Heck, you are right about Schengen, but I am not sure about the requirement of a popular vote in this case. In article 17 about the agreement between the EU and Switzerland it is written that Switzerland can terminate the agreement. There is nothing mentioned about the referendum. Digging deeper in Swiss laws, the Federal Office clearly states an “optional” referendum, NOT a mandatory one.
Even if the EU countries would agree, this does not seem realistic to me, when considering countries like Switzerland. They are located in the middle of the EU and the popular right wing people’s party of Switzerland is supposed to have ties to Russia. Borders to neighbouring countries have several points that are hardly controlled, especially to France.
Source: living next to the border and travelling frequently to neighbouring countries each year by car.
Oh common, this is pathetic. Or did you forget about ISIS and how they took Yazidi women as sex slaves. Neither one, nor the other is the good guy here.
Ah yes, the „West stole everything from the East“ fairytale, which conveniently leaves out that East Germans voted for reunification. And if we’re lecturing western Germans based on company history, it might be worth to think about the current success of the AfD in eastern Germany. Political responsibility apparently ends at the Elbe - like always.
disagree with you. I’ve seen and met enough East Germans to have a very different perspective. From my experience, there is often very little empathy - especially towards people of different skin colours or sexual orientations. There is a reason why parts of eastern Germany are sometimes referred to as Dunkeldeutschland.
Did they ever thank West Germans for the help? NEVER. If anything, it’s been the opposite: demanding more and more. And again, telling West Germans what they have to do. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you, something many East Germans seem not to understand.
If you feel so strongly about it, I suggest you pay back the Solidaritätsbeitrag, which has amounted to billions over the years.
Please, stop protecting them and repeating this nonsense. The West German mark and the East German mark were converted at a 1:1 rate right after the Wende. People in the GDR were not all living in Plattenbauten. Many had their own houses, and many others left for southern Germany and Switzerland instead of staying and helping to rebuild the country.
Since then, billions of euros have been transferred from West Germany to East Germany. I remember very well people in the East having two cars and renovating their houses. I had far relatives there, so I saw it myself. Meanwhile, parts of the West, especially the Ruhr area, were struggling heavily, with municipalities accumulating huge debts that they are still dealing with today.
And now they want to tell the West, which has spent decades financing and rebuilding this part of the country, what it should do?
You know what? It might have been better for West Germany if reunification had never happened and East Germany had simply been sold to Russia - at least it seems that’s also their wish.
Kick Corrumpino out and take all the money from him what he has earned since being FIFA president.
These countries may now trade even more with each other, leaving the US out. This can pretty well backfire on US economy and I hope, not for the saint US people, but for this guy and his followers, that this will be the case.
It’s interesting to see how many ideological people there are on Lemmy, especially how they react when someone points out that their own behavior isn’t necessarily any different. It doesn’t leave me very optimistic about society’s ability to improve.
I don’t engage at this level anymore, where people show no respect. Many people seem to be dealing with problems in their lives and are looking for an outlet to vent their frustration here. I let myself get caught up in that frustration for a brief moment, but this is silly and a waste of time. Nope, not with me.
I didn’t expect Lemmy to reach this kind of chan-level behavior so quickly. I’m happy to continue a civil discussion, but otherwise I’ll leave it here and delete my previous comment.
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(1) Why the hack you are putting your nose in this conflict? (2) Why are you defending somebody, who is calling other people „fucking morons“? (3) You make an active effort? What do you think how many people around you in different ages trying to make an effort at their best in their current situation? A poor person, living in the streets, causes less gas emission than you, so let‘s go and live on the streets. Or don’t you want to leave your comfort zone to really battle climate warming?
As I see it, this is for one specific reason only: I don’t believe it’s the different cultural values from immigration that bothers them (they are literally moving into a wholly foreign culture; although I’m sure the Orthodox church gives some perverse appeal), but I believe they are bothered by ethnicity/skin colour.
So, because you don’t believe it, it cannot be true? Resembles the same small world view which Nazis have - sorry, I need to add to be in line with your words: I believe.
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So, the phrase “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” seems to be unknown to the younger generation. That doesn’t surprise me.
They stay there. Those who wanted really to leave, left. Or did your forget about the traffic at the frontier to Finland or to Georgia or to Turkey or to … BTW, looking at Romania, Poland and their revolution against the « communistic » regimes, well, that was some chuzpe, which unfortunately I cannot see in Russia.
Being unaware of local customs isn’t a good reason to complain about them. Just learn them. If you travel without taking five minutes to understand the local culture, don’t be surprised when you run into unpleasant surprises.
Not hard to understand, innit?
They won’t attack Poland as the current Polish president is boot licking Trump and an attack on Poland would potentially involve the US. So, I believe this is this usual fearmongering by the Polish elite with respect to a potential attack on Poland.
The Baltic states are indeed different: (1) little US support if whatever, (2) small countries, easy to invade larger parts, (3) a weak EU which prefers to raise fingers than to act and (4) which is flooded with politicians who are Putin’s puppets and losers, who are all talking the same time about independence, sovereignty and nationalism. I have words for these people mod may block me, so I remain quite.
No one asked them to go there, and it is all known and written in so many subs what the US tipping culture is about. Own fault. They should stop behave like 5 year old.
I hope you can well imagine how Le Pen, Trump and Putin are opening champagne bottles about these riots. These rioters couldn’t shoot better in their own knees and causing a critical situation for the entire EU and for themselves - it increases economical instability, because potential investors will step back, rendering any solution more difficult, and it increases the chance that Le Pen will win the next election - a loss for Ukraine, a loss of freedom, an increase of imbalance and instability for the entire EU.
Sorry, but everybody supporting these riots - protests are something different - is IMHO an enemy of the EU, a supporter of the three above mentioned people and their agenda.