Sabre-rattling Europe threatens US diplomats with visas The European Commission has threatened action against US diplomats and service personnel if there's no movement from the United States on visa-free travel this year. Citizens of 12 EU member states currently require visas when travelling to the US, and according to the Commission no tangible progress has been made in talks to …
I think we require an EU wide, all state accessible registration system of US biometrics. After all, the guys that levelled those NY buildings were LIVING there, so the EU is presently leaving a massive hole in their approach to security. Besides, experiencing the reality behind what they expose the public to would be a Good Thing in any event.
We'd not be doing anything more than the US, call it a sort of levelling of the playing field. Any US resident wishing to enter the EU region should be fully finger printed and the data should be held in circumstances matching the US approach (i.e accessible to all who say they have an interest and are vaguely government related). I wouldn't go as far as suggesting it should be held to UK government standards because even TNT can sometimes fail to lose a CD, but a certain "relaxed" attitude to the management of that data is OK, and ditto for a no-fly list where we could randomly add some names for frequent extra harassment a la "please drop your trousers and bend over - don't cough".
The artificial hysterics have gone far enough, everyone involved has made their cash and the mini Hitlers have had their fun like any nobody given uncontrolled powers. Oh, and you can stop pretending there was any reality behind the binary bomb idea (the argument behind taking everyone's drink off them to mainly boost airport sales) - I'm sure it has already been forgotten who the official was who came up with that one so you're not going to embarrass him/her now by abandoning that limitation.
And what it has NOT done is made the world a safer place. Leaving aside the habit of shooting innocent Brazilians, in general the police do the more valuable HUMINT work. The airline security checks don't, and it's time people pretend they do. London has had years of Irish terrorism and never needed this nonsense (partly because they came over land anyway :-).
But then again what happened Hungary involving a death by hummer and the driver was a very drunken marine embassy guard , who was whisked out of the country in the dark of the night to avoid prosecution and jail for his evil deed unlike a certain similar incident in Washington DC with a Bulgarian Diplomat !
So in the la la land of the paranoid and imprisoned whose minorities are routinely terrorized and /or deliberately abused for their ethnic origins and some are deliberately murdered by their own police force who walk around free after their evil deeds even though these criminals were hired to serve and protect all in the community !
Strange times indeed , in this 21st century where propaganda and the continuing fear of the improbable what ifs rather then reality of very real dangers from common items has replaced the true rules of law in many lands !
I would rather not be automagically treated as a criminal upon entry to any country.
If the US insists on taking fingerprints etc (as they do), then I will not be travelling there for holidays or business.
The EU should implement the same rules for US citizens travelling anywhere in the EU. When they (US gov) get pissed off with this, they may change their behaviour.
Until such time, I shall not be gioing there. There are plenty of other countries in the world which I have yet to visit, and which do not treat tourists as crims.
This seriously pisses me off.
they wont let anyone with a criminal record in...
but they dont have any issue with exporting thier ciminality to the rest of the world...
looks like its time for full visa and background checks against US citizens, see how long they keep up the exclusions then...
along with the typical long delays at issuing visa's from EU states, should disrupt the US's criminal element...
oh hang on...
they get round that flying in that fancy air-force-one thingy all round the world....
viva la' revolution,,,,,
or failing that, the impeachment and repeal of all the mickey mouse laws introduced since 2000.... (on both sides of the pond)
"The US wants to let its citizens out but doesn't want nutty Europeans in"
Yes thank you, we have enough of our own nutters as it is.
For the "argh I'm not a criminal don't treat me like one" crowd, I'm curious as to how you feel about this quote from the article:
"The EU, meanwhile, has plans to introduce a similar system of its own"
Looks like this issue is not going to be limited to US travel?
. When they (US gov) get pissed off with this, they may change their behaviour.
They wont. IF the UK does it it will be done as a validation. Seriously whats with the obsession of will if we do it to the yanks they will get pissed off and stop. Why would the US stop ??? You would be surprised how many people would go along with it if you said its for your own security. What you think just cause the people dont want it it will stop ?? People in the UK dont want a national ID card. I dont see it stopping any time soon. I suspect that the finger printing has deterred very little..
Last thing lets see how folks react when the EU does the same to all foreigners.
And indeed under what conditions.
It is up to those of us not in the USA to decide whether we want to visit there or not.
Personally I object on so many levels to the rules required to visit the US and accordingly I will spend my tourism money elsewhere. This is a fair arrangement as
(1) There are plenty of places I would like to visit that are not in the US.
(2) The US economy doesn't need any tourist dollars at the moment anyway.
As long as the EU let the USA piss on them ,with the treatment of their citizens who travel to America, they will continue to do so.
The paranoid , demented , shithead American government should be shown that you will not be treated like this without retaliation .
Bush and his fellow war criminals should be sent to Coventry.
The country to trade with should be China. More honest ,more reliable, less treacherous and their word is there bond . (Much like the Englishman's word used to be)
Must rest now, before I get excited . Mm think of something nice!
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