Is Brexit rooted in deep psychological white-guilt?

[Potjeh]

Pax Romana was Europe's best period and you know it.

[jorb]

The year is 50 B.C. All of Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. All? Well, not entirely! One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders, and life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium...

Life in an empire can be comfortable, but it can never be genuinely good. Good resides in small things. Too much mass and the core inevitably rots away.

[Avu]

Don't worry jorb. UK is still firmly in NATO. Nothing has changed.

[jorb]

Nothing has changed.

I entertain no illusions to the contrary. One does not simply walk out of Mordor.

[Amanda44]

Don't worry jorb. UK is still firmly in NATO. Nothing has changed.

I entertain no illusions to the contrary. One does not simply walk out of Mordor.

[Potjeh]

Life in an empire can be comfortable, but it can never be genuinely good. Good resides in small things. Too much mass and the core inevitably rots away.

A state's ability to do anything, including changing day to day lives of it's citizens, is inversely proportionate to the amount of bureaucracy it has. Bigger states tend to have more bureaucracy. Being a parliamentary democracy helps too, as it makes it really hard for any one politician to take any sort of decisive action. And EU is like the Holy Grail of red tape.

[ven]

Since joining the EU my country has taken part in punitive military expeditions to every corner of the globe, and has had to endure the spectacle of NATO troops operating openly on its soil, something which would have been completely unthinkable 30 years ago, in a quite obvious rattling of the sabre directed at Russia. Does this strike you as a development towards peace, or militarism?

Constructing a universal city of man, of one tongue and race, was, in the Old Testament, one of the original satanic inspirations of mankind.

I enjoy peace. I enjoy being left alone. The EU is the opposite of those things.

So basically you want isolation, peace, and autonomy without having to pay back for such comforts? And do you believe Russia would be less aggressive toward Sweden if you were an isolated country without the protection of a larger group? I don't think being left alone is even possible nowadays. Even Switzerland cooperates with NATO and those guys have more gold and bunkers than any of us.

Constructing a universal city of man, of one tongue and race, was, in the Old Testament, one of the original satanic inspirations of mankind.

Pandemonium was also a satanic city and it was used as an example of why democracy is bad, which is a good reason not to use religious texts as an argument against modern political associations. And EU is the complete opposite of that, anyhow.

Btw, haven lore: Pandemonium is often compared to Dis, both of which were major cities in hell.
I wonder if that's why pande v. dis is such a recurring trope in the forum.

[Hasta]

do you believe Russia would be less aggressive toward Sweden if you were an isolated country without the protection of a larger group?

Why do you have to bring Russia into this, I do not understand. It's like scaring people into paying for protection.

If someone wants peace in isolation, why would he even need to pay anyone for those "comforts"? His isolation is his own businness, no?

[Kaios]

If someone wants peace in isolation, why would he even need to pay anyone for those "comforts"? His isolation is his own businness, no?

I think that would be ideal in a perfect world but to a prospective businessman with the available means, someone else's isolation (or want for such) becomes their business in an economic sense.

[ven]

It's a comfort because you need a group protecting you, both militarily and economically. In this world, as in a jungle, stray animals never survive.
One could try peace and isolation, but I'm skeptic that would last. Even an island as remote and peaceful as Vanuatu couldn't be left alone. I think it'd be even worse when you're practically neighbors with Russia, which has a history of invading weak countries.