British Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement at 10 Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace where she met Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to ask permission for the dissolution of Parliament, in London, Britain on May 3, 2017. [Xinhua/Tim Ireland]

The disastrous Brexit dinner between Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, and British Prime Minister Theresa May went mostly as expected, and it's obvious the EU has decided it will play dirty.

For instance, it breached diplomatic protocol to blurt out every detail of a secret dinner, thus forcing the hands of the other side to become more hardline. And we really don't know if what was leaked really represents the truth.

The problem with Brexit, and the EU response is something the media and various pundits are not really trying to understand. They failed to understand before, and they are failing now. It is the simple fact that the EU is a superpower, a hegemon in the making, and its instinct to punish Britain for Brexit is perhaps valid, but unwise.

The European Union is a political construct. It was meant to promote peace within Europe. However, in real life, it is a superpower in the making, as I have said. It has its own ideology of liberal internationalism, its own promotion of values, its own geopolitical ambitions and its own fixed economic ideas of austerity.

The European Union, just like every other superpower in its initial stage, is in expansionist mode. Just like every empire seen since the beginning of history, all it cares about is bringing in more populations so that the GDP grows, without caring about the dissent that is brewing within as a result.

Not convinced? Let me give an example. Imagine, British talks fail with the EU, and the latter declares Ireland should become united (bringing in Northern Ireland, now still part of the United Kingdom) and this new entity should be an EU member.

Britain naturally rejects such an idea, and EU leaders go to Dublin to give speeches about how Britain is hampering democracy in Ireland. Sound far-fetched or familiar? Well, it happened in the Ukraine. The expansionist phase continues, with a nationalist great power villain at the ready.

Similarly, there could be arguments that the European Union is becoming too diverse. Well, so is the United States. The conservative heartland of America doesn't like its liberal economy, but is still dictated to by Washington DC and the East Coast states. It's the same in the EU, dominated by Germany and the Brussels bureaucracy, with the economic and foreign policy orthodoxy that is causing unhappiness in countries like Hungary, Greece, Spain and Italy. Diversity doesn't always stop the emergence of a small elite.

Why is it important? Because the EU is an aggressive project and will continue to dominate other sovereign nations. EU has open problems with Russia. The EU has already slapped tariffs on China. The EU has avoided antagonizing U.S. so far, perhaps, but is trying to have her own army (what happens to NATO?).

The EU has heavy-handedly tried to crush leftist sovereign governments within EU as well as Conservative forces. It's marching straight towards a potential geopolitical conflict with Britain.

It is important to understand the character of a superpower. That helps others to understand how to deal with it. At this stage, if the EU continues like this, it will lead to a further solidification of nationalist and ultra-nationalist sentiments not just in Britain and Russia, but also in regard to other conservative governments in Central Europe. That would lead to implosion or even outright conflict.

Which is why, it is important to check the more extreme positions of the EU and the U.K., and hope good sense will prevail. There is literally no benefit in a dogmatic ideological rift, but that is precisely where this might be heading.

It is the theory of great power politics, that if a hegemon is expanding and aggressive in pushing others too far, the spring will inevitably snap. If tomorrow Britain starts encouraging secessionist parties within the EU, like what Russia is doing now, EU will only have itself to blame.

Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm

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