Drowsy Emperor

Hate this attitude and pattern of thinking. To me, people have absolutely nothing to lose since both outcomes are terrible, so wtf might as well try for a third party candidate, because if Johnson or Stein were to pull in an abnormal amount of votes, better believe next election the USA might have a new party. Winning this one? Probably not, but a lasting impression for the future? Totally possible amidst all the discontent with Democrat and republican. I understand your sentiment but the first past the post vote distortion and the immense costs of running in so many simultaneous and parallel elections make it impossible for a third party to establish itself. Literally impossible. The fringe parties and candidates that exist are no more than a safety valve for the system, so that it can supports its claim to "democracy". Even within the UK, which has a much more ideological variety than the US ever had (the US has never even had a genuine Left/Right split, what is called the Left/Right in the US would in Europe be basically two center lib/capitalist parties with a slant toward either side), the best a third party can do on occasion is play kingmaker. The fact is, most political ideas fought their way into parliament (the key of these being socialism and other mass politics movements) from the street, usually through years of blood and sacrifices. It was never a case of simply being voted in and "slipping in unannounced." In the US they tried and were shot down. 80's and latter FBI (and mafia etc.) clampdowns against Unions accounted for the rest. The flip side, the various right "anti-statist/anti fed" movements unique to the US are a bunch of retards living in their own version of a 19th century fantasy capitalism, with no clue how a modern government actually works. Abolishing taxes, minimal state etc. in 2016, indeed. Lol! They have even less chance of success. The elites that hold power in the US have a much tighter hold on society than any government in Europe can ever dream of, even the ones described as practically "authoritarian".

Actually its probably going to be a close elections so this time around the individual vote carries more weight than usual. If you don't vote for one of the two major candidates you're kinda throwing your vote away. Although I'm shilling for Trump purely out of novelty value. And a visceral dislike of Hillary.

Its usually said that he was a drunk in his younger years so he may have simply been hitting the bottle and felt like doing a little jig

Dis guy

Don't worry, Trump will make America great again

For someone with a master from JFK School of Government his opinion is disappointingly shallow and manages to miss the forest for the trees. Probably should have stuck to computer science.

NATO didn't do **** in Ukraine. No one was ready to risk WW3 over a flipped government there. "Putin's meddling" is a fairly amusing way to describe the fallout of a US backed regime change operation.

Actually what he said outright (after being smashed as usual with facts) was that Serbia deserved the bombing (in which 3000 civilians died) and all that for the sole reason of getting a rise out of me. Ergo the musings on when he's going to become a real boy, or in other words, a real human being - instead of hiding behind the superficially pleasant personality he uses with remarkable consistency to troll this forum.

I have a better question. Would sex with a virgin make Bruce into a real boy? Geppetto left the job unfinished....

Yet you seem to be quite dismayed at the thought of a unified European culture growing, expanding and subsuming national identities. Why can't we just let national identity die in peace naturally? That's beyond stupid. The health, productivity and general quality-of-life benefits of love, friendship and "beauty" are very tangible and measurable. Two reasons: 1) It's being replaced by something lower in principle, of which no one is willing defend to the death. It will not satisfy anyone and give rise to real marching right/left-wing parties and another war, which is what i want to avoid for the next generation. 2) The power is centralised if national governments shift their power to Brussels, which will end with continental size warfare unlike anything seen before. Don't fool yourself just because we currently live in relatively peaceful times that it will continue forever if you give up on nations. Both are destructive in the design and i wish to move away from it for a better future. Nation states might erode, but power has to shift to locally with their own laws, hierarchies and armies. That kind of "death" we can all get behind; I would even call it rebirth. As for your quantification of love, friendship and beauty. Oh boy, i pity that mindset. It seems to me that you think their is some kind of spiritual benefit of a nation state. The spiritual benefit is the culture, the history, the language, the ancestry, the sense of belonging, of community. The EU is destroying most of those things. I don't necessarily agree that its the EU that's destroying those things. The overall project of diminishing the reach and power of the state (and the notion of community) began in the Reagan and Thatcher eras. The economic logic of their policies, which essentially meant free reign for the capitalist elite over a diminished (in power and responsibility) state introduced a system that actively seeks to destroy bonds between the individual and his community/state. It constantly seeks to remove the state from the market, which actually means removing all forms of interventionism. Translated to the cultural domain, all of a sudden it becomes improper for the state to suggest that this or that behavior, religion, sexuality etc. is more proper or more suited for society than any other and the result is a culture with no sense of direction or historical mission. Behavior ends up being dictated by market forces which themselves are led by influential groups. Thus the agenda of the day becomes whatever they set it to be, whether it is the "gay thing", or the "black thing", or the "female thing", but never our thing because everything is being done to break the us apart into atomized consumers (equally fit for the market in China, France or Bangladesh) instead of responsible national citizens (that are by their very definition harder to sway or influence). This system was implemented before the EU became what it is now, and even though its championing these same ideas, it is the national elites (national in name only) that brought them to the EU structure.

That's a very dutch opinion. Having won your independence hundreds of years ago, surrounded by the relative buffer of countries such as France and Germany you completely fail to recognize how instrumental nationalism was in freeing people all over the world during the 19th and 20th centuries, some indeed, from your own colonial rule. Also, without nationalism, specifically Russian nationalism, everything east of the Oder would today be either a bunch of slaves or dead. Nationalism is simultaneously one of the most progressive and most deadly ideologies ever devised, but it is ironic that all its worst manifestations were, as a rule, in "civilized" Europe.

Aren't there at least 4 times as many white people in the US as there are blacks? You would have to find statistics per 10000 or some other sample size to get a reasonable comparison.

For a "progressive first world country" having a minority band together to shoot at police because they feel they're being killed like wabbits is rather embarrassing. Ex soldier no less. I watched the video that the gf of the guy took during the shooting and the entire scene was surreal. The policeman losing his head like a little bitch after killing a man over nothing... makes you wonder why is it their first instinct to shoot people in the first place. In Europe its unheard of for police to behave in this manner. If there was a series of incidents like this you better believe tens of thousands of people would take to the streets. Hell, even in Russia they're far more likely to beat the **** out of you if you piss them off, not shoot you at the drop of a hat. The degree of thuggery and callousness is truly remarkable. On the flip side, the American worship of "boys in blue" is bizarre. Being a policeman is just a state job, like a teacher or clerk. They don't do anything special 99% of the time to warrant so much attention.

Technically they're elected but their reach was set and expanded by agreements withing the EU superstructure, not through nation based decision making. In other words, the elected elites shaped the "federal" system with little no bottom up input. Whenever bottom up input was sought (as in the EU constitutions referendums, Brexit) it usually failed. This suggests that the masses dislike the way things are run in the EU. The only directly elected European body, the EP, is a weak institution. On paper it has significant power, in practice the least representative and accountable institutions, the Comission and the Council run the show. All of this would not be a problem if the overall trends within that system acted in favor of the hypothetical European citizen of the future. But they champion the US imported neoliberal model that favors European (and other) corporate elites. The EU institutions are thus used to erode the remnants of the welfare state and the economic benefits of the lower middle and working classes, which is why they are so hostile to the EU project. They also push the melting pot ideology and essentially uncontrolled immigration (because the financial elites like to keep the wages depressed) which has 0 popular support in Europe. These are the two primary reasons that the masses (which are not as stupid as everyone likes to believe) now seem so willing to dismantle the EU.

If Brexit doesn't materialize then British democracy has even less legitimacy than Kim Jong-un's rule. At least he doesn't bull**** anyone about who is "in charge". The way some people in the British press/public/politics are behaving, you'd be forgiven for thinking that a referendum is a Lotto drum, to be spun until you get the numbers you like.

He looks so lifelike

They're drawing the thing out so much I wonder if they'll come up with some excuse/loophole to stay

The actual content of the letter has been debated over but Erdogan is indeed attempting to mend things with Russia. This is a sort of implicit admission that the Syrian adventure is over and that they (Turkey, KSA etc.) lost.

I'm not absolving them of their own stupidity, but for quite a while they haven't been calling the shots in anything of relevance.

Its an effort to portray an image of unity in a critical time. Without some real moves, at this point its no more than a PR stunt. Realistically speaking, it should have happened long ago, but the influence of the US on European politicians, their own divisions and some practical issues have kept it from happening for decades. I don't see it happening now either as I sincerely doubt that the French and the Germans have the spine to make it happen (although Brexit is definitely a plus as the British were always keen to sabotage anything that would lead the EU away from the US). There's also the matter of immense expenditures it would entail and the inevitable hit social services would take in a situation where the economic crisis dictates less spending. And the masses are already displeased as it is. Its feasible but it would take the kind of statesmanship not seen in Europe since De Gaulle's time (and even he backtracked on France's NATO exit). However, it is the only way the EU could create its own policy instead of have it dictated by NATO. And then we would be spared such stupidity as the quasi war with Russia over Ukraine, the inexplicable involvement in Syria or Libya (although european elites were amazingly keen to participate in such obviously catastrophic ventures). There is a sort of delicious irony in which the country that led many of the false flag propaganda efforts and smear campaigns against Assad eventually lose its EU membership partly over the refugee crisis it was instrumental in creating.

You should send this to our PM, he's convinced we're getting into the EU soon. One thing I'll never understand is Turkey's application for joining the EU. Who is this bright mind of the European project that thinks Turkey is in any shape or form, European.

Don't see why all the Farage hate. As politicians go, he's pretty straightforward. You can't really blame him for having presented his position more clearly than the opposition and, after almost two decades of holding the line, swayed the masses to his side. Its actually a significant success in a voting system that is designed to strangle smaller parties (and has robbed the UKIP of a lot of places in parliament). Farage is also not to blame for EU's many structural problems and overall lack of democracy in the whole project from its inception. They had ample opportunity to fix things over the years. His criticism of the Brussels bureaucracy is usually correct and has won him many points over the years.

Why would you possibly say Cameron is a loser? You dont understand the reality Cameron promised the UK he would have this referendum, he kept his word and he understandably stepped down when Brexit won, he isn't required to now navigate the UK exit He is a man of his word and he has integrity, do you see that as a weakness? He's a loser because he thought it would be an easy win for his side and he's a loser because he allowed intra-party politics to dictate national policy.

Late to the party but better late than never. I didn't see it coming. I thought that even push come to shove, they'd rig it to stay in since it was destined to be close. American interests in Europe took a stab in the gut with this. No longer will the UK be able to influence European foreign policy (such as it was) to the same extent. As for the EU, the unthinkable has become thinkable. Grexit would have been a nuisance, the eventual economic collapse of Spain and Italy an even bigger one but this is a critical hit. If the present course of the economy and refugee crisis continues, the France is the next significant weak link. The current government will never organize a referendum but an FN one might and Le Pen's chances were never as good as they are now. That is admittedly, the most extreme scenario - but if it came to pass and succeed the EU would be gone overnight. Even if it doesn't happen, there is nothing but the problems ahead. A clever politician would use this opportunity to patch up things with Russia, now that the key anti-Russian player is as good as gone (Erdogan certainly is, for some reason). I wouldn't hold my breath though. Cameron possibly the biggest political loser in 21st century history so far. From "a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel" to a zero and loser overnight. I don't expect them to flip it somehow. The political fallout is so bad already I can't see a reversal happening.

I wasn't referring to anyone here, just making a general comment. The last two or three times I went to a restaurant some women brought their dogs with them. Even the worst redneck farmer in my country wouldn't dream of allowing an animal into a place where people are consuming food. It struck me how self obsessed some pet owners are that it never occurs to them that watching their dog lick its balls while I'm eating an expensive dinner is not the most appetizing sight in the world. Then a couple of my female friends got cats and now all they do is talk about them and post pictures online. Its a cat. There are a million others like it. listening about the last "clever" thing it did makes me want to gouge my eyes out