771–780 of 878 posts
If that be the case, maybe we the USA ought to take the UK and Ireland as an associate state of the USA.
If nothing else, I mean, see how Iran's going, now imagine that with aircraft carriers, submarines, nuclear-tipped SLBMs, and so forth.
Like you're pretty much talking about WW3.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean... Different people have different opinions. I would prefer nuclear
I'm sorry I came off a little hostile. I do find it hard to understand how people can be so opposed to such clearly necessary infrastructure on purely aesthetic grounds. Compared to all the things that could be built, it seems like the aesthetic harm is so small (a six lane highway, an industrial plant, a train line, sewage processing plant, refuse pile, the list goes on and on) - all of these must be built in places…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland eventually leaves UK and joins the EU. Part of the reason they voted to stay in the UK was so that they could remain in the EU, and then brexit happened
That can’t happen though because they’d be without a currency in the interim period and it’s also baked in to the EU’s treaties to make this difficult else places like Catalonia and the Basque Country would break away and join the EU, so there are barriers in place to make this less than quick or easy.
From independence 1922 to 1979 (when we joined the EMS) Ireland just used a currency pegged to Sterling. An independent Scotland would presumably use a newly-created currency pegged to either Sterling or the Euro, on at least a temporary basis.
Spain have dropped their threats to veto Scottish accession: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/02/spain-drops...
Trump is not emperor for life, fortunately. He'll be gone in a couple of years. With any luck the upcoming midterms will significantly limit his powers. America will recover from this dark period. Other countries have had dark periods too, like Germany, and recovered.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which country would you say has a closer relationship with the King of Canada?
England, which is why he's called the King of England and never called the King of Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada#Royal_prese...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Single market (but food treated specially)" wouldn't be unprecedented; Switzerland was basically like this for a long time. Working Time Directive may be more of a sticking point, though Canada doesn't seem _that_ far away from aligned with it anyway (big difference would be on paid time off, where Canada's way under the minimum).
AFAICT many EU nations let stat holidays count towards the paid time off allowance. Ontario has 9 stat holidays. 10 paid days off guaranteed + 9 stat holidays is pretty close to the 20 required by Europe's paid time off guarantees.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not an insurmountable problem if they don't have compatibility on standards It'll just take time to reach an agreement both sides can accept and it's in some ways simpler than something like the EU-Mercosur agreement since one "side" is a unified country rather that been two trading bloc's negotiating. It's fascinating watching the world re-align so quickly (by diplomatic/negotiation standards).
EU signed a free trade agreement with Canada but its never been ratified
From Blackberry to a budding VFX industry and many other sustainable businesses to come out of Canada has always made it seem like a very EU-like philosophy. This will be great for fair trade.
So neither of these are good sustainable examples.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are over 30 US military bases in EU member states, so I would classify that as alignment with the US.
> There are over 30 US military bases in EU member states As of today, with current affairs and the unpredictable element in chief, you may never know how long.
Soon, Canada might overtake Finland in having the longest NATO border with a hostile country…
But it will probably be a long time till Canada purposefully causes the death of a million civilians in the USA, like Finland did with Leningrad!