Hi Mike,

>Just jumping in on the last point, I definitely agree with you there. Given the deep differences between the countries, I am (pleasantly) surprised the EU has worked as well as it has. How alike are England and Greece, for example? Switzerland and Spain? Etc. Yet they seem to be making a go of it. Of course they remain alive as independent nations as well, but the confederation has been a much bigger success than I anticipated. I thought it would quickly bog down in infighting.

It may yet, still. They have been trying to put this together for a very long time and you still have holdouts, like the Brits with the Pound. When the EU is put under stress, like a war or a depression, we'll see what they are made of.