I think many people need to think about why Europe has embarked on a ONE Europe or EU pathway for the past 40-50 years. It was in response to TWO World Wars, where Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI, embarked on war with most of the other nations, particularly France. Yet because the ended up on the losing side, they actually prospered in the long run as the USA combined with NATO fronted their defense budget for almost 40 years. Germany flourished post reconstruction. The Soviets/Russians also paid a large portion of the defense bills for Germany and its allies. Japan similarly flourished economically. Then we had a Cold War which once again gave rise to the idea that a European Union was necessary for peace and prosperity as well as some form of defense, which is about as effective as United Nations forces.



In essence the very idea of the need for a grand Europian Union was necessitated by fears of German dominance and worries about Russia. Well regardless you have German economic dominance once again and the implied treats from Russia are back once again.



Politics and human memory are very, very short, which is why humans are doomed to repeated the same types of follies that have plagued mankind since the beginning.



As Steve and others have pointed out, the large quantity of wealth in the world is controlled by a very few. It's been that way since history has been recorded. It's not fair. We, the masses or as referred to earlier as the unrepresented peasants, are bound to be upset and frustrated as this affects our daily lives, be it bringing food to the table or feeling over-taxed or feeling the ever rising prices of goods and the need for more and more costlier educations.



Sadly, the few make their wealth and or keep it through banking and using their media outlets to stir the populist into creating political decision based on very short careers in politics. Remember that war and arms races are very profitable, especially for those that control and receive public tax monies to maintain their state of armed readiness as well as a strengthened police presence.



The same currency that is spent arming the world and going back into the pockets of the few, could be cut in half where these funds could go back into restoring a countries crumbling infrastructure, but that money would end up in the hands of people building and restoring everything from roads and bridges, to waterways, irrigation and sewage systems. Much of the monies would be diverted from getting back to the few and end up in the hands of laborers and professionals, which is why the few create and spin crises around the globe.



This is sad but again like the conflicts between Germany/Germanic people's living outside the borders of Germany, and the same said for Russians living within Russia or the former Soviet Union, this discrepancy of where publicly collected tax dollars are spent is as old as time itself. Sadly is humans didn't have the inherent traits of... call it selfishness and greed or a built in psychological drive to survive at others expense, both pure socialism or pure capitalism would work perfectly in theory. Unfortunately we are stuck with the traits of humans and those are not to make every decision because it's the morally right or humane decision.



The human dilemma is what it is. It's also why smaller groups of clans and tribes have survived longer than any civilization or grand plan.



The EU will not last. The same can be said about the existing state of the United States, but that may last longer as those living in the USA are keenly aware that the federal government has gone to war over any attempted succession and it was the costliest war in human lives known within America.