A stronger European Union will cause far more problems than it solves for Europeans and America. The example of classical Athens does not demonstrate the value of top-down integration.
Yellow represents Athens and its allies/empire.
Looking back at the Athens-Sparta model for current national security issues, this author offers Athens' Delian League as an example for Europeans to follow to gain strength:
Alone, European countries are second-rate. Together, Europe can be a superpower.
Not only would this enable Europe to pursue a qualified independent geostrategic approach, it goes hand in hand with economic growth and the deeply integrated continent envisioned by Mario Draghi. That is a powerful plan that Thucydides would approve of. ...
Thucydides notes that fear, honor, and self-interest drive behavior; if appeals to solidarity and democracy fail, leaders should emphasize the material benefits of integration and the dangers of inaction.
The Delian League, forged before the Peloponnesian War, offered allies common coinage, measures, free trade, and secure seas. Europe can make a similar case: deeper integration can deliver far greater tangible gains than the cheap energy Russia can offer.
The author wants an "ever closer union" as the European Union calls its integration. But "ever closer league" turned a league into an Athenian empire. I fear Brussels is already the Athens of that proto-empire. It already gathers the treasury within its domain. Don't let it get an army.
Sparta defeated that Athenian empire, by the way.
European countries need defense integration, but it must be through NATO which has free countries bolstered by America's post-Cold War role. And here's one suggestion I made in Army magazine on aggregating European military power.
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NOTE: Map from Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Peloponnesian_War_431_BC-en.svg. Modified with EU flag on Imgflip.com.
