So here's my question...

...As the nations of Europe fracture into ever-smaller entities, secure in the knowledge that the European Union is strong enough to prevent internal friction between the previous fractious factions of Western history, how will these small entities compete with rising waves of immigrants with a different perspective on how one "gets along" with one's neighbors? How will the European Union generate enough military power to protect its vital interests outside its borders?

As it stands, NATO is enough of a patchwork organization as to be virtually incapable of coordinated operations against a determined opponent. Now let's multiply the entities within that force by 10...Do the Scots contribute a brigade to an operation? How about the Walloons? These smaller entities will only be able to muster much smaller forces...and I doubt very much that the EU will ever engender enough loyalty within its citizens to create an EU-wide force that isn't a Frankenstein's mess of smaller nations.

And it doesn't even take $5000 Segways...

Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikes - washingtonpost.com:

It has completely transformed the landscape of Lyon -- everywhere you see people on the bikes,' said Jean-Louis Touraine, the city's deputy mayor. The program was meant 'not just to modify the equilibrium between the modes of transportation and reduce air pollution, but also to modify the image of the city and to have a city where humans occupy a larger space.

Did I mention the time I left my house (by bike) ten minutes after my wife left (by car) and caught her three miles or so down the road...? And that was on the outskirts of DC - not the middle of the urban sprawl.

But there is a practical side, too, Dumesnil said. A recent study analyzed different trips in the city "with a car, bike, taxi and walking, and the bikes were always the fastest."

USNews does a bit of a compare and contrast

US News and World Report provides a series of short vignettes highlighting the best of Europe, Japan, and much of the rest of the industrialized world. Great stories, fun to read, nice to imagine, not always so easy to implement - or likely to be effective in a heterogenous, growing, free-wheeling culture like ours. Here's what the report had to say on Finish schools:


USNews.com: Finland: The Secret to Smarter Schools

It's always interesting to hear of social successes in the various Nordic countries. But I usually see a degree of unrealistic comparison as well. Is the key to Finland's success really the choices they've made in public education? Or is it a homgenous culture in which teachers don't have to worry about multiple languages, a myriad of cultures, and the growing power of a counter-culture that scorns education and respect for authority?

Not so easy to fix those pieces. Considering the decline in Finland's native birth rate - and the increase in immigration (see here), we may see them looking our way for new methods to deal with integrating many cultures into one in the not-so-distant future.

All that being said, I certainly like the idea of elevating the social status of teachers as a means of correcting poor education:

Perhaps the most potent secret weapon in Finland's success is well-trained teachers. In 1970, as the country began to overhaul its system, it mandated that teachers for all grades must obtain at least a master's degree. Today, teacher-education programs at universities are highly competitive, in part because teachers enjoy high prestige in Finnish society. "The status of teachers is comparable to doctors and lawyers," says Jouni Valijarvi, director of the Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyvaskyla.

Of course, how do you raise standards of performance to appropriate levels when faced with a teacher's union designed to protect current (vested) interests? Ah...for the simplicity of life in Finland...

Change a few words and...

Italy's Mafia Mess - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com

...you'd think this was an article straight from Baghdad.

The deputy police chief of the Naples homicide unit, Pietro Morelli, acknowledges that authorities can occupy the city's toughest slums, but they can't hold them. They can't even prevent the Camorra from setting up its own checkpoints just down the street from those of the authorities. ''When police come to get them, they melt away," says Morelli. Only a few local people will speak against the organization, and out of bitterness, not expectation of change. If peace returns to the streets, it's as likely to be the result of truces reached within the organization, as of order imposed by Rome.

I stumbled across this one quite accidentally. First step? Coming across this site (lens culture) and looking at some pics from a photo book apparently called "Made in Italy: CGIL 100." Next step? Seeing a photo that made reference to the Comorra Wars of 2005 - a term that I was patently unfamiliar with.

We have some friends who use to live in Naples while assigned to NATO...their stories of mafia influence made for interesting dinner conversation but I guess the extent of their strength didn't really sink in...