The United Kingdom; The European Union; NATO: which is the primary sense of identity?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

The current resident at 1600 Penn Ave. in DC is, as nearly as I can tell, the President with a mindset closest to a pre-WW2 GOP party leader I have yet seen. This is part of why he is shaking up so many things in such a short time.

I have been mulling over a number of comments across a few of the threads here, but wanted to bring the discussion together in this one to address some musings/questions I have had.


I don't think Trump will repudiate NATO (I think it mostly bluster trying to get the EU to cough up more funds), but what WOULD the UK and EU do were the USA to withdraw from NATO? Would their be an EU army and would Britain return to the EU or move forward with an even stronger "special relationship?" What would a USA-less NATO mean for Europe?

Is the EU really drawing countries together to create a true Union in Europe, and how far will that coalescence really go? Will there be a common language, schooling choices, Europe-wide medical system? What is the EU long-term identity?

And as to identity, how do persons in Europe (and especially the UK given our "special relationship" (which is NOT entirely unidirectional, though it trends that way too often) see themselves? Is their sense of identity linked with the soil of their birth? the political collective of the EU? Quasi-anarchic familialism? Was gibt?


Just a few questions from a fellow in Florida trying to understand you lot on that side of "the pond."