Soob

In a post at ZenPundit I indulge in a hypothesis directly related to Chirols D-8. I take it a bit further in context of Marks post by stating that the effects of the current GWOT will effect the "Gap" states in a more dramatic fashion that they effect the "Core" states.

No doubt political, philosophical and social cohesion is separating among the western world, amidst (to simplify) a meandering war in Iraq and a myopic vision of European society at the behest of it's leaders. As Mark infers (and this is my filtered and generalized understanding of his point,) the EU is a decidedly dicey attempt at re-kindling a cultural dominance that effectively died by the time the Germans surrendered in the spring of 1945. I could wax on about many European states social failures but that's a subject for another time.

While the divisions that occur amongst the western world (and it's eastern burgeoning counterparts) isn't a small phenomena I'd argue that the unity we are seeing in the realm of "Gap" states (and quasi states) will have a more profound effect on global events. As the cohesive philosophy of Cold War western unity fractures along political and philosophical lines some of the previously globally secluded "Gap" states are developing a union along much the same lines (economic, political and philosophical) that fomented the network of anti-Soviet cohesion which carried us into the 21st century.