Once upon a time there was the EU

Which started out as a concept of prosperity and wealth to its people and endless growth to its member-countries. Maybe a little bit of globalisation in disguise, but definitely a better life and an even more prosperous future for the generations to come. The concept needed strong advertisement and it needed it badly. And it came. The "acquis communitaire" took care of social structures, monies were thrown at the acceding countries in buckets and in all other forms of containers and everyone was happy and proud to be part of it.

And then came Berlin. And the ECB. And the IMF. And with them came austerity. A new mix of policy and soft economic warfare. And with prolonged austerity came subtle nationalism. And with nationalism came the fall of short-lived globalisation. And suddenly we felt it is trendier to hold on to the ethnic values of a Greek, a Spaniard or an Irish over being a citizen of the European Union. A Union that contemporary history has shown can only be glued and held together with prosperity and all other benefits advertised at the outset of it. And keeping all of that comes at a pricy cost. In the past we used to send our troops and tanks to conduct warfare, today we send packaged austerity and perform cyber-attacks. This appears to be a more "refined" conduct of warfare. While people don't get killed by bullets anymore, they simply commit suicide. While governments used to be elected by national vote, today they are installed by the "hand of Berlin". The European Union wishes you and your family a very merry Xmas!