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The British Empire was a pretty good go at building a money-focussed empire

inglor_cz 5y ago
True, but they willingly resorted to raw force if deemed necessary. I wonder if the EU is going to cross that Rubicon one day, too. There is a significant ideological penalty against it, because one of the founding ideas is that cooperation prevents wars.
- rantwasp 5y ago
  the EU is not an empire. and it’s members are loosely coupled at best. Look at what happened to the UK: they just got their toys and left. the EU just does not have the cohesion to act like and empire and conquer anything. It’s more like a big market
  - namelessoracle 5y ago
    So was the US once. All it takes is a big external or internal threat to get power centralized....
    - navaati 5y ago
      Let's just hope it'll be done without a Civil War, then...
    - rantwasp 5y ago
      yes but no. us was formed roughly around the same time (+/- couple hundred years). the states in the EU have a long history (thousands of years) and a long tradition of doing things their way. i’m not ruling out the possibility but I think it’s highly unlikely
- robertlagrant 5y ago
  Every country resorts to force if it deems it necessary.
- Darvokis 5y ago
  As climate change affects more and more of Africa and the Middle East, we're going to see the EU drift towards more of a cohesive nation state by necessity. Just a few million refugees from Syria sparked a tide of far-right movements across Europe. Just wait 'til tens or hundreds of millions stand at the gates, representing an existential threat. It's almost an inevitability. I'm not talking about tomorrow or next year. More on a timeline of 20-40 years when we start seeing more profound global upheavals. The nature of the EU will change too.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    I don't think that German Greens and Orbán/Vox/Fratelli d'Italia are going to agree on the same approach to migration ever, even if millions stood at the gates. They are literally on the opposing sides of the spectrum. German NGO ships explicitly supported by German churches and German politicians move people from the shores of Africa, while half of Italian political scene wants to lock them up. It is now 6 years since the great migration crisis of 2015. There is no EU-wide consensus on anything substantial in the asylum and migration policy. All the proposals have proven themselves unworkable.

True, but they willingly resorted to raw force if deemed necessary. I wonder if the EU is going to cross that Rubicon one day, too. There is a significant ideological penalty against it, because one of the founding ideas is that cooperation prevents wars.

rantwasp 5y ago
the EU is not an empire. and it’s members are loosely coupled at best. Look at what happened to the UK: they just got their toys and left. the EU just does not have the cohesion to act like and empire and conquer anything. It’s more like a big market
- namelessoracle 5y ago
  So was the US once. All it takes is a big external or internal threat to get power centralized....
  - navaati 5y ago
    Let's just hope it'll be done without a Civil War, then...
  - rantwasp 5y ago
    yes but no. us was formed roughly around the same time (+/- couple hundred years). the states in the EU have a long history (thousands of years) and a long tradition of doing things their way. i’m not ruling out the possibility but I think it’s highly unlikely
robertlagrant 5y ago
Every country resorts to force if it deems it necessary.
Darvokis 5y ago
As climate change affects more and more of Africa and the Middle East, we're going to see the EU drift towards more of a cohesive nation state by necessity. Just a few million refugees from Syria sparked a tide of far-right movements across Europe. Just wait 'til tens or hundreds of millions stand at the gates, representing an existential threat. It's almost an inevitability. I'm not talking about tomorrow or next year. More on a timeline of 20-40 years when we start seeing more profound global upheavals. The nature of the EU will change too.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  I don't think that German Greens and Orbán/Vox/Fratelli d'Italia are going to agree on the same approach to migration ever, even if millions stood at the gates. They are literally on the opposing sides of the spectrum. German NGO ships explicitly supported by German churches and German politicians move people from the shores of Africa, while half of Italian political scene wants to lock them up. It is now 6 years since the great migration crisis of 2015. There is no EU-wide consensus on anything substantial in the asylum and migration policy. All the proposals have proven themselves unworkable.