the magnificent art. The Vatican will save on its air-conditioning bill because of the reduced heat. Moreover, the LED is cheaper and the Vatican will save 60% of the lighting costs.

Installing the new system will cost 1.9 million Euro and here’s the rub: for some reason the wise men in Brussels have decided to subsidise the (non-member and cash rich) Vatican with €870,000 EU money for this project.

Bringing in hell, as in what-the-hell, is unlikely to shock the Vatican. They are used to more exciting sins than an occasional mentioning of hell. Not even what-the-f*** will cause a stir. 

Could the explanation be the granting of an umbrella absolution to the corrupt apparatus of the European Union? But the Vatican, I imagine, would have charged more than 870,000 Euros for that service.

Or are EU officials just like the girl-who-can’t say-no? You apply for a grant and get one. In that case, how about one for me?