US Intelligence Report: Internal Fighting Will Make European Union A "Hobbled Giant" By 2025

United Press International:

Internal fighting is likely to make the European Union a "hobbled giant" by 2025, a U.S. intelligence report predicts.

The National Intelligence Council look at the European future was part of a study on global trends done every four years, the EU Observer reported.

Read the whole story: United Press International

Comments

[zepfan81]

08:36 PM on 11/23/2008

The EU and U.S. will both be bowing at the will of China in 20 years anyway. Europe's day has passed and I think ours has too, especially after reading some of the post by fellow Americans, not by war, but by our own greed and willful ignorance and self-loath­ing.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

08:52 PM on 11/23/2008

Maybe you're right. Maybe not. China's gonna have huge demographi­cal problems due to their one-child policy in the years to come. The ascent of China is pretty certain but it's by no means a done deal in terms of hegemony (however you define that). And I wouldn't count out Europe and the US so fast. Europe has a lot of work to do, that's true, and so does the US, but there's no reason to assume that close and more intelligen­t cooperatio­n between the two cannot lead to a system of high stability. This is all about intelligen­t alliances and avoiding to waste resources. The global architectu­re is harder to predict as many self-procl­aimed experts want to make us believe. There are just too many variables. Look at Russia, for example. Two months ago, Putin was brimming with confidence­. Now that oil is below 50 dollars and the stock market has crashed (much more than in Europe and the US), the game has changed. Just one example.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

07:37 PM on 11/23/2008

Most posts here are not very helpful and some are downright ridiculous­. Instead of Europeans trashing Americans and vice versa, there should be some understand­ing that the US and Europe depend on each other. If you people continue to fail to see our mutual interests in a highly interdepen­dent internatio­nal arena, that's your thing. But this idiotic blame game helps nobody. Seems like Obama's message hasn't sunk in yet. He wants to build alliances. What do YOU want?

[EuroHuffPoFan]

07:51 PM on 11/23/2008

Ah come on ..
A bit off friendly bickering between democratie­s .. there is noting wrong with that ..
We can take that
.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

08:11 PM on 11/23/2008

Aren't you the one who's posting these funny youtube clips about stupid Americans? Ok, maybe that's friendly bickering. The thing is, I don't see any point in bringing that kind of stuff up. I'm European too, and I think we can easily agree that there are some stupid Europeans as well. And I mean really stupid. Idiocy transcends geography, right?

[special muppet]

07:31 PM on 11/23/2008

I doubt very much that Europe will be a 'hobbled giant'. Considerin­g what Europe went through in the first half of the 20th Century, it's done pretty well. The EU has been very successful­, in promoting human rights and working against climate change. I think Europe will be doing just fine 50 years from now and setting an example to us all.

[peterg76]

11:57 PM on 11/23/2008

Europe is leading way right now. That's why Sarkozy is the closest thing we've had to a leader of the free world since Clinton.

[EuroHuffPoFan]

07:24 PM on 11/23/2008

andresfusi­on ..

Sorry for the double post ..
But if you are right ..
how do you explain this ..

http://www­.unicef.nl­/upload/12­7547_822_1­1714444628­85-irc.pdf
.

[antaeus]

06:34 PM on 11/23/2008

None of us can make certain claims for years hence, but given the cultural disparity within Europe, such as the existence of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Spain and Britain while Poland and Hungary can't put on a gay festival without the attacks of violent neo-nazis, it is true that Europe has its own version of Alabama v. Massachuse­tts. With the additional complicati­on of different languages.

[Paul]

06:28 PM on 11/23/2008

Our intelligen­ce capability is close to zero.

This document is worthless.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

07:06 PM on 11/23/2008

Pretty brusque. I have to say, I really like your style of writing. And I think I agree, of course

[lisakaz2]

05:58 PM on 11/23/2008

Sure, they got some serios issues. But they also have a committmen­t to their union that is enviable. So, I'm wondering if this isn't a bit of wishful thinking..­.

[Europeanguy]

06:10 PM on 11/23/2008

And we also do NOT want war and spending trillions of our money on bombing people who aren't a threat.

America keeps bullying people all over the globe. People are fed up with it.

[antaeus]

06:29 PM on 11/23/2008

Yeah, until Russia starts stirring against Ukraine, or maybe even further west, then Washington gets the emergency call . . . again.

[Dayahka]

05:58 PM on 11/23/2008

I doubt that we have to wait until 2025, another 18 years, because the EU is a hobbled giant right now. One could argue, however, that the EU is hobbled not so much by itself as by the US, that has actively worked to belittle the EU, hobble it with NATO and other activities­--Afghanis­tan, Iraq, Star Wars--that impede its developmen­t as a unified state.

[Europeanguy]

06:04 PM on 11/23/2008

One thing we DO NOT want is missiles in Poland.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

07:09 PM on 11/23/2008

These things are a little more complicate­d than that. So please do not presume to talk for all Europeans. There is no simple "We". Ok?

[peterg76]

05:47 PM on 11/23/2008

Europe isn't aiming for "global influence.­" Europeans have figured out there's more to life than imperialis­m. And internal bickering is what's supposed to happen in real democracie­s.

[Europeanguy]

05:57 PM on 11/23/2008

Bingo, you nailed it. Too bad America doesn't understand that.

[antaeus]

06:30 PM on 11/23/2008

Ah, do go on. Tell us about democracy. Like Germany's notorious un-free free speech?

[EuroHuffPoFan]

06:41 PM on 11/23/2008

.
http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=teM4T3Tyl­Fc&feature­=related
.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

07:11 PM on 11/23/2008

Could you spell out what you mean by that? Germany's notorious un-free free speech?

[appleknocker]

05:39 PM on 11/23/2008

And the NIC has never steered us wrong before, right? Right?

[Alonso Quijano]

05:11 PM on 11/23/2008

I still claim the "hobbled giant" we need to worry about is the USA.

If we are so mighty and not hobbled, how come Bin Laden is not caught or dead?

When was the last time we had a positive balance of trade? Is that going to change?

[Europeanguy]

05:26 PM on 11/23/2008

Still believe the OBL tale? Come on........­.its a con job.....

[Internaut]

05:48 PM on 11/23/2008

Yep. Laden was K.I.A. in 2001 at Tora Bora. Bush used him to fool the red state tater chuckers into voting for him in 2004.

[RoXXanne]

04:28 PM on 11/23/2008

Is this the end conclusion to a serious study, or is it just something they hope for? :-)

[andresfusion]

04:08 PM on 11/23/2008

I think Europe will hardly be a giant, the Eurozone is officially in a recession. Spain was the only economy that had substantia­l gains but that trend has reverse. The old world has been in stagnant growth for years now, the only growth that was taking place before the global economic troubles was in eastern europe.
We should be looking more towards the east, as europe population decline and their completely lack of any military significan­cy makes the old world almost irrelevant­.
We will be officially in a recession next quarter, but if we band together and reform our financial system we can use this global downturn to our advantages and make innovation­s to lay the foundation for the future. Let's remember that we have the best universiti­es in the world and we are still the most technologi­cal advance country.

[EuroHuffPoFan]

04:24 PM on 11/23/2008

Spoken like a real American .. !
And then you wonder why the world reacts to you like it does
.

[Europeanguy]

04:42 PM on 11/23/2008

You don't know much about Europe, do you.

Again, just another ''legend in his own mind' type American.

[Blutus]

03:42 PM on 11/23/2008

So the UPI is reporting on a story that appeared in the EU Observer
about a report from the National Intelligen­ce Council?

OK. Now, who is on first?

It's not "what" boys and girls but "why."

[Danny]

03:24 PM on 11/23/2008

Wasn't it just a couple of days ago that the forecast (HuffPohea­dline) was for the United States to be the "hobbled giant" by 2025? Hmmmm.