キャラクター
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Table of content for this series can be found
here.
The way Europe is is so odd to my little American mind.
I mean it is a bunch of little countries, all with their own rules, all bunched together, some pretty damned small
And what the hell do they DO for natural resources such as energy and food? Surely they are not big enough land mass to be self sustaining, especially with increased population.
And I wonder what is their GNP? For their size, can they produce much to meet their needs year after year? I mean it's PROBABLY small, but still
So, roughly speaking, the size of the entire Europe is about the size of USA, with similar GDP. I think the US has 20 trillion and the entire Europe has like 18t.
There are farmlands in Europe. In fact, they are quite productive because of the use of fertiliser. There was a documentary from DW that Germany was exporting corps to Africa. In UK we get lettuce, mushroom, potato, tomato locally. There are other leaf vegetable from Spain, etc. Italy, Spain, Germany produce all sort of meat.
France is famous for it wine. But because of global warming, southern UK is also coming out with good wine. The Dutch farmers grow all sort of stuff including flowers. The problem of farming is it is everything intensive. They need to use a lot of fertiliser, need a lot of people to harvest, need a lot of truck to take produce to port and rail. It is unlike in mid-west you have unending corn field that can be harvest by machine. Machine doesn't work in some of the smaller farmland here.
There are coal in many places. But because of environmental policy, a lot of countries stay away from it. Norway has big oil field. Each country has a bit of everything, France has big nuclear power plant, and Germany has big natural gas power plant. Solar, wind and hydro are on the rise, but they are not always reliable because wind can slow and river can dry.
It is not comparable to Gulf of Mexico oil production. I think US has better energy security (apart from the aging power grid).
Match 9: Law and Order
Once upon a time, Serbia submitted a question to the International Count of Justice (ICJ) regarding the decoration of independence of Kosovo. Back then, it was considered to be a landmark case in the international law space. The ruling was interesting in some ways. A lot of people speculated that if ICJ came up with rulings against Kosovo independence, it will piss off the US and its allies. If that happens, US will ignore the ruling and it will damage the reputation of the court. If ICJ came up with rulings favours Kosovo independence, then it can potentially open up a can of worm. Well, if it is ok for Kosovo unilaterally declare independent and crave out a large plot of land off Serbia, then why is it not ok for Scotland to do the same to UK? Why is it not ok for Catalonia to do the same to Spain? Or why is it not ok for Donbass to do the same to Ukraine?
I often find it interesting on the concept of "nationality" in the continent of Europe. In less than a century, Europe started two world war and currently on the blink in starting the third. Before these world wars, there were all sort of regional wars between different countries and lords. Before that, there were the crusades. If you were born in a boarder two countries, the chance is it has been changed hand over the history of time. Then what makes you French but not German, or Pole but not Romanian? You could have a totally different nationality if you were born in the same place another time. What exactly is the sense of unity under a banner when these banners come and go? Or pride of certain nationality when you can easily be a different nationality?
If it is not the fruit of indoctrination, then what is it?
Laugh if you like, but there are plenty of people in Europe build their entire self worth on this, and are happy to shed blood for it.
***
Even in a divorce from two normal human beings, there are complications. Sure, you can sell your asset and split the money in half. But you cannot cut your child into half and have you and your spouse each talk a piece. You can't just split up your friends to your group and his/her group.
If a country has to split up, it is even more complicated. How will the national debt divided? By population % or by land size % or by productivity of the region? If the separated region has been receiving funding for development, then will they return the money and the potential business gain? Will central government starts firing people since there is less admin work in the future? What if the people who are trapped in the separated region that is against the separation? Should they gather to have their own referendum, so they can declare their separation from this separated region? In general, breaking up nations often very disruptive. Not to mention, if there is an option to gather some like-minded people, hold a referendum and carve a large plot of land as a break away, it encourages opposition parties not to corporate with central government. It also encourages oppositions owned media to flame hatred among people to achieve its separate motive, which often encourage xenophobia. In many ways, it is ideal if people can learn how to get along with each other and work together for their countries success, for whatever their countries are defined due to historical reason.
One can ask why if break up a country is so disruptive, then why US and its allies don't discourage it? In fact, during American civil war, Lincoln declared the succession of the southern states illegal. So, shouldn't the same standard apply to other places?
For decades, CIA has been working to destabilize countries not to US likings. It includes many countries in Latin America, China and Russia. Funding opposition movement, giving them weapon to separatist force to cause riot are often used to weaken, if not break up those countries. US definitely does not want ICJ to come out with rulings that get in the way of CIA works.
As in real life, some couples stay together for status quo instead of passion. A lot of countries are stable as long as there is no major policy that discriminates and agonizes a particular group of people. Therefore, as much as there is historical reason for a lot of regions in Europe to break away, there is no interest for people to kick up a fuss. It is true when the countries are prosper and resources are abundant.
What if there is a day there is not enough resources for everybody? What if when people struggle to put food on the table and heating to warm their home? What if the limited resources goes to certain regions in the country first and cause those in the other regions to get the impression that they have been treat unfairly? Even if the distribution is fair, what makes the separatist forces not spread rumours and fuel discontent from the people?
As the conflict in Ukraine drags on, there are more and more reports that many weapons US and EU sent ended up in black market. Initially I wonder what kind of people is rich enough to afford a howitzer or a missile, and what are they planning to use these things on. As it turns out, there may be plenty of occasions.
The winter is coming.