&gt; Europe has been at peace for a logn time<p>I think in terms of peace it&#x27;s useful to distinguish between the EU and Europe.  There have been a couple of wars in Europe in my lifetime.  Not to mention a few military dictatorships (which had a kind of &#x27;peace&#x27; I suppose - but not a good one), assassinations of leaders etc.<p>Maybe (hopefully!) we&#x27;ll get through this without it imploding - maybe end up with a more Hanseatic League kind of set up, maybe more like the US.  &#x27;May you live in interesting times&#x27; and all that... ;-)