I just read this in the New York Times, and makes my point like nothing else. Note the symbolism — the chiefs of state of the two “leading” (yeah, right!) EU nations caucused unilaterally (okay, bilaterally) on reforming the EU treaty, and are then calling the affected ones to come around: “Here it is, take it or leave it!” The gist is — “You profligate ones, tighten your belts: Austerity, austerity, austerity.” I just cannot imagine Merkel or Sarkozy (or Obama, for that matter) sitting and listening to the speeches by each and every chief of state member of the EU on how they view their situation, say, as the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico did it in Caracas. Merkel and Sarkozy didn’t even bother bring Monti and Zapatero (and Rajoy, the incoming prime minister in Spain) for the photo op. Why bother when capital rules?