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I think most Americans would break the European continent into "Europe" (aka continental W. Europe), the UK, East Europe, and Russia. Even if rounded up, there

I think most Americans would break the European continent into "Europe" (aka continental W. Europe), the UK, East Europe, and Russia. Even if rounded up, there is a clear distinction between Europe (W. Europe + UK) and East Europe (E Europe + Russia) which probably has something to do with Cold War borders and allies.

loxs 14y ago
Correct regarding the reasons and wrong regarding the current situation. You will be much more spot-on if you divide between the "former USSR" and "rest of Europe". Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. They used to be the same country... much alike the USA. "The rest of Europe" is now mostly part of (or willing to join) the European organizations like (but not only) the EU. This is only the political situation. In terms of culture, language, religion, markets, laws, all the differences remain.
- loxs 14y ago
  Oh, and not to forget... this is a huge generalization on my side. There are huge exceptions to this, eg. the Baltic Countries.
- jonascopenhagen 14y ago
  The majority of Eastern European countries were not part of the USSR. They were USSR's allies in the Warsaw Pact - in the same way that the Western European countries were USA's allies in NATO - but they were independent nations. I'm talking about countries such as Poland, The Czech Republic + Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), Hungary, the countries that were formerly Yugoslavia, etc. > Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. Not true at all. I've been to both Russia and several other Eastern European countries, and I can guarantee you that even within the former USSR there were many different languages, ethnicities, and religions.
  - ajuc 14y ago
    Nitpicking: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other satelittes of USSR weren't really independent. Certainly not in same way that UK or France were allies of USA. Maybe Yugoslavia was independent, but others for sure not. Moscow made all the decisions, elections were rigged, there were uprisings, etc, etc. I know you probably know that, but just in case.
    - _pferreir_ 14y ago
      Well, they were "de jure" independent, I guess that's what (s)he means. They had their own anthem, flag, currency, government, etc...
  - nuxi 14y ago
    Note that Yugoslavia was not part of the Warsaw Pact. It was aligned with USSR until 1948 when the Informbiro period started - i.e. the Tito-Stalin split.
- _pferreir_ 14y ago
  > Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. They used to be the same country... much alike the USA. Wrong. There are significant Russian-speaking minorities in most of those countries, but they all have their own official language (with the exception of Russia [doh...] and Belarus, I believe). They all had them before WWII, Russian having been an imposition of the occupying power. Common Religion? Have a look at Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan... all of them countries with overwhelming Muslim majorities. Let's not confuse the Soviet ideal of a common language and religion (lack thereof) with real life. The USSR was imposed by the use of force after WWII, it has got nothing to do with the US. > "The rest of Europe" is now mostly part of (or willing to join) the European organizations like (but not only) the EU. Well, Switzerland for one has a long history of trying to avoid it at all cost, and the UK seems to actually want to loosen its ties with the EU. I can't imagine Norway or Iceland wanting to join the club anytime soon. There are negotiations ongoing with Turkey, but the case for accession seem to be losing internal momentum. The EU has reached a point at which getting to a political consensus is basically impossible. At the same time, the emergence of Asia and Latin America as new centers of economic growth is having an impact on the Union's importance both commercially and politically. And the ongoing sovereign debt crisis isn't helping.
  - arethuza 14y ago
    Iceland is actively trying to join the EU: http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Iceland_Launches_EU_Accession_Talks_on_Six_Chapters_0_396421.news.aspx http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Icelan...
    - _pferreir_ 14y ago
      Ah, OK, I didn't know that. Public support seems to be shifting again, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Iceland_to_the_European_Union#Public_opinion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Iceland_to_the_Eur...
- lobster_johnson 14y ago
  > Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture You are a bit wrong there. Consider the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Culturally, genetically and linguistically they have almost nothing in common with their USSR neighbours. And pretty much the only thing share by the three states are the geographic location, some common lineage, and the fact that they were part of the USSR for about 45 years. For example, Estonia considers itself to be a Nordic country; its inhabitants are genetically Nordic (and often as blonde as Scandinavians) compared to the Balts of the other two states, and its language is closely related to Finnish. (During Soviet occupation, the Estonian language was dominated by Russian, which was made compulsory in schools; after the USSR collapsed, Estonian has blossomed, especially among youths; I believe the same thing happened in the other Baltic states.) Latvian and Lithuanian share a common linguistic heritage, but they are different, and Latvians and Lithuanians cannot understand each other (unlike, say, Italians and Spanish people, or Scandinavians). Genetically Latvians and Lithuanians are closer to Estonians and Finns than to Russians. The Baltics is just one example. For examples of other countries that seem weirdly out of place in the traditional US image of the Soviet Union, look at the Central Asian ex-Soviets states, such as Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. > They used to be the same country The Soviet Union was a union of countries -- many of them forcibly invaded and taken over by the Soviets in the wake of WW2 -- and everything (culture, language, religion, etc.) reflects this fact. The Soviets ruled everything, including the economy, from Moscow, but each of the member states very much preserved their own sense of identity; it was a union, but not a "unified" one. While the Soviet Union may have superficially resembled the US, it was always a very different beast.
  - daliusd 14y ago
    Let's push it even more. Russia itself is not single language and culture country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia
kamjam 14y ago
I think most Americans would break the European continent into "Europe" (aka continental W. Europe), the UK, East Europe, and Russia. I think you're over generalizing now in thinking that most Americans know any other nations exist outside of America! I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe. Note there is a very clear distinction between Europe and the European Union. UK is part of both, we are not part of the Euro$ experiment though. See, difficult to generalize already!
- mpweiher 14y ago
  "I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe." Except Brits, of course ;-)
  - arethuza 14y ago
    Except some Brits.
    - viraptor 14y ago
      It's really common to hear that someone from the UK is "going to Europe". Takes some time to get used to it.
- drone 14y ago
  I think you're over generalizing now in thinking that most Americans know any other nations exist outside of America! Are you kidding me? This base derogatory discourse does no one any favors.

loxs 14y ago

Correct regarding the reasons and wrong regarding the current situation. You will be much more spot-on if you divide between the "former USSR" and "rest of Europe". Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. They used to be the same country... much alike the USA. "The rest of Europe" is now mostly part of (or willing to join) the European organizations like (but not only) the EU. This is only the political situation. In terms of culture, language, religion, markets, laws, all the differences remain.

loxs 14y ago
Oh, and not to forget... this is a huge generalization on my side. There are huge exceptions to this, eg. the Baltic Countries.
jonascopenhagen 14y ago
The majority of Eastern European countries were not part of the USSR. They were USSR's allies in the Warsaw Pact - in the same way that the Western European countries were USA's allies in NATO - but they were independent nations. I'm talking about countries such as Poland, The Czech Republic + Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), Hungary, the countries that were formerly Yugoslavia, etc. > Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. Not true at all. I've been to both Russia and several other Eastern European countries, and I can guarantee you that even within the former USSR there were many different languages, ethnicities, and religions.
- ajuc 14y ago
  Nitpicking: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other satelittes of USSR weren't really independent. Certainly not in same way that UK or France were allies of USA. Maybe Yugoslavia was independent, but others for sure not. Moscow made all the decisions, elections were rigged, there were uprisings, etc, etc. I know you probably know that, but just in case.
  - _pferreir_ 14y ago
    Well, they were "de jure" independent, I guess that's what (s)he means. They had their own anthem, flag, currency, government, etc...
- nuxi 14y ago
  Note that Yugoslavia was not part of the Warsaw Pact. It was aligned with USSR until 1948 when the Informbiro period started - i.e. the Tito-Stalin split.
_pferreir_ 14y ago
> Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture. They used to be the same country... much alike the USA. Wrong. There are significant Russian-speaking minorities in most of those countries, but they all have their own official language (with the exception of Russia [doh...] and Belarus, I believe). They all had them before WWII, Russian having been an imposition of the occupying power. Common Religion? Have a look at Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan... all of them countries with overwhelming Muslim majorities. Let's not confuse the Soviet ideal of a common language and religion (lack thereof) with real life. The USSR was imposed by the use of force after WWII, it has got nothing to do with the US. > "The rest of Europe" is now mostly part of (or willing to join) the European organizations like (but not only) the EU. Well, Switzerland for one has a long history of trying to avoid it at all cost, and the UK seems to actually want to loosen its ties with the EU. I can't imagine Norway or Iceland wanting to join the club anytime soon. There are negotiations ongoing with Turkey, but the case for accession seem to be losing internal momentum. The EU has reached a point at which getting to a political consensus is basically impossible. At the same time, the emergence of Asia and Latin America as new centers of economic growth is having an impact on the Union's importance both commercially and politically. And the ongoing sovereign debt crisis isn't helping.
- arethuza 14y ago
  Iceland is actively trying to join the EU: http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Iceland_Launches_EU_Accession_Talks_on_Six_Chapters_0_396421.news.aspx http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Icelan...
  - _pferreir_ 14y ago
    Ah, OK, I didn't know that. Public support seems to be shifting again, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Iceland_to_the_European_Union#Public_opinion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Iceland_to_the_Eur...
lobster_johnson 14y ago
> Former USSR countries are mostly unified by the same language, religion (or lack of) and culture You are a bit wrong there. Consider the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Culturally, genetically and linguistically they have almost nothing in common with their USSR neighbours. And pretty much the only thing share by the three states are the geographic location, some common lineage, and the fact that they were part of the USSR for about 45 years. For example, Estonia considers itself to be a Nordic country; its inhabitants are genetically Nordic (and often as blonde as Scandinavians) compared to the Balts of the other two states, and its language is closely related to Finnish. (During Soviet occupation, the Estonian language was dominated by Russian, which was made compulsory in schools; after the USSR collapsed, Estonian has blossomed, especially among youths; I believe the same thing happened in the other Baltic states.) Latvian and Lithuanian share a common linguistic heritage, but they are different, and Latvians and Lithuanians cannot understand each other (unlike, say, Italians and Spanish people, or Scandinavians). Genetically Latvians and Lithuanians are closer to Estonians and Finns than to Russians. The Baltics is just one example. For examples of other countries that seem weirdly out of place in the traditional US image of the Soviet Union, look at the Central Asian ex-Soviets states, such as Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. > They used to be the same country The Soviet Union was a union of countries -- many of them forcibly invaded and taken over by the Soviets in the wake of WW2 -- and everything (culture, language, religion, etc.) reflects this fact. The Soviets ruled everything, including the economy, from Moscow, but each of the member states very much preserved their own sense of identity; it was a union, but not a "unified" one. While the Soviet Union may have superficially resembled the US, it was always a very different beast.
- daliusd 14y ago
  Let's push it even more. Russia itself is not single language and culture country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia

kamjam 14y ago

I think most Americans would break the European continent into "Europe" (aka continental W. Europe), the UK, East Europe, and Russia. I think you're over generalizing now in thinking that most Americans know any other nations exist outside of America! I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe. Note there is a very clear distinction between Europe and the European Union. UK is part of both, we are not part of the Euro$ experiment though. See, difficult to generalize already!

mpweiher 14y ago
"I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe." Except Brits, of course ;-)
- arethuza 14y ago
  Except some Brits.
  - viraptor 14y ago
    It's really common to hear that someone from the UK is "going to Europe". Takes some time to get used to it.
drone 14y ago
I think you're over generalizing now in thinking that most Americans know any other nations exist outside of America! Are you kidding me? This base derogatory discourse does no one any favors.