Britain - Brexit: Customs Union at Centre of compromise talks

Brexit: customs union at centre of compromise talks ahead of crucial EU summit 

Note EU Digest : The problem is that Theresa May has not been able to put a concrete proposal together supported by a parliamentary majority in the British parliament, and keeps wasting EU members time and finances discussing "pies in the sky".

It is high time now the EU starts to play some hard ball with Theresa May, and gives her an "indefinite extension" until she can come up with a concrete proposal, which is backed by a majority in the British parliament.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/07/brexit-uk-prime-minister-says-there-is-still-a-chance-of-a-compromise-deal

Retribution: Not Part Of The Human Moral Code And The Consequences For Those Who Think It Is

Almost all violence emerges with some kind of rationale that justifies its use.  Warfare, capital punishment, or corporal punishment all follow a self-conscious logic.  At the core of this “logic” usually rests a commitment to the necessity of retribution, justifying violence as the appropriate response to wrongdoing.  When wrongdoing violates the human divined moral order, “justice” requires retribution or punishment, repaying wrongdoing with punishment, pain and often also death.

This human interpretation of retribution, which is still being applied is some kind of an "historical short-circuit" that occurred in which certain concepts were taken from their biblical context, interpreted through the lens of Roman law, then used to interpret the biblical texts.

The result has been an obsession with the retributive themes of the Bible and a neglect of the restorative ones— in other words a basic theology of a retributive God who desires violence. 

Consequently the legitimacy of retribution has become an accepted cultural given around the world.

Is this correct, absolutely not.

Genesis 9 verse 6 warns: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image".

Or as we read in Deuterenomy 32 verse 35:  "it is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

Mankind can not take the law of retribution in its own hand, because that right belongs to God. 

If we look at the state of the world today, nobody has to tell you that the situation is extremely grim, maybe even hopeless for some.

Political structures are falling like a deck of cards, natural disasters are happening daily.

America and Britain, which led a "coalition of the willing" under false pretenses into a war with Iraq, which has now spread into Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, resulting in millions of casualties of innocent civilians, large numbers of refugees, will not escape divine retribution.

As a matter of fact, the results of these divine retributions are already visible. Britain's economy and its Pound Stirling are crumbling, after they voted in favor of Brexit.

The US is not only plagued today by a meltdown of its political system, but is also experiencing one natural disaster after the other.

The EU is going through an inner revolt between member states wanting closer unity and nationalistic populists, who want to turn the clock back to independent statehood.

Last but not least, on the subject of divine retribution, if you wonder why Haiti has been so hard hit recently by hurricane Matthew, and just a few years earlier by a devastating earthquake, followed by an epidemic of cholera, think again.

Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Haiti, but voodoo may be considered the country's national religion. The majority of Haitians believe in and practice at least some aspects of voodoo. Most voodooists believe that their religion can coexist with Catholicism, which is a myth. Former Haiti President François Duvalier recruited voodoo specialists to serve as tonton makouts to help him control all aspects of Haitian life. Duvalier also often indicated that he retained power through sorcery.

There are many more of these examples of retribution showing up daily around the world,  as the day of judgement draws closer.

Yes indeed, the power of retribution is not really a part of our "human objectives" during our temporary sojourn on this planet. It belongs to God.
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EU-Digest

Europe’s reaction to NSA spying ‘totally inadequate, no action, nothing more than words’

EU reaction to NSA spying inadequate

So far European governments reactions to the people’s anger about NSA spying on European Citizens has been totally inadequate, says Paul Murphy, Irish Member of the European Parliament from the Socialist Party in an interview with Russian TV station RT. He says this mainly is the result of the fact that most governments have put a lid on it, as the interests of big businesses prevails.

"What it illustrates", said Murphy,  "is the deep-rooted hypocrisy of the leaders of all countries of Europe and really around the world. Whereby they are happy to criticize other people spying on themselves, but they are all engaged in this, all of the major powers in the world are engaged in massive spying against each other. But also most importantly, states are involved in spying against their own people and other peoples around the world. I think what should come out from ordinary people across Europe is a clear message that we are opposed to the building of a security state, which is what’s happening, we are opposed to this massive surveillance of people and of elective representatives, and we demand people’s right to privacy".

"I think the response of the EU has been entirely inadequate", says Murphy, "and it’s being words and nothing more than words, while they continue, for example, with the negotiations on the EU-US free-trade agreement. I think it’s because they know the whole thing is full of hypocrisy and they know they are guilty probably as much as their technical capacities allows relative to the US. And I think it’s only through developing a movement and big pressure from below that the most important issue here – people’s, individuals’ rights of privacy, individual rights not to be spied upon, that that can prevail and can become a factor in the situation"

Basically the EU Commission and the EU parliament are sitting on their hands when it comes to properly handling the NSA spying affair on EU Citizens. It is  another example of why the confidence in the political establishment of the Europe Union has reached an all-time low.

EU-Digest