For Eastern Europe is divided between a reforming north, learning from its many mistakes, and a stagnant south which seems destined to continue making the same mistakes over and over again. Since the fall of communism, disappointment has set in across the east - with corruption and mismanagement wiping out the hopes of a quick passage to Westernstyle prosperity. NATO membership has already solidified their security worries. Human rights may be poor regarding gypsies but otherwise the northern group have functioning democracies. Economically, all have managed to wrench economies from reliance on central control to the more anarchic free market.
Wages are low, but are at least rising.
Corruption is strong, but it is not the mainspring. This north-south divide cuts through former Yugoslavia, which was never truly a part of the Soviet bloc. On the right side of the tracks, tiny Slovenia is up there with the Poles, while its neighbour, Croatia, is likely to follow if, as expected, the voters kick out its hardline nationalist government in elections this Christmas. But in the south it is a different story. The rest of former Yugoslavia is too full of hatred and strife to even begin economic reforms - they have first to stop fighting each other.