Small Wars Journal

Brexit: Birth of a Nation

Sat, 07/16/2016 - 4:53pm

Brexit: Birth of a Nation

G. Murphy Donovan

         “What men value in this world are not rights but privileges.” – H.L. Mencken

Churchill was correct. Democracy is a flawed vessel, especially when the vote doesn’t go your way.

Incumbents and the establishment don’t care much for independent voters, citizens who can’t be manipulated or controlled. When the electorate shows some pluck, the whining begins. The complaint today is “too much democracy.”

Elites are not just bad losers; they’re bad winners too. Indeed, most politicians who have been in office for more than two election cycles usually become tone deaf and clueless.

Part of the problem is professional. Too many politicians are lawyers by schooling, trade, or inclination. Billing hours, not justice, is the lodestar for the Bar, when they appear before it or sit on the bench. That ethic does not change when lawyers are elected or appointed to the ruling class. Yes, class is trending again.

A lawyer in government may not control billing hours, but they still control the purse, perks, and the revolving door. Few barrister/politicians want for much. Hillary and Bill come to mind.

Once seduced by the privileges of office, most politicians can only remember the adjective, not the noun in sobriquets like “public servant.” Lawyers and politicians get paid, win or lose, in or out of office. An American congressman, for example, collects a pension after five years of service; a senator serves one term to win a pension.

Contemporary politicians are “servants” in the same sense that marijuana is medication.

The recent referendum in Britain, aka “Brexit,” might be a case study in poetic justice. David Cameron, the unctuous PM who sponsored the exit referendum, never expected a majority “yes” vote. Cameron is a typical political weasel, now a cake-and- eat-it casualty. He played to the crowd with talk about Brit sovereignty, never believing that the lumpen proletariat would actually jump the EU ship.

God save the Queen and the flat hats!

Indeed, the people have spoken. Cameron is out of a job and globalism is on the ropes for a change. Call it a declaration of independence. Better still, call Brexit the birth of a nation. 

If the EU exit vote says anything, it suggests that national sovereignty matters more than supra national or NGO tyranny. The immigration issue is an illustration.

In Europe, unelected EU Commissioners, Juncker’s politburo, decide number and nationality of migrants who must be accepted by member states. In America, while numbers may be smaller, all migrants are laundered through UN agencies or NGO’s, none of which are accountable to the American people. The Yankee electorate, like Europe, has little to say about who comes, goes - or pays.

Globalism, open borders, the welfare state, and the Islamic jihad have created a witch’s brew of national insecurities.

Few will admit it, but terror, Islam, and the Muslim small wars have done what conventional attack could not. Europe is now at risk from within and without. Indeed, the EU may collapse long before any meaningful number of Muslims can be “assimilated.” Paradoxically, tolerance and assimilation is the fairy tale which rationalizes Sharia imperialism and immigrant tsunamis.

The Marquise de Pompadour captured the cost of both ancien regimes and the revolution, “Apres nous, le deluge!”

The globalism chimera in Brussels seems to have reached that tipping point. Most Eurocrats, like their UN counterparts, are the otherwise unemployed political deadwood from social or autocratic “democracies.” Jean-Claude Juncker, former PM of Luxembourg (population 0.5 million), is the archetype. As with non-profits and NGO’s, such privileged elites do not answer to any constituency except committees of their own making.

Even legendary “non-profit” institutions, like the Red Cross, succumb to root rot in the globalist commune. As with many international “charities,” Red Cross humanitarians take better care of themselves today than they do disaster victims. Even die hard socialists seem to have given up on such clueless, if not in-bred, transnationals.

Speaking of vacuity, Barack Obama and Joe Biden presume to lecture the English on the hazards of national soveignty before and after the Brexit vote. Obama threatened to put Britannia at the “end of the queue.”  Vice-President Biden, before the egg on the president’s face could dry, suggested that the Brit establishment didn’t necessarily have to honor the mandate of voters.

Such globalist arrogance is manifest in Brussels. At the moment, a cabal of Euro strategic storm troopers is actually arguing for an “EU Army,” as if the NATO legion wasn’t dangerous enough. For the past two decades, NATO and the US State Department have been playing nuclear chicken with the Russians.

At the same time, Brussels can’t protect itself from Islamists at home. Hard to believe that a Schengen army in Europe would be any more effective or economical than the hapless Frontex border scouts.    

Withal, our English cousins have fired a shot across the bow of a least one globalist goliath and laid down a marker for national sovereignty everywhere, especially America. The echoes of Brexit are sure to be heard in the 2016 American presidential election.

England is the mother of parliaments and the father of modern democracy. Both America and England were products of the Enlightenment. National independence and democracy were probative values then and they remain so today.  All of America’s founding fathers were in fact enlightened Englishmen.

Locke, Smith, Hume, Darwin, and Burke too were rational humanists, men who believed that national independence and pragmatic empiricism were virtues. Charles Darwin and Adam Smith, in particular, argued that individual and national freedom were, not simply  morally appropriate and natural, but necessary too in a bio-economic world where true progress has measures of effectiveness - concrete achievements, winners and losers in large and small ways.

Today, words like success, victory, and winning have been stricken from the public square in favor of communal rhetoric and politicized egalitarian hokum. The world of political correctness is now one “whose function is to prevent thought or discussion (or remedy) for unpleasant realities.” Islam is an example.

Alas, English and America democracies were fashioned at a time where empirical meant factual, skeptical meant objective, and liberal actually meant progress, not fantasy. The real world, then and now, is a competitive, yea sometimes a lethal contest between ideas, individuals, institutions, and frequently nations. The fittest survive.

A world of winners would be absurd without losers. Life, reality, and people are frequently unpleasant.

“To be a hero is, by definition, exceptional; if everyone were heroic, no one would be a hero.”  Opportunity, or fair competition, might be noble goals. Equality, on the other hand, of individuals or nation states is just so much civic drivel. We are diverse because we are different. In many cases, “diverse” is the polite euphemism for weak - and unequal.

Post-Brexit ironies abound. Losers are calling for a new vote. The worst are asking for an outright ban on referendums. Quasi- nationals like Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are talking separation from the UK. Alas, Scots and Irishmen value the dole as much as much they do a good tipple. Brussels is unlikely to pick up those Celtic bar tabs.

Globalism has been found wanting because dreams of homogeneous empire are always impractical schemes. In the end, empire requires autocratic and arbitrary measures to survive. Rome lasted as long as it did because, early on, it had good engineers, extra-virgin olive oil, and ruthless legions.

There are many euphemisms for empire today. The most pernicious might be Parag Khanna’s “connectography” a globalist theory that sees urban centers, nee big cities, replacing Westphalian nation states. The beads on this daisy chain are to be connected by trade. Khanna’s dream world is not much different than China’s “Silk Road,” the “one belt, one road” project.

These trade and infrastructure visions tend to confuse connectivity with consensus, integration with intelligent design. Facebook is an example. Zuckerberg’s vision is to have the world on his social network. Qui bono?

If you gave plebs of the world a choice of potable water, central heating, pizza, a flush toilet, housing, and literacy - or a personal computer; do trade trolls like Khanna really believe that the consensus choice would be a smart phone?

Any connectographs or silk thruways that run through the Muslim world are sure to be toll roads too, if not free fire zones. Islam knows too well that consumerism and commerce are the cutting edges of the imperial sword.

Empire fails because it is always at odds with common needs and true diversity; that species of tribalism, or local solidarity, which drives all genuine human competitive enterprise. Or as one ward healer put it, “All politics is local.”  UN membership has expanded exponentially since 1945, creating the misfired meme of national equality. Somalia is the equal of Sweden in the same sense that a goat is the equal of a Volvo.

The EU and NATO continue to expand nonetheless, channeling the menace of the now defunct Warsaw Pact. The EU began as a benign economic condominium too. That consortium is now being undone by autocratic pipe dreams, political/military over reach at home, and appeasement abroad.

Tragically, EU imperialism (aka humanitarian intervention) has now destabilized the Levant, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The refugee crisis in not just blowback or poetic justice anymore.  The Levant, the Islamic State, and Europe are now joined by an umbilical cord of bad policy. Today, Washington and Brussels are the official sponsors of Mohammad’s backpack jihad.

Globalism is indeed the new imperialism.  Empire now comes dressed as a Muslim pilgrim, a humanitarian, or a trade troll. Like other Utopian illusions; the EU, the UN, the sharia Ummah, and those globalist trade mirages will suffer the same fate as the Internationale and the Thousand Year Reich. How much carnage comes before then is anybody’s guess. For now, Brexit appears to be the ghost of Christmas future.

If global government were possible today, the end of national and local democracy would begin.

About the Author(s)

The author is a former USAF Intelligence officer, Vietnam veteran, a graduate of Iona College (BA), the University of Southern California (MS), the Defense Intelligence College, and the Air War College. He is a former Senior USAF Research Fellow at RAND Corporation, Santa Monica and the former Director of Research and Russian (nee Soviet) Studies, ACS Intelligence, HQ USAF, serving under General James Clapper. Colonel Donovan has served at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Central intelligence Agency.

Comments

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/31/2016 - 4:25am

RC...back to my use of the word propaganda (print media, social media, internet and now radio/TV)in Brexit.........

Russia announced the completion of their Sputnik International Media Headquarters this week in Scotland.....

Do I need to explain the inherent value of Sputnik International a 100% Russian government owned info warfare propaganda media outlet to you???

A major really major player in the Russian info warfare globally...in over 210 countries right now and growing....right along with Russia Today which is also strong in the UK.....

Outlaw 09

Sat, 07/30/2016 - 1:08pm

In reply to by RantCorp

RC..your comment that the working class is not much interested in a higher education for their children....and that is an EU problem.....?

Right now globalization drives the need for higher and higher education and specialized on top of it.

In some ways the UK is still stuck in 1944 and has not advanced much since then.

Right now a German blue collar family drives their children higher and higher on the education side as they know that is how they will succeed in the coming years......

BUT here is the problem for the UK vs. say German blue collar working class....a GM blue collar leaves school at the 10th grade and then goes into a apprenticeship and attends as well the next two years in a related trade school completing his/her 12th year.

Then he has a clear path if he succeeds to a journeyman and on to a master craftsman.

At the end of the "open season" for 10th graders to pick an apprenticeship this year there were over 140,000 open positions not filled throughout Germany..in all technical skills and it is getting worse and the UK???

Why do you think the massive influx of immigrants was not a bad move in the end....they are the new "Guest worker" class of the 1960s....

Many high school graduates are now shifting into blue collar training as they earn money quicker than slogging it out in the university for 4-8 years AND then jump back later to the university....when they are older.

BUT say after his journey man he wants to become an engineer he has his 12th year in so he can jump to the Technical University and complete an engineer degree....and from there either back to mastercraftsman and or into an engineering position...

BTW the German middle class is from 17,000 Euros to 50,000 Euros....at the lower end depending on his family size he gets family support and rental support in addition to his salary.

BTW...the general German middle class is a balance of blue collar and educated.....much different than the UK as the blue collar working class earns quite well in Germany...the lower paying jobs...ie farming, service etc. usually filled by immigrants and Germans who have dropped out of schooling....

The government and industry invest equally and heavily into these programs...something you do not see in the UK.

BTW....just as it now appears the Brit economy was finally coming out of the 2008 recession and growing nicely the Brexit vote shot it in the knee and stalled it and it is now headed to a recession again...second one since 2008...

So over 8 GBPs gets you two beers.....the German basic minimum wage is 8.50 Euro per hour which is about 7 GBPs...so what is exactly then the difference between the two economies.....yes even those in Germany have a hard time of it if they are single earners but that is where then the government social programs kick in and ensure they can pay rent, and buy food.....and send their kids to school.

Maybe it is actually in the cost of living.....I would venture a guess that if one looks at the taxation base of the UK government and just how high it is ...this would probably point you to the core problem......

Which is again what....an issue of "poor governance" of the government as it is non responsive to the demands of the people....

When I was taxed in the UK from 1997 until 2001 I was paying every month taken straight out of the pay check 37%....and at the end of the year I had virtually no tax deductions I could take to reduce the next round that hit me usually being another 1K GBPs.

At least here it is demanded at the end of the year and I have a ton of deduction possibilities in order to claw back my taxes.....

The Germans have had since WW1, a great depression,and WW2 the basic premise that if the middle class is vested in the economy/government and has ownership of property/investments, a house and a solid education they will not "revolt". Currently the average blue collar savings rate per individual is the highest in the EU.

That is the "social contract" between the government and the public.

What is the UK's position........?

BTW....all those European vacations the Brits take..they jumped automatically 19% in cost with the falling GPB and it slipped last week again with FX traders predicting an eventual fall to GBP to USD of 1 to 1 and a Euro to GBP of 1.09 almost at parity.....from a 1.19

I remember in the 8os it took almost 4 USDs for a GBP....for years it was in the 3s to one range...

At that rate there will be no UK vacations in Europe.....

Will go back and dig out the latest Economist/Barclays research on the immigrant wages vs UK wages.....

RantCorp

Sat, 07/30/2016 - 4:22am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,

First up, I believe it is important to understand there is a significant difference in people's emotive response, and the subsequent cognitive resonance, when the effects of wartime propaganda and peacetime tabloid scaremongering are being examined. Sending your son off to fight an invading Russian Army in Eastern Ukraine shapes a very different cognitive mindset than not being able to question your phone bill because the foreigner at the call-center can barely speak English.

Certainly the comms techniques are closely related but Brits aren’t laying down five day MLRS bombardments on inner-city migrant neighborhoods just yet.

Certainly the natives believe there are too many people coming into the UK and guess what…. they are absolutely right. But what the political leadership has only now begun to understand is the working class blame their political leaders for the societal stress the influx has created. It’s not the poor bloody migrant that is considered responsible for the SNAFU, it’s the folks who are supposed to be running the country who screwed the pooch.

I found no hostility towards foreigners. Brit’s are loathed to spend their vacation time in the UK. If they don’t go to Turkey, Greece, Spain or Portugal they don’t consider it a holiday. Sure the Brit weather doesn’t help but Brits enjoy the fact that foreign culture, food, lifestyle,people etc. are thankfully very different to what they experience at home.

It’s a question of management. Multiple generations of the working class folks have witnessed what lousy management has done to their once world-dominating industrial base and they are now experiencing how the same incompetence is destroying their cultural foundations.

It is not the nature of the immigrant that is the problem. It is the scale of immigration and the subsequent inability of the political class to manage it with even a modest amount of acumen.

I have to flatly disagree with your suggestion that the influx of immigrant labor has had a boosting effect on disposable income for the working class. I mean my evidence contradicted that totally. Average wage statistics tend to include the income of the one-percenters; I would put more stock in the basic living wage which is only a voluntary agreement with an employer. It is £8.25 an hour and after taxes won’t buy you two beers in a pub.

This article captured the sentiment I found so prevalent, no matter to whom I spoke – whether it was in Mayfair or small town East Anglia.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/27/uk-joins-greece-at-bottom…

Though I’m reluctant to admit a newspaper article may have some use, this one agrees with what I understood to be the decline of real earnings.

I’m not familiar with the immigration implications for universities. The Chinese are investing very heavily in educating Chinese kids in the UK (as they are just about everywhere) but they are not immigrants. Their student visa doesn’t allow them much scope for work or accommodation and as such (as far as I could tell) did not feature in the Britexit decision.

Furthermore, a college education is not something many UK working class folks feel compelled to acquire for their children. The middle class very much so, but they voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and were generally aghast at what the great unwashed horde has forced upon them.

Chinese Triad and Russian Mafia money-laundering is most definitely contributing to the housing problem in the UK (as it is in many other countries) but that is an organized crime issue and, whilst its effects feature in Joe Average trying to put a roof over his head, countering organized crime was not on many people’s political radar in the Referendum.

I personally believe it should be; but that’s a different fight.

Keep punching,

RC

Outlaw 09

Sat, 07/30/2016 - 1:31am

In reply to by RantCorp

RC.....Russian info warfare propaganda has a total of 6Ds...distract, distort, dismiss, deflect....all designed to created doubt and distrust.

As I have probably posted here and on the Ukrainian/Syrian threads far more on this subject since Crimea, eastern Ukraine, Syria and now Brexit.......go back to the early Ukraine thread and you will see countless postings on multiple different takes on propaganda by some of the best in the business...

You might be totally surprised just how effective print media is as well as social media which the Russians play like a great violinist ..........

BTW..do not underestimate the Russian Today TV media broadcasting in the UK...

If you understand yellow press or so called boulevard press and if you fully understand that virtually ALL UK newspapers were for Brexit...then convince me the "average man in the street was not affected"

So do some reading on the far earlier Ukraine threads where this was covered in massive detail.

Secondly, there was just released a study of the impact of immigrant labor on the UK average salaries...REMEMBER this was one of the main Leave arguments...that it was driving down the salaries of UK citizens....CARRIED by the yellow press BTW...over, over, over and over for over a year....BTw this study proved just the opposite...that where immigrant labor was being employed the Brit salaries of those working in that field ACTUALLY went up as they were in fact far lower before the immigrants came.

If you placed on an average day all of the UK yellow press side by side there was never fewer than five running stories on the impact of immigrants on labor salaries, housing, overfilled schools, and driving the NHS costs into the sky and taking NHS services away from Brits.

That my friend is the impact of propaganda.....

THERE is in the world of foreign language education the firm belief that you must verbally and or non verbally repeat a word SEVEN times in order to lock it into the subconscious. Which actually does work if one has ever learned a foreign language.

I still go back to the simple fact that Brexit was a vote for and or against "globalization" ie the effects of "globalization"...the exact same thing we are currently seeing in the US at the moment....

THAT then takes me back to the failure of the political elite to actually address those "globalization caused effects"...thus my argument that it is actually "poor governance" in the end that is the true source of the success of Brexit.

BUT what is really funny if that is the correct word...is that those that drove Brexit and who are now in charge of carrying it out SUDDENLY discover that it will be with a massive cost...such a cost they did not see before the vote and now we get the discourse from them Brexit "light or heavy"....

Example...the EU since 2007 actually implemented an UK education idea called Erasmus...when the EU pays for a student to visit up to two years an university outside of their own country....of their choice.

There are a lot of UK universities surviving on these payments simply because not enough UK students can get into them or not interested because of costs....THIS brings in over 600M Euros a year into those universities as well as the money spent by those students in rent, food and other services inside the UK...not to mention UK students studying in the EU.

After 2017...gone for good and to never return at the cost of the destruction of the UK higher education system....let's not even get into the EU R&D university funds that are now starting to not be approved for the UK.....starting in 2017.

NONE of this ever mentioned before the vote to Leave.

HOW could it have been mentioned as it was drowned out by the drumbeat of the yellow press....immigrants, take back our country and government, and those evil EU autocrats telling us what to do...ANd all those regulations....

BTW...recognize the same exact arguments being thrown around by Trump lately....as he is a master of distort, deflect, and dismiss....

THAT my friend was a utter and pure propaganda smokescreen....in order to avoid clearly and concisely telling the public the "truth"....WHICH I have learned over the years the general public is fully capable of understanding and accepting.....

Right now there is a brutal info war afoot and many Americans and EU citizens either do not see it and or say it has/makes no impact....I disagree as we in the EU and the US are losing that war....end of story.

That global Russian info war is costing Russia 800M USDs per year down from last year at 1B USDs..and that is not chrumb change in the media world..and it is tightly organized and centrally driven and we....still reading yellow press and saying it has no effect on us????

Russian non linear warfare has two critical cornerstones that must be successful in order to succeed.....

1. cyber warfare..WHICH we are now seeing clearly in front of us since the DNC
2. info warfare

Right now we are not even in the game....especially in the cyber world.

RantCorp

Fri, 07/29/2016 - 3:09pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,

If you don't mind me saying so, you are laboring under the delusion that regular folks make important decisions based on MSM projections.

They don't.

The Britexit decision was based on purely local elements shaped by events coming at them thru the lens of their Mark One Eyeball. Regular folks cannot afford to live in large swathes of the UK. The harsh reality is as simple as that. The fact that they are immigrants or natives has nothing to do with the political argument that shaped the Referendum result.

The political decision was as existential as food and shelter. In fact immigrants understood the existential argument more than the well established locals. For the last decade the economic model the UK political class has imposed upon the working class is a model that has economically bankrupted a huge portion of those employed in gainful employment.

It is painfully obvious to the working class that the economic model executed over the last ten years, by both sides of the political divide, simply doesn't work.

The presence of hard-working immigrants posed little consideration to the underlying political energy that shaped the Referendum's mandate to exit the EU. In fact my experience indicated recent arrivals bolstered the argument that advocated the Exit vote.

Wherever the disenfranchised came from was irrelevant to both native and immigrant. Certainly, introducing millions of hapless foreigners doesn't help the apparent shortages of basic essentials but those considered responsible are from the ranks of the elite. The presence in the UK of someone born in the Ural Mountains or the Hindu Kush was of zero political consideration.

Like many folks I was astounded by the degree of resentment directed at the political elite. Many advocating Exit openly confessed to a desire to remain within the bosom of the EU but the lack of legitimate governance forced them to balance the political equation that desperate times require desperate measures.

And the people spoke.

From what I managed to understand any subsequent decisions the governance attempt to execute that differ from the sentiment expressed by the Referendum's result will be considered by the working class as a a betrayal of their political voice. IMHO if a government aspires to represent democracy and they choose ignore the political will of the British working class a political shit-storm will sweep them into oblivion.

Warts and all,

RC

Outlaw 09

Fri, 07/29/2016 - 1:08pm

Part of the problem is that a large number of the UK MSM pushed the Leave with a massive amount of false information about the EU.....

This is a perfect example.....they were forced into retracting virtually all their examples..........as false and or outright wrong.

The fact check of that retracted Express article about the EU (http://www.express.co.uk/news/clarifications-corrections/693618/Correct… …) is, well, spectacular http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-express-bananas-eu/23034

Daily Express, the most pro-Brexit paper, has now embraced the ideology of David Icke. Is there a secret EU Illuminati hand sign?????
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/692031/Does-hand-sign-made-by-Merke…

Outlaw 09

Thu, 07/28/2016 - 12:32pm

Brexit delusions
"Australia and India have called us for trade deals"
2 countries down, 194 remaining

From US experience in negotiating separate FTAs....

The shortest period was 18 months the longest 79 months and the UK cannot start until they have severed itself from EU agreements as the EU forbids any member the right as long as they are a member to d separate deals....

And now this hits the UK as many had predicted oil to eventually hit 25 USDs per barrel.....now at 41 USDs.

Oil is nearly in free fall.
Stock and junk bond markets not reacting... yet

davidbfpo

Thu, 07/28/2016 - 6:22am

Much of this article is at variance with my perspective here in the UK.

One passage struck me as simply WRONG, even exaggerated: 'In Europe, unelected EU Commissioners, Juncker’s politburo, decide number and nationality of migrants who must be accepted by member states. In America, while numbers may be smaller, all migrants are laundered through UN agencies or NGO’s, none of which are accountable to the American people. The Yankee electorate, like Europe, has little to say about who comes, goes - or pays.'

Yes the EU has tried to dictate to members on accepting migrants, but this has NOT been accepted by the member states. The former East European nations have been particularly vocal on this; Hungary plans to hold a referendum on the issue.

To my knowledge and that of a US lawyer familiar with immigration law and practices the USA retains national control over admitting migrants.

Entry for refugees is quite different, but as this link shows it remains a national decision: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum/refugees/united-stat…

The process of immigration is of course regulated by the USCIS and DOS. The USCIS process allows for asylum claims. But that presupposes you can get to the USA. You can’t file an asylum claim in Poland or anywhere else, you have to be at our borders or already in the US.

On reflection the article lacks credibility and is best ignored.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/24/2016 - 11:30am

No longer truly sure exactly what the Brexit Leavers ever really wanted and I am sure they themselves have no earthly idea....

Tory party unity is already breaking down over "Brexit-lite" and "Brexit-max."
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tories-warn-may-of-revolt-over-brexit…

Not so sure they really care at all about what happens in the end for the UK and their voters especially those that will be no longer receiving the steady stream of EU funding that the UK Brexiters claimed they could replace but not cannot.....

Notice that the Brexit side has never come forward and explained just how they are going to replace the EU funding with an economy that is now starting to truly limp along with far less tax revenues...and outside investment virtually stopping.

Outlaw 09

Mon, 07/25/2016 - 6:35am

In reply to by RantCorp

RC....

1. the entire ME has been affected by war and violence since 2003....the coach of young Syrian area refugees especially the boy who stabbed over four recently stated....those young refugees coming have seen things and experienced things adults have never seen and it reminds him of the stories he use to read about young Germans at the end of WW2...

2. do not get me started...BUT exactly how many US military of all services have applied for via VA PTSD disabilities who have never been through what say a 17 year old Syrian or Iraqi refugee has been through??

RantCorp

Mon, 07/25/2016 - 5:33am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,
One positive coming out of the latest wave of mass-killings is the authorities are getting genuine feedback on the mental health issues all of the perpetrators bring to the fight.

Most of my encounters were in denied areas so it was impossible to prove to higher ups to what extent mental health shaped the battle ecosystem.

The 100% mental health issues we are currently witnessing in perpetrators was a reflection of every FF I had dealings with. The natives weren't as heavily affected but with them the sentiment was overwhelmingly farm-laboring with guns for money.

The whole notion of religious devotion was patently absurd. I mean to say you, can you imagine if the Surgeon General rolled out a nationwide mental health strategy for the US that was shaped by an interpretation of the Holy Bible.

RantCorp

Mon, 07/25/2016 - 3:36am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,
As I 've said before if we need to group all of these threats together (not particularly helpful IMHO) I believe the philosophy driving the threat is Fascist and Criminal Enterprise. In my experience the criminality was narco-based but it could be oil (KSA,Russia),money-laundering(China) or real-estate(ykw) but the Fascist element is the primary source of the threat.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/24/2016 - 11:33am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

RC...right now I cannot find a single difference between the latest Trump statements and those Putin defined three strategic geopolitical goals of his current non linear war with the US....and it is in fact a war...

Trump has moved on from attaching NATO to attacking the EU as an economic enemy of America. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/24/donald-trump-eu-was-for…

1. discredit and damage the EU
2. discredit and damage NATO
3. disconnect the US completely from Europe and the ME

OR do you see any difference as I cannot........??

Now go back and "follow the money" out of Russia flowing into Trump and then convince me he is not being "influenced"...as "influenced" as is France's Le Pen with her 20M Euro loan from Russia

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/24/2016 - 11:23am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

RC...as I said...the "dog whistles" are globalization and immigration.....

Can you actually explain this to me.....seriously explain it?

Trump has moved on from attaching NATO to attacking the EU as an economic enemy of America.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/24/donald-trump-eu-was-for…

The next thing we will see is that Trump has swung to being a Communist and will be attacking "capitalism" per sec or for that matter attacking even Karl Marx....

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/24/2016 - 4:56am

RC...now try to convince me we ourselves do not have our version of Brexit ongoing right now and it is simply called "Exit Right" driven by the same exact "dog whistles" of the UK Brexit campaign.....globalization and immigrants......

BUT this really takes the "fruitcake award"........

Trump eyes "extreme vetting" for French and Germans. "It's their own fault." https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-france-others-hit-terror-may-face-more…

QUOTE:
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is asserting that countries like France that he says are compromised by terrorism may be subjected to the "extreme vetting" he proposes as a deterrent to attacks in the U.S.

When asked if his proposal might lead to a point when not a lot of people from overseas are allowed into the U.S., Trump said, "Maybe we get to that point" and added: "We have to be smart and we have to be vigilant and we have to be strong."
UNQUOTE

So I guess then Americans will be restricted from entering Europe because of Orlando or maybe because of San Bernardino ......OR because of all those heavily armed Americans openly carrying and the constant killing of blacks by white police officers.....or maybe just Trump needs to be restricted...."because Europe has to be strong" UNQUOTE

BTW RC.....overseas tourism makes just how much money for a lot of the United States...I get massive adverts in Germany from TX, CA, IL, OH and NY for example...

The UK Brexit was against "free movment" which BTW they were exempted from by the EU BUT that somehow got mistranslated in the Brexit campaign.

Trump apparently wants "no movement" by anyone outside of American it appears........

Outlaw 09

Sat, 07/23/2016 - 12:09pm

BBC Newsnight
✔ @BBCNewsnight The U.K. is now going to learn what it's like to negotiate with the EU as a non member - from my memory you won't like

Fmr Polish for minister @sikorskiradek tells #BrexitBritain: "What is politically impossible for continentals to concede is free movement

RantCorp

Sat, 07/23/2016 - 9:01am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,
McV is a perfect example of why we need to avoid conflating all these crazy people. When Itel combines mass violence into a sect, group, attitude, faith, race, hair -length whatever we are actually boosting their ability to ghost thru our defenses.

Ok McV was a terrorist so we should examine his connection to Wahhabism coz that's where so many nuts seem to emerge. Or he murdered a whole class of infants so how much time do we spend on checking known pedophiles. Or his apparent defense of the Constitution leads us to the Tea Party or why not check out all US ex-military personnel?

By profiling the wrong target set (because of not enough Itel from LRRPs and too much MIC / RMA BS) we boost their chances of mission success.

A good example is when the cops stopped the Nice driver. They should have run a police check right there. His criminal record would have permitted him being questioned more closely and noticed he was stoned(as nearly all suiciders are) and picked up the vibe he was incredibly nervous and perhaps found the sidearm.

But they were looking for someone in flowing robes,a shovel beard and screaming God is Great with a curved dagger clenched in his teeth.

We need more MOE scrutiny when they don't know we are watching them and train the police to look for indicators of common criminality when seeking evidence of imminent terrorism and not the ridiculous clichéd Jihadi profile that has hamstrung all our efforts since 9/11.

Occasionally we will be beaten by a psychopath as the Munich kid appears to be or that Lufthansa pilot or the nut in Norway but they are near impossible to defend against/stop.

Outlaw 09

Sat, 07/23/2016 - 7:42am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

BTW the 18 year old shooter/killer from Munich yesterday had his "vision" as well...and he was German raised and born and law abiding as well until yesterday.........

AFP news agency
✔ @AFP #BREAKING Police say 'obvious link' between Munich gunman and Norway's Breivik

That is the right wing neo Nazi who killed over 78 in a shooting rampage in Norway...because he hated "foreigners".....

BUT RC this is where the real world gets really complicated these days ..the shooter was a German Iranian (Shia) and was being bullied at school by Turks and Arabs (Sunni).

That is why I am adamant that the underlying Brexit propaganda as well as that of Trump and most right wing groups here in Europe is "it's those evil immigrants"...that is a very dangerous dual edged "dog whistle" and Hitler used it well against the Jews....just as Trump is using it in the US or the AfD is using it here in Germany and BTW even the German mainstream political party CSU is using it lately.

Those that use this particular "dog whistle" know very well why they are using it.....and know very well the direction they want those to go that accept that "narrative".....

Outlaw 09

Sat, 07/23/2016 - 7:09am

In reply to by RantCorp

RC...but wait was not McVeigh also a fruitcake, a redneck and law abiding.....??

Just a side comment...the mixer of the 7K pound chemical bomb has never been arrested have they nor were his ties to the fruitcake world as well as the Islamic world deeply investigated as the FBI "had their guy/guys so slam dunk..end of story..????

Do not think for a moment Putin cannot match KSA funds....ask Le Pen who got 20M Euros and then surprise surprise the Russian bank went suddenly bankrupt and she does not have to pay back the loan....how convenient..PLUS no records of the loan now exist..

All that "oil money" IS is making and spending...compliments of a US sanctioned Russia oil dealer who works with Iran, Assad and IS......AQ/IS have far more funds that are coming to them via other sources than KSA.

The US Treasury just sanctioned two more IS types for threat finance dealings AND they both reside in of all places IRAN....

We now have former CIA Chief and former Army intel General Flynn working for the Russian propaganda media outlet Russia Today and we have the left wing fire brand former MSNBC Ed Schluz working also now for Russia Today both fully supporting Trump and Russia......

So do not tell me money does not "speak a language all it's own"....

The concept of left, right or the middle really no longer exists.....

What does remain are the "dog whistles" and lately they are being used hard and heavy......

Reference RAF...three of the last leadership are still on the run having robbed a total of 470K Euros over the last few years AND they are still not caught....

RantCorp

Sat, 07/23/2016 - 4:50am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,
Our own Fruitcake have always been around. Some of my best friends are Fruitcake but they are very law-abiding citizens first and redneck second.

However the big difference with the current Fruitcake is their unprecedented access to funding. Don't be fooled by Daesh's 'oil refinery' baloney - give me a break. The money is coming directly from the KSA.

The Wahhabi have literally bottomless pockets and no LE can touch their funding stream. I imagine when you were chasing the RAF their efforts to acquire cash exposed them to ambush.

Imagine your task if RAF had immediate access to the enormous amounts the Wahhabi hand out to any Fruitcake who has access to an ATM.

Outlaw 09

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 6:34am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

RC...so the little people damaged by the US banking Ponzi scheme of 2008 which triggered a global recession took their anger out on the UK ruling elite/bib banks and got what.....?? A potentially damaging recession which now picks up where 2008 left off...what a "win"...

BBC News - Brexit plunges UK economy to worst level since 2009, data suggests
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36864273

AND this does not even calculate the impact on what is truly coming when and if they do finally leave the EU when all forms of subsidies they were use to ends completely.

BUT here is the interesting thing...once gone and it does not get better they can always apply to "rejoin".....

Outlaw 09

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 5:23am

Howard Jacobson's essay on Brexit in The New European may be best piece I've ever published. Complex and important. https://twitter.com/danielsilas/status/756400151200198657

Support for EU is surging since Brexit
Germany 81 (+19)
France 67 (+10)
Italy 59 (+4)
Spain 81 (+9)
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN1002A0

Remember the Leave side keep using Spain and Italy as "examples of failing EU countries".....AND naturally they used France with Le Pen being against the EU.......

BUT it also shows that those that do receive benefits from the EU finally realize what will happen if they leave the EU....which is where now the UK dairymen find themselves.......

RantCorp

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 12:05pm

Outlaw,

People aren't stupid. Trust me on that.

Everyone who voted Out were perfectly aware they were being lied to. It was blindingly obvious that both sides were lying thru their teeth. The elite's contempt for their vote - indicated by the crassness of the deceit, made people even angrier.

After the result most shell-shocked MPs returned to their electorates wherein they were greeted with a torrent of abuse and a demand all the leaders must go.

But don't make the same mistake the intelligentsia made. It was all about food and shelter and the rest was just noise.

Hard working folks in the UK are completely broke. Their kids are destitute, unemployable and living at home.

Enticing folks from elsewhere isn't fair on hardworking immigrants anymore than it is fair on the natives, dairy farmers or candle-stick maker. Like I said earlier the immigrants voted for Out - but what would they know?

Folks have been fuming for a good ten years. They didn't do this on a whim and they certainly didn't do it on the advice of a politician.

The Intel that shaped their decision was shaped by the Mark One Eyeball and we both know, when you are really in a shit-storm, the Itel coming at you thru your MOE is the only Intel that matters.

RC

Outlaw 09

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 10:58am

In reply to by RantCorp

RC.....the problem is just how much were they lied to by both sides or are you telling me that the average UK dairy farmer that barely makes ends meet right now on his EU milk subsidy will "prosper" when he does not get it when they exit and that is what he voted for????

Sorry a civil society asked to vote on as critical an issue as this was should be fully and completely informed then I will accept your opinion they "voted"...

But a voting public dog whistled on "globalization, immigrants and some nameless EU MEP controlling them"...is not a "true voting public" but one that was badly misled.

Actually when one thinks long and hard about it...there is no difference in the Brexit vote and the Trump campaign "dog whistles" is there???

BTW this is a great example of the quality of our US education system hard at work???

Newt Gingrich follows Trump's twisted (and ignorant) rhetoric: "Estonia is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg."

European comment:
Hardly a suburb, you twit

RantCorp

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 10:00am

Outlaw,
Cameron gave the people a chance to speak and they have spoken. If the US State Dep can't cope with democracy they should stick with China, Russia and the Gulf States.

Outlaw 09

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 9:08am

"Cameron, what a fool," said one State Department source. "He held this vote out of selfish politics and destroyed British foreign policy."

Outlaw 09

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 8:37am

In reply to by RantCorp

RC...here is an interesting counter....all "globalization is local" and it always has been since the Brits sold tea under monopoly to the US Colonies that triggered our own revolution and the cries..."no taxation without representation".

What did not make it into the overall Brexit debate is that the societal ills of the working class and sub working classes in the so called "Brit Rust Belt" were known since the Tories took over and increased their pain via austerity programs and cuts....

Housing was a super big issue as there is virtually none available anywhere in the UK as it is massively difficult to even build a single apartment without at least five years of planning permits and costs and still you might not get the permit....all available poorly rentable housing was being taken by the incoming immigrants who were just happy to have a roof over their heads and low rental costs....in apartments that most Brits would find totally unacceptable to live in.

So if the ruling elites knew about the core problems but choose to ignore them then that is "poor governance" not the EU's problem.

RantCorp

Thu, 07/21/2016 - 5:40am

I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more.

IMHO the political energy that powered Britexit was by nature more human than this essay suggests. Globalization, the connectivity of the Internet, Immigration, Capital transfers etc. are IMO just symptoms of a much simpler grievance. One could argue SWJ isn’t the forum for a Britexit debate but if war is politics by other means, any failure to reconcile the basic ground-truths; so evident in the Britexit Referendum, suggests we run the risk of repeating the same disastrous military campaigns the author of this essay was kind enough to list in his impressively long CV.

IMHO if the strategic visionaries in our midst fail to interpret how simple ground-truths shape strategic political outcomes (as occurred in the Britexit Referendum) there will be a continuation of the military failures we have endured since the end of WW2. The lack of understanding of what drove the political will of a significant portion of the UK population suggests our stunted understanding of political energies continues to plague those who are tasked with shaping our political/military strategy.

Correct me if I’m wrong but was it Napoleon who said "If you wish to hear what you believe ask any Staff officer, but if you wish to hear the truth you must speak with a corporal."

To extend this analogy, if we had spent more time over the last 70 years observing the activities and talking with Rick-Shaw drivers, bar-tenders, street vendors, pimps, whores, chai-wallahs, chowidars, dhobi-wallahs in Kunming, Hanoi, Saigon, Tehran, Kabul, Peshawar, Baghdad, Riyadh I believe events would have been much more positive for our strategic ambitions.

If an insurgency is designed to bend the political will of a nation, then the efforts of the Britexit ‘insurgents’ was a resoundingly successful. Perhaps the most striking aspect of their ‘insurgency’ was the decapitation of the leadership class occurred after the strategic blow was landed rather than before. Perhaps a lesson to be learned by those charged with executing our UW?

And it wasn’t as if the working class were particularly shy about telling anyone who’d listen that they were determined to exit the EU. It didn’t matter if they were white, black, brown or yellow; male or female; 20th generation or 1st generation Brit - working class folks across the entire country were/are furious with the governing elite and have been so for a long time. Folks were very up front and loud when giving voice to the political will that drove the Britexit result. The fact it was so painfully obvious, and vented with such unapologetic venom (very unusual for normally politically reserved Brits) - stands as a startling indictment of our Intelligence community's grasp of political analysis.

Since 9/11 cultural and language barriers have oft been cited by the perfumed ones by way of explaining a lack of solid actionable Intel. This excuse offered no plausible explanation for this very British insurgency. Not speaking Vietnamese, Persian, Arabic, Somali, Urdu, Pashtu or Farsi is not too much of Intel problem in the UK, and like I said earlier, the folks weren't exactly shy about letting you know they wanted Out in very plain English.

From what I could glean the political energy was fueled by two major grievances, both simple and fundamental in nature. Simply put they were grounded on food and shelter and the lack thereof. It was as existential as that. No matter where you went, if you spoke to working class folks (in the inner cities the immigrants were prohibited from voting – unlike their moneyed customers) the signal was steady, loud and clear.

What I ascertained was come payday, working class folks had by month’s end, barely enough money to cover their monthly rent. Many needed to steal food or money from their workplace in order to make ends meet. In the inner cities many of them were living in houses wherein there was a bed in the living room and a minimum of two people per room. It’s worth noting in the UK bedrooms are generally much smaller than in the average US home.

Outside of the inner cities and more into the factory and small town SME workforce the makeup of the demographic changed from 100% immigrant (ala in London) to 75% nativist Brit. However, the message was exactly the same as their inner city cousin’s. 90% were for Out.

If they happened to live in a house that didn't cost their entire pay check per month (because they bought it 20 years ago or before the tsunami of ill-gotten monies injected by the Russian Mafia and the Chinese Triads started 10 years ago) their children were just as screwed as any young immigrant worker trying to acquire a home they could survive in. It’s worth repeating in the bars and factories; in town and country the Out vote, regardless of color, creed, age, sex or Place of Birth was a staggering 90%.

It didn’t take a Maths genius to understand the simple equation defining the existential grievance. Simply put; if the basic wage is $10 an hour and the rent for a two-bedroom dump is $1500 a month (double that for London) at 10 bucks an hour you are royally screwed no matter how hard you worked and paid your taxes. That's the equation for folks in permanent full-time work - with no children. If you want kids, one parent has to give up work as child-care in the UK starts at $2000 per month per child!

But it gets worse!

As many as 3 million Brit’s are employed on Zero Hour Contracts so an employer can legally pay you as little as $120 a week (they have to pay you a minimum of 4 hours a day if you make it to work on time and they don't want you and send you home).

The resentment fueled by these two fundamental grievances has been brewing for a decade and neither side of the political class has chosen to take heed. The great unwashed 'thicko's' were acutely aware of their lack of political voice was root-cause of their dilemma. The Intelligentsia, on the other hand, appeared unaware that screwing over half the county’s working population might pose a political problem or two. Who was it again who suggested no taxation without representation will end in tears?

The great political irony is if Proportional Representation had been in place for the 2015 UK General Election, 83 seats would have been won by the populist UKIP party (instead of just one!) and perhaps 30 for the neo-liberalist Greens Party (instead of just one!). If such a result had been delivered by a PR ballot at the GE the 'thicko’s’, suitably empowered of political voice, would have voted to Remain in the EU.

The one thing that did stick in craw of many working class supporters of Britexit was the simple fact many of them loathed the Etonians that headed the Britexit campaign. But as we all understand, faced with an existential threat, the body politic contains an energy that can affect profound political events and cares little for the consequences. The leadership decapitation (not just of individuals but in character and creed) was a very neat trick that needs more thorough study.

Perhaps the Intel folks woke up and smelt the coffee (I know but I'm a hapless optimist and romantic when it comes to our perfumed Officer Class) and impressed upon their political masters the necessity of a political gesture to do something dramatic and unexpected - otherwise the mob might have all their heads on a pike. It is interesting to reflect upon the 'thicko's' may be considerably smarter than we know and possess a political guile we fail to understand.

So what?

I won't bore you to death (again) with the effects of the ground-truths revealed by the input of the Deer Team, Ridgeway, Gulf of Tonkin, Saddam's WMD, Pak Punjabi Existential Paranoia, HoS Existential Paranoia and the criminality of the Costa Nostra, the Russian Mafia and the Chinese Triads but the Intel indicating an Out result for the British Referendum was a hundred times more obvious than the Intel available to those responsible for the sorry list above. It appears to me we are determined to conjure up all manner of complicated high-minded theories that appear designed to illustrate how well educated the officers of our Intelligence community consider themselves to be.

IMHO when it comes to complicated answers the masterfully presented and eloquently constructed PowerPoint offerings, explaining the rich interwoven effects of Globalization, Islam, the Internet, LGBT Rights, Global Warming, Gender Neutrality etc . are an Ends in themselves and are often a wonder to behold.

Attempting to understand what motivates people’s political will is a deeply complex task embedded within the psyche of complex human beings and as such a complicated and detailed slide show or a cute video clip won’t even scratch the surface of a complex problem. If we hope to shape a successful strategic outcome we need to observe what the average Joe does and what he or she has to say.

IMO if we are attempting to gain an insight into what currently energizers so much of the politically inspired violence in the developing world we should start with my old enemy’s war cry “Roti! Kapda! aur Makan!

If you don't know what that means, ask a brown-skinned cab driver, no matter where in the world you happen to be, and he will put you straight.

Give them cake!

RC

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 9:16am

Sometimes our Canadian friends get it right with their comments....

https://www.opencanada.org/features/brexit-post-mortem-17-takeaways-fal…

1. Referenda are the nuclear weapons of democracy. In parliamentary systems they are redundant. Seeking a simplistic binary yes/no answer to complex questions, they succumb to emotion and run amok. Their destructive aftermath lasts for generations.

2. Never call a referendum without being sure of the outcome. You called this one primarily for reasons of tactical political positioning, mainly to appease anxiety in the English Conservative Party (and I mean “English”) that the United Kingdom Independence Party was gaining strength with your party’s voters. The pledge to hold a referendum helped win you an unexpected majority. It also ended your career and seriously compromised your country’s interests.

3. You should have been sure you had a high-performance team before you leapt. Ambitious defectors from your cabinet and untrustworthy political rivals undermined you. Jeremy Corbyn was the worst possible ally. His inactivity was an eloquent put-down of the case for remaining. He hates the EU for reasons opposite to those of the Tory backbenches – he views the EU as a surrogate of a capitalist system he wants to overthrow.

4. In any referendum over separation, the “independence” side appeals to the patriotic heart. The thinking of the Leave side is magical. It plucks at a dimly remembered but glorified past (that was never as good as nostalgia makes it), and offers a future that is imaginary. The Brexiteers are the dog that caught the bus: they hadn’t thought what to do next. Coping with impending difficulties is for another day. Liam Fox, one of the ideologues now seeking your job, airily told the BBC that follow-on policies toward EU workers in the UK, crisis budgets, and negotiations with the EU weren’t part of the campaign agenda – they’re for the next (unelected) government to think about.

5. Your appeals to the nation’s head didn’t get through. In a post-factual political age, reasoning doesn’t reach the heart. To win, you needed to mobilize convincing passion behind the case that the status quo is both preferable and improvable. You could have said that despite its struggles and seeming faults, the European Union aims to be a force for good; that it has brought, and will bring, decisive benefits to Britain, and to all European peoples. Implying only that the EU is a mess but that leaving would be worse was bound to lose the campaign. Raining fears about the material costs of leaving, supported by experts and authorities, had no impact on the growing cult of “ordinary people” who took cues only from each other, animated by their populist rain men.

6. Arguing for the benefits and necessity of interdependence doesn’t diminish Britain and its tradition of proud, self-confidence. Churchill could lecture de Gaulle that Britain would “choose the sea” over Europe because when he said it, Britain still had an Empire. Since England no longer rules the waves, EU membership adds enormous leverage to the British role, influence and voice. But voters in rural England, who are used to hearing about your EU partners in disparaging terms, were indifferent.

7. You needed to be candid that Britain would be at a disadvantage in a negotiation to leave the EU because the EU has the trump of being less dependent on the UK than vice-versa. You avoided saying so, perhaps because it could sound wimpy or “defeatist” about British stature and weight. You let the Leave side get away with claiming that the EU would negotiate as an equal partner with equal stakes as the UK because the volume of trade was roughly equal. The reality is that respective stakes are starkly unequal. On trade, the UK is dependent on the EU market for 45 percent of its exports. The EU is dependent on the UK for only 8 percent of EU exports. Foreign investment into the UK has stopped because of uncertainty that UK exports will still get to the EU market. The Confederation of British Industries therefore judged that Brexit will cost 4-5 percent of GDP. The Economist Intelligence Unit is even more harsh.

8. You seemingly didn’t want to single out specific sectors in your warnings that there would be big costs to Britain. Was it because it would be talking them down in the markets? The Leave side pretends that manufacturers on both sides will find ways to come to equitable sectoral deals, that even with some new tariffs, British industry will do OK. But the financial services sector will definitely not do OK. The EU “passport” of regulatory equivalency that EU institutions grant to banks to operate under UK financial regulations will be withdrawn when the UK leaves the single market. This will be a lethal blow to the most rewarding sector of the UK economy (11 percent of Treasury revenues) that accounts for 10.2 percent of GDP and 3.3 percent of employment, mostly very high end. The migration of high-paying City of London financial jobs to a new financial center in Frankfurt, Dublin, Amsterdam or Paris will seriously downgrade London’s status. Why didn’t you say so?

9. Why didn’t the Remain campaign say more about non-industrial benefits from the EU? Is it because of a visceral inability to praise its merit after years of denouncing it? The contribution to the EU budget by the UK has been exaggerated beyond belief. It only accounts for 1.3 percent of the UK’s budget. On the other hand, British farmers love the 55 percent of their income coming from the Common Agricultural Policy. The cultural and arts community needed its 230 EU grants. The one third of university students hoping for Erasmus support for study in Europe will be stuck at home. Britain’s rank as fifth in the world in scientific papers despite being only twentieth in science spending owes a lot to the additional US $11.6 billion in EU competitive research grants (2006-15). All of these sectors have constituencies. Leave courted the wistful retirees in the shires and marginalized “victims of globalization” in the once-industrial North – did Remain sufficiently target the younger generations whose futures were being bound by a senile chase after a receding past?

10. Many who voted Leave say it was because they are unhappy over Britain’s “domination” by the EU. Why didn’t you demystify this toxic fable? Have you, as prime minister, felt “dominated” in the EU Council? Do you think British (I mean “English”) identity has been eroded? Whose is the de facto working language of the EU institutions? Britain opted out of the Euro and border-free travel — in what real and convincing way is it nonetheless compromised in its sovereign capacities by “faceless bureaucrats in Brussels?” Sure, the European Court of Justice rules against Britain in cases of adherence to EU regulations. (It rules more often against France.) Does this really erode the British Parliament and courts?

11. Immigration is the issue people say they care about most. The EU is again the popular scapegoat, though it’s not responsible, obviously, for the millions of people and their children, now British, who came from the old multi-coloured Empire back in the day. You surely don’t share the fear that Syrian refugees — that the UK isn’t taking because it’s not in Schengen and doesn’t have to — will rush to take British jobs the moment they qualify as German citizens. Do EU workers actually replace British workers? Sixty percent have jobs lined up before they arrive because UK employers need them. Unemployment across Britain is only 5 percent. The UK has a minimum wage – does a Pole accepting it “undercut” a Brit who thinks he would get more if the Poles weren’t around? Could the NHS do without the 10-20 percent of its professional staff that is from the EU?

12. What if you had told the English they are not being “overrun?” 2015 was said to be disastrous because net immigration was 333,000 (half from the EU) despite your promise several years ago to limit it to 100,000. They represented nine in 1,000 persons in the UK, an intake less than Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and Norway. “How would you cope in Canada?” a correspondent asked sarcastically. Well that’s about how many we aim to take this year. Foreign-born residents of the UK are 11.3 percent of the population, smack in the middle of the range for EU countries. By comparison, the four “settlement immigration” countries which seek qualified immigrants register the percentage of foreign-born as follows: U.S.: 14.3 percent; Canada: 20.7 percent; New Zealand: 25.1 percent; and Australia: 27.7 percent. We’re all coping pretty well.

13. Britain is over-crowded, not “overrun.” Of the 64.1 million who clog your roads and services, only 2 million are EU citizens. Nonetheless, public opinion argues for a temporary brake on EU workers who come seeking jobs, as opposed to those who are coming to fill one. But you must accept the principle that the free movement of labour is fundamental to being a member of the EU’s single market. It’s delusional or deliberately misleading to have gone along with the notion that Britain can deny this essential principle and still have full access.

14. Your European colleagues liked you. They know the pressures of highest office. They didn’t want the UK to leave the EU. In their guts, they know that the British lift the EU game in many ways. But they will not reward England’s nativists because you and their many British colleagues are pleasant and professional. They were never going to give the UK a break in negotiations to unravel 43 years of gradual integration and institutionalized accommodation. They have identity-driven nativist adversaries baying at them in their own capitals.

15. Allow me to observe that partisan politics is all you have ever done. It’s a handicap. Professional politicians over-react to tribal voices and noises from their camp. In your case, it’s against the continuous drumbeat of jingoistic anti-EU right-wing journalism (oddly promoted for years by non-EU status-seeking owners of the Times and the Express), two of whose exponents led the Leave campaign.

16. The referendum shouldn’t have been a response to party politics. Its significance is existential. It can’t be undone. But people can’t be expected just to absorb the pain and stay calm and carry on. There is real disbelief those about to take charge know what they are doing. Public antipathy and division will increase. The elected Parliament is against Brexit. Your friends abroad are aghast.

17. I understand why you walked away abruptly. But given that your decisions ultimately enabled this crack-up, you can’t leave for good without being clear about the size of the casualty ward to expect. Pasting it together will require the skill of the ages and the thoughtfulness of good and honest people to commit to a workable solution that is going to have to involve compromise. You delivered a majority to your party, one it would not win today. Conservatives owe it to you to listen if you now have something to say. You do. Take it on.

Respectfully,

Jeremy Kinsman
Former High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom and former Ambassador to the European Union

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 1:04pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Do Trump people really believe what they are saying these days......

Trump adviser doubles down on killing Hillary. "Anyone that commits treason should be shot"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/20/donald-trump-s-thugs-e…

There is an old German political saying..."tap, tap, tap, tap....that is not a woodpecker I hear calling in the forest"....

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 9:49am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

The GOP as a US political party is now officially dead.......a strong slide now to the extreme right is occurring among the supporters and sponsors of Trump and company .......

'This is the Trump party now' - Paul Manafort (Trump campaign chair) to CBS

Remember Manafort was a paid advisor to the now deposed corrupt former Ukrainian President who fled the country after stealing billions....

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 6:57am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Bill C...the problem in the US is that they simply do not get solid MSM reporting and coverage of certain issues, events and individuals from outside the US...but one must be able to speak and read a foreign language.

This individual was in Turkey one day before the coup giving an invitation only talk hyping up the traditional Russian Turkish Eurasian connections....he is also a so called crazy right wing Russian nationalist ideologue, but crazy as a fox and he has the ear of Putin and the Putin inner circle these days....

Kremlin ideologue Dugin says Trump adviser visited Moscow to negotiate policy positions with Russia
http://tsargrad.tv/article/2016/07/18/a-dugin-odnopoljarnyj-mir-rushits…

THEN it is not surprising that the sudden change in the GOP platform to provide weapons to Ukraine is suddenly watered down and virtually eliminated by a sudden appearance of Trump advisors during the platform discussions....

Or is not uninteresting that the Trump campaign manager also advised the now deposed former Ukrainian President who stole billions from the Ukraine via corruption....is now his advisor...

OR why is there no discussions of the Russian oligarch funding that has flowed into the Trump golf clubs and which as purchased a lot of Trump high end properties......

One might and or could say this is simply Russian propaganda to stir up the US election year pot...but it is not if one can read Russian....double checked his info and yes the advisor was in fact recently in Moscow....

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 6:07am

Bill C...how many times do I have to warn of the current tendency in the US to follow a "pied piper" who many believe he is a highly successful "billionaire populist"......all because of the perceived damages caused by "globalization" and who want to return the US to the 1950s.

Thousands are being purged/jailed and or dismissed as we speak by a leader of a right wing Islamist party called AKP and the Muslim Brotherhood that is bordering close to a form of Islamic fasicism which can and does currently exist in the form of IS.

BUT WAIT...this was said in the US by Trump.....

Exclusive: Trump could seek new law to purge government of Obama appointees
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-purge-exclusive-id…

So again just where is the difference between a "fascist Erdongan using religion to gain total control of a nation state" via democractic means AND Trump using "populist means via the ballot box" BUT espousing fascist statements?

Seriously...where is the difference now????

Notice my coupling of the words "populist and fascism"...not really much difference these days....

As an American having supported my country for years even though I sometimes do like the FP and having fought and been wounded in it's name I simply cannot tolerant a so call successful businessman with six bankruptcies, who pays no taxes and who is certainly not a billionaire using the term....."purge" in the political discourse.

The use of this term "purge" when talking about individuals duly elected and or appointed is totally inexcusable....that MSM is not seriously beating him up on this is also inexcusable although it does show just how weak/ineffective the US MM is these days....

And I find it interesting to see that his so call followers apparently do not mind his use of the word "purge" nor do they apparently know what it means.

That my friend is a half step towards fascism plain and simple.....

People love to follow populist parties until they are elected...then....

QUOTE:

If he wins the presidency, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would seek to purge the federal government of officials appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and could ask Congress to pass legislation making it easier to fire public workers, Trump ally, Chris Christie, said on Tuesday.

Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Trump's White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

“As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people,” Christie told a closed-door meeting with dozens of donors at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters and two participants in the meeting.
UNQUOTE:

Now can any SWJ reader/commenter convince me there is no difference between Erdogan in Turkey and Trump in the US?????

BTW the same populist tendencies also existed before the UK Brexit vote and were heavily played to...by UKIP and the right segment of the Conservative Party as well as the Labor Party.

Outlaw 09

Wed, 07/20/2016 - 2:20am

Bill C.....this is what I mean about the political drift seen right now caused indirectly by "globalization" that "good governance" is not addressing.

We fail to remember this....from history.....and remember the Great Depression was already due to the first true wave of "globalization".....

"Hitler began as a race-baiting demagogue in an educated, liberal country."

Secondly, "people love to follow populist parties until the actually take power...."

Explain to me just how is it possible that a Trump who has been proven to lie about 3/4s of anything he says, who is a race-baiting demagogue, who is a failed businessman and tax evader.....is viewed as this next great coming expert businessman "populist"..."a man of the people" with all the answers???

That is why this is so important to historically remember...

"Hitler began as a race-baiting demagogue in an educated, liberal country."

BUT also keep this in mind as well......

Putin propaganda rejects the possibility of rational thought, Shekhtman says
http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/07/20/putin-propaganda-based-on-rejecti…

Outlaw 09

Tue, 07/19/2016 - 3:34am

Bill C...when I just mentioned far right political developments in the US.....explain just what the heck these "European far rightists" are doing in the US....

EU social media picked up on them yesterday..still not a single comment coming out of US MSM and or social media sites...

Finnish white supremacist group Soldiers of Odin patrolling downtown Cleveland.

Outlaw 09

Tue, 07/19/2016 - 3:19am

In reply to by Bill C.

Bill C...and again...the genie of "globalization" was let out of the barrel not a lamp with the expansion of the so called "multinational/transnational corporations" demanding access to a global market.ie outside of heir own nation state

They basically using the terms of the 21st century unleashed a massive info warfare campaign claiming free trade will benefit all...creating more jobs, expanding the great economy and even benefitting the emerging markets as well....a kind of super genie hard at work....

Check the literature from starting about 1975 onwards.......

The "genie" ain't never going to be put back the barrel by any nation state...so it is incumbent on governments to now fully address the side effects and where possible counter those effects.

BUT we keep bashing the EU as does the UK Brexit movement.......

BUT and I stated this a number of times here...the EU is currently the only example of "globalization actually working".........based on the following Four Freedoms....which are enshrined in their Founding Documents.

Chapter 1: Free Movement of Goods

The free movement of goods is one of the freedoms of the single market of the European Union. Since January 1993, controls on the movement of goods within the internal market have been abolished and the European Union is now a single territory without internal frontiers. The abolition of customs tariffs promotes intra-Community trade, which accounts for a large part of the total imports and exports of the Member States.

Chapter 2: Freedom of movement for workers

As one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by European Union (EU) Law, freedom of movement for workers, pursuant to Article 45 TFEU (ex. Article 39 ECT), guarantees every EU citizen the right to move freely, to stay and to work in another member state. Some exceptions can only be made in the public sector. This freedom applies to all member states' citizens regadless of nationality as well as to the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). In relation to free access to labour market, this chapter considers nondiscriminatory treatment of workers who are legally employed in a country other than their country of origin. It means that discrimination on the basis of nationality, residence and/or language is not permissible and it also includes equal treatment in basic employment conditions, remuneration, dismissal and the receipt of social advantages.

Furthermore, certain rights are also extended to family members of the worker. Implications and concept of this freedom have been further interpreted and developed by the case-law of the ECJ, including the notion of worker itself. Provisions related to supplementary pension rights of employed and self-employed persons moving within the EU are also included in the general principles of freedom of movement for workers.

Chapter 3: Right of establishment and freedom to provide services

This chapter covers a large variety of fields and professions and involves many public and/or semi-public institutions and bodies and it is of a horizontal nature. As laid down in the Articles 49 and 56 of the TFEU It is the obligation of Member States to ensure unhampered right of establishment of EU nationals and legal persons in any Member State and the freedom to provide cross-border services. Exceptions to this rule are set out in the Treaty. Directive 2006/123 on services in the internal market ('Services Directive'), largely based on the case law of the European Court of Justice, represents the core piece of acquis in this area. The objective of this Directive is to achieve a genuine Internal Market in services. This is to be done by removing barriers (both legal and administrative) to the development of service activities between Member States.

Comprehensive examination of the Member States’ current and future legal order is therefore required for achevement of this objective, and aim of the examination is to identify legal or administrative obstacles on national, regional or local level not compatible with EU law. Member States need to take a combination of legislative and non-legislative measures for the implementation of the Services Directive. As a horizontal instrument, Directive covers a broad range of different services and affects a significant number of national laws and regulations.

Chapter 4: Free movement of capital

All restrictions on movement of capital both within the EU and between Member States and third countries have to be removed, certain exceptions aside. The acquis in this area is based on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular Articles 63-66. Annex I of Directive 88/361/EEC provides the definition of the different types of capital movements. Additional interpretation of the above Articles is provided by relevant case-law of the European Court of Justice and Commission Communications 97/C220/06 and 2005/C293/02.

NOW the core problem the EU faces is the over extension by the southern members ie Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy and Ireland who went basically crazy with the EU CC called EU Rural Development Fund and not paying attention to simply basic government math with their budgets....ALL compounded by the massive US created real estate fraud by the large US banks and investment firms that triggered their Ponzi scheme crash in 2006/2008....

THAT crash is still reverberating in the global markets especially within the banking sector leading to far less private infrastructure investment leading to fewer to no jobs being created. Coupled with the massively fast development of new technologies demanding far better trained employees which are getting fewer and fewer.

EXAMPLE....SPAIN has currently an unemployment rate of 21% and over 5M unemployed BUT at the same time it is actively trying to hire 3M new employees BUT the 5M do not have the skills necessary to fill the available positions forcing them to recruit across the entire EU and into South America.

NOW explain this mismatch to anyone in the UK or the US.....so in theory if Brit unemployed had the necessary job skills and good language skills even basic Spanish they would be hired immediately...BUT did you see a massive exodus from the UK..to Spain...nothing......

THUS the answer is to not moan and moan about the problem...the answer lies within the tern "good governance" and it relies on politicians to finally address the side effects and make the necessary investments in job training and critical infrastructure that creates jobs......and allows the newly trained to seek out those available positions across the entire EU....

Because this "genie of globalization ain't going away in our life times"....it is here to stay for good.

Hate to say it...all driven by IT and new technologies at a speed never seen before.

Hate to also say this...but if governments fail to get on this speeding train and attempt to guide and control it they will be run over by far right populist forces we have yet to fully understand where they are heading.....

My fear is an old political saying I learned in the 60s here in Berlin..."a democratic nation state is fully capable of becoming a fascist nation state ALL via the ballot box,......and democratically"....

"It’s not just Britain, you see. The revolution against globalism is, well, global."

http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2016/06/24/the-end-of-globalism/

Re: this thought, to note in my by Bill C. | July 17, 2016 - 3:20pm comment below that I suggest, accordingly, a certain connection/a certain similarity between:

a. Areas of the Islamic World's, more long-running, rejection of (foreign) globalism and

b. Areas of the Western World's -- current -- rejection of same.

In both instances, to suggest that the exact same reasons are at play, to wit:

a. The imposition of tremendous costs on both civilizations (loss of identity, loss of livelihood, loss of security and loss of independence, etc.); this, without:

b. A perception of (in the eyes of the natives of areas of both the West and the Islamic World) adequate, equal and/or greater benefit/compensation.

(For example: The perception of a tremendously appealing new identity, a viable new and better livelihood, a clear vision and path to greater security and independence; all of which seem to be -- not present and accounted for [as they must be to make this project viable] - but, indeed, glaringly missing from the new organizing/ordering/orienting model that populations of the world see being presented before them today.)

It is against this -- perceived and indeed realized -- amazingly unequal/negative/lopsided "COST" (writ large) v. "benefit (????) template that we find areas of both the East, and indeed now areas of the West:

a. Actually being of the exact same "insurgent" stripe? And

b. Actually being in the exact same "insurgent" camp?

(Vis-a-vis the world order proposed/attempted by the "trade trolls"/the globalist/the Davos Men.)

If this is indeed the case, then how will the West find itself -- either willing or able -- to send its military forces out to undertake campaigns against what appears to amount to its (the West's) "rebel brothers?"

(What they are fighting for, we are now fighting for also, to wit: our unique identity, our independence, a livelihood we see before us and can count on, and security -- which we, collectively, believe can only be underminded, and not enhanced, by globalist causes?)

Outlaw 09

Mon, 07/18/2016 - 2:58am

BTW...this contradicts exactly what the Brexit leaders stated would not happen as they did not fully understand "globalization" especially in the financial services sector....

Right after the election I commented on the now closed UK thread that once Article 5o was triggered the EU would withdraw the so called "passport" that allows the London City banking industry to deal in Euro currency and EU investment products.

That has been clearly signaled by the EU will indeed happen thus destroying the London city banking industry and curtailing a massive tax flow to the UK government amounting to 30% of all UK collected taxes.

France,Holland and Germany are now vying for those banks and services.....

Engulfed by doubt, top UK firms shelve spending plans after EU vote: Deloitte
http://reut.rs/29NLE4U

BTW...these are UK firms...does not count the foreign firms that have already stopped their investment plans...AS they want to be in the EU not out of the EU...

When investment stops up goes unemployment and lower tax income for the government thus virtually guaranteeing a massive long term recession....

This will the single historical example of a nation state knee-capping itself for no real valid reason.......

BTW....this is exactly how the UK acted inside the EU when they did not get their way...so arguing that the EU "TOOK their government away from them" CHECK this....

The EU has been negotiating with India on a FTA for years and finally got one....all FTAs must be approved by all 28 member states....

THE UK rejected the treaty thus effectively blocking it's implementation AS it did not allow the Brits what they felt was their right to conduct financial services and money exchange deals for India.....

So never tell me that Brexit as all "about that evil EU".....AS the UK definitely knew how to defend their own interests in side the EU.....

Outlaw 09

Thu, 07/28/2016 - 7:08am

In reply to by davidbfpo

BUT......

"That would be news to the devolved governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each with their own elected assembly and ministers."

This does not apply to remaining approximate 98% of the rest of the UK... today local governments must still raise they hands on questions of taxation...meaning on how to use it...investment if outside the parameters of their annual individual budgets, or the simple things like air pollution issues...or how to apply for EU funding which had to be coordinated via the central government as well...

As long as the power of the purse remains in the hands of the central government so in fact lies the political power and decision making....

BTW..the interesting question raised in "devolution" was WHY did the central government have to "devolve"....AND why cannot it "devolve fully" for the remaining 98% of the country.....actually that question did in fact come up during the "devolution debates" but was quickly shot down by the central government....with the statement " we can revisit it sometime in the future"......

If we look at the US every federal State has a centralized government but power lies in the local governments that can virtually do all those things still kept from UK local governments...the core question is actually...why is that?

The power of taxation...meaning to raise it and to spend it is massive...that is why control remains with the central government....

I remember when in 2000 a group of UK strikers (truck drivers about increased fuel taxes) decided to blockade the UK oil refineries and within four days there was not a drop of gasoline in the entire UK as the UK is built on a just in time gasoline delivery system as most fuel stations have small storage capacities....

Again the perfect example of the central government passing increased taxes without truly thinking it through.

On day five the entire country ground to a total halt as there was virtually no gasoline or diesel for public consumption.....

So when the central government finally had to back down as they was literally no more gas or diesel anywhere in the UK and offered to back off of their taxation plans......

The UK PM Blair when making his national TV announcement happen to be standing in front of a massive long portrait of King Edward the Third.........

NOW for most Brits....no one even paid attention to this portrait .....

BUT for an historically aware American ......King Edward the Third "triggered" the American Revolution with the US war slogan....

"No taxation without Equal Representation"......something modern UK needs to seriously look at......

Countdown to crisis: Eight days that shook Britain

BBC News Online recounts the escalating protests over fuel prices that caught the government, the media and the motorists on the hop.
Thursday 7 September: As the price of crude oil nudges $35 a barrel, a litre of fuel in the UK looks set to rise by 2p.

Already paying about 80p a litre - the highest petrol prices in the developed world - motoring groups react with anger.

Inspired by the successful protests in France a week earlier, about 100 farmers and lorry drivers from Wales and north-west England blockade the Stanlow Shell Oil Refinery in Cheshire.

Most telling detail: Farmers for Action chairman David Handley warns the protest may escalate into a "winter of unrest".

Friday 8 September: Public anger begins to sweep the country. More than 100 lorries stage a "go-slow" protest on the A1 before blockading the Texaco refinery in Pembroke.

MTD: The energy crisis of 1973 - which saw oil prices rocket worldwide and rampant inflation in the UK - suddenly seems eerily familiar.

Saturday 9 September: Although the protesters are not actively preventing tanker drivers from leaving the refineries, the vehicles stand idle and empty.

Some drivers say they are reluctant to cross the unofficial picket lines, but in the main, oil companies instruct them to stay put - apparently out of concern for their safety.

MTD: As early editions of the Sunday papers hit the streets, the protests rate fewer column inches than Mo Mowlam's new biography.

Sunday 10 September: Ministers from the 11 Opec oil-producing countries agree to pump an extra 800,000 barrels a day to bring down prices.

Chancellor Gordon Brown flatly refuses to be swayed by the disruption, saying decisions are made in budgets not blockades.

Nervous motorists start stockpiling fuel, causing a run on petrol, which in turn sparks yet more panic buying.

MTD: Ambulance drivers in Staffordshire are instructed to stick to 55mph on non-emergency call-outs in an effort to save petrol .

Monday 11 September: Lorry drivers in Edinburgh and Liverpool taxi drivers stage "go slows" through the streets of their respective cities.

The Privy Council and the Queen sanction the use of emergency powers to control the distribution of fuel.

MTD: As public support builds, even the organisers of the original blockade are taken by surprise. "It just happened," farmer Richard Haddock tells BBC News Online when asked how the protests spread across the UK.

Tuesday 12 September: Government ministers hold a series of crisis meetings on getting fuel out of the refineries - under contingency powers, they can direct oil companies to designate petrol stations to supply emergency and essential services only.

Prime Minister Tony Blair vows to get the tankers moving again within 24 hours.

MTD: Motorists' tempers flare at the few remaining petrol stations with fuel stocks, as forecourt staff try to ration purchases to £5-worth of petrol each.

Wednesday 13 September: A total of 280 tankers leave depots around the UK, in addition to the 60 which pulled out on Tuesday night - just a fraction of the 3,000 deliveries typically made each day. More than 90% of petrol stations have run dry.

M25
The M25 - unusually empty of delivery lorries

Some 200 truckers park up along Park Lane, bringing parts of central London to a standstill.

Food rationing returns to Britain as panic buying shifts to supermarkets. Some shops are bare of bread and milk.

The NHS is put on red alert - which means at a moment's notice, all hospitals must be ready to cancel all but emergency cases.

MTD: Royal Hull Hospital runs out of stitches for use in operations.

Thursday 14 September: Most protesters call off the blockades, saying they have made their point loud and clear.

While Mr Blair welcomes the end, he again rules out capitulating to protesters' demands for tax cuts to bring the price of fuel down.

MTD: As the petrol drought forces drivers onto public transport, bus companies across the country curtail services to conserve dwindling fuel stocks.

WHAT is interesting is that the price of oil was then 35 USDs per barrel and that price caused major problems BUT now at 41 USDs no one says a single word...

davidbfpo

Thu, 07/28/2016 - 6:11am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Just one passage is so WRONG: 'I keep going back to the standard formula of rule of law and good governance....the UK is unique in that all local decisions are largely done in the Home Office controlled in/by London.'

That would be news to the devolved governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each with their own elected assembly and ministers.

Nor is the Home Office such a leviathan, its functions have been cut down of late. Yes much of English governance is centrally controlled and this has been more obvious for many years now. The leviathan is HM Treasury, who control the distribution of taxes to local government; who unlike many other nations has very limited, local tax raising powers.

One of the biggest historical local government roles was state education from 5-17yrs, that has been much reduced with the vast majority of secondary schools (12-17yrs) are now independent academies - who are funded from the English Dept. of Education.

Outlaw 09

Mon, 07/18/2016 - 2:23am

In reply to by Bill M.

Bill M...now you get it...the quote is massively correct....if you noticed in my first comment...right now we only have one pure example of "globalization actually working".....the EU.

QUOTE:
In short, globalization describes the greater interconnectedness between states, businesses, organizations, and individuals globally. Collectively, this results in increased capacity to move people, goods, money, and ideas across borders and around the globe at unprecedented speed. It also results in greater interdependence between actors for security and economic interests. The full impact of globalization on political, economic, and security systems is unknowable. Interesting times lie ahead, and while you may disagree, America better be shaping the future to the degree that it can.
UNQUOTE

If you look at how a "market of 500M" was created, how borders were removed and "freedom of moment" was allowed....it was the EU.

Where the EU went aground and is struggling is the next step in that "globalization process"...namely how does the EU create measures to take care of those "left behind" in this world of speed? BTW...largely those that have little to no education and or in professions no longer being needed.....

Where the EU had it's initial problems were when the new members say Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and yes the mafia nation state Italy decided that being a EU member "entitled" them to use their cash and carry CC to the max and over extended themselves and their banks on a feeding frenzy of bad credit that ended up in some smart people's pockets.

Right now Italian banks are sitting on 300B Euros of bad debt for example.

Then in order to bring these countries back into some semblance of financial stability the EU went in the austerity/deficit cutting direction thus killing jobs and internal investments in infrastructure.....thinking the private sector would pick up the load....which they did not as they are struggling as well to come out of the 2006/2008 global financial mess triggered by overly greedy US banks and they crazy investment products built on a Ponzi scheme....

Now comes along the UK with a bunch of right wing Europseptics who hated anything EU....screaming...we want our government back, we hate being controlled by an unknown Parliament ALL there while sending their own Eurospetic politicians into this EU Parliament with a 14K Euro salary per month..THAT they were screaming about..BUT thoroughly enjoying the EU Rural Development Funds being poured into their farmers, small businesses, schools/universities, hospitals and R&D centers...WHICH then these same Eurospetics would tout as being their success in getting for their voters with each and every local election thus ensuring them their continued 14K per month.

I keep going back to the standard formula of rule of law and good governance....the UK is unique in that all local decisions are largely done in the Home Office controlled in/by London.

London politicians should have seen the side affects of globalization in their local communities and should have then beat down the doors of Whitehall which they did not do....

In this period of virtually zero and or negative interest the UK government could have borrowed to the hilt and invested into those communities that voted Leave creating new jobs and rebuilding critical infrastructure AT virtually no cost on the interest side for the next 50 or so years.

BUT they did not...all the time shouting it is the fault of the EU and still though pocketing their 14K per month.

Thus IMHO the Brexit was used to garner themselves new political positions which it did, all the while basically lying to their own public about the problems inside their own country all the while playing the blame game ie the evil EU using immigration as the battering ram or dog whistle for more votes.

In all of the Brexit arguments of "we have to take back control of our own government...did you see and or read a single example of how the EU was driving/forcing the UK Parliament to create new laws in the name of the EU...

None and there is none....the EU has a set of values that they follow..the Four Freedoms and all member states must adhere to those Four Freedoms in their new laws...all other EU laws effecting the UK were in the areas of health, product safety/product standardization, financial movements, free movement of labor, protection of the environment/ecology and a common security defense against terror....etc.

Remember when I stated the EU is the single largest globalization attempt....

Check the EU Four Freedoms which is anchored in their Founding Treaties....

This is the most perfectly stated statement as to what "globalization really is all about"....THEN go back to your link....it matches.......

It really is that simple these days and it has nothing to do any more with an "ideology"..it is all about money, markets, and who is the fastest to market with new products and innovations....

What we in the military use to call agility and adaptation.....

Bill M.

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 4:54pm

In reply to by Bill C.

Good link Bill, and I think an argument can be made that all three futures are emerging simultaneously. We are clearly at a pivot point in history, one that won't be clear until it is in our rear view mirror. Globalization is hyper accelerated by information technologies. As Outlaw noted, the ability to at the push of key on your SmartPhone our lab top to move millions dollars throughout the global finance market is only one aspect. The growing connectedness of everything across traditional national borders (which building a way will not stop), makes today's problems increasingly complex and harder to solve. Flexible networks of the willing will replace increasingly stale and imminent organizations like NATO. Britain leaving the EU is hardly an end of their participation in globalization, in fact, in many ways it frees them to act more independently. There are more market opportunities in East Asia than Europe in the long run. I think we're seeing a merge of globalization and nationalism (an adjustment if you will).

I think the 2014 version of the QDDR got it correct with this quote (it applies to the economy also in my view):

"In an interconnected world, cascading changes can and will amplify the significance of a small initial event. Brief windows of opportunity will arise. New challenges will unfold faster than any system can respond. A multiplicity of actors, networks, and activities in countries will expand and diversify the opportunities for us to work with local partners, effect local change, and confront global challenges. We must be fast acting, innovative and flexible, and we must tailor our responses to the complex, rapidly evolving environments in which we operate."

Kissinger has written extensively on the unraveling of the international order. The question is, will it unravel completely to the point we become feudalized global system with no formal rules underpinning it? Or will we adjust the international order in a way that better accommodates wider interests, not only between nation-states, but between people and their governments? Sounds to me like the British were tired of a few political elites making decisions that impacting their lives with little oversight.

In short, globalization describes the greater interconnectedness between states, businesses, organizations, and individuals globally. Collectively, this results in increased capacity to move people, goods, money, and ideas across borders and around the globe at unprecedented speed. It also results in greater interdependence between actors for security and economic interests. The full impact of globalization on political, economic, and security systems is unknowable. Interesting times lie ahead, and while you may disagree, America better be shaping the future to the degree that it can.

Bill C.

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 4:20pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw: Back in the West's earlier imperial days also, it appears, the existing governments never got the companies under control -- as C.E. Callwell seems to attest in his "Small Wars:"

"The trader heralds, almost as a matter of course, the coming of the soldier and the commercial enterprise, in the end, leads to conquest."

Bottom Line Thought:

Today might we say that what the Brexit explains -- to all those who are willing to think, listen and understand -- is that:

-- Much as with the Islamic World,

-- Now with the Western World also,

-- What the native populations are saying, by their recent disintegration/revolt/separation actions,

-- Is that the multinational companies, and the governments that improperly see their purpose as providing for same (at the expense of native populations worldwide?) are:

a. Simply asking too much of these native populations,

b. More than these native populations are actually willing give up/pay (for example: their identity, their safety, their livelihood); this, so as to:

1. Better provide for the wants, needs and desires of the "trade trolls" -- and the stateless "Davos Men" -- but

2. Provide no acceptable equal or greater compensatory benefit for they (the natives) themselves?

(Davos Man: Term coined by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, which is meant to refer to members of the global elite who view themselves as completely international. They have no need for the term “nationality” and feel that governments are merely shadows of time past to be used as facilitators in their global operations.)

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 3:01pm

In reply to by Bill C.

Bill...the concept of "globalism" is the continuance of the development of what many called in the 70s ....."multinational companies and their drive to expand globally".

Therein lies the current problem...the then existing governments never got them under control as they no longer have "globalization" under control.....

What country can control a 5T USD daily flow...no one......

BEGIN QUOTE:

Three possible American futures beckoned, Huntington said: cosmopolitan, imperial and national. In the first, the world remakes America, and globalization and multiculturalism trump national identity. In the second, America remakes the world: Unchallenged by a rival superpower, America would attempt to reshape the world according to its values, taking to other shores its democratic norms and aspirations. In the third, America remains America: It resists the blandishments -- and falseness -- of cosmopolitanism, and reins in the imperial impulse.

Huntington made no secret of his own preference: an American nationalism "devoted to the preservation and enhancement of those qualities that have defined America since its founding." His stark sense of realism had no patience for the globalism of the Clinton era. The culture of "Davos Man" -- named for the watering hole of the global elite -- was disconnected from the call of home and hearth and national soil.

END QUOTE

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123060172023141417

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 3:30am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

BTW....the Brexit vote was driven by the effects of globalization and the fears of immigrants voiced by the far right drumbeat of propaganda....

It was the failure of UK rule of law and good governance that did not answer those two items.....not the EU....but did anyone in the UK even mention that in the aftermath of the vote....not many....

The "evil EU" did not get involved in the day to day running and managing of the UK...it was their own government not hard at work....but hey it is easy to blame others for your own internal problems.....

Even the UKIP leader who led the drumbeat for the far right has not given up his "dreaded evil EU MEP position" that earns him over 14,000 Euros PER MONTH and who parks his money in an off shore tax heaven as per the Panama Papers.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 3:04am

While the author might have been at the DIA, NSA and CIA he displays a lot of the right wing rhetoric we are actually seeing out of Trump and those so called EU "globalists" would call out as "populism"....of the extreme right or neo Nazi circles.

There is an old EU saying..."it is popular to follow populist parties UNTIL they rule...then buyers remorse sets in.....

While the author might have worked at the upper echelon of the intelligence world I on the other hand provided him the raw intel to make his decisions and have been in an out of Germany since 1967 and have watched a Berlin with it's bomb craters and bullet pocked walls from WW2 in 1967 develop into a major center of economic development and political power....ALL the while building along the way their EU dream.....a Europe without war......that was UNTIL Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

But hey this author was a Soviet specialist so he should in fact know this "historical development fact of life".....

I have watched the EEC, then EC, then EU develop along the way as well.

While the author writes about "negative globalism" in general I would challenge him with the simple statement that in fact the EU is probably the single example of it actually working and working well....

THAT is if the author took the time to thoroughly understand and define the actual term "globalism"....

Does the EU have it's inherent problems yes it does but that is because it is difficult to get 28 now with Brexit 27 individual nation states with 27 different electorates under one single hat...

BUT this is the critical point....when it moves forward decisions are achieved within the 27 different environments using that famously disliked word that the US totally dislikes since the Obama WH was elected...."compromise"....

Is that any different that the different US States within the total USA....and their different trade, economic, social laws that differ from one State to the next door neighboring State...heck we even have laws still on the books that horses must be tied up in front a store that have never been removed from the books....we have one State offering to take away say the VW plant by offering better credit, land and tax incentives...to the detriment of their next door neighboring State...and their workers all in the name of "economic progress of that State"....

Is this "globalization" hard at work...it most certainly is...AND it is not in the EU is it?....but in fact on our own backyard....scary is it not.

Globalization encompasses as the author seems to forget "global markets" ie TRILLIONS of USDs flowing daily anywhere it can make a profit...."markets have no nation state loyalty" and that since about 1971 to be truthful.....

Noticed that the author also forgot the old US debate about the inherent dangers of "US multinational companies" usually debated by Professors and students in the 70/80s....long before the debate about "globalization" occurred.

As an interrogator who actually spent time in Iraq and the author did not I had to learn in an extreme hurry what Islam was and is AND I was about the only interrogator including those with JSOC that used the Koran in my work.....the US Army intel training center ran from the use of religion...but the entire ME lives and dies on religion...something we see missing in the current US internal discussion on Muslim immigrants and the dreaded "Shari'a" discussions turned loose by Trump and Gingrich..and the so called "Tea Party".

I am so sick and tired of the neo right, extreme right wing , neo Nazi populists throwing the word "Shari'a" around as a fear factor....so tired of Muslim immigrants being used as a "fear battering ram" to mobilize their voters when neither "Shari'a" and or "Muslim immigrants" are the core problem...

If anyone took the time to read and research the term "Shari'a or Sunna" one will realize that it is the core of Islamic law that has developed over say a thousand years.... the US law system has been around since what about 1600 or so with the start of the UK MC and the US Constitution which was again how many years after the ME was developing Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

BTW--who today in the US follows the "Ten Commandments" in their daily and business lifes...no one...??

If one is honest with themselves the fear of Islam is understandable...WHAT current US mainstream religion is actually a "complete legal, moral, economic, contractual, and political system"?

NONE....

Even hardcore US non mainstream religions do not have a "complete system" as is Islam.

"Shari'a law" is proximately 1000 years older than the US and still is developing......and has three major law centers that their 2B followers listen to......we cannot ourselves figure out "if transsexuals are allowed equal rights or not starting with the use of restrooms...can we..FROM US State to US State requiring the DoJ to get involved..?

AND here is the kicker from the author...he apparently does not know that when Muslims immigrate into an new country they do in fact attempt to adhere to the laws and mores/norms of the new country...do they still hold to "Shari'a" yes they do by applying those portions that apply to the family, their practice of religion, and business dealings within their own community.

AND that is what dangerous???? How do we treat still today...Mormons outside of say Utah????

Immigration....another neo right, far right, neo Nazi" fear battering ram" or "dog whistle" ........

Never read in the article the single fact being mentioned that if the war crimes and genocide had been ended in Syria which was started by Assad in 2012 we would not be having this problem...it is as simple as that to fix....

BUT the author fails to critique the WH for this particular failure...

AND the last time I checked virtually ALL American citizens OUTSIDE of "Native Americans" are in fact "immigrants".....

QUOTE:
Tragically, EU imperialism (aka humanitarian intervention) has now destabilized the Levant, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The refugee crisis in not just blowback or poetic justice anymore. The Levant, the Islamic State, and Europe are now joined by an umbilical cord of bad policy. Today, Washington and Brussels are the official sponsors of Mohammad’s backpack jihad.
UNQUOTE

Appears that the author really wanted to rant and rant loudly as does most of the far right, neo right and neo Nazi's....

BUT he seems at the same time to not take his own responsibility for what is going on around him and others in the US....REMEMBER when there were anti bank demonstrations (Now Movement) in the US right after the financial mess and collapse they caused in 2006/2007 and most of the right laughed at them....well do not complain now about the "evils of globalization".....AND did the Republican controlled Congress pass any kind of bank controls and or send anyone to jail...most certainly not as that was "against big business ie big donors"....and all such bills were "watered down".

We claim to be a democratic country but our voting numbers have fallen badly over the last 30 years.....AND remember the Minority Senate Leader when Obama was elected stated" I will never work with him"....

BUT has anyone n the entire US seen in any major US MSM articles on the simple fact that in areas controlled by the anti Assad rebels ie the FSA there are more than 1000 locally elected committees which even HWR stated were open, fair and "democratic" and had high participation numbers....even fighters took time to come back home and vote before returning to fight IS and Assad....

That friends is true democracy hard at work......

Before the author goes off on a "rant" remember this price being paid daily by those that follow "Shari'a" and are being forced into becoming "immigrants"

1. over 500,000 killed including high numbers of women and children

2. over 300,000 starving to death by sieges which the UN has openly and often stated is correct

3. over 120,000 tortured to death including women and children and many have simply "disappeared"

4. over 8M refugees and IDPs....caused by extensive bombings by Assad and Putin using barrel bombs, chemical weapons, cluster and incendiary munitions and thermobaric bombs that suck the air out of your lungs

5. constant air strikes on hospitals, churches, schools, food markets, sheep and critical civilian infrastructure

6. and starvation, burning of crops and besieging not seen since the Crusader days.....

7. CW killing over 1400 men, women and children

ALL because they stood up in 2011/2012 against a dictator and demanded exactly what we the US are supposed to have as a so called democracy....

1. the rule of law
2. good governance
3. transparency

I would have expected a far better argument from a so called intelligence officer...

As a Huminter my bosses would have never allowed this written rant to be sent forward to Washington....

AND BTW I live that so called failure of an EU with 100% medical/dental coverage at 275 USD per month for myself and my family, I receive a pension payment for my 19 years of Cold War Berlin work while in Berlin that rivals the basic 40 year SSA payment, I earn a strong currency which is 10% more than the USD, I can travel across 28 now 27 international European borders with my standardized EU Alien Residence Card, and I could request formal German citizenship based on my years in Germany and would be granted it without much to do...and I pay taxes to three countries.

But most of all I feel secure in my life....and that security cannot be matched currently in the US.....

I once had the Berlin leader of the Young German Student Communist Party West Berlin tell me in 1973...you Americans have three large fears....fix them and you will be the single superpower for years to come....

Remember this was 1973......

1. fear of becoming sick
2. fear of getting old
3. fear of losing your job

QUESTION to the author...have we as a nation progressed much further than 1973....I would argue we have gone literally backwards as we have never fully answered our own three fears.....

BUT the author blames others......when then solution lies in the ballot box and our own political participation.....

It did not fail because of "Shari'a, Muslim immigrants or a dysfunctional EU"......

My rant for the day....

slapout9

Sat, 07/16/2016 - 10:17pm

Another fantastic piece. This man should get military writer of the decade! He should be President Trump's new SECDEF!!!!