>How can "a bunch of countries" make an alliance, "take a common
>stance with their creditors, make some serious attempt at developing
>serious economic and social links, and arrange some sort of trading
>system with a division of labor" without states?
States, plural. I don't like states, and look suspiciously on any proposal that would increase their power, even when they're coming from "our" side. But they exist (like Israel exists) and they're not going away anytime soon. So we make the best of that situation we can. What's I'd like to see is for people to begin thinking and acting beyond national boundaries, and the kind of cross-border links I'm talking about is one way. And if these links serve in the long term to undermine nation-states, so much the better.
Doug