191–200 of 203 posts
As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…
That's a brilliant move by von der Leyen and Mark Carney (I guess he's in on it as well). There is currently no such status as "associate member" defined in the EU treates although the idea of special status for not being a complete member was floating around for a while now. Just calling it a "unique alliance" or "deepening of their relationship" wouldn't have had such a public effect. Half of the right wing influen…
While there isn't an official "associate member" status, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland all have custom deals with the EU so this just codifies what already exists in an ad-hoc form. The only bit the EU is rowing back is that they mentioned during BRExit that there would be no more custom deals so this simply a case of the realpolitik winning out. I'm sure the UK will be looking at this very carefully as well.
There is not much trade with Canada at the moment but with some special treaties this might change.
Then there's the political edge to this "associate member" status and if it can work as a blueprint for more countries, they'll certainly will be open to do it.
That's a brilliant move by von der Leyen and Mark Carney (I guess he's in on it as well). There is currently no such status as "associate member" defined in the EU treates although the idea of special status for not being a complete member was floating around for a while now. Just calling it a "unique alliance" or "deepening of their relationship" wouldn't have had such a public effect. Half of the right wing influen…
> Half of the right wing influencers on X is going bananas because when the US was "offering" Canada to join them, they said a firm "NO" but for the EU they are opening the door. I mean, it's a very, very different type of offer.
But MAGA people are going the full emotional breakdown "why don't you love us anymore?!?".
That's a brilliant move by von der Leyen and Mark Carney (I guess he's in on it as well). There is currently no such status as "associate member" defined in the EU treates although the idea of special status for not being a complete member was floating around for a while now. Just calling it a "unique alliance" or "deepening of their relationship" wouldn't have had such a public effect. Half of the right wing influen…
There is this Venn diagram[1]. Canada could shift into the Council of Europe like Georgia or join Schengen with an independent currency like the Swiss. The latter would be a nice arrangement for Canadian passport holders. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1qbq43v/european_in...
As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…
As an American, I hope you can identify strongly as an Australian. Why bother telling yourself you’re something of a European? In any case, I hope countries form ties with Europe. Europe needs be economically stronger than it is. Better for the world, so long as they can slow their tendencies toward government control and censorship.
As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US. This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown…
Australia's alignment with the US was a major consequence of World War 2 and the aftermath of that. Pre WW2 we were basically in lockstep with the UK. However after Singapore fell to the Japanese it became increasingly obvious that the UK could not be relied upon to defend Australia. At the time most of the elite Australian troops were fighting in North Africa (El-Alamein, Tobruk etc). and there was a genuine perceiv…
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The trouble is, Pandora's box has been opened. It turns out that the president of the US can act like a crazy post-Soviet-style dictator, and that the mechanisms which are supposed to prevent that are simply not fit for purpose. Even if in 2028 the US elects the most sensible, rule-of-law-oriented president imaginable, allies will still have to look to 2032. Fixing the problem would require constitutional change, whi…
The powers granted to the U.S. President are meant to be used in times of war or situations that threatens the security of the United States. Trump is using it nilly-willy for just about everything. It will, however, be difficult to come up with a law that would put a stop to this without harming the Executive Branch's effectiveness in a time of need. But so far I'm pretty satisfied how Congress and the judiciary are…
Would it? It didn't step in on the tariffs; that had to wait on extremely slow Supreme Court action, and he went right back to attempting them by other means.
As far as I can see almost nothing he's done in his second term has been subject to timely oversight (it was a bit different in his first, where the judiciary _did_ shut some of the most batshit stuff down quickly).
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>The american left likes to pretend trump is the problem, and if he goes then everything is fine. That is wishful thinking; he is just the symptom. The American left has been screaming from the rooftops about systemic racism, misogyny and rape culture, capitalism, imperialism, right-wing Christianity, fascism and all of the deeper issues that Trump is a symptom for almost a century, and that Trump is just a symptom o…
Screaming from the rooftop might feel good, but its ultimately not productive. Sometimes i think americans would rather let a problem run its course than fix it, just so they can say i told you so.
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>Has had implications on housing affordability, but it's great for GDP statistics. Which high performing economy DOESN'T struggle with housing affordability? >mostly through immigration *SKILLED immigration
Not really. Australia is very lax when it comes to bringing in dependents, who outnumber skilled migrants themselves. We also have an oversupply of technically skilled people, with nothing for them to work on, because we got rid of all of our industry. High energy prices and wages means that you'll struggle to get anything that isn't finance, gambling, or real estate related off the ground. I guess defense is the oth…
It's pretty important to realise that this includes student visas (600K - and education is a major earner for Australia) and graduate visas (200K) and 700K New Zealanders (who have their own special temporary class).
There are also 250K working holiday visas (ie backpackers).