Comments by "TheEvertw" (@TheEvertw) on "TLDR News EU" channel.

  1. No-one realizes that France didn't conquer Belgium, but the Belgium conquered France in the 5th century. And Nederland didn't conquer Belgium, the Belgians conquered Nederland in the 5th century.
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  2. The "free nations" desperately needed a reminder that democracy is something worth fighting for, and even dying for. Far, far too many Europeans and Americans have grown infatuated with authoritarianism. Yes, true democracy can seem weak when dealing with the mundane things of life. But the alternative is far worse. Putin graciously reminded everybody of this fact. I expect not only further growth in European unity, but also en-mass rejection of those who want authoritarian rule. Especially those with ties to Putin, like the Tories in the UK and the Republicans in the USA, and FvD where I live.
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  3.  @acarriere8534  A wise government taxes the rich to support the poor. Unlike the rich, the poor immediately return that money into the economy, so everybody gets richer. If a government allows the rich to accumulate wealth without bound (as has happened in e.g. the USA), they will squeeze the poor so living conditions and wealth for everybody will diminish. The USA is currently a stain on the world for how many of its people struggle from day to day. This is economics 1.0.1. As the Dutch say: "Geld moet rollen!"
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  4. ​ @immrnoidall  Remembering that your ancestors were immigrants as well, that is a pretty dumb remark. The influx of immigrants has been an enormous boost to the USA economy. It are not the immigrants that cause the problems in the USA. Most are extremely hard-working, loyal citizens. It are the rich that are living off the poor, exploiting them in every way possible. All indices show that the rich in the USA are claiming an ever larger share of the nation's wealth, without giving much back.
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  5. Sadly, history teaches us that it is very hard to get rid of entrenched dictators. And Putin certainly is entrenched. The problem is that Putin only interacts with a circle of people who are closely dependent on him, that do not trust each other. Were one to step up to topple Putin, he would immediately find the others turning against him: a fight he'd more than likely loose. History does have plenty of examples of those who terminated the rule of a dictator, only to be toppled themselves shortly after.
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  6. Exactly. Progressive taxing on property held, with perhaps an exception for non-profit organisations. Like, 4% when owning up to 1M€, 6% between 1 and 5 M€, and up to 50% for 50M€ and up. And for holding companies, the same tariffs yet again on the properties of their subsidiaries.
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  7.  @MrTrevorDidier  What you say is absolute nonsense. The main reason the USA is such a mess today is because they do not pay enough taxes to e.g. maintain their infrastructure or schooling system. Before you reply "The USA is the greatest nation on earth" you should do some research. It used to be the only developed nation with a declining life expectancy, but now the UK has joined it. Not coincidentally, the UK also taxes the wealthy far too little.
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  8. > too damn ignorant and spoiled Ignorant, yes. Laughing stock: YES! But I would not say you are spoiled in the way Covid hits your nation. Especially the poor half of the US is taking it very hard indeed...
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  9. That small EU members could rely on the support of the bigger ones was vividly demonstrated by the EU standing squarely behind Ireland during the Brexit negotiations. This was a capital blunder by Johnson, who thought he could ignore Ireland and deal only with France and Germany.
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  10. Considering the way in which the USA continues to ignore even the most basic of privacy rules, the EU will be forced to develop their own alternative versions of US platforms from companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft. That sounds like a very good idea! Technologically, it is almost trivial to do this. It will mean billions of dollars will remain in the EU instead of being siphoned off to the US. And it will mean lots of jobs for us! Well done, EU.
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  11. ​ @udyfrost6380  That is exactly what Ukraine thought. See how that turned out. No, like with all bullies, it is best to call his bluff head-on. Join NATO, what can Russia do about it? Will it really invade a NATO member, knowing NATO's response will be the complete wipe-out of the attacking army? That 40-mile convoy threatening to turn Kyiv into rubble would be toast in a few hours, if NATO got involved in earnest. Remember the "highway of death" in the first Iraq war? And if NATO only attacks the invading army, Russia will have NO justification to go nuclear. If it does, we will see Putin drawn, hanged and quartered. Remember what happened to Bin Laden? Putin will have nowhere to hide.
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  12. What a strange, misguided idea. The EU has done absolutely nothing wrong, this mess is purely of your own making. > I don't want to be close to the EU So move to the USA. Why are you here complaining? Or perhaps Russia will suit you better. The only one the EU has been hostile to these past decades is Russia. In fact, you sound like a russian troll. No, you can not have the Baltic states.
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  13. Plebiscite just means "put it before the citizens, the plebs".
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  14. I find this video a bit misleading. You say that there will be no massive tariffs to pay for UK-EU exports. But there will be the normal tariffs all nations outside the EU must pay. While perhaps not **massive**, these are still substantial, somewhere between 2% and 20% depending on the type of goods and the agreements between point of origin and the EU, and will significantly hurt UK economy. Why don't you give us some concrete examples? That works better than vague and subjective descriptions such as 'massive'. I would use worst-case tariffs, as after a no-deal Brexit that is what you will be paying. And personally, I find a 20% tariff quite massive.
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  15. Shame on those who argue "Putin needs a way out" where he somehow benefits from his aggression. Instead, this will end with Ukraine and Finland firmly inside NATO, and Ukraine inside the EU. And not the current area under Ukrainian control. All of Ukraine, including the regions Putin stole earlier. It is unacceptable that bullies somehow gain benefits from bullying other nations. This mistake is going to cost Putin everything.
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  16. The EU is having a struggle with Poland and Hungary at the moment, and probably it wants these countries to submit to a new, rigorous framework with measures for countries failing to uphold the Rule of Law and Democracy, before adding new countries with weak democratic traditions. On the other hand, the process of preparing such a framework and applying it to Albania as part of joining the EU could help in this struggle, as it would automatically put pressure on other nations to comply to the same principles, even if not legally bound to them. So, I'd say the situation is too complex to call at the moment.
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  17. ​ @jimbraatz4514  About WW2: The Russians, and many others, have forgotten that the armies that defeated the Germans on the east front, were for a large part Ukrainians... In fact, something like 40%. Russians like to consider themselves the successors to the USSR, but they ain't. Ukraine deserves a lot of the credit for what the USSR achieved. Heck, many of the tanks that are now fighting for the Russians were built in Ukraine. Which is one reason why it is so outrageous that Russia uses the former USSR seat in the security council against Ukraine. Ukraine also had a claim to that seat.
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  18.  @antalz  Because from a marketing perspective, it is not trivial. These platforms have an enormous head start in name recognition. For a new startup it would be nearly impossible to even get noticed. And if they were noticed, one of these giants would buy them up before you could blink your eyes. If the EU market would be freed from these giants, that would change.
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  19. Looking at the arguments for Brexit ("Sovereignty", "Undemocratic", "Taking our money" etc), honest analysis will conclude that all those arguments are false when applied to the EU. But they are absolutely true when applied by e.g. Scotland to the UK. Therefore Brexit will cause the dissolution of the UK. They let the genie out of the bag.
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  20. Proportional representation is far superior to first-past-the-post. If only because it is not possible for politicians to select their voters through gerrymandering. Just look at the 2016 disaster in the USA and the 2019 disaster in the UK, both caused by gerrymandering, that elected and gave absolute power to widely unpopular leaders with far less than the majority of the vote. The coalitions necessary in PR systems means democracy is not the Winner Takes All system it is in e.g. the UK and the USA. A PR government is much more likely to do well for all people in the nation.
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  21. That happens in most countries. For example when a new highway is planned in my country, the lots over which it is to run are first bought at the public market, but if there are some people who refuse to sell, they are expropriated.
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  22. Considering how much e.g. US senators and UK MPs do for their constituents, local representation seems a bit overrated.
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  23. That is because these referenda are not a base for serious policy. They are usually the hobby project of some pressure group. As a result, with most referenda the public gets very unbalanced and emotion-laden information and generally lead to terrible decisions. Like the Brexit referendum. And for instance this referendum. As explained, the whole principle proposed in the referendum is probably illegal. This should never have been a referendum at all. A referendum on a point of policy proposed by serious politicians, prepared by impartial and/or mixed experts that clearly explain all the pros and cons, checked by legal experts, as in Switzerland (as I understand it), that is fine. But not these publicly requested referenda prepared by pressure groups. They have the same value as a protest march.
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  24. ​ @DaDunge  The origins of the people of the Low Countries are hidden in the mists of the dark ages, and the massive migrations around the fall of the Roman empire. The tribes that the Romans knew as the Batavians etc. somehow became Frankish in 4th and 5th century. The Frisians lost some ground, probably also because quite a few went to England as part of the Anglo-Saxon migration. But for example the Salian Franks are know to have lived in the southern half of the Netherlands in the 4th century. Clovis became their ruler in the 6th century when he joined all Franks. In fact, the region north of Deventer is called Salland after the Salian Franks. They were supposed to have lived there until the Saxons (Frisians? -- they are one of the Saxon tribes) drove them south in the 3rd century. So, perhaps all Franks lived in the Netherlands until those pesky Frisians drove them south into Belgium ;-)
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  25. @FACT VS FICTION I know the difference between loose and lose. Can't a bloke make an honest typo anymore? But do you know the difference between grot and groot?
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  26. That, and Russian misinformation. Russian bots are very busy to sow FUD and malcontent in western democracies.
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  27.  @Megacheez  I know that. Read better.
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  28.  @dafi0  This is not about LGBTQ. That is a red herring that is thrown up to distract from the real issues. Hungary and Poland are sliding into the same corruption & dictatorship that Russia has slid in through Putin. Never trust a leader who attacks judges, parliament, journalists and make enemies of countries who used to be friends. Those leaders do not work for you, they just want more power to enrich themselves, and want their citizens to pay for it.
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  29. ​ @jimbraatz4514  Super power? Don't let me laugh. Russia is good at terrorism, and that is the only thing it is good at. If NATO were to get involved in the Ukraine war (not invading Russia proper), the war would be over in a week or less, depending on the strategy it took. If it limited itself to taking out the logistical routes, it might take a bit longer. Russia is pathetic compared with NATO. And don't come here talking about nukes. For all we know, the state of the military is so bad those nukes probably won't even fly. And even Putin realizes that if he ever were to use tactical nukes, it would make no difference to the war. Strategic nukes would only turn the whole world, including China, against him. Special Ops teams would have to organise a lottery to determine if the English, Americans, Ukrainians, Poles, Dutch, German, Israeli or Chinese teams would have the honour of taking him out. Very slowly and very painfully.
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  30.  @antalz  Are we going to play the "mine is bigger than yours" game?
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  31. For private citizens, YES. For large corporations, NO. But the solution is not expropriation. It is to progressively tax large corporations until getting bigger (or owning more houses) doesn't pay anymore. There must be a point where owning an extra house will cost you more in taxes than it will bring you in revenue, e.g. at 100 houses. The problem with corporations becoming too big is that they also get too much power.
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  32. Great video, excellent information. Now starts a period of much political positioning & negotiations, most of it hidden from public sight. Parties will make statements only to position themselves, the things that are said from now on are not to be taken seriously. Between now and the day the new government is installed, it is all political games. We will wait and see what comes out.
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  33. No doubt, Orban was looking from financial aid that was easy to divert into his own pockets. The EU has rigorous accounting & reporting requirements that make it harder. But it turns out that the EU funding is MUCH more important for the nation of Hungary than what China and his other corrupt friends were willing to give. Orban is a corrupt fool, I hope he soon disappears from the political landscape.
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  34. There are three viable coalitions, with the current one the best bet because of the support it has in the upper chamber. But coalitions of VVD, D66, CDA and one of (CU, Volt and JA21) are all possible.
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  35. Replace Greece with Poland and Hungary, and I think you hit the nail on the head.
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  36. Personally, I consider a split-apart Russia much LESS of a threat than a unified one. It is ruled by mafiosi with dreams of empire, with systemic oppression of various minorities, with no hope of democratic renewal. Let it split apart, lose its imperial aspirations, and let the mafiosi lose their power. Then the various peoples can find their own ways.
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  37. Great point. Brexit 2016 was an advisory (non-binding) referendum, except that the Tory government acted as if it was not. Which is unfair: many people didn't vote for or against Brexit because the couldn't be bothered, and the information provided before the referendum was mostly false ("Project Fear", "Britain has enough of Experts"). A binding referendum would / should have been taken much more seriously. Now there will be several decades of severe hardship in Britain, before they rejoin again....
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  38. ​ @smoothie9931  No it was not binding. I don't understand why some people maintain it was. I was around in 2016, and remember how it was organised and what each side said about it. Everything the Brexiteer side said turned out to be lies, and everything they derided as "Project Fear" is turning out to be true. Certainly within 10 years, perhaps as soon as 2 years, you will be begging to be re-admitted to the SM / CU. The Pound will be so devalued you will be glad to adopt the Euro. Re-admittance to the EU will take longer, as you will need to show yourselves trustworthy first.
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  39.  @smoothie9931  you want me to quote you the brexit law? It was advisory. Lies? How about that text on the brexit bus? How much extra was going to the NHS again? How much did it get in actuality? Brexit has greatly affected your memory, it is not for nothing we call you Brexitards.
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  40. ​ @smoothie9931  OK, I read the Bill text, it does not mention any consequences for the referendum, i.e. Parliament is absolutely free to do with the outcome of the referendum as it pleases. This is in accordance with the UK constitution which holds that Parliament is sovereign, not the people. I don't know where you get the idea that the referendum was binding, the UK constitution does not have a binding referendum, so unless it was explicitly in the Bill, this was also not a binding referendum. Next time you claim it was, please specify article and verse where it says it is, you have zero authority to make any such claim without such a reference.
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  41. ​ @smoothie9931  Do you actually understand the difference between an advisory and a binding referendum? With a binding referendum, Parliament and the government are required by Law to act according to the outcome of the referendum. The UK does not have such a Law, ergo all referenda are advisory unless specifically made binding by an act of Parliament. Parliament / the Government may still act on an advisory referendum if they so feel inclined, but are not required to.
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  42. ​ @smoothie9931  You over-estimate the value of a Tory promise. There is a big difference between politicians promising to uphold the outcome of a referendum, and a Law requiring said politicians to uphold that outcome. Ask the Swiss, they have real binding referenda.
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  43.  @smoothie9931  You can trust Tories to fill their own pockets at the expense of the poor.
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  44. Expropriation does not mean there should be no compensation. It just means that ownership is taken way without your consent. In "free" countries, this usually happens with a good compensation. Otherwise in many cases the subject would be bankrupted as a result of the expropriation.
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  45. While the economy is doing well, there is a large group in the Netherlands that don't benefit from it. Also, government investment in housing, education, healthcare etc are down. This means that this economic boom comes at a steep social cost. We are desperate for a left-wing government, though most people don't realize it. Partly because our left-wing parties make more noise about Palestinians and the climate, than about the people who struggle. Palestine and the climate are both lofty goals I am sure, but unless you give people the confidence that you will actually improve their lives, they won't vote for you. People don't care about climate change if they can't afford a decent roof over their head. I know that the leftish parties will improve people's live, because I have read their programs. But that message is not getting through to the less well-informed voters.
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  46.  @endor8witch  Asian companies should join the EU.
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  47. ​ @Robinbamv  Somehow that "Brussels mafia" is much more effective in protecting the rights of its citizens and the environment than those honourable Tories. You don't see EU water companies getting away with the sh!t they are in the UK... Also, in the EU we don't have billions that simply go missing. And even when they do, people go to prison. So sorry to burst your bubble, but the Tories are FAR more corrupt than the folk in Brussels. By several orders of magnitude.
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  48.  Mf1984  You are better off trusting the USA or Russians then? Or do you trust your own leaders LOL? You need to trade with someone, you don't have any colonies left that you can force to buy your stuff.
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  49.  @douglastodd1947  You may have understood it that way, but that is certainly not how Brexit was presented to all that voted for it.
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  50. ​ Mf1984  You comment is completely ridiculous and unwarrentedly aggressive. Remainers (rightly) warned about the many negative consequences of Brexit, but were laughed away by the Leave crowd who called it Project Fear, constantly lying to the people that Brexit did not mean what the remainers were warning about. Or have you (conveniently) forgotten that? Well, it turns out that Project Fear is fast becoming Project Reality, and I will gladly point out your lying arguments.
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