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It's generally true though 
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Dec 31, 2016 20:45
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There's always more and it's always worse.
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Dec 31, 2016 21:32
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I don't know, guys. I'm feeling pretty good about 2017. It can't be worse than 2016, can it?
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Dec 31, 2016 21:36
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Mikl posted:I don't know, guys. I'm feeling pretty good about 2017. It can't be worse than 2016, can it? Well lets see, all we have to worry about is: 1. Brexit 2. French presidential elections 3. Erdogan opening up the floodgates on refugees 4. Eurozone crisis 'hey guys we didn't solve poo poo' re-union party 5. Trump 6. The next Star Wars movie will probably be kinda average Did I miss anything?
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Dec 31, 2016 21:41
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Mikl posted:I don't know, guys. I'm feeling pretty good about 2017. It can't be worse than 2016, can it? *three months from now, during the Western Front's siege on Warsaw* wroooooong
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Dec 31, 2016 21:41
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After everything good as died, in 2017, the living will envy the dead.
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Dec 31, 2016 22:15
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Mikl posted:I don't know, guys. I'm feeling pretty good about 2017. It can't be worse than 2016, can it? Why would you say this We just witnessed 2016 Now you jinxed 2017 Europe 
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Dec 31, 2016 22:56
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Happy new year, here's to 2017.
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Dec 31, 2016 23:54
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MiddleOne posted:Well lets see, all we have to worry about is: There is the Bundestagswahl, allowing Germans to choose between Angela Merkel, Siggi Gabriel and AfD.
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Jan 1, 2017 00:56
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Already a terror attack in Turkey. Great stuff
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Jan 1, 2017 01:55
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Libluini posted:They better shouldn't, India is where the Aryans came from. But then again, Nazis never made sense, anyway. Based on the divergence point between Avestan/Sanskrit, Aryans came from somewhere ranging from Tibet, Afghanistan, or Transoxiana.
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Jan 1, 2017 07:55
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julian assflange posted:Already a terror attack in Turkey. Great stuff 39 people dead, happy new year. 
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Jan 1, 2017 09:56
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Jippa posted:39 people dead, happy new year. into the new :2017: NO ESCAPE.
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Jan 1, 2017 11:07
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So, will we finally see Brexit this year? Here's some light reading in the meanwhile.
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Jan 1, 2017 14:20
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-showquote:The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, spent years in his previous role as Luxembourg’s prime minister secretly blocking EU efforts to tackle tax avoidance by multinational corporations, leaked documents reveal. Oh Jean-Claude you wicked little scamp, you.
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Jan 1, 2017 18:56
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LemonDrizzle posted:https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-show Eat the rich etc.
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Jan 1, 2017 19:17
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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LemonDrizzle posted:https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-show But, but, but, I was told by goons that the UK was the only thing stopping EU integration and cooperation policies!
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Jan 1, 2017 19:33
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Nuke Luxembourg, and the netherlands if they don't catch the hint afterwards.
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Jan 1, 2017 19:40
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His Divine Shadow posted:Nuke Luxembourg, and the netherlands if they don't catch the hint afterwards.
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Jan 1, 2017 19:51
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Give them both to Belgium.
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Jan 1, 2017 20:06
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blowfish posted:To the Walloon part or to the Flemish part? To the Walloon part.
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Jan 1, 2017 20:46
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I think it's important that we maintain the stability of the Belgian state, so Flanders and Wallonia should roughly maintain their current relative strength. This solution would satisfy that requirement:
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Jan 1, 2017 21:09
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A Buttery Pastry posted:the Belgian state 
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Jan 1, 2017 21:15
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A Buttery Pastry posted:I think it's important that we maintain the stability of the Belgian state, so Flanders and Wallonia should roughly maintain their current relative strength. This solution would satisfy that requirement:
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Jan 2, 2017 12:12
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LemonDrizzle posted:https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-show
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Jan 2, 2017 12:29
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Yes it was intricate knowledge of EU corruption and economics that lead the British public to vote leave. Have you met the "average" UK "member of public". I have. I meet them everyday if I make the mistake of leaving the house. They're not very nice.
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Jan 2, 2017 13:03
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Regarde Aduck posted:Yes it was intricate knowledge of EU corruption and economics that lead the British public to vote leave. One could say they're the best argument against democracy.
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Jan 2, 2017 13:17
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Regarde Aduck posted:Yes it was intricate knowledge of EU corruption and economics that lead the British public to vote leave. quote:Have you met the "average" UK "member of public".
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Jan 2, 2017 13:43
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jBrereton posted:Yes. You have my sympathy
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Jan 2, 2017 14:04
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cinci zoo sniper posted:I'm sure he's interested in learning the intricacies of unemployment in Lendžu pagasts. Sure why not i'll be moving to riga soon so really give me whatever u got
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Jan 2, 2017 14:13
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eightpole posted:Sure why not i'll be moving to riga soon so really give me whatever u got You can see Russia from there.
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Jan 2, 2017 14:23
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Regarde Aduck posted:Yes it was intricate knowledge of EU corruption and economics that lead the British public to vote leave. Have you seen these deplorable, awful "people" who lack the most basic decency? I say we should yell at them about how awful racist poo poo-bags they are some more and maybe they'll vote for our cause instead! 
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Jan 2, 2017 14:24
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What's the status of the UK finally loving off? The whole Brexit thing totally disappeared from the public mind around here. When are you leaving?
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Jan 2, 2017 14:36
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Raspberry Jam It In Me posted:What's the status of the UK finally loving off? The whole Brexit thing totally disappeared from the public mind around here. When are you leaving? No earlier than 2019, probably later due to Therese May being such a terrible leader.
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Jan 2, 2017 14:38
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MiddleOne posted:No earlier than 2019, probably later due to Therese May being such a terrible leader. If there's anything left to leave by 2019, that is...
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Jan 2, 2017 14:41
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Happy new year, thread! What with all the pessimism round here, longtime Brussels correspondent Jean Quatremer has a list of six reasons to keep the faith in the EU (one for every founding member of the EEC in this anniversary year of the signing of the Treaty of Rome) , which I'll summarise here for those who don't speak French: 1) The euro has survived its worst trials, and with the exception of Greece, every member state that received financial assistance from the EU is on the road to recovery. There is now a banking union, a rescue mechanism with a 700 bn euro reserve to combat any crises, stronger budgetary surveillance (I think Quatremer is quite wrong about this one, but ok...), and the ECB has opened the monetary spigot to keep the money flowing. There are still pieces of the puzzle missing: a common eurozone budget, a federalized borrowing capacity and democratic control of the Commission and the eurogroup. But nobody doubts that the construction will be completed at some point, and that further integration is likely. 2) Brexit has not inspired any followers. The other 27 EU member states have remained united, even Poland and Hungary. The prospect of Brexit is working out badly for Britain with growth cut in half, the pund down by 10%, hiring and investment are flat. Brexit is also turning out far more complicated than its proponents expected, depriving demagogues of the arguments that leaving the EU could be quick and easy. More generally, support for the EU has risen everywhere since the referendum, even in the UK. 3) The refugee crisis has enabled a large step towards further integration The crisis showed that European states do not exactly share the same values, particularly shown in the reaction of the Eastern European member states to Muslim refugees. Also, Schengen turns out to work only in calmer times. Nevertheless, it survives; the Turkey deal has stopped the refugee flow, control of the exterior borders has been reinforced and made a communitarian concern with the creation of a rapid-response border patrol guard, which can be deployed even over the objections of a member state. The failure of the Eastern European member states to accept their share of the burden and their resistence to the refugee-sharing quota is a point of concern but the most important things have been preserved and nobody doubts that the exterior borders of the EU are a common concern. 4) The election of Donald Trump and the increase in dangers from abroad have helped relaunch European defense and security initiatives With Trump's threat to abandon the NATO security guarantee for those who don't pay their fair share making clear that the USA won't automatically come the aid of the countries of Eastern Europe, while the threats from the Ukrainian conflict, refugee flows, and terrorism rising, the security paradigm has been completely overturned. The Commission and the Franco-German axis have taken advantage to push further military-industrial cooperation, which is less contentious than the idea of a European Army. The hope is that further operrational cooperation will follow as a result. Community funds may now be used to fund military research and Galileo (the European GPS satellite) may now be used for directing missiles). In the security field, member states have increased cooperation in police and judicial matters, the Passenger Name Record directive was approved and is being put into action, and there will now be a European ESTA. Europol's competences have also been reinforced. 5) States are still clamouring to join the EU, while people are still trying to come live there Even in spite of the crises, states still want to join and, like in Ukraine, revolutions have erupted in the name of Europe. The EU is comparatively speaking still a land of milk and honey: rich, peaceful, democratic, more egalitarian than the rest of the world. It is the only region in the world where states have accepted to give up a share of their sovereignty, and the EU is the only institution which systematically redistributes large sums from rich to poor (Poland for instance receives 4% of its GDP each and every year from EU transfers). And people are of course voting with their feet: migrants and refugees are trying to come here, sometimes at the risk of their own lives, while there certainly is no large movement in the opposite direction. 6) The EU has always been strengthened by crises. The founding of the European Coal and Steel Community was already a powerful political act, taking place no more than six years after the end of WWII. Still, the founding of the EEC was in doubt after an attempt to form a European Defense Community faltered in 1954. But its most fierce opponent, Charles de Gaulle, nevertheless signed the Treaty of Rome. Since then there have been plenty more crises: the 'empty chair' crisis of the 1960s (in which the French effectively vetoed all European decisionmaking by remaining absent from meetings while unanimity was required to do anything), the rejection of the European Constitution in the Dutch and French referendums, and of course the crises of recent years. Yet always the EU has emerged the stronger from these crises. (Quatremer is of course deliberately overoptimistic here, but I share the conclusion that the EU is far from doomed, and far from likely to fall apart. I will also happily predict that nobody is going to leave the euro this year either. This is not purely because I'm an optimist, but also because, as Brexit is showing, leaving the EU is unbelievably complicated, while leaving the euro legally appears to require leaving the EU and adds an ungodly amount of complications to the process as well as an enormous cost. There is no politician who can try and accomplish an exit and still get reelected after the magnitude of the costs become clear, and I think most of them know that).
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Jan 2, 2017 14:41
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Pluskut Tukker posted:Happy new year, thread! Hahahaha, recovery, that is hilarious. Oh wait he wasn't joking.
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Jan 2, 2017 14:52
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MiddleOne posted:Hahahaha, recovery, that is hilarious. On the road to recovery. Like the first step of a thousand miles journey, friend.
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Jan 2, 2017 14:55
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Pinch Me Im Meming posted:On the road to recovery. Like the first step of a thousand miles journey, friend. I sure hope Cyprus and Ireland are happy about the euro-assisted recovery which has put food, alcohol and rent costs at Scandinavian levels but curiously neither income, benefits nor welfare. Oh, and lets not forget Finland who despite being richer is circling the drain because the euro is loving awful. More like the first step into oblivion.
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Jan 2, 2017 14:58
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Pluskut Tukker posted:(Quatremer is of course deliberately overoptimistic here, but I share the conclusion that the EU is far from doomed, and far from likely to fall apart. I will also happily predict that nobody is going to leave the euro this year either. This is not purely because I'm an optimist, but also because, as Brexit is showing, leaving the EU is unbelievably complicated, while leaving the euro legally appears to require leaving the EU and adds an ungodly amount of complications to the process as well as an enormous cost. There is no politician who can try and accomplish an exit and still get reelected after the magnitude of the costs become clear, and I think most of them know that). Didn't Schäuble want Greece to gently caress off the euro, but the Greeks said no thank you?
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Jan 2, 2017 14:59
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