Montenegro is back on the map, and it need not become Ruritania
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1787083,00.html
Europe is the world's leading theatre of state proliferation, but more
does not necessarily mean worse
Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday June 1, 2006
The Guardian
How many countries are there in Europe? Your answer depends on what you
mean by Europe - and what you mean by a country. The European Union
currently has 25 member states. The Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 55 "participating states", but they
include Andorra, the Holy See, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino,
which are all within the bounds of the EU without being member states,
and Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Canada and the United States - some or all of
which would not be considered by some or most Europeans to be in
Europe. When the central Asian "stans" joined the OSCE in 1992, someone
quipped that its Europe now resembled Nicholas of Cusa's definition of
God - His centre being everywhere and His circumference nowhere.
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