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.

Comments

Re:Incentives

[Archtech]

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.