Lol, can't blame the writer for not understanding how Europe works. It's actually a bunch of countries, not states.
Just to confuse things even more, some of the member states are made up of more than one country.
Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
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Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#12Lol, can't blame the writer for not understanding how Europe works. It's actually a bunch of countries, not states.
Just to confuse things even more, some of the member states are made up of more than one country.
This is just false. Just to clear things up:
- a state with lower-case S is a subdivision of a Federal Country.
- a State with upper-case S is a synonym of Country.
- All members of the EU are States/Countries. Some of these countries are Federal (Germany for instance) and are subdivised into states (Länder in the case of Germany).
- Some States of the EU include multiple Nations. UK is one of these. Scotland is neither a State nor a state for example, but it's a nation.
- Some States of the EU have territories that encompass States that are not members of the EU. Monaco or the Vatican are examples. Some of these States belong to the Eurozone though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstates_and_the_European_Un...
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#13Lol, can't blame the writer for not understanding how Europe works. It's actually a bunch of countries, not states.
The countries in the EU are known as 'Member States'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Un... Edit: Also the author of the piece is a native of an EU member state Edit2: Also now that I look I don't actually see the article mention the word 'state'. What the hell, man?
I think he was simply implying that Germany doesn't control the rest of the countries in Europe like the US government controls its states.
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#14Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3333939
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#15How is any of this in the interest of the consumer? Can't one of those nice gov't agencies charged with protecting consumer rights stand in and say enough is enough?
I guess things have to get a lot worse before Apple/Motorola/Samsung/etc. realize that this is just not good for anyone.
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to confuse things even more, some of the member states are made up of more than one country.
This is just false. Just to clear things up: - a state with lower-case S is a subdivision of a Federal Country. - a State with upper-case S is a synonym of Country. - All members of the EU are States/Countries. Some of these countries are Federal (Germany for instance) and are subdivised into states (Länder in the case of Germany). - Some States of the EU include multiple Nations. UK is one of these. Scotland is neit…
That's an amusing taxonomy, but don't fool yourself into thinking this stuff can be so precisely and unambiguously delineated. There's a continuum between a province with some autonomy to fully-fledged independent nation state, and the application of various English words to refer to particular entities that lie in different places on the continuum is governed primarily by history and culture, not by legal and political specifics. For any set of properties you care to define for nationhood or statehood, you can usually find entities that are not evenly cut into one or the other.
The Commonwealth shares a head of state; for example, Canada would be a sovereign state (small s) within the terminology of the Commonwealth. The Common Travel Area has passport-free travel; Irish and UK citizens can vote in one another's national parliaments, while EU citizens generally can only vote in local and EU elections. British crown dependencies are distinct from its overseas territories. There aren't enough shades of meaning in the miserly handful of terms you defined above (and seems rather German-centric) to adequately cover all the dependent and independent relationships involved.
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is just false. Just to clear things up: - a state with lower-case S is a subdivision of a Federal Country. - a State with upper-case S is a synonym of Country. - All members of the EU are States/Countries. Some of these countries are Federal (Germany for instance) and are subdivised into states (Länder in the case of Germany). - Some States of the EU include multiple Nations. UK is one of these. Scotland is neit…
That's an amusing taxonomy, but don't fool yourself into thinking this stuff can be so precisely and unambiguously delineated. There's a continuum between a province with some autonomy to fully-fledged independent nation state, and the application of various English words to refer to particular entities that lie in different places on the continuum is governed primarily by history and culture, not by legal and politi…
Not to mention the fact that, as far as I am aware, the term used for the constituents parts of the UK is "country":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_of_the_United_Kingdom
I don't think many people answer "British" to the question "What country are you from?".
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
The countries in the EU are known as 'Member States'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Un... Edit: Also the author of the piece is a native of an EU member state Edit2: Also now that I look I don't actually see the article mention the word 'state'. What the hell, man?
I think he was simply implying that Germany doesn't control the rest of the countries in Europe like the US government controls its states.
They don't control the rest of Europe (though right now with the Euro situation they probably just about do), however there are provisions for legal precedent in one Member State to apply in every. I have no idea how it works and when it applies, though. It's definitely not so direct as in the U.S.
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#19Lol, can't blame the writer for not understanding how Europe works. It's actually a bunch of countries, not states.
EU legislation doesn't use the word 'country' anywhere, and neither does anyone working in the Commission. The EU is made up of 'Member States' in the parlance.
Good thing too. 'Country' is a loaded word with various populations both claiming and denying their geographic locale as a separate country from the legal entity (or 'Member State') they're a part of.
Re: Motorola secures Europe-wide sales ban on iPhone, iPad
#20My view is that if someone takes your idea and makes it better, it's called progress, and it should be encouraged, not banned.