So you think the Soviet Union lost the Cold War? Read this...

Vladimir Putin’s Vision Of A Socialist European Free Trade Zone That Stretches From The Atlantic To The Pacific

Back during the Cold War, one of the great fears was that the Soviet Union would invade western Europe and absorb it into their socialist empire. But now could essentially that exact same thing happen in the name of free trade? Over the past couple of decades, the European Union has gone from being just a "free trade area" to a highly repressive socialist regime run by a bunch of control freaks. As many in Europe have correctly noted, the European Union is highly centralized, deeply corrupt and almost entirely undemocratic - just like the former Soviet Union. Now Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is publicly proposing that all of Europe should join with Russia to create an absolutely gigantic "free trade zone" that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Of course nothing like this will happen any time soon, but the fact that someone as prominent as Putin would propose this is going to give life to the idea. In fact, Putin is not just tossing this proposal around casually. On Thursday, Putin actually presented his vision in a guest editorial that he authored for the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. In that piece, Putin was very clear about what he is proposing....

"We propose the creation of a harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok."

But Putin doesn't just envision an "economic community". In fact, Putin spoke in his piece about "more advanced forms of economic integration" that could be possible in the future....

"In the future, we could even consider a free trade zone or even more advanced forms of economic integration. The result would be a unified continental market with a capacity worth trillions of euros."

Anyone who follows European politics realizes how absolutely stunning that statement is.

Could one day Russia and the European Union merge to form one massive socialist empire from sea to shining sea?

It would have been unthinkable just a decade or two ago, but now the EU has become so much like the old Soviet Union that a merger between the EU and Russia is not unimaginable.

Link:
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/vladimir-putins-vision-of-a-socialist-european-free-trade-zone-that-stretches-from-the-atlantic-to-the-pacific