At the moment, despite strong competition from the United States, Britain leads the industrialized world in political breakdown. Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for Brexit has been crushingly rejected by the House of Commons — the margin of defeat was unprecedented — yet the government plods on robotically. As May explained: One, she has heard what Parliament just said and respects it; two, her deal with Europe is the right deal for the country. There's something about "no, no, a thousand times no" that she doesn't seem to understand.
So the United Kingdom's current preeminence in dysfunction is not to be questioned. Nonetheless, it's still worth asking if Europe is handling its part in this crisis all that well.
Until now the European Union's basic posture has been that Brexit is indeed a crisis — but for the U.K., not so much for the rest of Europe. Britain made this problem, Britain is grossly mismanaging it, and Britain must expect to suffer the consequences. It's a shame, but there's little Europe can do and anyway it isn't our problem.
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