{"id":12563,"date":"2020-08-14T09:13:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12563"},"modified":"2020-08-14T09:14:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:14:02","slug":"strategika-issue-65-the-status-of-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/strategika-issue-65-the-status-of-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategika Issue #65: The Status of the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The State of This Union is (Remarkably) Strong<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please read a new essay by my colleague, Ralph Peters\u00a0in Strategika.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> For years, I was a guest commentator on a business-news show whose host was surprisingly literate. We covered global affairs and shared useful exchanges. But this well-schooled, worldly man had a massive blind spot he shared with a significant number of conservatives: He detested the European Union (EU) obsessively and leapt on every shred of negative data from Brussels as proof that the EU was, finally, this time, at last, truly and belatedly doomed.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoover.org\/research\/state-union-remarkably-strong\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Status of the EU: A Frustrated Empire Built on the Wrong Assumption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please read a new essay by my colleague, Jakub Grygiel\u00a0in Strategika.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Preamble to the 1957 Treaty of Rome stated, the purpose of the then European Economic Community was to \u201clay the foundations of an ever-closer union\u201d among Europeans. This phrase became interpreted as a call for a progressively tighter political merger of the member states, with the European Union as the latest embodiment of this purpose. The problem with this progressive vision, however, is twofold: first, it is never fully achieved as the final objective remains always on the horizon and, second, it is grounded in the belief that a common market can create a unified polity.\u00a0<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/The Status of the EU: A Frustrated Empire Built on the Wrong Assumption\">Read the full article here.<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Moribund EU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please read a new essay by my colleagues, Andrew Roberts\u00a0in Strategika.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is the point of the European Union? Only a few years ago such a question, especially coming from a British Brexiteer such as me, might have been written off as simply provocative rudeness from an ideological foe. Today, however, in the light of the EU\u2019s incapacity to meet the strategic challenges posed by China\u2019s aggressive foreign policy, the health challenges posed by COVID-19, the economic challenges caused by the global lockdown, and the budgetary challenges posed by Britain (its second-largest net contributor) leaving, it is legitimate to ask what the EU is really for at this stage of the 21st century.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoover.org\/research\/moribund-eu\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State of This Union is (Remarkably) Strong Please read a new essay by my colleague, Ralph Peters\u00a0in Strategika. For years, I was a guest commentator on a business-news show whose host was surprisingly literate. We covered global affairs and shared useful exchanges. But this well-schooled, worldly man had a massive blind spot he shared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3gD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10304,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/state-of-the-european-union-god-bless-the-bureaucrats\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":0},"title":"State of the European Union: God Bless the Bureaucrats","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Strategika by Ralph Peters Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Image credit:\u00a0Poster Collection, INT 294, Hoover Institution Archives. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, a normally astute talk-show host declared, gleefully, that \u201cthe European Union is dead.\u201d One begged, and begs still, to differ. The EU is a bureaucratic monster\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Strategika&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10306,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/europe-is-still-ailing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":1},"title":"Europe Is Still Ailing","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Strategika by Bruce Thornton Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Image credit:\u00a0Poster Collection, GE 2678, Hoover Institution Archives. Recent elections in France, the Netherlands, and Austria, in which Eurosceptic populist and patriotic parties did poorly in national elections, suggest to some that the EU is still strong despite Britain\u2019s vote to leave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Strategika&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7498,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/russia-weaker-than-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":2},"title":"Russia: Weaker than What?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"VDH commentary on the 'CAN OR SHOULD THE WEST TRY TO STOP VLADIMIR PUTIN'S ATTEMPTS TO REABSORB PORTIONS OF THE OLD SOVIET UNION?' issue 13 of Strategika by\u00a0Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ Strategika Our elites often diagnose Vladimir Putin as acting from \u201cweakness\u201d in his many aggressions. A list of Russia\u2019s symptoms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Strategika&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11616,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/strategika-issue-56-the-defense-of-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":3},"title":"Strategika Issue 56: The Defense of Europe","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"European Defense Please read a new essay by my colleague, Angelo M. Codevilla\u00a0in Strategika. Europe was never a full partner in its own defense. The very question\u2014Will Europe ever fully partner with the U.S., or will the European Union and NATO continue to downplay the necessity of military readiness?\u2014is no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Europe\"","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/tag\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11660,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/strategika-issue-56-the-defense-of-europe-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":4},"title":"Strategika Issue 56: The Defense of Europe","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"European Defense Please read a new essay by my colleague, Angelo M. Codevilla\u00a0in Strategika. Europe was never a full partner in its own defense. The very question\u2014Will Europe ever fully partner with the U.S., or will the European Union and NATO continue to downplay the necessity of military readiness?\u2014is no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11519,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/strategika-issue-55-the-structure-of-world-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":12563,"position":5},"title":"Strategika Issue 55: The Structure of World Power","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Structure of the Contemporary International System Please read a new essay by my colleague, Joseph Joffe in Strategika. A monopoly obtains when one firm is free to set prices and output while keeping ambitious newcomers out of the market. The best example is Standard Oil in the late 19th\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12564,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563\/revisions\/12564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}