Thursday, May 31, 2012

Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set

While Europe's economy continues to self-destruct, the continent seems to be ever-expanding geographically.  Consider the evidence:
  • Turkey, only a small part of which is in Europe, is applying for membership of the European Union.  While it has no current intention of doing so, it is possible that the Russian Federation, the majority of which is in Asia, could do the same.
  • Israel has long competed as a European country in international sports (mainly because most of its Middle Eastern neighbours don't want to welcome it to regional contests so long as it continues to oppress the Palestinians).
  • The BBC News website a couple of days ago listed the Qatar shopping mall fire under "Europe" rather than "The Middle East".
  • The recent Eurovision Song Contest was hosted by Azerbaijan, which last time I looked was closer to Central Asia, being east of Turkey and just north of Iran..
So where does Europe end?  And where will it end if this process continues?

At least we don't need to worry about what will happen to Hong Kong in 2047 when the "One Country, Two Systems" agreement ends.  At Europe's current rate of expansion, by then we will probably be part of the EU already!