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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: WILL ENGLAND FALL ON THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.

25 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by in Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit., Gibraltar.

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(Five-minute read)

You can rest assured that majority voting in the referendum whether to remaining or not in the EU had little grasp of the consequences of an out vote.

Certainly, neither the Good Friday Agreement or the treaty of Utrecht had any bearing on the voting in the Referendum.

Now the Rock of Gib along with 10 DUP Unionists are showing the absurdity of Brexit.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the rock of gibraltar"

Brexit has put the Rock back in the news, with Spain being awarded a veto over future EU deals on Gibraltar – effectively giving the country its strongest hand in the territory for three centuries.

Gibraltar a peninsula on the south of Spain which was ceded by Spain under a peace treaty called Utrecht 1713 which brought an end the War of Spanish Succession between England and France

It voted 90% to stay in the EU.

Like Northern Ireland and Scotland how also voted to stay when the UK leaves, it must leave.

The Peace of Utrecht is a series of individual peace treaties that ended more than 13 years of war that had been fought in both the old and new worlds.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of Peace of Utrecht"

The first treaty signed at Utrecht was the truce between France and Portugal on 7 November, followed by the truce between France and Savoy on 14 March 1714. That same day, Spain, Great Britain, France and the Empire agreed to the evacuation of Catalonia and an armistice in Italy. The main treaties of peace followed on 11 April 1713.

Spain, which seized Gibraltar from the Moors as part of the 15th century “Reconquista”, ceded sovereignty over the Rock to the British crown “absolutely and forever without exception or impediment whatsoever”

Of course, as with all treaties, the devil is in the small print.

The treaty continued to haunt Europe.

Clause 10 of the 305-year-old treaty stipulates that the British crown was at the liberty to dispose of the rock as it pleased, but if it ever did so, preference shall always be given to the crown of Spain before any others. Madrid takes this to mean that Gibraltar would return to Spain if it were decolonised.

So it seems reasonable that if the people of Gibraltar voted 90% to stay in the EU this should be honoured in the forthcoming Brexit deal.

Of course, if this was to happen for all intended purposes the Rock of Gib would be decolonised, as will Northern Ireland be if the current deal holds.

Bombroof: The mile-long complex includes this large chamber. The tunnel is one of the largest man made underground spaces without roof supports and was capable of housing 16,000 soldiers for up to 16 months

In a nutshell, the reality of discussion in Gibraltar is exposed.

JUST WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT TO ENGLAND OR SPAIN THAT BOTH ARE WILLING TO ALLOW THE WHOLE BREXIT PROCESS TO COLLAPSE.

The economy of Gibraltar consists largely of the services sector. While being part of the European Union, the British overseas territory of Gibraltar has a separate legal jurisdiction from the United Kingdom and enjoys a different tax system.

The truth is it probably does not matter enormously to Spain to get Gibraltar back.

On the other hand, having a location at its southern tip deliberately run as a tax haven with the intention of undermining its tax revenues must be deeply aggravating, and that’s a precisely fair summary of what the UK is permitting. Of course Spain us rightly upset about that. And the EU is for this reason right to support Spain.

Ponder this though:

How many UK politicians would be brave enough to say this?

So the issue comes down to a straightforward question of why Spain or Ireland should be expected to live with a hostile tax haven seeking to undermine its laws and taxes as its immediate neighbour and the answer is, quite reasonably, that this should not be happening. In which case the solution is to take the tax haven out if Gibraltar and reunite Ireland.

At which point, I suggest, there won’t be much left to fight over. And at the same time, the issues will have been made explicit.

Is there any solution?

Shared sovereignty.

That would allow Gibraltarians and Northern Irelanders to stay in the EU and enjoy joint British and Spanish nationality- Irish British nationality.  They would both remain EU citizens, with all the rights that come from that, while keeping their current institutions and legislation. But Spain & Ireland would become a co-sovereign nation’s.

If not people living near borders between Britain and the EU are going to face a devasting future.

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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S THE QUESTION; WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE UK IF THERE IS A NO DEAL WITH THE EU.

22 Thursday Nov 2018

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(Five-minute read)

They say that if you sing country and western backwards everything comes back to you.

Of course, very few of us can sing backwards but if we were able to go forward in history you would wonder how a country that once was a small island ruled a vast empire that created unlimited wealth is now in the process of ending up as a broken small player on the world stage.

IS IT BECAUSE ITS WEALTH WAS USED INCORRECTLY. PROTECTING THE RICH WHILE THE WORKING CLASSES LIVED IN SQUALOR. England is now in the midst of a deep struggle over the future of the country.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of uk demonstrations to stay in the eu"Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of uk demonstrations"

It has all the ingredients in place to create civil unrest in particular in the event of a hard or no deal Brexit.

There is no way back to how the UK was governed before 2016.

Were Brexit to succeed, it will deliver not independence or an honest democracy but rule by oligarchs and their financial servants, such as the hard-right Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, under a mendacious exploitation of the rhetoric of sovereignty.

It seems unable to grasp that it was not wholly, or even principally, on economic grounds that the country voted to leave.

IT VOTED TO LEAVE BECAUSE OVER THE FORTY ODD YEARS IT WAS A MEMBER OF THE EU IT MADE LITTLE ATTEMPT POLITICALLY TO CONTRIBUTE OR TO REFORM THE EU WHICH IS STILL IN ITS INFANCY.

The source of the problem is in Britain itself and not the EU.

Now each side of the referendum vote is committed to a future unacceptable to the other.

ON ONE HAND, WE HAVE THE LEAVERS WHO ADVOCATE THAT THE LEAVE VOTE owed far more to a deep-seated human yearning to recover national identity and independence by taking back sovereign control of borders, laws, money and trade.

For this precious prize voters were prepared to risk taking a knock to their standard of living, at least in the short term and perhaps sacrifice the Union as a whole.

To put it in terms of opposing, negative caricatures:

A passionate rejection of losing independence to the EU is up against a stubborn refusal to embrace Great British isolationism. 

The referendum campaign was not a fight about which side had the best argument on the issues… Instead, the fight was about which of these issues the economic future or immigration was more important.

The EU, while not wholly innocent, is not primarily responsible for this dilemma.

The changes that are needed can’t be achieved by the existing arrangements nor can they be achieved by argued about terms of trade, business and how to organise economic growth.

Fear and precarity are generated by a culture of competition and a form of capitalism that feeds off anxiety, insecurity and debt were created by Mrs Thatcher how sold the family silver, crushed the trade unions, and turned the country into a free market economy of consumers. All leading to decades of social conditioning that has warped the British psyche into thinking that Britain was a place apart and superior to the European Union.

We are now looking at a country that had lost an empire and failed to find a role in the EU that will see mass demonstrations, leading to civil unrest, from the thousands of people who will lose their jobs resulted in a kleptocrat British Union with brainless, soulless political elites who know nothing of their own cultures.

I say that staying in Europe is essential to repairing the damage.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of uk demonstrations"

I leave you with Maggie Thatcher observations

“Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.”

 

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: FASTEN YOUR SAFTYBELTS OUR WORLD IS IN FOR A ROUGH RIDE.

21 Wednesday Nov 2018

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( SEVEN MINUTE READ)

True, science has made some remarkable advances. Nevertheless, in spite of its often sincere attempts to prevent it, hunger gnaws at more bellies than ever.

At the root of many of man’s problems is man himself.

You would think that the well being of us all would be the top priority of the world community. We all know why this is not so.

WHY?

BECAUSE OF THE SAME QROTESQUE SKEWING OF PRIORITIES, WHICH HAVE  PERSISTED FOR THE DAWN OF HUMANKIND.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, NATIONAL IDENTITY, GREED, INEQUALITY, CORRUPTION, LACK OF TRUST, THE VETO, ALL LEAVING US AND A WORLD FOR THE MOST PART AS COMMODITIES TO BE SOLD IN THE SOUP OF NON COOPERATION.

We now have a world of consumerism, blinkered by self-worth, unable to break free INTO ANY ACTUAL MEANFUL, MUTUAL, ACTION.

I am not talking here about Mr Trump who turns a blind eye to murder for the sake of arms deals or Brexit for the sake of isolation or the Paris climate agreement promises or for that matter any other idiotic thing we can be turned into a commodity.

I am talking about HOW MUCH ARE WE ALL AVOIDING THE REAL WORLD AND ITS PROBLEMS.

( I don’t need to tell you world news is pretty grim right now – if you use social media, it’s nigh on impossible to avoid articles about bubbling permafrost, drug-resistant virus, and deadly obesity treatments.)

Our world is shifting and going through a major transition. In order to do so, many of our “industrial-based systems” need to crumble and be replaced with much more sustainable systems.

IN ORDER TO HAVE A TRULY HUMAN EXISTENCE THERE MUST BE LIMITS.

We can be observers as we watch our old paradigm falling apart or fight back.

THE WORLD UP TO NOW HAS EXISTED ON PARTIALIZATION BUT AN ALL OR NOTHING SCENARIO IS NOW MANFASTING ITS SELF RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES.

It seems as if we are working against our own better interests as if we want to lose our isolation and keep it at the same time.

This feat is impossible because it belies the real tension of the dualism.

Cutting ourselves off from natural dependency, from the duty to a larger creation OF A SUSTAINABLE WORLD. 

I am not implying dishonesty here at all, merely that men tend to get caught up in the appropriateness of panoplies they use and need.

We are contributing more and more to the very thing that IS ENDEAVOURING to enslave us Technology for profit to such an extent that we are becoming unable to see the reality of our condition and the condition of the world we live in.

AND SO THE ARRIVAL OF A NEW POSSIBILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF THE SELF IS CURRENTLY PRESENTING ITSELF. NOT JUST IN THE FORM OF CLIMATE CHANGE BUT WITH TECHNOLOGY THAT IS CREATING A VAST GAP BETWEEN THE HAVE AND HAVE NOT WITHOUT US FACING UP TO ANXIETY OF THE TERROR OF OUR VERY EXISTENCE.

HOW MUCH ARE WE DITCHING OUR LIBERTY TO TECHNOLOGY WHILE STILL, TRYING HOLD ON TO OTHERS? –  TO ILLUSIONS OR TO CERTAINTIES.

HOW MUCH ARE WE BEING PUSHED IN THE DIRECTION OF GENUINE FREEDOM?

GOD WILL NOT END THE WORLD WE WILL.

As you know we all love scenarios of the Apocalypse, however, such doomsday predictions reflect little understanding other than the sun will in 8 billion years time swallow the planet.

(The word apocalypse has its roots in the Latin word apocalypse, meaning to uncover. That is what we are experiencing right now—the uncovering or revealing of the truth.)

On the climate change front, the danger may seem less immediate, but avoiding catastrophic temperature increases, in the long run, requires urgent attention now … Not because we are seeing large destructive fires, more veracious storms, or sea levels rising, but because of the volumes of fresh water melting from the Antartic and Arctic.

How close the world is to a catastrophic collapse of giant ocean currents is unknown.

The nations of the world will have to significantly decrease their greenhouse gas emissions to keep climate risks manageable, and so far, the global response has fallen far short of meeting this challenge.

We and our leaders are stuck in the trenches of war while old style power policies are leading to a new technological arms race.

A few years ago a Kilometre-wide asteroid 1950 DA had a one-in-300 chance of making contact with our planet. It would hit at 38,000 miles per hour, exerting the same force as around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.

An impact would cause an enormous explosion and tsunamis, changing the climate of the globe and destroying human life. The bad thing is the Earth as we know it will cease to exist.

The good thing, UNLIKE CLIMATE CHANGE, is it won’t happen in the near future. Exact Date For Doomsday Asteroid 1950 DA That May Wipe Our Civilization Announced

Our blood is being posed not just by plastics in the food chain but by unregulated algorithms, SPREADING INEQUALITY AND FALSE NEWS.

ITS TIME TO OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK AT THE WORLD WE RELY UPON.

World knowledge is not designed for any specific domain.

Commonsense knowledge IS RAPIDLY BECOMING  a key problem since artificial intelligence has been introduced.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "what is happening to the world"

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THE BEADY EYE OPEN LETTER TO THE ENGLISH RFU.

18 Sunday Nov 2018

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(Two-minute read)

I know that there are more important things happening in the UK at the moment.

However recently at Twickenham, both the English and New Zeland teams along with thousands of spectators stood in silence for a minute in honour of the 100-anniversary commemorations of the end of world war one.

At the end of the minute while NewZealand the visiting team prepared to perform their haka the BBC TELEVISION MATCH COMMENTATOR alluded to how the English supporters would react to the traditional Haka.

(The haka is a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace.)Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the haka"

What took place was what can only be described as a display of ignorance to behold.

Some of us remember when there was some respect shown for a penalty attempt but to chant down a cultural tradition with a slave song ” Sweet Chariots” (even if described by the commentator as a spiritual song) is the high of bad manner.

Believe it or not, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot doesn’t have its origins in a pitcher of beer and a soiled rugby jersey.

Its beginnings were as a hymn written and sung by American slaves,

It’s difficult not to ask just how the familiar refrain ended up as one of the most recognisable anthems traditionally sung at ENGLISH INTERNATIONALS rugby matches.

Originally composed, it is believed, by a slave named Wallace Wallis in the 19th century, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is regarded as a “negro spiritual”, a Christian hymn that combined spiritual belief with the hardships of daily life as a slave in the United States. As a result, the lyrics “Sweet chariot/Coming for to carry me home,” symbolise less victory over an opponent, and more the sweet release of death.

The differences between an early 20th-century recording of the song and a typical rugby match version are stark.

One is pleading and spiritual, something that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Coen Brothers film, while the other is noticeably more celebratory.

The British appropriating of the song for rugby matches appears to stem from a 1988 game between Twickenham and Ireland when a group of schoolboys from the private Douai School in Berkshire began singing the song to the black player Chris Oti after he scored a hat-trick. It is unknown whether there was any racial intent to the choice of song, but the anthem was quickly picked up by other members in the crowd.

I feel kind of sad to see a Nation that once promoted good manners be encouraged by its national broadcasting station to display such uncouth tribal ignorance.    
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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: SURELY IT IS TIME FOR THE LABOR PARTY IN THE UK TO STAND UP AND CATEGORICAL SUPPORT THE UK MEMBERSHIP OF THE EU.

15 Thursday Nov 2018

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(Six-minute read)

One can place the blame and no doubt the blame will be played on many a doorstep for Brexit.  For me, it can be placed squarely on the shoulders of inequality.

All sides in the Brexit debate seem to see a Free Trade Agreement with the EU as being essential to England’s prosperity… but the question will be whose prosperity is that?

Is it Free Trade that will benefit the big corporations and banks?

Will leaving economically revitalise depressed areas?

Thames Water is still fighting a losing battle fixing our hundreds of years old sewage system. The National Grid relies on dwindling supplies of natural gas and an excess of clean electricity from Scotland. The NHS is creaking at its foundations. Trains are stuffed full of sweaty people, with people paying more for a rail ticket than a flight to Madrid. Millions of people rely on food banks to not starve. Charity shops are an essential part of the High Street for clothing the working classes, with thousands homeless, with a murder a day, while taxpayers money is ploughed into new aircraft carriers and worthless nuclear subs.

So stark is the evidence that Britain is going south-rapidly one would assume that by now  Britain would face up to its plight, there is no easy model for the redevelopment of the national economy.

The U.K. will not be part of the single market after it officially exits the EU and will have to access clients in the bloc like any other “third country.”Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of england after brexit"

The U.K trades from a past no longer hold the respect of the World.

No matter what side of the arguments your on the UK’S RECENT ECONOMIC success originates from ITS MEMBERSHIP OF THE EU.

Theresa May has frequently been jaw-dropping in the incompetence and infighting of its political elites, but it is difficult to imagine things getting this bad.

As the English Government use deficit hysteria to collude in protecting private profit above all else, neither nationality nor geography will ultimately provide safeguards.

Britain will sink into “poverty as fast as the far east rises”.

SURELY IF MR CORBETT HAD THE BOTTLE TO STAND UP IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND CLEARLY SAY THAT THE LABOUR PARTY WILL NOT SUPPORT THE DRAFT AGREEMENT.  THEY WOULD BE IN POWER IN THE MORNING. 

The question of whether there is now a chance that Brexit may not ultimately go ahead is irrelevant as all the major players in the City of London are already making decisions.

London as a financial centre is not dead, nor will it be, but it’s dying.  I don’t think even by reversing Brexit it will be able to revive it, as worldwide technology is eroding its importance. 

However, not everyone is in the same boat yet.

There is a colossal opportunity for reform in the EU which it will have to do whether England leaves or not. 

What is needed both in the Uk and Europe is a rejection of the continuation of imperialism by “big and powerful trade interests.”  

Whoever wins the next general election or the forthcoming European elections will face international challenges reaching to the heart of a question that has bedevilled every government since 1945:

What is, or should be, the role of economics in the world?The UK has been a loyal if hardly effective ally of the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan, says Tisdall.

THIS QUESTION CAN ONLY BE ANSWERED BY THE PEOPLE WHO WORK AND LIVE IN THE ECONOMY.

PROFIT BEFORE PEOPLE NO LONGER WORKS.

Old certainties are being uprooted and new or revived threats are multiplying.

Faced with the prospect of Scottish independence and the inevitable break-up of the United Kingdom.  The country can no longer afford a nuclear deterrent, morally or financially.

Disturbed by this evidence of decline, Britain’s political class comforts itself by arguing the country still leads by example.

It is small consolation for a country that, 100 years ago, was a superpower with a truly global reach that the forthcoming election will be all about isolation or not.

You can rest assured that the campaigns to come will not address foreign policy nor the key 21st-century international issues, such as climate change, they will barely get a mention.

This is not an accident.

Britain’s horizons are narrowing.

Its strength and global ambitions are fading.

Its post-imperial destiny is that of a second-tier power.

When the war of words politicians are using now has died down, reconciliation and pragmatism will win the day. The EU needs the UK and vice versa.

Nobody in their right mind wants to undermine that relationship.

The trick now is not to appear second rate to the DUP that are holding the whole of Britian to ransom.

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THE BEADY EYE LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY OF ENGLAND RE JOINING THE EU.

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit.

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(Three-minute read)

So while it is wrong to say “The UK can not rejoin the EU”, one might say that “The UK can not rejoin the EU and regain all the special privileges it had”.

There is no special procedure for readmission. There is no special route back into the EU for past members.

A key factor here is the nature of the membership that would be on offer.

It is almost inconceivable that newer member states who have assumed all the obligations of membership would be willing to see a larger and richer state being granted special treatment.

It is quite obvious that if England were to reapply it would be put on a fast track to membership. However, the EU members may not be willing to make concessions that would put the UK back in the position in which it left the EU. It would probably have to forget about their old opt-outs and have to accept everything the EU throws at them.

It’s one thing when a current and long-standing member of a club opts-out of changes to the club… It’s something completely different for a “new” member who wants to join – they pretty much must accept everything a membership entails.

This answer seems incomplete to me.

(1) While the UK could re-join the EU in theory, in practice this is about as unlikely as Turkey joining. Over recent decades, discontent in the EU with its uncooperative member has been almost as strong as discontent in the UK with the EU. It is extremely likely that someone will veto a new application even without the privileges.

When politicians say the UK could never rejoin the EU, they’re talking about the practical and political impediments, not any legal ones.

If the UK rejoined, they’d have to start completely from scratch.

All the exceptions and favours they’ve negotiated from the EU (such as using the pound instead of the Euro) would be gone. The actual process to rejoin is also as long and arduous as the daunting task the UK now faces in leaving the EU.

As I have said even if the UK’s political climate did a 180, admission to the EU can be vetoed by any one of its current members.

If, say, France decided they didn’t want the UK to rejoin, that’d be that. That isn’t some absurd hypothetical; the UK originally was blocked by France until 1973. Imagine what would happen the next time around, now that the UK has publicly thumbed its nose at the EU and weakened the entire enterprise.

So yes, the UK could reapply, but the concessions they’d have to make and the headache of applying makes it very unlikely.

A no-deal Brexit remains by far the greatest threat to the status of EU citizens in the UK and English people in the EU.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "funny pictures of brexit"

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD REMEMBER WORLD WAR ONE..

11 Sunday Nov 2018

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Two minutes read:

Millions of soldiers worldwide were killed; it shockingly works out that during the war, which lasted 4 and a quarter years, 230 soldiers died every single hour!

By the end of WW1, over 10 million soldiers had been killed, and another 21 million wounded.

We should remember it because:Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the end of world war one"

The Ottoman empire split up.
England became heavily indebted to the USA.
Our government and democracy improved.
The treaty of Versailles which led to the League of Nations.
German hyperinflation- having to pay the cost of the war
Revolution on warfare tactics.
Improvements and advances in medicine.
End of Colonialism, the rise of nations
The rise of dictatorships e.g Hitler and the Nazi Party

In some ways, WW1 should be remembered as a great success.

But this came at a huge cost of lives so it definitely should be remembered with respect.

MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.

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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHING FROM WORLD WAR ONE.

09 Friday Nov 2018

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( FOUR MINUTE READ)

Its one hundred years after World war one.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "images of world war 1"

If we ask the question what have we learned?

There is one thing we should learn and that is that the long view of history is critical to understanding why today’s world continues to experience unresolvable conflict.

An event that began 100 years ago this August might as well be ancient and irrelevant history for most. Yet World War I changed the world and set off a chain of events that continue to impact your life today. Don’t underestimate what one man and one event can do to alter everything. Kaiser Wilhelm II in August 1914, signed orders mobilizing German armies and setting off events that led to what would become known as “the Great War”—World War I.

Might he have thought about what he had just done?

Could he have considered how far-reaching was the decision he had just made?

Certainly, he did not see how many years into the future that one decision would last—neither did he comprehend the lives that would be changed nor a world reshaped. He was not alone in failing to grasp the far-reaching impact—the long perspective if you will—of the war that would be called “the war to end all wars.”

We are still dealing with the consequences of the decisions made by the Kaiser and other European leaders.

World War I resulted in the breakup of two world empires whose influence had shaped Europe and the Middle East.

We were left with the victors – Britain and France—to carve up the Middle East and redistribute it into a patchwork of new states such as Jordan, Iraq and Syria.

When you read headlines today of genocide in Syria, the launching of rockets into Israel from terrorist encampments in southern Lebanon and Gaza, or the continuing unrest among refugees throughout the region, you are seeing the fruit of decisions made by leaders who had to pick up the pieces from the collapse of empires in 1918.

For a century now historians have examined the cause of the Great War.

The prewar geopolitical map of Europe was a complex web of political alliances overlaying an antiquated system of family monarchal ties that doomed the continent to the cauldron of conflict erupting.

The leaders of that day saw the war coming for years. Germany armed itself to the hilt—in fact, it engaged in the first modern arms race with Great Britain. Plans for a German invasion of France were known to be in place for years prior to 1914. Nationalist urges in the Balkans were continual sparks, like matches repeatedly struck till ignited.

There simply was no prewar leader in Europe with the stature, wisdom and diplomacy to halt the insanity. It’s one of the colossal failures of history that an interconnected Europe and wider world couldn’t prevent the largest, bloodiest war to that time.

A study of a devastating war begun a hundred years ago can be an exercise in nostalgia and academic history. Only a few people alive today can even remember this war in their earliest memories. For we who take a moment to reflect on what happened, let’s be sure to take away a lesson that helps us understand our present world:

History existed before our birth, it marches on now, and decisions made by people long ago and far away continue to impact our lives today.

We must learn to take the long view on life.

The world sorely needs leaders with a view different from leaders of the past. The world needs leadership with the long view, the view of what is best and will benefit all others and avoid the destructive and bloody scourge of conflict and war.

If there is anything we have learned it is that World War One leads to World War Two and it will lead to number three if we don’t have leadership with the long view of the world to come.

The millions of young lives were lost in both wars for a world to know peace.

To achieve this it is necessary to hear all voices, not just populous voices.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "images of world war 1"

 

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THE BEADY EYE ASK,S: WHAT HAVE US HUMANS ACHIEVED TO DATE.

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Climate Change., Environment, Evolution, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Natural World Disasters, Politics., Populism., Reality., Sustaniability, Technology, The common good., The current state of our oceans., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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(Three-minute read)

We have been on earth 300,000 years or maybe even longer.

WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THAT TIME-  OTHER THAN INVENTING NEW WAY OF KILLING EACH OTHER.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of human achievement"

I suppose the answer is we still exist.

Anyway, there is now compelling evidence THAT WE ARE ON THE THRESHOLD OF OUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE.

Humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife are pushing the world into a new geological epoch.

Humans have introduced entirely novel changes, geologically speaking, such as the roughly 300m metric tonnes of plastic produced annually.

Wildlife, meanwhile, is being pushed into an ever smaller area of the Earth, with just 25% of ice-free land considered wild now compared to 50% three centuries ago.

As a result, rates of extinction of species are far above long-term averages.

We [the public] are well aware of the climate discussions that are going on.

But there is more than one aspect of the changes happening to the entire planet.

The Earth is now on course for a sixth mass extinction which would see 75% of species extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue.

  • Increased the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere by about 120 parts per million since the industrial revolution because of fossil fuel-burning, leaving concentrations today at around 400ppm and rising
  • Nuclear weapon tests in the 1950s and 60s left traces of an isotope common in nature, 14C, and a naturally rare isotope, 293Pu, through the Earth’s mid-latitudes.
  •  We have put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.
  • We have doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with our fertiliser use. According to some research, we’ve had the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.
  • We have left a permanent marker in sediment and glacial ice with airborne particulates such as black carbon from fossil fuel-burning.

We will reach the hard reality whereby the planet we call home cannot keep us.

Even if like in the past we are able to get ourselves of this quite uncomfortable position with the developing technology we are going to see our civilization strained.

We are already using Earths resources that cannot and will not be replenished.

Granted we have come a long way from our biggins but with the human population set to continue to grow exponentially, there is no sense whether your black, white, rich, poor, Trump or Putin, Muslim or Christian, in the EU or out not cooperating together to share what we all need.

IF WE CANNOT ADDRESS THE OBVIOUS WITHOUT TURNING THEM INTO COMMODITIES TO BE SOLD ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE FOR PROFIT WE CAN REST ASSURED WHEN YOU ARE DEPARTED AND GONE THAT YOU WILL BE THE LUCKY ONE.

All the rhetoric without funds without the distribution of wealth and technology will achieve nothing.

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING – TAP INTO GREED.

(See: Previous posts re A World Aid commission)

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. #WHAT IF.COM THE EUROPEAN UNION ISSUED GREEN ENERGY TREASURY BONDS.

06 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in #whatif.com, Climate Change., Environment, European Commission., European Union., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Modern Day Democracy., Natural World Disasters, Nuclear power., Our Common Values., Politics., Reality., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, World Leaders, World Organisations.

≈ Comments Off on THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. #WHAT IF.COM THE EUROPEAN UNION ISSUED GREEN ENERGY TREASURY BONDS.

 

We are all realizing that climate change needs to be addressed.

Technology, governments, and world organisations will contribute but if we the citizens of the earth only pay lip attention like our politicians that are more concerned about the latest twitter we have a recipe for disaster.

Changing our habits one by one will take a lifetime.

So # What if.com has a suggestion that could be adopted by the Europen Union or for that matter any country.

We all know that energy is essential to us all and that we have the green technology to wean us off fossil fuels.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of energy conservation"

The problem is it the replacement.

Pounds of CO2 emitted per million British thermal units (Btu) of energy for various fuels:

Coal (anthracite) 228.6
Coal (bituminous) 205.7
Coal (lignite) 215.4
Coal (subbituminous) 214.3
Diesel fuel and heating oil 161.3
Gasoline (without ethanol) 157.2
Propane 139.0
Natural gas 117.0

THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF SMALL TOWNS AND VILLAGE ALL OVER EUROPE.

 #WHATIF.COM SUGGESTION.

WITH SOME CREATIVE INITIATIVES FROM OURSELVES, OUR GOVERNMENTS AND WITH HELP FROM THE EU THESE VILLAGES AND TOWNS COULD BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT IN ENEGERY.

Nuclear energy, wind turbines, are not wanted for obvious reasons. Of all the long-term solution to reduce carbon emissions solar energy is the prefered option.

So until we crack fusion there is endless energy to be had from the sun.

There is no reason for half a dozen major energy companies that have come to dominate the market to offer repayable grants to every community to establish utility-scale energy co-ops to run small solar farms.

These co-ops can be funded in several ways.

By:  The issuing of EU environmental green bonds.

By:  A solar levy that could be progressively applied to bigger electricity bills.

BY: Customers who can either purchase a share of a solar garden and own that portion of the overall array or they can lease energy from the solar system and, in a sense, replace their monthly utility payments with monthly community solar payments that are typically at a lower price.

By: National grids paying for the excess energy generated with these payments guaranteed for 20 years.

WHEN ONE LOOKS AT SOLAR ENERGY WE SEE INDIVIDUAL HOUSES WITH SOLAR PANELS AND MORE THAN LIKELY ARE ASKING THE QUESTION WHY SHOULD WE BE PAYING FOR AFFLUENT RICH PEOPLE INDULGING IN GREEN CRAP?

OF COURSE, BIG ENERGY COMPANIES DONE WANT TO LOSE THEIR REVENUE BASE. However, increasing the amount of electricity storage has huge value to the National Grid because it helps balance variable supply and erratic demand.

Also, batteries will help the grid adjust to the big new challenge posed by the need to charge electric vehicles. ( Given these services, shouldn’t solar batteries be subsidised?)

Furthermore, it would make all of us and countries self-sufficient in green energy, weaning us off government support.

Solar farms at the utility scale would typically be at least 1 megawatt (MW), which is a power plant capable of supplying some 200 households. The needed kilowatt hours of energy can be established from the existing energy bills and work backwards to get a number of panels needed for the array.

A smaller solar farm only requires a few acres of land with a panel cleaned – and a powered robot.

Solar will get there and private money will eventually fill the gap, but it may not get there nearly as fast as needed without some creative thinking.

Just imagine what this would do not to just the reduction of carbon emissions, but to new employment opportunities, the cost of manufacturing, the sale of electric vehicles, the quality of the air we breathe to mention a few of the benefits.

There is not a village or town that would turn own such an opportunity.

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