Brexit aftermath: What columnists and newspapers around the world are saying

A European Union flag, left, and a British flag, also know as a Union Jack, stand at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo, Japan. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Brexit - Britain voting to leave the European Union - has shocked the world.

The immediate economic aftermath has been brutal, with stock markets and the pound plunging.

But those in favour of Leave are popping champagne and right-wing parties in other European countries are eyeing referendums of their own.

What's to come?

Here's a round-up of analyses from both sides of the Atlantic.

1. EU the biggest casualty

The Guardian's Simon Jenkins writes that the biggest casualty of Brexit was not Britain but the EU, while London has suffered a major blow.

He writes: "Polls have shown between a quarter and third of people across Europe are now deeply hostile to the European project," while London has been "revealed as a city statelet out of touch with its hinterland".

2. Britain's rebellious streak

The Economist's Bagehot column writes that the vote has shown the "anarchic" side of Britain, and Britons' streak of rebellion.

"Faced with a choice between an imperfect status quo and a leap into the dark, this usually practical, cautious people has flung itself into the unknown and left its leaders, and the rest of the world, aghast."

The magazine, which is firmly against leaving the EU, calls the referendum an "emotional spasm", which it hints voters will later regret.

3. Rich pitted against poor

The Spectator analyses the "Great Divide" in the nation that the referendum has laid bare. Says James Bartholomew: "Every election is divisive, but none has pitted rich against poor like this one. The social divide is far more dramatic than the divide between the two main political parties."

Bartholomew, who is in the Leave camp, says the European Union has worked out well only for the "haves".

4. Vote will splinter EU

Britain's vote to leave has plunged the European Union into an "existential crisis", says the Washington Post.

"It will splinter - and significantly weaken - the EU, the bloc of nations most closely allied to the United States."

The vote has also captured deep-seated resentment of globalisation that may start a "cascade" of similar referendums.

5. Britain of the future

The New York Times asks what kind of nation will Britain be now?

Will it be Britain be "an outward-looking, entrepreneurial, confident country that makes its independent way in the world", or will it "retreat to become a Little England, nationalist and a touch xenophobic"?

Also, will it even hold together, given that Scotland is deeply pro-European?

6. More market instability

The Wall Street Journal promises more uncertainty in financial markets and "a lot further to fall" before global markets will be stabilised.

The result is a "filip for Donald Trump", it says, as a "campaign dominated by scaremongering about immigration has succeeded, which will surely give heart to populists elsewhere".

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