All of this speculation is based on the assumption...

2008-06-19T02:40:00.000-04:00

All of this speculation is based on the assumption that all national leaders carry out policies designed to maximize the econommic and social welfare of their citizens, and that the citizenry's main interest is in enriching itself.
Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. In the Arab world, the rulers' main interest is in preserving their power, even at the expense of their citizens' welfare. There was an article last week in the New York Times pointing out how the population of Gaza is more impoverished than it has been in a long time, but HAMAS is benefitting from the situation because everyone now has to come to them for handouts, and so no one will dare oppose them, fearing being left to starve (during the pre-Oslo period of Israeli occupation, a large part of the workforce worked in Israel and had money goiong directly into their pockets, today they are all totally dependent on their HAMAS masters). In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini once said "anyone who thinks the Islamic Revolution was carried out simply to reduce the price of watermelons doesn't understand anything", and indeed we see Iran carrying out policies which estrange the West and the main economic powers of the world for the sake of their nuclear dream. Lebanon, before its Civil War began in 1975 had the most open society in the Arab world and the most prosperous state, yet they destroyed all this by deciding to kill each other. Iraq is a potentially rich country yet they are killing each other as well. Tito's Yugoslavia was a relatively successful multi-ethnic country by Communist standards where different groups that had a long history of mutual suspicion and violence learned to cooperate and live together, yet this all blew apart as well. Apparently people do not have ONLY materalialistic motivations and many, particularly the Arab/Muslim world may FEAR too much association with a secular, materialist entity like the EU.

Fair enough. I'll change the post to clarify what...

2008-06-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

Fair enough. I'll change the post to clarify what I meant, that the Lisbon Treaty aims to revive the movement toward what Americans would call "a more perfect union."

Just a clarification, the Irish did not reject a "...

2008-06-18T12:22:00.000-04:00

Just a clarification, the Irish did not reject a "United States of Europe". The Lisbon Treaty is controversial because of its ambitious lexicon but it doesn't get quite that ambitious!

In fact it's essentially an attempt to consolidate the disparate treaties and conventions of the EU into a single treaty.

Comments on Bernard Avishai Dot Com: Good News: An Exchange

All of this speculation is based on the assumption...

Fair enough. I'll change the post to clarify what...

Just a clarification, the Irish did not reject a "...