Europe

Kenf · Post by **Kenf** » Sun May 02, 2004 12:03 pm

Hi
"I'm living close to a so called 'social focus' and in fact it's hard not to mess up the general public of a foreign country with a few misguided idiots."

In the UK you do not have to be a foreign to be a misguided idiot. There are still more people leaving the UK than settling here. Yesterday I say a demonstration against refugees, it was hysteria in action, fueled by the neo-nazi party and the right wing press. We all know that there are good and bad in all societies, I beleive that it is important not to focus on the bad, otherwise you allow a few bad apples to spoil the barrel. I don't think that there are many Russians in the UK shooting out street lamps. There is one famous one buying every footballer in the world but thats another story.
It is up to the 'good' in the world to make it a better place.
Regards
Kenf

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun May 02, 2004 12:44 pm

Nice words. Trouble is that everyone thinks they are the "good" people.

As for the EU, well I can tell you for sure that Australia absolutely refuses to join !

Nisse · Post by **Nisse** » Sun May 02, 2004 1:04 pm

What!?

Aussies refuse to join?
I see, too good for us are ya? To few wallabies in our backyards for your liking, eh?

Splitters!

BOOOOOOOOOOH ! !

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun May 02, 2004 10:57 pm

There *was* a wallaby in my front yard once - but even my Aussies mates refused to believe me !

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:30 am

The more Europe gathers into new countries, the more dangerous gets the macro-political situation of the world. I agree and am happy when I see countries treatises and so, but this is unbalancing everything. There are too many massive interests going on today, and those interests must point somewhere… If countries in the world were to unite for peace, this would be the greatest of things, but when they secretly unite to put into control a war-like-situation like the present one, internationally, it is something to think about with precaution, so I don’t know if being happy or sad. I just hope things go well as Europe gets bigger and bigger; let's hope so.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:43 am

I thought the EU bureaucracy was such a bloated gravvy-train they'd have a hard time agreeing on anything important - much less something really significant like going to war.... In any case that's really an area for NATO yes ?

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:52 am

I don't think anybody wants to go to war, do not misunderstand me, I am not telling Europe is preparing a war or something like that... absolutely no. What I'm saying is that they are gathering to defend themselves... that's it.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon May 03, 2004 1:31 am

On 2004-05-03 01:43, Spirit wrote:
I thought the EU bureaucracy was such a bloated gravvy-train they'd have a hard time agreeing on anything important

And if it's not the bureaucracy that slows things down, it's an island in front of our coast. I think it's the only EU country, together with a mediteranean country with a fascist prime minister, that has soldiers in Iraq. The rest of us tend to agree with an organisation founded after WW2, to prevent such things from happening ever again.

[ This Message was edited by: at0mic on 2004-05-03 04:30 ]

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Mon May 03, 2004 1:36 am

That's one (small) point. But I think it's quite important to have a strong EU as a counterpart to the US (economical _and_ military). The world is out of balance right now, after the fall of the Soviet Union the US is the only bully in the neighborhood - and it shows...
But right now, there's not much military cooperation in the EU (mostly France, the Netherlands and Germany involved AFAIK).

BTW, the EU bureaucracy is not really that bad, eg defining the diameter and color of a banana is quite important for traders.

[ This Message was edited by: wsippel on 2004-05-03 02:38 ]

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon May 03, 2004 2:42 am

Quote from May 1st:

"I get tears in my eyes," said French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. "I am part of a generation that believes in Europe. Europe is the force that prevents hate from being eternal. We must open our hearts to this new Europe."

genoxcide · Post by **genoxcide** » Mon May 03, 2004 3:15 am

I join that thought. We shall be open minded. Open to everyone not as an enemy but as a friend. The world should be music because music is the speech of the open mind

For us germans history brought us much wisdom of whats wrong and what not... Sure every country has its goodies and baddies

but at least we learned some things out of our past like most European countries.

Finally we are all not just germans, frenchmen, swedes, europeans, americans, aussies, arabs etc. etc. but humans. The join of the new countries is a huge step to smiting the people together to one identification: "Human"

to nisse: *g* as far as i can remember sweden is not in the EU?!?

cheerz,
GenoX

[ This Message was edited by: genoxcide on 2004-05-03 04:18 ]

genoxcide · Post by **genoxcide** » Mon May 03, 2004 3:23 am

BTW, the EU bureaucracy is not really that bad, eg defining the diameter and color of a banana is quite important for traders.

btw...wsippel? you're from erfurt? *g* well i'm from Jena... as you mentioned in another topic before "Die Welt ist ein Dorf"

... for the others: "The World is a village"

cheerz,
GenoX

[ This Message was edited by: genoxcide on 2004-05-03 04:24 ]

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Mon May 03, 2004 4:13 am

True, indeed! My sister visits the university in Jena.
I were in Jena once, years ago, visiting McDonalds on our way to the Love Parade - and a drunk skinhead there "told" me what he thought about our music in his very own, really expressive way...
Music may be an universal language, but there are quite a few deaf people out there I'm afraid.

Anyway, the banana-problem is of course not _that_ important (OK, it would be, if you would trade bananas)...
But: my father works at the thuringian ministry for environment and agriculture (Thüringer Landwirtschafts- und Umweltministerium), he told me some entertaining stories about the EU regulation-mania, but he convinced me that a lot of stuff the commission regulates _really_ need to be regulated to make life in the EU easier.

[ This Message was edited by: wsippel on 2004-05-03 05:15 ]

Nisse · Post by **Nisse** » Mon May 03, 2004 6:43 am

On 2004-05-03 04:15, genoxcide wrote:
to nisse: *g* as far as i can remember sweden is not in the EU?!?

Haha you fool. Sweden is a part of the EU, but not the monetry union. Its our stubborn Norwegian brothers who refuse to join

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon May 03, 2004 7:48 am

Hello!

Just my view on the EU subject... I think it is a little bit NAIVE to consider *any* country in the world, or any alliance or any EU or US or USSR good or bad! Behind everything there are enormous economical interests, which are NOT for YOU or ME (the simple people) but for THEM (I am refering to the *big guys*, which have no country, no God, no morality but simply WANT MONEY... MORE & MORE...and maybe SOME MORE!!!...

What IS IMPORTANT after all is that YOU and ME (the simple people) become friends! Become BROTHERS!!! That doesnt mean that we have to SQUASH our identity and/or our culture. We are DIFFERENT and we have the RIGHT to be so. BUT, difference should be a PRETENSE for us to become brothers. It should bring us closer, making us to want to learn things from each other and appreciate things. If the EXTERNAL DIFFERENCE is the PRETENSE to bring us closer, the INTERNAL SIMILARITY (we are ALL humans) is the CAUSE to bring us together.

Being part of the EU doesnt mean anything (for me)... NATO doesnt mean anything... ALL these guys just cooperate in order to make SOME MORE MONEY from people that were out of their reach before... Now, they SEEM to bring people "closer", in order to squeeze money out of them more easily.

Do NOT COUNT on THEM! COUNT on OURSELVES! It is US OURSELVES who MUST come SUBSTANTIALLY closer. And remember, MONEY does NOT bring HAPPINESS... We should all seek happiness... and we should do it for us... for Earth... for our kids...

These are just some of my thoughts...

P.S. I dont know if sometimes I sound so but I am not a communist... Rather humanist I d say..

[ This Message was edited by: rodos1979 on 2004-05-03 08:53 ]

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:05 am

On 2004-05-03 08:48, rodos1979 wrote:

P.S. I dont know if sometimes I sound so but I am not a communist... Rather humanist I d say..

Read Marx, those things have a lot in common...

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:07 am

the only reason norwegians would vote for EU membership is because of cheaper alcohol and cigarettes. Now the beer is getting cheaper here, so chances are even slimmer

Post by **hubird** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:09 am

some time ago I bought software from someone in Munich/Germany, offered on eBay.
Thanks to Europe I could transfer the mony by bank without any costs.
In earlier days (up 'ntill a year ago) this was quite expensive when ralative small amounts were involved

genoxcide · Post by **genoxcide** » Mon May 03, 2004 8:59 am

On 2004-05-03 07:43, Nisse wrote:
On 2004-05-03 04:15, genoxcide wrote:
to nisse: *g* as far as i can remember sweden is not in the EU?!?

Haha you fool. Sweden is a part of the EU, but not the monetry union. Its our stubborn Norwegian brothers who refuse to join

Bowing before you... RIGHTYRIGHT

i'm always make this mistake... *g*

ashes on my head

cheez,
GenoX

genoxcide · Post by **genoxcide** » Mon May 03, 2004 9:06 am

On 2004-05-03 05:13, wsippel wrote:
True, indeed! My sister visits the university in Jena.
I were in Jena once, years ago, visiting McDonalds on our way to the Love Parade - and a drunk skinhead there "told" me what he thought about our music in his very own, really expressive way...
Music may be an universal language, but there are quite a few deaf people out there I'm afraid.

I'm visiting the Uni too

Well what MCDonalds? the one downtown or the one right behind Lobeda (At the highway exit)? If you visited the last one then i can understand your situation because this Mac is not very recommendable for peaceful beings

Thats also true that many people are deaf to the universal language.. sadly... but i won't give up hope that one day all the human beings will find their way to let in the musical language into their minds and hearts...

Cheerz,
GenoX

p.s.: i know my nick doesn't sound very "peaceful" but i love to be a cynic and be sarcastic in a good way