Transcript: I actually don’t care whether or not officially becomes part of the European as far as I am concerned already is and every time you go to Turkey you see more and more ways and which is Europeanizing. It is a process that is being going on for over 40 years, fact is that Europe that Turkey is almost fully integrated into the European economy, there is plenty of obstacles down the way there is a variety of [inaudible] and quotas and other mechanisms that slow down the free exchange between Turkey and Europe, but the volume of investment from Europe into Turkey is absolutely enormous. It is far larger than from United States or Russia or any one else for that matter. And the number of Turks living in Europe and earning money there and sending it back to Turkey is also enormous, it is well over a billion dollars the year and capital that comes back. So, in all of the important tangible ways Turkey already is very European. In all of the less important but politically symbolic ways like whether or not it happens to be member of the EU or not it isn’t a member, it is a distinction without it is.

Recorded on: 3/3/08

Question: Why is the E.U. so successful?

Transcript: Europe has been very successful for number of reasons, one there was a certain collective reckoning after World War II and the presence of very enlightened statesmen and the support of the United States, all coming together at around the same time and helping to kick start a process a very mild and primarily economic European integration among the few core countries. What they grew into, into the European Union today is a remarkable success story, there was always or has been a debate about whether Europe should be widening or deepening and the factors that Europe is done built, it has grown broader and since 1991, it is drawn by on average one country per year, it was 60/12 and 16 is other at 27 and may soon be 30 member states. So it is grown broader, it is also grown deeper. The density in depth of institutions that exist in Brussels, Luxemburg, Strasburg and elsewhere is absolutely unbelievable. The common currency and all of these sorts of developments part of mentory wise judicially and so forth the existence of the European commission. These things were not it was not self evident that these institutions would have grown the way they did in the 1950s, but they have. That’s been a remarkable success story, even if it were to stop today.

Question: Will the E.U. ever have an army?

Transcript: Europe has common military forces like a small rapid reactions force that has 10 or so peace keeping missions, go our active right now from Lebanon to the Congo. It has armies of course many, it has more troops under arms that America does, but not necessarily one large common army. It does not have to find it self by our terms. European army is going to work together more and more as they are doing with out ever forming one unified army under one a flag. So I am less concerned with whether or not they form one army then that they simply put their troops on the ground and their money with the sort of money with them on a variety of issues.

Question: Why has the E.U. marketplace been so successful?

Transcript: That is one reason and one primary reason why Europe is most definitely a super power is that first of all economics is the lot more important today and calculating an empires of super powers level of power then it was in the past and when it comes to economic size, Europe is larger than the United States. The European Union is largest economy in the entire world. It significantly larger than the valid United States, it has a larger population as well. Their product standards, safety standards and so technical standards are far higher than that the United States as well. So if you want to sell if you are manufacturing in China or Malaysia or what ever you want to sell a product in the world and you want to stream line and make it one a way, you have to adapt to the European standard not the American standard. So yes, absolutely their products obviously are superior when it comes to automobiles, engineering and all that kind of thing. They don’t have this sort of IT output that Silicon Valley has, but they have a number of competitors and they incorporate that technology quickly and spread through their market as well, but that is one aspect of the economic power. The other aspects also involves their own externally directed investment. They export more capital around the world than we do. Europeans invest more money in China than America does, Europeans give way more foreign assistance, development assistance than America does. Japan ranks, I think second to Europe and then comes United States in terms of foreign investment. So those are some other metrics by which Europe is economically more powerful and more important than the United States is around the world.

Question: Will population decline become a problem for the E.U.?

Transcript: Well, there are certain European countries that are experiencing population decline of course, Italy and Germany are among them and by decline one can also just been a sort of plateau of the population, but because Europe as a union continues to grow as population as a whole come in instead of, if by European population decline you mean the few western European countries that have defined Europe to this day and who culturally mean might prefer to think of this European and yes, that absolute number may be declining, but if by European you mean a large number of new people migrating and becoming part are incorporated into the European empire and the European population is 450 million which is a 150 million larger than the United States. So demographically it is quite healthy and you have to think about young populations like Turkey and Ukraine, 50 million in Ukraine and 70-80 million in Turkey that have Arab like demographic profiles very young population, of course we don’t think of them as Europeans, but they think of themselves as European and they are becoming European.

Recorded on: 3/3/08

Question: Is Russia on the decline?

Transcript: It is and it isn’t. In the short term it is not, in the short term it is stabilized itself politically, its economy is growing. It controls huge oil and gas resources that are fine in time were prices are very high and it is muscling its way around, its neighboring countries is so called near or broad by black mailing and extorting those governments such as Ukraine and Georgia and so forth and even potentially sending troops to intervene in other areas. So in the way it seems well Russia is back, the long term picture obviously is different. In the long term picture is that they have lost a large chunk of their territory by Judith the collapse in Soviet Union. Their population is under going a staggering free fall, people talk about Italy experiencing population while in Russia it is probably the most steep in the whole world there is they knew some thing like 500,000 of there population in a year due to either emigration or death due to various causes. So in the long term picture from that point of view isn’t very good and they also have a lot of Chinese migration into the country into the Far East. So areas parts of the Russian far east territorially that are Russia on the map don’t look like Russia in person. So that is the huge problem we think about as well. Then the authoritarian system isn’t necessary stable, oil prices aren’t necessarily going to be this high for ever. There is lot of reasons why the current resurgence is really just a blib, in the longer term picture of Russian to cline very much still holds.

Question: Will China encroach on Russia’s territory?

Transcript: Well, Europe already does encroach on Russia’s territory in the sense that between NATO expansion and EU expansion, they more or less are of against the boarders of Russia. The Baltic countries they are and the relationship with Ukraine which is deepening is also getting it in that direction as well as with the countries of cock is Georgia and Armenian also by John. So gradually Europe is certainly encroaching on Russia as much as Europe and so as much as Russia would like to be encroached on and in Finland there is a debate about what relationship to have with NATO and the EU and whether do actually deepen those ties yet more evidence of how like it or not Russia basically is left with only Russia and diminishing influence outside its own boarders. Nuclear weapons are still there, it has the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world, but it is not the weapon of choice in the 21st century and of course Russia only has two major population center zones or economic hubs, so it obviously faces series retaliations of the last country in the world that would be wise to use nuclear weapons would be Russia.

Recorded on: 3/3/08

thank you, from another world citizen

                                                   thank you.