ysvry-- I'm all in favor of a strong Europe. Not that it's any of my business. I think that the reason America seems sort of standoffish to the whole affair is because our policy has classically been isolationist. Let the rest of the world deal with its own problems (which is why we aren't supposed to go to war unless there is a "clear and present danger" to the US--something that has been abused and outright ignored at times, but that's OT the OT lol). We've stopped this a bit in recent years, but I think we still feel that way somewhat. But America has always been this way. Nevertheless you'll notice that I never said I was against a strong European union. But it MUST be a very good, long-lasting government in order to work properly. If I am afraid of anything in this manner, it would be that our allies would hurt themselves, and therefore weaken us, by damaging themselves with weak government. America had to completely revamp her government because the first one we had after the Revolution didn't work. Personally I would rather that such a thing didn't happen to Europe as well. There is no reason for history to repeat itself, and with so many countries involved, let's just say there is potential. I just said that democracies generally and historically don't work for long. Republics do. So I suggest that Europeans consider a Republic rather than a Democracy. vasquez-- Quite possibly. However, I'm not terribly worried myself, since if someone flames me I just shrug it off. They're only hurting themselves and revealing how shallow they really are (flamers, that is). Besides, Zhann was the one who started this thread (and deleted draculaz's original one, for some reason that I still can't fathom).