The UK Just Flipped the Whole World the Bird

In what Annie Lowrey describes for New York as "Britain's middle finger to the world," Brexit is going forward and the UK will be leaving the European Union. And with that vote, "England just screwed us all," writes Felix Salmon for Fusion, lamenting the "world of hope" that has now come to "a shattering end." Salmon, who came of age in London with a German mom, rips into what he says was a vote that never should have taken place, as well as the "racist campaign" behind it that led to "death and disaster"—a "giant step back" for the entire world. Other takes from around the internet:

• Paul Krugman says the decision was "pretty awesome … in the worst way" in the New York Times—but he's not as "horrified" as he thought he'd be. From an economic POV, he explains how "Brexit just brings to a head an abscess that would have burst fairly soon" even if "Remain" had prevailed.

• Not so for Stephen Marche, who writes for Esquire that "economic suicide" is what just went down. He predicts the economic repercussions will be "staggering," adding the vote has also brought about a "nativist nightmare" where "tribalism is now, officially, winning."
• Which leads right into Zack Beauchamp's argument for Vox: that the Brexit movement isn't about economics at all, but about pure, unbridled xenophobia and immigration.
• Sebastian Mallaby is taking the historical view, noting in the Washington Post that the "awful vote" may be seen down the road as the "tipping point" in world politics—"perhaps more consequential than anything since the fall of the Berlin Wall."
• Not everyone is filled with gloom and doom. Cyrus Sanati tells everyone to "stop worrying" and that it "isn't the end of the world," writing in Fortune that Brexit "could be great" for the European Union and that short-term financial hiccups will soon settle down, leading to "a stronger and more independent Britain and a much stronger and more economically prosperous EU."

What happens next, post-vote. (More Brexit stories.)