Concrete Achievements

Tag: authoritarianism

  • Can not comprehend how anyone would think national collective punishment for the sins of…

    Can not comprehend how anyone would think national collective punishment for the sins of their government is even remotely acceptable let alone wise. twitter.com/John_Cotter/st…

    Poles are Europeans. To deprive us of our rights *for ever* because the government is an authoritarian shit show just now is just morally wrong.

    It’s *also* geopolitically stupid, demonstrates a colonising mindset that the far right in CEE would use as an argument against the EU for ever, and would lead to the collapse of the EU as an institution. But that’s a side issue.

    To be clear I know this is not what @John_Cotter himself is suggesting.

  • Wolfgang Munchau and Jacobin mag both hate the new Eurozone emergency package, which is a…

    Wolfgang Munchau and Jacobin mag both hate the new Eurozone emergency package, which is a glowing commendation.

    More seriously, I’m getting weary of left wing internationalists (hi, Yanis!) spitting venom at the EU because it doesn’t do the deal they think is right. Thanks, lads, have you thought about getting a column in Lega’s newsletter?

    If you want ambitious EU solidarity, I don’t know why you’d play into the hands of nationalists and authoritarians by trashing unambitious EU solidarity, particularly when there’s a lot more to be discussed.

  • Links from the week of 30 March 2020

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • It is instructive to see Rees-Moggs, Lilico, and others who have pompously insisted on…

    It is instructive to see Rees-Moggs, Lilico, and others who have pompously insisted on the supremacy of British institutions for YEARS, turn in an instant to attacking those institutions the moment they stand in the way of their ideological obsession.

    Courts, rule of law, Parliament, democracy itself must all give way to their will. I don’t doubt for a minute that if they could they would pack the courts as much as the Polish government has, and squeeze civil society as much as the Hungarian government has.

    British people appear to think authoritarian nationalism only happens in countries where people have lots of Zs in their surnames. Time to wake up.

  • It is instructive to see Rees-Moggs, Lilico, and others who have pompously insisted on…

    It is instructive to see Rees-Moggs, Lilico, and others who have pompously insisted on the supremacy of British institutions for YEARS, turn in an instant to attacking those institutions the moment they stand in the way of their ideological obsession.

    Courts, rule of law, Parliament, democracy itself must all give way to their will. I don’t doubt for a minute that if they could they would pack the courts as much as the Polish government has, and squeeze civil society as much as the Hungarian government has.

    British people appear to think authoritarian nationalism only happens in countries where people have lots of Zs in their surnames. Time to wake up.

  • This is point-missing. The chlorine in the chicken is less important than the poor…

    This is point-missing. The chlorine in the chicken is less important than the poor hygiene for which chlorine-washing is an inadequate solution. The geostrategic issue is also the US desire to attach the UK to their regulatory system rather than the EU’s. twitter.com/BBradley_Mans/…

    There isn’t any sovereignty in Brexit beyond “choose the US low-regulation high-carbon model, with less trade, or the EU high-regulation low-carbon model, with more trade”. The UK’s post-Brexit sovereignty will be entirely “pick your master”.

    Plenty of the British right have a teen crush on some imagined American deregulatory paradise (to which I say, try shipping vegetables across state lines). Their fragile alliance with nativist authoritarians won’t last long, but might last long enough to sign on to the US system.

  • This is point-missing. The chlorine in the chicken is less important than the poor…

    This is point-missing. The chlorine in the chicken is less important than the poor hygiene for which chlorine-washing is an inadequate solution. The geostrategic issue is also the US desire to attach the UK to their regulatory system rather than the EU’s. twitter.com/BBradley_Mans/…

    There isn’t any sovereignty in Brexit beyond “choose the US low-regulation high-carbon model, with less trade, or the EU high-regulation low-carbon model, with more trade”. The UK’s post-Brexit sovereignty will be entirely “pick your master”.

    Plenty of the British right have a teen crush on some imagined American deregulatory paradise (to which I say, try shipping vegetables across state lines). Their fragile alliance with nativist authoritarians won’t last long, but might last long enough to sign on to the US system.

  • Links from the week of 12 August 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 12 August 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 15 July 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.