Re: CHAT: The EU expands (was Re: THEORY/CHAT: Talmy,

J. Colson wrote:

> Will Russia never join the EU in my lifetime (I'm 28)?
> Yes I know Russia has an important part of Asia in it and then the EU would
> become the Eurasian Union ;-) , but is that really impossible in the near
> future? I remember Putin didn't say "no" in an interview on a French TV.
Unlikely any time soon.  Western Europe is in fact unusual in being the only
region in the world in which a significant percentage of the population
identifies supraregionally rather than on the national or tribal level.
The US, China, Japan, Korea and Russia (among many other nation-states)
all have strong identities as ethnic units, and thus simply cannot
understand Europeans' attitudes in this respect.  Most of the rest of
the worlds' elites interprets the EU's desire for unity as a cynical
ploy to arrogate together power to restore the position Europe had before
two world wars destroyed it, and not simply a desire to abolish war,
entrench democracy, and bring about a Kantian "Perpetual Peace".

Putin's policies have been the epitome of Realpolitik:  never show
your hand when you need not do so. A major change would have to occur
in the way Russians view themselves before they'll think of joining
the EU.

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637