A rather harsh assessment of the future of the EU by Professor Snyder. I agree partially with his argument, this is a big challenge to the credibility of the EU.
I do not, however, think particularly this will be the end of the EU. I would agree this may be the start of a long decline of the EU experiment. I would think that the pressure the Euro states are facing in light of financial fiascos in Greece, Italy, Spain, etc. prove to be as equally as important to consider. Another is the development of a, first, a two-tier EU system, and now, from what I see a three-tier system of the elite states holding a disparity of power in the EU. Anyone of these issues that Europeans cannot agree on are just as likely to put an end to the EU.
Snyder states this is a test of the EU's ability to protect itself; it has been well known for years that it really cannot. It has been an open secret that anyone with a bit of observational skills could answer right off. The security debates during Clinton's second term in Europe centered around the possibility of creating an unified European military, able to project power in Europe and in crises when NATO or the US failed to act. The problem is any military would be drawn from member states that have already reduced their military capabilities since the end of the Cold War, thus already providing for a weaker pool to create an army. So, the answer has already been answered for years.
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