Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

@ehBeth,

Quote:

The CIA revelations shed new light on the timing and content of last week’s unusual public speech by the head of Britain’s MI6, Alex Younger. In remarks that were plainly directed at Russia, Younger said the UK and other European democracies faced a “fundamental threat” from hostile states employing cyber-attacks, propaganda and “subversion of the democratic process”.

“The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty. They should be a concern to all those who share democratic values,” Younger warned.

Since MI6 is likely to have known in advance about the CIA’s latest findings concerning Moscow’s role in Trump’s election, there will be speculation that Younger was basing his statements, in part, on suspicions of Russian meddling in Britain’s Brexit referendum campaign.

Putin’s government was widely seen as favouring Brexit, as a way of assisting its long-term strategic aim of weakening and dividing Europe and Nato. Any evidence of direct or indirect Russian interference in the British referendum campaign would be politically explosive.

Source: Russian involvement in US vote raises fears for European elections

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote Guardian:

Quote:

Any evidence of direct or indirect Russian interference in the British referendum campaign would be politically explosive.

Well I sure hope the Brits are smarter than the Americans on this. So far, the only reaction that's coming out in America is "I don't know nuttin' 'bout Russia but that Hillary is a bitch".

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@ehBeth,

Given all the stuff going on with our U.S. election and with Brexit, I'm so horrified (though understand Brexit less fully) that in lieu of sobbing all day long, I have to roll my eyes and laugh a bit while I still can. T'aint funny, McGee, I say to myself.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

Younger said the UK and other European democracies faced a “fundamental threat” from hostile states employing cyber-attacks, propaganda and “subversion of the democratic process”.

You know that Rupert Mudrock has been found guilty (in court) of this in Europe, the UK, the US of A, and Australia, but not a word is said about that.

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It really seems that the UK government has no Brexit-strategy, and that leading Brexiters do not agree among themselves. (They have pushed the prime minister into a position where she is finding it difficult to cope.)

It's hard to get what really will be done - from paying a price for retaining some of the current advantages of EU membership over flexibility on migration to a special arrangement with Ireland and exluding (or not) Gibraltar ....

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@Walter Hinteler,

UK naive to expect easy ride in Brexit trade talks, says Lords report[/b]

The cross-party group of the House of Lords accuses the government of misunderstanding nature of free trade and overestimating negotiating position.

“The notion that a country can have complete regulatory sovereignty while engaging in comprehensive free trade with partners is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of free trade,” said the cross-party group of peers.

Quote:

The report, the second of six parliamentary studies on the mechanics of Brexit out this week, also accuses the government of underestimating the consequences of its limited negotiating position.

“We recognise that the government is engaging with industry stakeholders but are not convinced that the level of engagement and expertise within government are commensurate with the scale of this unprecedented task, particularly given the government’s commitment to trigger article 50 by the end of March 2017,” wrote the Lords’ EU internal market and EU external affairs sub-committees.

Two graphs from the above linked Guardian-report:

Quote:

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

It really seems that the UK government has no Brexit-strategy,

Hi Walt!

I suspect procrastination is their strategy. They'll drag their feet for as long as they can, years perhaps, hoping SOMETHING, ANYTHING happens to save them from their self-imposed exile.

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@Olivier5,

They're going to start feeling it in their pocket book soon enough to realize their mistake.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

That's assuming they ACTUALLY get out one day. I'll believe it when I see it.

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@Olivier5,

Olivier5 wrote:

I suspect procrastination is their strategy.

From the first day of May's premiership, it has been clear she wants to kick it up the road.

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@contrex,

The problem with that is that markets hate uncertainty, so it amounts to dragging the EU down with the UK.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Sorry, contrex, I'm not clear in this case what 'kick it up the road' means: is it that May perhaps secretly wants Brexit to go away, dissolving in time (maybe that would be 'kick it down the road', or, as in both US and world football, wants Leave to win well and somehow on soft UK terms. Could you clarify for this US person - not meaning this as a challenge, I just want to understand the word usage.

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

Cross posted; I do agree re that, a kind of double trouble developed by one side.

1 Reply

@ossobucotemp,

ossobucotemp wrote:

Sorry, contrex, I'm not clear in this case what 'kick it up the road' means

You can kick an inconvenient issue or problem (or "the can") up (or down) the road. Grammarist says ""kick the can down the road" is... "a ubiquitous phrase in American politics over the last few years, [and] is not a reference to the game of kick the can. It refers to the practice of kicking a can ahead of oneself while walking along a road. So, metaphorically, the phrase means to defer conclusive action with a short-term solution. "

Business Insider:

" it will be tempting for Johnson (or whoever replaces Cameron) to kick the can down the road a bit. Perhaps he’ll announce a blue-ribbon commission—with experts on European law, and trade policy, and representatives of all the sectors of British industry—to “determine exactly what it is that we’re going to be seeking and in what timescale.” (Such a dilatory strategy would benefit from the fact that EU law is incredibly tedious; everyone would start ignoring the discussion very quickly.)"

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Maybe it's a Brit vs USA thing... in Britain we kick an issue or the can "up the road" about as often as we kick it "down the road".

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@contrex,

aha!
Defer, that's clear.

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Things also get "kicked into the long grass".

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@contrex,

I like that one a lot.

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@ossobucotemp,

Correction: developed by one side of one side.

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One of the striking happenings in these situations, to me, is that as I take it some in the close vote re Brexit were (perhaps) ill informed or not, a usual matter in politics of any kind,

and, the US election - talk about close vote - is like a dying cabbage salad; as boisterous as we have become lately, apparently it's toss the salad time.

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Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

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