Which “colonial master” would Britain prefer, Europe or America?

A Federal Trust blog

by Ira Straus
Chair, CWPS

Boris Johnson spoke truthfully when he said the Brexit Deal will leave Britain a colony of the EU: subject to most of its laws but with no share in making them. Let us proceed from this reality, even if he does not accept the underlying reality: that if flows from the inherent nature of Brexit.

The basic options for Britain’s future are three. Either stay in the EU as a Member State. Or join the U.S. as a member State. Or stand alone and find itself in a semi-colonial status -- an economic semi-colony of the EU, a military semi-colony of the U.S.

READ MORE AT http://fedtrust.co.uk/which-colonial-master-would-mr-johnson-prefer-europe-or-america/

Theresa May on the Couch

Marching over the cliff, chanting ‘it’s our duty’
A blog piece of the Federal Trust for Education and Research
by Ira Straus, Chair of the Center for War-Peace Studies

Everyone has their mental blocks –thoughts and fears that hold their minds hostage. The Prime Minister's mental blocks on Brexit are holding her entire country hostage; a tragic situation, hostage to a policy she herself believes is harming it. Can anyone help her get past the blocking thoughts? ...

READ MORE AT  http://fedtrust.co.uk/theresa-may-on-the-couch/

NO DEAL, NO BREXIT, OR MAY’S BREXIT

Getting to legitimate procedures for voting among the options
by Ira Straus
Chair, Center for War-Peace Studies

In the 1990s, as Executive Director of The Democracy International, Dr. Straus gave close attention to consequences of independence referenda in post-Communist countries including Bosnia.

Referendum theory indicates there should be a second referendum on the several options. Modern representative democratic theory, and the British constitutional tradition, indicates that Parliament should deliberate on all options and set up its own procedures for choosing among them.

Either way, all options need to be considered. This immediately raises basic questions: How to winnow down the options for a process of voting? In what order to vote among them?

In the present case, the options are getting winnowed down to three: the PM’s Brexit Deal, No Brexit, or a No-Deal Brexit. The procedure is probably coming down to a Parliamentary vote on the PM’s Brexit, followed, if her deal is rejected, by a popular vote on the remaining two options...

READ MORE AT  http://fedtrust.co.uk/no-deal-no-brexit-or-mays-brexit/