Thread

Australia says it could follow Canada in forging deeper ties with EU

254 points · 216 comments · doener

mindwok · 1789603159 · focus · HN ↗
As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US.
This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown from the UK I think in the late 90s or something. Recently though, it switched to New Zealand.
1. mrcwinn · 1789611269 · focus · HN ↗
  As an American, I hope you can identify strongly as an Australian. Why bother telling yourself you’re something of a European?
  In any case, I hope countries form ties with Europe. Europe needs be economically stronger than it is. Better for the world, so long as they can slow their tendencies toward government control and censorship.
  1. dofm · 1789612668 · focus · HN ↗
    FYI I don’t think anyone is accepting American critique on government control and censorship right now. Maybe leave it for a decade or two.
    edgyquant · 1789613821 · focus · HN ↗
    MAGA wishes it had the control over industries and speech that European governments have. Give me a break
    rsynnott · 1789630238 · focus · HN ↗
    It's, ah, not that simple. So for instance, on speech, see things like <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/20/texas-ken-paxton-elon-musk-media-matters/" rel="nofollow">https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/20/texas-ken-paxton-elo... .
    In the US, some states are politically... out there (Ken Paxton there, you almost wouldn't believe he existed, he's like a caricature: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton#Legal_issues" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton#Legal_issues). And they can have an impact over the whole union; in this case, a DC journalism non-profit has to take this nonsnse seriously, and had to spend resources defending itself.
    In the EU, some countries are politically... out there. For instance, see Hungary, particularly before they managed to dump Orban. But media organisations in, say, Denmark, don't really have to care at all about what Hungary thinks about their reporting; the sort of interstate anti-speech lawfare above simply doesn't really happen in Europe.
    dofm · 1789655475 · focus · HN ↗
    I mean — Brendan Carr seems to be able to bully the TV industry pretty successfully on behalf of MAGA. Trump shakes down businesses for a government cut — Intel for example. You are deporting foreigners based on their opinions. Trump shook down most of the major law firms for pro-bono work based only on a false perception of his mistreatment. He's pursued and pretty successfully harassed major universities into various forms of consent decree. People lost their jobs for exercising their free speech over Charlie Kirk (most of whom did not really see any kind of restoration). Trump extracted settlements from major news networks for content he didn't like based on his own fantasy misunderstanding.
    The list goes on and on and on — Europe as a whole does not act in this thuggish, extrajudicial, capricious way.

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