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Intermittent commentary on the state of the international political economy with a focus on the question of sustainable development.

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Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.
- Kenneth Boulding, The Growth Illusion

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Monday, May 05, 2003

'General geostrategic gormlessness'

A thoroughly good read is to be had in The Guardian today. Simon Tisdall in his article, What Europe has to do to avoid becoming a US vassal, ponders the future for the EU (and the UN) in the wake of the reassertion of US hegemony. Tisdall makes the point that, collectively, the EU can mount a challenge, but that a 'general geostrategic gormlessness' pervades. I shall be using this phrase all week (with due acknowledgement to Tisdall), but as I've noted in this blog before, it is only a matter of time before we see the emergence of a genuine multipolarity. IMHO, the US in living on borrowed time in Europe. It's used up all the good will that was built up post-Marshall Plan, and I think that, notwithstanding the Blair project, this whole sorry episode in Iraq will provide the impetus for the EU to become a lot ‘deeper’ as well as ‘wider’.