@fmc83: Considering historical things, Bavaria was an independent country until 1870 (it was forced to join the German Empire), when it was the 3rd biggest german speaking country at the time (after Prussia and Austria), which basically would justify Bavaria be seen as a country in the same way as Scotland.
Well, historically the "forced" alliances (notice that despite parlament making decisions, the people may not agree) haven't held, peacefully even less (Soviet Union, Yugoslavia as the latest most famous examples). Basically there has been only two ways to keep the alliance alive; fight internal conflicts or fight outsiders. Roman and british empires fought both, Soviets fought both, China has had large number of revolutions and has been even conquered sometimes.
USA have held surprisingly well, but that was due to indepence seeking nationalists losing the civil war and it has been "fighting" a common "enemy" ever since (and it doesn't have similar multinational-multicultural split as EU for example).
The need for political or armed forces superpower is definaly debatable and in any case, it could be achieved by contracts between the countries.
Ei Kiinasti.
Eikä Japanisti.
Vaan pannaan jalalla koreasti.
Nintendo games sell only on Nintendo system.
