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iongauge

Listed below are comments made by iongauge between Monday, 19th January 2009 and Sunday, 27th September 2009.

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Inside the 'Bubble' 03:58am on 27 Sep 2009 Nice post, Mr. Mardell.

democracythreat,

Your description of the bubble is true, but is what governments would like it to be. I see it more like a bet: the government gets the journalists overfed with news and designs draconian schedules with the hope of numbing the journalist's instincts and transform them into mere loudspeakers. Journalists -well, at least the good ones- use being in the bubble as a way of getting more inside knowledge that eventually will lead them to a good story.

While it is true that meeting people is the best way of knowing the us (Mr Mardell should spend some time in the midwest), I don't think that BBC is sending a journalist into the bubble to uncover conspiracies, lies, etc of a foreign government, but merely to act as a first hand witness and, to be fair, as a PR move (look how good we are, we have someone inside the loop in DC... ).

-

I appreciate that, at least for the moment, Mr Mardell seems more interested in describing the messenger than in delivering the message (loudspeakers are boring). And taking into account his tenure as EU correspondent, I would be very disappointed if he does not start traveling to small places and start to relate the DC news with the stories and lives of real people. That, along with the comments of the euroskeptics, were the most amusing parts of his previous blog.
Brown wants UK controls 5:57pm on 18 Jun 2009 "But wouldn't any judgment by the EU, unless kept secret, force a chain of events anyway that would put pressure on the bank and force the government to step in?"

Who watches the watchdog? How can you ensure that it is not used as a political weapon by the usual suspects that are always jockeying trying to get more influence in the EU?

In this context we are always talking of more oversight. But, will this regulator also judge in the other way? Can it tell a country to reduce its interventionism in a bank? (What would France or Germany say to that?)

Is is consistent for the UK to opt out from the Euro, but at the same time accept a european watchdog with the power of influencing UK's government decisions?

Is this really something, or is it just talk, talk, talk?
Cameron tougher on Lisbon? 4:14pm on 29 May 2009 #19 Freeborn-John, I agree that the CAP and other programs are the monetary equivalent of a black hole for taxpayers. However, a system in which each country can opt-out from programs that they do not deem useful would be completely unstable: nobody wants to pay for somebody else's expenses. What you need is a number of programs designed to maximize the benefits of each country in a proportional way to their investments. That would be an stable system as long as the EU were an independent entity not subject to the influence of its members. Otherwise, the ideal equilibrium would be compromised by the influence of some countries over others (i.e., the CAP). As a mental construct it sounds interesting, though I am not sure whether I would like to have such a system in place.

#5, democracythreat, I totally agree with your post. I would add an additional point: ideology also reinforces that behavior. You can lie because many voters are not going to switch to the other party, simply because they are "bad" or "the enemy". It is just like sports, you support your team, even if it is a crappy team, because it is your team.
Czech mates 5:04pm on 18 May 2009 #8, democracythreat, it is a poor endorsement but it is true. For most of european countries the EU is like a group therapy that helps them copying with either a vanishing or a nonexistent influence in the world scene. France and Germany use it as a compensation mechanism, in the case of France to think they still matter, and in the case of Germany to try to gain influence over Europe without feeling guilty. Even more than France, Spain and Italy also belong to the has-been club. For many other countries, it is a way of gaining some influence and projection.

In UK, however, people still think that they can have a say in world matters by themselves. This is something really positive taking into account that, besides the Beatles and probably James Bond, UK is perceived abroad more like the political sidekick of US (which is why many people really longed for a 'love actually' moment during the Bush years). I wonder if getting more involved in the EU or other kind of healing strategy is just a matter of time. Or maybe, like Holland in the 18th century, finance and commerce will eventually be good enough to let UK grab some substantial political leverage. It is funny to think that the City might be the only thing that separates UK from political oblivion.

Yes, the Commonwealth is great and so, and UK's military power is still impressive too, but in the end the world pays attention to US, China and maybe Russia. The rest of EU countries are trying to cope with that the best they can.
Who has more freedom? 3:48pm on 11 May 2009 Dear Mr. Webb,

I am sorry to hear that you are leaving soon. Are you going to swap job with Mark or is it just him coming to the US? It would be fun to read your comments on EU politics.

Thanks for this great blog!
The Obama-Catholic row continues 03:51am on 23 Apr 2009 #24,

I guess that then we have to expect hordes of islamic homosexuals invading the US? :) . Hmm, but them homosexuality and islam do not mix well either...
EU split over racism conference 5:26pm on 20 Apr 2009 Palestinians are just a few among the millions of muslim people in the world. Likewise, there are a lot of jewish people outside of Israel. Equating anti sionism with bigotry/anti-semitism/denying the holocaust, or equating the palestinian with the islamic wave trying to end with the western world are plain wrong (though you have enough of both things these days). The fact that we often forget that is a nice example of how important PR and lobbies are.

Israel and Palestinians are fighting by a piece of land because they think that they are the rightful owners and -so much for strategic vision- because they think it is their holy land (and not the other's). And the sad thing is that there is no right and wrong, both sides are guilty of crimes, lack of commitment and abuse of dominant position in the international news.

The fact that the EU lacks a single voice is hardly news as well. Both France and UK are prima donnas in transition to become have-beens, Italy and Germany don't seem to know what to do with their minor influence and the rest of the countries are either largely irrelevant or enjoying their popcorn in the sidelines.

But I agree that the Iranian leader is a joke (but so are many others :-) and that he doesn't fit the passive-aggressive approach to diplomacy so common these days. But that's his game, and like the North Korea case, so far seems to be working, at least for him.
The case for brains in politics 00:04am on 28 Jan 2009 #21,

At the end of McNamara's tenure the number of american troops in vietnam was higher than 15000. Most of them were called "advisers" or "instructors" for the vietnamese army. But it is a significant escalation with respect to the original 500.

I agree with Justin that someone's intellectual capacity is just one of the many different skills needed to succeed and that, in the end, is the whole package what counts.

Cheers,
Staying on to help out 05:21am on 22 Jan 2009 Hmm, Was the oathgate as Justin puts it so important, or is it just the media trying to keep the news cycle alive? After all, the press suffers from horror vacui, and Bush departure and the beginning of Obama's presidency leave a big void to fill (and lots of pundits with almost nothing to say). And sure we have all the economic downturn and so on, but from the cable news channels point of view, you can only milk that to a point before people gets bored or, more likely, depressed.
Iconography of Obama 11:54pm on 19 Jan 2009 #19, watermanaquarius:

The tao of who? The how of pooh? You are right, in this era of confucionism a little bit of taoism cannot be bad.

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