tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post683028618476532168..comments2024-03-07T10:17:41.979+00:00Comments on the tap: The World Needs Europe's Nations, Not The EU.Tapestryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17267094484651413428noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-46608550099958154482008-06-27T04:01:00.000+00:002008-06-27T04:01:00.000+00:00It is only at this level that democracy can functi...<EM>It is only at this level that democracy can function.....</EM><BR/><BR/>Nice to know that you have an open mind.Tapestryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267094484651413428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-87189605791494794982008-06-27T02:03:00.000+00:002008-06-27T02:03:00.000+00:00Democracy—or better, constitutional government—is ...Democracy—or better, constitutional government—is dependent on military power. That is to say, without the means to defend constitutional government from outside aggressors, our democracy will atrophy or be plucked apart by foreign designs. Unless you reside in the delusional world of the liberal internationalist, who believes nation states can all get along in a Kantian/Grotian paradise, those who continue to support the exhausted (existing) nation states of Europe will be in for a shock. These institutional structures—which are not 'natural', but constructions or imagined communities—are now unable to hold the attentions or loyalties of their people in the way they once did.<BR/><BR/>What an earth is there to be proud of about modern Belgium, Germany, Poland, France or the UK? These countries may have glorious pasts, but they are looking quite fragile and banal in the modern world.<BR/><BR/>A vast and expansive (in the geopolitical sense) European federal state has the potential to recapture peoples' imaginations, providing a new sense of dynamism and purpose for all of us in the twenty-first century. In so doing, it also has the potential to provide the security and defences necessary to protect us from foreign threats and challenges.<BR/><BR/>There is absolutely no reason whatsoever as to why a constitutional government cannot be created at the European level. Indeed, it is only at this level that democracy can function, as giant and potentially dangerous new powers like China and Russia emerge in this century. I want constitutional government in Europe, but I also want Britain and Europe to remain powerful and prosperous in the coming century. The two are not mutually exclusive, but actively buttress one another.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-80855404166191400932008-06-26T17:24:00.000+00:002008-06-26T17:24:00.000+00:00The elite are in love with deepening, but are the ...The elite are in love with deepening, but are the people? A referendum would tell them, but they don't dare to hold one.<BR/><BR/>It's a bizarre maturity - one that is not permitted to be asked. Surely maturity entitles a people to be consulted, not to have power imposed over them by the will of others.<BR/><BR/>Or does maturity mean willingness to comply with the will of others without complaint. That's serfdom.<BR/><BR/>Suppressing the will of a people is to treat them as immature.<BR/><BR/>The idea of a power elite deciding if a people is 'mature' or not seems deeply sinister.<BR/><BR/>That is why I left Europe. I don't wish to live in a world where there is an elite that decides things for me. I was born into a democracy, and I will live in one somewhere in the world until I die. <BR/><BR/>Europe is no longer a democracy - not until Lisbon is buried, not until the EU is buried.<BR/><BR/>Your attitudes are the ones that permit the removal of democratic rights from peoples. It is sinister to read them so blatantly expressed. It sends a shiver down my spine.Tapestryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267094484651413428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-61165300436520933702008-06-26T15:15:00.000+00:002008-06-26T15:15:00.000+00:00Steve Webb, At least I want to do it openly, and w...Steve Webb, <BR/><BR/>At least I want to do it openly, and with the EU citizens electing the officeholders and setting the course for our common venture.<BR/><BR/>Tapestry, <BR/><BR/>In my view, at least some member states are not mature enough to advance towards an effective and democratic union. They should be allowed to stay at their comfort level, without obstructing progress for others. <BR/><BR/>At the same time, a new core or union would show if even a part of the member states are ready to really deepen the new citizens' EU.Ralf Grahn https://www.blogger.com/profile/02156293782163802007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-58352794212214811362008-06-26T12:37:00.000+00:002008-06-26T12:37:00.000+00:00"Europe's nations should be guided towards the sup..."Europe's nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation." -- Jean Monnet--36 years ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-46684404375544989042008-06-26T12:01:00.000+00:002008-06-26T12:01:00.000+00:00Two stages. One is the development of military ca...Two stages. <BR/><BR/>One is the development of military capacity which is not happening (sufficiently) in most european countries. <BR/><BR/>Relying exclusively on large transnational organisations to provide all government and security causes disinterest at national level where the spending has to be made, and the commitment to defend has to be generated.<BR/><BR/>Permitting nations to retain their independence increases willingness to defend themselves.<BR/><BR/>Stage two - the formation of countries into alliances. <BR/><BR/>Allowing the nations to remain politically independent democracies will stimulate greater defence capability. <BR/><BR/>The nations can and do organise into transnational defensive organisations such as NATO, without having to be EUised for all aspects of their government.Tapestryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267094484651413428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-78054597916428115402008-06-26T08:02:00.000+00:002008-06-26T08:02:00.000+00:00It is the EU which is threatening nations with exp...It is the EU which is threatening nations with expulsion from cooperative venture, for not voting it greater powers.<BR/><BR/>See this in Times - Kaletsky - today -<BR/><BR/><EM>If the Irish Government refuses to do so, or its people vote “no” a second time, fairly explicit threats are already being issued about expulsion from the EU. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, was quoted in The Financial Times this week as suggesting that “one way to implement the treaty was for Ireland to withdraw temporarily from the process of European integration”.</EM>Tapestryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267094484651413428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30136383.post-67702293948358301462008-06-26T07:28:00.000+00:002008-06-26T07:28:00.000+00:00Tapestry, Your Europe of Nations resembles a dispe...Tapestry, <BR/><BR/>Your Europe of Nations resembles a dispersed flock of hen as long as you do not envision how they are a) going to face up to the challenges on their own, or b) cooperate effectively on a much broder scale of international influence than NATO ever can. <BR/><BR/>Suggested reading: Global Power Europe.Ralf Grahn https://www.blogger.com/profile/02156293782163802007noreply@blogger.com