THERE IS NO GREAT BRITAIN:

A Declaration of Interdependence: A second letter from America to our British friends. (Gene Poteat and William Anderson, 05/03/2007, Weekly Standard)

THE EUROPEAN UNION has its own perspective on international affairs and the disciplines which support them. Its position may fairly be summarized by the assumption that the world is no longer a very dangerous place. Or that it would not be were it not for irresponsible Americans. Any international disputes should be manageable, they believe, by skilled diplomacy and the application of international law as developed by the United Nations and other supranational institutions. If only the Americans would abandon their propensity to act unilaterally, in ignorance of the received wisdom of the world community, best expressed by the view from Brussels. There is no room for America or the Commonwealth in this formulation.

With deepest respect, this view is a dangerous fantasy. Law without sanction is not law. Law without force to sustain it is idle dreaming. A worldwide totalitarian movement has declared war on our common civilization. No collection of resolutions, however cleverly drafted, will restrain it. Thus, the notion of the European Union that this challenge may be met by the means of criminal law is fatally flawed.

The special relationship between Great Britain and the United States has had many facets. The most important ones have had to do with military coordination and, especially, the sharing of intelligence. If and when you decide to cast your lot with the European Union, this coordination and sharing will likely end. The European Union is establishing its own rules regarding intelligence sharing and will insist that you follow them. We, on the other hand, recognize that the European Union considers itself our competitor and, frequently, our antagonist. Thus we cannot integrate our most sensitive information systems with them. In short, you must choose.

In doing so, we urge you to keep some things in mind: America is the world's greatest economic and military power, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The trajectory of these factors will be increasingly unfavorable to the European Union because of the relentless demographics of their shrinking and aging populations. The developing multicultural makeup of Europe brings with it inevitable dilution of the perspectives and values once thought to comprise Western civilization.

As we see it, the United Kingdom is considering debarking from a sturdy ship and climbing onto a sinking one. In doing so, you would abandon your only true friends. We should not need to remind you that these include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some of the Commonwealth, as well as ourselves.

Given that they can't even hold the UK together it seems fanciful to any longer imagine an EU.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 3, 2007 12:00 AM