European Union Unraveling Because of Coronavirus

It would seem that the people who consider themselves to be the "nicest" people, would greatly appreciate it if the world could all hold hands, agree with them, (because they ARE so nice) and then sing a glorious round of Kum-Ba-Yah.  That would followed up my Michael Jackson's, "We Are the World" and then John Lennon's, "Imagine."

Now let's do a reality check. The Europeans have a long, long history of killing each other.  You can look up all the reasons why. 

So following WWII when the Europeans killed millions and destroyed their economies as some united against the Germans and Italians, they decided they would like to create a union so they could finally stop the wars, killing and destruction.

Sounds good!!  (Oops!  I guess the Brits had enough. Brexit)

But now that the C -Virus is scaring the crap out of the Kum-ba-yah singers, we see how quickly the EU members resort to nationalism.  This is the VERY thing that they hate about Donald Trump!  He says "America first!" and they hate that.  But now they are saying "Germany first!" and "France first!" as they watch a virus scare THEIR people.

Please note that the Netherlands believe the best way to combat the virus is to allow healthy people to get it and recover so they can become immune.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages through Europe — where more than 250,000 people have now been diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 15,000 have died — the foundational pillars of the European Union are crumbling one by one.

Faced with an existential threat, EU member states, far from joining together to confront the pandemic as a unified bloc, instinctively are returning to pursuing the national interest. After years of criticizing U.S. President Donald J. Trump for pushing an "America First" policy, European leaders are reverting to the very nationalism they have publicly claimed to despise.

Ever since the threat posed by coronavirus came into focus, Europeans have displayed precious little of the high-minded multilateral solidarity that for decades has been sold to the rest of the world as a bedrock of European unity. The EU's unique brand of soft power, said to be a model for a post-national world order, has been shown to be an empty fiction.

In recent weeks, EU member states have closed their borders, banned exports of critical supplies and withheld humanitarian aid. The European Central Bank, the guarantor of the European single currency, has treated with unparalleled disdain the eurozone's third-largest economy, Italy, in its singular hour of need. The member states worst affected by the pandemic — Italy and Spain — have been left by the other member states to fend for themselves.

The seeds of the European Union were planted in the ashes of the Second World War. In May 1949, Robert Schuman, one of the EU's founding fathers, boldly announced the creation of new world system:

"We are carrying out a great experiment, the fulfillment of the same recurrent dream that for ten centuries has revisited the peoples of Europe: creating between them an organization putting an end to war and guaranteeing an eternal peace."

The European Union, seven decades in the making, is now unravelling in real time — in weeks. After the dust of the coronavirus pandemic settles, the EU's institutions will almost certainly continue to operate as before. Too much political and economic capital has been invested in the European project for European elites to do otherwise. However, the EU's attraction as a post-national model for its own citizens, much less for the rest of the world, will have passed.

In an article titled, "Nations First: The EU Struggles for Relevance in the Fight against Coronavirus," the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel noted:

"As the pandemic takes hold in Europe, the decades-old union is showing its weaknesses. While the EU managed to survive Brexit and the euro crisis, the corona crisis may yet prove to be an insurmountable challenge.

"Instead of trying to come up with joint solutions, the Continent is becoming balkanized and is reverting to national solutions. Instead of helping each other out, EU countries are hoarding face masks like panicked Europeans are hoarding toilet paper. The early decisions made by some EU member states to refrain from exporting medical equipment to Italy — the EU country that has thus far been hit hardest by the pandemic — has even overshadowed the lack of European solidarity displayed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the refugee crisis.

"Europeans are even divided on the question as to how to combat the virus. Whereas Germany is eager to prevent as many people as possible from encountering the virus and becoming infected, the Netherlands wants to see as many healthy people as possible fight off COVID-19, thus becoming immune. The signal is clear: When things get serious, every member state still looks out for itself first — even 60 years after the founding of the community."

Here;  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15803/coronavirus-european-union-unravels

At the heart of the matter is a vastly different world view.  Liberals and Social Justice Warriors almost always believe that "people are basically good, and if we treat each other well, we will all just get better and better!"

All you need to show those folks is what happens when you toss a little fear and uncertainty into the mix.  Within minutes humans will toss out the "basically good" behavior and start doing anything and everything to protect themselves and their families.