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Stephen Hawking and 150 Royal Society Scientists: Brexit Disaster For UK (telegraph.co.uk)
cold fjord writes: Steven Hawking, 150 fellows of the Royal Society (three Nobel laureates among them), and the Astronomer Royal, are warning that exit from the EU by the UK could be a disaster for science in the UK. An immediate issue would be restrictions on travel and how that would result in scientists from around the EU no longer coming to the UK to work. That would make the UK less competitive for new talent. It would also mean that scientists in the EU with grant money would be less likely to bring their research and grant money to the UK to perform their work. Switzerland is listed as an example of the resulting harm. The scientists make the point that freedom of travel for scientists is as important for science as free trade is for economies.
There's lots of comments on Reddit and elsewhere decrying the potential loss of EU funding for science and a multitude of other projects in the event of Brexit.
What people seem oblivious to is where this money comes from. Governments collect money from taxpayers, which hands it over to Brussels who then take a huge cut to fund the European Commission, the EU Parliament and all of its trappings. Estimates I've seen is a 50% cut just to fund the body that does the funding.
Surely Science would benefit more if they cut out the (extremely bloated) middleman and was funded directly by government?
For all intensive porpoises your a bunch of rediculous loosers
Despite what some people will make you think, the UK has only agreed to take 20k Syrian refugees and has only taken the first tranche of those, a tiny fraction of what other European countries are taking. Compare that to a million on Germany or the immediate countries next to Syria who have taken on a third extra in terms of their total population.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Hussein made the mistake of attacking the USS Stark. Assad is still in business.
I think that was the least of his sins. (And the events bore a disturbing resemblance to, for instance, the Gulf of Tonkin false flag incident which was used to justify US involvement in Vietnam).
Far more important is that Saddam Hussein was planning to sell Iraqi oil for euros (and perhaps other currencies, or gold). All national governments have multiple overlapping goals and agendas - the current US government more than most, as it has unilaterally extended its sphere of influence and its interests worldwide.
The pursuit of reliable, cheap sources of oil and gas is most certainly an important motive. Others include support for Israel ("ask not what Israel can do for you; ask rather what you can do for Israel") and the strong desire to prevent any other nations from being strong and independent enough to ignore commands from Washington.
But by far the strongest motive of all is the need to maintain the US dollar as the principal world reserve currency. This is largely, though not entirely, dependent on the petrodollar, which in turns requires that all (or nearly all) wholesale purchases of oil are made with dollars. Anyone who tries to start selling large quantities of oil for any other currency can expect to be terminated with extreme prejudice, if that is at all possible. The use of another currency across a large area of the world is also likely to bring one's earthly existence to a rapid close, as Colonel Qadafi found. He was planning to introduce a gold dinar as a common currency throughout Africa. Since his death that idea has been forgotten, and the very large amount of gold that he had obtained with a view to minting coins has vanished. Who knows where it may have gone? It might be unwise to inquire too closely.
Today we are seeing very large and powerful nations like China, Russia, and the other BRICS nations, as well as Iran, making arrangements to trade on a very large scale in currencies other than the dollar. Gold, too, is making a reappearance as the BRICS and many Asian nations accumulate it as fast as possible. It has always been considered impossible to "get out of" the dollar, as doing so would cause any nation's huge dollar reserves to lose value, or become entirely worthless. However, some nations now seem ready to take that hit.
The big question is whether Washington, confronted with decision makers who cannot be eliminated without nuclear war, will stop short of that line.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
Have you ever tried to get a visa to immigrate to the UK from outside the EU? It's not at all easy, even if you meet all the requirements and have a sponsor. It's even worse if you want to bring your family.
Realistically the UK won't opt out of freedom of movement even if it leaves the EU. There are over 2 million British people living in the EU who would be forced to apply for visas or return if we did. The flood of millions of unemployed, often retired and dependent on benefits, and in need of housing would cause some pretty severe problems.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC