I've just finished my newest article for Taipan Insider, our exclusive newsletter to Taipan Publishing Group subscribers. I was musing on a BBC News article talking about how some Europeans feel about the European Union, and its latest expansions. To be sure, there has been a lot of grumbling about propping up economically distressed Eastern European members, like Hungary and Poland. And there has also been some upset about jobs and factories moving east to take advantage of lower wages and costs, and about immigrants to Western countries taking jobs from locals. Quite reminiscent of what's happening here in the States with Mexican workers, yes? Well, this got me thinking why the European Union would want to include Eastern European countries in its membership in the first place... It had to be something other than spreading "inclusive democracy," right? Of course... In fact, on Thursday, the Czech Republic will hold an "Eastern Partnership" summit with six former Soviet states to discuss energy and trade ties. The Czech Republic currenty holds the presidency of the European Union, and the former Communist country may just be the right fit to entice closer ties with ex-Soviet states. My Taipan Insider article goes into more depth about just what's at stake here. Be sure to read it.