Are you suggesting that the US plan to bomb the EU by comparing them to Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
We really need to stick to calm and reasoned commentaries instead of what seems to be a contest of outrageous claims like in many media or by many politicians these days.
Canada is not going to be an "associate member" of the EU (which, again, is not something that exists or that has any meanings), that is the outrageous claim here, and it'd be more interesting to discuss what might the game under play be rather than feeding the frenzy (which I suspect is what they want on both sides).
Not the EU. The brotherly nation bordering them, just like Putin did.
It's not my suggestion either [0] and I'm not the only one worried about it. [1]
Putin's invasion didn't happen without years of prep work. Things like gradually worsening relations and trying to paint a picture of Ukranians as hostile [2] , as opposed to the close neighbors they were initially perceived as.
Why do you think the alliance with the Ukraine, to make millions of drones per year for them, the most highly sophisticated drones designed by the most battle-hardened country on the planet, is important for Canada?
Those drones won't just be protecting the Ukraine.
"Is the CLOUD Act only applicable to U.S. cloud service providers?"
"No. The CLOUD Act applies to all electronic communication service or remote computing service providers that operate or have a legal presence in the U.S. For example, the CLOUD Act is also applicable to a cloud service provider that is headquartered in the EU and has operations in the United State"
Seems intentionally misleading. While I agree exposure to US surveillance in non-US providers likely isn't zero, it's significantly harder for the US to do this internationally for legal, practical & political reasons. AWS is not a neutral voice on their competitor's limitations.
CUSMA is just a trade deal, not a full-on organization like the EU.
If we're doing a trade deal measuring contest, I will just point out that the EU has the world's largest free trade network, including Canada (already), South Korea, most of Latin America, India etc etc.
Apples, Oranges etc once again. Of course NATO is a completely different kind of organization from the EU.
The Catholic Church has more members than NATO, too, but it's a completely nonsensical comparison.
The EU doesn't have some mythical status that doesn't apply to any other organization, it just has a very specific status in political science that it's the most successful example of: Supranationalism.
Anyways, why are we doing this silly phallus size competition in the first place? Can't we just accept that the EU is a major player on the world stage and that people look up to it?
You think the wings of the US are a larger league than the EU?
The EU has built the world's largest trade zone, from Mercosur to South Korea, Japan and India to Canada.
I believe they are currently outmaneuvering the rest of the world by quietly binding everyone to themselves while the US, Russia and China are caught up in their saber rattling.
The US and China are fighting a 20th century contest of hard power. The EU is the only 21st century superpower of soft power.
I live here. I talk to older people. They tell me about the horrors of WW2 and how glad they are the EU succeeded as a peace project. Before the EU, we had centuries of cruelties between what are now members of the same block.
It might be good to expand your perspective a little. Standard of living isn't just the economy.
(Intended as a reply to parent post, which is now dead)
I live in the EU, and its nothing like you describe. In my country life has improved sharply since it joined the EU. It's improved things in a way that would never of happened otherwise. It's gone from nearly a third world country to an advanced economy in a very short period. And I've enjoyed the ability to live work and travel around the EU freely. Europe is an incredible place.
Yes, it was nice in the 99s snd 2000s when they were building a better EU. And then it devolved into regulation after regulation, strings attached to everything and so on.
Now we’re in 2026 where I can’t buy a platic fork and knife, I have to drink everything with a paper straw and so on.
The dream was nice but it was hijacked along the way.
reply