The European Union

[Zeke]

What do you think will be the fate of the EU in the next oh lets say.....50 years what are some problems and issues facing it and would you personally ever consider living there.

[Ursus]

I'd say it should have stuck to its original 6 members and integrated into a full fledged federation before it started adding new members. Now that is it seemingly expanding all the way to the Urals without fixing some if its internal problems, I doubt it it will ever be a true Union.

[Valerius]

I agree with Ursus, though expansion was used as a means of avoiding further political convergence and, as such, was not a mistake but a means of avoiding hard decisions. I see the EU in the same terms as I do the future of mankind - we haven't got one. Clever enough to contemplate voyages to the stars, we're not even clever enough to restrain our own leaders who care only for money and the interests of the greedy. The EU, like our civilization in general, is doomed to choke on its own waste materials while strangling everyone else as we fight them for scarce resources. It's just another self-interest club like all our other politcal structures.

[Tobias]

The European Union seems to me to be another example of a special interests group. Similar to APEC (Which the Australian government is desperate to join ), and other groups that help to make money for a minority and not benefit the majority.