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The Diplomatic War Between France And Britain Goes To DefCon 2

Tyler Durden's picture




 

With Europe in desperate need of some entertainment in advance of what looks set to be a sad holiday season, the UK and Britain are willing to oblige. In a spat that hit fever pitch after (the ECB's!) Christian Noyer said two days ago that it was Britain that should be downgraded, not France, we have just had the first two blank ICBMs lobbed at opposing territory. As the BBC's Hugh Pym reports, Deputy PM Nick Clegg, calling in from Rio (unclear if he was there battling the imminent invasion of unhacked US drones following the pseudo act of war on behalf of Brazil telling Chevron to go to hell) tells French PM "recent remarks from members of the French government about the UK economy were simply unacceptable." Clegg comments follow French Finance Minister Baroin saying "economic situation in Great Britain is very worrying...." And so the childishness escalates more, pushing Europe even further into crisis instead of someone doing something about fixing the only thing that can possibly help the insolvent world: starting preparations for a global restructuring. As for the idiotic pissing contest between the two countries with epic chips on their shoulders, the final appropriate outcome would be Moodys and S&P coming out and downgrading them both to junk, and even that would be optimistic.

 

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Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:19 | 1987297 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Merry Fuckin Bankrupt Christmas!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:26 | 1987326 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Strange twist is that the Windsors are actually the Saxe-Coburg Gothas. A germanic dynasty. Many twists to this un-Holy Roman/Franco/Prussian tale. Wheels within wheels... the change to the Windsors was only after WWI.

ori

/this-that-and-the-4th-reich/

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:28 | 1987334 trav7777
trav7777's picture

an $80M wedding....some money there.

Rothschild bought a barony from them...a few of them

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:50 | 1987412 He_Who Carried ...
He_Who Carried The Sun's picture

Right. One cannot downgrade France w/out downgrading a whole bunch of countries, including Britain. That'll be fun to watch as we went all cash again as of yesterday... ;-)

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:16 | 1987536 Joshua Falken
Joshua Falken's picture

Dear He Who Carried sh1t for brains

Newsflash - Britain is not in the Eurozone

 

France is being downgraded because Eurozone fiscal union means they are on the hook for the debts of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain and all the other free spend lemmings.

 

Britain is only responsible for its own debt and will slowly print and devalue the GBP for two decades until it is all paid back so at the moment is not being downgraded.

 

Sarkozy is woefully unpopular and up for re-election in the spring, so bashing the Brits is a useful tactic to divert attention from the fact that there is no Union in Europe.

 

The treaty of 26 is a massive power grab by the very idiots that created this mess in the first place and Merkel should be seen as the architect of the Fourth Reich and Sarkozy as her Vichy lap dog.

 

History will see Sarkozy follow Jacques Chirac into ignominy when he is thrown in the Bastille after leaving office.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:36 | 1987612 spiral_eyes
spiral_eyes's picture

Britain is an extremely wealthy country. Our Queen is the largest landowner in the world, by quite some distance. They say Qaddafi was worth $200 billion, well I'd say Lizzie is worth at least $200 trillion. Shame her assets are not distributed more evenly...

Such is neo-feudalism.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:33 | 1987824 eurogold
eurogold's picture

"Britain is an extremely wealthy Country" what a joke! All the colonies are gone. The slave and drug trade money spent........ Dream on!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:48 | 1987875 eurogold
eurogold's picture

"Britain is an extremely wealthy Country" what a joke! All the colonies are gone. The slave and drug trade money spent........ Dream on!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:59 | 1987923 RMolineaux
RMolineaux's picture

The best line in the US constitution:  No titles of nobility.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 20:51 | 1988949 philipat
philipat's picture

The markets will ultimately decide. The more important issue here is that we have no leadership. That senior officials of ANY country engage in such puerile behaviour so as to divert attention from a total lack of any substantive solutions to problems closer to home is very sad and a very poor reflection on the "Quality" of leadership in today's world.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 20:49 | 1988951 RealFinney
RealFinney's picture

Wedding was paid for by taxpayers. Must be nice.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:39 | 1987363 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Quite true, quite true. Thanks again for being a light of truth and honesty in our current times, ORI.

"The only people who mock and ridicule those who understand history are those who do not." - Tsar Pointless

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:20 | 1987558 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

:-) Well said Tsar Pointless. That is a quotable qote.

ori

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:23 | 1987782 Freegolder
Freegolder's picture

How are things in Conspiracy City?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 16:48 | 1988109 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

I don't know.

Tell me - what does sand feel like when your head is buried deep within it?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:34 | 1987351 EL INDIO
EL INDIO's picture

I'd add happy PM shopping

The SALE is on.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 16:34 | 1988052 Hard1
Hard1's picture

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Cupid, Comet and VIX

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 19:00 | 1988683 Element
Element's picture

remember earlier this year when the pommys decided to slash their defence budget and axe a lot of current programmes and hardware ... and suggested the idea of off-setting the capability downsizing via joint sovereign ownership and operation of capital ships ... with the french ...

That would have went well ... not

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:23 | 1987298 gojam
gojam's picture

Stupid and childish French behaviour.

Perhaps French voters should take a look at this story. It might help them to make up their minds in the Presidential Elections in April.

Dwarves are too Expensive!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/8958330/Dwarves-axed-from-panto-as-too-expensive.html

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:27 | 1987314 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

lock them in a room an let them out only when they have built a new Condorde or something similar - who knows, perhaps a new financial product?

                and no dinner until they have invaded a new country together in a brotherly manner!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:21 | 1987301 Cheeky Bitch
Cheeky Bitch's picture

Pfff..smoke a fag

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:21 | 1987303 Chuck Bone
Chuck Bone's picture

Whats French for misdirection?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:21 | 1987304 fonzanoon
fonzanoon's picture

CNBC is reporting that a France downgrade would be bad for everyone. So with that being said maybe we should let them be. CNBC is looking out for us. We need to listen.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:41 | 1987376 WonderDawg
WonderDawg's picture

Bonus points for subtlety.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:22 | 1987308 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

The dissolution and isolation begin.

The only outcome will be a reversion to national interests and currencies.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:32 | 1987345 littleguy
littleguy's picture

What's so wrong with hard-fought for nation states, the ability to elect ones own leaders, parliamentary limitations, your own constitution and free-trade? Why do the continental Europeans want to destroy what their forebears "fought" (caveat US / Canada / UK + empire / ANZAC / USSR fought..) for and build a supranational empire based upon Belgian socialist ideals? They're sleepwalking into a quagmire of unrest and unemployment and irrelevance.

Good luck fucktards. You deserve everything that's coming at you. Ultimately the continental electorates are to blame for their own woes. Oh and Goldman Sachs.

Otherwise, Merry Bankruptcy everyone!

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 16:43 | 1988088 Chupacabra
Chupacabra's picture

Good.  The smaller and less powerful the state, the better.  Maybe someday we'll all be our own states, population = 1 (a guy can dream).  I've already got my currency picked out.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:23 | 1987311 centerline
centerline's picture

I fart in your general direction...  LOLOLOLOL.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:27 | 1987321 centerline
centerline's picture

Your mother was a hamster and your father smells like elderberries.....  

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:21 | 1987559 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

beat us to it!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:23 | 1987312 dracos_ghost
dracos_ghost's picture

J'accuse !!!!!!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:25 | 1987796 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

where tf is zola when you need him?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:24 | 1987315 sabra1
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:51 | 1987394 Zero Govt
Zero Govt's picture

let's be fair, that waffling posturing worthless French cock, Not-achieved-anything-at-all Sarkozy, is a heavyweight on the global stage of political windbags

but he's met his match in the snotty socialist public school boy, David Camer-moron. Our PM likes nothing better than the sound of his own voice and to bore 28 journalists silly from behind a pulpit twice a week putting the world to rights with all the wrong policies

the public will wake up one day soon and realise the non-stop hot air coming from No.10 and that their British Prime Minister for the past 4 years is nothing more substantive than a hair dryer

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:03 | 1987468 reload
reload's picture

I am told by friends that at social gatherings, Cameron is an insufferable know all. That there is no subject on which he is not absolutely ready to pronounce his knowledge, wisdom and expertise.

And these friends are well used to moving among the connected and concieted, but apparently the PM is in a class of his own when it comes to bare faced arrogance and social boorishness.

But Fuck the French too.

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:09 | 1987501 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

This reminded me that Bob Woodward said something similar about having to sit next to Al "The Big Bore" Gore at dinner parties.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 17:27 | 1988254 Strider52
Strider52's picture

"It is wrong to be French." Ironhead Haynes Commandment from "Married with Children", as spoken by Al Bundy.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:11 | 1987515 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Cameron went to boys school with Natty "Ice" Rotheschild, what do you expect?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1987407 spekulatn
spekulatn's picture

Better. Do watch the whole 7 minutes and change.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8&feature=player_embedded

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:24 | 1987316 cossack55
cossack55's picture

Defcon 2 = cocked pistol (?) Too long ago to remember.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:30 | 1987342 cossack55
cossack55's picture

What a dummy. According to google DF2 is Fast Pace.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:31 | 1987597 optimator
optimator's picture

It's been 70 years since the Brits sunk the French Fleet in their harbor, time to do it again!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 17:24 | 1988208 xela2200
xela2200's picture

"It's been 70 years since the Brits sunk the French Fleet in their harbor, time to do it again!"

I think they sank it in Africa for fear that the French will turn the ships over to Germany after they marched through Paris. Cocky French admiral decided to fight off the British rather than surrender the fleet. The British admiral sent a captain (or some other lower rank messenger) which infuriated the French Admiral. He ordered the cannons to point at the British. The British sank the French Fleet, while still at port, which could have aided the war effort. Even tough the Germans were the enemy, they decided to fight for nothing more than pride and fear.

It just goes to show you that when the chips are down the French and British much rather duke it out than help each other. History repeating itself over and over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_French_Fleet_at_Mers-el-Kebir

 

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:24 | 1987318 SheepDog-One
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:26 | 1987327 centerline
centerline's picture

+1 anything Monty Python.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:33 | 1987350 Mark123
Mark123's picture

This Monty Python skit just keeps getting more relevant by the day!!!!!!!!!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:34 | 1987354 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

+1 love it - clearly a good example of unprovoked English Aggression, thankfully the glorious arms of France prevailed

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:26 | 1987319 kaiten
kaiten's picture

HAHAHA, DefCon2 ? Read this: UK rejoins talks over new EU treaty. That´s what called an own goal.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-rejoins-talks-over-new-eu-treaty-201...

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:27 | 1987329 pendragon
pendragon's picture

face france and give them the agincourt 2 fingered salute. up yours delors!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:27 | 1987330 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

Nuclear aircraft carrier jousts in the Channel--loser gets rated junk.  Winner gets AA-.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:30 | 1987337 trav7777
trav7777's picture

Britain ain't got one...TRIOMPHE LE FRANCE

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:47 | 1987391 Ahmeexnal
Ahmeexnal's picture

Neither did the VietCong.

Guess who got their asses beat to a pulp in the Bataille de Diên Biên Phu.

 

French fucktards:

The French forces came to Dien Bien Phu accompanied by two bordels mobiles de campagne, ("mobile field brothels"), served by Algerian and Vietnamese women.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu)

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1987408 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Zut alors!!

The British knew better than to fight... they simply walked away from the "Jewel of the Empire"

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:01 | 1987683 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

is that you, peter sellers?

hey, flak, is this a re-make of a tale of two cities?

L0L!!!  DSK's imprisonment and release...banksters...georges danton...madame lafarge knitting away...heads getting rrrready to rrrrooollll...linkBiCheZ

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:13 | 1987741 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Cato! Is that you my little yellow friend?

No....more like Crime and Punishment, or grunge remake of Oliver!

As an aside, how the fuck did Oliver! win the Oscar for best flick?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:22 | 1987776 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

i am so happy to hear your voice, i kicked your doors in!

hmmm...streisand had money invested? 

chat among your selves...

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1987484 machineh
machineh's picture

'LA FRANCE,' mon pote.

'France' is a feminine noun.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 16:12 | 1987972 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

oui,... and it was she - that lit up the world's 'renaissance'

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 17:59 | 1988406 trav7777
trav7777's picture

like I give a fuck

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:07 | 1987493 reload
reload's picture

Actually we do have a carrier - but no carrier bourne a/c. I kid you not. The plan was that we would let the French put their fighters on our ship. Stupid idea, unless the plan was to make the French airmen walk the plank and just steal the planes.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 18:00 | 1988417 trav7777
trav7777's picture

your carrier is pathetic invincible class piece of shit.  The French have the de Gaulle.

Triomphe LA France

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 23:22 | 1989259 Rakshas
Rakshas's picture

Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick who uses Aircraft Carriers anymore; exocets and stingrays flyin and swimmin - instant artificial reef. Sure ACC's are fine for blasting the shit out of peasants but next door neighbors?  The french can simply lob grenades at this distance the brits can pull the pins and lob them back - too easy  

 

Besides when it comes to stealth weapons of mass destruction the limeys have it hands down - enter Blythe she may be a frigid brit but she can certainly stick a knife between the ribs of a financial system.  Aircraft carriers..... give your heads a shake......

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:05 | 1987702 Bagbalm
Bagbalm's picture

Britain IS a big aircraft carrier...

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 05:08 | 1989576 Element
Element's picture

really? ... so how long would it take to steam through the english channel? .... I keeed

If you want range and strategic depth ... you need a continent ...preferrably one completely surrounded by ocean and no land-bridges. There are only two of those ... and one of them is covered in ice. The other one stradles the junction of three oceans.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:29 | 1987335 campag
campag's picture

in the summer France and Britain agreed to share Aircraft Carriers to enable defence cuts -its going to be interesting how this works out . 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:32 | 1987346 sabra1
sabra1's picture

so what! the US and iran are sharing drones!!!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:08 | 1987717 Bagbalm
Bagbalm's picture

Take turns using the flight deck? Raid one country and then the other? Crews get drunk together in Holland between sorties? Tricksters push the other sides planes off the elevators and other practical jokes...

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:29 | 1987341 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

You don't frighten us you silly English pig dogs....

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:30 | 1987343 moskov
moskov's picture

DOG BITES DOG....

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:32 | 1987347 Mark123
Mark123's picture

Check out this video capturing a dispute between Sarkozy and Cameron after the last summit meeting....when Sarkozy takes off his shirt it gets really interesting!  just 37 seconds, but very thought provoking.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZUrj_D13_Y

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:34 | 1987353 JR
JR's picture

Childishness?

This tirade reminds me of a mother confronted by a recalcitrant child’s accusation against an innocent sibling and solving the problem quickly by punishing them both. By all appearances, Britain acted in her own interests, as well she should, in an age of criminal bank fraud sweeping the continent. So to stir up ill will and to try and pass the buck, France decides to accuse Britain of not wanting to take part in the crime game and the author simplifies the event by blaming everybody!  IMO, Cameron is a hero.

Could it be that the interpretation of “someone doing something about fixing the only thing that can possibly help the insolvent world” means Britain giving up sovereignty and increases her taxes in order to pay for continental crimes?

And, specifically, what is meant by “global restructuring?” How about sovereign restructuring?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:42 | 1987383 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

Cameron might be a hero, or not, it was still unusual bad diplomacy from UK's side.

I think Maggie Tatcher would have handled it better without leaving the table.

Perhaps Mr. Cameron needs a handbag as negotiating tool?

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:58 | 1987447 JR
JR's picture

David Cameron's finest hour | Pat Buchanan 12.12.2011

Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to veto Germany's demand for a new European fiscal union will define his premiership.

More than that, Cameron has raised a banner for patriots everywhere fighting to retain their national independence.

With his no vote on fiscal union, Cameron declared to the EU: "British surrenders of sovereignty come to an end here. And Britain will deny Brussels any oversight authority of any national budgets or any right to sanction EU members." …

And while he may have been unaware of the firestorm that would follow his decision, Cameron has exposed the backroom game that is going on in Europe. The Germans have seized on the crisis caused by the fiscal promiscuity of Club Med – Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal – to effect a giant leap forward into European fiscal and political union. …

Cameron may seem isolated, but he speaks for tens of millions outside Britain – Italians, Greeks and others fed up with the imposed austerity, North Europeans fed up with having to bail out Club Med deadbeats who do not work as hard or as long.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=376961

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:04 | 1987483 onebir
onebir's picture

With his no vote on fiscal union, Cameron declared to the EU: "British surrenders of sovereignty come to an end here." Because otherwise Tory party funding from the City (and PR firms fronting more discrete city/corporate interest might end too:

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/02/08/city-financing-of-the-co...

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:19 | 1987550 JR
JR's picture

Since when did the Rothschilds give up their hopes for world government and decide to circle the wagons around the declining British Empire? IOW, we can’t control the world anymore, we can’t control Germany, we can’t control Europe, we’ll just have to settle for the declining British Empire. I don't buy it.

Has the world forgotten that J. Pierpont was the Rothschilds' man in America; fast forward to Chase, JPMorgan, the Federal Reserve, and hope for world government. The Rothschilds have been there all along and still are.

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 05:22 | 1989584 Element
Element's picture

The underlaying purpose of Central banking is to supply addictive easy-money to Govt, to put the host Govts deep into debt, to Rothschild's 'pus.

The last thing they want is any system that seriously limits Govt deficits, and thus public debt growth, or a desire to mass default.

So on all counts the tribe Rothschild won't want Merkozy's new-and-improved Eurozone, but they may settle for it ... for now ... if it can even hold together for awhile longer.

This provides time so they can fester a European war from which they can generate the financial and political beast they would rather prefer, to metastasise in its place.

It may take a quarter century, or so.

It did the last time anyway.

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 16:18 | 1989868 JR
JR's picture


Good points.

However, IMO, there’s nothing that the Rothschilds want more in the world than a single currency. They have their gatekeepers in place; and they are doing their negotiations through partnering with the big banks. I’m convinced they have enough leverage with Soc Gen, Deutsche and the others to proceed with the approach they want. Why would you put Mario in place if this is not true; was it the Italian patriots who did that?  No, of course not. IMO, it was the Rothschild cabal, i.e., the united controlling authorities (they don't fight each other).

Your first point is well taken. The financial elites do want governments to go more and more in debt; that’s how they operate, indebtness gives them the power over kings and presidents (the old Rothschild formula), but not so much indebtness, of course, to the point that they lose the game.

At the moment, IMO, the bankers are flirting with the breakup of the euro zone, a breakup that will benefit the people and hurt the bankers – with breakup the people can return to sovereignty and self rule.

Today’s government-controlled standards of living, where a family keeps putting more and more people into the workforce, working harder and harder and getting nowhere (in fact, actual household income is on the decline), coupled with more and more and government regulations, is the exact opposite of representative government where the people elect parliamentary members to serve the people’s interests, thus,enabling them to improve their lives and social order.

Except for what the warmongering US is doing, Europe has gone through more than 60 years of peace time. So why, with improved technology, greater efficiencies for business and input, labor-saving devices, inventions, advancements in healthcare and control and eradication of disease, why is it that Europeans are struggling harder and harder to make a living? It’s because every time they attain a little bit of an edge, the criminal bankers skim off the cream - every single year. And, now, the money manipulators are going after all the milk and honey.

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 22:27 | 1990620 Element
Element's picture

However, IMO, there’s nothing that the Rothschilds want more in the world than a single currency. They have their gatekeepers in place; and they are doing their negotiations through partnering with the big banks.

 

I think we must realise they are OK with waiting another century, if they must, to get these things.

They have proven historically to be very patient long-term planners, and their known aims may take another 250 years to get all they want in place.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:53 | 1987426 GeneMarchbanks
GeneMarchbanks's picture

'And, specifically, what is meant by “global restructuring?” How about sovereign restructuring?'

Obviously I can't speak for Tyler but I think we need something akin to a global debt jubilee from pre-biblical days. We can all poke fun but this is how wars begin. Early stages of finger pointing until someone goes too far. Be all that as it may, I have no illusions about any of this actually coming to fruition since there are never any 'soft' defaults. Default is almost always ugly and all we need is one Leeroy Jenkins and then it becomes the norm.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:11 | 1987521 JR
JR's picture

Leviticus 25: 9-17

Interpretation: “The Year of Jubilee was meant to be celebrated every 50 years. It included canceling all debts, freeing all slaves, and returning to its original owners all land that had been sold. There is no indication in the Bible that the Year of Jubilee was ever carried out.”

IMO, if Israel had followed this practice faithfully, they would have been a society without permanent property. Which may have been all right for Israel at the time in that they were a like-minded communal nation under one sovereign God. But it would not apply to today's populations.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:34 | 1987355 BlackSunshine
BlackSunshine's picture

I think this person reads ZH.....

http://seekingalpha.com/article/314288-who-s-the-sucker

Interesting that he artfully calls Bernanke a lying sack, without actually saying it.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:34 | 1987356 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Great stuff actually. 

 

Just more evidence that the EU is a failed supranational entity and lacks democratic and moral authority to lead anybody.  The central planners continue to expose themselves as unworthy petty miscreants. The idea that the collective wisdom of hundreds of millions of people is inferior to the whims of a handful of unelected supersovereign elites is medieval.

 

Long live the dissing.

 

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:35 | 1987359 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

There are a whole lot of glass houses in this stone quarry.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:41 | 1987375 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Very well said Quinvarius. 

ori

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:18 | 1989128 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

yeah,... but, there ain't no stone crusher - so, just let me get out of the glass house before the ceiling crashes in on itself

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:40 | 1987369 vegas
vegas's picture

Never get in the way of twits arguing with each other, you'll just look like an idiot. Both countries need to be bitch slapped.

 

http://vegasxau.blogspot.com

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:43 | 1987387 JR
JR's picture

How Jeffersonian!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:59 | 1987453 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

My daddy always said it like this:

"Never get in a pissing match with a skunk."

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:42 | 1987379 PulauHantu29
PulauHantu29's picture

Two old, worn out former empires duking it out in their last days...kinda funny, isn't it.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:39 | 1987625 JR
JR's picture

They’re really not empires; they are representatives of people as well as business interests.  And Cameron’s situation is that he has a highly educated, freedom-loving electorate to satisfy. As well, there are politicians in his coalition who are just waiting for a chance to gain seats through cutting more ties with the continent – these are parties that are growing that say we want the Muslims out, who were opposed to the tunnel, not because it would give them a chance to go to Europe easily, but they didn’t want Europe to come to them.

Would that the people of the United States had similar representation.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:54 | 1989200 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

"Freedom-loving electorate?"  Ya mean like the poor woman that was fined for making too much noise while getting fscked?

Check yer premises, you'll find a lot of surveillance cameras disagreeing with you!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:43 | 1987380 Eireann go Brach
Eireann go Brach's picture

Picture 2 big fat 350 pounds chicks at Mc Donalds scoffing down 5 boxes of fries and 6 Big Macs arguing over who is the prettiest and non fattest!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:43 | 1987388 bill1102inf
bill1102inf's picture

The only easy day, was YESTERDAY bitchezz!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:53 | 1987429 vegas
vegas's picture

They're all easy.

 

http://vegasxau.blogspot.com

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:44 | 1987390 johny2
johny2's picture

Fargin Iceholes and Lousy Corksuckers

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:45 | 1987398 jack stephan
jack stephan's picture

non sequitur, but felt like it.

 

Stephen: [starts laughing] Him? That can't be William Wallace. I'm *prettier* than this man!
[to the sky]
Stephen: Alright, Father, I'll ask him.
[to William]
Stephen: If I risk my neck for you, will I get a chance to kill Englishmen?
Hamish: Is your father a ghost, or do you converse with the Almighty?
Stephen: In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God.
[to the sky]
Stephen: Yes, Father!
[to Hamish]
Stephen: The Almighty says, "Don't change the subject, just answer the fuckin' question."
Hamish: Mind your tongue.
Campbell: Insane Irish.
Stephen: [draws a dagger on Campbell; everyone draws weapons] Smart enough to get a dagger past your guards, old man.
William Wallace: That's my friend, Irishman. And the answer to your question is "yes". You fight for me, you get to kill the English.
Stephen: [grins] Excellent!
[removes his dagger]
Stephen: Stephen is my name. I the most wanted man on my island, except I'm not on my island, of course. More's the pity.
Hamish: "Your island"? You mean Ireland?
Stephen: Yeah. It's mine.
Hamish: You're a madman.
Stephen: [nods and starts laughing, then Hamish does as well] I've come to the right place, then.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:58 | 1987449 Zola
Zola's picture

The big question is why are they not junk yet along with the US. By the way Tyler you should save this article by Matt Philips clowing Gold Vs Treasuries. Obviously he is a reporter not an investor...

http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/12/15/sorry-goldbugs-youre-losing-to-treasurys-in-2011/?mod=yahoo_hs

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:02 | 1987464 eri
eri's picture

Max Keiser said that Brits tend to be 'permissives' so you can't bash them enough. THEY JUST LOVE IT!

hahaha

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:02 | 1987465 LookingWithAmazement
LookingWithAmazement's picture

Hereby I downgrade both the UK and France to waste - lower than junk. I wish gunnery sergeant Hartman could give all the maggots in the financial and political industry a boot camp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofIj9gGJf4g

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:03 | 1987476 GBnotEU
GBnotEU's picture

Over the centuries the British have quite a good track record in conflicts with the cheese eating surrender monkeys.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:17 | 1987542 Vincent Vega
Vincent Vega's picture

I know you are but what am I? I am rubber you are glue, everything you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. Nana nana boo boo...stick your face in doo doo. My dad can beat up your dad.

Jeeez what a bunch of childish bullshit. May we plaese have some honest, mature people put in charge of world affairs.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:17 | 1987544 amazon1966
amazon1966's picture

I still prefer this timeless exchange from another episode of Yes, Minister:

Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it’s worked so well?

Hacker: That’s all ancient history, surely?

Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn’t work. Now that we’re inside we can make a complete pig’s breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it’s just like old times.

Hacker: But surely we’re all committed to the European ideal?

Sir Humphrey: [chuckles] Really, Minister.

Hacker: If not, why are we pushing for an increase in the membership?

Sir Humphrey: Well, for the same reason. It’s just like the United Nations, in fact; the more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes.

Hacker: What appalling cynicism.

Sir Humphrey: Yes… We call it diplomacy, Minister.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:20 | 1987555 djsmps
djsmps's picture

It's all very silly.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 14:20 | 1987556 SaudiMail
SaudiMail's picture

I think every time the French moan about being downgraded, they should get downgraded by another notch.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 18:22 | 1988523 Ag1761
Ag1761's picture

You can only be downgraded so much then you reach French status.

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:28 | 1987808 eurogold
eurogold's picture

I love it....for once the Germans are not the bad guys!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:30 | 1987814 luigi
luigi's picture

Let's see if we'll get soon to see which is better between Rafale and Eurofighter... Eurokindergarten...

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:32 | 1987818 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

French Finance Minister Baroin saying "economic situation in Great Britain is very worrying...."

 

He's right to be worried. I am !  France gets economic aid from Britain through the EU and CAP and there is nothing - absolutely nothing - the British ruling elite will not do for France.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:35 | 1987827 Unholy Dalliance
Unholy Dalliance's picture

The Saxe-Gotha-Coburgs changed theri name to Windsor (pronounced Vind-saw) in 1917, during The War To End All Wars, the same year the Yanks finally got off their neutral butts and came over to take over, I'm sorry, I mean help.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 15:34 | 1987829 Lord Koos
Lord Koos's picture

My economy can beat the shit out of your economy!

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 16:51 | 1987876 WhiteNight123129
WhiteNight123129's picture

Ok guys, I just put my coat of mail I will follow my Lord Baroin in booting the Anglois out of the Kingdom France! .... This is beyond pathetic....

Those guys are desperate as they attempt to distract the populace from the fact that their sovereigns are walking deads.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 17:02 | 1988164 twotraps
twotraps's picture

Great comments as usual.  Was just wondering if we're falling for the same shit again?  Why not downgrade them to Double Top Secret Z--....Why not use all the fucking letters for that matter?  That way, all the talking head and 3-d math models can get cranking about the new range of possibilities.   Obviously the ratings were doing nothing other than legally allowing massive retirement funds to massively invest in what wouuld eventually be worthless shit.  Triple A?  Great...we'll take a bunch of that please!!!  

 

What is more stupider...

1. a guy borrowed at 3% can't repay, but refinances at 5% to cover his interest payment?

2.  Something rated AAAAAA, but messes their books making it impossible to properly price themselves anyway?

3.  Downgrading an impossible to price bank or country when they've been broke/insolvent for a while anyway,     but still hide losses to preserve their 'rating' and insist they are 'fine'.

I sense the biggest problem is the very bright light on the subject...govts and CB's have a huge PR problem in that they must convince everyone this is not just a silly game with absolutly no fucking rules.  No, you really can't have the miracle of the mkt in return for every imaginable political whim.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 17:04 | 1988166 jmc8888
jmc8888's picture

Well they should go for the trifecta.  Downgrade them to junk (along with everybody else) and then cease operations because they missed the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man Elephant in a Japanese sized room.  All the countries and rating agencies are junk and should have been rated so years before the 'crisis'.  Trying to make up for it by slowly downgrading like heroin addict trying to ween himself off it while trying to affect the political process in a lost monetary cause only makes them more of a bitch to the oligarchy and even more worthless to everybody else.

Glass-Steagall

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 18:19 | 1988511 twotraps
twotraps's picture

exactly, I keep wondering about the 'crisis, the crisis, the crisis'....the mkt is contstantly pricing things and someone is unhappy.   Can anyone imagine trying to negotiate down their trading losses by calling it a Crisis?  Someone will lose.  Ratings agencies are weak and pathetic and we all pay for it in the end.   I keep wondering what completely bananas news or market event can happen next and it just gets more unreal.  Great comments, have a good weekend.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 18:50 | 1988645 FunkyOldGeezer
FunkyOldGeezer's picture

What is this Amerikan instigated BS?????

Do you think the average Brit gives a fig about what Noyer said?

This story is simply American propaganda. Propaganda that has, since mid summer, gone into overtime to discredit anything European, doubtless because they need to distract from their own massive ($15 Trilion and counting) problems.

 

Move on. Nothing to read here, except Zero Hedge being part of the American establishment, spreading its malicious stories for it.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 18:57 | 1988669 twotraps
twotraps's picture

Funky!  Aren't the Pubs closed yet?  Not to worry mate, many here will agree with you on that thet the US has its problems.  The UK and the Frogs have just been given a chance to bitch at each other and they've palyed it up nicely.

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 20:26 | 1988882 smore
smore's picture

The French are CATSHIT crazy.

In 2006 Kevin Lafferty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, published a paper noting a correlation between levels of neuroticism established by national surveys in various countries and the level of Toxoplasma infection recorded in pregnant women (a group who are tested routinely). The places he looked at ranged from phlegmatic Britain, with a neuroticism score of -0.8 and a Toxoplasma infection rate of 6.6%, to hot-blooded France, which scored 1.8 and had an infection rate of 45%. Cross-Channel prejudices, then, may have an unexpected origin.

http://www.economist.com/node/16271339?story_id=16271339

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/10/21/faster-pussycat-kill-kill/

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:26 | 1989139 f16hoser
f16hoser's picture

I'm sure this has nothing to do with it: http://www.myspace.com/tom_heneghan_intel/blog

 

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:26 | 1989140 f16hoser
f16hoser's picture

I'm sure this has nothing to do with it: http://www.myspace.com/tom_heneghan_intel/blog

 

 

Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:26 | 1989141 f16hoser
f16hoser's picture

I'm sure this has nothing to do with it: http://www.myspace.com/tom_heneghan_intel/blog

 

 

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 06:44 | 1989607 Thoresen
Thoresen's picture

UK= 310 tons gold

F= 2435 tons

Who wins ultimately?????????????

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 07:36 | 1989619 onebir
onebir's picture

On top of being tied into the Euro, France has also recently been winning the "EMU competitiveness loss race" (with faster growth in Unit Labour Costs than the other EMU members):

http://www.economonitor.com/rebeccawilder/2011/12/16/ea-infernal-devaluation-progressing/

If it continues, this will gradually choke off demand for French exports, making it harder to sustain growth.

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 13:57 | 1989965 chaartist
chaartist's picture

If anything is used to its full potential, it will break.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!