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You know, we could discuss all day about the big russian bear which held Europe together, that there were no reasons to fight and so on. But let's just take a l
by sgift 13y ago
You know, we could discuss all day about the big russian bear which held Europe together, that there were no reasons to fight and so on. But let's just take a look at this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Community http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Communi...
And there the reason for the ECSC, as stated by its "father" Robert Schuman:
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He declared his aim was to "make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible" which was to be achieved by regional integration, of which the ECSC was the first step. The Treaty would create a common market for coal and steel among its member states which served to neutralise competition between European nations over natural resources, particularly in the Ruhr.
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So, would Germany have attacked other countries again without the ECSC? No one knows, because crystal balls are bugged again. But we know that the stated reason for the ECSC (and everything that followed) was the fear that Germany would do this. And this fear lead to the idea of making war against each other impossible. And that worked quite well so far.
- mattmanser 13y agoSo what, European Unification-ists will say anything, it doesn't mean it's grounded in reality. It's simply a political ideal, and an incredibly out-dated one at that. And I believe it's as deluded as communism, it's simply not how humans work. We don't share cultures, we have different values. Other countries are splitting up in the world today, splitting into their ethnic groups, where the EU is bizarrely trying to combine them. The EU hasn't been tested. It's not had a single test because for decades the pressure the Cold War forced co-operation, and after the cold war finished we had a massive economic bubble, meaning everyone was swimming in cash. We've finally had the crash and it doesn't look all that swimmingly amazing or stable in the EU any more. You think if fascists seized control of Greece they would magically be peaceful because they're in the EU?
- bayesianhorse 13y agoThat's a nice theory, but the real data doesn't back it up. In reality, it's a delusion to believe that ethnicities and cultures can be divided by national borders. This hasn't ever worked except maybe on some islands. And not even in Great Britain, which consists of islands. Even after the crash, Europe (and each and every of its members) is immensely more wealthy than after WWII, and still more wealthy than ever before. Fascists did seize control of Greece several times, never under EU membership though. The EU did force Greece to get its affairs in order. But it sure wasn't pretty to watch...