EU to take over from NATO?

If you detected a whine in my voice, I apologize. I for one could care less who likes us and who does not. I am really not a big advocate of globalization, but that is another thread.

We agree on the sheeple, completely. (I love that term, I learned it here!)
The US is so totally blinded by partisan politics on both sides, that debate has died, we just don't know it.

I think it is still alive and well here, I hope.

Thank you for the conversation. I enjoy friendly sparring.

The Spider

Indeed, and you wont get any animosity towards Americans from me, but I was merely responding to the commonly held American view of "why should we have bases there if they don't want us"... why indeed!

Anyway, likewise, I enjoy a tussle whilst at work, at least i get paid for it! Nothing else to do at 0116hrs

Sorry for going back this far but MOST Europeans CAN speak English. I have been to Germany, France, Poland, Spain and every shop keeper i talked to replied to me in English. So as for a language barrier, well i dont think there would be that much of a problem.

he US has been the world peacekeeper for 50 years

You couldn't have said it better. Vietnam, Serbia, Kossovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the Contras afair in central America, dictatorships supported by US all over the world have never happenned. It's obvious that you are living in a parallel world. Can we join?

George Orwell was so right! "War is peace"...

It looks like even European countries who are not members of the EU are looking to join these forces:

EU Business
Norway, not a member of the European Union, is keen to contribute to a rapid intervention force which the EU is planning to put together by 2007, the government said on Monday.

"We have a real interest in participating" in the so-called battle groups, Defense Minister Kristin Krohn Devold told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, adding however that Norway's contribution would be "small"...

...The EU's battle groups project, which has been under discussion since last year, will create nine 1,500-strong forces deployable within 15 days to deal with situations ranging from peacekeeping right up to full-blown conflict.

Norway is already a member of NATO, I guess they'll be contributing troops to both.