Here is an article from the Investor's Business Daily about the EU's new "reform treaty".  There is not whole lot about it in the press. Right now it seems to have escaped everyone's radar. Not surprised. People are not interested in world affairs, it is not as exciting like Paris Hilton painted gold or something else really important.

The ad nauseum Iowa political debates are being parsed by the major media in America. Then is there is the "shocking" revelation that major league baseball players have been injecting growth hormones for years. Really,  I just thought they were drinking more milk!

We continue to amuse ourselves to death while really important events are shaping today's world, and more importantly tomorrow's world.  World economic markets are still unsettled from the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. The current credit squeeze may well be a turning point for the world economy. As the EU shapes itself into a larger player it will assert its powers. Look for it to take on the role of the world's economic arbiter. One can well imagine the approach might be to play up America's debt and the falling dollar, to name just two elements.

The global economy above all needs reliable and stable markets. Money, goods and services must have unrestricted ease of transfer and access. Confidence among nations is essential. I look for Europe to provide all of this for a growing world economy that is only going to bet bigger.

For years the EU has been growing its "soft power", its regulation of finance, agriculture, education and judicial matters. In time they will feel the need to assert some hard power, economic, military and diplomatic. It will do so at the expense of the United States. And they will likely find support from Asia and the Middle East.