From acts of vandalism to ethnic cleansing, the inimical spectrum of nationalism, a spectre of demented past and vicious future, hangs hazily above these lands. This tendency is balanced only by the strong urge to belong to Europe and to enjoy its auspices. This too is strong - witness the patience with which the interminable and arduous process of EU enlargement has been endured. This is a pan-European variance. The centrifugal force of the century old nation state has weakened greatly and the centripetal energy of regions has increased.
Minorities tend to concentrate and disrupt the continuity of otherwise homogenous states.
Majorities do their damnedest to eradicate these discontinuities by various means - from assimilation to extermination. CEE is Africa at the heart of Europe. Expect further eruptions. The Minmaj Rule These axes of tension, these funnels of frustration, these channels of violence will not deliquesce. They are the landscape of this wasteland as surely as its polluted rivers and ashen air.