Looks like Turkey won't be joining the EU after all...

[King Henry V]

3. What is it that makes Turkey un-European? I was talking to a Turk about this just yesterday. He asked my why Northern Europeans looked back to Greece. It got me thinking, "European" really means "Northern European." How European is Macedonia or Greece?

Well Greece and Macedonia is on this side of the Bosphorus, unlike 95% of Turkey.

[Reenk Roink]

Well Greece and Macedonia is on this side of the Bosphorus, unlike 95% of Turkey.

Then this begs the question. Why is Europe even its own "continent". Why is a division made at the Bosphorus? Europe is an anomaly given the other continents. North and South America are essentially distinct landmasses connected by a very small strip of land. Same with Africa and Asia. Australia and Antartica are on their own. But Europe... Europe shares such a large border with Asia. It's very odd that it got to be its own continent...

[doc_bean]

:sigh: this discussion is pointless.

I'll tell you what, we'll annex Turkey if you make Mexico a state

[Reenk Roink]

I'll tell you what, we'll annex Turkey if you make Mexico a state

I wouldn't mind. It would be a foolproof method for stopping illegal immigration!

Now STFS on the other hand...

[Duke Malcolm]

Then this begs the question. Why is Europe even its own "continent". Why is a division made at the Bosphorus? Europe is an anomaly given the other continents. North and South America are essentially distinct landmasses connected by a very small strip of land. Same with Africa and Asia. Australia and Antartica are on their own. But Europe... Europe shares such a large border with Asia. It's very odd that it got to be its own continent...

Something to do with Tectonic Plates and that sort of thing with which I am only vaguely acquainted. It is why India is a Sub-continent... If it all goes by borders, then the UK ought to be an entirely separate continent...

[Reenk Roink]

Something to do with Tectonic Plates and that sort of thing with which I am only vaguely acquainted. It is why India is a Sub-continent... If it all goes by borders, then the UK ought to be an entirely separate continent...

Europe and Asia both belong on the Eurasian plate. It's odd that India and Arabia are distinct plates, and yet considered part of Asia, while Europe is considered seperate from Asia though they are on the same plate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tectonic_plates.png

[InsaneApache]

It's summat to do with a bull, a bird called Europa, Zeus and Crete. IIRC.

[King Henry V]

Europe and Asia both belong on the Eurasian plate. It's odd that India and Arabia are distinct plates, and yet considered part of Asia, while Europe is considered seperate from Asia though they are on the same plate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tectonic_plates.png

Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasia, inside of whose boundaires reside a relatively ethinically and culturally homogenous group of people.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasia, inside of whose boundaires reside a relatively ethinically and culturally homogenous group of people.

Actually there at least two very distinct cultures in Europe, Latin and Germanic. We're far from homogenous, look at the relations between the different countries in the EU. Actually, the Biospheres is the division which has been employed ever since the times of the ancient Greeks and Herodotus. The Hellespont was considered the division between Europe and Asia because there was no land route.

If you think about it Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and all those Mediterranean countries share a cultural similarity with Greece and Italy, except that it is filtered through a Muslim rather than Christian prism.

[King Henry V]

Notice the word relatively.

[BigTex]

Well Greece and Macedonia is on this side of the Bosphorus, unlike 95% of Turkey.

Then this begs the question. Why is Europe even its own "continent". Why is a division made at the Bosphorus? Europe is an anomaly given the other continents. North and South America are essentially distinct landmasses connected by a very small strip of land. Same with Africa and Asia. Australia and Antartica are on their own. But Europe... Europe shares such a large border with Asia. It's very odd that it got to be its own continent...

Turkey is part of Eurasia. The reason Europe and Asia are seperate even though there is no distinct seperation of them on land and they share the same tectonic plate is that. The europeans were the ones who made the maps. Europe wanted to remain seperate, and special. Nothin wrong there either, history is written by winners. In all actuality the correct name of the continent is Eurasia.

Back to the topic, what in the world is France thinking this time. First with the holocuast next viels and now you no longer have the right to voice your personal opinion on history? This is a very, well its a vertical drop, you do not defend its validity by making it a law to deny it, if anything you make it more popular. Quite honestly you heard very little about the conspiracy theories of how the holocuast didn't happen, but now that everyone seems it neccesary to outlaw the denial of it the theories are becoming more and more popular. You can't defend history by force of law, it will only bite you in the arse.

“Except that "What's the EU good for?" results in the sole answer of "nothing comes to mind".” 60 years without war. Never happened before. Wonder why?

The EU has little to do with the fact that europe hasnt been at war in the past 60 years. Infact it has very little to do with europe, it has to do with the fact that the 2 world superpowers sphere's of influence split europe in half and MAD kept any war from occuring between the 2. With the threat of Europe being turned into a pile of nuclear dust, no war would have been risked.
_____________________
Speak softly and carry tactical nukes.

BigTex

Ridicolus
"Hilary Clinton is the devil"
~Texas proverb

[Upxl]

[IMG]
The EU has little to do with the fact that europe hasnt been at war in the past 60 years. Infact it has very little to do with europe, it has to do with the fact that the 2 world superpowers sphere's of influence split europe in half and MAD kept any war from occuring between the 2. With the threat of Europe being turned into a pile of nuclear dust, no war would have been risked.

I seriously doubt that our years of peace have nothing to do with the EU.

But recently we have indeed been nothing more then a pawn of the more powerful, and this is the precise reason why there should be a unified Europe.
If we want any part at all in future world politics we need to unite and fast!
Even our larger nations Like Britain,France,Germany,... would have little or no authority if they choose to speak with an isolated voice and/or army.

Also fellow Europeans, don’t worry too much about immigration, taxes, or loosing your identity when uniting.
Much of these problems are blown way out of proportion and could ironically enough only improve with an unified Europe.

[Kralizec]

But recently we have indeed been nothing more then a pawn of the more powerful, and this is the precise reason why there should be a unified Europe.
If we want any part at all in future world politics we need to unite and fast!
Even our larger nations Like Britain,France,Germany,... would have little or no authority if they choose to speak with an isolated voice and/or army.

We could do that now. Most European countries don't spend their fair share when it comes to the defense budget. How can we expect more powerful countries like the USA to take us seriously if we can't even organise humanitarian expeditions on our own due to logistical problems?

[Zalmoxis]

Also fellow Europeans, don’t worry too much about immigration, taxes, or loosing your identity when uniting.
Much of these problems are blown way out of proportion and could ironically enough only improve with an unified Europe.

That's not it with me, the main reason I don't want a united Europe is the possibility that foreign (European) investors would quickly buy up all businesses, companies, etc. in Romania at cheap prices, preventing Romanians from doing so themselves. In this case, all of the natives would be working for a foreign owned company they could be considered slaves or Romania itself could be controlled by whichever nation the investor belongs to, because such a person would want to advance the interests of his own country.

[AntiochusIII]

because such a person would want to advance the interests of his own country.

Not when you consider how many American corporations are out there in the world, and how much they actually contribute to the government and the country itself.

Businessmen aren't exactly the most nationalistic of groups.

[Idomeneas]

I think that Zalmoxis has a point. Not that much on the nationalistic issues as business are business but on the factor that the economic growing tense for natives will be crippled and most part of population will end up working for others.
This problem can be solved only if all EU countries get to a unified economic level so that there is not cheaper labour and only factors of distance or even expertise will be important.

[Scurvy]

I was under the impression that most governments actively encourage foreign companies to invest in their own industires/econony, a large multi-national can have a knock on effect, providing jobs and a boost to the economy - in Romania the people would benefit from jobs and inproved infrastructure, and the economy would certainly stabalize - Romania would still be controlled by Romanians - yes the business has no care about Romania - but neither does it greatly care about anywhere - business's make profits for themselves.