Capitalism thrives on divide and conquer especially socialist states. Same playbook as forever.
I am a bit bothered by how the modern borders of Croatia seem like they are designed just to prevent Bosnia and Hercegovina from having a coast. I get that you can have a thin country, but they are really pushing it. Give them one beach!
croatia was already funny shaped when it was in personal union with the kingdom of hungary. that's the upper half of modern croatia. most of the lower thin bit was dalmatia, which was also historically inhabited by croats and unified with (a newly independent) croatia immediately after ww1.
so while yeah, it looks like the west meddled to deny serbia access to the sea, i dunno how true that is. the region really was mostly croats and some italians, i think...
i could much more easily believe that montenegro was the result of such meddling
Dear Mr. President,
There are too many Balkan countries. Please eliminate three. I am not a crackpot.
- OK, let's see today's mail... oh, this guy says he's not a crackpot, huh... OK, maybe I should do what he says.
- Mr. President, you do remember what happened last time you listened to someone who sais he was not a crackpot 😒.
Almost all of the US states that have more cows than people share borders.
They should all be merged into one state.
This would solve many problems.
Dear Mr. President, there are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. I am not a crackpot.
See, that's a nice idea... and it did work... for a while... without religion and nationalists in the mix... once you mix those 2, guess what happens...
The moral of the story is, it is doable... but you'd have to either get rid of the 2 things mentioned above, or historically you'd have to be a clean slate, which is pretty easy for the continents discovered in the last 5 centuries or so.
He doesn't even realize he just circled a federation within a federation
They're not entirely wrong... Quite a bit of the division comes from pre-modern events and decisions.
In terms of geography, My secret weakness is how often I confuse Slovenia and Slovakia, solely because they share most of the letters in their name.
(I also have a similar problem with Armenia and Albania. Within the US, Mississippi and Missouri used to give me a lot of trouble when I was younger, too.)
I also have trouble crossing wires with the Balkans and the Baltics.
having grown up between slovenia and slovakia, i cant imagine mixing them up. they have such different vibes.... :D
but yeah, i used to mix up liechtenstein and luxembourg...
