Apologies for the low blogging volume of late.   I fear I still haven't gotten 100% back into the swing of things post holidays.

In lieu, I'll point at an great series of articles in one of my favorite blogs, Innocents Abroad.

• It’s War: the Franco-German Alliance vs. the Anglo-Saxons:  Collin May argues that the dominant fault line in international relations is between the US/UK and German/French world views on, well, world governance.  I agree with much of his formulation about the historical threads that give rise to the Franco-German axis (gotta be careful about throwing that word too casually).   The Kantian morality and Transnational Progressivism of the countries that most deftly maneuver the EU and UN vs. the muscular, individualistic democratic ideals of the countries that dominate in the economic and military worlds.
• World War II: LOST:  Here,  Collin provides his perspective on the Dual Presidency compromise for the EU:

  But there’s more. In addition to renewing their own alliance and standing against the English-speaking democracies, the French and Germans recently proposed a new dual presidency for the European Commission. Not surprisingly, the rest of the EU nations reacted with shock. For the smaller countries of Europe, this smacked of a takeover by the Franco-German alliance.

Good stuff!