Forget Annexing Canada: Let’s Annex Western Europe

I’ve mentioned in the past various pipe dreams of a US-Canada North American Union, or perhaps just a selective annexation of oil-rich Canadian provinces. Well, former French PM Balladur has gone one step further, proposing a “Union of the West” between the U.S. and Western Europe.

Actually, it is not so much a Union as something closer to the old idea of a trans-atlantic economic zone or even a “League of Democracies” championed by current U.S. presidential candidate John McCain. Here are some details:

. . .According to Balladur, France, as a former symbol of anti-Americanism, which realizes a weakened America disserves European interests, must take the initiative in creating a Union of the West.

Balladur won’t say if that council should have decision-making powers. But he insists it would represent “immense progress” if it met frequently, and if “neither Europeans nor Americans could decide anything about common problems without having talked them through beforehand.”

This is not as ridiculous as it sounds since it seems to formalize contacts that are no doubt already very deep, albeit informal. But it is all about marketing. If folks are worried about a “North American Union”, how are they going to feel about a “Union of the West”? With the French no less?