Happy New Year’s Eve! The Professor takes some time on the brink of 2012 to look back at what happened to world leaders from around the globe in 2011. It was a tough year to be in charge this year, as evidenced by the demise of dictators, the overthrow of or attacks on authoritarian regimes, plagues of personal health, and even the decline in support of significant democratic leaders all over the planet. Sometimes “it’s good to be da’ king!”....but not in 2011 it wasn’t!!!!
In this second installment of reporting on aspects of this current international intervention into Libya, the Plaid Avenger attempts to explain the role of the major states and international organizations that have driven the action of this ‘liberating’ project. Led by France (France in the lead?) and the UK, and joined by a hesitant US, these major world players got a resolution passed through the United Nations which cleared the way for the international community to ‘protect’ Libyan civilians from their own government. But this was a very shady deal, indeed! Who voted for it, and who did not? And now that it is passed and military action has been initiated against Libya, who is in charge of this rapidly escalating event? NATO….WTF…NATO? Yeah, this whole business is baffling, and the Avenger does his best to enlighten the befuddled…including himself.
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Keywords: UN, NATO, BRIC, sovereignty, US, France, UK, Germany, BRazil, Russia, India, China, veto, UN Security Council, UN Permanent Security Council members
Synopsis: Watch out! The floodgates for Middle Eastern migration to Europe may have possibly just been opened up by the instability and chaotic nature caused by the Arab revolutionary spirit being unleashed in multiple Mediterranean countries! Say what? What do revolutions in the Middle East have to do with immigration policy in Europe? Just everything, my friends! In this episode, the Plaid Avenger explains the repercussions of the Arab revolutions on the already fractured and frayed immigration policies of the EU, and how this sudden inflow of folks to Europe is causing a serious re-evaluation of how European nations will be running their affairs in the near future. Is the era of multiculturalism dead? Only the Avenger knows!
Sufferin Swedish succotash! European government after European government has been shifting to center-right conservative leadership, and the Swedes are the latest to go! Most stories coming out of Europe high-lite the social components of this conservative swing?like anti-immigration (possible anti-Islamic) attitudes that are prevailing. The Avenger wants you to consider the more important economic aspects of this swing, which will have much more lasting implications. Bottom line: The economic shift to center-right across Europe?and now even in socialist Sweden? is indicative of a major move across all the western world towards smaller government and conservative economic/fiscal policy. A shift that even the mighty Americans are likely to embrace very soon?.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing adamant opposition to his plans to raise the retirement age in his country from 60 to 62?and the Frenchies are furious and taking to the streets! However, this move is symptomatic of a much larger trend going on all across Europe (and perhaps all of the ?rich? Western counties): that trend is towards austerity! With record budget deficits, bloated bureaucracies, and over-extended social benefit programs, there is a seismic shift towards changing the size and role of government in the western capitalist democracies of France, Germany, the UK aa well as the PIGS?.and this shift will even be affecting future politics and policies in the good ol? U S of A! Get awakened to the age of austerity my plaid friends!
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