Anti-EU forces triumphant in the EU elections
Europeans seem to have gotten tired of being told what to do by a centralized EU that gives them virtually no say. It’s a trend:
The overall result in the European (EU) Parliamentary Election reflects massive gains for conservative nationalists in Italy, Greece, France, Poland, Hungary, Austria, U.K. and others…
In the comments to that article, a Canadian commenter writes “Trump is changing the world.” Trump’s election was a reflection of the same movement, a forerunner of sorts, even though it had little to nothing to do with the EU. And I believe his presidency has also had some effect (not sure exactly how much, but some) on other countries, because it has helped others to see it’s possible to give their leftist controllers the boot.
The leaders of the EU went too far left too fast, ignoring the nationalist feelings that still exist and the threats people feel at the hands of the EU. In their ivory towers (or whatever the more apt metaphor would be) the leaders couldn’t hear the rabble down below, muttering in frustration.
There are plenty of articles giving some of the details of the election results in various countries: this and this, for example.
As for Boris Johnson—the front-runner to become the next Prime Minister of the UK after Theresa May steps down—he seems to be quite a character and colorful public figure. Although he’s rather different from Trump, in this photo he has a Trumpish air in the physical sense. Kind of a big guy with a long tie.
And strangely enough, Johnson is another New Yorker:
Johnson — full name Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson — is among that rare club of politicians instantly recognizable by one name only — “Boris.”
Born in New York’s Upper East Side [to British parents], he held U.S. citizenship until 2006. He was educated at Eton — Britain’s most prestigious private school — and Oxford University, before starting a career in journalism in the 1980s.
Here’s what Wiki has to say about him:
Johnson is a controversial figure in British politics and journalism. Supporters have praised him as an entertaining, humorous, and popular figure with appeal beyond traditional Conservative voters. Conversely, he has been criticised by figures on both the left and right, who accused him of elitism, cronyism, dishonesty, laziness, and using racist and homophobic language. Johnson is the subject of several biographies and a number of fictionalised portrayals.
There are quite a few familiar descriptors there, several words that have come to be applied to almost anyone slightly on the right with any pizazz. Controversial. Dishonest, lazy, racist.
This election should send shock waves through the left and the EU, as well as the Tories who supported May’s broken promises. But I don’t think any of those parties can regroup or change effectively, despite the wakeup call.
As it happens, today I was rereading an old Robert Anton Wilson interview from the 1970s.
Every ruling elite suffers from Progressive Disorientation: the longer they rule, the crazier, they get. That’s because everybody lies to the men in power — some to escape punishment, some to flatter and curry favor. The result that the elite get a very warped idea of the world indeed.
Make Western Civilization Great Again!
Someone pointed out that there are many EU citizens in Britain who could vote. They probably affected the EU BREXIT vote but will not be eligible for the Parliament vote. The leave vote was probably falsely low.
In some respect politics has been missing (a few decades now) in many parts of the world which had formerly been used to having it. Now, it seems to be returning. Whether generally for better or for ill we shan’t know, I suspect, until the tasting proves the pudding. Still and all, welcome back, politics. I’ve missed ye.
The EU was destined to fail from the moment they tried to take it beyond a trade organization. That was a good idea in general but when they started trying to dictate all kinds of crazy things to various countries and cultures the pushback was only a matter of time.
Also, I don’t see how any union like this can flourish without a more common language. That is one of the key factors in the success of the US as even though we had many disparate groups it was understood that learning the language was an unspoken requirement which meant we had a big thing in common even if we differed on other things and as that has dropped the problems have begun.
Now throw together a bunch of countries with numerous languages and try to convince them to be loyal and deferential to a bunch of bureaucrats in some far off place.
I predict that BoJo (the cute name for Boris Johnson in the Brit press) will find that he actually likes Trump and that the two will find common ground. Trump has been rebuffed by May when he asked her what he could do to help Britain during Brexit. He will encounter a different response with Boris. This could turn out very well indeed for Britain and its trade with the US.
“he has been criticised by figures on both the left and right, who accused him of elitism, cronyism, dishonesty, laziness, and using racist and homophobic language. Johnson is the subject of several biographies and a number of fictionalised portrayals.”
I think much of this could have been said of Trump in the last days of his campaign.
Michael Barone, always worth reading, believes this will all result in a “hard” Brexit in October.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/theresa-may-resigns-and-not-a-minute-too-soon
Michael Barone, always worth reading, believes this will all result in a “hard” Brexit in October.
If Britain is fortunate, it will so lead. If Britain is as it has been, it will lead to more shilly-shallying, kicking the can down the road, and a 2d referendum.
There must be something complimentary you could say about Theresa May. If you gave ’em a week, someone in her inner circle might be able to come up with something.
Boris wrote a pretty good book on Churchill, too, a fast-moving and entertaining read.
It will produce shock waves, but the reaction will be “PUT THIS GENIE BACK IN THE BOTTLE!”
No telling how ugly it will get.
“My parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be, so I grew up to become the savior of western civilization.” — Donald J. Trump
😆
What if they gave an economic collapse and nobody came?
I keep reading pundits going on about the disaster which Brexit guarantees. I’m reminded of Paul Krugman solemnly intoning that the stock market would never recover after Trump’s election. Not exactly on the mark. (Why does Krugman still have a national column?)
Here’s Roger Cohen, a NYTimes columnist, patronizingly on Brexit:
However improbable it was that a normally prudent nation would vote for self-amputation from a 46-year membership in a union of a half-billion Europeans that has brought it prosperity and influence, this happened. The consequences have proved impossible to manage. There is no parliamentary majority for any form of Brexit. You can’t fix stupid, as my colleague Tom Friedman has observed.
May’s departure changes the scenery, but does not alter Britain’s drift into a paralyzing impasse that only a second referendum can resolve. With the lies now uncovered, the reality revealed, the adrenaline dissipated, the British deserve a second chance to say what they want for themselves and the generations to come.
There, there, stupid Brit. It’s not too late to repent of your folly and return to the security your betters have planned for you. Cohen throws some links at you but otherwise doesn’t support his dark claims.
I wouldn’t promise the British economy will take off as the US economy did after Trump, but it might. More likely IMO it won’t make much difference after things get rewired.
But the real danger — to the European elites — is that the UK won’t be punished and the rest of the EU will see they don’t need a bunch of expensive bureaucrats in Brussels ruling over the amount of cinnamon permitted in their pastries either.
All of us are annoyed to some extent when we hear “Press 1 for English”. Imagine waiting until you hear “Press 1, 8 for Croatian”.
“…Roger Cohen…throws some links…”
Would that be the Roger Cohen who was so enamored of the IRI way back when?…
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/roger-cohen-of-the-ny-times-peddles-anti-american-fake-news/
AND one’s favorite “can’t-fix-stupid” (US-should-be-“more-like-China”?, make-America-great-again?!) Tom Friedman knitted-eyebrows effort:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/opinion/27friedman.html?em
Roger Cohen and Tom Friedman (and all those other self-important NYT clowns): The “Murderer’s Row” of journalism!
Apparently the silly Brits want their national sovereignty and their independence back. I can’t imagine why. /sarc
.
I hate to tell Mr. Cohen, but their adventure with the EU has brought them neither power nor influence. Call me starry-eyed, but I have an idea that the Brits, if they can just check the socialist elements among them, will get along just fine.
P.S. Somebody tell T.Friedman to go see what it’s like to live in China. Excerpt from a posting at
https://bigthink.com/stephen-johnson/a-look-at-chinas-orwellian-plan-to-give-every-citizen-a-social-credit-score :
The story of Liu Hu is all over the Internet.
The New Age is here. Now where is the New World Order from Rockefeller and the US dollar bill at?
Not everything is swinging towards national sovereignty in the whole of Europe. The Swiss just gave up a sizeable chunk of their legendary gun rights in order to comply with EU Schengen zone rules including gun controls. Here’s a Reuter’s article.
Only the Italian region voted against the new restrictions. My guess is that there was an economic threat connected to a failure to approve.
Boris? Natasha comes immediately to mind. Were he an American candidate, there would likely be a charge of Russian assistance.
This reminds me the story of Tower of Babel, the attempted monument to human pride and arrogance. It was instigated by the common language the builders had, and after divine intervention they lost this key advantage, and the construction was abandoned. This archetypal story repeats itself in a convoluted agony of European Project and of its previous incarnations: Roman Empire, the Sacred empire of the German People by Karl us Magnus, Napoleonic Empire or Hitler’s Empire. Soviet Empire failed for the same reason: incompetence of the rulers and nationalism buried it.
The bad news is that the left has been very good at the long game over the last century.
The good news is that they are getting really impatient and they are seriously overplaying their hand. Just look at the last decade in the U.S. The sheer contempt and even hatred that the left has for the people they disagree with could not be more evident if they were wearing armbands and goose-stepping around.
I get the impression that their hysteria has a very strong parallel to certain events in the 20th century, except this hopefully people will see it coming and head it off. We can’t count on the young, or the media-besotted, but knowledgeable people like Neo and the commenters here can hopefully get the word out. The cultural war isn’t so cold any more, but there’s hope we can keep it from getting hot.
China’s social credit policy sound like Cultural Revolution #2.
sounds like
The UK is among the big “net contributors” to the budget. They get less back, but pay a lot less, if they leave.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48256318
The big econ benefit of the EU are in “free trade” — the lack of which is a key reason the US Articles of Confederation failed. Among the college educated, the vast majority “speak English”, or at least studied it for years and passed tests.
All “countries” are full of, or at least have many, people who are proud of their countries. For what people of their ethnic identity have done, good things. By imperfect people, but with good intentions and good results.
No big “nationalist” change in Slovakia, a bit on the contrary because as one nationalist party has been rising, the ruling socialists have been caught in corruption scandals, so the “Progressives”, more secular humanists, have won a small plurality among the 30+ parties running — only 6 of which passed the 5% threshold, including my KDH (Christian Democrats) but not the other two Christian parties, who don’t like the new KDH leader, since he’s a bit controversial and willing to do publicity stunts. If Brexit happens, Slovakia gets 14 seats, and KDH will get one more — the algorithm for deciding was bad so SAS, with a few less votes, got 2 reps now, and KDH only 1.
Algorithms are boring, but often very very important.
https://www.election-results.eu/national-results/slovakia/2019-2024/
These results at the bottom show some of the European groups, tho not yet “nationalists”.
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