"VainGlorious" wrote in message
news:hkuqe350vkbmpbssbn4kv9eqcaj4lv9uh1@4ax.com...
> Wholly ignored in the US press is the current political situation in
> Belgium. Embarrassingly, the only US pundit I've heard even mention
> the situation is crazed xenophobe Pat Buchanan. He predicts that
> Belgium will disintegrate by years' end. He may be correct.
>
> I've never been to Belgium, but I am aware of its history and its
> cultural divides. If Flanders secedes to become an independent state,
> there will be peculiar repercussions not just for the Flemish and
> Wallonia, but for the EU itself.
>
> With its capital "Berlinized" inside Flanders, one wonders whether
> inefficiencies and complications already existing will be magnified.
> France may have done Europe a disfavor by "Frenchifying" Brussels.
>
> Granted, a balkanized Belgium is not as unsettling as the east/west
> split of Germany was, but if this happens we will have an interesting
> duality playing itself out in Europe. I liken it to the Velvet
> Revolution, with Flanders as the Big Czech Brother to Wallonia, the
> troubled Slovakia. There will be peace, but resentment. Time will tell
> how well Slovakia grows into its new western boots and how the Czechs
> will manage their newfound successes. Same goes for a divided Belgium
> and the EU government based there.
>
> I'm curious what some of you Europeans (and euroskeptics) think about
> a divided Belgium. After all, this small country has been the staging
> area for the massive wars that devastated Europe twice in the last
> century and paved the way for eventual unification.
>
> What ho, Belgies?
Who cares?
It's no more important than Czechoslovakia splitting.
All the bits will be Schengen countries.
EC relief is at regional level anyway
Nobody will notice except the politicians, the Belgian foreign office and
the armed services.
The rest of the public services are regionalised so they don't care...
It's a bit like the idea of Scotland splitting away from the UK.
Nobody would really notice except the people paying more tax.
While 'no taxation without representation' is a decent principle, the
obverse is also true, lots more representation costs a shed load of
money...
--
William Black
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
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