HISTORY WARNS THE EU

5 January 2022

The EU is committed to federalism, I'm stating the obvious, but what isn't always appreciated is that this flows from what are really, American ideas of international liberalism.

After the war, European countries were strongly encouraged to join up, NATO was created, along with a host of international institutions - the UN, World Bank,  IMF, WTO-GATT.

Once the USA was free to pursue its ideals of human rights and democracy after the cold war, we got Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya  We also have America breaking its commitmentsto Russia and marching NATO up to Russua's front lawn, and the EU picking off former soviet satellites from what Russia thought was its buffer zone. Then came 2008 and 2014 and today it is plain that intl liberalism is in deroute: Crimea is gone forever and America essentially wants to stay at home, safe between two moats and friendly Canada and Mexico North and South.

We also got Russian interference in American elections, ie in its sovereignty. Alerica strongly refuses this because America is a very nationalistic country. And what country isn't ?

There are two lessons from all this for the EU  First, nationalism trumps liberalism. Second, be careful what you wish for because America, following all these defeats is today a very divided country, some would say on the brink of civil war.

To summarise the above, there is a blunt lesson from history for the EU: stop interfering in UK affairs or you will reap the whirlwind.

So, in all clashes between international liberalism (open borders, open markets, universal human rights) and nationalism (nation, culture, citizens first), nationalism has always ultimately emerged victorious.

We need the EU but not the ECJ. The EU is a very good idea But all the areas of mutual benefit - security, law enforcement, welfare, education, fiscal, customs ... - can be picked off one-by-one by agreement netween consenting nations. We don't need a top-down boot camp regime. 

There is no question the EU Order cannot survive in its current imperialist format. The current trickle of national objections - Germany, Poland, Romania, Lithuania - will become a torrent and the top down imposition of control by legal and financial sanctions will be adapted to a bottom up co-operation by mutual benefits-sharing.             

.             

Read More

DO COUNTRIES BREAK THEIR TREATIES?

20 December 2021

Ref the WA and NIP.

It is not really fair to say that the UK is breaking a treaty which it had itself only just signed. There are many reasons why countries break treaties, but let's just look at some historical precedents.

The treaty of Versailles was drafted by the UK and signed by Germany without Russia even being present. Both Germany and Russia were flat on their backs. Some say this treaty was far too harsh and provoked the Germans, while others say it was not enforced as it should have been by the British.

Fact is, from 1922 onwards, the uk attempted to undermine the treaty, its own treaty, and re-integrate Germany. This culminated in Chamberlain's brilliant but failed Munich visit. (Remember, we are told that Chamberlain should have made a deal with Russia, but then as he had said to his sister, "how would I then get the Russians out of central Europe?").

All consider the reunification of Germany. Russia agreed to this and to accepting the debts of its former satellites as well as their now being independent sovereign states, if it could keep its seat on the security council. Of course, it hadn't much choice. But when it did, it reintegrated the Crimea, in defiance of I to law, and is working on the rest.

The UK similarly with this withdrawal agreement and the NIP. The UK government t had little choice at the time, but now it does.

Let's not be too innocent of the workings of great power politics.             

Read More

ZEMMOUR ON BREXIT AS APPLIED TO FRANCE

14 November 2021

Frexit is not possible.

Asked about the Macron administration’s apparent desire to “punish” the UK over Brexit and, as his prime minister recently put it, to “show there is more damage to leaving the Union than staying in it”, he was scathing.

“That is the criminal mistake of the French government and European Commission. The British, inventors of modern democracy, left because they could no longer take being tyrannised by Brussels technocrats and European judges.

“Instead of seeking to understand the reasons why, the French government wants to punish them. It’s stupid and shows they have understood nothing of the current period, where similar sentiments are cropping up throughout Europe,” he said.

But he stopped short of calling for France to leave the EU.

“This period is over. France isn’t England,” he said. “We don’t have the same geography and history as you. You won all your wars and that’s not our case. We lost, won and lost and that has given our people a different intuition and sensitivity.

“You have faith in yourselves that we once had but lost. So I think the French people are not mature for this type of adventure.”

https://youtu.be/hIkdW1emHpc

https://youtu.be/uUuBI3f-UEA

Read More

END THIS EU INTERFERENCE

10 November 2021

Look, you cannot have an outside entity imposing a customs border down the middle of a sovereign state. Neither can you have an outside entity assuming the powers of a supreme Court over a sovereign state.

It was agreed to to avoid a hard border between UK and EU and a potential return of "the troubles" (those in the South of the island objecting to those in the North remaining attached to Britain).

Agreed to, but only if checks were kept reasonable.

It was a desperate situation the UK found itself in and the EU have exacerbated this to the max for purely political purposes: they want to show other members of their alliance that quitting carries a greater cost than staying. They are sad and jealous and fearful of an independent UK.

Cause of war.  It is not just absurd to have the EU interfere in the UK's affairs of state (it is not just customs, it goes as far as competition and state subsidy policies), but totally intolerable to have the EU twist the knife in this deep wound.

Solution.  Put the border where it belongs and administer controls through advanced notice of border crossings, electronic surveillance at the time of crossing, flying customs checks that can take place on any kerbside (see Andorra-France for model).

Plus, an independent dispute resolution panel to which the EU (ECJ) is welcome to argue its case.

This is nothing more than common sense and mutual respect.

The alternative of the EU building control towers inside its border is too horrible to contemplate, even though walls seem to be going up everywhere. The EU playing a Belarus at the NI frontier is another potential horror that I wouldn't put past them frankly.

At the moment, it seems like the extremists are in charge.

Read More

BREXIT TRADE WARS

The key point is the threat of war. Not real war of course, but a trade war. So what would this look like?

The EU has previous as it triggered article 16 over its sense in January that the UK was smuggling vaccine supplies out of its AZ factories in  Belgium. What shocked many of us was that the measures in the Brexit protocol designed to protect peace in Northern Ireland were here being repurposed in a completely different theatre of war.

If (when) the UK uses art. 16, it is very likely the EU will announce plans to suspend the trade agreement altogether. Under the rules, the EU’s response must be proportionate.

It could, for example, target Scotland by inposing tariffs on  Scottish salmon and Scotch whisky just to further wind up Holyrood-Westminster relations. In the dispute with the US over steel and other products, the EU imposed a 56% tariff on Harley-Davidson bikes and levies on bourbon, peanut butter and jeans, targetting Trump-supporting states.

The fishing row has focused minds on the impact on consumers when France threatened to check every lorry coming from Britain into European ports. We were even regaled with absurd stories of EU officials confiscating ham sandwiches and refusing forms sincerely filled inwith the wrong coloured ink.

If France, Ireland and the Benelux countries really do stop every lorry, supply chains before Christmas would be severely stretched. This would indeed be a declaration of war on the people of the UK. That would be a bridge too far.  

Read More

NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL

"The way forward is for the UK and EU to cooperate in measures to curb the flow of non compliant goods in either direction across the Irish land border, while leaving each side free to make and follow its own laws and rules within its own territory."

That says nothing.

The answer is a digital border, where it should be, and the technology is here ready to deploy.

 The EU is The Single Market, which is the so-called "four freedoms", broken out into a cascade of deeply trivial rules (300 in the case of the NIP), policed by the EU's own court. 

That's fine for members, but not at all fine for non-members. 

 Any disputes can go to independent arbitration. That is not controversial.

 This whole dispute can be sorted out using a digital border and independent dispute resolution.

 Why hasn't this been done? 

Read More

THE CASE FOR THE NATION STATE

From Poland's perspective, the case against an EU federal Europe is the case for the primacy of the nation state.

But from the EU point of view, this is an existential threat. It is quite unlike Gernany's objection from its constitutional court.

 

The EU is built on the Single Market. From these so-called "four freedoms" flow all the rules that so annoy lovers of freedom for their own parliaments. These rules are judged and enforced by their top court, the ECJ.

 Without the ECJ, member states would be free to do as they please, choosing cake when it comes to subsidies, for example, or sandwiches when it's a matter of economic policy for their own country.

 So Poland's challenge to à federal Europe is taken very seriously. The response from the Commission and EU Parliament isn't yet decided: go in hard with, in effect, sanctions and fines; or be more accommodating by finding out precisely what the current govt in Poland wants to do and perhaps relaxing those rules in a more flexible approach.

VALUES

I'd say one more thing. This conflict is not simply Poland asserting itself as a nation state and challenging the loss of sovereignty implied by a union of states into a federation. This is about very different sets of values.

Let us not forget that it was only 30 years ago that Poland escaped Vassal status in one empire. No surprise that it wouldn't want to join another.

 With Hungary and the Czech republic, these peoples are not interested in LGBTetc rights or the EU an for "gender equality", they do not believe that abortion is a good thing and as to identity politics, it’s not transphobic for Poland to want to recognise only men and women and uphold their traditional, more conservative values and way of life.

 Let's get real a little. The EU intends a law to “protect the rights of rainbow families so that their parenthood and same-sex partnership is recognised throughout the union.”

How will that down with the vast majority of the people of Poland? And if the Polish govt refuses to obey, it will be in conflict with the EU and will get taken before the ECJ.  

Read More

NO MORE PATIENCE FOR THE EU

18 October 2021

The EU is a dangerous and wayward power. It has no vision of its future. It has no idea of the balance of power in the world. It treats its enemies, like China and Russia as friends ;  and it treats its friends, the UK and the United States, as enemies. It shows no respect to its peoples, instead it seeks to discipline them (the Greeks, the Poles, the Hungarians.) It serves only German industry and French vanity. It exists as a vortex of power, draining member states of their skilled and competent, becoming ever more self-centred in the process. It has always taken Britain for granted, and always tolerated French selfishness. 

No one asked the British people if they consented to be governed by a European super-state. No one asked the Europeans either, though they don't care.

Yes, we were morally entitled to take back our sovereignty. Yes, we can make a practical success of it. Yes, we have always been and always will be sovereign : we didn't join the euro, we didn't agree to bail out the Greeks, we didn't join Schengen and we vote to leave the EU ... AND WE LEFT.

At present our greatest difficulty is the sabotage being perpetrated by remainers in influential places, who will use every rumour, every innuendo, every insinuation, to destroy confidence in their own country, and delight in every setback they can find, whether or not caused by themselves. 

Read More

"SPILLOVER" - EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AT WORK

8 October 2021

The EU would be fine if it stuck to matters of ISO trade standards. The EEC was OK wasn't it?

It has well overstepped the mark with its claim to sovereignty over nation states. If it could restrain itself to a trade body such as the IEEE that would be fine.

Instead, this creeping federalism, where it bribes trade bodies into accepting its constitution by offering subsidies, offering control through the ECJ, and in return it stuffs their boards with its representatives and imposes its political goals on their charters.

There are 40 such agencies. 

For example, take the case of transport, a cornerstone of European integration. There are three agencies covering transport, of which EASA is one. It was formed from the national aviation authorities. The nationals agreed because air transport concerns Europe as a whole, they were given powers of legal enforcement through the ECJ, and a hefty subsidy. 

But also the EASA now controls them because it sits on the boards of the nationals to ensure they are fulfilling obligations for the free movement of individuals, services and goods... not a national objective.

That's how integration works. National govts are sapped of their powers and cannot achieve their priorities for their own peoples.

That's broadly why the UK left.

Read More

THE KINGDOM'S RENAISSANCE HAS BEGUN

In his speech this week, Lord Frost will seek to defend the Government's record since Brexit, highlighting new free trade deals, the points-based immigration system and plans to overhaul data laws and repeal reams of retained EU law that no longer works for the UK. 

‘The British renaissance has begun’

Outlining the Government's desire to bring about a “British renaissance”, he will go on to state: 

“All history, all experience, shows that democratic countries with free economies, which let people keep more of the money they have earned, make their own decisions, and manage their own lives, are not just richer but also happier and more admired by others.

“The long bad dream of our EU membership is over. The British renaissance has begun."

Read More

NOTES ON THE WITHAWAL AGREEMENT

Parliament was held to ransom by the Remainers, aided and abetted by Speaker Bercow,  when they passed the Benn law that prohibited leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

The only way to get the EU to agree to a withdrawal agreement was to include the NI protocol dreamed up by Mrs May.

Only now that we have left the EU, and as a sovereign country, are we able to negotiate changes to the WA or revert to WTO rules.

At that time Boris did not have an 80 majority in Parliament. And once the WA was signed we were bound by international law to stick to it, unless it is found to be unworkable when Article 16 can be invoked.

The facts were that the UK was honour bound to try and make the WA work, which we did. However, it is clearly not working and the EU are playing games to try and keep the UK subordinate to the EU. Lord Frost is currently trying to break the 'Gordian Knot' without much success at the moment.

If he fails, then Article 16 looks likely to be invoked.

Read More

THE EU IS ON THE ROPES

At the national levels, most reasonable people wait patiently to be vaccinated, but the EU and its net of national officials is driven by spite.

Thus, decisions are made and reversed, and there is much argument and muddle.

This is the third muddle in as many months - they closed the border within Ireland, they ruled the vaccine unsuitable for the over-65s, now they say it causes thrombosis. Each time, emotion is overcome and facts prevail.

But each dither costs tens of thousands of lives and billions of euros.

The Commission is raw and bitter at Brexit. Its heartfelt plan for a US of Europe is proving, after 70 years, to be a utopian illusion. The Brexit rejection has wounded their self-love. The UK streaking ahead has made them very afraid. Muddle after muddle is confusing them. They are reeling.

I think Brexit has bewildered the Commission and Barnier.

As with mixed-up people, conflicting objectives - one rational, one emotional - cause upset and indecision and turning in a circle. It is a form of denial and an expression of an immature ego.

Eventually, the EU will get real or it will collapse. You have to face and accept Brexit. You must work with your neighbour. You need to see and deal with this pandemic.

Wake up ! Get real !! Deal with life !!!

Read More

EU PUNISHMENT IS SELF DESTRUCTIVE

EU PUNISHMENT IS SELF DESTRUCTIVE

Just take a look at EU comments over the last five years. They say what they believe and we Should believe what they say.  Fundamentally UK failure is the stated aim and that was before the vaccine row which has obviously angered some EU elements to their very core.

The UK must raise its game by a considerable amount.  More research, better patent laws, better education,  better strategic thinking, better tactical implementation, more import substitution, sort out and support the steel industry and provide local coking coal, sort out nuclear power, make things and bring production back on shore and actual government support of the productive economy.  

The list is endless and the managed decline will not cut it. The skills and expertise lost by the UK is a disgrace.  Once, UK had no problem running a highly successful nuclear power generation programme, now it waits on the French to get their act together and cannot even keep the Japanese on side.  Not good enough and the governments of all colours and their advisers have much to answer for.

The UK can do much much better. The vaccine programme and subsequent rollout is a triumph and if that is one world beating programme there can be more.

The UK has talent, it has skills and as importantly it is a real democracy with a common law legal system and reliable accounting and regulation. They flock to London to finance their operations and resolve their disputes.

And for the most part a population of individuals who think common sense is a good way to make judgements (peace to the idiotic juvenile Woke).

The EU in administrative terms is poor, its legal system appears restrictive and inflexable and the UK can beat them hands down if it so decides.  The only real problem is political parties who are keener on ego trips infighting and spending, rather then wealth generation 

And stop passing laws which slow decisions and add to the costs of any enterprise and stop this absurd and suicidal drive to be politically correct, the other side is not so easily offended. 

The EU have made their position clear on NI and the City with the aim of making the UK poorer and reduced in stature in the world. But the UK can perfe tly make that approach counter-productive for them and Brexit really does give the UK the option to shine!

Read More