European Union, NATO SOFA, and the Challenges Ahead for US Military Operations

摘要

Most Americans first heard of the European Union with the mandatory introduction of the Euro into 12 of its member countries on 1 January 2002. However, the European Union has been in existence for the latter half of the 20th Century. As a European Union commentator has stated, For some it is simply a set of intergovernmental institutions, useful for specific purposes, but without any wider implications. For others, it is a device in a strategy which has lost its purpose: that of cornering the USSR or containing Germany; for others it is a delusion of European unity which now has to be thrown off in order to preserve the natural and enduring primacy of the nation states; others think it is the transcending of evil in the lives of nations, a unity which reflects the greater good for individuals. Finally, there is the view that it is none of these, that it is something unique in relations between states which have retained their sovereignty and equality.