ex-idaho

The EU is considering Turkey as a member. Turkey is of course not withing the traditional boundries of Europe. If Turkey is granted admission into the EU what will this mean for future members?

I could see Australia or Canada being offered membership as the population already shares a great deal cultually with Europe. Do you see membership being offered to countries on other continents.

Deadend

Part of Turkey is in Europe, just like a part of Russia is in Europe. But it will be quite some time before Turkey joins the EU.

I don't think countries that are completely on a different continent will ever join the EU. But if any do, I think it would be North African nations like Morocco

ieyeasu

Maybe a bit off the OP...

But I forsee that Germany and France will punish the Brits a bit for the Iraq debacle through the EU. Seems to me that the UK have been doing a good job of trying to maintain their "isolation", even though at this point, it seems a lost cause.

Perhaps they'll be doing a balancing act tween the US and EU for the next political eon? Belonging in neither, to their own chagrin?

Koyaanisqatsi

I strongly disagree. I think the "EU" will become little more than a dynamic term of socio-political insignificance and that the "EU" will, in fact, emerge as the true "coallition of the willing;" the "willing" to finally unite against America and proclaim our adolescence is at an end.

We will be allowed to flex our muscles, like any other circus freak, but upon real matters of international concern, we will slowly, but surely, be castrated as efficiently as possible and without our ever knowing (or, more appropriately, "believing") it's actually happening.

The "proverbial" Father punishing us in order to stop us from continueing to touch the lit stove.

Do we think that we can just buy Germany, Russia, France and the party that will soon replace Blair in Britain? They walked out for one reason and one reason only; America finally went too far. It will mean (and currently means) major upheavals in those countries, with stringent political consequences to anyone viewed as pro-Bush, both inside and outside the various "politburos," if you will.

They will have no choice but to form as broad an alliance as possible to economically destroy or at least contain American aggression as best they can, lest they truly become American puppets in both form and function. Prior to this, they were all begrudging bitches due to their own righteous ass wupings, but now, we're wuping our own asses publicly and globally. It is only the American press that is reporting any kind of "win," of course. Just watch any BBC newscast--from our staunchest ally--and even they are reporting the truth behind the "liberation."

As I've argued before, this is an experiment and the experiment has failed so far as the other powers that be in the global scheme.

Even with Vietnam and the subsequent covert operations we've instigated throughout the world, the EU is not going to just step aside this time and let American tanks roll wherever the hell they feel like it. They'd be insane to let that happen and, as current events prove, they are not insane and have made their choices quite publicly in the very venue we first supported as a means to govern the course of world events.

We've shunned the UN on countless occasions that were largely ignored (or at least tolerated with plenty of headline grabbing lip-service throughout the years), but nothing like this has so clearly and resolutely afforded such policy shifts in nations once strongly allied either through threat or through assent.

I'm not quite sure if everyone yet grasps the real message that Bush, Inc. sent out to the world on this one. It was, quite simply, "We can do whatever we want to do."

That's a tremendous leap from, "We can do whatever we want to do, so long as everyone else agrees wtih us," and there just is no way any members of the EU (or the Asian community, for that matter) can just sit by and go, "Ok, we'll take this final straw, too. You bet! Ok! Yankee number one rah rah happy Joe! Versteh, mon ami, ol' cobber, tavarich?"

America just said to the entire world, it is now entirely our way or the Abrams M-1 tank way and while that may have been tacitly implied for the past fifty years, this is the first time it was made openly public as a matter of a fundamental shift in foreign policy.

To paraphrase both Bush, Sr. and The Dude, "This aggression will not stand, man."

The Dude abides.

ieyeasu

Koy--You are The Dude.

Wanna go bowling?

seanie

I doubt Canada or Australia would ever join the EU. And in any event the next 10 years will be taken up with attempts to reform and restructure the union. It was only yesterday that 10 new members were admitted. Going from 15 to 25 members is enough of a headache to be going along with for now.

Syphor

The EU has a long ways to go. Creating a system of tariff free trade on a continent of 20ish nations and a unified currency is one thing (albeit a pretty big thing) but forming an EU constitution, EU defense force and god forbid a cohesive and unified foreign policy is another thing entirely. Whether they end up getting there or not depends on external factors contrary to European interests, particularly the United States. For example, if the US continues on its crusade to rewrite the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East this will inevitably drive the member nations of the EU closer together. The current roadblock to this though is Britain; although if the US continue on their ways into Syria and onward, Britain can either continue its support of US foreign policy or back off and I'd say it would be the latter. It is not in Britain�s interest to continue isolating itself from the rest of Europe in support of a trigger happy US.

Australia won't be joining the EU, its major trading partners are the US and Asia and thus its future is in securing freeer trading agreements with those countries. Canada I have no idea about but I guess working toward freeer trade with the US is their primary concern. Of more interest to me is whether Russia eventually joins the EU. Some sort of French-German-Russian power bloc has emerged in recent times as an affront to America's global hegemony, while Russia has indicated in the past it has long term interests in joining the EU. Russia's bad human rights record and poor economy are currently an issue but while they're on the side of France and Germany (the real powerbase of the EU) they have a good shot.

seanie

I thought the EU exceeded the US in Australian trade?

meritocrat

As someone else stated, Turkey is in Europe.

Turkey is not a member of the EU as it possesses a poor human rights record.

Ut

I often make the following joke: Quebec should secede from Canada and then join the European Union.

Just imagine looking at the back of a 10 Euro bill and seeing the European continent and, in some isolated corner, Quebec