Off Topic The Politics Thread
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Seriously Col I am fuming at his remarks. How dare he say that about us. We contribute 1/4 of the EU defense budget. They can stick it now and let the Greeks/Italians and others pay up. I cannot believe all the news is worried about is a Trump tweet! We all know he is stupid.
I bet if Boris or May had said something like this we would get the usual 'remoaners' coming out of the woodwork saying it was disgraceful.
Even the Guardian is disgusted.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-britain-counter-terrorism-brexit-eu-european
Barnier needs to go.
Barnier said
“The UK will no longer be involved in decision-making, nor in planning our defence and security instruments,”
I used them recently when I flew from Copenhagen to Prague. The service was very average.
Barnier is a fool on this.
But what EU defence budget? One is scheduled for 2020 (€250m) but we won’t be contributing to it. We probably spend a lot more on our Military than other EU countries but that is our choice and theirs. One argument for an EU wide Military is that it could afford the advanced weapons systems that individual countries increasingly can’t.
He should be sticking to the trade deal and moving forward not coming out with that sort of crap. TBH I think we will be better off on our own. There has already been problems with military cross-pollination.
Hope that made you feel better. And last week you were telling us how you get on with Europeans - it's only the corrupt EU institutions you can't stand. Your venomous anger suggests otherwise. What is it with you and the Donald that you seem to be unable to criticise him at all for anything that he says or does beyond calling him a dimwit?
Are all the Brexiteers on here happy with the £50-60bn pay off? I must have missed the bus with that on.
Stop talking rubbish. You just don't like the fact that your hero 'Barnier' has insulted us. I don't see you all coming out complaining about his insulting comments? As for Trump, stop trying to divert my post about Barnier.
No but £50-60bn will still work out better for us in the long run. God knows what we would have had to pay being in that corrupt organization.
Barnier's comments were surprising, but isn't he just referring back to May's clear threat to withdraw co-operation on security if a favourable trade deal is not forthcoming?
PS. Why, when you use the term remoaners, do you put it in quotes, as if it's not a term you yourself would use?
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Barnier really does come across as a complete tosser. He agitates easily.
The whole MI5/MI6/SAS debate is interesting and of course subjective.
IMO MI5 has done a magnificent job in protecting people. Unsung heroes. The vast majority of what they achieve will never be known by us common folk. The Israeli internal security service Shin Bet also does amazing work in probably more taxing daily circumstances.
MI6/CIA/Mossad/Russia’s SVR are top of the external security services. Who knows who’s the most effective.
The SAS’s reputation is well earned. At the top of the pile although most counties elite forces have very little between them now.
The whole MI5/MI6/SAS debate is interesting and of course subjective.
IMO MI5 has done a magnificent job in protecting people. Unsung heroes. The vast majority of what they achieve will never be known by us common folk. The Israeli internal security service Shin Bet also does amazing work in probably more taxing daily circumstances.
MI6/CIA/Mossad/Russia’s SVR are top of the external security services. Who knows who’s the most effective.
The SAS’s reputation is well earned. At the top of the pile although most counties elite forces have very little between them now.
Agree Nuts, what annoys me is that Barnier just pulls out this unnecessary comment. If this had been a Boris/May/Gove or Davis. It would be headline news and I am sure many on here would be complaining, yet once again it seems that members of the EU can say what they want.
Probably like many others on here I have had family fight and die in wars. Just 5 years ago my partner's good school friend died in Afghanistan leaving 2 young kids. He died fighting people who were training the f222wits that want to kill not only us but those in Europe. So when that tw2t Barnier said what he did it really does irk me.
The European defence policy is a joke. PFP, Battle Groups, joint exercise etc.
The fact that the Balkan’s war happened on our doorstep and the yanks had to effectively step in and solve Europe’s problem was embarrassing. The Battle Group concept was interesting but despite huge expense has never been deployed.
All European armies have seen huge budgetary decreases in recent years including the British Army which has significantly reduced in size. I’d expect that this will be rectified in the coming years once Brexit is sorted.
The fact that the Balkan’s war happened on our doorstep and the yanks had to effectively step in and solve Europe’s problem was embarrassing. The Battle Group concept was interesting but despite huge expense has never been deployed.
All European armies have seen huge budgetary decreases in recent years including the British Army which has significantly reduced in size. I’d expect that this will be rectified in the coming years once Brexit is sorted.
I don’t think we can afford to rectify defence spending too much Nuts.
The current European defence policy might be a joke, but do you think the concept of a common EU military organisation is flawed? I am in no position to judge, though it does strike me that with the pressure on budgets it might be a way to fund a well equipped military that individual countries could not afford, or sell to their electorates. Shouldn’t the spending nowadays be on weapons systems, drones and drone operators etc etc rather than footsoldiers? The command and decision making hierarchy would be interesting though, and the political decision to deploy rather complicated. I wonder if France would put its nuclear arsenal into the common pot?
This Damian Green thing is getting hysterically funny.
Either two retired policemen are lying and porn was not accessed for hours at a time from Green’s office, or Green is lying and he spent most of his time locked in his office ****ing, or for some reason he let someone else occupy his office and use his PC for days at a time, to allow them to **** in comfort presumably, with him nipping in to send the odd email.
The issue is whether Green is lying or not, rather than what he actually did (no problem with ****ing to porn, though doing it on the taxpayers time using taxpayer bought equipment is a bit problematic, and the sheer stupidity and sadness of spending your time at work, even if it wasn’t Green but one of his helpers, engaged in self gratification rather worrying). Given his dreadful performance at PMQs Green is clearly feeling the pressure, despite the strident defence that his mate Andrew Mitchell is conducting on his behalf.
Resignation inevitable I think. But the government may be gone by then anyway, punished by the DUP for attempting to get a workable solution to the Irish border.
Either two retired policemen are lying and porn was not accessed for hours at a time from Green’s office, or Green is lying and he spent most of his time locked in his office ****ing, or for some reason he let someone else occupy his office and use his PC for days at a time, to allow them to **** in comfort presumably, with him nipping in to send the odd email.
The issue is whether Green is lying or not, rather than what he actually did (no problem with ****ing to porn, though doing it on the taxpayers time using taxpayer bought equipment is a bit problematic, and the sheer stupidity and sadness of spending your time at work, even if it wasn’t Green but one of his helpers, engaged in self gratification rather worrying). Given his dreadful performance at PMQs Green is clearly feeling the pressure, despite the strident defence that his mate Andrew Mitchell is conducting on his behalf.
Resignation inevitable I think. But the government may be gone by then anyway, punished by the DUP for attempting to get a workable solution to the Irish border.
No criminal charges re Green, so presumably an employment matter and being civil, the test whether he is responsible is balance of probabilities. It sounds to me from what I've heard is that would be met. If his pc was being used to access porn (which apparently was quite extreme, and some of which would be illegal now but was not at the time) and he was sending emails intermittently between porn viewings - then it probably was him, unless Green can provide compelling evidence to the contrary.
I can't get very excited about this (unlike Mr Green who presumably go quite excited). The coppers say they would have been sacked for doing something similar. If Green has breached Parliamentary standards, he has to go.
DUP seem to be sabre rattling, to match the veto-threat from the south. I expect agreement will be reached eventually.