Posted on 08/26/2014 12:22:24 AM PDT by wetphoenix
The European Union has had a pretty rough run over the past seven years. Economically, things are simply catastrophic. The Eurozone is not only experiencing an output slump that is even worse than the great depression, it is also teetering dangerously close to outright deflation. Unemployment remains persistently high everywhere except Germany: it is still above 25% in both Greece and Spain, and above 10% in Portugal, Italy, and France. The forecasts are hardly encouraging, with expectations of little or no growth in 2014 and an exceedingly modest rebound predicted for 2015. The situation is so desperate and hopeless that respected economists like Tyler Cowen have started to compare the performance of the more sclerotic European economies with the de-industrialization of 19th century India.
Politically, things aren’t a whole lot better. The most recent elections to the European Parliament in late May saw Euroskeptics and radicals of various stripes storm to unprecedented victories. Even The Economist, which has been relentless in its promotion of the EU, sounded the alarm, admitting that the previous “bastion of European federalism” was set to become a “beachhead for all sorts of anti-Europeans.” There’s also the small matter that Viktor Orban, Hungary’s president, has all but declared war on “liberal democracy.” This is just a little bit awkward because Hungary is a member of an organization explicitly founded on liberal democratic concepts. The EU is now in the unprecedented position of needing to confront an avowedly “illiberal” regime within its own ranks.
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the Ukraine gave up its nukes on the agreement that it’d get backup from the US and NATO if russia got aggressive.
russia got aggressive.
did the US or NATO help out? no.
scotland should take note if they plan to go for independence
Are you advocating nukes for Scotland?
Your native Russia has plenty of nukes. Apparently, they need them so your country can bully its neighbors.
Don’t be silly. Scotland wants to join NATO and shelter under its nuclear umbrella. Not that it wants icky nukes on its territory of course, and wants to undermine the UK nuclear contribution by driving them out of what took years and a lot of money to build up as infrastructure. They are hoping that this won’t mean anything when they apply for NATO membership hoping to freeload off its neighbours.
scotland has the nukes now. they’re thinking of handing them over to england (somehow) if they gain independence
Well, I truly believe Scotland is not that irresponsible in terms of proliferation as Ukraine was, but is it not a wise for the British to leave any strategic assets behind.
Not really, there was no accompanying act of congress.
It’s about as binding on the USA as Al Gore’s signature on the Kyoto global warming treaty.
err make that president Clinton
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