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Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing now | 125 comments (125 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 1)
Johnson wants power. He's been persuaded that jumping off the cliff is a good way to get it. We'll see how well he holds his nerve.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 01:46:18 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 3)
Press comment suggest there are plans to invoke the Civil Contingencies Act - a terrifyingly comprehensive piece of legislation originally drafted for war time and other emergencies which might require government control of essential services and infrastructure.

It more or less gives the government the right to do whatever the hell it wants, albeit with some limited Parliamentary oversight.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 06:21:38 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 2)
As if that was the plan all along...
We'll be fully back to the 70s then:

God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron

by Bernard on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 07:10:28 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 3)
they can try, but I seriously doubt they have the manpower to do anything effectively anymore. Not enough police, the civil service in ruins and even the army is 10s of 1000s short on manpower.

Frankly, all thoughts of an authoritarian coup seem to require a belief in the organisational competence of the Tories and the civil service which has been seriously absent in the last few years. Any party which has used chris Grayling for anything more complicated than as a doorstop is not a threat. They can make the attempt but it's all very wicked witch of the west, the harder they try, the more stupid they look.
Boris Johnston is not Emperor Palpatine and Domnnic Cummings is not Darth Vader, however much they pretend.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 09:19:42 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 0)
A half arsed coup would be both on-brand and the worst possible case. You'd end up with a failed state and multiple armed factions.

It's going to be fun when the EU has to figure out how to deploy French forces to the Irish border to provide security.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 09:40:38 AM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 0)
Come now, the how proceeds from UNSC jaw boning and UN Peace Keeper accessorizing, of which French detail.

Or is this protocol in the law of war only for other people's "inter-communal conflict"?


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 12:12:33 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 2)
French blue helmets on the border? Better provide for a Dutch contingent too. (William of Orange, anyone?).

Between the Irish, the English, the French, and the Dutch, we'd have the makings of a first-class 17C war.

All provided by Boris "Don't thank me" Johnson.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen

by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 07:48:28 AM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 0)
hmm, yes, well, "template of European history" and all that.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 01:46:49 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 1)
Oh get serious, England will not be stabilized by importing the blue helmets of the UN or the berets of the French army or even the grey caps of the Germans. It would, obviously, be the Darth Vader helmets of the US Army. We will bring democracy back from America to its original home in England, and you will like it or else.

by asdf on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:13:09 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 3)
Original home? As the name suggests, the original home of democracy is Greece. Just like tyranny and oligarchy.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 03:01:40 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 3)
No, no, no.  What Commie history book have you been reading?  All good things originate in anglophone countries.
by rifek on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 04:26:45 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 4)
"Democracy" is our main export.
by rifek on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 04:29:01 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 2)
If "democracy" is our mission, why don"t we call our diplomats like Bolton, Pence, Pompeo and newly named Dominic Raab ... ehh "missionaries".

Just like the Jesuits leading the Conquistadors, the Conquest of the New World. Recall Iraq, George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the Biblical verses in support of the invasion and occupation.

by Oui on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 05:38:48 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 2)
Patience.  Once the US becomes a Christian Dominionist state.
by rifek on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 11:05:11 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 1)
Brexit enforcer Cummings' farm took €235,000 in EU handouts  - Observer
Boris Johnson's controversial enforcer, Dominic Cummings, an architect of Brexit and a fierce critic of Brussels, is co-owner of a farm that has received €250,000 (£235,000) in EU farming subsidies, the Observer can reveal.

The revelation is a potential embarrassment for the mastermind behind Johnson's push to leave the EU by 31 October. Since being appointed as Johnson's chief adviser, Cummings has presented the battle to leave the EU as one between the people and the politicians. He positions himself as an outsider who wants to demolish elites, end the "absurd subsidies" paid out by the EU and liberate the UK from its arcane rules and regulations.

But his critics say the revelation that Cummings has benefited from the system he intends to smash underscores how many British farmers are reliant on EU money that would evaporate if the UK leaves.

by Bernard on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:50:31 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (4.00 / 2)
Just like Farage, they consider it their duty to pillage the EU for every cent they can steal. And consider it a job well done

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 at 08:56:44 PM EST
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Re: Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing (none / 1)
I think Johnson wants his name in the history books, so that thousands of Eton and Oxford students will read about how he took on the evil French and Germans and finally won England's independence.

If his nerve gives out, or he is defeated in a no confidence vote and can't hold his plan together, or is slipped an unwanted Article 50 extension by the EU, his chances of getting into the textbooks is as a footnote to May.

"Oh and there was this other guy who fooled around for a few months, whatever his name was, useless twit."

by asdf on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:01:21 PM EST
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Compromise on the backstop would solve nothing now | 125 comments (125 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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