Not to mention Finland is racially considered a Nordic country while Russians are not I believe.

You are right. Over 90% (I do not remember the exact percentage) of Finns are genetically identical to Swedes and other northern Europeans. Russians are of a Slavic stock, which is considered different from "Nordic."

Closest thing to a current "50/50 split point:" U.S. & non-U.S.

U.S. respondents- 21
all others- 22 (as of the time of this post).

...and now, it IS 50/50.

U.S.A.: 23
Rest of World: 23

So there are as many sad arsed people in the US than the rest of the world put together!

Just couldn't resist it Chi

And where would you put Croatia? All the former Yugoslav republics, for that matter. I chose Western Europe, because Yugoslavia was never on 'that' side of the Iron Curtain, however I feel a 'Central Europe' option is neccessary. Of course, it's kind of late now, so never mind.

Doubtless it's a case of "the-moving-finger-writes," but in response...The original Churchillian quote is "from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across this continent." Therefore, if you're east of Trieste, I would have considered that as "Eastern Europe."

Ultimately, it would have been nice to have 3 gradations for Europe... even moreso 3 (or more!) gradations for the USA- but polls ARE limited to 10 choices...

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The hardest knife ill us'd doth lose his edge. Shakespeare- Sonnet 95

So Finland Eastern Europe? Well, Churchill said it right after the war, and Yugoslavia definitely dispensed with both Stalin and the USSR after 1948. For the rest of the socialist era, it remained a neither-here-nor-there country, being equally open to the West and to the East.

And besides, no one could call Slovenia and Hungary parts of Eastern Europe - it's as Central as it gets.

But no harm done, the poll will anyways stay as it is.

* Btw, I find Churchill a rather musty personality...

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''Oh, the String Quartet - oh, the Divine Scratching!''

There is a little bit of ambuguity here.

Eastern Europe can mean the former Soviet bloc countries or it can mean something geographic.

I have stated my case on Finland. While it may be geographically to the east (it does share a long border with Russian after all), culturally and perhaps historically it should be considered part of the west.

I agree that geographically Hungary and Slovenia can be considered central Europe, but the moniker "eastern" I think has more to do with both contries' former political backgrounds.

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"Music is not philosophy." --Akira Ifukube

Hm. In the past 60 or so years. And how about other parts of history? Both countries were part of the Austrian Empire (as was Croatia), for centuries (1527-1918). I believe it's not just socialism that matters. There's a huge difference between, for example, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. And both should, according to some, be placed in Eastern Europe.

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''Oh, the String Quartet - oh, the Divine Scratching!''

and Canada gets it's own spot!

that's sweet of you!

(hey, where are all the Canucks anyways? - only 2?????)

I know it's veering a little off-topic, but...

Canadians have a special place in the history of this board, I think. In addition to present company, there were four contributors I'd like to single out for specific mention:

Kurkikohtaus, currently working in the Czech Republic, but born-and-raised in Canada. He was a resource of first resort on matters pertaining to Sibelius.

Handel (No points for guessing his favorite composer.)

Morigan, a Francophone like Handel, he was another contributor whose posts were in the hundreds, and

ChamberNut (although it's good to see he still checks in every now and then!)

Kurkikohtaus and I will both be in Finland this September for the Sibelius festival...

Northern Europe.

Religion I think plays a large role in this. Countries with a Catholic or Protestant (like Finland) heritage tend to share cultural ties with western Europe, countries of orthodox majority are largely "eastern" in my book. That would make the split right into Former Jugoslavia, Serbia to east, Croatia to west.