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Edited by Mrph1 on Jan 9th 2024 at 3:24:05 PM
A procrastination in of itself
It seems to miss the main point of the EU and its biggest success, stopping Europe going to war with itself.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Field Marshal of Cracked
that cannot be overstated, this is longest period of uninterrupted peace in (western, fucking Russia) European history that has NOT been brought about by one military power holding a big stick over everyone else's heads (Pax Romana, Pax Britannia)
advancing the front into TV Tropes
V
Although the Reuters article does touch on something important, a backlash against Globalisation:
Globalization, as it’s increasingly interpreted by those hostile to its supposed effects, is charged with the destruction of communities and traditions — including those “traditions” created in Soviet times. Poles have just elected the right-wing Law and Justice Party, whose members think globalization is a destructive force. Switzerland, still something of an idyll of order and beauty, also swung right on fears of being swamped by migrants, few of whom it has allowed across its borders.
The simultaneous collapse of countries in the Middle East and Africa and the creation, by the desperate refugees and the vultures who transport them across the Mediterranean, of a “migrant railway” that now pumps thousands into Europe every month, has changed Europe. It has been a gift to the far-right parties, which have soared to leadership in the polls in several countries. This includes even liberal Sweden, where anti-migrant hostility has reached alarming heights. Several temporary shelters for migrants have been burned, and a 21-year-old dressed as Darth Vader took a sword into a school that many migrants attend and killed a teacher and a student, wounding several others.
In Italy, the Northern League has become the main party of the right, prompting its leader, Matteo Salvini, to tell Pope Francis that he’s wrong to say that Europe should welcome the migrants. This marked a lèse-majesté unthinkable for any Italian party leader to indulge in even a year ago.
The liberal heroine of the times is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: come one, come all — Germany will accommodate you! She’s been forced to roll back on that sentiment, which had prompted hushed dissent from her European neighbors who feared her generosity would result in a greater flood of migrants into the region.
Otherwise, there will probably be major violence, and probably a Revolution or two.
Keep Rolling On
So, things have been changing in an interesting way.
The PS, the Left Bloc and the CDU (Communists+Greens) have signed agreements between them to: a) vote against the government coalition and their program (which would lead to either a government-in-management, or would lead our "mummy" of a president to choose the leader of PS to form a government). The big vote in the Parliament to decide whether the government coalition stays or not (as well as the confirmation or refusal of the president's choice of Prime Minister) is happening today, as I write this. The motions are currently being presented to the rest of the Parliament.
Some things that happened today:
- Syriza said they are very satisfied with what has just happpened here;
- The agreements between the PS and the PCP and the PS and the Left Bloc were signed behind closed doors in the new building of the Assembly of the Republic;
- There's currently a manifestation of protest against the PS and support for the government coalition. Also, there's a manifestation by the CGTP (one of the two big unions/syndicates of workers) - the police is on high alert for a possible clash;
- Paulo Portas (leader of the CDS and vice-prime minister of the government coalition) has challenged the leader of PS (António Costa) for elections, in a provocative way;
- A PS deputy claimed to be physically assaulted by folks of the pro-coalition movement I mentioned a few lines above - she also claims to have received verbal abuse ('die, bitch!'). She was apparently saved by a security guy who put himself/herself between her and the group;
- The Finance minister, Maria Luís Albuquerque, has threatened/warned of a fourth bailout, probably in order to induce some fearmongering in the markets and in the opposition parties. It seems to be working judging by how the stock exchange is in the red today.
Live updates (in Portuguese) here.
In other news, Helmut Schmidt has died aged 96.
edited 10th Nov '15 7:30:52 AM by Quag15
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
A few months ago, Portugal would have made headlines in Germany. But now that the refugee has a firm grip on public interest and the fact that a prrevious chancellor died today, I found it somewhat difficult to find a detailed German article on this matter. I really don't know how German politicians will react to this, but I doubt that tey'll be pleased.
Well, at least all this that is going on will give us some time before being pressured.
Anyway, the motion of rejection has been approved in the Parliament (123 votes in favour, 107 against). The government coalition of these previous years has fallen. We're now gonna have to wait for the President's future choice and statement.
This is the shortest government/mandate of the current Republic ever - 12 days.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Really, the government shouldn't have been appointed, but that's because it took too long for the left factions to unite.
But yeah. After this, it will only take the Spanish elections and all of the mediterranean countries will be left-run, and rather tilt the balance in Europe, since you have Mediterranean+France against Germany, Britain, and the East (with Poland and Hungary causing trouble from the right). The Italian leftists are definitely in with France as pro-status quo, however, which could shift power to France to provide unity leadership with a carrot rather than Germany's attempts to beat the Greeks senseless with a stick.
A procrastination in of itself
The UK is largely staying out of the Euro fight anyway, it's not our issue, especially as while our right wing might agree with the economics they don't agree with the politics of Europe wide economics. This may even hold if we go to the left, as our left isn't entirely pro-EU either.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Party Crasher
How are the local media over in Portugal taking this? Last time something similar happened in Greece, there was a lot of fearmongering about futher austerity, getting kicked out of the euro, leaving the EU, "global isolation", national emergency, the Plagues of Egypt falling upon us and whatnot.
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
The thing is, if the left parties hadn't united (keep in mind that there are still divergences in some areas between the different parties), the government coalition would have the perfect legitimacy to be appointed (since they got the most votes in the elections).
There is a fair share of fearmongering (coming from the more right-wing media, naturally), but nothing on the scale you guys had to deal with. At least yet. There is the fear of a loss of what little we gained in these past 2 years and the possibility of a fourth bailout.
The more left-wing media are being partly cautious with shades of euphoria. That being said, the fact that the PS and the Communists have managed to sign an agreement (considering that, 40 years ago, there was a massive hate between them, in the post-Revolution climate) is, on its own, impressive, and will give hope to the Communists and the Left Bloc of having some proper government experience, at last.
The insanity is mostly to be found within social media, where there is a complete polarization, and a lot of insults going on, on both sides (with the more right-wing people posting pictures of the Portuguese flag in black, as in, "we're mourning Portugal", and the more left-wing people praising democracy, since, you know, it suits them (a friend of mine who's a Marxist feminist even went to the point of praising "uncle Jerónimo" (Jerónimo de Sousa has been the leader/biggest representative of the Communist party, since the 90's, I think).
Let's just say things are gettting really interesting over here. Some political analysts are even talking of a new phase in this democracy.
edited 12th Nov '15 7:28:29 AM by Quag15
I heard there were protests of "Fascismo, nunca mais!" note regarding the whole affair... Were people accusing a parliamentary majority of being fascist, or were they saying the coalition was the fascist side? Heck if I know, this is possibly the least fascist political crisis we've had in decades 
Talk about an inappropriate use of the phrase.
I usually have a hard time telling which publications are left leaning or right leaning, they all seem to give too much focus to the same people (yes, Sócrates, I'm looking at you). The bias usually comes from specific people with specific opinions, from what I've seen.
Either way, it's an interesting issue we have, here. Holding new elections seems unlikely, due to the presidential elections coming up, so who knows what'll happen in the coming months/weeks. The presidential elections might actually matter, for once
edited 12th Nov '15 6:52:54 AM by JonnasN
V
Merkel, under fire over refugees, says "I'm fighting for my vision"
Infighting in Merkel's ruling coalition and a unilateral decision by her interior minister on asylum policy have raised questions about the chancellor's leadership, though coalition sources have dismissed speculation of a "putsch" against her.
A poll for television station ZDF on Friday showed a narrow majority of Germans believed Merkel was doing a bad job of handling the refugee crisis.
Critics say her accommodating message in August that "we can do this" - responding to wrenching scenes of refugees faced with border closures and popular hostility in trying to enter some EU states - have spurred migrants to pour into Germany in ever larger numbers, overwhelming the resources of local authorities.
The 61-year-old chancellor struck a defiant tone when interviewed for a ZDF programme headlined 'What now Frau Merkel?'
"The chancellor has the situation under control ... I have my vision and I will fight for it," she said, adding that she wanted to address the root causes of the refugees' flight and to better protect the European Union's outer borders.
Asked if she was ready to risk her office over her policy on the refugee crisis, Merkel replied: "No, I have so much to do at the moment," adding a slight laugh. "I am available for voters for this legislative period."
Merkel will complete 10 years in office later this month.
Subject to rapid-fire questions by two interviewers over half an hour, Merkel insisted: "I am not the first chancellor who had to fight for something."
But, it's looking like things are beginning to fall apart:
Local authorities are struggling to cope with the influx and the 'welcome culture' that Germany projected over the summer has soured as concerns mount about how to manage the new arrivals.
Tensions within Merkel's conservative bloc worsened this week after it emerged that Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere tried to tighten controls three weeks ago without informing Merkel or her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, whom she charged with overseeing the government's handling of the refugee crisis.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a veteran political heavyweight in Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), ratcheted up the strain further on Wednesday by calling the refugee influx an avalanche and suggesting it was started by "a careless skier".
Asked whether she could face questions about her party's trust in her at a CDU conference next month, Merkel responded matter-of-factly: "This is not about a question of trust."
"This is about me fighting, fighting for the plan I have to tackle the causes of the refugee flight," she told ZDF.
Merkel batted away a question about Schaeuble's avalanche comments, praising him as being "a class of his own."
She insisted Germany must send home those migrants who have no right to stay. Berlin is turning away migrants from other European countries but has been welcoming of Syrian refugees.
In August, Germany decided to waive for Syrian refugees the European Union's Dublin rules, which oblige migrants to request asylum in the first EU country they arrive in. It has since toned down that welcome.
Merkel said it was a pleasure to tackle what she described as Germany's biggest challenge since reunification in 1990, and vowed to press ahead with her plans to beef up the EU's outer borders and to tackle the roots of the refugee crisis.
"I think we can do this," she said, sticking to the catchphrase she has deployed throughout the crisis.
V
More Deaths in France: At least 10 killed as train derails during testing in eastern France
Another 32 people were injured, 12 seriously. Five more people were unaccounted for, as it was not clear whether they had actually boarded.
Environment Minister Segolene Royal said at the scene that the 49 people believed to be on board the trial run had included not only staff from the SNCF railway but also their family members and other guests.
The accident was caused by excessive speed, although it was too early to say why the train was going that fast, the prefecture said.
Royal also said that sabotage had been all but ruled out. But the accident jarred nerves coming less than a day after gunmen and suicide bombers killed 129 people in waves of attacks in Paris.
Pictures from a Reuters photographer at the scene of the train accident showed the locomotive partly submerged in a canal alongside the tracks with other parts lying broken and detached in a field beside the track. Medical units including police divers were on the scene.
The second section of the Paris-Strasbourg high-speed TGV line on which the crash happened is set to open for service in April 2016.
These things are gonna affect France's tourism (and the economy, consequently)...
HGW XX/7
More worried that we'll see a resurgent far-right to be honest. Worried that the madness is slowly coming back to Europe.
edited 14th Nov '15 5:03:19 PM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Hopefully not too many if not none of the attackers got in with the refugee surge. Le droit distant will be pissed either way, but if they were nominally refugees, it could result in a surge of fearful deportations or camps.
edited 14th Nov '15 8:36:49 PM by Artificius
"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."
Considering most of these right-wing nuts are also anti-EU, I'm extremely worried about that.
I think you're right, considering that supposedly Poland and Bulgaria are now taking advantage of this and are closing their borders and that there's a lot of polarization going on in the media discourse (this is verifiable even in my country's media, where some commentators are adhering openly to a 'clash of values/civilizations' narrative - and I'm not gonna talk about social media any further - there were only a couple of decent posts from 2 or 3 friends of mine).
As someone said on Reddit, this is being used as cover for policies that the right-wing governments over there have been trying to implement for a long time and as a motive for a lot of people (who we didn't knew were bigots) now feeling comfortable with airing a lot of poisonous comments (anti-Muslims, anti-Arab, anti-religion in general, etc.).
edited 14th Nov '15 8:48:28 PM by Quag15
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
@Artificius
- The Police Nationale reports one of the dead hostiles may have masqueraded as a refugee. So that's bringing a new spotlight to it.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Party Crasher
Typical. How many were this time? 300, 400? Did it reach a four digit number? How much more refugees 'till all 312,679 km of Poland get swamped?
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
The sad thing is that if we react that way, the people who lay bombs and spread hatred win. And I refuse to let them win!
I also really tired of people who claim that they protect "their culture". Which culture? Are we still celebrating pagan holidays? Kind of, but most of them have become Christian holidays and are now turning into secular holidays. In fact, the American Media has done more damage to "our culture" than any immigrant ever could.
Truth is that societies develop. Traditions get adjusted and sometime discarded, new traditions take their place. That is perfectly normal. And we are not Native Americans. Nobody turns up and steals our land. Our population is still much bigger than the number of people who have a right for asylum.
The actual problem is that few countries treat refugees and Asylum seeker as well as Sweden and Germany do, so they have to clean up the mess while the other countries pretend that they never signed the Geneva convention.
It's less about the people, but the ideology they represent.
Along with fears that they'll outbreed everyone and take hold of institutions and enslaving us all etc.
Europe just really hates outsiders. A proud tradition.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
You're right about most things. Just one historical nitpick:
As I've said in another thread a few days ago, the only thing in common between the pagan holidays and the Christian holidays is pretty much the date. Saturnalia and the birth of Christ are completetly different things.
In fact, not even the dates match. Saturnalia was celebrated in the 17th of December of the Julian calendar, while Christmas is celebrated in the 25th of December of the Gregorian calendar (the case is different in the Orthodox countries, where they still use the Julian calendar, and whose Christmas date is also not on the same day that Saturnalia was held.
Too many people fall into the trap of presentism. Don't be one of them, please.
edited 15th Nov '15 6:00:01 AM by Quag15
I was more referring to certain traditions we follow around Christmas, like using plants which are green during Wintertime for decoration (the Christmas tree is naturally younger, but the use of said plants can be followed back to the antique) or the believe that there is something Magical about Mistletoe. There is also Carnival and Eastern.
And there are even Pagan holidays which are still getting celebrated, like Midsummer.
I am Christian. That doesn't mean that I am also catholic (I am not), that I am against homosexuality (and aren't most people who are against it using the Christian believe as one reason for it?) or any other nonsense some offshoots of my religion might come up with.
edited 15th Nov '15 7:16:02 AM by Swanpride
edited 4th Nov '15 7:02:33 AM by DrunkenNordmann
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.