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V. Illych L. posted:Well, the US would have that on their own. No need to keep the rest of us around and hooked up to the whole ridiculous MIC if that's the purpose. I fail to see any reasonable global role for NATO in today's world; as a defensive alliance, it seems increasingly outdated. As an offensive instrument, it's pretty much purely imperial. If you're cool with that, that's your business; a leftist party or individual (like the Left Party or me, respectively, in this case) will tend to see that as a bad thing. Obviously American interests in Iraq were non-NATO-dependent, but Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya are all clear instances of this enormous military and economic powerhouse basically not giving a toss about what its mandate is or should be, and using that power in its own interests. Not to mention NATO membership garantuees a ton of money to US defense contractors, most notably from smaller members who can't produce full spectrum hardware internally, like Norway. Stuff like the disasterous F-35 would never have gotten off the drawing board without NATO customers.
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May 7, 2014 11:48
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LemonDrizzle posted:I don't think you can reasonably claim that your desire for cheap energy should trump the security and territorial integrity of other EU member states. I guess we should thank our lucky stars that there are no such threats. The Russian boogie man simply don't exist anymore, it's a propagandist fantasy living on amongst conservatives in a post cold war EU. Edit: And seriously, stop derailing a thread about the EU parliament with this Lazzies-Faire bullshit about Putin-is-totally-Hitler2.0.
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May 7, 2014 14:18
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Kurtofan posted:Putin is more of a conservative/nationalist's wet dream than their nightmare. Also talking about fantasy when it's happening right now in Ukraine on a major scale is pretty surreal. Eastern Europe has always been a hotbed for ethnic strife. Ukraine is no exception. To suggest that Putin or even Russia alone is the reason for all this is really turning a blind eye to obvious trends in history. Sure no doubt Putin has one or more fingers in this pie but it's not like pro-russian sentiment just magically appeared in Donetsk. It's been there for quite some time now and it was only a matter of time before it boiled over. The pro-EU majdan protests simply proved the right catalyst. Ukraine will probably be a topic for the EU elections but only really on the centre-right wing. Social Democrats and the Greens will have more important things to do like setting wage laws to prevent companies from exploiting eastern european labour.
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May 7, 2014 16:02
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Dropped my Vote in Sweden for the Social Democrats just now. Was concidering a tactical vote for the Greens or the Left-Wing party since they all have similar platforms. There was not alot of people at the ballot which was my old highschool, but the list looked fairly well used from what I saw. Some areas report as low turnout as 17% but that was in Rosengard which is a big place full of asylum seekers who don't really care about EU politics. Hopefully the Christian Democrats and the Center-Ayn-Rand-Wannabe party loose their seats today. I want a leap for the Opposition since many view this as a pre-run for the General election in September. I REALLY want Reinfeldt to sweat it out this summer. He so has to go now.
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May 25, 2014 16:00
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Smirr posted:Does anyone know why Italy close their voting at 23:00 CEST, making the rest of us wait for results? Besides stereotypes about lazy Italians. Something about wine and Sunday in May.
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May 25, 2014 16:37
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I'd like the point out that in the case for Sweden, the 9% Sweden Democrat result is basically they euroskeptic vote and anti schengen vote. Thats been their entire platform this whole election. I'm really happy about the bombshell Moderates getting knocked down to 13.5% and the Greens going to 15%, which is amazing. The intresting part is that the greens have gained and surpassed the Moderates in two key areas, Stockholm and Lund. Both are academic university cities where the right typically have a stronger foothold. If this is in any way indicative towards the general election trends which it usually is, we will most likely see a change of government this year. A Social Democrat and Green coalition government would be the perfect result.
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May 26, 2014 01:01
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Sistergodiva posted:Awesome, so now we will have a green party filled with rich people who feel guilty for their consumption. At least that's better than rich people who want to take the rest of the wealth they already stole from the people doing the real work. The rest of the country is firmly in the opposition camp. The only exceptions are traditionally Stockholm and Uppsala/Lund. I don't know where that explosion of yours came from but SD are kinda expected to make it in concidering that they made it into parliament and by any poll seem like they will stay. The greens biggest growth came from youths of about my generation, late 80's and onwards. The EU isn't heading anywhere nice thats for sure though.
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May 26, 2014 01:43
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Sistergodiva posted:If MP's growth is us (sup 89 buddy) then that's awesome, I guess I'm just pessimistic. Not saying there is a racist explosion or anything, it's just amazing how long we managed without that kind of loving trainwreck of a party considering Norway and Denmark. Oh yes don't get me wrong. But 8/10 times anti immigration in scandinavia is related to percieved threats to the welfare system by cheap labour and increased unemployment. Then there is the legitimate racists who think muslims and blacks are inferior and don't belong here etc but they are a minority and overrepresentated by young males on the internet. Then theres always young people of my age, 25ish, who spend to much time on the internet looking up militant atheist stuff alongside Geert Wildeers and think they have an informed opinion and just take on islam. Xenophobic opinion in the balkans though is very different. There you have a history of bitterness and even war centered around ethnicity so naturally the debate takes on a different tone there.
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May 26, 2014 02:31
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How the hell have I not seen that one before?
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May 26, 2014 16:18
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Torrannor posted:I don't get it The man talking is Stefan Löfven, leader of the Social Democrats. The young glasses guy is Jimmy Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats. They were formerly known as Preserve Sweden Swedish, a racist organisation. He's looking kinda thoughtful as you see the nazi banners march by when the picture fades out. Postorder Trollet89 fucked around with this message at 17:19 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 17:13
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Lagotto posted:There is a bit more to the succes of the German industry then just wage restraints. Their export succes is in large based on high quality products, with a lot of added value in the production chain. Incidently, this production value is added through highly specialized labor stemming from a specific culture of dual vocational training. Exactly this, our Social Democrats in Sweden have concidered a similar approach. We have alot of Engineers heading for retirement in the next 10 years, and so far the universities don't seem to be able to meet the quotas needed, so it's not like there are no jobs to be had but they will dissapear if something doesn't change soon. The problem is the current liberal goverments emphasis on tax cuts for the wealthy stopping all serious attempts to expand our higher educational capacity, which cost a ton of money. It's one of many reasons as to why we need the Social Democrats back in power by September.
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May 28, 2014 17:06
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Geriatric Pirate posted:If every purchase signaled that something is worth less than it is being sold for, how would financial markets exist? Because no rational sellers would sell anything. It's more than possible for companies to be properly valued. Now, IPOs and bringing companies public generally lead to outsize returns for initial investors (see: IPO discount for instance on wikipedia), but things go both ways and companies that are IPOed by private investors are just as likely to shoot up in price. Examples of when investors in privatizations got screwed: short term: BP 1987 secondary offering http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/29/business/us-underwriters-face-losses-on-bp-offering.html, long term: almost any national airline listing. Because shareholders are 9/10 times not motivated by a healthy national economy? Because they only ever care about short term profits? Because they only ever want to stuff as much money in their pockets as possible? How is this not clear to you?
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May 28, 2014 17:14
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Juan Carlos, king of Spain is abdicating I hear now. Not that it's entirely related but I wonder how the Spanish reacts to this.
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Jun 2, 2014 11:55
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Sure. But, the African Bush Elephant is not exactly a populus species. It's not like he went hunting wild boars which are essentially mammal locusts.
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Jun 4, 2014 12:48
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National holiday in full swing in Stockholm. More tourists seem to be on the celebrations than actual Swedes. http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/06/227164.htm quote:On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Sweden on the 205th anniversary of the adoption of your constitution. Nevermind the fact that it was replaced in 1974 because it DIDNT garantuee a democracy. It gave some compromises to the parliament but the king was still the head of state.
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Jun 6, 2014 09:23
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In other EU news: Communter trains are going on strike at midsummer in Stockholm as part of an ongoing dispute between the Unions and the Railway companies. It started in Malmö-Copenhagen because private Railway companies basically told everyone they'd have to reapply for their jobs as temps, since they don't want full time employees anymore. This is in spite of the fact that they'd end up working more hours for less pay, with competition from temp agencies with awful job security. Not only is this illegal in the EU, Our PM is entertaining Cameron and Merkel to solve the power struggle regarding whom gets the job of EU Comissioner. And it's not like the economy is doing badly either, fortunately popular support for the strikers is big. Meanwhile Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asks Angela Merkel for advice so he won't be out of a job after the election...
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Jun 10, 2014 15:44
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Cat Mattress posted:Really? It's not allowed no, and Sweden has been embarassed several times by being reprimended by the EU comission for this since it was introduced in 2007. Temp employment stacking is everywhere but is by far the worst in the restauraunt/retail industry. The way the law works now you can hire someone as a temp for 4-12 weeks, fire them and rehire them indefinitely. It's a major Issue for this election and reinfelds Coalition is under by almost 15-20% in every opinion poll thus far and the Social Democrats have promised to "Butcher" that law. VICE did a good report about temp labour abuse in warehouses in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbqD6ARCGNE Our situation is similar but we still have collective bargining ensuring decent hourly wages atleast. Postorder Trollet89 fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 22:14
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Falukorv posted:Talking about conflicts of interest, it really amazes me how lax Sweden is with this, despite it's reputation. As you might have heard, Sweden is in a midst of a large privatization of the school and healthcare sectors. Free choice, private enterprise streamlining the process and supplying the public with what it demands and all that jazz. This. By every indication we're going to see a shift away from this after the election since it's unlikely the conservatives gets to keep governing.
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Jun 12, 2014 11:05
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Mans posted:That's the beauty of it all. SYRIZA's proposals are barely different from what is proposed by the EU, they just want to put an hold on cannibalizing their own citizens but are generally fine with the rest of the neoliberal economic policies. I think you guys are very quick to forget that they are in coalition with a right wing populist party.
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Jun 22, 2015 13:09
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New Division posted:It would probably would be best to sit on that anti-Syriza sentiment until after the referendum if you are an EU politician. Nothing inflames nationalist resentment like the feeling that you are being dictated to by foreign powers. Since when did a conservative led Germany ever have tact when it comes to respecting democratic sovereignty? I'm starting to really hate Merkel over this whole thing. I couldn't care less if its Putin and the goddamn Ayatollah who end up bailing Greece out at this point, they don't deserve this poo poo. I couldn't be happier with Sweden turning down the clusterfuck that is the EMU Postorder Trollet89 fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jul 1, 2015 |
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Jul 1, 2015 01:32
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Anosmoman posted:This is not Merkel being an rear end in a top hat on her own. It's practically all the electorates and governments of Europe very much not wanting to give Greece money. It's so easy to point to one single villain but it's simply not true. If Merkel suddenly had a change of heart it wouldn't magically change the realities of German politics - or French, Finnish etc. The EU is fine really, the problem is that the Euro requires a federation to really function well, the greece taxation system is not centralized or run by a government authority which creates a ton of tax evasion that would otherwise not happen. But I'm not surprised it's heading this way now, really. This whole thing was basically Helmut Kohls vanity project from the very beginning. Here's a hillarious anecdote from former swedish prime minister, Göran Persson, about the start of the Euro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEUTn1_dTQM I dunno if there are english subtitles there, but if you are Swedish it's a good watch.
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Jul 1, 2015 07:04
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A Buttery Pastry posted:I was not talking only of Greece though, something like the Swedish model should have been used on any European bank which was at risk of going under. The wikipedia article in english had a pretty good summary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_banking_rescue Though, I would not call nationalizations and tax hikes neoliberal, if anything it's oldschool keynesianism. Sure there was Austerity as part of the Swedish solution, but unlike Merkel and her gang of idiots, it's not coupled with tax cuts for the wealthy and a complete lack of any real institutional reform.
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Jul 5, 2015 17:47
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axeil posted:Isn't the ECB's inflation target something insane too like 2%? Just ticking up to 4 or 5% would help alleviate a lot of the issues PIIGS are having. The fact that a 4% inflation target is unthinkable is unbelievable. The ECB is a vanity project of German conservatives anyway, so it should not surprise you that inflation is a major focus.
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Jul 6, 2015 03:38
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Al-Saqr posted:I admit, this is a very excellent and brave choice by Varoufakis, he stood aside when Syriza was given a huge historical victory so that the crybabies at the creditors (who are no doubt intimidated by him) wont have a silly excuse to reject Syrizas initiatives due to personal vendettas. This is good timing on his part. Syriza is removing any excuses from the opposing side. I loving love that guy. It's not like he's resiging because he's pissed off at Tsipras, he knows it's just the fat fucks at the ECB who will use any excuse they can find to freeze negotiations after this no vote.
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Jul 6, 2015 07:45
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Einbauschrank posted:How comes everbody suddenly "remembers" 1953 and forgets about 2012, when more than 100 billions in debts were written off? Germany came to London with a cooperative government and the clear will to change its ways. Do you think the Allies would have left Germany of the hook if they had elected a bunch of radical clowns on motorbikes whose biggest promise was to piss down the Allies neck? They would never have been elected if it handn't been for German pipe dreams on how the bailout would work anyway, so what's your point?
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Jul 6, 2015 08:40
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GaussianCopula posted:The Nazi party actually was called Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei(National Socialist German Workers' Party) which can be explained by the fact that the far left and far right often have similar ideas, as can be seen by the FN and UKIP applauding SYRIZA.  How about no. Good god Hitler spent his entire youth hating communism, if you read what he wrote in Mein Kampf he talks about invading the USSR from a freaking jailcell ontop of wanting to "solve the contradictions of the french revolution." He joined the NSDAP and changed it to fit his race fixated nationalist mold very early on, the socialist and class struggle elements were essentially gone by the time of the Beer Hall Putsch. The only idea radical leftists and right wingers share is the idea that the status quo is wrong and needs throrough change, that's it. Postorder Trollet89 fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 16:01
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Grouchio posted:You know for all of your perceived gloating about how stupid America is and how socially superior you Euros are, it seems you're more like us than you think. No wonder they all support Trump. You can have em if you want.
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Feb 21, 2016 15:17
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