Monday, June 27, 2016

What Now, My Love? -- PART IV (Finale)

Life is always full of coincidences. Yesterday's post on BREXIT, first responders... could have been similarly titled as today's, but today is jest as GOoD, if not GOoDER still:) to end the song on a Hi:) Note....YL, Desi

from bbc.com:~~~~~~~

EU referendum: Do Europeans still feel welcome in the UK?

Image caption Dover is the entry point for many European travellers to the UK

The UK has decided to leave the European Union, yet it will be some time before the consequences of this decision are clear. Against the backdrop of uncertainty, ferries continue to arrive at the Port of Dover bringing travellers from abroad.

It was an aggressive referendum campaign which saw the topic of immigration fiercely debated amid allegations of xenophobia and racism.
On holiday to the UK in the aftermath of all this, Jani and Mari Parkkali from Finland could be forgiven for wondering if they would feel tension.
"We were a little worried there might be a problem with the local people but it has been fine," Jani said, sounding relieved.
"We have been made to feel very welcome - the people have been very friendly."

Image caption Mari Parkkali (left) said Finnish people were cautious travellers and this could have an impact

They were adamant the referendum result would not deter them from future trips to the UK but Mari was not sure the majority of Finnish people would feel the same.
"Finnish people are very cautious," she said.
"After this result, I think, when weighing up where to go they might well choose somewhere else now, such as Germany over England."

Brexit sympathy

Image caption Enrique Melia from Barcelona said he sympathised with the British vote to leave the EU

Enrique Melia from Barcelona is a frequent visitor with homes in several European countries, including the UK.
He said freedom of movement was very important to him but he sympathised with British people who want to leave the EU.
"I would too. If I was the Spanish government I would get out now - too much bureaucracy, people you haven't elected telling you what to do. That's stupid." he said.
He too said he felt welcome, although he added: "There is some xenophobia. I have suffered it. There is a bit of racism in England, yes."
But he was defiant: "It doesn't worry me. I don't care. I like the British people.
"In Spain we have twice as much immigration but we don't even talk about it. We have two million of you and you have 200,000 of us here. So who is the immigrant?"

Increasing the hurdles

Flora Auth and Zoltan Palfy, from Hungary, have been in the UK since September.
Ms Auth said if there were any negative feelings towards foreigners they had not felt it at all.
"People have been so kind to us," she said.

Image caption Zoltan Palfy and Flora Auth felt travelling to the UK would not be problematic

Mr Palfy said he doubted Britain's departure from the EU would put other Europeans off.
"It will just be like visiting Switzerland or Norway or anywhere else where you have to ask permission to visit or stay. It won't be a problem," he said.
However, professor Richard Tol of Sussex University said travellers simply "don't understand the consequences".
"It will hit them once the regulations change," he said.
"People are afraid of filling out forms. By increasing the hurdles that people must jump through to get here, they will simply choose to go somewhere else.
"That will definitely have a negative impact on numbers," he predicted.
He said the fallen pound would make the UK cheaper and more attractive, but labour costs would go up as low-skilled immigrants are "thrown out", increasing the cost of holidays.
In a statement, the British tourist authority Visit Britain unsurprisingly offered a "warm welcome to our many European visitors".
It said it was anticipating a strong summer holiday season.

DESIDERATA: I was watching mainly the CNN and BBC news channels even as the greatest "SESISMIC" event since WWII unfolded; so let's get BBC reportage for a Final Look, OK wit' Thee?!-- YL, Desi

Brexit: EU spells out procedure for UK to leave

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Negotiations to unravel Britain from the EU will take at least two years

The European Union has clarified the way the UK can kickstart formal negotiations to exit the bloc following Thursday's referendum.

It says Britain can trigger Article 50, which sets a two-year deadline for a deal, by making a formal declaration either in a letter or a speech.
UK PM David Cameron has said he will step down by October to allow his successor to conduct the talks.
But EU foreign ministers have urged Britain to start the process soon.
Since Thursday's vote there has been intense speculation about when, and how, the UK might begin formal negotiations.
A spokesman for the European Council, which defines the EU's political direction and priorities, reiterated on Saturday that triggering Article 50 was a formal act which must be "done by the British government to the European Council".
"It has to be done in an unequivocal manner with the explicit intent to trigger Article 50," the spokesman said.
"It could either be a letter to the president of the European Council or an official statement at a meeting of the European Council duly noted in the official records of the meeting."

On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU had "no need to be particularly nasty in any way" in the negotiations with Britain.
She said that deterring other countries from leaving the EU should not be a priority in the talks.
Mrs Merkel added that she was not in favour of pushing for a speedy withdrawal.

Media captionAngela Merkel: "No need to be particularly nasty"

"It shouldn't take forever, that's right, but I would not fight for a short timeframe," she said.
In other developments:

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, facing a no-confidence vote following the referendum, has sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will seek "immediate discussions" with Brussels to "protect Scotland's place in the EU"
A petition calling for a second referendum on UK's membership of the EU has gained more than two million signatures
There are warnings British financial institutions could lose their prized access to the EU if the UK leaves the single market
Britain's European Commissioner, Lord Hill, who oversees financial services, is to resign

Mrs Merkel was speaking after several EU foreign ministers, including Germany's, had urged Britain to quickly implement its exit.
"This process should get under way as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
His Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders said the continent could not accept a political vacuum, saying "this will not be business as usual".

Image copyright AP

Image caption David Cameron says his successor will have to negotiate the UK's exit

Speaking later to the BBC, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said he didn't think it was "even legally possible" to force the UK to speed up the exit process.
"I understand it is very difficult for Prime Minister Cameron, who was against leaving the European Union, to now go ahead and do this," he told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme.
"I think we should give them time; let them decide how quickly they want to do it."
He described Britain's exit from the bloc as "a disaster" saying Estonia had often aligned itself with the UK and had counted on Britain to present their shared views.
The UK's decision to leave the EU has sent shockwaves across the continent with leaders of Eurosceptic parties in France, the Netherlands and Italy demanding referendums in their own countries.

New road map

In response, some EU politicians have called for speedy reforms to quell further unrest.
French economy minister Emmanuel Macron suggested a new mission statement should be drafted and put to a referendum of all EU citizens.
"We've never had the courage to organise a true European referendum in its real sense," he told a conference.
"We would first build this new project with European peoples and then submit this new road map, this new project, to a referendum [across the bloc]."
The first summit of EU leaders with no British representation will be held on Wednesday, a day after Mr Cameron holds talks with members.
Global stock markets and the pound fell heavily on the news of the so-called "Brexit", while credit rating agency Moody's cut the UK's outlook to "negative".

What comes next?

Image caption The process to take the UK out of the European Union starts with invoking Article 50 and will take at least two years from that point

Brexit: What happens now?

What is Article 50 of the EU Treaty?

In force since 2009 but never tested
Allows governments to notify intent to leave. Talks then begin on a range of issues between the leaving nation and other EU members
If no deal is reached, membership will automatically cease two years after notification
The article is only a basic template for leaving, settling the date and some other matters. It does not automatically include issues such as movement of people or trade. The latter could take years to conclude

Sunday, June 26, 2016

BREXIT: First Responders Were Mostly Dismayed, BUT TRUMP...

Why the U.S. is freaked out about Brexit

By Nicole Gaouette and Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT) June 25, 2016

Story highlights

Obama had spoken out forcefully in favor of the UK remaining part of the 28-member EU
Biden acknowledged White House disappointment at the result Friday

Washington (CNN)Britain's vote to leave the European Union Friday left the United States confronting a threat to the strength and cohesion of both its closest historical ally and a 70-year transatlantic partnership that has been the bedrock of Western peace and prosperity.

The outcome of Britain's referendum instantly pitched an already weakened Europe into a new crisis, opening the possibility that other member states could choose to leave the E.U. and create new headaches for Washington.

American leaders on all sides of the political aisle Friday expressed respect for the decision of British voters and vowed to stand with America's "special relationship" ally Britain and the diminished European Union once both partners have finalized their divorce -- a period that could take years.

But there was no hiding the concern behind the scenes as the shockwaves rippled through the EU, a body that has been vital to American foreign policy initiatives in recent times, including the drive to a nuclear deal with Iran and attempts to punish Russia for its incursion in Ukraine.

UK referendum: Full coverage

Why do the Brits want out?

President Barack Obama, who felt strongly enough about a British exit or "Brexit" to travel to Britain in April to warn it could not expect special treatment on reaching a free trade deal with the U.S. if it left Europe, offered a rote assurance that nothing would actually change between London and Washington.

"While the UK's relationship with the EU will change, one thing that will not change is the special relationship that exists between our two nations," Obama said during remarks at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. "That will endure."

But Sir Peter Westmacott, until earlier this year Britain's ambassador in Washington, contradicted the idea that nothing would change in the U.S-British relationship.

EU leaders demand quick UK exit as economic fallout grows

Brexit: EU leaders demand quick UK exit amid fallout

"I feel very sad," Westmacott told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, adding that Britain after Brexit would be "less influential in the world, in the European Union, in NATO and the Security Council and a less significant ally for the United States and many others."

"I think we are going to have to paddle even harder with our diplomacy ... to ensure that we continue to ensure that we have our place at the table."

Vice President Joe Biden, the administration's less-filtered voice, was more clear about White House disappointment at the result when he spoke to the issue on a trip to Ireland Friday.

"I must say we had looked for a different outcome," he said in Dublin. "We preferred a different outcome."

For the United States, the possibility that the populist, isolationist victory of the "Leave" vote translates into broader political victories for the movement in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, could mean Washington could eventually find itself straining to get help it has relied on from allies. The UK vote has triggered calls for similar referendums in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, while populist governments already hold power in Greece, Poland and Hungary.

If the Brexit vote results in a domino-like ripple of similar votes or political victories, the experiment of a united Europe could come to an end. It would make the continent less able to help the U.S. push back against Russian assertiveness along Europe's eastern seam, analysts said.

The United States has traditionally relied on an engaged Britain, alongside other allies Germany and France, as a way to ensure its interests are taken into account on the top table of Europe -- and now faces the prospect of one of its most influential allies leaving the block and diminishing its clout.

4 reasons why Brexit doesn't mean Donald Trump will win

For the UK, it's not just the EU exit that could cause Britain's influence to wane. If Europhile Scotland now holds a second independence vote, the power of Washington's old ally could be further splintered.

Britain has been a traditional U.S. partner on efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and cooperate in the Middle East on issues ranging from Iran's nuclear program to Israeli-Palestinian peace and the scourge of ISIS. One outcome of the Brexit vote could be "less help from the UK and other NATO allies in the Middle East and elsewhere," said Daniel Serwer, director of the Conflict Management Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

In the short term, a distracted UK, led by a lame duck leader following Cameron's decision to step down, might not have the same capacity or inclination to take on global challenges.

And the economic hit the UK will take as it extricates itself from a market that accounts for 44% of its exports could leave it with fewer resources to do its share. The U.S. is itself already feeling the aftershocks -- American stocks were down more than 600 points at the closing bell Friday afternoon.

Altogether, that could mean a smaller Britain, less able to meet its defense commitments, and it would pose problems for the future of the U.K.'s independent nuclear deterrent, which is based in Scotland and is opposed by the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party.

It could also deepen the U.S. perception that took root under the Obama administration that the U.S. "interests lie more in Asia than in its traditional Atlantic sphere of influence," according to Sebastian Mallaby, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writing in The Washington Post.

Still, American political figures stressed their commitment to the UK despite the change.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, tweeted that "the UK is an indispensable ally of the US, and that special relationship is unaffected by this vote."

Sen. Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said that "while there will be a great deal of discussion in the coming days and weeks about what the 'Leave' win means for them and for us, our friends and allies in the UK should know this: we respect their decision, and we stand by them, just as they have always stood by us."

Foreign policy: Where Obama and Trump can sound similar 01:38

The President spoke with British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday to convey the U.S. commitment to both of them, saying afterwards that the EU will remain a "vital" U.S. partner, alongside NATO.

"Our shared values including our commitment to democracy and pluralism ... will continue to unite all of us," Obama said, repeating a common theme in his addresses as criticism of immigrants and religious minorities has featured in the presidential campaign.

But the administration is also looking to adjust to the new reality.

"What was said was we believed in a strong UK voice in a strong EU and that was our position in advance of the referendum," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "The people of Great Britain have spoken and they want the UK out of the EU that's beyond dispute, and so we now have to move on."

Amid the widespread shock at Britain's decision, Washington is beginning to size up the implications.

"For sure," said Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken Friday, "it's going to be a complicated process."

CNN's Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.

By Nicole Gaouette and Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 0829 GMT (1629 HKT) June 25, 2016