THE DONKEY IN LA LA LAND

THE DONKEY IN 'LA LA LAND' - The brexit conundrum REDUX
Why Boris must play his cards very close to his chest

(1) Donald Tusk @eucopresident recently tweeted " The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found, those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support restablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it"

(2) Subsequently M. BARNIER was reported as stating that ' no change will be considered to the "Withdrawal Agreement''

(2.1) Barnier was followed by TUSK ( again by tweet) and MACRON ( verbally with Johnson) who both stated that consideration would be given by the EU to backstop strictures within the UK "Withdrawal Agreement" if a "viable alternative" to backstop conditionality were to be submitted by Boris Johnson

(3) HOWEVER, neither Barnier nor, Tusk, nor Macron, nor Merkell have suggested quite what such a "viable alternative" would ' look like' nor how it might work

(4) Thus, Boris Johnson has been enticed into playing a game of " pin the tail on the donkey" worse yet the donkey lives a life of constant movement in "La La Land". Anything at all that Boris proposed could be thrown out without any rational explanation

[5] in such circumstances the problem of the 'backstop' would not have gone away- for Barnier Tusk,Macron, Merkell et al would have merely avoided the problem

[6] the only solution to the backstop problem? is for both sides to commit to a common conviction that the problem CAN be solved and to jointly thrash out a "viable alternative" between them, in a solution that works for all

There is no time left for bluffing or sending smoke signals - this needs to happen NOW

POST SCRIPT (Arie de Geus)
" By the sea of opportunity on the beach of potential lie the bones of countless thousands who on reaching that place waited"