European Politics

Zare said:
"recent" human rights record
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Zare said:
And in the yesterdays they had no issues with Lukashenko.
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Well what's been happening since August 2020 is well beyond the "usual" stuff there but I see what you mean.
LooseCannon said:
That's a big pressure piece by Skoda.
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Yup, I expect that to influence IIHF's decision.
Which, in a perfect world, should of course have been taken long ago and for different reasons.
 
Belarus hosted in 2014 and I do not remember any objections then. But 2014 feels like a long time ago.
 
LooseCannon said:
Belarus hosted in 2014 and I do not remember any objections then. But 2014 feels like a long time ago.
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In 2014 protesters were not yet shot, beaten to death or raped. Also, by refusing to recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea, Lukashenko was almost a good guy in western eyes.
 
I was watchig the Catalunia elections on Sunday. They were TENSE. There were like 4 sepratist parties and obviously they didn't win because of that. Had they been 2 one might have a chance, but there seems to be legitimate fear of a civil war.
 
Onhell said:
I was watchig the Catalunia elections on Sunday. They were TENSE. There were like 4 sepratist parties and obviously they didn't win because of that. Had they been 2 one might have a chance, but there seems to be legitimate fear of a civil war.
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Separatist parties have indeed won the election, but they would need to agree to form a government. Regarding a possible civil war, I think the only people willing to go that far would be the ultra right-wing supporters of Vox, which have now won 11 seats in the Catalonian parliament (one tenth of the total).
 
GhostofCain said:
Separatist parties have indeed won the election, but they would need to agree to form a government. Regarding a possible civil war, I think the only people willing to go that far would be the ultra right-wing supporters of Vox, which have now won 11 seats in the Catalonian parliament (one tenth of the total).
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Right... if you pool their votes they had a majority vote, one of them read a statement in English, I'm assuming to the U.S, asking for them to intervene in the name of democracy. But the thing is... there is a reason there's 4 different parties rather than one or even 2. They don't agree on details, which seem to be make or break to them. I doubt they'll agree for a coalition.
 
Onhell said:
Right... if you pool their votes they had a majority vote, one of them read a statement in English, I'm assuming to the U.S, asking for them to intervene in the name of democracy. But the thing is... there is a reason there's 4 different parties rather than one or even 2. They don't agree on details, which seem to be make or break to them. I doubt they'll agree for a coalition.
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Not all countries in the world have just two big parties like the USA, you know? If you ask me, that is a good thing.
 
GhostofCain said:
Not all countries in the world have just two big parties like the USA, you know? If you ask me, that is a good thing.
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I can't think of many. The UK is on the way to two big + regional parties with the demise of the Liberal-Democrats. Mexico used to be PRI and PAN and that fuckin' blew up of late. Canada has four major parties plus a major regional party. Yeah, I can't think of many.
 
I'm not convinced the Lib Dems were ever that much of a force to be reckoned with nationally. They had their moments in forming alliances and coalitions, but flit between dozens of different directions, and varyingly include refugees from the Conservative and Labour parties, with a smattering of Greens. They've been more significant at a local authority level.
 
LooseCannon said:
I can't think of many. The UK is on the way to two big + regional parties with the demise of the Liberal-Democrats. Mexico used to be PRI and PAN and that fuckin' blew up of late. Canada has four major parties plus a major regional party. Yeah, I can't think of many.
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Most European countries have more than two relevant parties, with some places with coalition governments of as many as five parties (e.g. Finland). The UK is an exception, mostly as a result of the first-past-the-post system, but you still have other parties outside of Labour and the Tories having significant influence at the national (Scotland, Wales) level.
 
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GhostofCain said:
Not all countries in the world have just two big parties like the USA, you know? If you ask me, that is a good thing.
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I'm fully aware. Here in Mexico we have over 10, with at least 7 having some sort of power in congress, but when it comes to presidential races it was always the PRI for 70 years, only recently the "big 3" of PRI, PAN and PRD have had gains in presidential races with PAN winning twice since 2000. Morena... the recent party to win the Presidency are PRD rejects who in turn were PRI rejects. Like in other countries, coalitions have become popular and some parties have allied with others for getting burned.

Like the Green Party allied along with PARM with the PAN to win in 2000. Come 2006 though they allied with the PRD, because PAN didn't deliver on some promises they made them.
 
Right-wing Mark Rutte wins again in the Netherlands. Good news is that far-right Geert Wilders does not seem to be that popular anymore (3rd party overall with nearly 11% of the votes).

What sort of coalition government will be formed? Far-right with right? Right with centre-right? Everyone but the far-right?
 
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