All right, I’ll bite the bullet. Again. This post is about the current drama of the “Sea Watch 3”, with its payload of 47 migrants from Africa and the struggle with the Italian government. It will take a while, so get yourself comfortable.
EU
Italy Standoff 2018 – a word from Jean-Claude Juncker
Politics are just wonderful. The more you know about it, the less it makes sense. Think about the current Italian situation, for instance. In the 80-plus days after the last round of political elections, we got every possible lecture from abroad, it looks like everybody wanted to put his or her finger in the pie.
It’s true that we got an unprecedented situation, with a party (the Five Stars Movement) that never had direct experience of nation-wide matters, partnered with another (the League, formerly known as The Northern League) that is known for its Euroscepticism. So far, nobody knows for sure what the new government will do. To put it bluntly, they have the democratic right to push their own agenda ( for better or worse).
Italian Standoff 2018 – get ready for a new round
Welcome back to Italy, the country where the distance between tragedy and farce is shorter every day. As for the title of this post, the 2018 political standoff goes on with more and more shades of political degradation with no end in sight.
Yesterday our president Sergio Mattarella refused, once for all, to greenlight the start of a new government. In our constitutional laws, he was authorized to do that, but it is the first time ever that the motivation of such denial was tied to the possible destabilization of the Euro currency and to the general connection between our national economic system and the EU financial system. That’s thin ice at best.
What’s going on in Sweden?
The Ministry of Justice of Sweden noticed last month a press release (look HERE) about their new sexual offense legislation, setting up higher standards for the concept of consent and introducing in their law system two new offenses, “negligent rape” and “negligent sexual abuse“. The fundamental idea is that there has to be always an explicit consent before having sex, no matter the situation. It’s a positive change, a sign of awareness about the rising incidence of sexual offenses. Hopefully, it is destined to raise the stakes against all the sexual crimes in all Europe.
Question: what causes the increment in the sexual-related crimes in Sweden?
The Czar, the Sultan and the Uncle Sam
As predicted, things are getting hairy all over again in Syria, a place where too many conflicts are going on. The casus belli this time is the little town of Manbij, in the northern part of the country. Actually is controlled by Kurds, with logistic support from the US. Russians and Americans found themselves together against the will of the Turkish government to seize the town, a move that greatly enraged the leadership of this regional power. Check here the story, from Stars and Stripes.
The War Is Not Over (2)
There are many conflicts that are out of the media beat, including the ongoing confrontation in Ukraine between national government, Russian-sponsored separatist and Russian armed forces. Said conflict is in progress since 2014, with a significant portion of Ukraine – the Crimea region – de facto annexed by Russia in spite of every international treaty.
Europe, it’s now or never
One of the most important consequences of the beginning of the Trump presidency is that the last pillar of the old European diplomacy is gone. The new POTUS openly dislikes NATO, will support a new age of economic protectionism (Buy American! Anybody out there remembers this catch phrase?) and is ready to redesign the US foreign policy.
The Pendulum swings to the right
The political pendulum is swinging to the right side in Europe, the real deal now is to understand to what extent and to what consequences.
In the last ten years, the far right-wing parties in the Old-and-not-so-merry continent are booming and it’s quite likely that we will see one or more of the biggest countries in Europe going full throttle in that direction in a matter of five or fewer years. Bookmark the next round of presidential elections in France (2017) and the general political elections in Germany (also 2017) to check out what will become the European future.
Brexit – the day after
All right, here we are. The UK held the exit-or-leave referendum and democracy worked again. Like it or not, UK leaves the EU and we’re in a new day, waiting for the future to happen.
What will happen now? Prime Minister David Cameron will accomplish to the article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (see HERE) giving communication of the results of the referendum to the European Council. From that day, a two-year term starts and at the end of that term, if nothing else happens, every EU treaty subscription from the UK will be declared void. If the UK government starts to negotiate with the EU Commission about the said treaties, this period will be extended for the time needed. Cameron could ask to differ the start of said two-years period to October 2016 – in order to hand over the PM duties to a new leader.
Understanding the Brexit – a new MOOC
This week on FutureLearn is starting a brand new MOOC, based on material from the University of Edinburgh, about the upcoming referendum in the UK.
Angelo Benuzzi 