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justfelix76

Listed below are comments made by justfelix76 between Monday, 8th June 2009 and Tuesday, 9th June 2009.

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Romanian hard right gain 02:06am on 09 Jun 2009 Well WebAliceinwonderland, the fact that you're Russian does not change anything I've said. As I said before, I don't blame nations as a whole. Not all British were cowards like Chamberlain or Churchill, not all Germans were Nazi, not all Russians were bolsheviks, etc. People always suffer the consequences of their leaders, democratically elected (Chamberlain, Hitler) or not (Stalin, Brejnev, etc.). Germans and Russians people paid a heavy price already.

If you think from a historical perspective, British managed quite well. What are a few thieves and beggars for a nation that dreams to be the world power that once was 100 years ago? What good are those Orwelian CCTV cameras on the streets, in elevators, in the closets, if they cannot stop pick-pockets? How efficient a police is if they cannot defend an island, which for illegal emigrants is so much harder to reach than to cross a land border?

Nobody is asking these questions, because across all nations, big and small, it is always more convenient to blame outsiders than to deal with the real stuff. Russians blame Americans and NATO, Americans blame China and India, Romanian blames Russians, and well, UK blames EU, etc. Entire parties and politicians build their career on blaming the others. Imagine, if UK pulls out of the EU, who else to blame, huh? :-) That's why UK will NOT pull out of the EU, can you imagine the British citizens having to apply for a Schengen visa, pay duties when they buy cheaper from the continent or when they export to it. Do you see British companies not being able to get to the honey pot of the big EU market and its huge investment opportunities in Central Europe? Let's be serious. UK needs a scape goat, and the scape goat is EU. We all know that. EU knows that, too.

Now, the Moldova subject is interesting, but out of topic. Let's wait for the proper blog article to show up, I hate diverging from the point of the article being discussed. And actually I am Moldovian and Romanian, in the same way an Englishman is a British too. My grandparents lost all their own properties when the "peaceful" USSR annexed 1/2 of Moldova in 1940, at the same time when it occupied the Baltic states, southern CZ, and eastern Poland. Their relatives died in Siberia. All this because the Romanians in Moldova did not wanted to submit their land which was theirs before the Russians even existed as a nation in Europe. But as I said, that's for another episode.

For the UK and Romanians: at all times in history, the big nations made gains over the little ones. How much do you think it hurt the average British citizen when Chamberlain sold Czechoslovakia in 1938? As politician, it is easy to "sell" what is not yours. Romania got in the EU with a huge help from the British government. Since all the British are proud of their democracy, I do not even dare to think that by supporting to get Romania in the EU (with its hard working workers, and nurses, and IT programmers, and also with some of our thieves and beggars) the UK government did not obeyed the desire of their ultimate masters, the British people.
Romanian hard right gain 00:41am on 09 Jun 2009 WebAliceinwonderland, I beg your pardon. Romania lost a big chunk of its Eastern territory in 1940, towards the "peaceful USSR", as the result of 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty. Second, the lesson from the 1939 in Poland was that the powers guaranteeing the Peace of Versailles in 1920 (UK, France) would not be able to help enforcing the treaty and basically let us alone with no security arrangement. In 1940 we also lost half of Transylvania with Hitler's consent. So here we are in 1941, between Nazi and Bolsheviks, alone, having to make a decision. Neutrality was not a choice.

I wish no other nation to have two choose between two evils. Bolshevism was perceived at that time as the worse of the two, and the history proved this intuition: communism was much more spread, caused much more victims, and endured much longer than the other evil (nazism). USSR won the war and we knew what our fate was. Had Nazi won, do you think it would have been much different? Hint: UK Prime Minister agrees to torn Czechoslovakia apart. See, Yalta was not the 1st time when the UK leaders (and others) traded other smaller nations for their own interests.

Romania was a democratic monarchy until around 1938. With the rise of the Nazi power and influence in the area, our democracy was strangled and became an authoritarian regime, like in many other countries around. Whose job was to prevent this to happen? Whose job was to enforce the Versailles Peace treaty and prevent the rise of the Nazi? The young national states of Eastern Europe? Or the grand world powers (UK, France, US)?

See, you didn't do your part of job, you decided the fate of other nations (CZ in 1938, all eastern block in Yalta) or closed the eyes, all for your national interest. That's fine, but don't play innocence. Your politicians (because I do not blame nations as a whole) are historically accountable to the crimes that they were accomplices. And a time comes when the ghosts of the past comes and haunts you, isn't it?

Now about the EU. May I remind you that another British PM was the most supportive to the idea of a big-bang EU enlargement to the East? Tony Blair came in Bucharest in summer 1999 (after NATO's bombing of YU) and promised us that no later than 10 years Romania would be a part of EU. Promise kept this time (amazing!). Why? Because of remorse for the crimes of the past (1938, Yalta, not doing the Versailles job as signed)? No. Realpolitik again: as long as EU enlarges, it will take time to digest the expansion, and this would slow the EU integration. This was his thinking. I admit that none of the 10 former socialist countries that joined in 2004 and 2007 were really ready. It did not mattered, the economical benefits of getting cheap labor for the Western Corporations, getting access to new markets and contracts, etc, and serving the British interest to slow the EU integration through enlargement prevailed. It worked for the Eastern countries as well: in EU and NATO they are not much more protected in face of the still bolshevik Russia (I really hope NATO is not a another League of Nations!).

But now guess what: EU digested the integration somewhat sooner than expected, and the pace to continue its natural integration (which economically makes sense, and economics drives politics) increases. So now UK must slow it down with something else. This is why UK was such a large supporter of the enlargement.

And now let's wrap it up: the democratic leaders of a certain nation sell others' fate a while ago, then those poor guy got into another wolf's (actually bear) mouth, then you use them again to your narrow interests... At some point there is price to be paid (symbolically). And that price is not only the cheap labor and the drains of brains, not only the medical nurses and doctors who work because so many British don't want to take on the hard working career as nurses. With these benefits come also the thief and beggars and many similar things that we don't like, you don't like, but now we all have to live with.

We are in this together now, at least as long as you will remain a EU member, and we must solve it together. Let me make a bet: if you pull out of the EU, the thieves and beggars will stay there. That's my hunch ;-)
Social democrat failure 02:26am on 08 Jun 2009 How is the low participation to the EU polls any different than the low participation in the UK local elections? Both are in the same ballpark: disappointing low. This DOES not mean that EU citizen are mistrusting the EU and favor national/local governments. It means only that the EU citizens see all politicians alike, from mayors and local council members, to national MPs and MEPs.

It means that old style of politics, with one bright face for the controlled media like print and TV, and with another real face behind close doors is a thing of the past. The digital age is taking over the old politics style. Nothing can be kept behind closed doors anymore in the age of Twiter, Facebook, etc. What the participation mean is that the EU citizens want to see a new political class emerging all across the board, from the village city mayor to the next President of the European Union.
Romanian hard right gain 00:34am on 08 Jun 2009 phoenixarisenq, your comment is being reviewed by the moderators, following a complaint that I've sent. No need to go paranoid about dictatorship here, just follow the process. Your original comment was offensive to me as Romanian: you cannot judge an entire nation based on few individuals, most of them not even Romanian nationals (they are Romanian citizens, but mostly of a different ethnicity). How would you feel is other would (hypothetically speaking, as an example) would say publicly that all British are bloody murderers just because of two savages like those who killed recently the two French student: Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez. Or another example, how would you like for others to say that British are kamikaze terrorists but because the last London terrors attacks were committed by British citizens? See how easy is to generalize?

Second, British people shall not forget that they've agree in writing through the signature of their democratically elected leader, to send Romania (and others) in slavery for 50 years. After 50 years in prison, is not easy to find our way back. The fate of the Romanian democracy was doomed anyway with Red Army on its territory, with or without Yalta our fate would have been the same. But then why the British nation, via its leader, become an accomplice to this historical crime? See how easy is to judge a nation based on the mistake of a few people?

No, I don't really hold British as a nation accountable for Yalta, but I cannot stand the double standards and hypocrisy. That's why I took charge and complained about your comment.

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