A Perfect Spy is in the Cold

We all knew we were being spied on. But the scale of operations is just staggering. Has Obama forfeited his claim to be a people’s president, some claim he is worse than Richard Nixon.

Ed Snowden, a former systems administrator at the NSA (national security agency) gave a startling interview to the Guardian Newspaper from his June 2013 position in Hong Kong. He is now on the run and has given encoded files containing NSA secrets to several trusted friends. If anything happens to Snowden, the files will be unlocked and publicised.

Extracts from the interview sums up the world we can look forward to if the Prism programme continues on present course.

Snowden: Intro

“Sitting at my desk I certainly had the authority to wiretap anyone right up to the president who has a personal e-mail…. I think the public is owed an explanation of the motivations behind the people who make these disclosures that are outside of the democratic model.

When you are subverting the power of government - that is a fundamental dangerous thing to democracy….. And it (Surveillance society) is going to get worse with the next generation and the next generation who extend the capabilities of this type of architecture of repression

I could be rendered by the CIA, I could have people come after me and they could even pay off the Triads. That’s a fear I will have to live under the rest of my life for however long that happens to be….. If they want to get you they will get you in time.”

Guardian:  Why should people care about surveillance?

PRISM/US-984XN much of the world’s information flows through the USA.
 Prism targets phone calls, e-mail or chat to take the cheapest path….

It has already 97 billion pieces of intelligence from networks worldwide. 

“You can’t come forward against the world most powerful intelligence agencies

 and be completely free from risk, no one can meaningfully oppose them”  Ed Snowden.

“Because even if you are not doing anything wrong you are being watched and recorded….to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong, you simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody even by a wrong call….

Then they can use the system to go back in time and scrutinise every decision you have ever made, every friend you have ever discussed something with and attack you on that basis…..  to sort of derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer.

The greatest fear I have regarding the outcome for America from these disclosures is, that nothing will change….people will know the lengths government is going to grant themselves power to create greater control over American society and global society……. but they will not take the risk to stand up and fight to change things.

And, the months ahead and the years ahead it is only going to get worse until eventually there will be a time where a new leader will be elected, they will flip the switch and say that because of a crisis or the dangers we face in the world…we need more authority we need more power and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it and it will be turnkey tyranny”…..ends.

Typical of people who relish control, some politicians rushed to call for retribution, including Southern Baptist Republican Lindsey Graham who said;   

"I hope we'll chase him to the ends of the earth, bring him to justice and let the Russians know there will be consequences if they harbour this guy."

Wasn't the Cold War about ending communist state repression and advancing civil liberties & democracy???

Snowden is in the Cold. But because of him, the government’s prying Prism feels the Heat.

EU Crisis: Battle to Control our Connected Planet, Enter the Gladiators.

Troika leaders bungled as they tried to save their Euro baby at the expense of the Greek economy. According to an IMF report the Greek bailout was designed to protect the vulnerable currency from potentially catastrophic effects to the global economy.

If Greece is part of the Eurozone then a question; is any member expendable, is there any that aren't!

This and other developments, the challenge to privacy, increased powers for Brussels, the demonisation of opposition and the rise of the snooping state, is becoming issues for pending elections and referendums about United Europe’s (US) future. These ballots will determine style and nature around how we seemingly permit ourselves to be governed in the coming decades. Hot players for the power seats include Banks, Corporations, new Security Governments, revivalist religion and the Open Society mainstream classes. An arena where all’s fair in love and war?

A recent experience with security employees from the ECB (European Central Bank) in Frankfurt resulted in the all too common response to citizen reaction following an invasion of privacy in a public place. “Everyone is a terrorist suspect.” 

A Bible for the War! New game same rules. All's fair if your are the
winner. Power struggles for the global order will involve many more
players on the field. Image, A Croat soldier reads his bible during a lull
on the front line in the last European conflict. Bosnia 1993  

Does this courtesy extend to the growing number of Accusers in Frankfurt, Washington, London, Beijing or Moscow!

What makes their desire for control more legal than those who cherish privacy?

What makes their use of the snooping state more legal than those who expose its workings?

“There is no such thing as a Terrorist! The combatant style of asymmetrical warfare is commonly referred to as Terrorism, Rebellion or Insurgency.  Often this is amended to freedom fighters, resistance movements or revolution; should combatants be successful in their efforts to take power.”

Troika belligerents such as Brussels Commission’s Olli Rhen and ECB’s Mario Draghi will never be reprimanded for any failure or wrongdoing to the Greek people or their economy. They are beyond the reach of accountability. They continue to engage in grey politics, duck issues and play their wild cards when it suits. Their corner is political victory by financial methods; the Federalist strategy.

In response to the IMF scathing report Rhen commented: "Latvia's desire to adopt the euro is a sign of confidence in our common currency. It is further evidence that those who predicted a disintegration of the euro, were indeed behind the curve and simply wrong,"

And he might even be right about that. “Lead on Mac Rhen”

EU Crisis: Debating Europe’s Future #1, The UK Forum

The UK debate on its future role with the EU is begun in earnest. The motion is declared:  "National self-determination better serves UK citizens than further EU supra-nationality and integration.”   Outcomes are judged on the clarity of argument and whether those not already decided are won over.

The following extracts show the trends for this national debate, which in reality is the hothouse focus for a motion affecting the future shape and rule of the EU. This debate is set in the UK for the rest of Europe to decide who the winner will be.

As in most organised debates the speakers present sets of arguments to support their position.

Original article: Daily Telegraph http://tinyurl.com/kdua7a6

First speaker for the motion: (Skeptics) Lord Kalms, Business for Britain. Life president of Dixons plc 

Speakers Corner Hyde Park, London. A place of debate since 1872.

When I joined my father in our first Dixons store in 1948, we would have welcomed with open arms anything that would keep the nations of Europe from fighting. In the short term, the EU and its predecessors achieved just that. Now the European Union is no longer fit for purpose.

The British people deserve a referendum on our continued relationship with Brussels and, the way the politics is going on this issue, we should get one.

Like London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, I’d like to see the EU taken back to a trading relationship that promotes rather than inhibits commerce with the rest of the world.

At this crucial juncture the Eurozone is still in crisis. EU institutions are publishing new plans for further integration. There is no better time for the Prime Minister to put his vision for Britain’s relationship with the EU.

Those on the wrong side of this debate would have you believe that the main change needed is to deepen the single market, thereby boosting the competitiveness of Britain and Europe as a whole. That this should be their only means of achieving that end is narrow-minded and unimaginative.

  

Brussels is seeking more “one size fits all” approach to regulation. This is doing so much to prolong the economic crisis. This approach is just another example of the EU sticking fingers in its ears in the pursuit of an outdated philosophy.

It’s time Brussels acknowledged that “ever closer union” is not in the interest of all EU member states.

The make-up of business and industry varies hugely across member states. There must be a more effective mechanism for governments to stand up for national interests in a particular sector affected by EU regulations.

Equally, national parliaments – which are naturally better placed to represent the concerns of their home-grown industries – need to be far closer to EU decision-making, rather than handing the reins of power to unelected civil servants and to MEPs.

If there are laws written in Strasbourg that harm the UK, then Government should have a red card (veto) so that the UK can stay well clear!

In Britain, what Business for Britain is doing for the debate on the EU – as it was on the euro – is push authentic business voices to the fore and let people hear the real problems that the EU is responsible for. The majority of the business community is no longer content to sit on the sidelines while the EU today is the cause of more unrest and infighting than it solves.

It is time for change; either Brussels makes it, or we do.     

Original article: Daily Telegraph http://tinyurl.com/lwytdjd

First speaker against the motion: (Europhiles) Sir Andrew Cahn. World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Europe. Vice-chairman, Nomura. 

Jim (Big Jim) Larkin, trade unionist, speaks in Dublin 1913.
"The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise."
100 years on Revolutia Continua. To be EU or not to be EU. 

We are often told that it is inconceivable that European countries would fight among themselves. Indeed, those who disparage the EU tend to take its peace for granted, or say it has little to do with the EU.

My father left Germany hastily in 1933 to becoming  a refugee overnight. His family went to Spain and was subsumed by its civil war. He left for London, but was on the move again just as the Blitz was starting, his future wife sent to Canada for her own safety.

Because of the volatility of my parents’ lives, I grew up aware that peace, stability and a secure society are not givens, nor can they be assumed – or even expected. They have to be worked for and won in every generation.

The Balkan states experienced the unpredictability that characterised the 1930s and 1940s.

That is why they want to join the EU, a supranational authority, with a culture of interchange of peoples and goods and values. The EU is a guarantor of peace more than any number of politicians assuring us that they have peaceful intentions. Britain is safer because of the EU.

Nationalism and Populism is increasing in many European Union countries. They talk about a dislike of foreigners in their country, glorifying the nation state and how its history is better and bolder. These are the things which can lead nations into war.

Not only is EU peace taken for granted, but also the prosperity it has generated.

Britain has not found it easy to penetrate emerging markets. We will not suddenly find that their doors open to us just because we have left the EU. The illusion is to think that splendid isolation in a global world is actually a workable strategy. We live in an interconnected world where Little England or Imperial Britain has no place.

The City of London changed from being an airless, old boys’ club to being a global powerhouse because foreigners flooded in with new energy, new ideas and a new openness.

If you can eat well in London, if you can find world-beating music, dance, design and film, it is in part because young Europeans full of vitality, ideas and talent come to our country to make a living and do something exciting.

The EU provided the framework which changed our society (United Kingdom) beyond all recognition over the past 50 years.

The flow of people, capital, opinions and energy from our EU partners has helped to make us cosmopolitan, sophisticated and competitive in a global marketplace. An isolated Britain did not make this happen.

Closing our doors, our shores and our minds to the Continent’s efforts to design the future will marginalise us. The final benefit of the EU with the UK is a political structure which involves us in designing the future of our region.

Britain has been a leader in Europe for centuries. We should not relegate ourselves to camp follower. It is the sceptics who lack ambition for Britain.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 The speaker for the motion clearly focuses on some benefits of direct action in business decisions which affect the country and, ultimately its citizens. He asserts correctly the mood of the audience as unsure of Brussels strategies.

The Speaker against the motion has concentrated on the terrible past and the fear factor of rising dissent and isolation. This merits the question is fear the main component holding his argument.

As one who was a correspondent during the Balkan wars I remember it was the UK & Americans who stopped the War, not the EU.

So is the EU the solution or the problem as the first speaker suggests. It is clear from this part of the debate the EU is both as the second speaker points out.

Verdict: All square

EU Crisis: Europe’s Great Reformations, Art of Superstate Looks Directly at a New Metamorphosis.

It doesn't take a survey to tell a person which way the wind blows when on the street facing a biting gust.

Support for the European Union is falling. Distrust is growing. Damage is accelerating. Europe is in disarray. “The Union is over!”  Well not quite really over.

The great reformist of 1517 Martin Luther is honoured in Dresden city centre. Germany leads
again a new reformation in changing political and economic destiny for Europe. Image 2013 

In a few recent short years, half a century of sterling work by our fore-fathers to create a United Europe is being completely re-assessed. “The Union is dead!” “Long live the Union!” Great cities are once again committing to European destiny.

Chancellor Angela Merkel steps in behind a “Keep UK in the EU” campaign. Her government’s support for the campaign is seen in Berlin as vital to reshaping the Project beyond its present form.

Most observers know Europe will look a different structure by 2017 if not before.

Political leaders have few options to explore the way forward.  At the forefront is a northern block led by Germany and preferred ally the UK. In tandem, and implementing necessary reforms, France, Italy and Spain should head-up a formidable southern team. The peripheral will play ball to join either league being relegated and promoted on performance.   

The muddle in the middle of this concept is of course the fated currency problem. It’s one for the technocrats and bankers to sort out. But, regardless of ECB bravado, the Euro’s position is becoming increasingly untenable as a universal currency.

Recognising that Europe is still in a fast mid-stream River of Change is the single most important realisation Europeans can make. There is no easy voluntary political concept that marries a continental peoples so diverse, distributed and strongly independent. There are only visionary concepts, which in due time run their course before a necessary metamorphosis is undertaken once again. 

EU Crisis: The Freaks Are Out: Fruitcakes Make Stinky Cheese Election in England

Conservative education secretary Michael Gove said people supported The British Euroskeptic party Ukip (UK independence party) because they were suffering economically and were fed up with politicians.

He compared UK political elites to an after dinner cheeseboard, in this case the dinner being the English local elections, and described the situation as;

“There exists a sense of exasperation with the political classes. We (the three main political parties) do sometimes seem like pasteurised cheese on the cheeseboard and then Ukip is the rich, ripe, stinky alternative and people think: ‘Don’t mind having a slice of that.”

Described as fruitcakes and clowns, Ukip is promising a political earthquake in the forthcoming EU elections

Nom Nom Nom!  The flavour of stinky French cheese on British Europskeptic palettes, washed down with Spanish or Italian wine is enough to rally voters to any freak show.

Populist! Populist!  Populist! I hear a very gentle sound from the Place De Luxembourg. “We will convince the people” whispers Brussels. But convince it must and without further delay. An acid test will be one year from now as European citizens respond to Austerity and its leadership in EU elections. Ukip is promising a “political earthquake.”  

The fabled Mary Celeste may have lost its crew and direction, but with whom this ghost ship now personifies? UK or E.U, this is a decision for the voters.    

EU Crisis: Lets Sound Different; An Hallucination or a Real Denial Of Service Attack.

What a way to get a point across. You apologise, retract it and then strike it home. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be hurtful, but”!!!

In the case of French Socialists they make the point, retract it and then apologise. So, what’s the point then! The point is, “People can do things differently and get similar results.”

For those who travel a lot and politicians do quite a bit of hacking around Europe, Modi Operandi among peoples adjust to clear and often obvious factors.

I mean, do Eskimos eat salad. Do Swedes siesta the summer afternoon. And why do Russian ladies wear fur coats in Cyprus!  

 "Stick with it kid" as they say in the movies. " France is becoming unsure if it is all worthwhile.
 Germany is becoming fixed on exporting  an oversized fitness regime for its reluctant clients.
Meantime politicians do agree everyone is to  blame for the wrong decisions. Image 2013 CDU & PS

A one size fits all “Austerity” policy might work in cool Hamburg, but it sure needs a nap in blistering Athens.

Yes we are all different. The big Five, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are the engines driving Europe. Strange the Troika hasn't accepted these engines are not all made in Bavaria’s Motor Werkhouse. Or that they have different break horsepower.  

Look at their history, different as they all are they've still managed to shape the world, culturally and economically. They get there, in the end.

The problem with Brussels style Federalism is it assumes it is the only way forward and not an option to be studied. “Get in there” their supporters shout from the stadium terraces.

It is also becoming clear responsibility and accountability is not on anyone’s agenda for policy failure. I mean it’s a shared responsibility according to Europe’s politicians as everyone is involved in the wrong decision making.  

”What has Austerity ever done for me” I hear the bloke on the Appreciate Austerity Crucifixion Cross (AACC) mumble to the Praetorian Guard below. “Ask Pilate, he put you there” is the reply. “But there are so many governors called Pontius Pilate in Europe today. Who do I blame for my slow and agonising death,” bemoans the dying bloke.

“Simple, he who washes his hands of your crime you did not commit is the real Pontius Pilate.” 

EU Crisis: Confusion at the Top. A Cat Takes A Nap

“And you tell me, over and over and over again my friend, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of re-construction.”

Brussels commission president Barroso warned Europe’s austerity programme has reached its “political and social” limits and the “Dream” was now under threat.  European Council president Herman Van Rompuy has claimed there is a "renewed sense of urgency"

Loose monetary policy risks sparking credit bubbles which threaten to tip the world back into financial crisis. Many banks in the euro area periphery remain challenged, the IMF warned April 2013.

A confused cat takes a nap where a human once lay.
 The E.U. crisis is sleepwalking the Europe project
towards its final  dream before morphing into an
organic awakening. Image Rotterdam 2012

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said “Serious reform is necessary; we are in a serious depression.” In Berlin chancellor Angela Merkel announced “European Nations needed to yield some sovereignty to ensure Europe’s survival.

We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss, but as soon as the pressure eases, people want to go their own way.”

The chancellor was concerned European leaders will lose their commitment to a closer Europe when the crisis ebbs away. 

The reality is different. Confidence in the EU is now at an all-time low. Euroskepticism is spreading across the continent. It is the people’s commitment to EU leaders which is ebbing away.  Europe is still a great ambition but using the crisis to push for Federalism is an arm twisting tactic that's bound to failure.

Europe’s future is secured in an organic progress. For a modern democratic society, it is all about confidence, progress & security.  Future Europe will look so new and so characteristic we will be astounded. This new society is not to be shaped by traditional political reform, horse trading over who gets what, but born from the knowledge society and its cutting edge - technology. People only need to reach down and pick up the power of universal knowledge. 

Armed with communication and knowledge, society will evolve into a Babylon of groups switching to and fro to defend their interest and self-determination. None can predict the shapes and forms of the groups, but change is assured from this EU crisis of rudderless and confused leadership.  

With Denis and Margaret Thatcher in a Corridor of Power.

As assignments go this one in the IRA stronghold of South Armagh was a little different. I was with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis while they waited for a taxi to arrive. The taxi was a British army helicopter with orders to whisk them back to Belfast castle, while the waiting room was a makeshift barracks corridor, dark, narrow and uninviting. It was also a spectacular target for the real power in the area. Luckily for all “Mum” had been the word about the flash visit.

It’s a strange thing to make an assessment of one such as Maggie Thatcher. All the rumours, backbiting, back stabbing skulduggery, that mars political life was just not present on the crisp morning she visited the front line troops. It was not an easy place to secure for such a high profile figure. The IRA’s very successful 2^nd Battalion dominated the area and the killing tally. They eventually scored over 160 security officers to a loss of four of their own in active combat service. 

Mrs Thatcher would need to be very calm and very cool to for her and Denis to feel OK in the camp.

The Iron Lady. Margaret of Finchley.
To trust or not to Trust that is the question.
Image extracted from the Sunday Times
by artist Michael Leonard. April 2013

And that’s how it was for the 10 minutes we shared in the corridor. I was pleasantly surprised how much she and Denis relaxed with us to make small talk and present her cultured manner. I suppose behind very strong front person is just another human, just like the rest of us.

Just another day.P.M. Margaret Thatcher, Husband Denis
with the troops and Martin Nangle in the IRA's South
Armagh stronghold. The exit corridor in rear view.
Image 1980's  

Hard to take in that here was the leader of “the British occupation in Ireland,”  the Iron Lady herself having a bit of banter with a couple of media people deep in IRA territory while a late helicopter ride made its way over the rolling hills for a pick-up.

Denis joked and was genuinely funny. Mrs Thatcher shuffled through her handbag for a tissue. We Patricks just tried to the Irish thing. Express restrained recognition for celebrity status. I mean she's just a Prime Minister, right!

Light information was exchanged about the things everyone does at home, the office, or the pub, or in this case, a narrow corridor of power locked at both ends. They soon said goodbye, using first names. Just another day in the Irish/UK Ulster conflict. 

EU Crisis: Policy Austerity Gets a Downgrade; London Meets Berlin.

 The Troika’s (EC, ECB and IMF) much critiqued austerity programme is grinding to a halt. Cyprus buckles painfully under the terms of its bailout while peripheral sinners Ireland and Portugal toughen resistance to repayment schedules.

It was all so predictable, where did Federal Brussels think it was taking us. While the sins of the over spenders, (of which there are many) need to be washed and cleansed, it is clear the problem embraces the wider business model. And, not just about the debt hangover from the infamous banking crisis. Belt tightening alone is not enough. Indeed it is mostly counterproductive. Anarchy is making a stylish comeback in the shape of ridicule and contempt for the efforts of Europe’s leaders to shape the new Superstate. (Even though, most citizens are still good Europeans). 

They have the whole Union in their hands. Cameron and Merkel
discuss  the situation facing Europe at the recent Schloss Meseberg
  meeting near Berlin. Image Con. Party 2013  

In typical E.U. bureaucratic fashion none will take responsibility for the Troika’s programme’s failure. The best result austerity can claim is the case of Ireland. This is a false claim and most observers recognise this. The promissory note for the state to save private banks holding Dutch and German debt is too heavy a burden to carry in the short term. Faced with ruinous options the Irish would willingly dump the Troika in the Celtic sea and reprint its own pound. So to keep the ship afloat, the “Austerity Bed” has been softened a bit for now. 

It was summed up recently by financier George Soros, “The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a voluntary association of equal states into a creditor-debtor relationship from which there is no easy escape.  As a result, the crisis is now threatening to destroy the European Union.”  He went on to claim in a der Spiegel interview that Germany might consider being outside the Euro. “The situation is deteriorating and in the longer term it is bound to become unsustainable,” Mr Soros pronounced.

Wow! Is the chancellor contemplating joining the C.N.S.?  A new London - Berlin Alliance? Never!!!

Meanwhile British leader of Confederate Nation States, David Cameron, met German chancellor Angela Merkel to plan a future strategy with the US over economic re-growth. Are they making it up as they go along! Experimentation is fine as long as anarchy stays in the bottle, for stylish anarchy has its dedicated followers. But it is not as such. The march to construct pan European parties and alliances is started. More Europe, Less Europe, No Europe, Just Europe, new parties on the block, there is all to play for.   

EU Crisis: Cyprus Bailout; the Long Bank Holiday and the Great Troika Raid.

Monday 18^th – Monday 25^th March

The European Union project took a massive confidence body blow as the troika (ECB, EU, IMF Austerity Axis), launched a surprise ambush on all private deposit accounts in Cyprus Monday 18^th March. The banks remained closed for a very long week as 800,000 Cypriots planned their counter to the attack. Meanwhile the feared ECB (financial quartermaster) in Frankfurt urged the raid to speed up and complete operations before any bank run by foreign Russian clients.

So this was the start of the long bank holiday. Cyprus claimed their man was blackmailed by the troika into accepting the bizarre terms. Bizarre in the fact Brussels president Van Rumpay (one of three) declared some time back the EU would “convince the people” in the merits of fiscal and political union. “Accept our terms or your country will be bankrupt in days,” was the troika’s astounding demand.

Immediately the Cyrus parliament rejected any raid on deposits as Russian money made up the bulk of it. “Dodgy or not here I come, I’m off to Moscow to ask for more Russian money.”  The Cyprus finance minister returned empty handed. It was time to reconvene the parliament.

Senior members of the feared Troika at the Brussels meeting which agreed to
play Russian Roulette with Cyprus. Is it the beginning of "Unfriendly"
relationships with Moscow money. image 2013 

Chancellor Angela Merkel it emerged was officer commanding the raid. She is no longer worried about solidarity and more worried about using German tax revenue to save Russian money. (Don’t forget it is election year).

Find six billion dosh by Monday 25th or we will shut you down was the Troika’s final ultimatum. Or maybe it was her demand. Merkel is becoming more moralistic and behaving more like the true European president than the other three in Brussels. Over the second bank holiday weekend the Cypriot and troika response was to shut down bank no 2 and to inflict heavy losses on the Russian deposits. Moscow described the move as stealing and promised to be just as “Unfriendly.”

All this is very bizarre to the good European, the spectator on the wings, who, struggling with austerity is now checking the bank balance to see if all funds are still in place.

Or is it all that bizarre or surprising. Fiscal and political union between the 17 Eurozone is now a pipe dream and most observers know it. The United Kingdom broke the ultimate taboo by offering a referendum over EU membership. The next taboo is exit from the Euro either by push or goodbye. Once Russian money packs up and moves to another haven, which it will do, then Cyprus is destroyed for a decade at least.

The Eurozone is self-assessing its raison d’etre.  Federalists are hell-bent on forming some kind of block to counter what they see as an emerging globalised economic realignment. A resurgent Germany is preparing for this eventuality and leading the recruiting drive. In the case of southern members, a process of screening out is started. This same screening will turn north after the southern purge is completed. There is nothing personal, it really is just business.

EU Crisis: A Very Polite Revolution.

It’s a transfer of power. Revolution that is. Or is it uprising and rebellion.  The choice is in the means and reasons for change. 

Revolution has not always meant a good thing. But often, it happens because the status quo fails to respect the people.  Or something like that.

Europe is staring at a new revolution. A very polite Revolution. A movement void of terror from mutiny and upheaval.   Well, so far so good, as they say in the peoples’ committees.

A very polite revolution can sweep Europe beyond the crisis.
Images from the walls of Sandino's cafe bar, Derry. UK city of culture 2013

All this talk about leaping into a United States of Europe is a bit wishy washy. Does anyone really believe Europe is best served by a commission of faceless bureaucrats dreaming up laws and rules people find ridiculous when it suits them to do so.

Recently many people have been persuaded by the Euroskeptics.   Or, have they been persuaded by the Troika Austerity Axis failure to end the financial crisis and the hardship it is causing. 

Either way, where is the recourse to correct the situation. Vote to oust the Troika…..not a choice…they are not elected….vote for the European parliament…..just a toothless talking shop….vote for a referendum to leave the Union…..run away, run away policy brings no change.

Vote for Revolution……….now there’s a thought….the reason is crystal clear and the means is democratic.

Joining the Skeptic revolution is the beginning of a credible pan European voice for change. A political opposition in the making. Less Europe versus More Europe……. Who will win the confidence of the people!

Where do we begin? Why at home of course. National parliaments should revolutionise Strasbourg and Brussels into a democratic cutting edge. Create the means to challenge More Europe for consensual change. Develop real opposing ideology seeking the same outcomes. A safer and better defined Europe. Maybe one day in the foggy distance More Europe might even become more USE.

It’s a thought for a very polite revolution. 

EU Crisis: War Continues Against the “Austerity Axis.” March of the Populists.

Italy is in upheaval. “Austerity Axis”- Brussels Berlin, Frankfurt, installed Mario Monti 15 months past to “Fix it in that country.” The result is a backlash. Enter the “Joker” and the "Grillini", a rag tag activist army of nurses, teachers, students, lawyers, engineers, bank clerks, and architects.

Italy now joins the growing anti-Federalist movements sweeping the continent. “Clean out the political stables” is the battle-cry. “Less bankers at the top, more power to the people!”

On arriving back in Brussels the technocrat former Prime Minister, who was soundly trounced at the recent polls, got a standing victory ovation from his Federalist sponsors.

March of the Populists. Europe approaches the belly of
the crisis. Can Federalists tough it out or bottle it
under pressure. Image Rotterdam 2013

Monti declared, that while he was in office, he deliberately never told Italians his austerity programme was implemented on the behalf of EU (Brussels) direct orders to do so. Not a good thing to declare at a time such as this.

It was a grave mistake to by the “Austerity Axis” to depose elected leaders in Italy and Greece during the autumn of 2011 and install puppet governments. It diluted greatly the sense of “Union.”

Austerity has failed to win confidence as a sound economic policy. Austerity has failed to elevate the Federalist leadership. Austerity has given rise to revolutionary reaction. Austerity threatens to isolate north from south. Even though Germanic economic success is glaringly obvious, consensus about EU direction is absent there also.

It is not easy to lead the pack when hunting instincts vary as much as they do.

Across the western front, populists and nationalist are marching. Netherlands, UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Greece, Denmark and Portugal are all approaching the front desk. Rebellious, they dare to confront the power, raise their bowls and demand, “Please Sir, I want some More.” 

EU Crisis: Horse Trading over Reform; It's A Default Without the Fault

Skeptic contagion spreads to Ireland. Serious debates re-examine the totality of the relationship with an EU in desperate need of reform. The latest trigger is opaque horse trading around the bizarre promissory note. This financial instrument, the first in history placed Irish citizens as guarantors of a private bank’s debts, the ill-fated Anglo-Irish Bank which went bust at the beginning of the financial crisis. This notorious note was dumped February 2013 as a promise, only to be replaced by an official debt burden for the Irish people.

New government bonds? They will never ever be repaid in the eyes of the Irish people. In short, it’s a default without the fault.

Horse trading over EU reform begins. The Brussels budget is cut.
 ECB takes a punch in Ireland over bailouts.  E.U. P.R.office rides out
 to fix its image. It's a five year march to regroup the troops
 before citizens decide. image 2013 

Brussels EU institutions and the ECB (European Central Bank) Frankfurt, arm twisted the government of the day into issuing a promise the Irish state would honour Anglo’s debts claiming the bank’s failure, if allowed to go unsupported, would have catastrophic effects for the Eurozone, greater than that felt by the 2008 Lehman Bros debacle. This allowed the bank’s creditors to escape unscathed courtesy of the ECB. The return deal for the Irish in being “Good Europeans” was to treat this case as special.

The ECB is now cornering Cyprus for a bailout. Bailouts make money for banks and isn’t that the name of the game. “Bailouts,” hmmm, they are not really the same as investment for forward planning.

However, this epoch of banking dinosaurs is being confronted.  “Too big to fail” is no longer a fait accompli, no longer the emperor of the jungle. “Too big to fail” is being hunted and located to be cut down to size by those who manage society.  

As EU reform starts in earnest it will not be difficult to paint financial and bureaucratic intuitions as self-serving, greedy and treating citizens as permanent cash cows.  Being a “Good European,” only works if one feels good in Europe. 

EU Crisis: British Respond With Referendum. People Will Have Their Say.

British PM David Cameron opened the long awaited debate about the UK’s future relationship with the European Union. In effect Europe is now a British election issue. The crisis which began as a banking problem, moving to a Euro currency problem, is now a constitutional debate on whether there will be enough appropriate Brussels reforms by 2017 when a referendum will offer the electorate a direct IN or OUT vote.

It’s a five year plan to shape a bureaucratic, democratically deficient Brussels sliding towards total disconnection with European citizens into an institution acceptable to British democracy.

Confederate nation states, led by Britain are poised to shape the course of European direction.  An era of faceless Brussels dictate is being challenged.  The option are clear “Not just change for Britain but change for Europe…..we have a choice, turn away or lead the change necessary to bring us together.”   (British PM)

Fanfare for the common people. The British challenge Brussels. Five
years to make the EU project acceptable to democracy. image Den Haag 2012

Use of the financial crisis to steamroll Europe towards a political union without consulting citizens will be stalled by this referendum pledge. Some are angry with the UK saying “You can’t come to a football match and expect to play rugby.” And “Europe is an idea and not just about trade.” One former EU commissioner expressed a view that the debate will be acrimonious and that it is wrong to consult the people.

However, some  European ideas have not always worked out, mainly due to obsessions to rush headlong into undefined destinations.  The European project, until now, secured the confidence of nations that its existence was entirely a co-operative peace mission.  Fixation to force an unapproved agenda on citizens means confidence no longer exists in many countries.

Without the UK pressing for reform, Europe’s counter balances to prevent current Brussels dilution of the democratic process would be much weaker.   In reality the British have introduced the shock of the new normal. Democracy and accountability is not retractable to further Federalist ambitions.

The big question is whether reforms will happen to allow the UK to participate comfortably. Or, whether Brussels will resist and simply ask the Brits to vote again and again till they get it right. We have five years to find out.