Almost as Good as “Confusius Say”...

...and also largely true of the EU’s behavior when it comes to trying to match up to their ambitions to be a big, barking bow-wow on the world stage™©®

Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.

- François duc de La Rochefoucauld, ”Sentences and Moral Maxims”

Then again, you can always try starting with lowering people’s expectations of what “superpower” means.

From dictating the size of Coke bottles to dissuading Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, the EU has arrived as a force to be reckoned with in the world.

Ooh! Can you feel the Pow-ah!
In reflection, it really is rather funny, and rather consistent with Rochefoucauld’s understanding of incapacity being the mother of mendacity.