God, legal hates the idea of the nation state doesn't he. So much so that I think he actually believes the stuff he says...Well he wants it to be true.

Very well put. No one cares one f*** if your from Luxembourg or Malta or any other Isle of Wight size country in Europe. The UK will be fine when it eventually leaves.

"bullcrap" was Mr NotAMonkey's term...

Your point doesn't undermine mine.

Never a unified EU unified position re intervention...ermmm what was Bosnia and Kosovo then?

Godwin's Law again. You just can't help it, can you?

Nice complete and utter contradiction in (incorrectly) stating our "global power trajectory" has been "downwards" for 70 years, yet insist we "would" be stronger "as a unified bloc". So EU membership is and has been that great? But also it isn't? Do you contradict yourself in closing arguments in court, legal, then call the jury "nazi-wannabees" just to seal the deal?

Never mind that until 2016 we were ranked #1 in the soft power index, overtaken only by the US last year. The rest of your conjectured wailing about our supposed global irrelevance I shall weight accordingly.

Attachment: legally_lobotomised.jpg (147.60Kb)

I've just Googled soft power. Ability to influence by wheeling and dealing and being nice.

First thing to come up was from Portland communications (the ones behind the various failed labour coups and anti Corbyn press set ups)
It said this.
he distribution of global power is rapidly
evolving, precipitating far-reaching
economic and political changes affecting
nations of every size and standing. Traditionally,
power in international relations has been defined
and assessed in easily quantifiable ‘hard’ terms,
often understood in the context of military and
economic might. Hard power is the exercise of
influence through coercion, relying on tactics
like military intervention, coercive diplomacy,
inducements of payment, and economic sanctions. i
Soft power, on the other hand, is the ‘ability to
affect others to obtain preferred outcomes by the
co-optive means of framing the agenda, persuasion
and positive attraction’.ii Soft power strategies
eschew the traditional foreign policy tools of the
carrot and stick, working instead to persuade by
using networks, developing and communicating
compelling narratives, establishing international
norms, building coalitions, and drawing on the key
resources that endear one country to another.
In simple terms, ‘hard power is push; soft power
is pull’. iii

Apologies for formatting.

Sounds like something invented to be a fad like mindfulness.

I can see our ranking slip looking at the emboldened part and the PM.

This really f***s me off is when people write stuff that they attribute to allude to be the thoughts of another person even when that person hasn't said anything like what they are being accused of saying.
Don't make up what I've said!
Thank you.