COVID-19 exposes the incompetence of Europe's ruling Elite

[sygn]

march 15
Annalisa Tardino took Brussels to task for appearing to agree to send billions of euros to Turkey this week - but falling silent when Italy requested aid.

"Ms Tardino spoke out against the EU’s "surrender" to Turkey when President Erdogan opened his country’s border with Greece. In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appears to have agreed to send billions of euros to Istanbul in a bid to avert a migrant crisis. Ms Tardino lashed out at EU chiefs for their "weakness in the face of Turkish President Erdogan's blackmail".

Italy, which has been the hardest hit European country, asked for urgent medical supplies under a special European crisis mechanism.
However, no EU country responded to the call for help and instead China had to step in to help Italy.
Germany even banned the export of medical masks and other protective gear after the request was made."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/worl...us-COVID-19-European-Union-Greece-Turkey-news

march11
"The United Kingdom announced a package of measures today to respond to the economic challenges of coronavirus, including that it will contribute £150 million to the International Monetary Fund’s Catastrophe and Containment Relief Trust (CCRT), which provides debt relief to countries hit by catastrophic events including public health disasters. The contribution will be in the form of a £75 million grant directly to the trust, plus additional £75 million earmarked in the budget and contingent to demand."

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Article...s-catastrophe-relief-fund-with-gbp150-million

 

[hobbit.]

This is not about saving lives or controling the virus.

This is about protecting the wealth of the wealthy, hence all the economic stimulus bullshit and goverments printing money like its going out of fashion.

 

[sygn]

You're bang on when it comes to Brussels.

All they thought about in terms of help was paper money, not medical help.
How ludicrous that Italy ended up being helped with urgently needed medical supplies by two of the most subversive countries towards the West: Russia and China, while EU decision-makers: nada.

This is not about saving lives or controling the virus.

This is about protecting the wealth of the wealthy, hence all the economic stimulus bullshit and goverments printing money like its going out of fashion.

24 march:

Foreign Minister/European Commissioner Franco Frattini:

"EU left Italy ‘practically alone' to fight coronavirus, so Rome looked for help elsewhere.
"The EU clearly underestimated the virus, blaming the outbreak in Italy on its national healthcare system flaws. Many said it was all because of the Italian habits, because Italians do not respect the rules.
As a result, Brussels, which preaches pan-European solidarity, failed to act when this solidarity was needed in the face of a crisis that eventually affected the entire bloc.
Suddenly, they realized all the other countries were equally affected.

Former Italian MP Dario Rivolta:

"Brussels has indeed ramped up its efforts subsequently, suspending the bloc’s strict Stability and Growth Pact regulating budgetary policy among others. Frattini particularly hailed this decision, which allows Rome to act freely in terms of budgetary spending, as “very important.”

Still, it is not enough. And while financial relief is necessary, there are other things to be considered, such as medical assistance. As for the medical aspects, the only thing that the EU did up to now was to put barriers between Italy and other countries.”

The lack of solidarity was recently noted from outside of the bloc –
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic decried European solidarity as a myth, while praising Beijing for its assistance. His remarks came after Serbia received five million masks from China, which it could not get in Europe."
(Serbia, too has one of the most aged popullations in Europe).

https://www.rt.com/news/483897-italy-eu-coronavirus-solidarity-russia/





((Side note:
RT IS an anti-Western propaganda outlet. But it sometimes prints the news on which others are silent. So I weeded out the pro-Russian/anti-Western propaganda, and paid attention only to what the Italian/ Serbian officials said:

 

[SpeareChucker]

I even quoted something from it this morning...

 

[sygn]

I even quoted something from it this morning...

linky?
I will look around for it, but it would be good to have it in this thread too.

 

[SpeareChucker]

It was about our current state of coronavirus politics.

 

[SpeareChucker]

Post #104,

somehow I forgot to post the actual link
but it is at Drudge...

 

[sygn]

Post #104,

somehow I forgot to post the actual link
but it is at Drudge...

thanks.
Aah, that's why, it was on a different topic.

I bashed Trump too in other threads, I still think that economically wise, GB Dems. made good points.

But as far as COVID is concerned, even if he made some mistakes, their Trump -bashing was waaaaay over the top.

The US had no patients needing ICU at the time, whereas in Italy - some of those over 80 who needed ICU were deliberately left to die cause they were forced to choose who can use their limitted ICU equipment.
despite Italy's desperate pleas of help to other countries.

 

[SpeareChucker]

The Democrats are not making economic points.
They are issuing their usual anti-business boilerplate
which probably sounds spot on and good if you, too, are anti-business...

Ironic that even they understand that the solution is in the hands of the businesses
that they love to hate, to rail against, and to garner the votes of those who have that mentality...

Of course, those who have that mentality are also driven by consumerism
and the latest fads and gadgets, and this Trump-hate is the epitome of fad...

 

[SpeareChucker]

PS - comparing The US to Italy is nowhere near a valid comparison.
What happened there could not happen here.
They are, after all, one of the pillars of PIIGS...

 

[sygn]

The Democrats are not making economic points.
They are issuing their usual anti-business boilerplate
which probably sounds spot on and good if you, too, are anti-business...

Ironic that even they understand that the solution is in the hands of the businesses
that they love to hate, to rail against, and to garner the votes of those who have that mentality...

Of course, those who have that mentality are also driven by consumerism
and the latest fads and gadgets, and this Trump-hate is the epitome of fad...

In all honesty, I still think he's mainly concerned about the rich people's pockets, the rest come second place. But he IS also well-intended re the little guy .

But I suspect that you might have a point:
Unlike Europe, which is very crowded and where early lockdowns could be lifesaving for both people & the economy,
In US shutting down and gutting the economy could lead to a lot more lives lost.

 

[SpeareChucker]

There's absolutely no reason to shut down, say, Nebraska...
Trust me, outside of a couple of small cities,
people there are isolated.


Isolated!

 

[sygn]

One wonders if Brussels' are now living their final days.

The pandemic probably gutted the ideal of free movement and commerce, which was one of the incentives for laypeople.
It also exposed Brussel's poor policies and bureaucracy, not in the least this:

"Brussels has indeed ramped up its efforts (re Italy's need for lifesaving equipment):
, suspending the bloc’s strict Stability and Growth Pact regulating budgetary policy among others, which allows Rome to act freely in terms of budgetary spending. But this came only after Europe “realized its [measures] were inadequate to give a united response.”


But as incompetent & catering to the 0.001% Brussels Elite are,
wouldn't the dismembering of EU be an even bigger disaster for Europe?