Adenauer and de Gaulle All Over Again

With her Chequers Plan, Theresa May is repeating the mistakes of former Tory Prime Ministers, BrexitCentral, July 13, 2018. "The cardinal sin inherent in the way Britain thinks about the EU — and its predecessors — is that Britain focuses on economics at the expense of politics, and fixates on visible trade at the expense of invisibles. The focus on economics, I believe, reflects a couple of things."

The EU's Explicitly Elite Approach

The EU’s Pursuit of Stability Über Alles, Contentions, September 12, 2012. "The EU turned from an instrument for restoring a degree of stability to one dedicated to the preservation of the status quo. That approach – and Dalrymple is absolutely right about this – is bound to fail. It means the EU, which still talks a lot about increasing Europe’s power in the world, is more interested in pursuing policies which guarantee Europe’s continued relative decline. It also means that the reality of German dominance of the EU – politics win in the short run, but economics win in the long haul – is becoming ever more obvious to most Europeans, which is one reason why the EU is less popular now than ever."

The U.S. on Britain in Europe

A Policy That Pleases No One, Contentions, January 28, 2011. "In a private meeting with British MEPs on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Britain Louis Susman is reported to have said: “Washington wants a clearer British commitment to remain in the EU. … [A]ll key issues must run through Europe.” He was not expressing a personal preference. He was reiterating the administration’s policy. After all, it was the vice president who last May described Brussels as “the capital of the free world.” But this is not a policy that is likely to achieve results satisfactory to anyone."