Modern Europe

In the 1950s. Europe had already seen too many disastrous wars, so they decided to try something different. In 1957, 6 countries formed the Common Market : France, W Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium & Luxemburg, based on the theory that good economic relations would reduce the chances of war. In general, that worked spectacularly.

Sometimes by rule and sometimes by gentlemen’s agreement, really vital decisions had to be made unanimously. This was in effect when it came time recently to start UKR on the path to EU membership. Because Hungary’s Orban is a fascist, and Putler’s pet poodle. he didn’t like the idea. But he stated a while ago that he didn’t want to stand in the way of what everybody else wanted. So when it came time to vote on UKR, he literally left the room, which amounted to an abstention. There are 27 to 30 member countries, depending on how you count them. Everybody else voted yes.

See also:

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Community, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area

Europe has since become very complex, with different layers & groupings of rules and regulations. The most important of which is the establishment of the European Economic Area, in 1993, with 15 members. Joining was/is voluntary. Within that area, were was to be free movement of goods, capital, services, and people. Border checkpoints between “Maastrict” countries disappeared, and the Euro replaced many national currencies. The latter was important, in addition to simplifying trade, because it helped get people in Europe to start thinking of themselves as European.

The dynamics (squabbles) of government within the EU are similar to what the original 13 US colonies faced — mainly, how much of which powers shall the central government have? Only, the US states did not have very different languages, and centuries of history fighting each other, so it was easier.

The EU countries generally have more independence than US states have, but the EU is moving towards closer integration, on purpose.

The idea that economic integration avoids war was to be a guiding concept in Europe for several decades. The Germans called it OstPolitik. It worked, until it didn’t — when Moscow invaded UKR. It turns out, nukes matter.

In 2020, Britain left the EU after 2 narrow Brexit votes. But those votes were polluted with lies, such as the following slide of an ad shown from Carole Cawalladr’s TED talk.

Please understand — Turkey was nowhere near close to joining the EU. Aside from the fact that Turkey is not European, Britain still had veto power (remember that?). But the “leave” coalition ran an intensive anti-turk (brown) scare campaign similar to what we see Trumpistas waging against (brown) latinos in the US. The hidden purpose of the lies was to get Britain’s rich corporations out of the EU protections concerning labor, pollution, real competition, trade, etc. But they didn’t talk much publicly about that.

The EU is about democracy, rule of law, solidarity and the economy. It’s why the people of Europe, including Georgia & Moldova want to join. It’s why UKR is in a life and death struggle to stay free of Moscow’s police state, which they are all too familiar with. We need to help UKR now, or Moscow will be going after NATO countries next. Empire building is in their blood.

PS: Prior to Feb 24, 2022, UKR was not about to join NATO. Hungary would have vetoed that. It was a non-issue. That is, until Putler invaded a country that posed no imminent threat to Moscow. With that, he created a security issue, which is why longtime neutral countries such as Sweden and Finland are joining, for their own protection.

#SlavaUkraini