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NORTH KOREA STATE media confirmed today that there was a 100 percent victory for leader Kim Jong-Un in the country’s stage-managed parliamentary election.
Every single vote cast on Sunday in Kim’s constituency was for the man who can now add MP to his many titles that include Supreme Commander of the armed forces and chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission.
“All the voters of the constituency took part in voting and 100 percent of them voted for Kim Jong-Un,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said.
“This is an expression of… people’s absolute support and profound trust in supreme leader Kim Jong-Un as they single-mindedly remain loyal to him, holding him in high esteem,” it said.
Election
Sunday’s ballot was an election in name only.
Each of the nearly 700 constituencies had only one state-sanctioned candidate, ensuring a foregone conclusion in every case.
Voting was mandatory and state media said all registered voters across the country — except for those based overseas — took part.
Elections to the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) are held every five years, and this was the first under Kim’s leadership. He took over after the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in December 2011.
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Hitler would be proud, his plan of a Federal Europe run from Berlin is slowly coming together
And it all started with the German reunification, Thacher and Miterrand’s worries were true
Germany had the second lowest power per person in the EU after France. It has less than 1/7th of the seats in the parliament. It’s a powerful voice, but it’s technically under represented so any talk of “rule from Berlin” really is total tripe.
Andrew O Cionnaith, The EU parliament has virtually no power at all – it’s a charade, a front to lend democratic legitimacy to the ‘project’… think of it like the senate in the great Galactic Empire in Star Wars!
The parliament has only become more powerful with each passing treaty. Just pointing out that this was not what Hitler envisaged in any way. It was more Churchills vision than his and it certainly won’t ever be run, nominally or literally, from any part of Germany. It’s populist nonsense. I’m all for questioning the way the EU project is going but baseless comparisons and ill reasoning do proper debate no good.
Bet you were one of the ones Andrew who said we werent heading for a collapse and that it was all conspiracy, You probably believe the recession is over and their is no rising housing bubble again. Also you probably believe that the euro is not on verge of ka boom.
The ecb in frankfurt germany rules the roost. They just built an almighty new complex in frankfurt to move into, no shortage of dosh. Ireland has little influence. Most of our legislation comes from brussels. Our banking rules come from frankfurt. We have little to say on this monolithic empire. They promote expansion east to suit multinationals so they can re-locate, slash costs as eastern eu workers are paid peanuts. How is any of this in our interest?
Ecb adopted a monetary policy that suited germany but was exactly not what ireland needed. If ireland was not in the euro the disastrous economic collapse would not have happened. Again we need a serious debate in this country if euro membership is in our economic interest. I would say based on al objective evidence it is not.
When Britain leaves the EU we should seriously threaten to go with them!
Original Cynic, despite the worst economic crash in our history i await our handsomely paid academics and leaders to at least debate the issue….does the euro make sense for ireland?
Have always been pro-Europe but their treatment and disdain of the Irish people over the last few years has completely changed my mind. Time to turn the screw!
Junker has to resign.
The whole thing is a con for the corporations and banks ….
At least it’s nice to see one former government politician calling it differently tan to when he was in the Dail.
Why?
Because it further undermines the credibility of the Irish government’s weakness in Europe – and hence begging the question – is it weak governments that have us paying so much for the banking thingymabob – there was an awful lot of Anglo and other loans tied up in property all over Europe and had contributed to building booms in Eastern Europe and the Iberian Penninsula …..and London
But didn’t we “Vote Yes to be at the heart of Europe” in the Lisbon Treaty? Isn’t this what you and Fine Gael wanted all along Brian?
Not fully David.
Young people aged 18-21 don’t get the minimum wage they get I think a euro less per hour.
We voted against conscription in a European army – it was called Lisbon Two ….
Further demonstates the wisdom of those who argued that we needed to keep our vetoes in a widening and deepening europe.
Think its time for a referendum on our membership, the EU decimated the fishing industry and has done a hatchet job on the low and middle earners here , now they want to drive the multinationals out and into France and Germany by outlawing our corporation tax and covertly cheerleading the Luxembourg regime , no longer fit for purpose !!!!
Our politicians are Mr Nice guys and yes men being bullied by their German and French counterparts , it’s Frankfurts’s way all the way …
Not to mention what they did for agriculture or our infrastructure…oh wait!
Yer only copping this now Hayes? 6 and a half years after it happened? Soundings like electioneering to me. Must be an election coming, Hayes sent out there to try snatch a few fg votes
This.
Luxleaks broke last month.
Why aren’t our other MEP’s speaking up on this…most of them we havn’t even heard from since they were elected
they’re only standing up for votes for FG and Labour; too bad they didn’t stand up for the plain people of Ireland back in the day
Because Chris, the others don’t want to look stupid. By admitting the bleeding obvious they’d get theirs proverbialy handed to them on a plate in the next election. Fg along with labour have most to lose
You do realise Hayes only got elected as an MEP back in June, right?
You do realise hayes got voted in in 2011 and was in government, on the front bench for over 2 years before his european election Ignoreland. Sorry for the criticism of your beloved fg, won’t happen again. Yeh right
You’re an idiot, thetruth if you think I’m an FG supporter.
But I hate stupid arguments that say “Oh why didn’t you say this 4 years ago?” Or “too little, too late” – that’s called moving the goalposts. Basically the government can’t win whatever they do.
BUT in any case, you’ll find a commitment to keep Ireland’s corporate tax rate at 12.5% in the FG and Labour manifestos from 2011. You’ll also find repeated references to it throughout their entire period in government. So no, this isn’t just a once off rant in the run up to an election.
I don’t mind people criticising the Government when they’ve actually dropped the ball, but criticising them over things they haven’t even done is just pathetic.
Wasn’t he Minister of State? That’s closer than me to Government, but not front bench
Ignoreland. The government have always sold us cheap.
That makes a difference from the ‘let them eat cheese’ from the last government.
You mean that the others are still trying to find their way around the corridors of power…..
He was Noonan’s pube clipper aka Junior Minister in Finance
Also, “thetruth” has to be the most Orwellian username I’ve ever seen. Although I don’t think that was intentional.
If we had a strong government, loyal to their own people, they would stand up to Europe. We have only lackies to do their bidding and then get rewarded for it like Phil Hogan
Time to tell these big fellows to f&&k off
You can tell them, but they won’t listen
Ireland getting kicked around by FG government. We never needed to have water charges imposed, FG WANT to do it !
@coco water charges were part of the fg pre election manifesto yet people voted on mass for fg .
@ James, lots of things were part of the FG pre election manifesto yet only those that screw the less well off have been implemented.
james its seems to be the only promise they did keep!
The people living in this country are sick of being kicked around by the Establishment FF,FG,Labour the Church and senior civil servants.
See you on Wednesday !
Man of the people hayes!
You asked the Irish people to “inform on their neighbours”.
Pitting neighbour against neighbour says everything about this particular breed of politician.
Too little too late!!
So much for the free open market.
Would this be the same Brian Hayes who was a huge cheerleader for every single austerity imposition made by this Government? Is it the same Brian Hayes who forcefully promoted the Fiscal Compact Treaty, which bound this country forever more to submitting its’ budgets to Brussels for approval? Is it the same Brian Hayes….etc., etc.,I’ve a pain in me arse. It just so happens that he is correct on this pronouncement, but loses all credit for it by reason of his past subservience. I have been an enthusiastic “European” for many years now, but have now to eat crow as I realise that the European ideal has been subsumed into the same old Plutocracy and Right is Might ethos that the union was meant to free us from. All are NOT equal in this union of ours, and sadly this means the union as it stands must now fall. We must retreat to being a strong trading bloc, from hereon in.
Sheik, i like these recent statements from hayes but agree with you. Problem is when u live in eire u have no idea whats going on in brussels. I lived in NL for 10 years close to the action and we got lots of news and scandals from brussels. U wouldnt believe what goes on there. The accountants havent even signed off their books in over 20 years. A dutch accountant whistleblower wrote a best selling book about the corruption and was duly fired from the commission. As more and more powers go to brussels the more acute the democratic deficit becomes. Brussels is rotten and it is time we got some real news in this country. One french senior mep gave 10mil of economic research funds to a paris based consultancy run by her daughter and thats only the tip of the iceberg.
Animal Farm Sheik
We are paying over 2 billion each year to Europe. If we are not an equal partner in Europe this money should be withheld but enda knows best and as usually we will drive their cars, survive on their food. Ireland the cash cow that keeps on giving, pat on the head every now and again. Do we really know the value of anything or have we discovered how to eat money.
Our acceptence of the Nice Treaty has really nailed us to the wall here. With low representation in EU Parlimentary decison making this is probably a sad reality to come.
Especially with countries like Romania and Greece and Spain with relatively high populations but poorly performing economies they would vote in favor of this while the lower ranked members, us , Denmark, Finland and pretty much most of the Eastern bloc would get together it wouldn’t be enough to sway the vote.
Please point to the provision of the Lisbon Treaty that says we have to harmonise our corporate tax please??
That’s right. It’s not in there. Because Ireland has a veto over any proposed move.
Hmmm if only Europe had something to Irelands by the b*lls over…… Hmmmm……
hold Ireland by the balls over *
It’s quite simple. Ireland should leave the EU. – I voted against entry – and tell them to get lost. We won’t disappear any faster than we are at the moment.
The EUSSR is all about big government which sucks the lifeblood of its citizens. The EUSSR is a combination of UN Agenda 21 [ the Global plan for us to live on the level of third world nations ] and the Common Purpose control freak fetish. Agenda 21 outlines, in detail, the UN’s vision for a completely managed society, dictating the processes to be used for industry, agriculture, housing development and education.
Now think about the taxes and levies and ‘fines’ we are already paying to support this 4th Reich. Do you drive ? How do the goods at your local shop get there ? How do you heat your home? Tax upon tax upon tax.
Okay maybe its the boring Treaty talk but I don’t see anything in their manifesto to cripple the world’s economy and rule them all like the Slave King’s of olden times.
And are you suggesting that everyone shirks their repsonibility to pay tax? Cus like I’m not against the idea to not paying tax but if you think you not paying tax might upset the balance of power the UN holds I don’t think you’ll get very far.
Also, I really don’t give in to these beliefs that the UN and FEMA are trying to treat people like cattle, I mean I’m sure they’d love to but I just can’t believe a faction of government to be anywhere near that efficient even with like assassinations and NSA and CIA support I just don’t think a group of people paid by the government are capable of taking over the world.
Nice spin by FG to make it appear they are euro skeptic, which was the basis that got many meps elected. I smell an election coming
who cares what this creep says …. a few years ago he was stabbing inda in the back …. then jumps in to bed with him on a power trip …… shallow self-seeking grabber
Well dont count on any irish politicians to stand up to Europe .All a bunch of cowards.
Germany and France are European when it suits Germany and France, problem is everybody else is expected to be European when it suits Germany and France.
Er that’s not exactly breaking news to the thinking person, Brian!!!
And Enda thought he was playing with the big boys, that will teach him
That PWC report is a load of shite, they get paid to lie anyway. We sorta are a massive enabler of corporate tax evasion.
Their all corrupt fcukers right across the board. Snakey fcukers
DOWN WITH THE UNION!!!
The dogma of the 12.5% tax rate being vital to our success really makes us not think clearly on what matters. The 12.5 % has only been around since 2002 don’t forget. I wrote this blog the other day on this . http://dossing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/is-maintaining-museums-more-important.html?m=1
You make some good points, but I think you fail to take into account the location of many of the big multinationals. Off the top of my head I can name the following that are not even based in the city centre:
Microsoft – Sandyford/Leopardstown
Ebay/PayPal – Blanchardstown
Symantec – Blanchardstown
Intel – Leixlip
I’d add that Dublin needs to start building suitable accommodation for nerds. I’m one of these nerds you’re talking about and you could not pay me enough to live in Dublin’s city centre. The accommodation on offer is mostly old, cramped, overpriced and cold (thanks to Dublin’s strange obsession with storage heaters). We have a city centre increasingly hostile to drivers despite the fact that it constantly rains here. Lets be clear, I am not going to cycle in the f*&king rain every day.
As far as I’m concerned the only viable option for me is to not live or work in the city centre and I have plenty of options.
I’d really suggest going back over the CSS of that blog and updating it. It’s a little hard to read.
Hi fair point on the css will see what i can do. Haven’t really used the blog in a while.
Also fair points on the location of some firms away from the city centre. But i think even those are still living off Dublin and wouldn’t set-up around Longford etc or indeed reluctantly do so in other non English speaking EU countries . But the main purpose of the piece was to suggest that factors other than tax exist in Ireland’s favour. Not suggesting that doubling corp tax would achieve much， as I think their tax affairs are far more mobile then their employees. But we need to start realizing that presuming it’s about tax means we might ignore some of the real reasons.
That depends how much money the gov. and industry were willing to invest in Longford.
Silicon Valley didn’t spring up in the middle New York city or LA.
The biggest problem with the Irish model, and why it will never compete with Silicon Valley, is the complete and utter lack of innovation. We’re all about attracting existing established and completely ignore innovative indigenous start-ups.
The real talent isn’t attracted by Google or Microsoft. Startups turn truly talented programmers and engineers into millionaires.
” We’re all about attracting existing established and completely ignore innovative indigenous start-ups.”
should be
” We’re all about attracting existing established multinationals and completely ignore innovative indigenous start-ups.”
I think the css is ok, But you linked the home version of the blog. If you scroll down to the end of the blog page you should see two button’s in the center the top one says (home) beneath that it says (view web version) click (view web version) and you should see a more centered version of your blog. This give the link address as http://dossing.blogspot.ie/2014/12/is-maintaining-museums-more-important.html?m=0. It can happen if you are using a mobile.
That was too….. stuohy.
Hi Jake. Silicon Valley sprung up essentially as an offshoot of Stanford University, from where it still gets a lot of its innovators from. It is also outside San Fran which is a very different type of city to NY or LA alot more “cool”. It was also from an off shoot of Shockley of the transistor fame who came out of Stanford. There was little or not much government interference in the creation of Silicon valley and few if any country has managed to replicate a Silicon valley by government investment as far as I am aware.
The problem with Longford nice as it is, is that it is not somewhere I’d imagine lots of “nerds” would like to move to mainly because it is probably too quiet. And without that critical mass of “nerds” I don’t think you can really recreate that type of place. Another issue with Longford is it lacks a world leading university to drive the innovation. (Something Dublin also really lacks)
Now I would agree there is an over reliance on attracting foreign investment in Ireland. That is probably not aided by things like the bankruptcy laws. But I think there is also a cultural thing. Americans are just more gun-ho about life in general and more likely to take a risk than in Ireland. We are probably more conservative. But I think that is an another debate and one I personally don’t have an answer too.
Ireland and Europe don’t know the first thing about fostering innovation. The US has a programme in place designed to encourage highly innovative (high-uncertainty) startups. I say high-uncertainty and not high-risk, because risk by definition requires that the degree of uncertainty be quantifiable. Startups entering entirely new areas of technology do not have quantifiable risk. This type of innovation is not suitable for even angel investors for that reason, but it is the source of all of the most innovative new products.
The EU attempted to replicate the success of the US model, but of course through political interference they completely screwed it up.
The main differences are as follows:
1) The US model has multiple points of entry. So if your application is rejected due to a decision-maker not being able to see the innovator’s vision, another application can be made to a different agency where a different person will make the decision. The EU model has a single point of entry, once you’re rejected you’re out.
2) The US model does not put force the innovator to risk his own money. They want to encourage those who fail to try again, rather than offer a disincentive through potential personal losses. The EU model requires the innovator to trump up their own cash for a considerable percentage of the project.
There is a reason that almost all innovation since WWII globally has come from the USA.
Hardly a shock that . This government has let Europe kick us about on everything. No fine Gael did not get majority for a government that’s why we have labour so they did not get a majority vote for there water tax .
We didn’t need Brian Hayes to go to Europe to tell us that!
Hi fair point on the css will see what i can do. Haven’t really used the blog in a while.
Also fair points on the location of some firms away from the city center. But i think even those are still living off Dublin and wouldn’t setup around Longford etc or indeed reluctantly do so in other non English speaking EU countries . But the main purpose of the piece was to suggest that factors other the tax exist in Ireland’s favour. Not suggesting that doubling corp tax would achieve much， as i think their tax affairs are far more mobile then their employees. But we need to start realizing that presuming it’s about tax means we might ignore some of the real reasons.
Sorry this is in the wrong place.
It is all about tax exemptions and the loose and fast way the Revenue Commissioners allow multi-nationals to do business in or through Ireland. With these companies, it IS all about the profit margin. And that is the fact of the matter.
I talked about that in the link I had posted further up the page. To put it quickly. Many companies use Ireland’s tax exemptions. Many of them do so in the IFSC with a small office and a letter box. There is no stipulation in the Irish Tax exemptions as far as I am aware that require you to employ a few 1000 people to avail of them. So why don’t they simply employ 1 person in the IFSC avail of all the tax breaks, why go to the bother of putting their EU headquarters in Dublin employing Software engineers in Dublin? It would be silly thing to do if Tax was your only concern. Do the companies employ 1000s of engineers in the Cayman Islands? No, they don’t they employ a handful of accountants that is it.
We have to leave the EU, better to jump before the whole rotton structure breaks down
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