Paying in Francs. Jesus, yeah, lets go back to the Middle Ages. Maybe we can even pay with chickens :rolleyes: For all people who live in the Eurozone, the Euro brought as closer to our neighbours. The Euro is easy, steady. I think its wonderfull that from now on we can pay from Portugal to Finland with the same currency. And boehoe our Kings head is not the notes. Well, they can still put his photo on biscuit–boxes.

It’s not because you are not European that I don’t want you to answer my posts, but because it’s YOU. A personal thing Cooper. Has nothing to do with nationalities.

Well, actually I am a Flemish Belgian but it doesn’t matter. You know why I like our little Kingdom so much? Because there are 3 different languages, 3 different cultures, but still one common goal. If someone asks for my nationality, I will say Belgian, not Flemish or Walloon. I hate all this communautary crap, and 90 % of Belgians also think like this.

Anyway, Keltic’s post says it all.

And PII, can you please stay out of this discussion. Just because the name Geforce appears in it doesn’t necessairly mean that YOU have to answer it.

Snapper, the UK IS Europe, wheter you like it or not. That’s just a fact. And historically, the UK always wanted to have a big influence on continental Europe. Why else would there have been 3 Anglo-Dutch wars? Because England wanted to become the n°1 superpower in Europe, and it did so from the 18th century on!

You feel ashamed to call yourself European? That means that you don’t want a be a part of the great civilisations which have created the western world as it is today.

I know many Britons who look at it differently and feel ‘European’. I’m not fond of the US of E either, and I don’t like the current EU institutions. But Brussels and Frankfurt will become the most important places in Europe, even Blair knows this. The UK has two options: to pull out of the EU, which I would regret, but prefer that above having one country always blocking and veto-ing decissions made in Brussels. Or participate fully in the EU, in its institution, and make sure there is enough English influence in Brussels. I don’t understand why so many Britons hate the EU. If it wouldn’t be of the EU, the US would already have killed the British economy. In Brussels, the UK is listened at, sometimes with a bit of anger. DC doesn’t listen to London, it just thinks of it as a weak state which it can use for its own purpuses. Don’t you Britons see this?

I remember Prince Charles asking the British public the buy British products. This is however against all EU-regulations and he himself just bought himself a couple of nice Audi’s. No Austin Martins, no Rovers, but Audi’s!

An EU without the UK would survive, it would probably go smoother, but we would lose an important ally. Do you really think the UK wants to go back to the era with closed borders. Don’t you think that it would kill the British economy? The EU is a trade union, but is more and more becoming a political union. I say union, not state! It’s like some senior British officials already said: the EU should become a superpower, not a superstate! History will show us! But the EU succeeded in maintaining peace in Western Europe for already more than 50 years … quite an achievement. Therefor I think we MUST go on with this project.

The US of E? What a horrible name, Mongu. I don’t think the EU should become a US of E. It would be nice if we could start with having a common foreign policy and army. But on the other hand, each nation should be able to keep its culture and history, and most important of all, language. I wouldn’t give up my language in favour of English, French, German or Spanish, and I hope everyone feels the same. Ofcourse, the administration of the EU should work with one language, and if that would satisfy the Britons, I’d say, why not English? In fact, English is already the most popular language amongst Eurocrats (such a horrible word).

And ofcourse, the football teams shouldn’t change. 😀 Can you imagine one EU-team? EURO 2004 would be quite boring.

I don’t see why Briton would be so different from the rest of Europe. Briton is no different from France than Spain is. So don’t talk about Europeans as if they come from a PlanetX :p . Britain is and will always be a part of it, no matter what the politics. Unless, ofcourse, GWB comes with a mad plan of moving the British Isles to the coast of Florida, and make a nice extra state of it. From that moment on, I’d say you can drop the word European :D.

And why do you always bring up De Gaulle? I mean, if we talk about the UK we don’t necessairily mean Tatcher, do we? De Gaulle was a fine general, but he was not good at diplomacy. The new generation of French politicians like De Villepen (who was worked for medecins sans frontieres) are educated, multicultural men, not at all like the chauvenistic arrogant *******s you think of.

MONGU

I’m not on your throat here Mongu. But ofcourse, as Keltic already pointed out clearly, I do think that the UK belongs in Europe, or in the EU, at least.

You may feel very related to Americans. “We walk the same walk, we talk the same talk!”. But how come Americans don’t feel the same about Britons. Did everyone forget the remarks Rumsfeld made prior to Gulf War 2 (TM)? We can do it without the British. Tony felt very uneasy for a moment, then. America never liked the British empire, it was glad that, after WWII, the UK was nothing more than a big museum. After the Suez Crisis, Britain decided not to do anything else but to follow the American foreign policy.

But historically, culturally and geographically, the UK is still a European nation. With so many new countries joining the EU, the UK would be left alone. The North See is still much smaller than the Atlantic Ocean. BTW, how many Britons travel to the US each year? How many travel to Europe? Most people in the UK know Europe quite well, because it’s next door. But what do they know about America, despite the fact that they speak the same language?

If the UK wants to change the image of Europe, than it can only do this if it fully participates, economically, culturally, but also politically. The UK needs the rest of Europe more than the other way around. There are differences, and I can imagine you wouldn’t like a French King to rule Britain, as was the case in J. English :D. Now, everyone seems to think of Europeans as French. Britain can help us get rid of the image. After all, my place is just a two hour drive from London these days.

Someone who doesn’t think the UK is a European nation, is actually offending his country. The great architecture that symbolises England: cathedrals. A rich history, so many battles and alliances with other European countries. It would be rude to compare this to … you know, west of the Atlantic.

The fact that you British are still reasonable partners in this discussion, even though we have differences, proves once again the big gap the Atlantic Ocean is. You and Kevin are gentil, try to bring us arguments, but don’t fall into that cheap game of bashing the others and call them gay, just because they don’t agree with you. Ofcourse there are exceptions as I said: Sauron, Vortex and Brad.

TTP, I’m not from PlanetX. It’s called YURP. Some old guys from back in the states originate from the planet Yurp, you know that?

You’re right Skythe, it was Rwanda. My mistake.
Keltic is right, both the US and the EU are responsible.

However, it’s not right to blame the west for everything. It are the leaders of those regimes in Africa who are most of all responsible.

What about this new organisation called the AU (African Union)? They could have an important role in a solution for this war, they could provide peacekeepers from other African nations like Nigeria or South Africa. However, I doubt that this AU will be very succesful, I already took 50 years to create the EU as it is today and still it doesn’t function.

The term “pre-emptive” strike was invented by Aristotle. He thought an offensive war was justified if used against barbaric people.