The EU talks with Turkey DO begin, after midnight compromise
■"E.U. Opens Historic Talks On Membership for Turkey: Austria Drops Objections; Process Could Last a Decade," by John Ward Anderson, Washington Post, 4 October 2005, p. A17.
Austria backs off at the last minute, realizing how bad their solitary opposition made them look.
Still, it's amazing that experts are saying this negotiation on membership will take a decade. That's just crazy. Only the Europeans could drag out something like this for so long.
I stand by my prediction in the BFA Afterword (Blogging the Future): Turkey's in the EU by 2010. Eventually, the Europeans set standards that show some respect for the amazing effort the Turks have made over the years to meet their expectations, and this admission will start the inevitable civilizational rapprochement between Europe and Islam. We'll see the outlines of the old Roman empire resurrected in a giant Free Trade Zone-going-to-Union that surrounds the Med--all by 2025.