Re: I don't think the EU is even trying any more
Daily Fail fodder such as stories about Brussels regulating the straightness of bananas aside, I used to think that the EU was generally a 'good thing': All of Europe pooling resources to form a unified 'entity' which would be big enough to complete with [and deal with on its own terms] the USA, USSR/Russia, China, etc.
And, to be fair, I think the EU has done a lot of good 'stuff' in the past, especially for the smaller member nations.
Increasingly however, it seems the EU as an institution is becoming a vehicle for individual European nations to gather together in one place to be fucked by the USA, rather than putting Uncle Sam to the inconvenience of shafting them individually.
This latest agreement allows data-slurping, NSA-conniving US mega-corporations to maintain their stranglehold on European eCommerce, on the strength of a laughable promise to play fair in future. This latest piece of own-foot-shooting following on nicely from Europe doing its master's bidding by going down the economic sanctions and Cold War v2 sabre-rattling route with Russia over Ukraine —when it was patently obvious early in that crisis, in talks with France and Germany, that Russia was willing to try and reach a negotiated solution. Result: Russia turns off Europe's cheap gas supplies and European countries lose access to a huge market, right on their door-step.
I seriously think that there's some kind of ongoing 'Spin the Bottle' party taking place in the pentagon, where the players have to come up with ever more outrageous 'dares' to demand of their supposed 'friends' around the world:
* I bet I can make them go to war over a weapon I've just made up
* I bet I can make them help us kidnap and torture people
* I bet I can make them accept that US law applies in their countries
* I bet I can make them stop trading with their biggest neighbour
* I bet I can make them cover their eyes while we spy on them
...etc. etc.
The game's been going on for years, but nobody's been got out yet as, however outrageous the dare, the target has always complied.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
