Blogs, 5th September

EU blames Bloggers for Lisbon Treaty's Irish Defeat. Irony Too (en)
Ukraine between East and West. Nosemonkey, EUtopia (en)
Did the balance of power shift? Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)
Ukraine: aah the joys of democracy. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)

If this is America "distracted"... Certain Ideas of Europe (en)

"...The European Union has sent no warships to Georgia, because it does not believe in that kind of thing, and is now creaking its way through the painfully slow process of sending some civilian monitors to Georgia, just as soon as Russia gives its consent. Oh, and the EU has fast-tracked €1m in humanitarian aid, with an extra €5m to come later.
A weakened, distracted America has just promised a billion dollars (€700m) in aid for Georgia with about half of that earmarked for "fast-track" delivery, sent two warships to Georgia bearing humanitarian relief supplies..."

Parlement européen : un plafond est tombé sur le siège de Strasbourg. Jean quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)

"...Mais la France peut-elle encore longtemps s’arc-bouter sur « son » siège ? Ne devrait-elle pas plutôt réclamer, par exemple, que l’ensemble des Conseils européens des chefs d’État et de gouvernement ait lieu à Strasbourg, ce qui ferait ainsi de la capitale alsacienne l’autre capitale européenne ?..."

Powerful women (III): Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Julien Frisch, Watching Europe (en)
"Mostly in the shadow of Mr Solana, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, is the number two diplomat of the European Union - and today she has turned 60 years old..."