European Union leaders signed a new governing treaty, with most countries planning parliamentary ratification to escape the popular votes that doomed the EU constitution.
The leaders set a January 2009 deadline for all 27 countries to ratify the Reform Treaty, which streamlines the EU’s decision-making machinery and creates the post of full-time president. A veto in any country would quash the treaty.
“Europe has finally overcome the political and institutional impasse (read “popular vote has been ignored”) which has curtailed its ability to act,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said at the signing ceremony at a monastery in Lisbon today.
Only Ireland has to put the treaty to a referendum. According to Bloomberg, The Irish Times says support for the treaty was running twenty-five percent in late October, with sixty-two percent undecided.
“The treaty is being sold as a warm bowl of soup with nice vegetable bits,” Declan Ganley, head of anti-treaty group Libertas, said at a press conference in Dublin today. “We’ll be pointing to the dead mice in there.”
So far Denmark, France and the Netherlands plan to put the vote through the alimentary canal of their respective parliaments. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes out…
- - - - - - - - -
Portugal is dithering and British PM Brown is being fired upon by the Conservative opposition for pushing the Treaty down the throat of Parliament instead of doing what Blair promised: a referendum.
“Europe has finally overcome the political and institutional impasse [translate to read “the popular vote has been ignored”] which has curtailed its ability to act,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said at the signing ceremony at a monastery in Lisbon today.
In other words, they built a work-around which ignores the will of the governed. A dirty job, but they have excellent predecessors to look back on.
It’s nice to know the Brits are not going willingly:
Polls show opponents of the treaty in the U.K. outnumber supporters two-to-one, and the majority of voters want a referendum, saying the accord is little different from the constitution.
I don’t see why they have to bother with this. Belgium has been getting along fine without a working government. I suppose it keeps the diplos off the streets and out of trouble. Hope they crack a few spines clapping one another on the back.
Hat tip: Fjordman (back in October)
26 comments:
No totalitarians here. Move along folks. Won't even merit a post at the "URL which shall not be named".
Amazing. In a bid to counter the US, which is what this is, European "leaders" have thrown away the last vestiges of popular support to power-enable themselves. This is about a European Supra-state, regardless of the wishes of the people of the various nations.
All you Europeans have my prayers tonight. Now, get to work on your MPs and make sure this crap doesn't get ratified.
As a new poster on your blog I would like to share my humble observation with regard to the birth of the new EUSSR — from Eastern European angle.
There is not a single word, or reference dealing with the EU at any level in the news. Sitting in Prague, Budapest or Bucharest the entire EU is a distant, exotic organization that bear no relevance upon the daily life over there. Relationship with Russia is far more weighty of an issue than anything Bruxelles can conjure up.
All the power is concentrated in the hand of the 2nd. generation Communist dynasty forming an impenetrable mafia type clan that ignores whatever lays outside its personal interest, EU or not. You will see that Bruxelles wont be able to deal with the Eastern territories on the long run.
Welcome, Bela.
Your words are sad, but not unexpected. The stormclouds gather over Europe, and they are particularly thick today.
Bela--
I agree it's not on the radar screen where you are right now, but it will be when the EUSSR is wheedling for oil from Russia...
And I agree, the wusses in the EU are no match for Putin and Co. The moral vacuum that was the USSR has become filled with evil under another guise.
What is it about Russia, that she so despises the rule of law? Is it because of the refusal to develop a middle class? Is it the fatalism/resignation in the Russian soul that is so pervasive, and was rooted so firmly in the final Czar.
Russia is a tertium quid. An enigma wrapped in a mystery and shrouded in a criminal's caul...
I thank God that Russis is not *my* motherland...
I am of Hungarian descent and I am no longer living in Europe but in the Southern US. I have however a keen interest in the bizarre development that engulfed the Old Continent in the last decade since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and I gather all available information from that part of the world.
I believe Westerners are mistaken when they infer that because Russians look like us, that is, Caucasian looking, they reason just like us. Russia was never part of the Pax Romana, instead she was and remains in these days an Eastern Despotism with obedient subjects. How quaint when a pianist lady from Alabama tries to outsmart these heavy duty guys!
My uncanny feeling tells me the monkey wrench will be thrown to the Grandiose EU project by the Russians along the way.
Hmmm... Bela has raised some very interesting possibilities here. On the other hand, isn't Russia undergoing the same sort of demographic decay as western Europe, only even more pronounced? And they have a growing Islamic supremacist problem of their own too, if I'm not mistaken. Putin may be a Czar in statesman's clothing, but that might not amount to much if his nation is as exhausted, if not more so, as the EU nations. Watching them go toe-to-toe would be like watching two octogenarians in a mixed-martial-arts match. Or, if that image isn't unsettling enough for you, it's like the Dems vs. the GOP in the 2008 U.S. election campaign.
When will people finally stop worshiping this idol of "democracy"? It was democracy that brought you the EUSSR, all it's proponents in the member states governements were elected to their posts. It was democracy that brought Hitler to power. It was democracy that doomed Athens in it's wars against Sparta and the Third French Republic in 1940.
Democracy requires certain social and cultural conditions for it to work properly otherwise it either brings a nation to it's complete downfall or to authoritarian and even dictatorial governements placed in order to prevent such a disaster.
Look at the results of "democracy" in Iraq: local islamist governements, many with strong Iranian ties, sharia law, persecution of non-muslims...Wonderful place, isn't it?
Democracy works as part of a functional republic (I've been reading up on Plato recently thanks to some posts here and it's quite interesting how he defined a republic) but, like all things, it requires checks and balances.
When will the rest of the world recognize the EU as a state and demand that the 27 UN seats held by EU provinces be replaced by 1 seat?
Previews of coming attractions? I have no doubt that the Brahmin's in DC are casting loving glances at the EUSSR with similar plans in mind (North American Union) for the US.
Dymphna,
I agree with you on most things, but not about Russia.
While I don't necessarily agree with everything that the Russian government does - such as making deals with Iran - by and large, Russia is a much freer place than the Western press would have you believe, and in some ways it is freer than the US. Come to think of it, we have "elections" here too, but somehow, both parties make the same mistakes once they get into office.
The Western MSM has an inherent racist bigotry against Slavic peoples, and a religious bigotry against Orthodox Christians, especially Serbs and Russians. It is all but impossible to live in a Western country without becoming immersed in that perspective. The MSM smears, vilifies, and satanizes us every chance they get, because we Orthodox Slavs are one of the few groups of people whom it is still politically correct to hate.
There is quite a demand for an outlet for the expression of pent-up racism, and we are that outlet.
Russia is one of the few countries that has stood up for Serbia. Were it not for Russia, I have no doubt that the entire Serbian nation, and not just those Serbs living in Kosovo, would have been overrun and exterminated by now.
The problem with Russia is that it's full of Russians.
Russians have a severe inferiority complex, and have never lived in a system that allowed self reliance. When the Revolution happened in 1918, this peculiarity was used to great success by the Bolsheviks. There was little difference between the Communists and the Czar. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The Russian people always pine for a "vozhde", a strongman leader, to save them. That is why it remains a dictatorship no matter the system in place. It's cultural.
I'm with 1389. Putin is reseeding the old Russian virtues--and compared to our dissipations and stupors, they are virtues--of Czar, Church and Army. In Russia their 'jeunes' take to the streets waving patriotic flags, and not for some damn soccer game.
And while the so refined, post-modernist Europeans run the finest maternity wards which only their immigrants use, Russia is restocking the cradles with Russians.
Sure, Russia has problems. it will take years to repair the demographic carnage caused by the USSR. But while the so refined, post-modernist Europeans run the finest maternity wards which only their immigrants use, Russia is restocking the cradles with Russians.
It's the EU that horrifies and depresses me, not Russia.
I'm not sure that's necessarily true. On the same night the bolsheviks seized power the Russian empire was on the verge of transforming into a republic. A government had just sworn itself in and they had spent the last few weeks negotiating with the Tzar to hand over executive power to them; they were going to sign the deal that night. The Bolsheviks knew this would have scuppered their plans for a revolution so they struck while they had the chance.
The world would have been very different if it hadn't been for those selfish marxists...
bela
welcome. European refugee myself.
Dymphna
There are tremendous untapped energy resources in the Maghreb, which the EU is approaching as we speak. Note the brown nose on Sarko! So they won't really need Mother Russia. They need not only the oil and the gas but they want to import the arab people too, to save their retirements and social sec.
When you look at a map of the Northern Hemisphere from right above the pole, you will notice that the spirit of enterprise in the US and the resources of Russia make for a perfect fit. Especially when we will have melted the polar ice and the polar sea will be a perfect Mediterranean Sea between the two giants. And it's full of oil.
With a male life expectancy of 58 (!) years and the country riddled with alcoholism and AIDS, it is only a question of time for Russia to need us against their obnoxious neighbor the EU.
We won't even have to learn the language. They all speak English.
tc,
Well said.
1389, I always thought the same thing regarding racism, or general dislike of Orthodox Slavs sincs the 1999 Kosovo airwar. I don't know why, but it seems like they are ok to hate - they are white.
However, I was quite young at the time, so I it is just based upon a hunch.
If eatyourbeans doesn't mind, I would like to in part agree and disagree with what you wrote.
Your first part is stellar, but I am not sure if Russia is exactly restocking the cradles with Russians, since I know a lot of Russians either shrugged of or laughed at the Kremlin's attempts to increase childbirth. I think that those who would consider the risks of childbirth and sacrafices of raising children for some money (tax credits) are generally drug users, alcoholics, and Muslims- Not the best stock to build a strong and friendly nation.
I feel that within the next 20-30 years (in 20 years Russia's military will be half Muslim) Russia will be fascist in order to keep Russia 'Russian' and in an additional 15 years, it will either remain fascist with all it's attendant irridentism (look out CIS!) or be an Islamic state with Sharia law.
Check this out:
"Unwritten agreement" amongst EU leaders to avoid referendums - El Pais
Written by Libertas
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
El Pais today reported that Spanish MEP Mendez de Vigo said there was an "unwritten agreement" amongst EU politicans not to use referendums again, saying that public consultation "is used as a political instrument against Europe"....
link
Despicable.
npabga,
Well like the real estate brochures, I did airbrush the reality a little about Russia. Still, I do think that Russia today is heading in the right direction, and the EU countries aren't.
Show me one country in Europe that is summoning its people to honor its past, its institutions and its flag. And isn't that exactly what so many of us here want to happen in Europe?
True, Russians still die very early, but it's the birthrate that matters. Time will tell whether Oily Mother Russia can coax them into making babies. All of us should very much hope so.
And if Russia must turn fascist to save itself so be it. It only took 6 years to get rid of fascism, but 800 to get the moslems out of Spain.
If there's a small light anywhere in this gloom it's Russia. If anybody can show me any other, please do.
Show me one country in Europe that is summoning its people to honor its past, its institutions and its flag.
These sort of actions are on the verge of being outlawed in EU some provinces (that's what they are now thanks to Lisbon; provinces, not countries). It's "racist". Any leader or public figure who makes such a call inevitably gets called a nazi, a fascist and a racist, and then their career usually ends or spirals in to ignominy.
That's how bad it is.
I'm starting to wonder if you might be on to something wrt russia...
Oh dear, does anyone in this discussion know anything about Russia? Let’s see, does anyone here speak Russian? Has anyone here ever lived in Russia? Does anyone here even have any ties to Russia, with someone who knows what is going on first hand?
I know for a fact that 1389 has studied Russia, and has followed what was happening in
Russia for . . . I’d better not say how long; it is not nice to give away a woman’s age. I have a number of contracts with Russia, including an American friend who has lived in the Moscow area for about twenty years. Being Orthodox, I have had the opportunity to mead a number of Russians and speak to them about their motherland.
I an not an expert on Russia, but all the people I know who have actual experiences with Russia are all pretty much on the same page. They all tell more or less the same story.
Here is how it goes:
Vladimir Putin is a fine Christian man. Although he is in the Orthodox Church, he refers to himself as a “born-again” Christian. That is a very unusual term for an Orthodox Christian to employ, and therefore one should not take his Christian commitment lightly. My friend in Moscow tells me that he know which church Putin actually attends.
In the latest poll that I know of, Putin had an 84% approval rating, and 60% of those polled wanted to amend their Constitution so he could stay in office. What is George W’s approval rating, and does anyone here know anyone who would like to amend the US Constitution to keep W in office? That doesn’t even pass the straight-face test!
The only group of people in Russia that seems to dislike Putin is the Communists. Yes, there are two other minor parties that will also have a block of seats in the Duma, but the Communists are the only semi-serious opposition.
The Communists recently came to be noteworthly only because a former chess champion, widely accused of having thrown a match with a computer, has taken center stage with his special brand of theatrics. IBM must have figured something was up; they sold their chess computer, Deep Blue, to an airline rather than giving that Commie Kasparov a third match and a chance to garner more attention.
In America, we are giving away our freedoms left and right. A Patriot Act here, the right to let the police stop and search a car there, some more gun-grabbing, a lot more political correctness, and before you know it, you have no freedoms left. In Russia, the trend is the other way: Let people have the right to do this, let them have the right to do that.
Of course, the Western media doesn’t like it. They are leftists themselves. For a lot of reasons, they would love to have the Communists back in power. And basically the Communists are the only serious anti-Putin organization in Russia.
Yes, radical Islam is a serious threat in Russia. However, the Putin Administration has been doing a good job of combating it. Gee, maybe that is why his approval rating is so high amongst the Russia people!
CzechRebel, whether one has lived in Russia, has personal contacts with Russia, or speaks Russian should in no way prevent those people without such ties to voice an opinion. After all, with this line of reasoning, you should not talk about hockey unless you play hockey, should not talk about the economy, unless you are an economist, and have no opinion of the Iraq war unless you are in the military. If you only want to discuss Russia with those who fit your criteria, you are going to pretty lonesome. So please bear with our theories, even if they are wrong or ill informed. Everywhere wants to improve their understanding, so no need to be unduly harsh.
You state:
"In the latest poll that I know of, Putin had an 84% approval rating, and 60% of those polled wanted to amend their Constitution so he could stay in office. What is George W’s approval rating, and does anyone here know anyone who would like to amend the US Constitution to keep W in office? That doesn’t even pass the straight-face test!"
- Yes Putin is very popular, and nothing seems to tarnish him, even grievous failures of commission or omission such as the Kursk submarine disaster (where he is slow to ask for help and originally blamed an American warship for the sinking) to Nord Ost (too few ambulances, no anti-dote to the gas, but still- the tendency to react harshly to terror acts is admirable) to Beslan, (again to few ambulances, weak or non-existent security cordon around the school, unpreparedness once the fighting did start, using tank fire on the school). Spending less in absolute terms on Aids prevention and care than Romania (about 1/6th population) as late as 2005, despite the oil wealth. etc, etc, etc.
And this year's problems with the return of inflation on such staples as bread and salt. More deaths per 1,000 by fire than any other nation in the world, 40,000 a year killed by bad vodka, 35,000 killed in auto-accidents (equal to the US, despite having far less cars), etc, etc, etc,. And a lot of these deaths are caused by corruption, particularly the last three. Corruption is something that is so ingrained in the culture, from the traffic cop, from the fire and food inspectors, to even higher education, where bribes are necessary to even enter universities except for the amazingly gifted, that to say if people are really more free is moot. It is sad to see Russia's grasp of the math and science slipping because of corruption. The rule of law in Russia is weak, hence, that so many support changing the constitution- in other words: putting the leader above the constitution- does not seem that impressive.
I am not a Putin Fanboi, but I can see after the listlessness of the Eltsin era, I can see why he is popular, Russia is in general better off, but it can do better. I think the issue is, since Putin is so surrounded by a sort of mystique, that we by default read what we want into his actions, and give him the benefit of the doubt. The less one knows about a person, the more one will assume the best, it seems.
You say:
"Yes, radical Islam is a serious threat in Russia. However, the Putin Administration has been doing a good job of combating it. Gee, maybe that is why his approval rating is so high amongst the Russia people!"
-That is one reason why I like him. But many Russians are xenophobic by nature, and there are many "skinhedy" relative to most other states.
npabga, Czech Rebel, 1389,
I don't know much about Russia, wish I did, so please keep contributing.
But to quote the masthead of this very blog, "we are in a new phase of a very old war", we do not bring victory any closer by failing to take into account the Orthodox front.
Can you guide us here?
PS: "Born again" By any chance might an Old Believer speak that way? An ignorant man's question.
Born again would mean different things to different people. It's a core tenet of christianity, that you have to be "born again", but I have witnessed anglican vicars complaining about the "born again brigade" disturbing their perfectly ordered liturgical lives.
I have no idea what it means in the orthodox church. Perhaps they are still at the point where it's taken as a given that a christian would be born again.
eatyourbeans, I should have added a disclaimer there is still much I don't know about Russia, and probably very wrong about many aspects.
Maybe I was a bit harsh on Russia's future in my last post - but that is just how I feel, I am worried that despite a strong leader, there will not be a strong, healthy, and numerically large society to back it up. Many Russians will defend Putin, though I am curious how much Putin defends the Russian people (ending corruption alone would many Russians and improve the people's faith in society). Putin is not Russia.
You said: "Show me one country in Europe that is summoning its people to honor its past, its institutions and its flag. And isn't that exactly what so many of us here want to happen in Europe?"
-I agree with this, though there are many countries in Eastern Europe that are like this too. It is nice to see, though more should be done to quash skinheads, but I would still prefer a country that honours it's past even if it means there might be a few degenerates which take it too far. This year, many Russian schools are having religion classes taught by Orthodox religious. Now to a person who grew up in a country where there is a separation of church and state, this seems wrong, but I find interesting, and if it builds a strong populace, then great.
Now, about Putin being a born again Christian: I a not sure what he meant by that in the framework of the Russian Orthodox Church. But if I were to guess, and correct me if I am wrong, born-again may be used for those who though, not raised Orthodox, accept it later in life and a it is a conscious decision. An Orthodox Christian would be like a Roman Catholic born-again, but not like a protestant born-again (to generalize to the point of stereotypes).
Take care all.
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