EU: Pariah State
A few months ago, I posted a piece highlighting GWB's pledge to drop American farm subsidies and tariff protection if the EU agreed to do so as well. I concluded that it was probably a calculated move by the States to embarrass the EU, since the Americans must have realised that the EU would never drop their hideous, African baby-killing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Too many smelly French farmers wielding pitchforks and smashing up McDonalds restaurants; the toffs in the Elysees palace wouldn't want to dirty their gloves confronting the likes of them.
Happily, it seems like I was wrong and the Americans are rather more committed than I first thought to ending these barbaric farm subsidies and tariffs that protect inefficient farmers in the rich world and promote poverty's vile cause in the most disadvantaged parts of the world. George Bush once again proves that - despite being a big government authoritarian - he walks his talk. No wonder the European political elite hates him; they're all elegantly full of shit. And what do you know, it's the humane, lower class-supporting (don't call it The Mob), egalitarian French who are trying the hardest to kybosh attempts to remove the economic shackles from the world's dirt poor:
It's time to call the EU on its hypocrisy, which is killing people at a far greater rate than the situation in Iraq. Rich Europeans - ineffectual Live8 supporting, head-tilting rich Europeans - sat back and watched events unfold in New Orleans with a mixture of horror and I-told-you-so smugness, yet do they realise their own leaders have caused the deaths of an untold number of poverty-stricken humans? Simply put, the European Union is a pariah state that actively works against the interests of the world's poorest people, to protect a tiny minority of its citizens. The Euros have precisely ZERO moral capital to spend on lecturing any nation or any organisation or any individual about anything.
I should also mention that Australia's early abandoning of farm subsidies and nearly all import tariffs is one of the best reasons I can think of to be proud of this country.
Happily, it seems like I was wrong and the Americans are rather more committed than I first thought to ending these barbaric farm subsidies and tariffs that protect inefficient farmers in the rich world and promote poverty's vile cause in the most disadvantaged parts of the world. George Bush once again proves that - despite being a big government authoritarian - he walks his talk. No wonder the European political elite hates him; they're all elegantly full of shit. And what do you know, it's the humane, lower class-supporting (don't call it The Mob), egalitarian French who are trying the hardest to kybosh attempts to remove the economic shackles from the world's dirt poor:
Reports from Europe indicate that France is leading a push among EU members to wind back the negotiating mandate of the EU's trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, who has been working assiduously to take the process forward.Now there's a surprise, eh, folks?
It's time to call the EU on its hypocrisy, which is killing people at a far greater rate than the situation in Iraq. Rich Europeans - ineffectual Live8 supporting, head-tilting rich Europeans - sat back and watched events unfold in New Orleans with a mixture of horror and I-told-you-so smugness, yet do they realise their own leaders have caused the deaths of an untold number of poverty-stricken humans? Simply put, the European Union is a pariah state that actively works against the interests of the world's poorest people, to protect a tiny minority of its citizens. The Euros have precisely ZERO moral capital to spend on lecturing any nation or any organisation or any individual about anything.
I should also mention that Australia's early abandoning of farm subsidies and nearly all import tariffs is one of the best reasons I can think of to be proud of this country.
posted by James Waterton at 9:38 pm
5 Comments:
I hope we know you from Jihad Watch. Nice work here. The scoop on EU farm subsidies got me up and thinking. The future's looking brighter.
sonofwalker
Agree with what you say about the EU, but I doubt any such proposal from the US will survive the Senate.
And bravo about the last bit.
You're right about the Senate, though une battle at a time, Scott. The fact that the Americans are putting it on the agenda so assertively is a big enough step.
Despite being directly culpable for the economic misery of Africans, the Eurofags think they can redeem themselves by spending more on foreign aid - "We'll bribe you not to produce anything".
To some extent, it reminds me of what we have in Australia - the government does people out of a job through excessive labour market regulation, and then poses as a bastion of "generosity" by spending more on welfare. In reality, this only compounds the misery of poor people, leading to depression, and occasionally suicide.
The EU is pulling the same trick on Africa, only with far greater social damage.
The EU has bribed its own farmers not to produce anything - when their subsidies distort the market so radically and huge surpluses are accumulated (wine lake, butter mountain etc.), the EU has paid farmers to leave their fields fallow, fruit unpicked etc.
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