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His Divine Shadow posted:Uironcally happy about it. Why? Seriously, I haven't followed the trade agreement stuff so I know gently caress-all about it, all I know is that my friends are touting the "why should a region that barely does any trading with Canada be able to break this agreement???!?" line. Which is a reasonable demand tbh.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:25
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Canada can...suck it!!!double nine posted:Why? Seriously, I haven't followed the trade agreement stuff so I know gently caress-all about it, all I know is that my friends are touting the "why should a region that barely does any trading with Canada be able to break this agreement???!?" line. quote:Wallonia, a francophone region of 3.5 million in the south of Belgium, fears the deal with Canada will leave the farming and industrial sectors too exposed to cheaper imports from Canada. quote:“We have to say ‘no’ so we can negotiate,” Paul Magnette, the president of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia told the Walloon parliament on Oct. 14. Rise of the Bog Frenchmen Kurtofan fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 14:30
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Excuse me? What does Wallonia export that Canada can even remotely threaten them in?
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Oct 14, 2016 14:33
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Lol I didn't know Wallonia still had an industrial sector. Maybe a few decades ago. As for their agriculture, the land is so heavily polluted with heavy metals that only mushrooms grow there.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:35
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I remember how people screamed that developing nations would bury Europe alive if we liberalized trade in agricultural commodities and removed targeted farming subventions. Yet the world is still turning around. gently caress Wallonia.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:36
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http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/ceta_simulations.html American study says until 2023 CETA costs 200k jobs in Europe and 30k in Canada while lowering wages for both. quote:In sum, CETA will lead not just to economic losses but also to rising unemployment and inequality, with negative implications for social cohesion in an already complex and volatile political context.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:51
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double nine posted:Why? Seriously, I haven't followed the trade agreement stuff so I know gently caress-all about it, all I know is that my friends are touting the "why should a region that barely does any trading with Canada be able to break this agreement???!?" line. Speaking as a German: we would give up our constitutional rights without being able to vote on it, and without our parliament being able to vote on it. gently caress Gabriel and Merkel, thanks Wallonia.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:59
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steinrokkan posted:I remember how people screamed that developing nations would bury Europe alive if we liberalized trade in agricultural commodities and removed targeted farming subventions. Yet the world is still turning around. gently caress Wallonia. wtf steinrokkan I thought you were cool. /  \
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Oct 14, 2016 15:04
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double nine posted:Why? Seriously, I haven't followed the trade agreement stuff so I know gently caress-all about it, all I know is that my friends are touting the "why should a region that barely does any trading with Canada be able to break this agreement???!?" line. Because its not so much about trade but about giving corporations more power to force their will on nations. So yes, its probably a good thing for consumers if half of Belgium can manage to break it down.
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Oct 14, 2016 15:37
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9-Volt Assault posted:Because its not so much about trade but about giving corporations more power to force their will on nations. So yes, its probably a good thing for consumers if half of Belgium can manage to break it down. If this is about the investment dispute arbitration mechanism, how is CETA different from any of the other trade agreements the EU has negotiated, ratified and implemented which contain similar provisions based on the WTO Understanding on Settlement Disputes?
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Oct 14, 2016 15:51
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Pinch Me Im Meming posted:wtf steinrokkan I thought you were cool. / The anti-trade sentiment is a modern bogeyman. If anything playing along gives government additional leverage in the WTO to punish other countries for unfair practices.
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Oct 14, 2016 16:11
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Shazback posted:If this is about the investment dispute arbitration mechanism, how is CETA different from any of the other trade agreements the EU has negotiated, ratified and implemented which contain similar provisions based on the WTO Understanding on Settlement Disputes? This time the Wallons (and us by proxy) didn't bend over and take it. That's what's different.
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Oct 14, 2016 17:00
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Didn't Poland famously suck because they had a senate where everyone had a veto?
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Oct 15, 2016 00:42
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TheDeadlyShoe posted:Didn't Poland famously suck because they had a senate where everyone had a veto? Not the Senate, but otherwise yeah, it was a source of inertia.
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Oct 15, 2016 01:11
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TheDeadlyShoe posted:Didn't Poland famously suck because they had a senate where everyone had a veto?
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Oct 15, 2016 03:28
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MeLKoR posted:No one saw that all it took to paralise the country was a foreign power bribing a single man? The Liberum veto certainly gummed up the works, but another factor was that the nobility (both the magnate aristocracy and the lower tiered Szlatcha) had so much power there wasn't a strong central authority in either a legal or physical sense to respond to outside threats. Furthermore, Poland-Lithuania expanded so vastly in the first place because heavy noble cavalry (such as winged Hussars) but by the 17th-century cavalry charges had made obsolete by reliable firearms. The nobility refused to change and within less than a century, Poland was pretty much a puppet-state. Poland-Lithuania is actually a pretty great example of what can happen when you allow the aristocracy complete control over a country.
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Oct 15, 2016 03:59
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Is Finland a nice place to study an undergraduate degree? I'm looking at an english taught Engineering course in the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
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Oct 15, 2016 14:24
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It's pretty nice if you like the cold and dark and everything being expensive. There's lots of forests and lakes which is nice. Finns supposedly are seen as being aloof and unfriendly by foreigners, but dunno if that's actually true. Almost everyone speaks at least some English. The infrastructure works, trains run, you probably wont be mugged or have to bribe anyone, etc. Nordic welfare state things like that which you may like. Can't really comment on the school or course specifically.
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Oct 15, 2016 14:51
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Bedshaped posted:Is Finland a nice place to study an undergraduate degree? Well for starters, Santa lives there.
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Oct 15, 2016 14:51
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Bedshaped posted:Is Finland a nice place to study an undergraduate degree? Keep in mind that even people fleeing from literal warzones(run by a genocidal death cult) don't want to stay in Finland, so adjust your expectations accordingly. If hell was a bog, it would probably be exactly like Finland. Maybe you better try for some of the Scandinavian countries? They seem pretty nice.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:07
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I liked Finland. Everything works (trains, buses etc) efficiently, crime is low, wages are high etc. Its a well functioning social democracy. Finns themselves don't really do small talk, and are a little odd, but they're friendly enough once they're drunk or you get to know them. Its definitely worth visiting anyway. The weather is atrocious though. I'm not sure how anyone spends entire winters that far North.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:32
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Finland is a fine nordic country. It's just that the economy is completely in the poo poo.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:46
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Finland is a dark, damp and cold wasteland, inhabited by drunken racists. Our government is composed of, in order, the child-raping rural party, the fascist party and the neo-liberal party. You will be stabbed and spat on. Do not move to Finland under any circumstances.
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Oct 15, 2016 16:03
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It's a nice country, a bit like sweden but people are even more private and their personal bubble is like 3 meters around them. It gets really loving cold though, i got a serious rash during the winter. Alcohol is also really expensive
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Oct 15, 2016 16:22
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Wild Horses posted:It's a nice country, a bit like sweden but people are even more private and their personal bubble is like 3 meters around them. 
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Oct 15, 2016 16:42
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Finland cured my optimism.
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Oct 15, 2016 16:45
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Reason no to go to Finland no. 892: http://www.hel-looks.com/
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Oct 15, 2016 17:10
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Wild Horses posted:their personal bubble is like 3 meters around them.
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Oct 15, 2016 18:12
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If any of you freaks wants to be within 3 meters of a Finn, you should consider (better) medication IMO I mean, Jesus Christ
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Oct 15, 2016 18:13
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I sometimes wonder how History would've turned out had Rurik and his Varangians become assimilated into Finno-Ugric culture instead of Russian.
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Oct 15, 2016 18:25
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Amazing how traces of their equestrian past on the steppes can still be felt to this day. lmao
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Oct 15, 2016 18:43
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Amazing how traces of their equestrian past on the steppes can still be felt to this day. Our proud mongolian heritage yet flows in our veins, which is why we won't let muslims in the country :finlajnd
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Oct 15, 2016 19:01
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I just moved to the Czech Republic from the states. I see a lot poster advertisements for candidates everywhere on the streets. Could someone please give me a quick rundown on Czech politics?
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Oct 15, 2016 19:57
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According to Der Spiegel, Brexit makes British jews apply for German passports.
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Oct 15, 2016 20:17
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What specifically do you want? Political system or rather who is who? Hint, its doesnt matter either way, get drunk, abandon all hope etc... 
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Oct 15, 2016 20:17
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Dead Cosmonaut posted:I just moved to the Czech Republic from the states. There is currently a Senate election going on (well, it finished today), which means that a third of Senators gets replaced. What you need to know is that Czech politics are kinda volatile. The last stable government was formed in 1998 under Miloš Zeman, the current president and a social democrat. Since then, every government has been a fragile coalition of often hostile parties. Right now we have a government of the Social Democratic Party with two minor partners, the market liberal ANO movement, and the relatively small but enduring Christian Democratic Party. The ANO movement is headed by one of the wealthiest men in the country, Andrej Babiš, who is also currently the finance minister, which naturally causes lots of controversy. Other than these parties, there is also the Communist Party, which keeps living on the periphery with a sizable share of voters, and several other market liberal parties, such as the ODS and TOP 09. The right wing is composed entirely of liberals, there is no significant conservative party to speak of. Currently it is fragmented, the formerly largest right wing party ODS (Civic Democratic Party) of the former Prime Minister and President Václav Klaus has collapsed because its leader, Petr Nečas, has been caught in severe corruption scandals during his tenure as a Prime Minister, and is currently on trial, probably going to be thrown in jail. TOP 09 was an effort to refresh the right wing by a mixture of non-partisan politicians and defectors from the Civic Democrats and Christian Democrats, but is currently also in poor shape because its leaders were complicit in Petr Nečas' disastrous government. ANO is the current right wing darling that emphasizes supporting businesses and an export oriented economy, but it gets whiplash for being the party of a major businessman, whose past isn't 100% clean. The left is represented by the Social Democrats, who are the only remaining big party from the 1990s with any sort of relevance. They are currently the head of government, and they are a strongly pro-EU, pro-NATO party, economically relatively moderate, but in support of preserving the welfare state. Unfortunately for them, they have had to enter into a power sharing coalition with the centrit Christian Democrats, and the right wing ANO. Other than the SocDem, there are the Communists, who are extremely conservative and not really a viable partner for any other existing party. Other than that, there's been a bunch of smaller parties, but all of them except for the Christian Democrats have followed the same pattern: Clear the election quorum to enter the Parliament, join the government as a junior partner, then get embroiled in internal factional struggle, and contribute to taking the government down. To illustrate the fragility of the current system: In 2002 the Social Democrats won second general election in the row, but their leader Miloš Zeman retired from politics. His heir Vladimír Špidla only lasted from 2002 to 2004 when he was ousted by intraparty conflict. His successor, Stanislav Gross, lasted a whole year, to be undone by a corruption scandal in 2006. His SocDem successor Jiří Paroubek revitalized the party, but wasn't able to form a majority government following the 2006 elections, so that ended his career. He was succeeded by the right wing ODS leader Mirek Topolánek, whose government was destroyed by the small Green Party coalition member imploding under the duress of political responsibility. That government lasted 2006 - 2009. Afterwards the whole political system fell apart, and it took a year to get it back up- In the meantime the government was controlled by a non-partisan technocrat, Jan Fischer. In 2010 there were new elections, and victorious emerged a right wing coalition headed by Petr Nečas. However he got involved romantically with his PA, who ended up using the secret service to spy on his wife, and to run personal errands. This and corruption charges led to the demise of the Nečas government in 2013, to be followed by another period of a non-partisan technocratic government by Jiří Rusnok. Finally in 2014 we got our current Social Democrat government of Bohuslav Sobotka, which seems to be relatively stable for now, and performing well. In 2015 the Czech Republic was the fastest growing country in the EU, so that certainly contributes to the staying power of the current coalition. Sorry for a boring post full of weird names and unimportant events, but you asked for it. steinrokkan fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Oct 15, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 20:24
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Also worth remarking upon is the current president, Miloš Zeman. Possibly the most adept politician of the 1990s, he built up the Social Democrats as a party capable of winning the general election, and became a strong PM. However, once he retired in 2002, he changed and became a sort of ghost fueled entirely by spite. You see, he allowed his supporters to nominate him for presidency in the early 2000s, but then his backer coalition fell apart, and he lost in a relatively humiliating fashion to Václav Klaus. He never lived that down. Also he came to believe the Social Democrat party came to be populated by traitors who destroyed his legacy and got rid of his friends. So he re-entered politics as a candidate for presidency in the first ever direct popular presidential election, and after winning, he started doing everything to make his political enemies, real or imagined, miserable. Unfortunately lots of his enemies are the current left wing leaders. He has been giving support to far right populists. He's been supporting Russian and Chinese policies over those of his own government. He's been giving national awards to controversial figures just because of their controversy. Etc., etc. Most recently he made international press because he supported Donald Trump in another bout of using populist rhetoric to upset the establishment and force the foreign ministry into a crisis management mode.
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Oct 15, 2016 20:36
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steinrokkan posted:Other than the SocDem, there are the Communists, who are extremely conservative and not really a viable partner for any other existing party. Haha what Also thanks for the effort post
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Oct 15, 2016 20:36
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steinrokkan posted:Czech politics Thanks for that! Is there any clear reason why the Czech system is so fragile?
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Oct 15, 2016 20:38
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Dead Cosmonaut posted:Haha They are conservative as in they don't compromise on their traditional policies. Also the Communist parties of the Eastern BLock always were socially conservative, broadly speaking, because they were all about subjecting personal identity and all sorts of rights to choose to national interests. I'm sure the average current communist party member would agree with a Republican on more social issues than with a Democrat.
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Oct 15, 2016 20:39
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