At the end of May, 2014, Russia signed an economic treaty
with Belarus and Kazakhstan that “forges closer trade and labor ties among the
former Soviet republics.”[1]
Even though the new economic ties fall short of another European Union, Russian
President Vladimir Putin referred to the new trading relationships as the
Eurasian Economic Union, which I contend is deliberately misleading. Being
implicitly part of the category mistake, the E.U. itself could be further
misunderstood as a consequence.
[1] This
and all other quotes in this essay are taken from: Anna Arutunyan, “Russia, 2
Other Nations Sign Pact,” USA Today,
May 30, 2014.
