Brexit - the best Xmas gift I could have hoped for!

At last, at last, just as I was worrying that I might die before my country regained its independence, we managed to break free!  For me, it truly is the very best Xmas gift I could wish for!  No more of those snooty, Brit-hating French telling us what to do, or those haughty Germans telling us what we must  not do!  After what seems like forever, we are free again!  Yes, of course, we will almost certainly make 'a pig's ear' of it because that is the traditional British way - just check our exceedingly chequered history!  But, they will be our mistakes, our errors and now we will be free to correct them through the Parliamentary system which we developed on our own to suit ourselves.  Positively, the very best political Xmas present I have ever received, apart from the German surrender 10 days before my Birthday in 1945!

Finally, my very best wishes to you all and I hope you enjoy an excellent Christmas!

 

 

Comments

[Bob]

Congratulations, David, and many happy returns. Just watched Boris's remarks on the deal and have two immediate reactions:

1. He looked more nervous than happy.

2. It seems Brexit has largely become a government subsidy to the agricultural and fishing industries.

[Loz]

Singapore-on-Thames was first best, we didn't get that.

Full membership of the EU was second best, we didn't get that.

In between the two were a range of options, all third best or worse.

But we did choose the least worst of the third best or worse range of options.

Something to celebrate, I guess.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

SoD

[Wigner’s Friend]

SoD,

When did you get to read the deal? Obvs you are a quick study! I heard we only got the deal cos we agreed to keep Scotland.

[Wigner’s Friend]

Have as good a Christmas as possible one and all.

[JK]

Merry Christmas All

(Meandering around I arrived on something I initially hesitated to link to, but then carefully crafting the possible preambles I figured, what the heck, it was their government with whom we disagreed. Plus the fact that it was actually German mercenaries being targeted that night ...

https://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-note-of-caution.html

[Whitewall]

Brexit-yes! Details?

[Andra]

Very good. As usual the Brits come through at the last minute.
on ya Boris!
Merry Christmas to you all.

[djm]

All the best to you & yours(*) DD

(*) even SoD

I'm off to bathe in remainiac tears but will leave you with the thought that Treaties are for interpretation & guidance.......not for obedience.

[Uncle Mort]

Merry Christmas and here's to a less crazy 2021. Brexit and the vaccines could be a good start. We'll see.

[Whyaxye]

Rejoice, it's excellent news indeed.

Happy Christmas to all who post here.

[AussieD]

A Merry Christmas to all who visit the "word of Duffers" and I trust you have a healthy 2021.

Brexit? Well done that country. Free to make your own mistakes as we all must from time to time.

[Glesga]

Bob, you seem despondent that a nation has retained all its sovereignty. You Yanks have been imperialists far to long. David you, your Mrs and family have a good Xmas. Best wishes to all who contribute on this site. Lang may yer lum reek.

[Loz]

It's a free trade deal, Wiggers, zero tariffs and zero quotas.

That puts it third in the pecking order ...

1. Multi Market (Singapore-on-Thames)
2. Single Market (EU)
3. Free Trade
4. Mercantilism

Maggie's Single Market was a mere twinkle in Adam Smith's eyes, and SoD's Multi Market beyond his wildest dreams. Blighty has stepped down from silver to bronze on the podium.

Question now is: Can Blighty survive the relentless expansion of the state that made her a failed state by the end of the 1945-79, pre-Maggie, pre-Single Market period, that will no doubt return now the state is unfettered from Maggie's Single Market?

With blue, yellow, and red Socialists across the pol board, and a culture of bossy boots collectivisation - democracy trumping Liberty at every turn, "we-we-we", rather than "me-me-me" - in the peeps, I think not.

SoD

[Bob]

Glesga,

First, Merry Christmas. "Despondent" isn't fair at all. I don't actually have a dog in the Brexit fight. In addition to David, sincere congratulations to everyone else who wanted Brexit.

I've done a little reading on the deal, and suspect Boris's emphasizing agriculture and fishing in his announcement was a typical politician's move. We'll see what the British peeps think soon enough.

[JK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCsVp6hRTsA

[Loz]

You should have a dog in the fight, Bob. The US just lost its Trojan horse, proxy operator, in Europe. The whingeing of the NYT knows no bounds ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/world/europe/brexit-uk-tories.amp.html

Brexit is a disaster for US foreign policy. You've got to figure out this cranky island's political trajectory as well as the Kaiserin's from now on. You can't rely on Blighty as your puppet in Europe, either in defence or economics, any more. We'll take Chinese nuclear energy, Vlad's dodgy cash into the city, and sign a deal with Iran, or any angle that benefits the short term gain of a Brit administration. Perfidious Albion is back. Just wait 'til you get a Labour administration, you'll know the meaning of dissonance soon enough. The Western family with Uncle Sam as head of the house is over.

And you ain't big enough to do the global policeman role on your own, you only managed it with the feudal hierarchy of Western allies towing your line. The revolution is complete now. We'll watch from the sidelines as you try to tackle Vlad, the Mad Mullahs, and Ping-a-Ling on your own - as we sign up for finance, oil, and nuclear from those players respectively, with Merkel's Europe doing likewise.

Meanwhile your fomenting civil war at home will sap what little resource you have for shoring up a coherent foreign policy.

The Don smelt the coffee, Sleepy Joe ain't gotta clue.

SoD

[Loz]

Notice how Russia and China are pulling together already? ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/22/russia-and-china-fly-joint-bomber-patrol-over-the-pacific

The Don had the sassy sense to persuade Vlad he was Uncle Sam's best mate, thereby holding back the Sino-Russian embrace (as well as getting his social media campaign for re-election paid for in roubles for free).

Sleepy Joe hasn't even taken office yet, yet his mere stance has cemented a dangerous enemy alliance against the US. Who have you got in the feudal pyramid now to face off Russia and China in SE Asia? Oz, South Korea, and Japan. Good luck with that one. And Russia and Iran in the ME? Israel and Saudi Arabia. But only if a resolute alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia of confrontation against Iran and Russia in the ME is sustained, but that disappeared with the Don. Sleepy Joe is, well, Sleepy Joe.

Not sure if Uncle Sam quite realizes how rubber ducked he is.

SoD

[Glesga]

Loz, Russia and China have been conducting massive joint military exercises. Just passing the time I suppose in case Estonia invades.

[Bob]

Just wait 'til you get a Labour administration, you'll know the meaning of dissonance soon enough.

SoD, I'm a bit surprised you haven't noticed over the past several years that I live in America. Just wait 'til you get a Labour administration. As I recall, the '70's were just kind of stupid over here: disco, Vietnam winding down to an inglorious close, Jimmy Carter, and so on.

I really don't know what you mean about whinging in the NYT piece. It predicts a lot of whinging where you live. We have problems of our own to whine about.

[Bob]

Btw, SoD, I think the "world policeman" schtick was pretty much over for the US a few years ago. After all, our government's position has not been pro-Brexit in any form other than tweets and rally rhetoric. We're low on funds and have a lot of domestic damage to fix. You might have read about the Rooskies hacking a yuuuge amount of sensitive information from our military and corporations lately. It's not hard to imagine a number of years until we can take care of our own patch of the planet. I don't think you're the type to respond "Russia, Russia, Russia", but a rude noise in the general direction of anyone who does.

[Glesga]

Bob, poor Jimmy Carter the Peanut Farmer and the futile attempt to free the hostages. You Yanks should have invaded Iran but were weak with the Vietnam fiasco. The music will be faced sometime.

[Loz]

Btw, SoD, I think the "world policeman" schtick was pretty much over for the US a few years ago.

You may have thought that, but the Dems didn't. Obama believed in the old order, went positive on Remain in public, "Back of the queue for a deal", remember?

The Don smelt the coffee like you, and had a coherent plan to realign alliances and keep Uncle Sam with the sheriff's badge.

He knew he had four years to silo Rocketman, whack the Mad Mullahs, wallop Assad and Vlad with Dirty Erdy, and make an alliance between Israel and Saudi to keep the ME in his orbit. He did the lot, full house, in four years.

Next four years: catch the Brits falling out of Europe and bring them into the alliance to front China with Oz and SE Asia. Maybe twist the euros' arms too, leverage China's Covid negligence to pull them in. Keep Dirty Erdy on Vlad and Assad's arse, and Israel and Saudi on the Mad Mullahs arses. Post-Blighty in the EU, post-NATO, with the old feudal order in ruins these new alliances might have held the line. It was at least coherent.

The line's broken now. A senile old fart with a socialist second fiddle. The future belongs to Vlad, the Mad Mullahs, and Ping-a-Ling.

Sauve qui peut ...

https://youtu.be/7DqvweTYTI0

SoD

[Hank]

David

I suppose you've seen this.

https://youtu.be/IvY-Abd2FfM

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

[Loz]

It was brilliant, Hank, but like their BLM / Antifa bossy-booted counterparts telling us what to think and who to like and not to like, there was a bossy-boots reaction from royalist Nationalist right wingers demanding it be banned for insulting the dignity of her Maj.

Left, right and centre all laying down the law in Gulag Blighty. Sums up Blighty's future really, like "A boot stamping on a human face - forever".

SoD

[Bob]

Glesga,

I shouldn't have left out Nixon and Ford. "So why don't you and him fight" is easy to say, but no one but the nuttiest of neocons believes the US should invade Iran. They're a real country with real armed forces. Iraq was a mess and still cost trillions and thousands of lives with the final outcome making Iran and Russia stronger.

SoD,

How was The Don's "foreign policy" successful? His exchange of love letters with Kim, who's continued his weapons program apace? His refusal to acknowledge Putin's bad acting? His attempt to pull all forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan that's being worked around by the Pentagon? His few hundred miles of border wall Mexico didn't pay for? You probably just have a wicked sense of humor, but you could be delusional.

[Backofanenvelope]

When it was decided to liberate Kuwait, a document arrived in London analysing the war between Iraq and Iran. It showed that both countries had typical third world armies. Badly led, badly trained and poorly equipped with low morale. The US led alliance still amassed an enormous force that destroyed the Iraqi army in less than a week.

[JK]

https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/u-s-launches-50-tomahawk-cruise-missiles-at-syrian-government-targets/

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2017/12/23/us-agrees-to-send-lethal-weapons-to-ukraine-angering-russia/

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19335/american-general-in-syria-confirms-us-forces-killed-hundreds-of-russians-in-massive-battle

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/11/628137937/president-trump-criticizes-germany-for-pipeline-deal-with-russia

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-sanctions-trump-administration-targets-russians-over-attempted-2018-election-interference/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-orders-withdrawal-of-us-forces-from-northern-syria-days-after-pentagon-downplays-possibility/2019/10/13/83087baa-edbb-11e9-b2da-606ba1ef30e3_story.html

As for Mr. Eewn Bob, North Korean geography lesson time!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html

(You'll be noticing that not only do the Norklands share a border with Ping A Ling but as well, Russia?)

"His attempt to pull all forces out of [forever wars] that's being worked around by the Pentagon?"

https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/article-2/11-the-president-as-commander-of-the-armed-forces.html

If the US still paid any attention to the Constitution there'd be many courts-martials taking place on many Pentagon Poohbahs as we type.

Alas we only fully realize now and only, or at least largely because of Trump's beating Hillary, the Constitution, as well the Republic itself, is a dead letter.

Historians at some quite distant point will have to assign some period as to when the Republic as a Republic began its descent but I at least would suggest to 'em a good spot to begin is with the passage of the *Patriot Act and its nullification of the Fourth Amendment.

[JK]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/12/china-suffers-worst-power-blackouts-in-a-decade-after-banning-australian-coal/

Brilliant Australia.

(Then again Hunter Biden being the 'energy expert' may see opportunity illumining opportunities to further his & Dad's interests.)

[Bob]

JK,

Trump has some accomplishments of debatable importance, and he can't be blamed for not sorting out the mess in the Middle East, but geography has nothing to do with his failures in NK. Like it or not, any progress there has been made by putting various forms of pressure on China, and he disengaged. And how do you explain his refusal to recognize the SolarWinds hack?

You're exaggerating the decline and fall of America. The Patriot Act is terrible, but just one more step toward the neoliberal oligarchic corporatocracy that was begun in the late '70's and moved to the highest priorities in the '80's. People are beginning to see it for what it is. We've changed direction plenty of times before.

[Whitewall]

OT, seriously, AussieD if you happen by:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/12/china-suffers-worst-power-blackouts-in-a-decade-after-banning-australian-coal/#comments

[JK]

"And how do you explain his refusal to recognize the SolarWinds hack?"

It is, is it not Bob, 'public knowledge'?

(And anyway Bob, why/how in the heck is it necessary the/any President "do" any such thing?)

Parenthetical PS (Your Ridiculous-O-Meter is at risk of blowing a fuse.)

[Bob]

JK,

Trump tried to blame the SolarWinds hack on China. Here's an article about the administration that even you will probably admit is fair:

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-iran-nuclear-health-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-22e9cd885c1d4de1b9be68e13233a306

[JK]

Attributing China doesn't seem unreasonable to me either Bob.

Matter of fact I think I got there before Trump. Search 'database intrusions inaccurately attributed acknowledged years after the fact' and then get back to me.

[Bob]

JK,

Hope springs eternal.

[Glesga]

Bob, have you considered that Russia has given Iran nuclear weapons considering they are buddies now. Both hate Israel! It was the Soviets who supplied the weapons to Israeli enemies to undertake the Yom Kippur War. I suggest it is better intervening and having a short war.

[Bob]

Glesga,

I haven't been able to find that Russia has given Iran nuclear weapons, only civilian nuclear power technology. However, Russia is not a friend of the West and shouldn't be treated as one.

[JK]

Just putting in a lil' something afore the subject goes off the rails.

Iran gets its nuke stuff (weapons related) from North Korea. Same goes for most of its [newish] missile technology.

[JK]

https://www.billoreilly.com/b/Stratfor.com:-Putins-Visit-and-Israeli-Russian-Relations/103267950169443385.html

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/azerbaijan-and-russia-strengthen-ties

And, so far as is understood, the thinking that 'Russia hates Israel' well, y'all realize Russia supplied Syria with its S-300 surface to air for throughout (Syrian government controlled) the airspace while the S-400 system is localized to, for instance Latakia and Tartus - the Israelis nonetheless continue airstrikes wherever they damn well please into Syria with impunity.

Now I'd allow as the recent kerfluffling viz Armenia and Azerbaijan may have made things somewhat more complicated (the Russia/Israel) relationshipwise but I haven't been particularly interested in trying to keep up with 'current regional events' - but my guess would be Russia has an interest in keeping Hizbollah (Iran) and Israel as "peaceful" as is humanly possible.