Peter Reith has some telling thoughts on David Cameron, the EU and the spread of European style anti-democratic bureaucracy. Highlights:

I never had much time for David Cameron. When he first became opposition leader in the UK, he was soon pandering to the greens and he tried to undercut a Tory tax policy group of which I was a member.

I was also unimpressed when one of his closest colleagues told me how Cameron would not sit next to Margaret Thatcher at a Tory function because he did not want to be seen to be associated with Thatcherism.

Reith goes on to congratulate Cameron for his veto stance on EU Fiscal Union.

By rejecting the latest European rescue plan it seems that Cameron has finally had to accept the Thatcher view about Europe.

Taxation without representation is anathema to democrats and transaction taxes are not the answer to Europe’s problems. Cameron was right to say no.

So true. Pity Wayne Swan can’t speak to Australians like adults. Reith goes on to detail his experience as Australia’s representative at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A strange institution set-up to rebuild Europe’s financial system after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but still in existence today.

The best thing I did whilst I was at the bank was to persuade Wayne Swan that Australia should sell its shares and leave the bank. Sadly, although the decision was publicly announced, Swan later changed his mind and Australia remains a member of the EBRD.

Presumably Swan was rolled by Treasury public servants.

The directors of the EBRD were nearly all public servants from treasury departments. Most knew little about banking. They were experts at self preservation. Most had sauntered from one international bank to another…..So the bureaucrats are largely running the policy and none of them are too interested in free enterprise. Europe is weighed down with deficits. And no-one has been prepared to fight for the policies that might lift productivity and provide the revenue to pay the interest on their debts.

Europe has failed to face the reality of its economic situation for decades, so it is not obvious that they will do so anytime soon.

I think it fair to say that Gillard and Co. look to the EU as an example of governance. Consider the news taxes and regulations that have been introduced without any democratic mandate. Without a change in government Australia is probably only two elections away from the same EU fate .

The Daily Mail reports:

……Treasury minister Mark Hoban during an emergency question on the Greek crisis in the chamber just now.

Coaxed into making the usual Tory statement about never joining the Euro, he gave an interesting insight into thinking in 11 Downing Street.

He said: ‘I don’t think there’s any intention for us to join the euro at a time when it is breaking up.’

This may sound like a statement of the obvious, but it is emphatically not the government’s position.

Mr Hoban also admitted that the Government is working on contingency plans for the total collapse of the single currency.

UPDATE

Seems the public know more what about what needs to happen to Greece than the politicans. See this video. 250 billion Euros have been transferred out of Greece on the expectation that Greece will have to leave the euro.

The biggest immediate problem in the world right now is the impending debt implosion of the Euro bloc. The central focus is in Greece because it has demonstrated an inability and unwillingness to sort out its fiscal and economic problems. Portugal, Spain and even Italy are trying to sort their debt problems out through a bit of fiscal austerity. Greece however managed to get the Euro countries to reduce its debt liability by 50 per cent (that’s a default to you and me) even though those same countries were unwilling to entertain the prospect of Greece leaving the Euro because of fears it would devalue Greek debts. So in short Greece is trapped inside a currency bloc its economy is totally unsuited for while also defaulting on part of its public debts. Despite the bail-out deal agreed last week, the socialist running Greece have decided a nation-wide vote is in order. That is their prerogative, but it will only make matters worse. The Daily Mail under the heading, “Corrupt nation holding a gun to the EU’s head”:

Could the Greeks really contemplate voting against the bail-out package and bringing ruin down on their own country? Don’t rule it out. Greece has always had a siege mentality. It is very different from the rest of the EU. It was part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries before it became an independent country in the early 19th century, and psychologically is as much a part of Turkey and the Middle East as it is of Europe. It has few shared traditions with Western Europe.

Greeks have never minded defaulting on their debts. The country defaulted in 1826, 1843, 1860 and 1893. It has been in default for half of its existence. Only two countries in the world have a worse record – Honduras and Ecuador.

The great lie in all of this is that some how the Germans are a shining example of fiscal prudence who are having to bail out less responsible partners. It’s public debt levels as a percentage of GDP are worse than Spain’s.

UPDATE

Don’t the Greeks know who runs their country now?

Germany and France summoned Greece’s prime minister for emergency talks after his shock decision to call a referendum on a 130-billion euro bailout sparked panic on global markets.

UPDATE II

There will be no referendum after Germany and France heaved Greece into turning its back on democracy. Charming.

Apparently the Australian taxpayer will be going into even more debt to bail out the Euro currency zone via the IMF. What any of it has to do with us is not clear. Gillard claims it won’t hurt the bottom line. Unlikely. We borrow at well over 5 per cent on our bonds. That’s what Italy borrows at, and Italy is considered a sovereign risk. It was reported of Italian bonds today by CNN

“Whether at 5.5% or 6.5%, these are scary looking yields,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Not for Gillard though.

Only 14 nations voted against Palestine becoming a member of UNESCO today. I am proud to say that Australia was one of those nations. Predictably, the UK abstained from the vote (they really have become a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ country). The United States and Israel have already decided to with hold funding from UNESCO, while Canada is reconsidering its entire role in UNESCO.

Meanwhile, on the same day:

With rockets falling on southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday issued a tough warning to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, saying that those who attack his country are risking their lives.

I think the time has come for a stronger response to these UN shenanigans. I’m talking about withdrawing from all non-security aspects of the UN, and given that we can’t even get a seat on the security council, that would mean pretty much saying good bye to the UN altogether. Consider: Australia is one of the oldest continuous democracies in the world and one of only a hand full of countries to have successfully lead a UN security operation and we can’t even get a lousy non-veto seat on the UN security council. Australia has undeniably been an active force for good in the world over many years, and despite all of Rudd’s good time spending I seriously doubt we will ever get a seat. The fact that we isolated ourselves at the UNESCO vote probably is an indication that Rudd thinks we have no hope of being elected to the security council. What exactly then are we getting out of the UN?

I am hopeful that one of the Republican presidential candidates will pick up on John McCain’s 2008 election idea to leave the UN to its own devices and set up a new organisation where free thinking democracies need only apply (likely rule out most of the EU). If Rudd wants to go down in history as one of Australia’s most famous politicans, then leaving the UN would do that very nicely. I believe it would be a watershed moment. Other nations that have also been sidelined by the UN would eventually follow: Japan, India and Canada immediately come to mind. Although a Republican in the Whitehouse would help.

Over to you Red Rudd-leader.

You may be familiar with the recent backbencher revolt in the Commons, where around half of Conservative backbenchers voted for a referendum on the EU, much to the displeasure of  that Tony Blair lite PM David Cameron. This reminds me a little bit about the Coalition revolt against Rudd’s and Turnbull’s Emissions Trading Scheme. No three line whip in Australia.

I always find it strange that EU advocates think you have to be part of the EU to trade with the EU.

UPDATE

UK Conservatives under Cameron are starting to unravel:

In an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard, Nigel Farage said Conservative MPs, MEPs and peers had told him privately of their dissatisfaction with Mr Cameron’s stance.

“I’m not going to tell you they are on the verge of coming across,” he said. “All I can tell you is that it’s being discussed. I do know people in the Conservative Party – and I’ve spoken to some this morning – who are deeply depressed at the moment. Some of them have got to be asking themselves, ‘What if a whole group of us went to Ukip?’”

UK Labour leader Ed Miliband – the man that gives hope to imbeciles every where – is urging David Cameron to double down on failure and attend an EU debt-currency meeting in Brussels instead of attending the CHOGM meeting in Perth.

Newsflash: attending a meeting in Europe on Wednesday means you won’t make Perth on Thursday. More like Friday midday. Miliband is a good deal like Gillard: hopelessly out of his depth generally, out of touch with public opinion on the EU much like Gillard on the carbon tax, and with a strong desire to shut up anyone that expresses dissent against Labour Party dogma.

UPDATE

David ‘Tony Blair Lite’ Cameron decided to attend the ‘save the euro’ meeting instead of COHGM (at least for the time being). Outcome?

David Cameron seemed to find himself something of an unwelcome guest at the summit yesterday.

After a very public dressing down at the weekend, the Prime Minister looked as though he wanted to patch things up with his French counterpart.

But when he extended his hand in goodwill to Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, the president could not even bring himself to make eye contact with him…..

Mr Cameron also found himself hovering uncertainly on the sidelines as German Chancellor Angela Merkel conversed with Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, apparently unaware of the PM standing behind them.

Last time I checked the UK was not in the Euro, so what exactly was D’TBL’C hoping to achieve?