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Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
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4 May, 4 tweets, 1 min read
MoUs are only the first step to a deal, not so much the final deal.
If you go through the document, like most MoUs it is heavy on declarations of intent and light on final frameworks
Claiming MoUs are a firmer framework than they actually are is one of my pet peeves, from arms deals to migration negotiations

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Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
5 May
Peer of the realm that claimed the EU is weak now disappointed that the EU is not nice.

"It's so unfair" is not the language of great power status. Image
Many in the UK are still struggling to adjust to a world in which the EU asserts its interests against a neighbouring state.

For different ideological reasons both Brexiter ultras as well as many core Remainers are going to struggle with asymmetries of power between UK and EU
For neighbour states the EU is not always in the right. Like other hegemons it can blunder and prioritise internal politics over regional interest.

But to influence EU direction, a neighbour needs to pick its fights and build goodwill among potential friends within the EU
Read 5 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
4 May
It is fascinating to see how in England's information space the results of a byelection in a single seat with Hartlepool are drawing as much media attention and generating as much heated debate as a Scottish election that could determine the future unity of the British state
It's almost as if the UK is already drifting into some form of post-British politics where the fate and concerns of "Red Wall" or "cosmopolitan urban" voters in England is discussed as if it is disconnected from the choices of voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
It's also fascinating to see that in all the ponderous thinkpieces about Red Wall voters and vox-popping interviews of Hartlepool voters, the squadron of journalists that have descended on Teesside don't seem to have asked anyone what they think about the survival of the UK Union
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
4 May
Between 2030 - 2040 the Baerbock-Spahn generation of politicians will be very much in play
Merkel entered the most senior levels of German politics in 1991. Schäuble entered the Bundestag in 1972. With Baerbock, Spahn, Ziemiak we're talking about career cycles going 30 years in the fugure
When Wolfgang Schäuble was first appointed to a minister position by Kohl in 1984, the process of European integration was in its initial stages. Thirty years later Schäuble would be at the heart of stabilising a shared European currency.
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
3 May
I'm sure a Royal yacht will really impress states building electric planes and launching reusable space rockets
You somehow get the feeling that from Far Left to Centre to Far Right a substantial part of the UK political elite is struggling to adjust to a world where states once considered of lower "rank" now produce drones, nuclear weapons and space rockets.
A struggle to adjust to a world where states once considered imperial bargaining chips now are as technologically developed and have more military power than you.
Read 5 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
2 Apr
A Hans-Georg Maaßen candidacy for the CDU in Thüringen would be an electoral gift to the Greens that they will gratefully use in their campaign messaging
Maaßen has, probably deliberately, generated a situation where the CDU either rejects him and pushes some national conservative voters to the AfD or it accepts him and pushes a lot more moderate liberal voters to the Greens.
This is what happens when you appoint someone to the head of your country's domestic intelligence service primarily because he had a reputation for being tough on migration and diaspora communities.
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Clarkson Profile picture
2 Apr
Last I checked Britain, Germany and Italy have universal healthcare systems and restrict the ability purchase guns.

Maybe under Biden the US is going to catch up with the EU?
The remarkable success the US has seen in vaccine rollout is a case where citizens can see how action by the state can lead to positive outcomes. That has the potential to lead to a US social consensus closer to that in the EU on many issues than has been the case in the past
This all looks a bit...European
Read 5 tweets

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