FEAR AND DREAD – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  In the aftermath of Brexit, there is fear and dread in the European establishment.  There must be panic at EU headquarters.  What will happen to expense accounts, expensive suits, power over people's lives?  Will life still be worth living?  From Fox:

As the European Union's founding nations rushed to an emergency meeting Saturday to consider their future, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government reportedly fears the United Kingdom could be just the first of several nations to pull out of the alliance.

A German government-run newspaper pleaded for the EU not to sever ties completely with Britain -- otherwise France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria and Finland could lose any incentive to stay. The paper, Die Welt, called for keeping the UK an "associated partner country."

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, celebrated the Brexit vote results, describing the EU as "doomed" and "dying." Far-right leaders in France and the Netherlands called for their own referendums on staying in the EU, Sky News reported.

COMMENT:  There have been polls taken in EU countries, asking voters whether they wanted to leave the Union.  Right now Italy is at 48% (leave), and France at 41%.  Those are very high numbers, dangerous numbers for the EU.  They may be higher in nations not polled.

There is also a movement in Britain to have a second referendum, the theory apparently being that short-term economic damage done to Britain by Brexit could change the vote to "remain."  That is always possible.  The establishment will not give up its goodies because of one referendum.  However, the Brits tend to get very plucky under pressure.  Attempts to punish them may simply increase their resolve, as it did in 1940. 

The story will grow, not diminish.  If other nations schedule votes on "leave" or "remain," we could see the dismantling of modern Europe as we know it.

June 25,  2016