EU, Mr Laqueur is right that it is having a mid-life crisis, but he exaggerates its gravity.

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If he exaggerates -- and I doubt it -- don't sue me.

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And just as he exaggerates the downside of new democracies, so he tends to minimise the drawbacks of the slow process of incremental change.

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What he likely exaggerates is the speed of rollout, even as he downplays the funding capital required.

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While he mocks and exaggerates and creates a dense, tough double-layered persona who takes more time to sift through than most people allow, small truths are the starting point that he twists in order to tell a bigger truth.

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