The Inevitable?

After two world wars in both of which Germany was the aggressor, and Europe left in shattered disarray after the conclusion, the union of European countries must have seemed like a genius idea to impress upon the countries the interests they had in common, and to create a union that would have them agreeing rather than disagreeing. The move to create an atmosphere of unity, to ease communication and travel and create a free trade zone and a common currency along with broadly shaped concurrence of values and regulations would remove the all-too-human incentive for conflict.

The we're-all-in-this-together and we'd-better-make-the-best-of-it attitude that convinced Europe its manifest destiny lay in combined strength in creating a better overall society with common values and aspirations, did seem to result in harmony and co-operation. The fear that France and England, for example, may have harboured that militant Germany would rise again was nicely tamped down by the emergence of a new, world-responsive Germany that prospered mightily.

And the European Union and its Parliament became a singular voice of influence, and a trade-and-export giant, its global influence much admired and respected. It is rather amazing, come to think of it, all those disparate countries with their various ethnic traditions and regional differences, their social values and geographic borders, their ability to live together in harmony, assisting one another in times of need....

The global recession emphasized a time of need for many countries. The first to fail was Iceland. EU to the rescue. Funny thing about Iceland; its wealth existed on worthless paper-trading and banking smoke-and-mirrors; fishing was just so passe. And then there was Ireland, the Celtic Tiger that lost its growl and began to meow. Greece and Spain began to show signs of economic debilitation, and unemployment rose in tandem.

Greece has a problem; fuelled on its glorious history, certainly not on its GDP; its tax collection is a bad joke among its tax-averse population, its social welfare system remains unfunded and therefore functionally inoperable although its population insists on their entitlements regardless. In fact, mass protests insist the government has wasted all their money, so it's up to the government to make good on their failure.

Instead, its the one country for the most part, whose population lives frugally as a thrifty, value-centric citizenry, law-abiding and tax-paying with a strong economy, which is permitting Greece to remain functional through its spendthrift lifestyle which its people have become accustomed (addicted) to and cannot, will not live without. One huge emergency loan leading to another.

While the Eurozone finance ministers lay down the fiscal law to Greece, to enact deep austerity measures that will impact Greece's wobbling pride in itself. The fact that their country is in risk of defaulting those loans is of little concern to the protesting, rioting Greeks for whom the fault is the government's, certainly not theirs.

Should Greece default, and following its example other countries like Spain, hugely impacted by intolerable unemployment numbers, the European Union will reel under the weight of the problem, for it affects them all. And markets outside the EU will be impacted for loans have been extended courtesy of the International Monetary Fund as well as the European Central Bank.

Countries outside the EU, like Japan, the United States and Canada, for example, will feel the pinch - at a time when they too are in dire financial straits; Japan trebly hit by financial disaster augmented by environmental catastrophe and technological failure; the United States deeply in debt paying out hugely for foreign wars; Canada far less but still vulnerable.