Alice in Wonder Land

[Shakespear]

Nation states are dead: EU chief says the belief that countries can stand alone is a 'lie and an illusion'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...stand-lie.html

I think that says it all. The guy is smoking something very very strong or he knows something that the rest of us do not.

The details were revealed yesterday by the think-tank Open Europe, a day after auditors refused to give the EU’s accounts a clean bill of health for the 16th year in a row.

[GRG55]

Re: Alice in Wonder Land

Nation states are dead: EU chief says the belief that countries can stand alone is a 'lie and an illusion'

What comes to mind is that infamous quote [paraphrased] from Mandy Rice-Davies..."Well he would say that, wouldn't he?".

[jk]

Re: Alice in Wonder Land

meanwhile, the citizens of belgium are apparently of the belief that their own country is too big. then there are the residents of tibet, dagastan, kosovo, and so on, who also seem to feel that the political unit of which they are a part is too big, not too small. this is not to mention what happened to the former soviet union.

the nation state is too big for some things, too small for others. there's a kind of impedance matching problem, finding the right scale of political unit for various types of problems. but since power currently resides almost solely at the level of nation states, those entities will fight hard, fight to YOUR death, to maintain their prerogatives.

[GRG55]

Re: Alice in Wonder Land

meanwhile, the citizens of belgium are apparently of the belief that their own country is too big. then there are the residents of tibet, dagastan, kosovo, and so on, who also seem to feel that the political unit of which they are a part is too big, not too small. this is not to mention what happened to the former soviet union.

the nation state is too big for some things, too small for others. there's a kind of impedance matching problem, finding the right scale of political unit for various types of problems. but since power currently resides almost solely at the level of nation states, those entities will fight hard, fight to YOUR death, to maintain their prerogatives.

Right in the heart of Europe there are more, such as the Basque and Catalans in Spain...

[Prazak]

Re: Alice in Wonder Land

Vonnegut's quote always stuck with me: "All nations bigger than Denmark are crocks of doo-doo." Some 30 years after I first read that, it strikes me as truer than ever.