"Proponents of the Nabucco gas pipeline -- intended to bring Azerbaijani and possibly Iraqi or Central Asian natural gas to Europe independent of Russia's Gazprom behemoth." Good lord, where to begin? Geez, Nabucco's backers are shilling for the project--what a shock! Back in realityville--where I am mayor--Nabucco has never been more endangered. Azerbaijani gas isn't sufficient to make the pipeline profitable, "possible Iraqi" gas is just that (a possible pipe dream), and Central Asian gas means principally Kazakh gas, which is almost certainly going to be locked up by the Russians (whose Nabucco competitor, South Stream, is backed by a consortium including German energy firms). From where, then, might the added gas come, an astute reader may ask? Try Iran! Oh, wait, the EU area's vaunted (in this article at least) "new sanctions" against Iran will preclude that possibility... And don't even get me started on the rest of "what Europe is doing right," according to this awful, awful excuse for journalism/analysis/pro-transatlantic rah-rah-ing. The Greek economy will contract 4% this year, Ireland's economy will also contract, etc... FP editors, please never again invite these shills to disgrace your pages.

Sorry the full quote reads: "Proponents of the Nabucco gas pipeline -- intended to bring Azerbaijani and possibly Iraqi or Central Asian natural gas to Europe independent of Russia's Gazprom behemoth -- say they have never been so optimistic about prospects for success."

If these are the Pro-Europe Americans, who needs enemies.

Does Americans want their financial transactions sent to a country that imprisons people without a trial, practices torture and assassinates people in other countries?

EU parliament sold us out for their pound of flesh.

The Swiss are not part of the EU project and the gist of the article doesn't include European continent nations only the EU nations. Sorry to be pedantic!

" What Europe" is getting right has nothing in common with Vogel's and Zarate's

asserion. which boils down to presumed actions of Europe along the lines

of us policy agenda.

For european cirizens what is importabt is their own wellfare.

Here the record is both mixed and complex.

V and Z are irrelevant to understanding europe

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It: Laurence Kotlikoff - Bloomberg http://bit.ly/9A3Wu6

the EU economical problems are minor compared to the ones of the US. The US IS Greece already, with the difference that Greece is only 4% of the total EU economy.

the EU hasn't the same needsof oil than the US, its dependency of the ME is less and the Russians cannot blackmail us like Ukraine since they NEED to sel their gas.

The current US administration is unable to solve the current problems and a Republican alternative will probably make things worse.

so please no lecturing

The eu will fall apart sooner or later, but it seems the time is up... They will help Greece with economic tragedy, but they wil also sell them some weapons as a quid pro quo, i mean they are still exploiting its own member, even in a crisis. the top three banks giving 'money' to Greece are owned by Germany and France, which will sell those weapons . btw, i can say that what will be given to Greece will not be enough after seeing the growth of Greek Economy and others. be ready the eu will fall apart.

I am guessing that when the authors refers to 'Europe', they are actually referring to the EU (considering that they're attached a picture of the EU flags). May I remark that 'Europe' is not the EU and vice versa. The EU is a union between 27 European states. Europe is the continent where the EU is found and it also includes many other nations which do not form part of the EU.

Now, talking about a 'failing EU', a 'disintegrating EU', a 'day when the EU will be no more' is preposterous. Yes, it is true that the EU faces a lot of problems with its economy and more persistently with its so called 'European Integration Project". Many say that this project, along with it's common monetary union, were doomed before they even started, that all the European countries are too different and that their economies are too different for them to even work together. But I always say that it all comes down to Relevance on the world stage. That is, that if European countries want to remain politically relevant on the world stage they have to stick together as the EU.

Let me explain further. Today we're witnessing the rise of many nations all over the world; nations like China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and others; nations which have the potential of becoming huge economic and political powers like the USA in the future and indeed some are already considered as 'new powers', namely China. These nations are much larger than Germany - the largest EU nation. As such they therefore have the potential to have much larger economies than each individual European economy which now enjoy top positions in the list of the largest economies in the world.

All this poses a treat to the present European power on the world stage, which, may I note, is somewhat already waning. If EU countries do remain together, most especially the five biggest: Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain, and decide to dissolve the EU altogether they all run the risk of being replaced, to put it bluntly. They all run the risk of becoming politically irrelevant. Larger countries, like the ones I mentioned will start demanding more political power and it will only be natural to shift the power from the relatively small European states, which now enjoy disproportionate power, to the larger states on the world stage.

So, to sum it up, if all the EU countries want to remain relevant on the world stage, they have to stick together, resolve their differences and continue working on the 'European Project'. This reason alone is enough to keep the EU together and instigate further integration in the future. Talk of otherwise is only short-sighted.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/bill-black-u.s.-using-"really-stupid-strategy"-to-hide-bank-losses-535317.html;_ylt=Arcls3BqTrD6e2l1CeLjAkBk7ot4;_ylu=X3oDMTE4NmFnanUyBHBvcwMxODcEc2VjA2FydGljbGVMaXN0BHNsawNiaWxsYmxhY2t1c3U-?tickers=^n225,xlf,bac,^dji,c,^gspc,faz
Bill Black: U.S. Using "Really Stupid Strategy" to Hide Bank Losses

Then there is the lost generation and after that the brown generation:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-11/u-s-is-bankrupt-and-we-don-t-even-know-commentary-by-laurence-kotlikoff.html
U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know: Laurence Kotlikoff

Assumption alert:"Yes, our economy will be bigger in 20 years, but not big enough to handle this size load year after year."

Gee that will be when lost generation will be at prime earning age. Even then prediction is bleak, will be bleaker with lost generation perspective and brown to follow:
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2010/08/non-financial-cost-of-stagnation-social.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+google/RzFQ+(oftwominds)
The Non-Financial Cost of Stagnation: "Social Recession" and Japan's "Lost Generations"

And after the lost generation is the brown generation

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20100724_3946.php
The Gray And The Brown: The Generational Mismatch

What is quite disturbing in this paper is that Europe is termed to "get it right" (according to the authors) mainly because it is assumed to endorse the US positions.

A very narrow point of view !