holystove

he was, but tbf so was every other ajax player... I would say it was more a question of Fellaini being that much better than Klaasen.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/trump-in-brussels-the-germans-are-bad-very-bad-a-1149330.html He's best friends with the Saudi dictatorship(/kingdom), and with other authoritarian rulers.. but when he meets free trading liberal democracies he starts ranting without knowing what he's talking about.

Got completely outplayed by Fellaini.

odd, slightly funny, coincidence

Even though in his private life he's apparently a devout christian and wouldn't support gay marriage, his voting record does show good support for LGBT rights and he has repeatedly spoken in favour of equal rights. That's actually really very liberal of him.

Problem is some believe if they kill "non-believers", their reward in whatever their heaven is, will be greater.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/05/21/marine-le-pen-abandons-frexit-crusade-error/ Front National (Le Pen) abandons all plans to leave EU and euro, for next elections.

white supremacist finds himself stuck in a room full of muslims .

1) his team yes; Trump not so much 2) in the mind of Trump, probably a fair question 3) he asked if there is anything to be done about journalists reporting on classified information.. doesn't seem odd given how he talked about libel laws a lot during the campaign, and given his hatred for the mainstream media 4) firing someone? definitely Trumpesque 5) Trump bragging about how he knows more than other people 6) Trump has been fighting (fake) media for months 7) Putin trolling 8) Putin trolling ask yourself, given his record as a businessman and his past behaviour, isn't everything he has done so far what was to be expected? he is no more unfit to be president now, than he was before the election. unlikely his supporters will change their opinion now.

Belgian press also widely reporting this. They don't make it sound as unlikely though, seeing how Mertens apparently has a great relationship with Erwin Koeman who he worked with at Utrecht.

DNA evidence shows all Europeans are Belgians ? https://www.neweurope.eu/article/all-europeans-are-belgians/

you're quite right about Pence. Today is international day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, has he voiced his support yet?

I think Trump is unfit to be president of the USA, but much like I thought all the US security paranoia over Clinton emails was wildly overdone, I feel a bit same about the Trump leaks. Then again, if this is what it takes to get rid of him, go ahead.

Well on treaty changes, everyone has a veto. So I assume it will have to be in everyone's interests, not just Germany. Difference with the situation in Greece is that now it's countries that are net-contributor that are pushing for shared liabilities. Very different situation. I'm on the fence about what to do about Greece. The situation they are in is completely due to domestic policy. They dug a hole for themselves, and now need goodwill of their creditors to get out. However, their PM (Tsipras) is an idiot, their former finance minister (Varoufakis) is a complete moron, they have done little of what has been asked of them ... My boss is part of a task force that was sent by the EU Commission to audit the way the Greek finance department works. He came back completely shocked by the imcompetence of the Greek government. Syriza (the extreme left party, currently in power) is going to lose in the next election; the Greek liberal party is about 20% ahead in the polls, once they get into power and implement coherent policy, I'm sure the IMF, ECB and EC will talk about debt-restructuring. As of now, I sympathize with the people of Greece, but if they want to find the cause of their problems, look no further than previous and current government. Greece is actually a good argument to go along with Macron's proposals. If there had been for example a euro finance minister, Greece wouldn't have been able to dug as deep a hole before someone would have intervened.

Hopefully you have insurance Mike. Sadly strikes by air traffic controllers is one of the "extraordinary circumstances" where compensation by the European carrier due to a cancelled flight, is not due.

The book by Stephen Ambrose Band of Brothers was based on might interest you though. Gives a lot of extra background on the main characters.

Just for the sake of argument some comments on what you wrote here. Indeed Merkel went as far as to say a treaty change is possible. Keep in mind that a treaty change has always implied more integration. So wrong to conclude she dismissed his proposals. In the last 20 years there have been 10(!) changes to the EU treaties of a constitutional nature. You confuse EU treaty changes with Free Trade Agreements. The latter take longer as parties are "adversaries" trying to get the best deal, whereas EU treaty changes are conluded amongst union members and reach agreement much easier. Schäuble is the German finance minister and indeed a bit of a hawk. He's over 70 years old and will be gone after next elections (september 2017). However, here's what he recently said to German press (Der Spiegel): - "financial transfers from richer to poorer states are necessary within the euro zone" - "you can't build a community of states of varying strenghts without a certain balance" - "a union can't exist if the stronger members don't vouch for the weaker ones" - "I consider Macron's criticism of the high German trade surplus to be justified, however it will decline in coming years" so there you go.. The Telegraph, keeping you informed

if true? he just confirmed it on twitter. Donald J. Trump‏Geverifieerd account @realDonaldTrump 34 min34 minuten geleden Meer ...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. 8.276 antwoorden3.641 retweets11.891 vind-ik-leuks Beantwoorden Donald J. Trump‏Geverifieerd account @realDonaldTrump 44 min44 minuten geleden Meer As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... 9.589 antwoorden4.336 retweets13.047 vind-ik-leuks Beantwoorden

They will at least double their money on Tielemans in 5 years.

I was looking for the report you mention on the Telegraph website, as it's always interesting to read an account of European politics with the anti-EU / pro-brexit spin of the Telegraph, and came across this quote from Belusconi in one of the articles: "Emmanuel Macron is a nice lad - with a good looking mum"

I agree. IMO he's a 15-20 goals a year striker in the EPL.

Yes, German public opinion will be key in this. Right after the election of Macron, Bild (German tabloid) ran a headline "How much is Macron going to cost us?".... Bit silly considering France is also a big net-contributor. I am optimistic about the reforms because Merkel has shown she is not afraid to stand up to tabloids (opening borders to refugees) and because her next term will be her last. I'm sure she won't want to be remebered as the European leader who let the opportunity for real positive reform go by. I also think the Germans have realised that it is in their self-interest to forego short-term gain in favour of a sustainable EU (and euro) which is the only guarantee of long-term success. Brexit has shown you can't take the EU for granted. We shall see how it turns out.

It's a long standing tradition that the new German or new French political leader meet each other one of the first days of being inaugurated. Merkel has been in power for a very long time now, so Sarkozy, Hollande and Macron went to Berlin. On her first day in office, she went to Paris to visit Chirac. I thought you'd be glad to hear Macron speak about the euro. I remember you posting about the need for a banking union, maybe even eurobonds, to get a currency that can handle a possible future shock to global finance. Today, Spain have released their proposal which even included a common unemployment fund ... a lot of these proposals seem a bit much to me, but I guess no better time for reform than now, with economic growth in the eurozone outpacing US, UK, etc., and public support for both EU and euro higher than ever. Still, there won't be a lot of movement on this , or brexit, till after the German elections. If Merkel wins (likely) there will be reforms, but limited; if Schulz wins, EU federalism will shift into higher gear.

http://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MayFox-1160x740.jpg

Donald J. Trump‏Geverifieerd account @realDonaldTrump 55 min55 minuten geleden Meer James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!