BREXIT!
24th
June, 2016
[A
day which will go down in infamy in the history of European Union!]
or
to those who voted in favor:
''Independence
Day!''
With
The United Kingdom headed for the exit door of the European Union, I
cannot but help thinking that this will be looked back at in 100 years as a monumental historical blunder on the part of the British people
and their Brexit politician protagonists.
To
get some indication about the direction Europe is now headed without
Great Britain, I am re-blogging an earlier article.
(And
you don't have to be 'psychic' to see what's coming back from hell!)
'The
Good Shepherds'
Germany
and France will now assume ascendancy and responsibility for the fate
of Europe.
The
United States will pivot towards support of it's European partners in
security and trade.
Will
the EU succeed in reforming itself before it's inevitable implosion
takes place? Only time will tell.
What
I can say is that, in the eyes of Europe, 'perfidious Albion' will
not again be trusted, for a very long time, as a reliable partner –
either to reform a broken European Union nor to take any lead role in
the (assumed) process of reform.
With
the support of it's ally, The United States, Europe will survive
without Britian, and as I have said several years ago, after reform
and dealing with some monumental issues (including immigration from
outside the European Union and the status of refugees (all dumped
incidentally on the European Union's doorsteps as a direct result of
our meddling in wars in Muslim lands - and which problems these
innocent refugees had no part in creating) Europe will again thrive and
prosper.
'Whose
That Knocking At Our Door?'
When
this happens, and Europe is again flowing with prosperity and
opportunity, Britain will again come knocking at the door for a new
membership arrangement or treaty within a dynamic and reformed
European Union since it's Brexit arrangements will long-since have
run their course, become obsolete and no longer financially viable in
a world where trading blocks are the standard currency.
I
probably will not be alive when this time comes but it would be
interesting to see what the response will be – knowing how Great
Britain deserted Europe in it's darkest moment, in it's greatest hour
of need and of political and moral support.
[I
expect, as politics usually goes, it will be a case of 'forgive and
forget' - and let's get on with the business at hand (!)]
Who
Now Has The Financial Hub To Provide Europe With The Stability It
Requires?
In
the meanwhile will Europe inexorably drift towards Russia? Only time
will tell – but I certainly hope it will not.
Should
Britons care if this happens?
'The
Distant Drums'
In July 1939, Poland was so far away, it seemed insignificant. Indeed most
Britons could not have told you where it was. Today The Ukraine,
Hungary, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania also
seem so very very far away – and many Britons would be hard-pressed
to identify where exactly they are on a blank map.
My
concern is that in the process of destroying the European Union under
the pretext of demanding immediate reform with ultimatums, the United
Kingdom will again sow the seeds of it's own unravelling and leave it
yet again 'in splendid isolation' in a very dangerous world where
isolationism and 'going it alone' ('the lone wolf') is a path fraught
with perils and where strength in numbers, unified trade, legal,
economic, political and military structures all combined provide the
security umbrella for trade and commerce to grown to flourish and to
prosper both at home and abroad.
©Patrick
Emek, June 2016
Now
read on..........................................................
Why The United Kingdom Should Stay In Europe
On 23rd June 2016 a historic vote will take place in the United Kingdom.
On that day the British electorate, the common folk, will decide whether Britain will remain or leave the European Union.
Unlike the rest of Europe, the British electorate have been given by the government of Premier David Cameron a 'real' referendum on whether to stay 'in Europe' or 'Britian out' (Brexit) from Europe.
Unlike other countries within the 'Union' the bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg will not be able to 'persuade' the British government (the second most powerful economy in the European Union) to have a second or third or fourth referendum until the British electorate 'get the vote right'. So this vote folks, will determine the destiny not just of Britain but also of Europe for (perhaps) centuries.
The Roots of All Evil
Europe (The EU Parliament) is a bully. Remote from the people it facelessly governs. It is a bureaucratic mess. It is incompetent, petty with it's over-regulation stifiling the ability of business both to succeed at home and compete abroad.
It is the Western European equivalent of COMECON – the Soviet Union's fake economic union of Soviet (WARSAW PACT) member states.
The European Union, as exists in it's current shape or form, is doomed to ultimate administrative collapse and a horrible bureaucratic death in a Hell-fire sea of paperwork - drowning all the way to the bottom and consumed to total incineration it's very own ashes.
With all of the above, you might well say to me, 'what's the point then of Britian staying in?'; 'lets get the hell outta Dodge City while we still can!'
But let us look at who will be remaining inside the Union to pick up the mess and carry out much needed (and long-overdue) reforms as the bureaucracy grinds to an inexorable deadlock, immobility and standstill on many key issues.
After the Fire
Germany – one of only a handful of other stable economies within the European Union (apart from Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark) which are not, technically, bankrupt and which can show physical exports of goods and services worldwide – will remain as the only key EU member with the financial, organizational and political clout to 'pick up' the shattered pieces (ashes) from a devastated Europe after the EU bureaucracy collapses or grinds to an inefficient standstill. But it will need support in 'reshaping' a defunct and dysfunctional European Union Parliamentary system with a new constitution and new direction so that Europe can continue to effectively compete as a major player in the global market economy where trading blocs and economic integration are the future for the planet in the short-term.
Religious Minorities, Discrimination and Pogroms In Europe Today
I remarked not too long ago that the only Black and Muslim faces you see in the Parliament of Europe are to be found in the kitchens below ground level. So it was no surprise to me (personally) that many 'volunteers' from EU member States thought that joining, fighting and dying for ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State/Daesh, even with all it's twisted and inverted ideology and evil visions for the future of Islam, was far better and more honorable than, as they perceive it, living as Muslim 'serfs' in Western Europe with all it's 'alien' values, equal rights for men, women, gays and lesbians, nightlife, the 'immorality' of alcohol, pubs, cigarettes, bar and club life where men and women congregate together for entertainment and pleasure, and the separation of church and state in a 'godless' 'hell' ruled by Mammon.
As such would be perceived through their eyes, better to die a 'free' man in 'the 'perfect' Muslim society on earth (Daesh propaganda about it's Islamic Caliphate) than as a 'slave' in an ocean of apostasy.
The Taliban in Afghanistan share with their counterparts in the Daesh Caliphate (The Islamic State) this same Wahhabist and Salafist (Saudi Arabia originated) vision of the world and existence.
In their eyes, our way of living and lifestyle choices are 'works of the devil' whose exorcism can only be 'cleansed' by death or conversion to Islam.
[As a researcher and analyst, I closely followed 'chatter' on ICQ (long before Facebook and the like) where there were 'buzzes' of ideas about Islam, where it had 'gone astray' and where it should be going.]
Exodus
As tribal Europe intensifies it's modern-day 'pogroms' against all Muslims, expect, as with the Jews in the 1920s and 1930s, an exit of professional highly-educated and highly-skilled individuals in search of peace, freedom and religious tolerance to elsewhere in the world.
The vast majority are not 'extremists' so Saudi Arabia would never be their country of choice nor lifestyle.
(I have my own ideas of where they will be headed today – and the places would surprise you as they are not at all where you would traditionally expect migrants and refugees to end up.)
One Country's Loss.........
Without the tribal pogroms in the Ukraine, in Russia proper and in Germany in past centuries we would never today have had Levi Strauss nor Isaac Asimov nor Albert Einstein nor the hundreds of thousands of talented Jewish individuals whose exit from Europe fleeing from persecution and discrimination was a 'godsend' to other emerging and existing superpowers.
At that particular time, the United States was the greatest beneficiary from such pogroms against the Jews in Europe for nearly two centuries.
(Most did not stay beyond a few decades in England and many (or their children) made their way to 'the golden land' - where their skills and talents were properly rewarded in a peaceful and democratic environment, free from religious persecution and where they and their families were protected from blatant injustices and pogroms by laws of the land.)
In a world where regional trading blocs will be of increasing importance hitherto unrealised opportunities will arise for those fleeing persecution in Europe to new, dynamic and emerging economies and trade zones in the developing world where likewise their skills and talents will be valued and appreciated for what they are, in their own right.
[To give the reader some appreciation of the extent of consolidation of regions for economic, trade and investment purposes, please refer to the references at the end of this blog.]
After the Fire
Russia
After the EU collapses under the weight of its own bureaucracy Europe, without Britain present, would move politically closer towards fascism and it new leaders would be encouraged by Moscow to seek closer trade, monetary and military ties with Russia and the Russian rouble and away from the (U.S.) dollar.
Fear and tribalism (innate to Europe) would then take hold and accelerate this procesas.
The 'new' political (Fascist) 'Right' would, in the absence of British and U.S. democratic influence, see many more 'encouraging' factors in building stronger ties with Russia.
Dictatorship
Russia will not ask 'awkward' questions of Western Europe's new fascist rulers as they would move collectively, without the influence of Britian nor America present, to 're-shape' the continent in their own image.
Let us, for one moment and very briefly, look at what happened historically when Britain and the United States remained isolationist ('in splendid isolation') from Europe.
Fascists Join Forces Across Continental Europe
No I am not just talking about yesterday but how the past is repeating itself today in tribal Europe.
Remember folks it was not Great Britain nor the United States which signed a 'military' alliance with The Fuhrer as the Nazis swept both into power in Germany - 'democratically' - through the ballot box - and across Western Europe in a process called 'Blitzkrieg'.
It was fascist Russia and fascist Germany which together signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop' pact or alliance – effectively co-joining the Communists of Russia with the Nazis in Germany.
This alliance or 'pact' would, it was hoped, enable both regimes to dominate the continent of Europe: Germany in the West and Russia in the East.
Both Stalin and Hitler however had their own unique visions for such a union of convenience but as two fascist dictatorships, they were on better speaking terms with each other than with Great Britian, the United States and their respective allies. In other words Hitler and Stalin 'understood each other' (or thought they did) better than the British and the Americans since they saw the world the same way: ripe for military domination and economic re-shaping; starting with continental Europe, then moving on to take over the United States then to dominate the entire planet.)
As with all dictators, Stalin and Hitler were soon to fall out and start a war with each other rather than first with their very own common enemies, as to which 'version' of fascism (Communism or Nazism) would rule the world.
Both of course blamed each other for the collapse of the 'pact'.
If Hitler had not acted first with superior airpower and swiftly moved batallions into the East to crush the surprised and totally unprepared Soviet military forces, as soon as he was (militarily) capable for action, Stalin most certainly would have invaded Western Europe with his very own version of 'lightning strike'.
It was the equivalent of two large cannibal spiders going to war:the cage (planet) was simply too small for both to co-exist peacefully so one had to eat the other – and very quickly – then consume what remained of the other insects and smaller spiders and re-shape the (remaining) devastated ecosystem in it's own image.
It was at this point that the West (Britain and America) out of pure self-interest and self-preservation, saw Stalin as the lesser of the two fascist evils and decided to throw the weight of the Wsetern Allies behind the weaker of the two warring powers - Stalin's Communist Russia and against Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Why It's In Russia's Interest For Britain To Exit Europe
It should therefore come as no surprise that the successor to the Soviet Union's Josef Stalin – President Vladimir Putin – would wish to see Britain 'out' rather than 'in' Europe:
Continental Europe will be easier for Russia to economically, politically and militarily dominate with Britain and America both removed from the scene than if they are both to remain – and to remain committed to reforming the European Parliament to make it less bureaucratic, more streamlined and more efficient.
(But Britain can only do this if it remains as a member of the European Union.)
Hence Russia's 'anti-American' rhetoric coupled with support for the United Kingdom's 'Brexit' movements - all designed to pander to tribalism, racism, effectively using the propaganda of fear - evoking British and European 'tribal heimats' - of a dilution of the 'purity' of Europe, it's traditions and values – playing (quite effectively I might add) on ancient Europe's dark innate fears with regard to tribalism and racism by placing them into a modern day context.
[Most Europeans are, like their American and British counterparts, unaware of the real power of propaganda which was most effectively used by both Communist Russia and Nazi Germany to garner support for their respective causes.
Even today the propaganda from Russia is light years ahead of anything coming from either the United States or from Western Europe.]
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
So for Britian to abandon Europe is effectively handing it over, lock, stock and two smoking barrels to the Russian Federation and it's allied economic and military forces, prepared and eager as they all are to re-shape and re-build Europe and it's institutions (Brussels and Strasbourg) in their very own images.
The Immediate Future For Europe
No doubt there will be a lot of challenges, turbulence, turmoil and political instability in continental Europe in the coming months, years and perhaps decades (similar to the 1930s before Hitler took power) but there is no doubt in my mind that Western Europe and the entire planet are safer (from another Hitler) and more at peace with Britain remaining inside, as a player, as a member, and as a reformer, rather than a 'Brexit' from the European Union.
It's a rocky road ahead - but less so with Britain 'in' than 'out' of Europe.
©Patrick Emek, May 2016
http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/what-are-trade-blocs-and-how-do-two-latin-america-s-largest-compare
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
http://brics2016.gov.in/
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-to-host-8th-brics-summit-in-goa/article8385272.ece
http://thebricspost.com/8th-brics-summit-to-be-held-in-goa-in-october/#.V0psLiGSAhA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160528/1040413046/russia-putin-asean-sochi.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union
http://www.apec.org/about-us/about-apec/fact-sheets/regional-economic-integration-agenda.aspx
https://www.pecc.org/research/ftaap
http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/as-tpp-leaders-celebrate-china-urges-creation-of-asia-pacific-free-trade-area/
http://www.oecs.org/media-center/press-releases/economic-union
http://www.cfr.org/trade/mercosur-south-americas-fractious-trade-bloc/p12762
http://dartmouthbusinessjournal.com/2015/06/south-americas-newest-trade-bloc-and-america/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Eastern_Caribbean_States
http://today.caricom.org/2016/02/19/communique-issued-at-conclusion-of-27th-caricom-intersessional-meeting/
http://www.caricom.org/
(note:Caricom and OECS should be seen as extensions of economic and trade influence of former Caribbean colonial powers of Europe rather than independent entities in their own right. [P.E.] )
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21591246-continent-mulls-merging-currencies-ever-closer
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2016/03/15-west-africa-economic-monetary-union-sy-sow
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/EXTREGINI/EXTAFRREGINICOO/0,,contentMDK:20626350~menuPK:1592396~pagePK:64168445
~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:1587585,00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimat
https://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&client=firefox-b&biw=1280&bih=871&noj=1&q=Blitzkreig&oq=Blitzkreig&gs_l=serp.3...182337.186739.1.187163.10.10.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..10.0.0.IMVi0Ewajlw&gfe_rd=cr&ei=XGdKV9n0MoaGtgfJ1LrICQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120735/
Why The United Kingdom Should Stay In Europe
On 23rd June 2016 a historic vote will take place in the United Kingdom.
On that day the British electorate, the common folk, will decide whether Britain will remain or leave the European Union.
Unlike the rest of Europe, the British electorate have been given by the government of Premier David Cameron a 'real' referendum on whether to stay 'in Europe' or 'Britian out' (Brexit) from Europe.
Unlike other countries within the 'Union' the bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg will not be able to 'persuade' the British government (the second most powerful economy in the European Union) to have a second or third or fourth referendum until the British electorate 'get the vote right'. So this vote folks, will determine the destiny not just of Britain but also of Europe for (perhaps) centuries.
The Roots of All Evil
Europe (The EU Parliament) is a bully. Remote from the people it facelessly governs. It is a bureaucratic mess. It is incompetent, petty with it's over-regulation stifiling the ability of business both to succeed at home and compete abroad.
It is the Western European equivalent of COMECON – the Soviet Union's fake economic union of Soviet (WARSAW PACT) member states.
The European Union, as exists in it's current shape or form, is doomed to ultimate administrative collapse and a horrible bureaucratic death in a Hell-fire sea of paperwork - drowning all the way to the bottom and consumed to total incineration it's very own ashes.
With all of the above, you might well say to me, 'what's the point then of Britian staying in?'; 'lets get the hell outta Dodge City while we still can!'
But let us look at who will be remaining inside the Union to pick up the mess and carry out much needed (and long-overdue) reforms as the bureaucracy grinds to an inexorable deadlock, immobility and standstill on many key issues.
After the Fire
Germany – one of only a handful of other stable economies within the European Union (apart from Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark) which are not, technically, bankrupt and which can show physical exports of goods and services worldwide – will remain as the only key EU member with the financial, organizational and political clout to 'pick up' the shattered pieces (ashes) from a devastated Europe after the EU bureaucracy collapses or grinds to an inefficient standstill. But it will need support in 'reshaping' a defunct and dysfunctional European Union Parliamentary system with a new constitution and new direction so that Europe can continue to effectively compete as a major player in the global market economy where trading blocs and economic integration are the future for the planet in the short-term.
*In March 2016 the Swiss Parliament withdrew it's 24-year application for EU membership
Religious Minorities, Discrimination and Pogroms In Europe Today
I remarked not too long ago that the only Black and Muslim faces you see in the Parliament of Europe are to be found in the kitchens below ground level. So it was no surprise to me (personally) that many 'volunteers' from EU member States thought that joining, fighting and dying for ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State/Daesh, even with all it's twisted and inverted ideology and evil visions for the future of Islam, was far better and more honorable than, as they perceive it, living as Muslim 'serfs' in Western Europe with all it's 'alien' values, equal rights for men, women, gays and lesbians, nightlife, the 'immorality' of alcohol, pubs, cigarettes, bar and club life where men and women congregate together for entertainment and pleasure, and the separation of church and state in a 'godless' 'hell' ruled by Mammon.
As such would be perceived through their eyes, better to die a 'free' man in 'the 'perfect' Muslim society on earth (Daesh propaganda about it's Islamic Caliphate) than as a 'slave' in an ocean of apostasy.
The Taliban in Afghanistan share with their counterparts in the Daesh Caliphate (The Islamic State) this same Wahhabist and Salafist (Saudi Arabia originated) vision of the world and existence.
In their eyes, our way of living and lifestyle choices are 'works of the devil' whose exorcism can only be 'cleansed' by death or conversion to Islam.
[As a researcher and analyst, I closely followed 'chatter' on ICQ (long before Facebook and the like) where there were 'buzzes' of ideas about Islam, where it had 'gone astray' and where it should be going.]
Exodus
As tribal Europe intensifies it's modern-day 'pogroms' against all Muslims, expect, as with the Jews in the 1920s and 1930s, an exit of professional highly-educated and highly-skilled individuals in search of peace, freedom and religious tolerance to elsewhere in the world.
The vast majority are not 'extremists' so Saudi Arabia would never be their country of choice nor lifestyle.
(I have my own ideas of where they will be headed today – and the places would surprise you as they are not at all where you would traditionally expect migrants and refugees to end up.)
One Country's Loss.........
Without the tribal pogroms in the Ukraine, in Russia proper and in Germany in past centuries we would never today have had Levi Strauss nor Isaac Asimov nor Albert Einstein nor the hundreds of thousands of talented Jewish individuals whose exit from Europe fleeing from persecution and discrimination was a 'godsend' to other emerging and existing superpowers.
At that particular time, the United States was the greatest beneficiary from such pogroms against the Jews in Europe for nearly two centuries.
(Most did not stay beyond a few decades in England and many (or their children) made their way to 'the golden land' - where their skills and talents were properly rewarded in a peaceful and democratic environment, free from religious persecution and where they and their families were protected from blatant injustices and pogroms by laws of the land.)
In a world where regional trading blocs will be of increasing importance hitherto unrealised opportunities will arise for those fleeing persecution in Europe to new, dynamic and emerging economies and trade zones in the developing world where likewise their skills and talents will be valued and appreciated for what they are, in their own right.
[To give the reader some appreciation of the extent of consolidation of regions for economic, trade and investment purposes, please refer to the references at the end of this blog.]
After the Fire
Russia
After the EU collapses under the weight of its own bureaucracy Europe, without Britain present, would move politically closer towards fascism and it new leaders would be encouraged by Moscow to seek closer trade, monetary and military ties with Russia and the Russian rouble and away from the (U.S.) dollar.
Fear and tribalism (innate to Europe) would then take hold and accelerate this procesas.
The 'new' political (Fascist) 'Right' would, in the absence of British and U.S. democratic influence, see many more 'encouraging' factors in building stronger ties with Russia.
Dictatorship
Russia will not ask 'awkward' questions of Western Europe's new fascist rulers as they would move collectively, without the influence of Britian nor America present, to 're-shape' the continent in their own image.
Let us, for one moment and very briefly, look at what happened historically when Britain and the United States remained isolationist ('in splendid isolation') from Europe.
Fascists Join Forces Across Continental Europe
No I am not just talking about yesterday but how the past is repeating itself today in tribal Europe.
Remember folks it was not Great Britain nor the United States which signed a 'military' alliance with The Fuhrer as the Nazis swept both into power in Germany - 'democratically' - through the ballot box - and across Western Europe in a process called 'Blitzkrieg'.
It was fascist Russia and fascist Germany which together signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop' pact or alliance – effectively co-joining the Communists of Russia with the Nazis in Germany.
This alliance or 'pact' would, it was hoped, enable both regimes to dominate the continent of Europe: Germany in the West and Russia in the East.
Both Stalin and Hitler however had their own unique visions for such a union of convenience but as two fascist dictatorships, they were on better speaking terms with each other than with Great Britian, the United States and their respective allies. In other words Hitler and Stalin 'understood each other' (or thought they did) better than the British and the Americans since they saw the world the same way: ripe for military domination and economic re-shaping; starting with continental Europe, then moving on to take over the United States then to dominate the entire planet.)
As with all dictators, Stalin and Hitler were soon to fall out and start a war with each other rather than first with their very own common enemies, as to which 'version' of fascism (Communism or Nazism) would rule the world.
Both of course blamed each other for the collapse of the 'pact'.
If Hitler had not acted first with superior airpower and swiftly moved batallions into the East to crush the surprised and totally unprepared Soviet military forces, as soon as he was (militarily) capable for action, Stalin most certainly would have invaded Western Europe with his very own version of 'lightning strike'.
It was the equivalent of two large cannibal spiders going to war:the cage (planet) was simply too small for both to co-exist peacefully so one had to eat the other – and very quickly – then consume what remained of the other insects and smaller spiders and re-shape the (remaining) devastated ecosystem in it's own image.
It was at this point that the West (Britain and America) out of pure self-interest and self-preservation, saw Stalin as the lesser of the two fascist evils and decided to throw the weight of the Wsetern Allies behind the weaker of the two warring powers - Stalin's Communist Russia and against Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Why It's In Russia's Interest For Britain To Exit Europe
It should therefore come as no surprise that the successor to the Soviet Union's Josef Stalin – President Vladimir Putin – would wish to see Britain 'out' rather than 'in' Europe:
Continental Europe will be easier for Russia to economically, politically and militarily dominate with Britain and America both removed from the scene than if they are both to remain – and to remain committed to reforming the European Parliament to make it less bureaucratic, more streamlined and more efficient.
(But Britain can only do this if it remains as a member of the European Union.)
Hence Russia's 'anti-American' rhetoric coupled with support for the United Kingdom's 'Brexit' movements - all designed to pander to tribalism, racism, effectively using the propaganda of fear - evoking British and European 'tribal heimats' - of a dilution of the 'purity' of Europe, it's traditions and values – playing (quite effectively I might add) on ancient Europe's dark innate fears with regard to tribalism and racism by placing them into a modern day context.
[Most Europeans are, like their American and British counterparts, unaware of the real power of propaganda which was most effectively used by both Communist Russia and Nazi Germany to garner support for their respective causes.
Even today the propaganda from Russia is light years ahead of anything coming from either the United States or from Western Europe.]
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
So for Britian to abandon Europe is effectively handing it over, lock, stock and two smoking barrels to the Russian Federation and it's allied economic and military forces, prepared and eager as they all are to re-shape and re-build Europe and it's institutions (Brussels and Strasbourg) in their very own images.
The Immediate Future For Europe
No doubt there will be a lot of challenges, turbulence, turmoil and political instability in continental Europe in the coming months, years and perhaps decades (similar to the 1930s before Hitler took power) but there is no doubt in my mind that Western Europe and the entire planet are safer (from another Hitler) and more at peace with Britain remaining inside, as a player, as a member, and as a reformer, rather than a 'Brexit' from the European Union.
It's a rocky road ahead - but less so with Britain 'in' than 'out' of Europe.
©Patrick Emek, May 2016
http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/what-are-trade-blocs-and-how-do-two-latin-america-s-largest-compare
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
http://brics2016.gov.in/
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-to-host-8th-brics-summit-in-goa/article8385272.ece
http://thebricspost.com/8th-brics-summit-to-be-held-in-goa-in-october/#.V0psLiGSAhA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160528/1040413046/russia-putin-asean-sochi.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union
http://www.apec.org/about-us/about-apec/fact-sheets/regional-economic-integration-agenda.aspx
https://www.pecc.org/research/ftaap
http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/as-tpp-leaders-celebrate-china-urges-creation-of-asia-pacific-free-trade-area/
http://www.oecs.org/media-center/press-releases/economic-union
http://www.cfr.org/trade/mercosur-south-americas-fractious-trade-bloc/p12762
http://dartmouthbusinessjournal.com/2015/06/south-americas-newest-trade-bloc-and-america/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Eastern_Caribbean_States
http://today.caricom.org/2016/02/19/communique-issued-at-conclusion-of-27th-caricom-intersessional-meeting/
http://www.caricom.org/
(note:Caricom and OECS should be seen as extensions of economic and trade influence of former Caribbean colonial powers of Europe rather than independent entities in their own right. [P.E.] )
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21591246-continent-mulls-merging-currencies-ever-closer
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2016/03/15-west-africa-economic-monetary-union-sy-sow
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/EXTREGINI/EXTAFRREGINICOO/0,,contentMDK:20626350~menuPK:1592396~pagePK:64168445
~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:1587585,00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimat
https://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&client=firefox-b&biw=1280&bih=871&noj=1&q=Blitzkreig&oq=Blitzkreig&gs_l=serp.3...182337.186739.1.187163.10.10.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..10.0.0.IMVi0Ewajlw&gfe_rd=cr&ei=XGdKV9n0MoaGtgfJ1LrICQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120735/