Agree on Belgian. Belgian is a 'nation' but the ethnic identity is Walloon or Flemish. I live in Montreal and immigrants have the same problem: English or Fren

Agree on Belgian. Belgian is a 'nation' but the ethnic identity is Walloon or Flemish. I live in Montreal and immigrants have the same problem: English or French? There is a 3rd category here (we use linguistic categories) - called 'Allophone' - meaning essentially neither English nor French, but 'multi' or 'something else'. Despite the self-loathing of the past few generations - Germans are generally very German. A flag is a national symbol, not an ethnic one. Even the Nazis didn't use the flag of Germany - totally unnecessary! 'American' is not an ethnicity. All Americans have is the 'idea' of America. Which is represented by the flag. In a way - 'nationalism' is more essential and necessary in a place like America. Germany would be German with or without even the state of Germany. America would disintegrate without national symbols. In Canada - we are less nationalist because we are a British colony. Canadians had British passports up until very recently, just before I was born! Mass migration is a new issue for Germany though - if it were just a few immigrants, it would be a non-issue. But the sheer scale of it makes it an existential issue, one that is akin to changing the Constitution - in fact - even stronger. A constitution can always be re-written. A nation can be rebuilt. But once a people decide that they are a 'nation' but not an ethnicity - and 'go multicultural' - there is no going back. I think that's a decision that should require a 'supermajority' vote type thing, not a decision made, de-facto in a 'crisis' policy by Merkel & Co. - obvious humanitarian issues notwithstanding.