We… we belong together*

My home country, here. Some random facts off the top (or bottom) of my head**. Bulgaria:

-Was founded as a state in 681 by a barbaric tribe coming from the Caucasus region (roughly) on the territory of a Byzantine province populated by some Slavic tribes. Eventually, the Bolgars were engulfed by the Slavs leaving a gene of atrocity and bloodthirstiness, which made for good soldiers and... uhh... chess players? I don't know... The Slavs on the other hand left behind beauty and cowardice... which made for nothing.

-Became Christian in 864 and balanced between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity for quite a while; some limited groups accepted Islam between 14th and 19th century; 20th century communism largely wiped out all religions. All in all, religion has always been a matter of politics and survival and that's all I have to say of it.

-Had it's army fully destroyed by the Boulgaroktonos who captured and blinded 15,000 men leaving one one-eyed per every one hundred to lead the way back home. Sweet times, those Middle Ages. There was a vengeance though, due to the Romaioktonos who... oh well, killed a lot of Greeks. Obviously.

-Spent about five centuries in slavery, according to our books, and as a province, according to Turkish historians, of the Ottoman Empire. Fun times documented in countless historical records, fiction works, folklore songs, tales, and legends. Modern day historians are a tiny little bit suspicious of the credibility of the afore mentioned sources. Eh. History is also a matter of politics.

-Has always been better in war than in politics and diplomacy. For example, was an ally of Germany in WWII.

-Went through 45 years of communism. Which was and wasn't as scary, miserable and despicable as reflected in James Bond books/movies and whatever other sources of information people around here had. All I remember is that I had an awesome childhood marked by almost complete freedom from any restrictions and fears†. My parents – not so much. The reason it sucked was that communism practically reversed everything that is natural to people as well as what Western civilization has established as rules and laws of democracy. Namely, in communism people were said to have been created the same, in terms of abilities, talents and intelligence, but in front of the law… well, some were more equal than others (go read your Orwell if you don't get this one).

-NO, WAS NOT A PART OF THE SOVIET UNION. Assholes.

-Is to become part of EU. Blah. Politics.

-Since the fall of communism has seen the encounter of a Wild West lawlessness with the free market of Adam Smith with bureaucracy of a very non-Weberian type (as if it exists anyway). We saw the rise of Christian democrats (HA!), the shameless revival of the socialists, and the birth of grass-roots neo-fascism mixed with the obscenity of populism.

-Has a large gypsy population. And none of them looks like Brad Pitt. No. They look like Borat's fellow villagers.

-Was the place where my family, while having their morning coffee, watched a man getting shot, across the street from the building they live in. Also, my father was recently given a laptop for repair with a bullet in the monitor. He was ecstatic.

-Has a bacterium named after it.

For the rest, why, check CIA's factbook.

* It's mostly song titles that come to my mind when I think of the blog title. I don't know, cannot think of anything original. But it makes sense in my head...

**Really random. Incomplete. Irrelevant.

† But for Ronald Reagan