All Episodes
Previous Next
Jan. 31, 2017 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
45:50
The European Union Trembles
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Okay, so this is a clip from Gerant Davies in the House of Parliament, the MP for Swansea West, I think it is, a Welshman who's complaining that the EU is going to be making all of the decisions in Brexit.
Listen to the way he describes this.
There's been a vote to leave the EU, but there hasn't been a vote on the terms of withdrawal from the EU, and as soon as Article 50 is triggered, those terms of withdrawal will be decided by the EU 27, not in here.
What sort of democracy is that?
Well, thankfully, I'm glad we're finally talking about how undemocratic the EU is.
I mean, that is in fact the chap who gets up next.
That's exactly what he says, because that's a legitimate response.
Well, finally, we're talking about this.
But this kind of attitude that Britain has no power in the EU and the EU negotiations, the Brexit negotiations, is just absolutely baffling to me.
Because the EU is on the verge of falling the fuck apart.
Honestly, I'm going to be genuinely surprised if in 2018 anyone thinks the EU will last out the year.
At the end of this year, if the EU isn't dying an obvious death, I'll be quite shocked.
This is Guy Verhofstadt, an ex-Belgian prime minister, and he's a very influential man in the EU, and he's been appointed to the Brexit negotiations for the EU.
These are his opinions.
What was in any way depressive, in my point of view, was what Trump said about the European Union.
He said, oh, yeah, I think that other countries will go out of the European Union, that the European Union will further disintegrate.
And so I think that Europe for the moment is squeezed between a populist president in America, who want a disintegration of the Union, and an autocrat at the other side, Vladimir Putin, who want also to defy Europe.
And on top of that, we have the political radical Islam.
So I think that Europe for the moment has an existential, we live an existential moment for the European Union.
But you mentioned, okay, isn't that fucking important?
Shouldn't that be on the front of every fucking newspaper?
The guy in charge of the Brexit negotiations thinks the EU is currently undergoing an existential crisis and is beset by forces on all sides and external forces on all sides.
And the question we're about to get to, in fact, is, but hang on, what about those people inside the EU who are voting to leave it and are going to actually be the ones who break it up?
He doesn't even fucking mention them in his analysis.
In his analysis, they're not a problem.
And it's like, no, they are a real fucking problem because they are the ones who are actually going to do it.
I mean, Britain is leading the way on that, obviously.
But let's be fair, if Le Pen gets in and really looks like she might, then she's going to do it as well.
If Weil does get in, and he probably won't, but he might, then he'll do it too.
And that will be the end.
That will just be the end.
I mean, when France leaves, it's going to be the end anyway.
But, or it'll just be like a German rump state over Eastern Europe.
Hitler's dream finally achieved.
Well done, you've got your Labens round.
Fuck you.
Three threats.
The Islamists, Putin, and Trump.
You didn't mention the threat, which is that the public in Europe are voting all over the place for people who are, if not fascist, are flirting with it.
I mean, in Austria, what?
Oh, fucking hell, if not fascists are flirting with it.
Are they not just people who care about the sovereignty of their nation states?
Like, just citizens of the people voting against the EU.
The citizenry of the countries in the EU know that the EU does not serve their interests.
And they're voting against it in their interests.
flirting with fascism.
No, this is just, this is just standard policy for a sovereign entity.
Any sovereign entity that was accountable to the people would ultimately be driven by the people to ensure its own sovereignty.
I mean, that's the fucking point.
What, 46% for the characteristic nationalism, populism is on the rise.
No, elitism has just overshadowed everything.
Nationalism and populism are returning to the rightful place of being the driving force in the country.
The most people get their interests served by the country.
That's how that works.
And that's for the poorest people in society, the people at the very bottom.
But these fucking unelected elitists don't give a shit.
It's their project that they're concerned about.
And we'll carry on.
The threat inside Europe that you should be worrying about, not Trump or the Lord.
I think that we can face this, that we can find a solution for that by coming forward with a real vision.
Efficient for the future for the European Union the reason why people see he has no idea He has absolutely no idea why this is happening.
He doesn't know why Putin...
He thinks it's fucking Islam, Trump, and Putin that are the reasons that people are voting to leave.
And it's like, no, the reason they're voting to leave is because you have made the problem.
You've made the rods for your own back.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
Islam is a problem.
But it's not really Islam itself per se.
It's the fact that our governments are weak and refuse to deal with Muslims as they would deal with white people committing the same crimes.
And the fact that Merkel, supported by the EU, decided two million refugees.
That's good enough.
I mean, now that people are really pissed off, maybe I'll close the border.
But how many lives have been ruined in the meantime?
How many lives?
They're not voting against Islam.
They're not voting against Trump.
They're not voting against Putin.
They're voting against you.
People are falling into the trap of nationalism and populism.
The trap.
The trap of serving their own interests.
The trap of protecting their own fucking futures.
God, what a creepy ass.
the fuck how dyed is your hair you are obviously not that fucking you've got the hair of like a 20 year old and the face of like a 55 year old Jesus.
It's because there are no political leaders in Europe for the moment showing the way forward.
That is obviously a toupee now, I think about it.
Look, if we want to really solve the problem of the migration crisis, the refugee flow, the problems we allowed to happen and supported.
I mean, we didn't chastise Merkel at all because she's a virtual fucking emperor of the continent at this point.
She has got an unbelievable amount of power for one of the member states.
I guess it's all her money, isn't it?
Well, say the Germans' money, but controlled by her.
So what are you going to do?
And for some reason, the Germans are suicidally voting for her still, apparently.
Apparently, she's doing very well in the polls.
And I simply don't understand why.
But fuck it.
What difference does it make?
They can go on their suicidal fucking bent.
The French, you know, they're never going to appease their fucking history, their consciences over their own history.
But the French don't have to.
Even if they drive themselves to self-destruction, the French aren't going to do it.
The Dutch aren't going to do it.
No one else is going to do it because they don't have to.
They're not compelled.
Fucking Germany's such a control-freak state.
Anyway.
The economic fallout of the financial crisis, the geopolitical weakness of Europe.
We need a more united Europe.
Right.
We want a European superstate and we want all national governments to cede their sovereignty entirely.
That's what you're asking for.
Because to have a European super state that acted like an international superpower, which is what you're proposing, so you can have...
And I've seen the fucking military reports.
I've read them.
I've been planning to do a video on them for quite some time, but honestly, didn't see any point because it looks like the European Union is going to collapse.
But I think I probably will.
Moderica Federici or whatever her name is.
The one I tweeted the other day.
She wrote it.
And she was calling for the ability to project power and things like this.
And it's like, no, this is you finally getting the army that will make you a state.
Because then, if someone says we're going to leave, you can suppress them.
That's what it is.
No, not having it.
The whole thing's going down.
Fuck you.
And not a divided Europe or a disintegrating Europe.
Because let's be honest, you say nation and nationalism.
How should nationalism solve the problems?
Of what?
What's wrong with cooperation?
Look at this guy's goblin face.
That we are facing today in Europe.
Can we not cooperate?
Can we not have standards, a community of nations, rather than an authoritarian, unelected, bureaucratic council that we can't even get people out of there if they're doing a bad job, which is why you guys still have fucking jobs.
If we elected the people on the commission, then it would be completely different.
It would be completely different.
We would at least have some measure of control, but you know that that would be the death knell of your control of the European Union.
So you wouldn't ever do that.
It's completely against your interests.
You don't even countenance it.
You just think, right, give us more power, give us more centralization, and we will fix all of this.
It's like, no, you will ruin everything.
And you're on the path to doing so.
Look at the south of Europe.
Just look at the south of Europe.
You are killing Greece.
You are killing Greece by not letting them leave.
So no, not at all.
Climate change?
Should it be solved by nationalism?
Or, for example, the migration flow?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I think nationalism might solve the migration crisis.
In fact, nationalism is definitely going to solve the migration crisis because other nations, as with like, say, the very hyper-nationalistic Eastern European ones, just simply closed their fucking borders, built giant fences.
Go for it, Donald Trump.
They do work.
And literally, I mean, was it Austria or Hungary who actually shot migrants on the border who are trying to illegally cross?
Because they were like, no, no, no, we're not having this.
And they don't have to.
They are sovereign countries and they're well within the rights to prevent any access to the country to whoever they want.
And you are furious about it.
You know, the whole European project, all of that class of people hate this.
Because this is national sovereignty on the rise, refinding its voice and making sure that their countries have a destiny that doesn't look like some kind of dystopian fucking nightmare, which is honestly how the EU looks.
I mean, if you just think about what the EU is going to be like in 30 years' time, if everyone was like, you know what?
Okay, just have all of our national sovereignty.
It would be these out-of-touch fucks virtue signaling to each other constantly.
And desperately.
And that's like one side of the bureaucrats.
The other side are like the hawks, like this guy, who's like, you know what, we need European Empire, basically.
Yeah, European Empire, because then we can start projecting power.
Then we can start being active on the world stage.
I don't want you to be active on the world stage.
I don't think you're responsible.
I don't think you're trustworthy.
Fuck's sake.
Can't we just have an alliance?
Like, hmm.
I mean.
I mean, I guess if we could put some sort of alliance that went across the North Atlantic and included America and Canada and Europe, you know, Western Europe, and we could include Eastern Europe if that's what they want.
I mean, that would be a really useful thing.
But you wouldn't have to give up your national sovereignty.
You just have military cooperation.
And that way, an attack on one is an attack on all.
And so it would be the defense measure you're looking for, wouldn't it?
Shame something like that just can't fucking exist.
By nationalism?
Is that the problem?
This is a very basic, a very basic issue.
But when people in the issue of Germany say we, do they mean Europeans or Germans?
Or when people in Italy say we, who they think?
When Angela Merkel says we, she means Europeans.
But Angela Merkel's only elected by Germans.
And for some reason, they elect Angela Merkel.
Because I would have thought that if you opened up that vote to France, Netherlands, Britain, various other Eurosceptic countries, she ain't going to be the fucking Prime Minister of Germany or the Chancellor of Germany, is she?
No, she's going to get removed.
They mean Italians.
They don't mean Europeans.
Certainly in the UK.
It's probably only in Belgium where you come from.
I know people say for the moment tens and tens.
It's now, I think, already thousands of males from Britain.
Tens of tens, sometimes thousands of people say, we want to stay in the EU.
Is that what you're going to say?
That small a number.
From British citizens, who are telling me, I want to be an EU citizens.
don't want to break up the link with Europe because Europe that belongs to my civilization, my culture, my literature, my architecture.
So it's true that yes, the upper and middle classes who can afford to go gallivanting around Europe with the money they get paid by writing Guardian articles.
The people doing the real work in society don't care if you need to get a visa.
They simply, and that's what this issue is about.
I mean, you will still be able to travel to other countries.
You will just have to apply for a visa online and get it like the next day.
This is so fucking remedial.
It's like, look, that's such a small thing.
And the thing we're trying to prevent is such a big thing.
I can't even believe the entitlement of you people making that argument.
I would feel embarrassed.
I'd be like, well, I guess I'll just get a visa.
I'll just get a visa.
I mean, you know, I mean, the Bank of England is actually saying that your wages have been depressed by 2% because of mass immigration.
And I'm here thinking, God, I don't want to get a visa, but your wages are actually going down because of my want, my laziness to go online and actually fill out a form.
That is shameful.
And I can't fucking countenance that.
I wouldn't be able to say, yeah, I'm being a good person.
I'd be able to say, okay, well, I mean, that's a really fucking selfish thing for me to do, but at least I got it done because I'm a lazy, selfish cunt.
People are feeling German or Italian or British, but also European.
An identity, an identity, Mr. Davis, is not one identity.
No, an identity are different layers, and every person has his own identity.
And don't give it to the politicians to discuss and to define what identity is.
Yeah, that's a brilliant observation, guy.
That's true.
And most people feel national rather than European.
Because there isn't a European demos.
You don't have an elected body, an electorate, who elect you to the position of the Commission.
You guys just get fucking appointed by other people in the EU.
That's not good enough.
That's not good enough.
You're proposing in here defense unity, I mean, banking unity, fiscal unity, ethical union.
You're basically the full works.
Yes, it's a complete superstate.
Like, exactly as Eurosceptics have been saying from the very beginning about Europe, they want an entire giant fucking European, pan-European empire that is run by them, but they are not accountable to the people who they are ruling over.
This is never going to happen.
It's just, in principle, this is unacceptable.
That is what Eurosceptics said people were plotting and wanted inside the continent of Europe.
That's, they said, why we should leave the whole project.
And in a way, they were right.
What do you mean, in a way?
What do you mean, in a way?
You have literally just said that his book is precisely what Eurosceptics were afraid of.
Exactly, like word for word.
And he's the one in charge of Brexit.
He's an important guy.
He's probably the most important guy at the moment because he knows the EU is in an existential crisis.
He knows that he has to really chastise Britain.
And this is why so many of them have been so absolutely punitive.
He has to have a strong showing in Brexit, which is why Theresa May has come out and said, look, if you don't give us the deal we want, you get no deal at all.
She knows that Britain is not going to just fall apart if we don't get the deal we want from the Europeans, but the EU might.
And they know that, which is precisely what he has said here.
And they're shitting bricks.
So we should be thinking about ourselves arguing from a position of strength.
Britain, you agree.
Britain would never sign up, ever, ever sign up to the manifesto you're proposing.
It was a British statesman, Winston Churchill, who for the first time used the word United States of Europe.
It wasn't.
It was Mr. Churchill.
That's fucking brilliant.
It was Winston Churchill.
Great.
He's not alive to see what it became.
And on top of that, the problem...
You think for a fucking second that Churchill will be in favor of the EU?
He would look at it like the Fourth Reich.
Of Europe, let's be very honest.
The problem of Europe is not that this is a big European Union because the budget of the European Union is only 1% of the European GDP.
The problem is...
Yeah, on a continent that simply can't afford it.
And out of countries that simply can't afford it.
Well, we're only 1% of your entire GDP.
Yeah, it's an entire fucking continent.
One of the wealth.
In fact, it is the wealthiest continent on Earth.
And you're like, well, it's only 1%.
That's a huge amount.
The wealth isn't constantly.
It's not spread evenly across it.
And yet you take money from every member state.
That it is still a confederation, a loose confederation of nation states based on the unanimity rule.
And you know, and I know that an international organization based on the unanimity rule where 28 heads of state and government have to agree, it acts always too little too late.
And that is the problem of the Union today.
Not fit for purpose, not effective, always too little too late.
And therefore, we need to reform it.
Reform it in the most totalitarian way.
I mean, you literally want control of all of these countries, all of their societies, all of their governments, all of their judicial systems, all of their militaries.
I mean, do you even understand the scope of what you're asking for?
Over 500 million people.
I mean, that's the same size as the same population as the British Empire.
And you're just sat there going, well, just give it us.
Just give us.
No.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Why would you even think that we would?
Yeah, and this book is kind of the manifesto for that direction.
Look, let's talk about Brexit because you've got a Brexit job.
You heard Theresa May's speech a couple of weeks back in which she outlined her vision of what we're aiming for.
Some said that was a kind of British wanting their cake and eating it.
They wanted to be in and they wanted not to be in, but they wanted to be in all the good bits and not the bad.
Was that your perception, or do you think you can work with it?
It's a good summary.
So you don't think you could work with what?
No, no, what she mainly said was we go out of the European Union, out of the single market, out of the customs union, out of the European Court of Justice.
And then, oh, maybe we could have this European program that interests us.
Or that will not work naturally.
You cannot pick and choose.
Why not?
Okay, now this is very interesting to me.
And this makes me think this is entirely ideological.
And I really think it is.
And I really think it's all designed with keeping the supremacy of the EU.
Theresa May wants out of literally everything.
And they're like, well, don't leave everything.
And okay, well, what could we work with?
Well, the science programmes, we can do this.
There are certain key programs that would benefit us and you, and so we're willing to work with you as partners on these programs.
And she says this in her speech that she is willing to pay where appropriate, as in programs that we are also going to go into.
No, you can't have free movement.
No, you can't have all of the other things that you're demanding in the entire package, but we are willing to work with you on certain things.
And he's like, no, it has to be all or nothing, all or nothing.
They are the ones stonewalling this.
And they think that this is some sort of power tactic that will force Britain to capitulate to their demands.
No, she doesn't need you and she knows it.
You need her.
Because if she goes and everything's fine, and I honestly think after you know that there might be a small recession or a crash and something, but it will recover.
They always do.
And then everyone's like, well, Britain's doing okay.
And the EU will look like the sick man of Europe.
Because it is in your interest to let us cooperate with you.
Why wouldn't you?
My idea was a totally different one.
was against Brexit, I thought that...
Yes, we know.
But Brexit has happened.
And so now it is in your interests for us to cooperate.
Why won't you do it?
that even the best solution should be that Britain is still part of the single market, not only for us, but in the main interest of the British industry, British economy and the British workers.
Let's just take a very specific...
Yeah, like you give a shit about that.
Like you give a shit about that.
Honestly, I can't even.
Again, just the balls to just say that.
And it's like, look, the EU has decimated the British fishing industry.
Absolutely destroyed it.
How is that in favour of British workers?
I mean, these were, you know, good, sturdy, working-class lads who go out on the fishing trawlers and they can't do that.
The entire industry is almost gone.
And we're a fucking island.
We are surrounded by fish.
Customs union.
She said, we'll leave the customs union, but we would like to have, for example, a particular deal for the car industry.
So that supply chain.
Will that work or not?
don't think that you can do that.
That is what I call.
I don't think you do that.
But you're not going to explain it, are you?
You're just going to assert it as if it's just a mantra.
No, you have to have all or nothing.
I have to have all or nothing.
And if you were to justify it, it would be in the realm, it would be through the lens of power politics.
That's the thing.
There's no rational reason other than the EU will become a weaker entity.
Well, okay, that's a good thing.
I think we should do exactly that then and force you to do it and force you to bend the knee.
Well, we can choose a policy that is saying, okay, we go out of every European cooperation and then I take the very interesting parts for us without taking also the obligations.
There we go.
You have to do as we say.
It's an obligation to do as we say if we give you anything.
No.
Because the interaction themselves, like us, like cooperating with you on science, that's also beneficial to you.
It's beneficial to both parties.
But you want extra benefits that you're not entitled to and you don't deserve.
without also the payments that are necessary for that.
So I don't...
Pollocks.
Theresa May specifically said, specifically said, payments where appropriate, as in where we are taking, we will also give.
That's obvious.
That's just fair dealing.
Don't think that will work.
We need a fair partnership.
He cannot think it's going to work all he wants, but it's going to work just fine.
In fact, it would work better than us not having a deal with you, but we'll not have a deal with you.
It's not the end of the world.
I mean, Theresa May even said that she was prepared to radically change Britain's economy based on this whole thing.
That is Theresa May showing some fucking cojones, man.
This guy doesn't even seem to understand.
I mean he doesn't say he's in a precarious position.
But if I were him, I would be so much more worried.
Maybe he's just putting on a really brave face, but I would be fucking bricking it right now.
Create a status for countries outside the European Union where it is even more favourable than for the countries who are member of the European Union.
Sorry, but no taxpayer in Europe will accept such an art comp.
Nevertheless, I...
Why?
Why wouldn't they?
As if you speak for the fucking taxpayers or something.
They didn't elect you.
You only speak for the Eurocratic elite.
Who do you think?
Do you think taxpayers are like, what do you mean we can't cooperate with Britain because they won't do everything we say?
Well, they are leaving.
I mean, we could have some cooperation, couldn't we?
I think that a fair, a fair partnership is possible.
And I think also that Europe has to be generous in a certain way towards not specific a country, but towards these individual citizens in the UK who want to retain their citizenship.
You're going to get an EU part.
Right.
The EU isn't a state.
It's trying to become one, but it's not.
So they don't actually have citizenship of the European Union, really.
They are citizens of Britain, and if Britain leaves, they lose their European Union citizenship.
I mean, I suppose they could always move to the EU.
And, you know, I wouldn't even mind if you gave them dual citizenship.
If you want to create your empire, I don't care.
And I don't care if these people want to be able to go to Europe if they want, you know, without getting a visa.
I just don't care.
It's such a tiny issue.
Fuck them.
Fuck these people.
It's too bad.
The political wind is against you.
You're going to have to live with it.
It's just a minor inconvenience.
That's all this is.
It's a minor fucking inconvenience.
Passport and become a European.
I think not passport.
We know what passports means today.
No, no.
What I'm thinking about is that maybe some advantages of the European citizens could be kept for those people in the UK who want to have them in the future.
And that is a generous offer.
I think.
It's my point.
No, it's a ridiculous offer.
You're suggesting, and I'm not joking when I say this, you're suggesting that the EU have sovereignty over a portion of British citizens.
That's never going to happen.
That's ridiculous.
The idea that a sovereign nation would agree to leave its influence over a supranational entity and yet let that entity have influence over it is crazy.
It's not going to happen.
Personal opinion, it's not the opinion of the European Parliament.
Yeah, that's because it's a stupid opinion.
That's why you're saying this.
That's a ridiculous fucking opinion.
For the moment, they're not of the negotiators, but I think we should offer that to those individual citizens who are still thinking, why Britain has to...
Stop thinking with your feelings.
This can't work from a political science perspective.
It's never going to happen.
Let's go through some of the other specifics.
So, financial services, I mean, if there's no special deal for the car industry, you wouldn't, I mean, the financial services industry regulation is equivalent to yours.
I will not start here with saying what we need for the financial service, what we need for the car industry.
The basic principle is we don't, sherry picking will not be allowed, I think, in this instance.
Very important one.
This is like a technical point in a way, but it's been not much talked about, but very important.
Can we negotiate a trade deal for Britain and the EU?
Can we negotiate that with you while we're still talking about the divorce and the amount of money we have to pay and all of that kind of stuff?
Or do we have to settle all the details of the divorce first and then talk about trade?
The treaty is very clear on this.
You take Article 50 of the Treaty and it's indicating what needs to be done.
And the Treaty says two things.
First of all, a withdrawal agreement needs to be agreed, and that in the light of the future relationship and partnership with the UK.
So you need also to have already at that moment a broad idea of what will be the future relationship.
That's exactly what the...
See, let me repeal you on this, Guy.
Guy.
Dude.
We don't actually have to do anything according to the treaty.
I mean, we would be breaking the treaty, but you have no power to enforce this over us.
So, I mean, this has been floated in British newspapers as well.
Like, look, we actually could just leave and not send you any money and not pay attention to your demands because you've got no way of enforcing them.
So, just so you know.
Informal talk can go on both tracks during the two years.
Yeah, but you cannot really conclude on even a framework of the future relationship if, first of all, you have not the withdrawal agreement.
There, the treaty, Article 50, is very clear.
And for the moment, let's be honest, we are not in that stage.
We are waiting, in fact, for the triggering of Article 50 by the end of March.
And then only, I think...
Okay, I'm not really interested in going through the rest of this, guys, because I've got one more thing that I want to go through.
Right, this is the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who is talking to Russia today about the external threats of the EU.
Top story then, the EU faces a new threat, and that's apparently Donald Trump's US.
That warning comes from none other than the European Council's President, Donald Tusk.
Our Europe correspondent, Peter Oliver, has more than.
Trump's US is among the external threats to the EU, along with China, Russia, and radical Islam.
The EU must take spectacular steps to preserve the Union.
See, again, just like with Verhofstadt, they think the European Union is falling apart, because it fucking is.
It is in an existential crisis, and they understand this.
And we, the British, should also understand this.
Disintegration would leave European states dependent on the US, Russia, and China.
He has laid out in no uncertain terms how he feels, saying that spectacular steps were needed, that there was a grave danger posed by Donald Trump, and that disintegration of the EU would only put current EU countries into the hands of the United States, Russia, and China.
But why has he come out with this statement right now?
Well, it all comes after the words of Ted Malik.
Now, he's Donald Trump's preferred candidate to be United States ambassador to the European Union.
He said that Donald Trump doesn't like supernational organizations like the EU, that he's not a fan of bureaucracy.
And he cracked this joke while speaking to British television.
I had in a previous career a diplomatic puss where I helped to bring down the Soviet Union.
So maybe there's another union that needs a little taming.
You know what?
I'm fine with that as well.
I mean, it's probably not a good thing if the Union actually does disintegrate like that, but it's just run by such awful, out-of-touch people.
I can't see how it wouldn't be beneficial in the long run.
Because being under their thumb is shrinking Europe.
Europe's growth is terrible.
Europe's economy is fucking terrible.
And the social malaise that's coming with all of this virtually unregulated fucking immigration.
And the EU is a neoliberal fucking haven as well.
I mean, one of the points that the Brexit campaign made, and it was a good point, is that the excessive regulation stifles entrepreneurship.
It's okay for a massive multinational corporation, they can afford whole teams of people to deal with pages and pages and pages of regulation.
But small businesses have real trouble with that.
And you can get fined if you don't follow these regulations, which can end up killing your business.
So, I mean, that is a legitimate issue.
Again, the idea that they would ever claim to be working for the workers is just crazy to me.
It's obviously not.
Donald Tusk's certainly not laughing at that joke.
Somebody else who's not cracking a smile at the moment is Guy Verhofstadt.
He's the chief Brexit negotiator.
He's also come out and said that he's not happy with the way things are going in the United States.
That he says that Donald Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon were actively trying to split apart the EU.
He said that that was their main aim, that they were, he listed them alongside major threats.
My impression is that...
Yeah, and George Soros has been actively trying to undermine the United States and various European nations.
It...
It goes both ways.
Yes, your political entity is being undermined now as well.
But that's good.
That's better for the majority of people.
And that's how democracies have to work.
That we have a third front for the moment.
Third front.
Brilliant.
I know I'm being a dick now, but fucking.
Mining the European Union, and it is Donald Trump who have joined them across the Atlantic.
As you know, and you haven't seen yourself, Trump spoke very favorably of the fact that also other countries will want to break away from the European Union and that he hoped for a disintegration of the European Union.
See, these people know that they're being opposed by anti-globalist forces.
And I'm not talking like a conspiracy, I'm just talking like a zeitgeist, a feeling that bringing everyone together would be a good thing.
And these big echo chambers, I mean, honestly, we see it with the SJWs all the time.
You don't need a conspiracy with these people.
They don't need to conspire.
They all agree on everything.
I mean, the things they disagree on are the fine points of how to implement such things.
They don't disagree on what needs to be done.
It's how to get it done that they disagree on.
Of Brexit already starting to get into emotion, and it seems that it's having an effect on those in the high echelons of the European establishment.
We've seen Verhofstadt speaking passionately there.
We've also heard from Donald Tusk basically saying the sky is falling if Donald Trump gets his way.
But what we are seeing, though, is a genuine fear amongst these at the higher levels of the EU that more member states could look to follow the United Kingdom in the future and say they don't want to be part of the club.
You know, it appears Sol Tusk also pointed out national egoism and the decline of faith in political integration within the EU.
I spoke to European studies professor Laszlo Maratz, he says Trump's not undermining the Union because of problems that are from the inside of the Union itself.
Which literally everyone but the European Union can see.
Everyone but the leadership of the EU can see that the problems are coming because of the leadership of the EU.
And they simply do not want to admit it.
And okay, that wasn't the final thing actually.
The final thing I want to talk about is the British left's reaction because the right seems to have just coalesced around the concept of Brexit and gone, right?
Okay, this is what we're doing.
Fair enough.
And even there are plenty of conservative remainers and they are not the people objecting.
It's people like Owen Jones here, a Guardian contributor and author who looks like he's about to be the next school shooter.
Look at his fucking face.
He looks like he hasn't slept since the vote, and he looks like he's going to go mad.
Watch.
The unique problem Labour has is it has in its electoral coalition the likes of people and you know people who live in London and Manchester and Birmingham Liverpool, who feel very traumatized in the aftermath of the referendum.
They think it's all a bad dream and they want it to go away.
You've got other labour voters, for example in Doncaster Alden Burnley, who feel they've got their country back, and it's very difficult to reconcile those two very different perspectives and that's very interesting, isn't it?
I mean, they're probably not really labour voters now, they're probably conservative voters.
Now, that's an unfortunate yeah okay, he doesn't look any less psychotic, but at least he doesn't look like he's asleep.
Um yeah no, the north of England has greatly different interests to the sort of liberal, the London liberal scene.
It's yeah, it's just class issues here.
The north has got problems with immigration.
You guys don't have problems in immigration, you love it.
What are you going to do?
They're Pro-Brexit, you're Anti-Brexit.
What are you going to do?
You've got to accept that these people are no longer labor voters because you don't help them.
You're, in fact, pitted against them.
You were you.
You I mean Owen Smith has been on stages and at rallies, running around screaming about how the right-wing corporatist establishment is destroying the working class and it's like, well, it's funny how the working class seem to think that they're the way forward.
It seems that the right-wing corporatist establishment is just destroying the left because the left has become suicidal, you know, because Brexit is a fisher line.
It's not just about the EU.
In fact, if anything, the EU is kind of long down the list, you know, in terms of what the referendum conjured up and everything like immigration and multiculturalism.
Uh, on other kind of social yeah issues, I suppose.
Yeah no, that's true.
This is this is true.
This has become a focus because all of the people opposing Brexit now are the people who are completely in this regressive mindset.
There are, there are loads of remain voters who are like, right okay well fine, Brexit's happening, i've accepted it, let's just get on with it.
They weren't that bothered, they just thought it was a good thing to stay in the EU, because they'd been propagandized presumably, and they didn't really know.
But they're like, right, I just want to get on with it and just make the best of it.
It's all you know.
It's our country, we've still got to do well right, okay.
But then you've got the hysterical lefties like Owen Jones, the who are basically I mean, they call themselves socialists, but i'm sure that if communism came along they wouldn't be complaining.
And they, they just can't accept it.
And it's got to the point.
Look, I mean, look at the bags on his fucking eyes.
Look at him.
He looks like he's, he's withering away and dying, which is probably because Jeremy Corbyn is killing the Labour Party and people like Owen Jones are killing the Labour Party because, where you get two groups of people with quite different outlooks on life and different priorities and you know it is difficult when you want a labour opposition to have a clear, you know kind of take on the people at the top, the vested interests talk about tax justice, investment rather than cut, instead talking about any sorry go for that.
No, does it not make you perhaps worry that the coalition that is the Labour Party that that particular one has just outlived is past itself by date?
Now it doesn't work because the Two people, the two groups in it just simply don't agree with each other on all the sort of relevant and big issues of the day.
No, it just needs to adapt.
I mean, look, this No, even though you've just outlined, you personally, Owen, outlined the giant fault line within the Labour Party.
The fact that the North and South have competing interests.
Even then, even then the South of England overwhelmingly voted leave.
It was London, London, and sort of like the wealthier parts of the South of England, just patches of wealthy areas, that voted remain because they were the ones who were benefiting.
The people who weren't benefiting voted leave.
The people who didn't really have a particular stance on it because it wasn't really affecting them either way, voted leave because of the sovereignty issue, the very sort of highest principle of it.
But you're acting like, no, no, no, I mean, we can just reform.
Reform what?
You need to reform this fucking pathological idea that mass immigration is good.
It's not good for the north.
It's not, I mean, they can't afford to pay for your morality.
That's what this comes down to.
They just can't afford for you to go, yeah, we can say that Britain's not racist because we took 10 million immigrants or whatever it is you want.
You're fucking mental, Owen.
This isn't a British problem.
All over Europe, as you know, social democracy is in crisis.
Yeah, this is a working class problem.
This is a working class problem.
That's the thing.
And you're not working class, so you don't care.
And, you know, and it doesn't matter if the leaders of these parties are on the left or the right.
In Germany, for example, the Labour sister party, the German Social Democrats, their leader supports third-way, Blair Art-style politics.
He's on 20% in the opinion polls.
I mean, he'd probably be envious of Labour's terrible polling in this country.
Jeremy Corbyn only got 16% in a recent poll of people who thought who would be a good prime minister?
Theresa May got 44%, almost three times as much.
Just, you're done.
You are just done.
This socialist, ideological, regressive bullshit, it's done.
It's dying.
The left is falling apart.
All of their projects are falling apart.
And the nationalist right-wing are rising because that's what people want.
You should never have been in opposition to the concept of your own nation.
Jesus, I can't get it.
I just can't get it.
I just don't get it.
I mean, you realise we're competing with other nations in the world.
There's no great brotherhood of nations.
There is just competing interests.
And at this point in time, we are not going to have a multinational Europe, like a supranational Europe.
Sorry.
We're not going to have a globalist thing.
The people won't accept it.
And rightly so, because the people setting this up are doing it ideologically.
This isn't like a natural sort of just like it's not something that's come along through a series of events that happened without any particular control or direction.
It's people doing nothing but pushing for this.
When people are forced into a position where national governments are actually less in service of their interests than an international government, then they will vote for the international government.
But until that point, they won't.
It's just that simple, and the fucking delusional left are just, I mean, you're just making it to the savage.
So I should probably be thanking you, to be honest, Owen, because I do want this to happen.
I think the nation-state is important.
And until we can find a way of representing the public even closer in their government than the nation-state, I'll be advocating for that too.
But the European Union and any kind of, you know, TTP, ATTP, IP, NAFTA, all that sort of thing, that's not it.
And you should be against that too.
Because you want to serve the working class, the people who are suffering from oppression.
That's what you want, Owen.
There are very few countries where it's doing well.
So clearly the left has to adapt.
And often you get now across Europe the old kind of so-called centre-left and a rising radical left who are arguing with each other and very angry with each other.
But that's often displaced fury from both wings at their own lack of a clear route to power, a clear vision, and a clear strategy.
And all sections, if you believe in a different sort of Britain or a different sort of Europe, all those other countries, there is a big ganna ask now about how you build a broad coalition, and that coalition has changed a huge amount.
It's not the old industrial working class anymore.
A service sector working class, hiring fire, more people going to university.
It's tough, but it can be done.
No, it can't.
Of course it can.
I can't pause it on a face where he's not looking like he wants to go to bed.
No, it can't be done.
The centre left, what he was literally directly referencing me and what we do here on that.
He is directly referencing our struggle with the SJWs, our struggle with regressives, our struggle against people who are fucking lunatics and don't have their priorities in order.
It can't be done, Owen.
There is, I mean, you have said, no, the left needs to change.
The left needs to reform.
Yes, okay.
It needs to start becoming individualist.
That's the root cause of all of this.
As soon as you start thinking individualism rather than collectivism, you will find the left revitalized.
It will have purpose and it will know why it's doing what it does.
But until then, it's going to be a bunch of confusing bullshit from people who are quote-unquote academics talking about how the world is, everything's racist, everything's sexist, and you have to point it all out.
I mean, you people, you don't understand that what you're asking for is the ability to oppress other people.
Social oppression is what you are desirous of, and you think it's in the name of, you think it's in the name of equality.
You don't pull people down in the name of equality.
You lift people up.
And if you have to pull someone down to achieve your equality, that's you saying, I need to oppress someone.
It comes at the collective rights come at the expense of individual rights.
And if everyone has the same rights and a group of people have extra rights at the expense of the majority, that is called an aristocracy, Owen.
And you don't legitimize yourselves in any way.
I mean, look, you're not a warrior.
You're not protecting the nation.
There is no legitimate reason for you to be an aristocrat.
So fuck off.
Just fuck yourself, Owen.
Just go back into your echo chamber until you, I mean, you will probably end up blowing your brains out.
Look at you.
You look like you're about to fucking shrivel up and die.
Because reality is staring you in the face and you can't circle.
You can't square that circle.
You can't make your ideology fit.
And then you don't know what to do.
Then you are left spinning off without any clue in the world.
I mean, you're going to go into a deep depression.
You're going to have to go on some sort of retreat to try and find yourself or something.
Because you're going to be fucking lost.
Because your ideology does not accurately represent reality.
And you know it.
I mean, you literally know it.
You can see what's going on.
▲
Export Selection