The Ongoing Political Transformation of Europe

[MPB]

Before the Treaty of Rome, the precursor to the EEC/EU, disputes were solved by Wars.

At least they were quicker than summits.

Methinks something is needed to concentrate the minds of these imbeciles. We are in a sorry state when we have to pray for a calmity, just to get to where we need to go.

[Dr. FIVE]

Interesting piece

Hollande doesn't want to forgive Merkel for having campaigned for his conservative opponent, former President Nicolas Sarkozy. Now the Chancellery suspects that Hollande is secretly planning a campaign for Merkel's challenger from the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-862644.html

[Greengoddess]

The Irish Government recommended a " yes" vote for this. V dissapointing. All the Irish Labour MEPS voted against.

Additional Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the EC and Israel on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA)

[Greengoddess]

Fine Gael EPP voted in favor ......

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

There is a move in Israel and among the Israelites of the EU to explore the notion of EU membership for this apartheid nation.

I recall De Gaulle's opposition to and repeated veto-ing of UK membership of the Common Market. He saw them as too close to Washington and likely to be a disrupting agent in the fledgling EU.

I can't believe the Jewish diaspora in the EU (and people with unspoken dual citizenship of Israel and another host nation like Shatter in Dublin and distinctly uncertain about where their primary loyalties lie) are so arrogant as to assume that there is a roadmap towards Israeli entry to the EU.

Firstly it is an apartheid and theocratic state. Secondly, Israel would under no circumstances regard itself as bound by any EU treaty commitment it didn't like as it can hardly be accused of being an enthusiastic or idealistic member of the United Nations, never mind any other organisations.

I'll know that the EU institutions have completely lost the plot when they try to find a way to bring that middle-eastern fake state into the EU fold.

Bad enough that Albania and Croatia which are effectively mafia states are on the EU map.

[fluffybiscuits]

There is a move in Israel and among the Israelites of the EU to explore the notion of EU membership for this apartheid nation.

I recall De Gaulle's opposition to and repeated veto-ing of UK membership of the Common Market. He saw them as too close to Washington and likely to be a disrupting agent in the fledgling EU.

I can't believe the Jewish diaspora in the EU (and people with unspoken dual citizenship of Israel and another host nation like Shatter in Dublin and distinctly uncertain about where their primary loyalties lie) are so arrogant as to assume that there is a roadmap towards Israeli entry to the EU.

Firstly it is an apartheid and theocratic state. Secondly, Israel would under no circumstances regard itself as bound by any EU treaty commitment it didn't like as it can hardly be accused of being an enthusiastic or idealistic member of the United Nations, never mind any other organisations.

I'll know that the EU institutions have completely lost the plot when they try to find a way to bring that middle-eastern fake state into the EU fold.

Bad enough that Albania and Croatia which are effectively mafia states are on the EU map.

Israel alone based on its human rights record would have a lot of problems gaining access to the EU. Turkey is seen as having as bad terrible human rights abuses and there is no accession for them till such abuses stop and issues rectified in the treatment of others. Israel should not even be considered till they end the apartheid and mis treatment of the Palestinans. Once we look at the situation like teh MV Estelle we see how bad that things are with the Israeli state.

[DCon]

Angie recommends more Europe

Accompanied by this drumbeat, Merkel explained her dream to the European Parliament. It was all about a big power shift from democratically elected national parliaments to European institutions.

The European Commission of bureaucrats and appointed politicians would become the actual government of Europe with executive powers over national budgets. The European Council, similarly composed of bureaucrats and appointed politicians, would become an “upper chamber,” she said. And she threw a bone to her listeners: the European Parliament would receive a bit more power as well.

“We need to be ambitious and demanding and should not shy away from a change in the contractual foundation,” she said. So treaty changes. Or just treaty violations, which has been one of the strategies so far. The new system would “coordinate more strongly” a variety of national prerogatives, such as taxes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/merke...me-contributor

[Apjp]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Reich--EU.html

Came across this. Whilst the information connecting some German industrialists to later German/EU policy is correct, this man's article on the fourth reich has only an unconfirmed document the American intelligence supposedly got from the nazis after the war. Although the EU today might be called a reich of sorts, where is the evidence it was planned? Is it an agenda pushed by German interests, or an arseways attempt at a eurocentrist union?

The journalist Adam LeBor who wrote the book, The Budapest Protocol, is well known in Britain as a foreign correspondent. This is the first I have come across his writings. I am not saying he is making things up(everyone here knows my views on political unions), but isn't more proof needed?

[Greengoddess]

Angie recommends more Europe





http://www.businessinsider.com/merke...me-contributor

I found myself fascinated by Merkel's 'persona' in the Parliament last week. Her facial expression didn't change during all that time. Some of the dialogue was quite intense as we had had a grim day re events in Greece. In other words, she does t respond to other people's emotions overtly. Suggests high levels of control. However, the vibe she gives off is somehow benign in an anomalous way. Unlike the head of the German socialists who is gruff and unfriendly. I may be unfair here, but is utterances re Ireland suggest that we will get a rude awakening when the SPD get in to power. Ditto the the Greens.
the Minister for Foreign Affairs disagrees with me so I hope I am wrong.

[Dojo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Reich--EU.html

Came across this. Whilst the information connecting some German industrialists to later German/EU policy is correct, this man's article on the fourth reich has only an unconfirmed document the American intelligence supposedly got from the nazis after the war. Although the EU today might be called a reich of sorts, where is the evidence it was planned? Is it an agenda pushed by German interests, or an arseways attempt at a eurocentrist union?

The journalist Adam LeBor who wrote the book, The Budapest Protocol, is well known in Britain as a foreign correspondent. This is the first I have come across his writings. I am not saying he is making things up(everyone here knows my views on political unions), but isn't more proof needed?

The Daily Mail? A rag that once supported Hitler. Really?

[Ephilant]

The EU, the 4th "Robbers Cave" experiment?

In 1954, Muzaref Sherif, a Turkish American psychologist conducted the "Robbers Cave" experiment. This experiment became one of the corner stones of modern day group psychology. Together with his team (which also included his wife Carolyn Wood), Sherif selected 24 11-year old boys and took them on a trip to Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma. They were randomly divided into 2 groups of 12 boys and travelled separately. Initially the groups were not only unaware of the others existence, they were kept apart for 1 week. During this week, the groups bonded, designed their own flags, uniforms, gave themselves names (Rattlers and Eagles), adopted colours that represented the ideals of the group, and organized themselves around a social structure. Then, both groups were brought into contact with each other. Something strange happened. Instead of succumbing to natural curiosity and finding out about each other, almost instant animosity arose between both groups. Intergroup conflict was expressed through verbal abuse.
While watching this, the psychologists decided to increase tension between the groups by introducing competitive games. It worked. The crisis deepened considerably, and when the Rattlers ended up overall winners, they did not fail to taunt the Eagles with their defeat. Verbal abuse escalated, and the groups ended up refusing to eat in the same canteen. The next stage of the experiment was to try and get the 2 totally alienated groups to work together. Initially, all attempts failed. Eventually, the experimenters decided to put both groups in the same problematic situation, forcing them to work together in order to resolve their common problems. At the end of this phase of the experiment, both groups shared the same canteen again. At the end of the experiment, the boys decided to travel home together, on the same bus.
The Robbers Cave experiment is one of the classics in the study of group psychology.
Looking at the troubles currently engulfing the EU, I was reminded of the Robbers Cave experiment. I could however not put my finger on what it was that reminded me of the experiment. And then it dawned on me. Although a classic quoted and referenced often by many scholars, there is a little known fact about the Robbers Cave experiment. Or rather, a little mentioned fact. Robbers Cave was in fact the 3rd in a series of experiments. All 3 experiments had different outcomes. In the first one, the 2 groups of boys joined forces and rounded on a common adversary, while in the second experiment the boys rebelled against the experimenters themselves.
Sherif concluded from the experiment that groups naturally develop a group identity, a group specific set of rules, social structures and boundaries. In other words, groups left to develop naturally create culture in order to differentiate from other groups. And with that, the roots of conflict are automatically created.
Sherif only tells part of the story. In reality, in all 3 experiments, there were not 2, but 3 groups involved. The 3rd being the experimenters themselves. They were not simply spectators looking in. Through silent manipulation and orchestration of a variety of potential conflict situations, this 3rd group did in fact show itself to be the most powerful of the 3 groups. Both groups of boys were totally unaware of how they were being manipulated by those "in power". Depending on how the manipulation was executed, the end result was different. The end result was not peace, as in the boys happily going home on the same bus. Peace is just one of many possibilities; the other possibilities were almost certain all to be of a violent nature.
What Sherif did show, more than simply the possibility of a peaceful outcome of a potential conflict, is the power of one group manipulating other, weaker groups. Sherif proved that unequal power between groups fundamentally changes the dynamic between them. Be these groups of 11 year old boys, or multi-national corporations, or financial power houses, or corrupt politicians, it makes no difference. If one group becomes more powerful than the others, it suddenly opens the door for widespread manipulation, including orchestrated war amongst the weaker groups, orchestrated social unrest, financial dictatorship, and everything else the EU seems to be concentrating on lately. There are plenty of examples of the results of this manipulation by the powerful. What makes the situation in Europe extremely dangerous is the unholy alliance of politics, multi-nationals, finance and religion into one extremely powerful group of manipulators. Rather than simply being content with consolidating their power through mass manipulation, it would seem that this super-power has gone one step further and has declared war on the other groups, with the obvious aim of securing total; and permanent domination. This will inevitably lead to an in-house struggle between the current power allies for singular overall power. Dictatorship is the inevitable, as yet unspoken, objective.
However, the EU better take a good hard look at the other conclusion to be drawn from the whole Robbers Cave Park Experiment. Manipulating groups is dangerous business, for as the experiments also clearly show; those being manipulated do not always play by the rules set for them…

[Ephilant]

And so it begins....

Now that the cheap labour periphery is more or less established, the first "frontier" men are arriving.
Ford sacked 15,000 people in Belgium because the factory is surplus to requirements, but then decides it is not surplus anymore if they take it to Spain. They also get EU grant aid to open a factory in Turkey which will replace the manufacturing plants in the UK..
In Greece, lucky us, we are heralded as the new European Hub for both Unilever and Hewlett Packard. Some time ago Unilever announced, in Rotterdam, the sacking of 25,000 workers a streamling of operations by 10%, while Hewlett Packard plans on streamlining 29,000 people. Of course Samaras & Co are jumping up and down about "having turned a corner" and all that crap. What they aren't saying is that Unilever is building a huge production plant next door in Turkey (Even cheaper workers tha present day Greeks) and we are most likely only an interim station until they are ready in Turkey.

[Dr. FIVE]

[DCon]

One might think that the euro is a currency that a bunch of EU Nations, and their people, have chosen to use. ie, it is their currency.

One would be wrong. Turns out the euro is the important factor and the people belong to it

"The euro is a currency with a state" - ECB's Coeure

European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure urged euro zone governments on Saturday to forge a closer political union, arguing "the euro is a currency with a state" whose branches of government need more clearly defining.

Praising the deal reached earlier this week to reduce Greece's debt burden as an unprecedented commitment by euro zone governments to keep the crisis-wracked state within the single currency, Coeure told an economic forum in Paris there needed to be closer political coordination to manage crises.

Commenting on possible steps in the right direction, Coeure said he supported the idea of a single euro-zone Treasury and eventually common euro bonds.

He insisted that for its part, the ECB would do everything within its mandate "to ensure price stability in the euro area and therefore trust in the euro as a currency," he said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/1...8B005W20121201

[Apjp]

Israel alone based on its human rights record would have a lot of problems gaining access to the EU. Turkey is seen as having as bad terrible human rights abuses and there is no accession for them till such abuses stop and issues rectified in the treatment of others. Israel should not even be considered till they end the apartheid and mis treatment of the Palestinans. Once we look at the situation like teh MV Estelle we see how bad that things are with the Israeli state.

It is not about human rights-it is about the erosion of independent nation states and the elimination of economic competition, as well as the control of resources and favourtism to the banking cartels.