Brexit post-Ms. May
 

Boris Johnson, I've heard it reported, says if he's elected Prime Minister, the U.K. will leave the E.U. in October with or without a deal. He says the way for the U.K. to get a good deal is to be willing to leave without one.

Isn't it widely feared that a no-deal Brexit could lead to renewed violence on the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland? Or does "No Deal" mean no deal except for some arrangement for that border?

If Boris the Buffooon becomes PM, the rest of the EU will be so busy laughing that they won't have time to think about a new deal - which, in any case, they've said is out of the question.

A laughable buffoon at the helm of a major world power? One shudders to think.

One could perhaps twist them both together, light the touch-paper and retire to a safe distance...

Hard to see how Brexit, Trump and election meddling, and the right wing wave in Europe is anything but dangerously advantageous to Putin.

Or maybe there's something going on within those societies that can explain said phenomena without recourse to a foreign bogeyman. Perhaps the free-trade neoliberal order hasn't done that well by a great many people, and with the traditional organs of the left either gutted (e.g. unions), in thrall to neoliberalism themselves (e.g. most soc-dem parties in Europe), the left counternarrative gets either subsumed in bad-faith polemics (see the every-hour-on-the-hour hit pieces against Corbyn and Sanders) or simply isn't publicly available, the loudest voices saying things aren't okay are on the far right. But no, let's make it about those dastardly Russkies!

I don't think it's an either-or equation. Actually, not that many things are in my experience.

Cheers,
John

Hi Max,

As I understand it, "no deal" means exactly that: "no deal". We'd leave the EU without any (special) agreements on anything -- trade, travel, air traffic, the Irish border and so on.

The UK government has made plans for what do regarding the Irish border in the event of a no deal Brexit. Which is basically to have a temporary period of, well, doing nothing much different, followed by, well, trying hard to come up with a workable plan later:

“In a no deal scenario, the UK government is committed to entering into discussions urgently with the European Commission and the Irish Government to jointly agree long-term measures to avoid a hard border.”

However, the UK can only plan what it does on its side of the border. So, it says it won't apply tariffs (some small exceptions) or place physical barriers. Whereas Ireland, being in the EU, might be expected to do so, as physical checks and tariffs by EU countries are normally required on borders with non-EU countries. However the Irish government has said that, "its overriding objective is to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland [and] is not planning for customs posts". In the event of a no deal it will "engage in intensive discussions with the EU Commission and our EU partners".

- Matt

I've had it out with a fair number of "Russkies," or however you put that to lump me in with, well, who cares. Some are friends, others, not so much. Many of them like to talk politics and, sometimes unfortunately, so do I. More often than not, we disagree. Anyway, if you don't think Putin is a threat, maybe you should talk to more people from European countries who are feeling it.

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Personally -- because I can't speak politically -- I think the current political festering of the GB and US reflects a failure of the imagination.
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