OOC

French-Israeli relations not the same as Cypriot-Israeli relations.
France for one is a world power, Cyprus is not.
France can afford to throw it's weight around a little. Cyprus has no weight to throw around.

It's not troubling me.

Can we just assume that China's request will be approved. I don't think that anyone is going to have any issue with it.

I will make a reply never fear.

TheOne: Because I don't wish to provoke a debate where I'm an NPC, I feel like you're missing the entire point of the resolution - it's merely a formally-worded version of what you've already agreed to. While I certainly understand your positions vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine and think that it's a realistic UK position, you're objecting to something that the resolution doesn't intend to do. This resolution merely asks the UN to consider the PNA as having the same status that the EU already does.

Well, maybe it's just the wording.

Maybe, so why not suggest an amendment to alter the wording so that it's less objectionable?

Because London is New Jerusalem.
Am I the only one who keeps up with conspiracy theorists? Lol

Yes, TheOne, you are.

The EU could expect the summit to begin sometime this turn if my current schedule (read: surprisingly minimal requirements) holds.

Well, I'm glad to see Angleter jumping on the most contentious issue at play. Time constraints more or less tied my hands otherwise, yeah, I'd have posted that big, fancy address I wanted to.

If it's not yet been noted for the purpose of the simulation, note that China has previously agreed to back the EU's newest fiscal policy thingamajig. That ought to buy some good will.

It definitely has. If you notice, the only ones outright opposed to lifting the embargo are the traditional nations opposed to lifting the embargo (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, until a moment ago Germany). Also, if you'll notice, they're all either non-Euro countries or northern Euro countries that gained the least with the debt guarantee deal.

Anyhow, of the remaining big undeclared nations, the only nation that's been consistently opposed to dropping the embargo is the UK. Spain and Italy, I fully expect, will back it, though that does depend somewhat on how much pressure the US brings to bear.

I don't get that second sentence. Sweden has traditionally opposed the embargo -- as recently as 2003 the Swedish FM said "Sweden is fundamentally positive for the lifting of the arms embargo against China, but it considers that it is currently no consensus among the EU Member States for such a decision. So, this issue should be addressed through continued EU internal discussions and preparations." That seems to be a country that would vote 'yes' to repealing the embargo, I think. But it's not a big deal. That same FM acknowledged that it was a symbolic gesture for most countries (except France, who is currently losing about half a billion dollars per annum from the embargo).

Also, Schulz's term as President of the European Parliament ends next quarter. That should probably be noted somewhere in the vote topic. I already fixed his name ("Shulz"), since you apparently forgot that Germans apparently need an extra letter in the 'sh' syllable.

In the event Spain doesn't vote, the NPC should vote yes. That's basically what was agreed in the meeting (though the agreement was more "I'll vote to repeal it and try to convince others of the same").

I think you called the embargo on China thread a little early. There was no discussion and that's a major foreign policy issue.

But anyway, I worked it into a news post for a slow news day.


Oh, and Nick Clegg...don't tell me I'm responsible for roleplaying him?

Meh, you can if you want, but you don't necessarily have to. I don't think anyone's ever RP'ed Jose Manuel Barroso.

Don't really fancy that.
Does Clegg have to step down as his party leader or can he continue on in both roles?
Election scheduled for 2015 in the UK...would be interesting if the Liberal Democrats won and he was British PM as well.

Some of the most recent polls have seen the Lib-Dems fall to fourth place two points below UKIP so I wouldn't worry about them winning any election for decades more! I'd imagine he'd step down as Deputy PM because of the conflict of interests and that another Lib Dem would have to take his place. Also, before your election you have the Scottish independence. Dax posted an event here if you missed it.

Autumn..in other words...now?

Yeah pretty soon I guess.

I'll do a news post on it soon then.
Been a bit up in the air with everything lately, was away for two weeks, and then started getting emails from ISP about spam being sent from a computer connected to my internet.
Ran all the checks and programs etc, but still kept getting emails, so formatted everything. Then video card decided it had enough of me.
Was on the laptop only for the last week, & still got an email from ISP.
Now I'm on the main comp only, so we'll see if I get any more.

They keep telling me it's spam, but the trojan they name isn't a spam trojan as far as I can tell, it's apparently a trojan used to steal online banking details.

Mehhh fucking computers and viruses.
They keep saying they'll suspend my service if I don't fix it..so if I suddenly disappear...they probably did it.

Dax you know the Turkish air force, navy, and army maintain a large force in Northern Cyprus and do not recognise the government of the Greek portion of the island, thus considers all of Cyprus to be legally apart of Northern Cyprus and operates quite a bit in the region (even tempting Greek Cypriot air defences with overflights and such)

I'm well aware.

Really, Europe? Nothing? France? Britain? Beuller? BEULLER?