The cracked European edifice

In a comments thread further down, my e-pal, Ortega, provided me with a link to a YouTube film of a seminar at an American university (Harvard, I think) given by a distinguished French professor of politics on the subject of the EU.  It is, I think, a little out of date on small details, and also, whilst the Professor's English is excellent, his accent is not!  Even so, I persevered to the end and it was worth it.  You may watch it here but bear in mind it lasts well over an hour: http://youtu.be/ERRJyd5doXc

I'm not sure I learned anything new but it was good to hear my own suspicions confirmed by a man who obviously had studied the history of the EU from its inception.  He ran through the obvious - well, obvious to anyone who is not a European fanatic - that the whole set-up is riven with internal contradictions as a continent made up of proud individual nations attempts, in a ludicrously short spell of time, to become one nation.  In his (paraphrased) words, the result is an EU 'constitution' that is both too strong and too weak.  Since its very beginning, the men driving this construction upwards and onwards have been blinded by their own vision and only now is reality, already huge and growing more ominous by the day it seems, exerting pressures undreamt of by these dreamers!

An indication of their blind faith is the constant repetition of their mantra that the European Union has brought peace to Europe.  Nonsense!  It was the Russian and American armies with a little (comparitively) help from Britain that brought peace to Europe.  The nation-states that existed in 1945 were far too wrecked and ravaged to contemplate war with anyone and ever since the first moves were made to form the EU these nations have chosen material comfort over standing armies which is why today we can barely manage to drop a few bombs on Libya or Mali!  Today, under the pressure of financial (not military) events it is more clear than ever before that the fundamental fault at the centre of this construction has not be solved, that is, the balance between central European authority and the individual power of the nation states.  The emotional heart of this 'union', of course, was the engagement followed by the marriage between France and Germany.  Alas, like all marriages Time has wrought his changes.  A defeated, humiliated and shameful Germany was embraced by victorious La France and all past sins forgiven; but today, it is Germany that is all-powerful and an enfeebled France, about to be made even more anaemic by a strong dose of socialism, has no more power over Germany than good manners dictate.  As the good Professor put it, with a likely split between north and south Europe, the only decision France has to take is which side to join!

Like the Central Committee of the old Soviet Union with their mad idea of unifying countless different peoples in different countries with different histories, one must not make the mistake of thinking the pseudo-'religiosity' of the fanatics who dream a similar dream of a United States of Europe will give up easily.  In the last few days they agreed to steal money from citizens by means of edict.  How long before they back up their monstrous demands with tanks?

 

Comments

[JK]

"How long before they back up their monstrous demands with tanks?"

Oh Goody! Goodness Goody!

Your 'Challenger' assemblyline I understand is something like your 'ships of the line' assembly?

Reckon your MoD might pay the transport costs for shipping the few functioning of our Abrams back from Aghanistan (via Kazachstan - at some modest profit) so it can be your war-weary public which receives the credit for finally cindering the EU?

I'd hate to see Frau Merkel purchasing T-80s.

[ortega]

I´m glad you liked, and listened to the end in spite of the french accent !

Manent is one of the leading french political philosophers and has mainly devoted himself to study what exactly is what we call 'the political'.

He sees an evolution of regimes: city, empire, church and nation, being the last one the cradle of our present day concepts of liberty and democracy.

In that way, he sees the goal of the EU smarty pants as an effort to trascend the nation and build a post national society based on the ideology of universal humanitarism. The consequence results to be precisely the loss of the political itself and the substitution of political acts by words. Hence the so called Political Correctness. There are also material consequences, of course.

A good resume (it is mainly the prologue of his latest book) here.

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_3_modernity.html

[David Duff]

Thanks, Ortega, I have saved that link for later today. It never ceases to amaze me that so many intellectuals cannot give up on 'The Big Idea'. Slow-moving, natural, sociological evolution is not good enough for them, they must have an all-embracing 'Big Idea' which will transcend all others - and naturally those associated with this 'Big Idea' will rise to the top with it! They tried Communism and Fascism, and now they are trying supra-nationalism before they begin the push to global governance. They gaze forever into the future of *possibilities* and never look back to the past of *realities*!

[JK]

http://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2013/03/welcome-to-dogpatch.html

Please. No jokes - I've heard 'em all. There was a time I attended a college in Harrison Arkansas but I didn't wish to live in the largish town - what to do? (Should any ya'll click the embedded link).

https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupResultsAction!input.action?resultMode=0&companyName=&address1=&address2=&city=Dogpatch&state=AR&urbanCode=&postalCode=&zip=