#Brexit: When Britain Left Europe

The world was shocked and taken aback when the British voted in a referendum to leave the European Union and be on their own. Some of the leave voters claim they did not know about the consequences of what they were voting for. Those who voted for Britain to remain in the EU were equally shocked about the outcome of the referendum. Now faced with the consequences of Britain feeling isolated in Europe, the same people who voted to leave Europe have launched a petition for another referendum to be held so that they can overturn the "Leave" vote. But in my opinion, this will also take some time. For now they have to accept the fact that the harm has already been caused and they must impress on their government to put in place the necessary measures, plans and policies so as to halt the further falling of their currency, the Pound Sterling. This #Brexit vote has had a rippling effect across the Atlantic Ocean 3000 miles away in America, and this has seen the various stock exchanges react negatively to this decision.

Arguments about the pros and cons of Brexit have focused on two main areas: the economy, and immigration. For both sides, the question “should Britain stay in the EU?” can only be answered with speculation – whatever the result of the EU referendum, it will be impossible to test whether the alternative would have been better – but that speculation has variable grounds.
For an overview of of Brexit pros and cons, read on.

Economy

That verdict is backed up by the CBI, which has warned that leaving the EU would cost £100 billion to GDP by 2020 and lead to the loss of 950,000 jobs.
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, meanwhile, claims that Brexit is likely to lead to a weak currency– good for UK exporters, bad for UK tourists and the price of imported goods.
The Leave campaign has countered that pulling out the EU will allow Britain to retain the money it currently pays in .
Leave also claims that it would be possible to renegotiate trade deals quickly after Brexit, although it doesn’t specify how snubbed EU partners could be induced into favourable terms.

Security

Should Britain stay in the EU to enhance its security? The Remain campaign highlights the benefits of international cooperation in implementing sanctions, sharing intelligence and enforcing arrest warrants.
Leave has a very different account of the pros and cons of Brexit. According to Leave, the EU “stops us controlling who comes into our country, on what terms, and who can be removed.”

World Power

The Leave campaign has chosen “Let’s take back control” as its slogan, arguing that Britain will be freer to assert its will when not working through the EU. Remain counters that, by engaging with the EU, Britain has more influence than it would outside.

Source: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/07

The World In Crisis

As i sit down and write this piece, i realized how fast the year 2014 has gone by, and we are left with only four more days for the year to end and we will be ushering in the year 2015. A lot has happened on the international scene and for that matter the global arena with all sorts of power play going on. But the highlights of 2014 to me will be the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 with almost 239 passengers on board, Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Ukrainian crisis and the alleged shooting down of another Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine also killing almost 300 innocent passengers. The shooting of unarmed blacks in the US could also be something worth mentioning as protests are seriously going on in some of the US cities to bring to the fore the senseless killings. The US Senate also released the much dreaded CIA Torture Report and the world was taken aback by the details of the report with some people calling for the officials in charge of such gross human rights abuses to be brought to book, but hey, who cares? Its the US the so called bastion of Western Democracy and they do as they please, so we just shut up and watch as the report gathers dust on the shelves.

In my opinion, coupled with other major events that took place in the year 2014, like the imposition of sanctions on Russia by the EU and the US the world is seriously in crisis. The reduction of the price of crude oil  on the world market is having far more repercussions  than it was imagined. The economies of some of the major OPEC countries is suffering as a result of this reduction. The Russian currency, the Rouble is in a serious decline and Nigeria's Naira is facing the same problem as the government had to devalue the currency. The sanctions imposed on Russia is also affecting the EU countries badly and it seems they do not want to admit it.

the year 2015 will definitely be a challenging year and we must all avoid plunging the world into a major crisis. Dialogue must be used to settle conflicts, human rights of people must be respected and the hypocrisy must end on the international scene. The world is truly and really is in a crisis judging by what went on during the year 2014.