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Comment: No, I refuse to believe this nonsense (Score 1) 110



Comment: Re:Sigh... (Score 1) 789






Comment: Re:Sigh... (Score 1) 789










Kosovo is a completely different matter.













List of other dwarf planets.



Comment: Re:Let's get rid of EU (Score 1) 272

by jonfr (#47268625) Attached to: EU May Allow Members Home Rule On GMO Foods

> Tell that to the many nations that are not part of EU.

Here are the nations that are not in the EU currently. Many of them are currently in the process of becoming EU members.

Russia (Are never going to apply for EU membership under current status.)
Belarus (Are never going to apply for EU membership under current status.)
Switzerland (EFTA. Submitted EU application in the year 1992. Has been frozen since that time.)
Norway (EFTA/EEA)
Iceland (EU candidate) (EFTA/EEA)
Lichtenstein (EFTA/EEA)
Macedonia (EU candidate country)
Montenegro (EU candidate country)
Serbia (Not yet EU candidate but has applied for membership)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Has not yet applied for EU membership but is expected to do so in the future)
Kosovo (Has not yet applied for EU membership, when it might submit an application is unclear at this point in time)
Moldova (Are going to submit application in the future. When is unclear. No time plans on application as is.)
Ukraine (At this point in time it is too early to know when an application might be submitted. No time plan have been put forward for this move as is.)
Turkey (EU candidate and have been since 1985.)
Georgia (Have shown interest for EU membership, but not put out plans for EU application.)
Armenia (? I am also not sure if they meet EU legal requirement for EU membership or application as is.)

Micro states in Europe have not yet applied to EU and remain outside EFTA/EEA. They are however many in close cooperation with EU and many of them use the Euro as currency and have other deals that give them access to the internal market on the same level as EU member but without representatives and voting rights.

Comment: Re:Let's get rid of EU (Score 1) 272

by jonfr (#47240175) Attached to: EU May Allow Members Home Rule On GMO Foods

You forget few things.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO by there own chose (that is why Russia did what it did). But for the countries that are members of NATO are now seeing military build-up due to actions of Russia.

As for states. I am using the same definition as is being used when it comes to U.S states. All of the states in question have some self-rule when it comes it there own internal affairs. All of them have there own parliaments to set local laws (far as I know). Germany has two parliaments, one on federal level and one of state level. This works for most part in the same way as it does in the U.S, there are differences between counties since not all countries have the same system. But the principal is the same in this case.

Russia is being hit by sanctions and its conflict in Ukraine. That is also the reason why Russia has been making stronger ties with China in past few months. They are going to continue to do so.

Comment: Re:Let's get rid of EU (Score 1) 272

by jonfr (#47240067) Attached to: EU May Allow Members Home Rule On GMO Foods

> The result is it can't adequately respond to challenges (ie: Crimea, the PIIGS debt crisis), but everyone still hates it for cramping their style

They did respond with sanctions and they hurt Russia badly. The effects take a little while to appear. Ukraine is not a EU member state and that is the only reason for Russia invasion into Ukraine.

> In the long term it's probably much better for Europe if Europeans decide to go the route we Americans did, and create a truly Federal state with it's own Army.

Countries in Europe and EU member are not interested in such move. Never have been and I don't expect that to change. There are also far more states in Europe then you think. Germany is made out of 16 states (U.S model type of federation), UK is made out of 4 or 5 (+ dependences and so on) states. There are in total of 50 states in Europe as it is today. Not all of them are EU members. This is according to Wikipedia.

Europe got NATO for defence.

Germany is made up of 16 Länder (states).
Switzerland is made up of 26 cantons (states).

Wikpedia information.

There are 85 states in Russia alone and many of them are in Europe (geographically speaking). I am not counting Crimea, since Russia illegally annexed it into Russia. For me it is still part of Ukraine, it is just being military occupied by Russia in illegal manners against international law.

The picture of Europe is far more complex then many anti-EU people claim. EU is just one angle of it.

Comment: Re:Let's get rid of EU (Score 2) 272

by jonfr (#47240021) Attached to: EU May Allow Members Home Rule On GMO Foods

You clearly do not understand what EU is about. As a policy GM crops fall under Common Agriculture Policy as it is set by the EU member states ministers (along with EU parliament).

The whole thing about GM crops is ridiculous, since all food is in fact GM crop. It has all been modified genetically with selective breeding over a long period of time.

The anti-EU crowd in Europe does not know or have interest in reading history of how Europe was before the invention of EU and its predecessors. All they want is a Europe that doesn't work and would be powerless in today globalized world. Isolated nations in Europe is not good and never has been. EU is the only way, while it is far from perfect it is the only way that seems to work and is going to continue to work.
