Russia has changed its strategy and now seeks WTO membership (it has been the largest economy outside the WTO since China entry in 2001). Also wins bid for 2018 World Cup!
Some of the reactions FIFA's decision in Russia's win in the bid for WC 2018 (and WC 2022) seem to indicate that some countries seem to not have realised the world doesn't revolve around them anymore & there's a trend for a more balanced globalisation (BRICs etc)
WTO has blocked EU duties on Chinese screws. IMO this should serve the EU and its members as a cue to consider the correlation between the start of the Euro & China's entry into the WTO & how it affected the systemics of the EU Single Market (and thus contributed to the current "Euro crisis")
Dynamics such as these make the need for a United States of Europe (political union) urgent and override parochialist tendencies of/within some EU member states.
Thus I am not surprised that according to the recent "leaks", the Governor of a certain central bank thinks that the Euro crisis may accelerate political union in the EU, a view I have expressed many times this year.
