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Starbuck11

Listed below are comments made by Starbuck11 between Thursday, 8th October 2009 and Wednesday, 4th November 2009.

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The Tories' 'Europe' moment 01:37am on 04 Nov 2009 #18 I guess you meant UK declaring war to germany in 1939, not 1945.
Anyway, it's great for you to have so much free time on your hands that you can get worked up for things so distant in the past.

Who said that eurosceptics were overly represented among 60+ and pensioners ?

Best regards,
Czech president swallows bitter pill 00:45am on 04 Nov 2009 At #94 it should have read :

2) a gross UK contribution that is 4th after Italy (though Italian economy is smaller) and representing € 103 billions (less than €15 billions a year)
Czech president swallows bitter pill 00:23am on 04 Nov 2009 About #22 and all the subsequent frenzy

anyone can realize it's a typo : 1% or € 12.5 trillion is equal to 125 billions, not millions.

that said, please all passionate opponents of the UK contributions to the EU take the time to think through your arguments.

here are some numbers from a well-known eurosceptic think tank (Open Europe) about the EU budget :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union

What do we learn for the current budget (and not the ones from the past 20 years since the UK rebate in 85) ? the size is 839.5 billion euros for the period 2007-2013 (7 years)

1) an everage of € 120 billions a year from all EU countries (+ some from EFTA countries not shown in that chart)
2) a gross UK contribution that is 4th after Italy (though Italian economy is smaller) and representing
3) a net contribution per capita that is 6th after mostly germanic and scandinavian countries
4) a total contribution that is 12.2% of the EU budget ... its disappearance meaning an increase to other EU countries from 1% to 1.1% of their GDP (hardly budget-breaking)

there is much to say about the calculation methodology used by Open Europe, but at the very minimum eurosceptics should stop some of their most outlandish (and common) assertions about how the UK is robbed by the EU, and how the EU could not operate with a British blackmail.

except that either with the contributions from remaining in the EFTA (but no EU hand-outs or political weight in the decision-making process) or no contributions if by self-exclusion from the EU, the UK will still have to keep swallowing a large corpus of EU regulations and decisions ... if only to keep doing business with its number one (and by far) trading bloc.

Now, about the ECJ ability to overturn a referendum result, that is another wild myths of the most gullible of the eurosceptics.
For one, that is not among the competencies of the ECJ, even if petitioned.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) might give a ruling, though it's an atlanticist organisation and not a EU one (just check the members http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights)

Best regards,
Plotting Czech-mate? 01:05am on 10 Oct 2009 @MA2

Hopefully for me, I still can take quite a few punches, but hardly gets the time to leave myself drawn in empty fights with lazy slobs.
So keep kicking, you are only making a disservice to your compatriots.

And no, I wouldn't censor your posts, simply because I prefer to let them stand as evidences of your own immaturity.
Better to hold someone accountable for their own words, than to put one's words into someone's else mouth (as you like to do a lot @82 being the latest)

I don't ever remember refering you to moderation in the past 2 years. And yet, you've thrown out quite a lot of tantrums :)

Best regards,
Plotting Czech-mate? 8:58pm on 09 Oct 2009 @78 MA2

Any commentators on that blog, or previously Mark Maredll's, would have long realized that you are mostly interesting in gratuitous offensive punch lines and outworldly analysis.
Maybe the mistake of many (I definitely count myself in), was to naively keep believing that at some point you earnestly wanted to better yourself in understanding the world, rather than just trolling around.
People can argue and disagree on opinions, but only intellectually dishonest individuals would purposefully misrepresent or deny factual truths.

No, contrary to your claims, you are not trying to share or learn : you are tired to be told of all the wrongs that hurt your nationalistic's pride, and you are now bound to enforcing a pseudo sense of justice, by shooting back (btw, it's called retribution or vengeance, not justice)... that's what you would expect from a scolded teen in need of self-respect, not a 50+ years old grown-up.

Guess your trolling days will just keep on going ... it's just too bad you are making such a disservice to your compatriots.

Best regards,
Berlusconi the fighter 1:31pm on 09 Oct 2009 @13 That's precisely the problem with Berlusconi : in other developped country, the press is more or less free to choose, whether or not to divulge such details to the public.
However, in Italy, only press, radios and TV stations not under the direct influence of the Berlusconi familia, can decide to speak freely ... and, even then, they have to cope with threats of legal cases and advertising boycotts from them, large enough to stiffle free speech by forcing them into bankruptcy.
Not even mentionning, that they are in a minority position when it comes to reaching audiences ...

In short, for all practical purposes, Berlusconi is a politician who has a HUGE conflict of interest with its industrial empire, and undermines Italian democracy (whatever its other flaws).

Best regards,
Berlusconi the fighter 12:43pm on 09 Oct 2009 @4 you meant either (a) Francois Mitterand's or (b) Nicolas Sarkozy's illegitimate child, not Jacques Chirac ...
And both were known among the french press corps. That journalists agreed not to make it too much public until after (a) was dead and (b) acknowledged it, is a question you should ask them.

best regards,
Plotting Czech-mate? 12:23pm on 09 Oct 2009 @63 Megamalden

Precisely because of their past Communist sufferings, many Central and Eastern European regards the current Western European consensus (and often preaching) on European integration as mostly one-sided, rather than as a lively political debate.
There is no arguing that they see the EU as a good development for the economy, but the misconceived perception of the EU politics as "one party, one system" brings back nasty old memories to many of them ...

@42 StellarBeloved

Anger is of bad advice, that's for sure.
And though I was born by the end of the decolonisation period, I do not forget European responsibilities for their colonial past nor subsequent acts.
However, Afghanistan and Iraq colonial meddling was performed by English, then Russian and US governments ... it's hard to see what the EU got anything to do to take responsibility for, if not providing cover for the messes of others.

For those reasons, I can't help but find MA2 "analysis" stupid, if not self-serving hypocrisy.
No questions, there is plenty of blame to give to Continental Europeans. But at least, do it where it really belongs.

Best regards,
Plotting Czech-mate? 10:35pm on 08 Oct 2009 @24 MA2

There are hardly any US troops left in Bosnia (or the Balkans for that matter) : they have long been replaced by European troops and law enforcement officers.

Georgia didn't go to war because of the EU, but because of the recklessly expansionist US foreign policy, in regards to NATO. As such, it was a good thing that the US were left humiliated for the hollowness of their security guarantees ... too bad, the Georgians had to pay with their own blood to make it clear.

Afghanistan has been a playground for frivolous empires (Persian, Russian, British ... and US). Considering that the US thoughtlessly empowered the military apparatus in Pakistan (over a civil and democratic society) and flooded Afghanistan with weapons to fight the Soviets, then walked away claiming "Mission Accomplished", I still fail to see how the EU has got anything to take much responsibility for.
I mean, Afghanistan was quite unruly before and it won't change much whether there are NATO troops or not.
Should it be because of article 5 of NATO ? well, the Bush Administration didn't care much for it when it was invoked, only when they realized how overstreteched the US military became once in Iraq. And since then, all NATO (US included) have been fighting a lost battle because they couldn't get a local government to earn legitimacy.

As for Pakistan "losing" nuclear weapons to terrorists, ... well, sure it's a possibility, but wasn't it the same fear that many had when the USSR collapsed ? how many "24hrs" nuclear incidents really happened in the last 20 years ? NADA,ZILCH, NOTHING ... and that is because security and law enforcements services were working behind, not a 60-pound guerilla bombing villagers to "liberate" them and "spread democracy".

how much is worth the life of an Iraqi or Afghani ? Shouldn't the US start paying blood money on the same basis as the ones received by americans killed "by mistake" or as "unavoidable collateral damage" ?

All in all, Europeans are already taking care of their own turfs, except that they are already helping yanks cleaning the mess they created.

so plz, spare us all your pathetic irony, you are a finished moron.

Best regards,
Plotting Czech-mate? 7:22pm on 08 Oct 2009 @neilles

When you pause an instant to consider that the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty has been almost 8 years in the process (and even longer if you consider that Nice Treaty was its preliminary workings), it's hard to believe that anybody is "steamrolled" ... and certainly not Klaus.
In the US, you would call his behaviour "filibustering ad nauseam" ...

There is nothing wrong with having several referendums on the same issue : Norway had 3 to decide whether or not to join the EEC (prior to EU).
What could be argued was the necessity to have a second referendum only 15 months after the first IF you believe that the first referendum was an informed vote on the issue, rather than an kneejerk reaction to fantasist fears and a deeply unpopular political class (who barely bothered to go campaign for a Yes vote until the very last weeks).

the view from Ireland is quite simple :
1) Let's move on with the EU
2) Go target someone else

hope it helps you have some perspective on those issues.
Best regards,

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