Monday, September 24, 2018

The Ides of May: Brexit, Irexit, and the Shape of Europe to Come | Unexamined Premises

The Ides of May: Brexit, Irexit, and the Shape of Europe to Come | Unexamined Premises
"Since she succeeded David Cameron in the wake of the Brexit vote, the accidental British prime minister, Theresa May, has been trying without success to have things both ways.
See the source imageOn the one hand she's having to pretend to observe the wishes of the British public, which voted to leave the European Union, but her own inclination -- shared by many Tory Remainers -- is to keep fumbling the football until the clock runs out. 
Meanwhile, the Labour Party, which is now led by an out-and-out communist in Jeremy Corbyn, is delighted with the whole mess.
Across the Irish Sea, Britain's ever-restive former colony, Ireland, is having its own troubles. 
The withdrawal from the EU by the United Kingdom will mean that the rump state of Northern Ireland (whose votes Mrs. May needs to keep her in power, as shaky as her current hold on it is now) will require some sort of border with the Republic to the south.
...Poetically, one of the major sticking points over Britain's departure from the EU is the Irish border. Since the Good Friday Agreement... there have been no militarized checkpoints at the internal Irish line of division, but as the Brexit negotiations continue, the EU has been pushing for a hard customs border, which neither the Irish nor the British want..."
Read on.

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