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Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Policy’

This picture of the G8 Leaders sitting around a table together, is very symbolic because whilst they can arrange a meeting and deliver a conference, the one thing that they can’t do is deliver their electorates.

Solving the Euro crisis would be simple if either the Eurozone countries opted for a “United States of Europe” where all resources are pooled, both assets and liabilities or, Germany accepted ‘funding’ such a programme without such a structure. The real problem as the election of Hollande in France and the non-election of any kind of government in Greece demonstrates is that the average European voter is not prepared to face reality.

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I returned to the “Britain and the EU” theme recently only because of an article in The Economist on the subject of a proposed UK Referendum on the topic. I posted a comment against the article and as a result got some interesting replies. Often most replies on this topic are a waste of time because both the For and the Against mob consider their opposites heretics that should be burnt at the stake, never a basis for rational debate.

However sometimes, debate is possible and it teases out the various threads to the subject which is a good thing so the following are really various ‘one sided conversations’ which may work in covering some ground, this may or may not work, I offer it as is…

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One of the key things about the whole issue of the Falklands is the outright bemusement the British people generally, have towards the stance and attitude of the Argentinian Government. For the British, the sovereignty of the islands is non-negotiable until/unless the Falkland Islanders want to look at the possibility. It is for the Argentinians to persuade the Islanders that they would have a better future as part of Argentina, it is not for the UK Government to “tell” the Islanders what they must do, after all, this isn’t Argentina is it ?

Hilariously and after apparently a 3 year gap which I suspect no one noticed over here, we have a new Argentinian Ambassador called Alicia Castro who set out her stall with an article in The Telegraph, it is rather dire to say the least but a good example of how NOT to take up your new post in a foreign capital I suspect. It is also quite amazing how out of touch the Argentinians are to even consider publishing this in the Telegraph, The Guardian or Independent would have been a far better bet ! To know how wrong they were, a quick look at the readers comments will make the point. It couldn’t be a delayed April Fools prank could it ?

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I was slightly amused by Chris Huhne giving an opinion on the motives of the “Tory Right Wing” with regard to the EU the other day but more than that, I also read a number of articles on Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de/international/ with regard to the current Euro Crisis which gives an interesting insight to some German thinking on the whole thing.

What struck me about these articles and however ‘reasonable in tone’ they are, the authors completely miss any basic understanding of a “British Perspective” which has been shaped over a long period of time and is largely influenced by us being “island races”. By the same token, I don’t suspect that we can easily understand Continental Europe with its contiguous land borders either that have shaped their present day views in both peace and war.

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There is a proposal by a UKIP Peer Lord Pearson of Rannoch to set up a House of Lords Committee to examine the value of the UK belonging to the European Union. It is envisaged that the membership of this committee would be made up of seven people, two “For”, two “Against”, two of no strong view on the matter and, an independent chairman.

The idea would be by diligent examination of the issues, it must be possible to arrive at a firm view, backed with facts that says that it is either “In” or “Against” the UK’s interests to be a member of the European Union. This is a fine ambition I might suggest but there are quite a number of obvious problems with the whole idea…

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Whatever else may be said or written, as an Englishman, I am just so ‘stoked’ that for once, a British Prime Minister has returned from an EU Meeeting having made a positive decision and without excuses about why they were mugged by the ‘other big boys’, that is something even the ‘sainted Maggie’ never did. Well done David Cameron, I say.

Well we have the overnight fallout from the EU Conference on Treaty Changes to accommodate the Euro Crisis although these “changes” obviously don’t require a Treaty Change, they are just a further strengthening of the so called stability pact rules that everyone has already disregarded, led by Germany and France in the first place. What a load of bullshit this all was !

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Although not one of my favourite writers, Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph wrote an interesting piece on why right now, David Cameron is unlikely to be able to repatriate any significant powers from Brussels on the back of the Treaty Changes that Germany wants in order to support the Euro, a good article and worth a read. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8910266/The-eurozone-crisis-an-opportunity-for-Britain-Dont-bet-on-it.html

With disaster almost inevitable due to the incomprehensible slowness to comprehend and then total inaction of Eurozone Leaders to meet the challenges, we do indeed live in ‘interesting times’.

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I must confess to be totally bored with the “Euro Crisis” and feel distinctly “Euroed Out”, how much more can there be to write about it ? I looked at an article I had written last week but not published, it was all the same old stuff I had written months ago. The latest episode was David Cameron visiting Angela Merkel in Berlin from which absolutely no agreement or common ground was found.

The funniest part of this visit was a anti-British campaign in some of the German Press and “noises off” from from some German politicians in a similar and antagonistic vein which should be viewed in a rather positive light I personally feel, it seems to indicate that finally, the Germans are starting to wake up from their stupor and started to become aware how serious this all is…

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With the fall of Sirte and more importantly the death of Gaddafi, this phase of Libya’s past ends and a promising if difficult future beckons. Yes, it could all go horribly wrong but providing the Libyans keep their heads cool, a small population of 6 million, substantial oil based income and therefore the money to rebuild their infrastructure, if corruption can be avoided, their future will be very bright indeed.

David Cameron was quite rightly very businesslike in what he said following the news concerning the death of Gaddafi but I have been quite amused by some of the comments and their undertones which have been made by some that can be summed up as: “Now like Tony Blair, he has got a successful war under his belt, he might get a taste for it…” I have to wonder just how perceptive or sober some of these people are, these are very silly words.

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I know that both politicians and their symbiotic friends in the media like to project the idea that under the current economic circumstances, “Something can be done…” but the reality is that there is very little that any government can do, there are no magic wands to be waved that will end the situation overnight, it will take time.

However there are real dangers in the current situation and it is only by them being addressed by politicians that they may be averted. The current global crisis could all too easily lead to a wave of protectionist trade measures as nations seek to protect their people and their economies. We all know that such events all too easily can lead to major wars, Cameron and his Government seem to be aware of this as his speech to the Canadian Parliament demonstrated.

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