But that reality doesn't begin to tell the story of the larger historical forces at work that are reshaping global politics, the global economy, and global culture and have been for much of the last decade.

The survival of the EU is actually of little consequence. The union is dead and will probably be in its death throes for years. Germany, France, and a few other northern European countries will keep the dream of a united Europe alive, but on the periphery – especially the southern European nations of Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal – the writing is already on the wall.

If this scenario plays out – and most sober-minded observers believe it will – this third attempt to unite the continent of Europe under a single currency and government will have failed. The first two efforts – Napoleon's conquests and Hitler's Blitzkrieg – ended in the brutal Russian winter as two great armies perished in the snow and bitter cold. This latest effort at European unification will end because the cold logic of fiscal and monetary policy.